There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 426 Northern Expedition
(That's it for Delta, it's not very interesting anymore)
Summer of the third year of Xinghua.

The Han army in the north has officially begun its campaign.

First, the Fifth Division, stationed in Gaoyou Prefecture, followed by the Second Division in Fengyang Prefecture and the Seventh Division in Guangzhou Prefecture. The three armies advanced by land and water, launching the Northern Expedition.

After the expansion and reorganization at the beginning of the year, the Han army has become different again. Not only has the army become larger in size, but its organization has also become more standardized.

In the past few years, the Han army has clearly defined divisions, garrisons, regiments and battalions, and has fully equipped itself with firearms and artillery, and has begun to rapidly transition into a modern army.

However, because the transition was too rapid and there was no buffer time, coupled with the fact that the Han army was fighting almost year after year, many of the old-fashioned military practices and habits of the various Han armies were retained.

This year, the Han army has expanded its forces across the board, increasing the regular army's strength to 130,000 men in one go. Moreover, it will continue to expand, at least 200,000 men before it stops.

Nie Yu then issued an edict to the Ministry of War and the Military Governor's Office to carry out a comprehensive reform of the military system. The existing unit designations and organization remained unchanged, but new cavalry divisions and mountain divisions were added.

At the same time, the status of the navy has been elevated. Previously, the navy and the naval force were on equal footing, but starting this year, the naval force will be merged into the navy. The Naval Commander-in-Chief's Office and the Naval Commander-in-Chief's Office will be merged and renamed the Naval Grand Commander-in-Chief's Office.

Then there is the four-level organization of "division, town, regiment, and battalion," which is the basic military system and has not been changed, but the civilian instructor system has changed a lot.

Previously, although each division of the Han army had civilian instructors, the number of these instructors in each division was uncertain, and there was no clear organizational structure.

It was simply a matter of custom that each division of the Han army was assigned some of these officers to assist in ideological work among the soldiers, to boost morale before battle, and even to temporarily serve as civilian officials to appease the people after a town was captured.

Under this year's military system reform, the civilian instructor system has been formally established, requiring each battalion to have at least one civilian instructor.

At the current rate of expansion of the Han army, if it were to expand to 200,000 regular troops, it would need at least 2000 instructors, roughly equivalent to the number of personnel in a regular Han army garrison.

Military academies for training civilian instructors have been established in provinces such as Huguang, Jiangxi, and Anhui, and even Fujian and Guangdong have military academies for the Han army.

Furthermore, all the flags of the Han army divisions and garrisons were officially unified as red flags with Chinese characters, and it was no longer allowed to use the surnames of the military officers of the divisions and garrisons as flags.

This was certainly not Nie Zi targeting Yang Yuchun. Before Yang Yuchun surrendered to the Han army, because the army was too small, consisting of only a few divisions and garrisons, it was very common for Han army generals to use their own surnames instead of their unit names and banners.

This is an old tradition of ancient Chinese armies. If the general is very capable or even famous, it can achieve unexpected results.

When Yang Yuchun attacked Lianzhou Prefecture, he used a large banner with the character "Yang" on it, which frightened the officials and people of Lianzhou Prefecture into surrendering at lightning speed, fearing that they would anger this god of war and massacre the city.

However, the Han army has now fully modernized, with an increasingly higher proportion of firearms. Moreover, the emergence of breech-loading muskets and various advanced artillery pieces has created a generational gap between the Han army and the modern firearms of this era.

The individual bravery of military generals was no longer so important to the Han army as a whole, so the army's flags had to be standardized.

Yang Yuchun was not punished for this, but Nie Yu personally wrote a letter to comfort and remind him. At the same time, Yang Yuchun was also transferred to the mountain division, where his personal bravery would still be very useful.

On the Grand Canal, Yang Fang had already personally led the Fifth Division northward by boat through Gaoyou.

Although the Qing army had blocked the canal in advance, the southern section of the canal was not completely blocked.

The Qing army dared not move south, as the south was Han territory. They didn't want to be blocked by the Han army before the canal could be blocked.

