There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 458: The brave one wins when we meet on a narrow road
The fact that Jinxiang County was taken over by a group of spies was truly beyond Yang Fang's expectations.

Yang Fang's original plan was to first lead the navy to capture the strategically important town of Nanyang and control the Grand Canal.

Afterwards, they turned south and captured Guting Town (present-day Yutai County) and Yutai County (Dongjiadian). While securing the rear of the main army, they also sent troops to attack Jinxiang County to stabilize their flank and connect with the rebel army in Caozhou.

However, the reality was that the Han army had just captured Nanyang Town and was leaving behind civilian laborers and new recruits to build defensive fortifications. Shortly after, Guting Town received the news, and the local gentry quickly rose up and surrendered, even capturing the town inspector as a pledge of allegiance.

After Guting Town was destroyed, Yutai County followed suit. The county magistrate of Yutai County was caught red-handed by the clerk before he could even flee, along with all his belongings.

The entire Yutai County was taken peacefully, without any resistance whatsoever.

This sounds absurd, but it's actually quite reasonable. Yutai County and Guting Town are both too close to the Han Dynasty. If you travel a few dozen or a hundred miles south, you'll encounter Han scouts and fortifications.

Therefore, the officials and gentry in these places were all incredibly audacious. As soon as news of the Han army's arrival came, they dared to rebel and seize the city.

Since they were so close, and Yinghe had just transferred troops from various regions, it was tantamount to "encouraging" them to rebel and surrender. If they surrendered, the Han army could immediately come and take over the cities, making them feel completely fearless.

Yang Fang led his army all the way there, and they all surrendered at the mere sight of him.

After finally arriving in Jinxiang County, before even reaching the county seat, we could see the simple Chinese character flag hanging on the city gate tower from afar using binoculars.

Then, Yang Fang received a message from his subordinate's messenger: Jinxiang County had been captured by spies infiltrated within the county, and the county magistrate had been captured alive. He chuckled helplessly, "Three men can take over a county? That's quite impressive. Even at my peak, I wouldn't dare take a city with just three men!"

Unlike the previous visits to Yutai County and Guting Town, where only a small number of troops were sent, Yang Fang personally received the three spies from Jinxiang County.

Upon seeing that the three men were all of ordinary appearance—an old man involved in a gang, a middle-aged merchant, and a poor, pedantic scholar—he couldn't help but clap his hands in admiration, exclaiming, "His Majesty's Intelligence Bureau is truly a place where hidden talents abound! To have three such outstanding and valiant brothers! Amazing! Amazing!"

"General Yang, you flatter me!"

The three of them quickly cupped their hands in greeting.

After speaking with the three, Yang Fang immediately arranged the next strategic direction.

According to the original plan, the Han army was to first capture Nanyang Town, and then conquer the southwest city by city. This would stabilize the flank and rear, while simultaneously taking Caozhou Prefecture and joining forces with the Caozhou rebels and the Han army in Henan.

But now, Yang Fang's march is going too smoothly, so smoothly that it no longer requires so much trouble.

Jinxiang County was easily captured by three spies, and Yutai County and Guting Town simply surrendered.

In less than a few days, the southwestern half of Jining Prefecture was already covered with Chinese character flags.

Further west, the counties of Shan, Cao, and Chengwu had already been captured by the Caozhou rebels. The Han army only needed to advance westward, take over these county territories, and then join forces with the Caozhou rebels to attack the Caozhou prefectural city.

After studying the map carefully, Yang Fang decided not to waste any more time in Caozhou Prefecture.

He only dispatched a detachment, the 11th Division of the New Army that had accompanied him north, to support the rebel army in Caozhou and attack the city of Caozhou.

Yang Fang set a strategic goal for the 11th Division, at the very least, to capture the entire territory of Caozhou Prefecture.

If possible, we can also head north and take over Dongchang Prefecture (Liaocheng), Daming Prefecture, and Liangshan area.

Daming Prefecture conveniently separates Henan and Shandong. If Daming Prefecture is captured, the Han army in Shandong can join forces with the Han army in Henan and the Tianli Sect in Hua County to launch a fierce attack on Liu Yong, who is besieging Kaifeng Prefecture.

Dongchangfu and Liangshan areas belong to western Shandong and also encompass the northern section of the Grand Canal.

Taking these two areas would completely cut off the Grand Canal, dividing the Qing army in the north in two with the canal as the boundary.

Yang Fang dispatched a detachment to attack Caozhou Prefecture, while the main force immediately returned to Nanyang Town.

After a brief resupply, the troops were immediately divided again, with the Second, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Divisions all being sent out.

After the surrender of Jinxiang County, Yutai County, and other counties in Caozhou Prefecture, Yang Fang had a basic understanding of the local fighting strength of the Qing army in Shandong.

Since it's going to be this easy to fight either way, let's just go all out and fight even faster.

Not only did it aim for a quick victory and save money and supplies, it also forced the main Qing army to engage in a decisive battle.

Even if we don't seek to settle the score in one battle, we must at least inflict a heavy blow on the Manchus, leaving them with no power to resist.

The three Han armies quickly divided their forces.

