There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 448 Another Tribute

The Han emperor personally led the expedition, bringing not only 2000 imperial guards but also six newly expanded Han military divisions from earlier this year.

If we include the Second, Fifth, and Seventh Divisions, which have already been deployed to Henan (southern part), Anhui (northern part), and Jiangsu (northern part), the Han army's strength on the northern front is roughly close to 100,000 men.

An army of 100,000 is a terrifying number. Even with the Han army's level of organization and the strength and morale of its people, it would be a considerable challenge to mobilize such a large force for battle.

The Han Dynasty seized the opportunity presented by the internal strife in the Manchu central government; otherwise, they would have missed the chance altogether.

If we're going to fight, let's fight a big one. It would be too much to try and achieve everything in one battle. But at least the Han army should secure the best parts of Henan, Shandong, and even parts of Zhili.

The first battle should be the decisive one, a battle that will decide the fate of the nation. If the battle drags on, the people in the north will suffer more and more. Moreover, it will be a waste of the money and supplies in the hands of the Han army, giving the puppet Qing a chance to catch their breath.

After all, the Han army was under great financial pressure and lacked sufficient funds and supplies. The puppet Qing dynasty, having lost Jiangnan and Huguang, would face even greater financial pressure than the Han army.

Nie Yu's imperial banner entered Xuzhou, and the 60,000-strong army he brought immediately began intensive strategic deployment.

Although these 60,000 Han soldiers were all newly recruited this year and had no combat experience, they came from the local militia system, so their training level was beyond doubt.

Compared to the fighting strength of the regular Han army, they were definitely no match, but against the utterly incompetent Qing army, they were more than capable, if not more than enough, they could easily crush them.

By the standards of the Manchu Qing regular army, even without the completely corrupt Qing army, their annual training time would at most account for one-third, with the remaining two-thirds spent on farming and various odd jobs.

The Han army was different. The regular soldiers were all professional soldiers who didn't have to farm; they only had to train, and their training included oil and water to replenish their nutrition and energy. Even the militia trained during their leisure time, and they also had a standard of food with plenty of oil and water during training.

It can be said that in terms of military training and treatment, the Han army was far superior to the Qing army. Of course, there were certainly disadvantages to this approach, and they were not insignificant. The Han Dynasty was essentially unable to maintain a large standing army.

Expanding the army by 200,000 puts immense pressure on the government's finances and military spending.

This is why the Ministry of Revenue agreed to the emperor's personal command of the expedition; the military expenditure for an army of 200,000 was simply too high. The six newly added divisions this year had already nearly emptied the national treasury, and if the army continued to expand, the Ministry of Revenue would simply not have the funds.

Since the Ministry of Revenue has no money, why not go all in now and have a quick victory against the Qing Dynasty?

By destroying the Manchu Qing dynasty, the Han dynasty could then focus its efforts on revitalizing the north and simultaneously alleviate its financial burden through warfare. Post-war economic reconstruction would then gradually erase the fiscal deficit.

……

Henan, Guide (Shangqiu).

Although Guide Prefecture belongs to Henan Province, it is a piece of land that protrudes out of the northeast of Henan, sandwiched between Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.

Now, Jiangsu and Anhui have been swallowed up by the Han army, and the southeastern two directions of Guide Prefecture are now enemy-occupied areas controlled by the Han army.

Even in Henan province to the west, the Seventh Division, having received the emperor's decree to personally lead the expedition, marched north and intimidated Guide Prefecture.

The prefect of Guide was dumbfounded. News of the Han army's northern expedition had only come from the south not long ago. He hadn't even prepared whether to run away or surrender. How could the Han army have arrived so quickly?

War is out of the question; it would be suicide. Even the capable generals and governors couldn't defeat the Han army, so what could a mere prefect like him possibly do?

The Han army sandwiched Guide Prefecture, and the three counties of Xiayi, Yongcheng, and Luyi, which are close to Jiangsu and Anhui, were the first to bear the brunt.

Upon hearing the news that the Han army had captured Xuzhou, the magistrate of Xiayi County did not hesitate for a moment and hurriedly sent an envoy to contact Dangshan County, requesting the Han army to come and accept the surrender.

The magistrate of Yongcheng County did something similar, or even more. He not only sent envoys, but also changed the flags and hung the Great Han flag on the city walls before the Han army arrived.

When the Han army arrived, they saw the large Han flag and noticed that the fabric was exquisite and the patterns were exactly the same as the Han army's red flag, clearly indicating that it had been custom-made in advance.

Fortunately, no cowards surrendered in Luyi County; the county magistrate abandoned the city and fled.

The officials and gentry of Luyi County were dumbfounded. After some deliberation, they could only send a few local yamen runners as representatives to the nearest county, Bo, to surrender to the Han.