Along the banks of the canal, when the people saw the Han army heading north, they eagerly joined the army as laborers. The Han army said they didn't need them, but the people even brought their own food and fishing boats to follow.

These people, who brought their own food to work as laborers, were mostly former canal workers. When the Han army attacked Jiangnan, they cut off the Qing dynasty's canal transport, and the laborers, deprived of their livelihood, initially harbored great resentment towards the Han army.

Until these canal workers gathered together and caused trouble for the Han government, the Han government not only did not arrest or punish them, but also registered them in the household register and took them to distribute land and settle down.

Even those who didn't own land before could receive a share of land from the government. If they didn't have land in their local area, they would be relocated to other places. The government would pay for their migration, help them build houses, and lend them seeds and oxen.

They had never seen such a good government and such a humane court before.

The initial resentment at being cut off from food and clothing quickly turned into support for the Han Dynasty after they were allocated land.

What a damned Tartar dynasty! It would be better if it were destroyed by the Han!
Yang Fang led his troops north from Gaoyou with only 8,000 regular soldiers and more than 7,000 civilian laborers, for a total force of about 15,000 men.

But now, with the addition of many civilians along the river, who even brought their own food and served as laborers for the Han army, the total strength of the Han army has expanded by at least three times.

The Huai'an Prefectural Government is already under military control.

"What? The puppet Han in Gaoyou City has mobilized 100,000 troops to march north along the Grand Canal to attack Zhun'an Prefecture?" Kang Jitian looked at the Qing soldiers rushing to report the news in disbelief.

The Qing soldier who delivered the message was also filled with fear: "It's absolutely true! My lord, I only saw it from afar, and it looked like a huge, dark mass of people, definitely a large number of troops..."

Kang Jitian fell silent, and Tie Bao also looked solemn and remained silent.

He dismissed the soldier who had brought the message and the two began to discuss their next move.

No matter how nervous or worried you are, the trouble won't just disappear; you'll have to face it eventually.

"The Southern troops are attacking, what should we do?" Kang Jitian asked.

Tie Bao gritted his teeth and said, "What else can we do? The southern troops are attacking. We can't just abandon Huai'an. If the Huai'an defense line collapses, the area north of the Yellow River will be hard to defend. How could the Emperor let the two of us go?"

Kang Jitian ignored what the emperor thought and asked bluntly, "To defend Huai'an, we have to fight the southern troops. How can we possibly win?"

Yeah! How could we possibly win?
Tie Bao frowned, racking his brains for a long time, but couldn't come up with a solution.

They no longer contemptuously referred to the Han Dynasty as the "false Han," but instead simply called them the "Southern Army." What was the Southern Army? It was the army of the Southern Dynasty emperor.

To put it bluntly, deep down they had already recognized the legitimacy of the Han Dynasty. Even if the Han army numbered only 10,000, they would still worry about not being able to win, let alone now that a hundred thousand troops had arrived.

The figure of 100,000 is certainly an exaggeration, but even after removing the exaggeration, it should be around 50,000 if rounded up.

If 50,000 troops came, let alone whether they had 50,000 troops or even if the court immediately gave them 100,000 troops, they would not be confident that they could defeat the Han army.

Even if we can't win, we still have to fight!
If we retreat now, we won't be able to explain ourselves to the Emperor. We have to try fighting first.

Within two days, the vanguard of the Han army had already reached Yangjiamiaoji, south of Huai'an Prefecture.

When the town's people saw the Han army coming, they were not afraid at all. Instead, they lined the streets to welcome them. Even the town's gentry and landlords brought out wine and meat to entertain the soldiers.

The Qing dynasty was really too ruthless in its exploitation. In order to raise money and supplies for the army, they really squeezed every last drop of soil from Huai'an Prefecture.

Not only did ordinary people suffer, but the gentry and landlords also faced even greater hardship.

Because the common people had no money to be made, while the landlords had plenty. Moreover, although Kang Jitian and Tie Bao claimed to be defending Huai'an to the death, they had already tacitly agreed that Huai'an could not be defended.