Bai Nan led the main force of the Second Division across the Baima River, tasked with capturing Zou County, Qufu County, and Yanzhou Prefecture.

Deng Cheng, commander of the 12th Division, led his troops south along the Grand Canal, passing Xia Town (Weishan County) to Pizhou. They then changed course and took the Wu River to attack Yizhou Prefecture (Linyi). Chen Sheng, commander of the 13th Division, led his troops across the Xinggou River, first attacking Teng County. After capturing Teng County, they launched a surprise attack northwards to attack Qingzhou Prefecture (Yidu).

The three armies each occupied the three prefectures in southeastern Shandong. Including the eleven divisions of Caozhou Prefecture, they basically treated Jinan Prefecture as dumpling filling, intending to wrap it up and beat it.

Yang Fang's Fifth Division, as the main force, was personally led by him to attack Jining Prefecture on the Grand Canal.

Jining Prefecture is not difficult to capture, but once it is captured, the Qing army will definitely be thrown into chaos.

Yang Fang planned to use Jining Prefecture as bait to catch the big fish, the Qing army.

……

The Han army's speed in conquering cities and seizing territory was incredibly fast, and their reaction and troop deployment speed was even faster.

Just as Yinghe had decided to force a crossing of the He River to attack Jinxiang County and Yutai County, and then march south to launch a surprise attack on Xuzhou Prefecture, disrupting the Han army's strategic deployment.

As a result, Jinxiang County and Yutai County were both captured, and the Han army even sent troops to attack the three prefectures of Yanzhou, Yizhou and Qingzhou.

The information was all leaked to them by the Han army, and Zhang Tiren, the prefect of Jining, originally did not want to report it. However, the Han army was too arrogant and used a loudspeaker to inform them, so he was forced to send a fast boat to report it to Yinghe.

When Yinghe received the news, they were already halfway down the canal heading south.

"What should we do now?" Yinghe was in a bind, and asked his generals with a grim expression.

The generals were also caught off guard by the news and were helpless.

Although their strength was similar to that of the Han army's regular forces, the size of their regular troops was vastly different, almost less than half the number of the Han army's regular troops.

Although the Han army's regular troops were mostly new recruits, with only the Fifth and Second Divisions being veterans, the number of veterans on the Han army's side was not significantly different from that on the Qing army's side.

However, there are differences between new recruits. Compared with the local militia of the Qing army, the new recruits of the Han army were far superior in combat power and discipline.

After this comparison of combat strength, the Han army has at least gained a relative advantage in the number of troops in Shandong.

With a large army, all schemes and tricks become trivial.

The gap in hard power left the Qing army with very little room for strategic maneuver.

General Feng Jiangong of Dengzhou said, “General, there are only two paths we can take now. One is to immediately retreat to Jinan Prefecture. Jinan Prefecture is the heart of Shandong, with Mount Tai to the south and the Daqing River to the north. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. We should be able to hold off the Southern Army’s offensive and then proceed slowly. The other is to send the entire army south to reinforce Jining Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture. As the saying goes, when two armies meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. The Southern Army is arrogant and dares to divide its forces to fight. If we take this opportunity to go south, we may be able to turn defeat into victory.”

The two strategies Feng Jiangong gave were, frankly speaking, no strategy at all.

We either fight or we retreat; there's no other way.

Leaving aside the question of whether they could win, retreating would be utterly hopeless, as Jinan was said to be easy to defend and difficult to attack. However, their tens of thousands of troops had marched south and were riding high on morale. If they were to retreat to Jinan in such a sorry state, their morale would likely collapse on the spot.

Once morale collapses, even if the difference in combat strength is not significant to begin with, there is basically no hope of winning the battle.

This time, Britain made a quick decision, because the die was cast and they had no choice but to act. If they had withdrawn without fighting, they would never have had to fight again.

Even his 1 Manchu bannermen and 2 Solon soldiers would become terrified of the Han.

Moreover, even if a battle were to break out, it wouldn't necessarily require his main force to charge. There were plenty of Han Chinese and Nikan cannon fodder; at worst, if the battle turned against him, he could break through and retreat back to Jinan.

Instead of retreating, the British army advanced and crossed Nanwang Lake in just two days, reaching Jining Prefecture.

No sooner had the Qing army entered Jining Prefecture than news was sent to Yang Fang's army headquarters overnight. It even included a detailed count of the Yinghe army's troop numbers, clearly stating how many were regular Eight Banners and Green Standard Army soldiers and how many were cannon fodder and local militia.

Although the message was relayed by Han army spies, the source of the leak was Zhang Tiren, the prefect of Jining.

Of course, this guy deliberately leaked information not to surrender, but to hedge his bets.

This guy's idea was simple: since Yinghe already knew about the Han army's arrogant division of forces, he would definitely have to reveal some information about the Han army's troop strength to help him gain their favor.

If the Han army wins later, he can naturally claim credit as an "undercover agent".

If the Han army is defeated, the intelligence he provides to the British and the Han army about splitting their forces will also earn him a good impression with the British and the British.

Regardless of who wins or loses, he won't lose out!
(End of this chapter)