Qing Yao

Chapter 314 Brothers, follow me!

The tone has been set by Zhao An: Fight! We absolutely must fight!

We need to let the old man know that the Qing Dynasty still has successors, otherwise how will Zhao An take the stage?

After the Taiping Rebellion was over, the Xiang Army and the Huai Army rose to prominence.

Now that Bai Lian has finished fighting, isn't it his turn to rise to power?

Zeng Zuo Li became a meritorious official in the restoration of the Qing Dynasty, but what he really wanted was to undermine the old master's influence and go public on his own.

A true man should not be a slave to pigtails.

The question is, how do we play?
A massive rebel group consisting of several thousand White Lotus and Nianzi rebels, plus hundreds of thousands of disaster victims, was stationed outside Suzhou City. This was already within the scope of large-scale military operations.

We only have about a thousand people on our side; we can't just rush in headfirst, can we?
Hou Feng did not oppose fighting, but suggested waiting at least two days, until the Green Standard Army troops stationed in various parts of Sizhou arrived, which would double their strength.

Zhao An couldn't wait. Even if he thought of the best-case scenario, the conclusion was that if he was slow, the great achievement of quelling the rebellion would fall into Zhu Gui's hands.

Zhu Gui's strength far surpasses that of Zhao An, who is merely acting as the provincial governor. Besides the several thousand Huainan Green Standard Army soldiers he has forcibly detained, there are also two thousand elite troops under the direct command of the governor. If Zhao An is even half a step slower, victory will belong to Zhu Gui.

It should be noted that what the old master values ​​most is not civil administration, but military prowess, and he doesn't even care whether you are an honest official or not.

Having finally managed to significantly reduce Zhu Gui's score through a few incidents, how can we let him recover fully this time?

As the saying goes, time waits for no one. Zhao An couldn't wait even half a day, let alone two days.

"There are many rioters in Suzhou, but that's precisely why they're easy to deal with. You should all know that the disaster victims are not under each other's command, and the White Lotus and the Nianzi were just temporarily put together."

Zhao An introduced a key concept to everyone—the command system.

In this era without radio transmitters, no great general, even if resurrected, could effectively command a motley crew of hundreds of thousands.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the leaders of the White Lotus Sect could only effectively command a maximum of tens of thousands of people, or even just a few thousand. It was absolutely impossible for them to establish a command system of hundreds of thousands of people in a short period of time.

If they truly possessed such ability, they wouldn't have failed to overthrow the Manchu Qing dynasty after fighting the Qing army for eight years.

It is undeniable that although the White Lotus Rebellion was a massive anti-Qing uprising, the discipline of the White Lotus army was truly appalling. So, while the Qing government ostensibly relied on local militias to suppress the White Lotus Rebellion, in reality, it was the people of Hubei, Sichuan, and Henan who ultimately abandoned the White Lotus Rebellion.

This is also why Zhao An never intended to support (join) the White Lotus Rebellion in the first place.

"What do you mean, sir?"

The concept of a command system is not difficult to understand. The White Lotus Sect hastily started an uprising in Suzhou. Even a fool would know that they could not instantly turn hundreds of thousands of disaster victims into a fighting army, especially since the White Lotus Sect lacked weapons and food.

The whole thing just lacked staying power.

Even if they capture Suzhou, they won't be able to strengthen themselves through the spoils. As long as the Qing army deploys in time and prevents them from roaming, they can be trapped and starved to death, let alone attacked.

Once you understand this, the White Lotus Sect is not actually that scary.

Hou Feng was eager to try, and even Qing Yao sensed something was up. On the surface, this battle seemed extremely dangerous, but in reality, it was a good opportunity to earn military merit. If they could seize the opportunity to make a name for themselves and return to the capital, they might just rise to prominence.

After all, Qingyao is a member of the imperial family.

The two of them couldn't think of a fighting strategy for the time being.

Zhao An spoke up, presenting his plan: a surprise decapitation strike.

