There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 439 Has something happened in the capital?
The city garrison commander of Liaoyang Prefecture was named Deltai.

This man had already succeeded his predecessor, Wei Lingtai, as the city garrison commander in the fifty-seventh year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, and was stationed in Liaoyang Prefecture.

During his nearly ten years in office, he was almost always engaged in the maintenance of the Liaohe River dikes, ensuring the smooth flow of transportation on the Liaohe River, and even escorting timber materials for Shengjing City.

Even if they didn't achieve any great success, they certainly put in a lot of hard work and fulfilled their responsibilities.

He should have made it last year and been transferred to the capital as a candidate for official service, instead of spending his days drifting aimlessly outside the Great Wall.

Unfortunately, since last year, the situation inside the Great Wall has changed drastically, and the situation of the Qing Dynasty has been getting worse and worse. The incompetent Jiaqing Emperor, who had only been in power for two years, was completely unable to cope with the situation and even had to transfer troops from outside the Great Wall to help in the war. He had no time to care about the transfer and promotion of a mere garrison commander in Liaoyang.

Deltai continued to stay in Liaoyang Prefecture, thinking he would just drift through life until he got sick and retired, when suddenly someone from Niuzhuang in the south brought news.

"What? What do you mean, a Nikan army of several thousand suddenly appeared in Haicheng and even occupied the city?"

Upon hearing the news from the Qing soldiers, Deltai was completely bewildered and had no idea what had happened.

No, what happened?
The three sentences, "The army of Nikan, numbering several thousand, suddenly appeared and occupied Haicheng again," are a bit hard to understand when put together.

This is outside Liaodong Pass, within the jurisdiction of the Shengjing General. Haicheng is connected to the Liao River, so as the garrison commander of Liaoyang, he can travel south by water at any time to see the garrison commander of Haicheng.

So now you're telling him that Haicheng has already been captured by Nikan's army?
Where did the Nikan army come from?
Although Deltai was not entirely convinced, he dared not disbelieve it either. He sent people to the south to investigate the situation while also hurriedly ordering his troops to gather for battle.

Although Liaoyang Prefecture only had more than 500 Eight Banner troops stationed there, it was the closest prefecture city to Shengjing and was connected to the Liao River, so it had a large population.

The Liaodong Peninsula, such a large area, has only tens of thousands of people, while the Liaoyang area alone has nearly 100,000 people.

Although these Liaoyang bannermen are mostly scattered, their population density is already much higher than that of Haicheng and Niuzhuang. Given more time, Deltai could gather several thousand more troops.

Of course, an army assembled in this way is definitely not capable of fighting.

It's not like it was more than a hundred years ago when they first entered the pass. Since the Shunzhi period, when the Manchu bannermen and civilians were separated, these Eight Banners outside the pass have basically become poor relatives of the Manchu Qing.

It is indeed a poor and desolate place, but to say that it is particularly capable of fighting is completely untrue.

In reality, the Manchu Eight Banners policy had already severely weakened the fighting capacity of not only the Eight Banners inside and outside the Great Wall, but even the Solon tribe, which was relied upon most by the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors.

By the end of the Qianlong era, the Solon soldiers were no longer as formidable in combat as they were in the early Yongzheng era.

The reason why the White Lotus Sect in Henan and the White Head Army in Shanxi were able to flee in terror was simply because the terrain of Shanxi was not suitable for artillery and firearms warfare, while the Solon tribe, having lived in the Changbai Mountains and Heilongjiang River region for many years, was better able to adapt to cold weapon warfare in such mountainous terrain.

The Henan White Lotus Sect is different; they are truly weak in combat. Even if they have evolved, they still cannot defeat the Soren soldiers.

Just a few days after Deltai issued the order to gather troops, he received news—or rather, not news, that the Han cavalry had arrived first.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

The Qing soldiers who had already been deployed quickly sounded the alarm.

Deltai came to the city wall to watch the battle and saw a group of about a hundred red-clad cavalrymen chasing and killing a small group of cavalrymen.