Since they couldn't hold it, Huai'an would eventually fall into the hands of the Han army. So there was no need for them to hide anything. They should take advantage of the situation while they could, since they would eventually lose it to the Han army anyway. Why not take advantage of the situation?

Such is the nature of chaotic times: the lives of ordinary people are as worthless as grass, and even gentry and landlords with insufficient power are like ants in the eyes of warlords and feudal lords.

The people of Yangjiamiao lined the streets to welcome the Han army. Even the landlord, Master Yang Wenjie, brought out gold, silver, wine, and meat to reward the troops.

Despite his busy schedule, Yang Fang met with the other party and accepted the grain they brought, but refused the wine, meat, gold, and silver: "Our Great Han army has military regulations that prohibit drinking alcohol and looting civilians during battle. We will take the meat ourselves, but you can take the wine, meat, gold, and silver back yourselves! We will accept the grain as a loan. The quartermaster will give you a written agreement with my seal on it. After the battle is over, you can go to the government office to cash it in."

Upon hearing Yang Fang's reply, Master Yang found it unbelievable. In this day and age, there were still people who not only didn't mind receiving gold, silver, wine, and meat, but also used military regulations to say they didn't want it, and even the only grain they accepted required an IOU.

I've never seen anything like this before!
Once the Han army quartermaster had actually written the IOU and handed it to Master Yang, no soldiers went to move the wine, meat, gold, or silver; they only moved the grain.

Although he didn't take the IOU very seriously, Master Yang still felt that the Han army was worlds apart from the Qing army.

The former did not take anything from the people and even made IOUs when collecting grain, while the latter went so far as to rob them outright, exploiting the landlords and gentry to the bone.

Master Yang tried to insist: "General, you may not take the gold and silver, but the wine and meat are truly a small token of my heart for the restoration of our Han dynasty. Especially since the pig has already been slaughtered, if the general doesn't accept it, it's afraid it will just rot at home..."

Upon hearing this, Yang Fang waved her hand and said, "Never mind, never mind, quartermaster."

"exist."

"Take out the money and buy some meat for them, just to give the soldiers an extra meal."

"Yes."

"..."

Seeing that the Han army was willing to pay for the meat they brought rather than accept it for free, Master Yang was finally convinced and believed them completely.

After being escorted out of the camp by the Han army, Master Yang said to his youngest son, Yang Li, who had accompanied him, "Once the government army has taken over Huai'an Prefecture, you should immediately go and serve them. The government army has just recaptured Huai'an and will definitely be short of people to pacify and appease the people. You can volunteer, and the government army should not refuse. At the very least, you can become a clerk. I have already inquired beforehand, and even clerks in the south can be promoted to official positions normally, which is easier than here."

Yang Li pondered for a moment before understanding which "government army" his father was referring to, and couldn't help but ask, "Father, are you so sure that the Han Dynasty will conquer the world?"

Master Yang smiled and said, "You've already called him 'Big Man,' what do you think?"

That makes sense.

Although in ancient times, the common people were not considered important by the rulers for most of the time, if the people's hearts were truly with the Han army, and even the gentry and landlords sided with the Han army, then it would be time to change the rulers of this pseudo-Qing dynasty.

The Han army entered Yangjiamiao and quickly established a camp there. They also forced laborers to cut down trees everywhere and make siege weapons as quickly as possible.

Including the more than 30,000 laborers who came with the army, the Han army had no shortage of laborers, and the speed at which they built siege weapons was incredibly fast.

In just two days, the Han army arrived at the city of Huai'an with a large number of siege weapons.

Upon hearing the news, Kang Jitian and Tie Bao immediately went to the city wall to investigate the enemy's situation.

Upon seeing that two-thirds of the Han army's formation consisted of civilian laborers, he did not feel relieved; instead, his heart sank instantly.

The Han army did indeed send 40,000 to 50,000 men, two-thirds of whom were civilians dressed in various ways, and only less than one-third were regular soldiers in military uniforms.

