There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 421 The Northern Expedition in Stages

(I'll continue tomorrow. I'll just post a quick update for today. I just finished my night shift and I feel completely drained.)
Nie Yu stationed a large number of troops in towns along the Huai River, but this was certainly not to launch a full-scale Northern Expedition.

The Han army had just undergone a military parade and expansion at the beginning of the year, and although the number of troops had increased considerably, their training level was seriously insufficient. They certainly could not be immediately deployed to the battlefield, especially for a large-scale campaign like the Northern Expedition.

But that's alright. A large-scale Northern Expedition is out of the question, but a phased Northern Expedition is still possible.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty launched thirteen consecutive northern expeditions against the Mongols, so it wouldn't be a big deal for the Han Dynasty to launch a few northern expeditions as well.

Although only the Qing army in Sichuan has shown any weakness so far, the coal miners and coal farmers in the north have launched a major uprising, forcing Emperor Jiaqing to mobilize a large army to suppress it, which has caused the northern rebels to flee in disarray.

This is a rare opportunity for the Han Dynasty!

If we don't fight back and let the puppet Qing dynasty calmly suppress us, then we'll be wasting the blood of the anti-Qing patriots in the north.

Despite strong opposition, Nie Yu, after repeated discussions, decided to launch an attack this summer to catch the Qing army off guard.

……

Huai'an Prefecture, the office of the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Kang Jitian, the Grand Canal Commissioner of Jiangnan, rushed over and asked Tie Bao, the canal commissioner.

The reason for asking "again" is that such an incident has already occurred before.

The puppet Han people in the south threw thousands of "yo-yos" directly at the border of their Huai'an Prefecture, which almost scared them to death.

It put them in a dilemma: whether to submit a memorial or not.

In the end, when they had no other choice, not submitting a memorial would be tantamount to deceiving the emperor. In addition, Emperor Jiaqing was known for his benevolence, and the execution of Heshen had not implicated too many officials. So they cautiously submitted those "yo-yos" to the emperor.

Fortunately, Emperor Jiaqing did not hold a grudge against them afterward. He simply wrote in his memorial to the throne that they should fight well and absolutely not lose Huai'an Prefecture.

Emperor Jiaqing deliberately left out the consequences of losing it, but they understood.

Tie Bao glanced at the impatient Kang Jitian and said leisurely, "Our scouts sent to the south have reported that the puppet Han are stationing heavy troops in Gaoyou. Grain ships have been running from the canal to Gaoyou for the past few days. Many scouts heading south have even been driven away and killed by the puppet Han army."

"what?"

Kang Jitian was taken aback at first, and almost immediately asked, "Is the pseudo-Han preparing for a northern expedition?"

Tie Bao nodded: "It's very likely. If the pseudo-Han is preparing for a northern expedition, then it shouldn't just be Gaoyou; there must be heavy troops stationed in other front-line towns as well."

As he spoke, Tie Bao unfolded a geomantic map. The map was very abstract, and anyone who wasn't familiar with the terrain of Huaibei couldn't recognize any of the places on it.

Tie Bao pointed at Fengyang, then at Runing: "Next, there's a high probability that bad news will come from these two key front-line towns of the pseudo-Han. And if that's the case, the pseudo-Han will not necessarily launch a northern expedition, but at the very least they will take over Huai'an Prefecture, which is right under our feet."

Kang Jitian, who had initially held onto some hope, was now completely disheartened. After pondering for a long time, he finally asked, "In that case, what does Commander Tie Cao think?"

"Fight, we have no choice but to fight." Tie Bao answered without hesitation.

Upon hearing this, Kang Jitian immediately became somewhat resistant, saying, "What if we launch a war rashly and there are misunderstandings? Besides, if we really fight, can we really defeat the Han army?"

Tie Bao was also somewhat helpless: "We have to fight even if we can't win! If we don't fight, does that mean Commander Kang is going to surrender, or that he's going to lead the Huai'an Prefecture, which offers no resistance, to surrender and become an annexation of the puppet Han?"