Deltai easily recognized the small group of cavalry being chased from afar as the scouts he had dispatched in batches over the past few days.

No wonder none of the cavalry scouts sent out before returned; they were intercepted and killed by the Nikan cavalry on the way!

Deltai finally began to believe that Haicheng and Niuzhuang had been occupied by Nikan's army. Deltai even had some guesses about the background of this Nikan army that had occupied Haicheng and Niuzhuang.

Deltai had almost been transferred back to Beijing last year, so he had specifically inquired about why he hadn't been able to transfer successfully. He learned that it was because a powerful Han Chinese Nikan rebel force had emerged within the Great Wall.

Although Deltai didn't know the specific intelligence details, he had a feeling that the cavalry outside the city was the Han army under Nikan from inside the pass.

Outside Liaoyang City, the pursuit battle between the two cavalry forces was still ongoing.

Of the more than one hundred Han cavalrymen, only thirty were armed with rifled muskets, while the remaining seventy were all sword-wielding soldiers.

The cavalrymen they were chasing were Qing scouts sent by Liaoyang Prefecture, numbering only a dozen or so.

More than a hundred men chased and killed a dozen or so others. The Han army's warhorses were not as good as the Qing army's, but they were not far off either.

Moreover, being chased by ten times their number of soldiers at once, the Qing scouts were terrified and had no idea to conserve their strength.

Before they even reached the walls of Liaoyang, the horses were already exhausted and were quickly overtaken by the Han army.

Thirty Han cavalrymen picked up their rifled muskets, loaded them with bullets, and didn't even need to aim.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Six Qing soldiers who were trying to escape were shot and fell from their horses.

The remaining Qing soldiers were terrified and could not even maintain their formation as they fled together. With a crack of their whips, they scattered and ran away.

Seventy armed soldiers rode off in waves to pursue the Qing soldiers, with about ten Han soldiers chasing after each one.

The Han army did not rush in to kill directly, but instead prioritized spreading out and surrounding the enemy, like hunting in a hunting ground, slowly blocking the one prey (Qing soldiers) inside until they had nowhere to run.

Seeing that they were in dire straits, several Qing soldiers muttered a few words of incomprehensible Manchu and prepared to draw their swords and fight.

"Clang!"

However, when the two swords clashed, the Han army's broadswords remained undamaged, while the Qing soldiers' swords snapped in two.

How is this played?
Immediately, Qing soldiers jumped off their horses, lay on the ground, and begged for mercy in Chinese.

Unfortunately, it’s useless!
All that responded to them was a large sword flying through the air, heads flying off and being caught by the braids of Han soldiers just before hitting the ground. Then they would be raised above their heads and swung around wildly, like yo-yos.

(Rise up, yo-yo!)

All the Eight Banner spies in Liaoyang were wiped out by the Han cavalry.

A dozen or so Tartar heads were waved around by Han cavalry as they rode to the walls of Liaoyang.

Just before Deltai was about to order the arrows to be fired, he forcefully threw his head down to the foot of Liaoyang City, then turned his horse around and rode away.

Once Deltai was certain that the Han cavalry had retreated, he put down his basket and ordered his men to retrieve the heads from below the city.

Only three heads were recovered when someone recognized them.

"Aha! It's you! My dear brother, how could you die like this?"

"This is my son, my son!" "Waaaaah!"

“These damned Han Chinese Nikans dared to rebel and kill their master. We must take revenge, kill all those Han Chinese Nikans, and make them pay for their crimes in blood.”

"Yes, blood must be paid for blood!"

"Kill all the Han Chinese Nikan!"

"..."

A few shouts and jeers made Deltai's scalp tingle. Were these Liaoyang bannermen all out of their minds?

He still doesn't understand how many troops this supposedly Han army of Nikan actually came. They dared to urge him to go out of the city to fight, as if they were afraid that Liaoyang would not fall.
Deltai was very cautious. He had been serving as the garrison commander of Liaoyang for several years and had always been conscientious in his duties. He did not want to fight a battle he was not confident of winning.