In any case, by the time Xiong Xiangjie, the prefect of Guide, received the news, all three southeastern counties had already fallen. "These... these three treacherous bastards, who dared to surrender before even fighting, I... I will definitely impeach them severely!"

Xiong Xiangjie stared at the intelligence report in his hand, his whole body trembling, whether from anger or fear, it was hard to tell.

The magistrate of Shangqiu County, Zhang Gan, who came to deliver the news, said with a bitter face: "Your Excellency, you can impeach these three people anytime. The most urgent matter is what we should do now! All three counties have been lost, and the southeastern barrier of Guide Prefecture has been wide open to the Han army. If the Han army is willing, they can come and attack our Guide Prefecture city at any time."

Reminded by the other party, Xiong Xiangjie came to his senses and quickly said, "In that case, let's immediately gather supplies for the city's defense and prepare to defend it."

Zhang Ding, the Assistant Magistrate of Guide, shook his head: "Your Excellency, it's not that easy! My Guide Prefecture only has 700 weak soldiers in the Guide Camp of Nanyang Town, while the Han army that captured Xuzhou has more than 10,000 troops. And that doesn't even include the Han troops in Suzhou, Chenzhou and other places. How can we possibly hold out!"

"What do you mean?" Xiong Xiangjie suddenly fell silent.

Zhang Gan said, "Since the three counties of Xiayi, Yongcheng, and Luyi have all surrendered, then Your Excellency can certainly follow suit. I have heard that as long as it is a large city like a prefecture or state capital, if it can voluntarily surrender, the Han Emperor seems to be able to grant it a pardon."

"You want this government to surrender?" Xiong Xiangjie raised an eyebrow.

Zhang Ding continued, "It's not surrender, but rather saving the people of Guide from the ravages of war. This is a great deed done by the Prefect!"

"Ha ha……"

Xiong Xiangjie didn't answer, but instead laughed. Suddenly, he slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "No one should think of surrendering! As long as this prefecture stands, even if we fight until only one person remains in Guide Prefecture, no one should surrender. If we don't have enough soldiers, we'll recruit more to defend the city. We'll have all the wealthy households in the city contribute their grain and silver, and all the able-bodied people in the city, regardless of age or gender, should come up and defend the city. Also, open the armory and distribute all the weapons to them."

Upon hearing this, the officials of Guide were all shocked, feeling that Xiong Xiangjie had gone completely mad.

With only 700 weak soldiers, you still dare to put up a stubborn resistance? Do you really think you're a loyal slave of the Qing Dynasty?
That night, Zhang Ding, the Assistant Magistrate of Guide, Zhang Gan, the Magistrate of Shangqiu County, and several other officials of Guide Prefecture gathered together for a secret meeting.

"We can't let Magistrate Xiong act so recklessly. It's obvious that Guide Prefecture can't be defended, and even the Qing Dynasty... it's uncertain whether the Qing Dynasty's rule will be Han or Manchu in the future. What's with this hypocritical act of being a loyal slave?"

“That’s right. Magistrate Xiong has gone mad. He wants to drag all the officials and people of the city down with him, but we can’t do that. We must consider the livelihood of the people.”

"Yes! What have the common people done to deserve this?"

"..."

After a secret meeting, with almost no one objecting, the group quickly formed an alliance and decided to join forces to eliminate Xiong Xiangjie, the prefect.

The following day, they found Qian Liu, the commander of Guide Camp.

After only briefly explaining the advantages and disadvantages to the other party, Qian Qianzong agreed to lead his troops to surrender to the Han Dynasty "for the sake of the people of Guide" and help them capture Prefect Xu.

The Han army only killed the Eight Banners, not the Han people. Those members of the Guide Green Standard Army who were willing to surrender could be spared death.

Even if they voluntarily surrendered and surrendered the city, they could still be considered to have redeemed themselves through meritorious service and would not have to perform much forced labor.

There was nothing they could do; this was Henan Province, and the surrender standards of these Henan officials and Qing soldiers had long been lowered to an infinitely low level by the White Lotus Sect.

The White Lotus sect was extremely destructive, killing people indiscriminately, including the wealthy and Qing soldiers. Whether one surrendered or not made no difference.

The Han army at least reclaimed the land. Landlords and gentry who surrendered could be spared death and retain their legal property. Even soldiers and officials who voluntarily surrendered and offered up the city could atone for their crimes and be rewarded for their service.

This is pretty good.

On the third day, a mutiny broke out in Guide Prefecture, and Xiong Xiangjie, the prefect of Guide, was captured in the prefectural government office.

Afterwards, Zhang Ding, the Tongzhi of Guide, temporarily took over the post and immediately wrote a letter to Xuzhou, requesting the Han army to come and take over the city of Guide.

This completely bewildered the Han army; their main force hadn't even set out yet, and Guide Prefecture had already surrendered.

(End of this chapter)