"Beheading?" The crowd was puzzled as to what kind of beheading was being carried out.

Zhao Anyi did not get entangled with the disaster victims. After arriving, he directly destroyed the White Lotus Sect's command center. As long as the command center was paralyzed, the number of disaster victims, even if it was in the millions, would not be a concern.

At that time, we can appease the people on the spot and use food as a weapon to turn the unruly people into law-abiding citizens.

Hou Feng thought about it and felt that this method was good, but how would they know where the White Lotus Sect's command center was?

With hundreds of thousands of people in the field, accurately locating the command center is extremely difficult.

If they don't find them immediately, they'll alert the enemy. Even if the disorganized mob of refugees is easily defeated, as long as they hold them off for a moment, the main force of the White Lotus Sect will definitely react, and then things will get complicated.

Zhao An smiled and looked at Qing Yao: "You've mastered all the White Lotus Sect's slang?"

Qingyao nodded. Liu Bao, who had been turned, gave a lot of information about the secret codes and contact methods of the White Lotus Sect.

"Then let's just swagger over there."

Zhao An pointed to himself and said, “I am not a temporary governor, and you are not soldiers of the imperial court. We are believers who came to support the uprising in Suzhou. Even if we cannot get close to their command center, we can still turn the world upside down among tens of thousands of people. We will have won this battle even if we do not win it.”

How could they not win? With hundreds of thousands of people in disarray, it would be difficult to distinguish friend from foe. Even a few thousand of the White Lotus main force couldn't suppress them. Their army would collapse like a mountain, and that was no joke.

Sizhou's Zhang Canjiang and Hou Feng were overthinking things. As long as they could sneak in, even if it was just a hundred or so people, they could just shout in the middle of the night that the government troops were coming, and tens of thousands of people would scatter like birds and beasts.

The reason for having too many concerns is simply that one is too incompetent and lacks courage.

"wonderful!"

Everyone was inspired by Zhao An's idea, even Zhuang Yingjiu and Ren Chaoyang, who had always been hooligans, were eager to have a go at it.

"My lord, give the order! I, Ye Zhigui, will lead the brothers of the Cao Gang to wipe out these rebels for you!"

Ye Zhigui, who was highly skilled and daring, and had many lives on his hands, was the most proactive. This was because he was not afraid of the White Lotus Sect, and felt that it would be better to work with Shaojun in the officialdom of Anhui than to work under Ding Jiu in the Yangzhou branch.

With Shaojun's intelligence and courage, Ye Zhigui might become a high-ranking official in the future.

Therefore, Shaojun must see Ye Zhigui's "value".

"This battle is not one you fight for me, but one I lead you to fight."

Zhao An raised his hand to signal everyone not to try to persuade him. Although he was a clerical worker who had worked his way up from the Ganquan County Tax Bureau, he was also quite skilled in martial arts.

Regardless of the era, leaders charging forward is the most effective way to motivate them.

The phrases “Brothers, follow me” and “Brothers, hold the line” are worlds apart.

Instead of immediately ordering them to depart, he instructed Hou Feng and Ye Zhigui to go back and gather the soldiers and gang members, telling them not to force them to go to Suzhou with him, but to go voluntarily.

The Green Standard Army in Sizhou remained directly in Dadianyi to oversee grain transportation, ensuring a continuous flow of grain from Sizhou to Suzhou. Otherwise, it would be impossible to reinstate the displaced people who had become rebels as law-abiding citizens.

"Furthermore, those who are only children are not allowed to go."

After looking around at everyone, Zhao An said in a deep voice: "Tell the soldiers and the brothers of the canal gang that I am grateful to those who are willing to go, but swords and spears have no eyes. I cannot guarantee that everyone who goes will survive. But as long as I am alive, I will take care of the wives, children and elderly who die, and I will also take care of the wounded. In short, I will never mistreat those who risk their lives for me."

(End of this chapter)