Moreover, it is clear that Niuzhuang and Haicheng have fallen, and to be more daring, it is possible that many military towns under the Shengjing Military Prefecture have already been lost.

Because the Nikan army could not have come out of thin air. Including the Manchu bannermen and Han serfs outside the Great Wall, the total number was only a few hundred thousand.

Jilin and Heilongjiang can be disregarded. Heilongjiang has almost no Han Chinese inhabitants, and even the Manchu bannermen are few in number. Similarly, Jilin has only over 50,000 Manchu bannermen.

Therefore, it's impossible for several thousand highly skilled Nikan troops to suddenly appear outside the Great Wall; these Nikan cavalry must have come from inside the Great Wall.

There's only one way to travel from inside the pass to outside it, and that's... Shanhaiguan.

Could it be that something happened at Shanhaiguan?

Even further, have incidents occurred at both the Jinzhou and Dalinghe horse farms?

If that's really the case, then the problem is huge.

After forcibly calming down the Manchu bannermen who were clamoring for revenge, Delitai hurriedly sent an urgent letter to Shengjing City, informing General Jin Chang of the situation that a Han Chinese cavalry force of unknown origin and formidable fighting power had appeared in the south, and that their numbers seemed considerable.

……

Several days later, in Shengjing City.

This place was both Shengjing, the capital of the Manchu Qing dynasty outside the Great Wall, and Fengtian Prefecture. It was the center of the three major military prefectures of Shengjing, Jilin, and Heilongjiang outside the Great Wall, and could be considered the secondary capital established by the Manchu Qing dynasty outside the Great Wall.

The six ministries and prefectural offices that were located in Nanjing, the secondary capital of the Ming Dynasty, were also present in Shengjing, the secondary capital of the Qing Dynasty.

The only difference is that the Manchu Qing dynasty did not have a Ministry of Personnel among the six ministries in Shengjing, because the area outside the Great Wall was mainly inhabited by Manchu bannermen, and the Han people were all serfs and not important, so there was no need to have such a troublesome Ministry of Personnel.

The position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Shengjing was replaced by the Vice Minister of the Granary Administration, and two additional Vice Ministers, one Manchu and one Han, were specially appointed to share the power over the granary administration.

At this very moment, the two highest military officials of Shengjing, General Jin Chang and Deputy Governor-General Elehenge, are convening a meeting with Shengjing Prefect Mingzhi, Shengjing Assistant Prefect (concurrently serving as Education Commissioner) Bailing, and officials from the six ministries of Shengjing.

Jin Chang spoke first: "Dertai, the garrison commander of Liaoyang, sent an urgent message that Haicheng and Niuzhuang have fallen. The two cities were captured by a Nikan army of unknown origin. The total number of troops is approximately several thousand, and they are very powerful. They are dressed in red and their cavalry are equipped with muskets..."

Before he could finish speaking, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Ellehenge coughed and said, "Cough cough... This is written... cough cough... It's clearly a traitorous Han Chinese who is fighting against our Great Qing within the Great Wall, but how could a traitorous Han Chinese... cough cough cough... traitorous Han Chinese appear outside the Great Wall?"

This deputy commander of Shengjing is already seriously ill, and it is most likely incurable tuberculosis. He probably won't live past the end of this year.

Upon hearing that Eleheng'e had confirmed the letter referred to the Han army, Prefect Mingzhi couldn't help but say, "The traitorous Han rebels just conquered Jiangnan last year, dividing the country with our Great Qing. Even if they were incredibly fast, they shouldn't be appearing outside the Great Wall this year, unless..."

Jin Chang spoke up almost simultaneously: "Something has happened in the capital!"

Jin Chang, like Ming Zhi, was transferred to Shengjing General just last year. Jin Chang took over the position of the previous general, Lin Ning (who had retired due to old age), while Ming Zhi replaced the previous prefect, Wang Bingtao (a member of the Han Banner Army), as a Manchu prefect.

Therefore, these two people knew something about the person in the capital.

Around the beginning of last year, it seems that their emperor was taking drugs. Although it was officially called a tranquilizer, many Manchu nobles believed it to be an elixir. Emperor Jiaqing himself probably knew this, but he just couldn't stop taking it.