This should theoretically be cause for celebration, because of the 50,000 Han troops they had anticipated being feared, only a little over 10,000 were actually genuine Han soldiers, with the rest being civilians and laborers used to make up the numbers.

The problem is, they're afraid of even 10,000 Han soldiers!

The Han army had only 10,000 regular soldiers, and the Han army also had only about 10,000 regular soldiers, so their combat effectiveness was completely unreliable.

Moreover, the tens of thousands of laborers recruited by the Han army were so disciplined that they were clearly not ordinary people, but at least canal workers recruited along the Grand Canal.

Only these two individuals possess extremely strong discipline; ordinary laborers certainly could not achieve this.

The Han army actually recruited canal workers as laborers, and even canal workers along the riverbanks responded to the call, bringing in tens of thousands of people. How could they possibly fight like that?
After observing for a while, Kang Jitian said, "I told you before, don't be stingy with money and grain, and don't let the canal workers along the river be handed over to the puppet Han. Now look what's happened, the puppet Han is bringing these canal workers to attack us, what can Huai'an Prefecture use to defend itself?"

Tie Bao was getting annoyed and retorted, "We also have canal workers and recruits under our command, so why can't we fight?"

"How can this be compared? Even if they are both canal workers, the Southern Army brought more than 30,000 canal workers, while we only have a little over 10,000. How can we compare them?" Kang Jitian said irritably upon hearing this.

Tie Bao retorted angrily, "No matter how you compare them, we have to fight first. Aren't you afraid of being punished by the court and blamed by His Majesty if we don't fight?"

The two men were still arguing on the city tower, while the Han army had already pushed out cannons below the city wall.

Because of the convenience of the canal waterway, the Fifth Division was able to bring several siege cannons with it when it went north. Even if it had to be put down before reaching Huai'an, the more than 30,000 canal workers and laborers did not come for nothing.

Dozens of canal workers pulled the cannon cart, while dozens more pushed it to maintain balance. In just two days, the cannon was delivered to Yang Fang.

When the Han army's siege cannons came up, Kang Jitian and Tie Bao were both bewildered and shocked.

What the hell is this?
"Wow...so big...so big and long cannon!" a knowledgeable Qing soldier exclaimed.

This is indeed long and large enough. Not only is the artillery carriage ridiculously large, but the cannon barrel is also ridiculously long. It is not a cannon that should exist in this era.

Before Kang Jitian and Tie Bao could figure out what was going on...

"Boom boom boom!"

Three massive siege cannons simultaneously unleashed three deafening roars.

A giant solid cannonball was fired at the city wall of Huai'an Prefecture.

The shells were so big, and the muzzle and barrel were so long, and the shells were fired at close range, so the shells were almost never out of aim.

Three cannonballs hit the city wall directly.

Such a huge impact made the city wall seem to be on the verge of collapse.

Is that really a cannon?
Kang Jitian and Tie Bao no longer needed to doubt, because the Han army was clearing away the shells, preparing for another round.

The two of them finally dared not stand in the city tower anymore. If such terrifying cannonballs were to hit the city tower, even the strongest brick wall would probably be unable to withstand them.

The two commanders of the Qing army fled down the city wall in disgrace.

Even if they fled, leaving trusted confidants to command them beforehand, the commander-in-chief had already hidden himself away. To expect these lowly soldiers to fire such large-caliber cannons was simply wishful thinking.

The commander hid, and the soldiers followed suit, lowering their heads and cowering to avoid battle.

No matter how the generals tried to suppress or encourage them, no one dared to stand up. Even the generals themselves were bent over and dared not get up.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Han army didn't sit idle either; they simply brought out all their cannons and mortars and bombarded the city walls of Huai'an Prefecture.

Whether it will be effective is unclear, but it's the same old routine: artillery provides cover while laborers fill in the moat and dig tunnels to prepare for blowing up the city walls.

Everything proceeded smoothly and methodically; the Han army completely disregarded Huai'an Prefecture.

Even though there were two puppet Qing governors in charge, in Yang Fang's eyes it was no different from an empty city.

(End of this chapter)