Upon hearing Tie Bao's scathing words, Kang Jitian's expression changed drastically. Of course, he could not surrender. The Kang family's wealth and assets were all in Shanxi, and Kang Jitian's family members were also in Shanxi. If he surrendered, he would lose everything.

"How could I possibly surrender? Commander Tie, don't try to spout nonsense just because you're a Manchu!" Kang Jitian retorted angrily on the spot.

After scolding him, Tie Bao was not angry at all. Instead, he reached out and said, "It would be best if Commander Kang would not surrender. Now that the puppet Han army is pressing in, we need to work together to fight the Southern army." Tie Bao was obviously testing him. He was really afraid that Kang Jitian would not put in the effort.

After all, that's how Nanjing was lost before, and he was even partly responsible for it.

When General Fu Chang of Jiangning requested aid from the two of them, neither of them was willing to send troops, fearing that it would be a thankless task. This directly led to Nanjing being isolated and without support, and it was subsequently captured by the Han army. General Fu Chang of Jiangning was killed, and his head was thrown outside Huai'an City.

Now that the Han army is stationed in Gaoyou, and Huai'an Prefecture is just to the north, he can't help but worry.

Kang Jitian assured Tie Bao that he would not surrender, which put Tie Bao at ease. They then discussed how to resist the Han army's attack.

"How many troops did the puppet Han garrison in Gaoyou?"

"I don't know. The scouts can't get close enough to investigate. They can only see a constant stream of grain ships, and the number of people is probably no less than ten thousand."

"And which traitorous general came from the pseudo-Han regime?"

"I don't know. The scouts I sent out could only see Chinese flags hanging on the walls of Gaoyou. There seemed to be flags of the traitorous Han generals before, but I don't know why they're gone this time. Or is it that the traitorous Han emperor is leading the expedition in person?"

"How can this be?"

"..."

The two discussed it back and forth, but when asked, they knew nothing. They had no information whatsoever, so naturally, they had no solution at all.

They only had so many soldiers under their command. Emperor Jiaqing only ordered them to defend Huai'an Prefecture, but did not provide them with a single soldier or ration. They were only given food and rations once, and never again. They had to rely entirely on forcibly requisitioning and seizing food in Huai'an Prefecture.

In the present-day Huai'an Prefecture, the Qing army garrison, including the previous river garrison of 10,000 and the grain transport garrison of 4,000, has a total strength of approximately 14,000 men.

The two then recruited 20,000 laborers along the canal.

It's not that we can't raise more money, but that they don't have enough food.

Twenty thousand canal workers and fourteen thousand Green Standard Army soldiers would be the limit; any more than that would be impossible to support.

It wasn't like they were at war. In a war, they could at least temporarily maintain the situation, but the Han army stopped advancing north after capturing Gaoyou. This forced Kang Jitian and Tie Bao to even pay out of their own pockets, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to maintain their army of over 30,000 men.

Although the Qing army managed to maintain such a large force, its combat effectiveness deteriorated significantly. Too many miscellaneous soldiers, such as canal workers, had infiltrated the regular troops, inevitably reducing their fighting capacity.

The canal workers were indeed very disciplined and were potential recruits, but no matter how disciplined they were, without proper military training, they were just a rabble.

Moreover, despite having such a large army, the Qing army basically did not conduct drills when there was no war.

Because there is simply not enough food, too much training would cause soldiers to complain, and in severe cases, it could even lead to a mutiny.

The garrisoning of Han troops in Gaoyou immediately brought a sense of crisis to Kang Jitian and Tie Bao. Although they had more than 34,000 troops under their command, they still felt uneasy.

The Han army's reputation has spread to the north; they say that the Han traitors are invincible if they have less than ten thousand men, but if they have ten thousand, they are unstoppable.

If there were 10,000 Han soldiers in Gaoyou, they would still feel uneasy even if they had 100,000 troops.

With no other option, the two discussed the matter for a long time and decided to defend the city on the spot for the time being, while calling on the gentry of Huai'an to contribute money, manpower and effort.

At the same time, he sent a memorial to the Jiaqing Emperor by express courier.

Why submit a memorial? Of course, it's to ask for help.

(End of this chapter)