Before they left, Jiaqing's symptoms were not very obvious, but the manic symptoms (*addictive episodes) after taking drugs had already begun to appear.

This led them to almost simultaneously consider a possibility: something had happened in the capital, or more precisely, something had happened to the Emperor!
There was no way they could stop making wild guesses. If the Emperor hadn't been in trouble, how would the Han army have gotten to the area outside the Great Wall?

If you want to get to the area outside the Great Wall, you can only take the Shanhaiguan-Jinzhou route!
It couldn't have come from the sea, could it?

The Qing Dynasty closed itself off from the world for so long that it forgot that the Han Dynasty could not only travel by sea, but also lead its army to invade Liaodong by sea.

To reiterate, it wasn't that the Manchus were unintelligent, but rather that their strategic vision limited them.

Just like the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, before Sun Tzu came out, who knew that fighting could be done without following etiquette, and that one could cheat, launch surprise attacks, and burn down granaries?

These powerful and influential figures from the Eight Banners in Shengjing City discussed the matter at the meeting, but still couldn't come to a conclusion.

The dying deputy commander, Elerheng'e, offered advice: "Regardless of whether anything has happened in the capital... cough cough... let's first find a way to defend Shengjing City, and Liaoyang City as well... cough cough... send someone to Liaoyang to check the situation, whether it's a traitorous rebel from the Han Dynasty, and how the rebels came to be... cough cough!"

Before Erleheng could finish speaking, he was struck by another violent cough.

Bai Ling, the prefectural magistrate who could barely get a word in edgewise, handed him a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.

Erleheng wiped his handkerchief and saw a bloodstain on it.

Mingzhi continued, "We should not only inquire about Liaoyang, but also send people to check on Jinzhou and the Dalinghe horse farm. This is to see if Dalinghe and Jinzhou are still there, and also to have the Deputy Commander of Jinzhou bring troops to support Shengjing. Shengjing is the ancestral homeland of our Great Qing Dynasty outside the Great Wall, and we cannot afford even the slightest mishap."

“Yes,” Jin Chang nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. “Immediately pass on my orders to Qing Yu, the deputy commander of Jinzhou, instructing him to bring the Banner Army to support Shengjing City. At the same time, go to Liaoyang to see if the people who have come are indeed traitors who are pretending to be Han Chinese.”

Bai Ling suddenly interjected, "By the way, since it is the Nikan army that has come, regardless of whether they are traitors or not, all the Han people in the city should be expelled, and the Manchu bannermen and their families should all move into the city."

Jin Chang suddenly realized: "That makes sense. Immediately summon the banner troops in the city and expel the Han people in the city, including those bondservants and slaves." After saying that, he thought for a moment and added: "Also, those Nikan banner troops in the city, scatter them and separate them. Make sure that each Nikan banner troop has one of my Manchu Eight Banners stationed inside to guard it."

General Jin Chang of Shengjing issued a series of orders, and all the Han Chinese bondservants in Shengjing were expelled in an instant, while the Manchu bannermen from the surrounding areas also poured into Shengjing.

The number of Manchu bannermen directly controlled by Shengjing was nearly 100,000.

If so many people all live in one city, Shengjing, there certainly won't be enough room.

What if there aren't enough rooms?
Those were naturally the second-class bannermen of the Nikan Banner, who obediently gave up their houses, wives, and daughters for the Manchu Eight Banners masters to enjoy.

This is an old tradition of the Manchu Eight Banners. Since we have joined the Nikan Banner and enjoyed the benefits of the Eight Banners, we should naturally make contributions to the Manchu lords at crucial moments.

Not only the Nikan Banner people, but also the Nikan Banner army were all split up by Jin Chang and divided into several groups, each with Manchu soldiers stationed to suppress them and prevent them from rebelling.

Outside Shengjing City, there were tens of thousands of expelled bondservants and Han serfs. They were left without a single grain of food, abandoned in the wilderness by Jin Chang to fend for themselves.

(End of this chapter)