You can't only love the Qing Dynasty when you're eating the fruits of others' labor.

Chapter 332 A bad news and a good news~
The twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Changde Prefecture fell after only four days of relentless attacks by the Qing army.

Wang Fuchen was indeed brave enough to personally supervise the battle, but even his bravery could not offset such a huge disparity in troop strength.

The garrison in Changde numbered only 7000, while the Qing army numbered 7.

The Shaanxi-Gansu Green Standard Army, responsible for the attack, suffered over 10,000 casualties in the battle, half of whom were new recruits drawn from areas of civilian unrest, and many of them had not even managed to get a decent military uniform.

War has always been like this.

Jiang Qingyun wrote the following reply after the casualty figures: "The Ministry of Revenue shall handle all compensation and benefits! The Censors of the Censorate stationed in Shaanxi shall supervise the process!"

The compensation for those killed in action and those wounded in battle both followed the old regulations of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing government never treated people like human beings, but it did act humanely in terms of compensation. Ordinary infantrymen who died in battle received 50 taels of silver, those seriously wounded in battle received 30 taels, and those who died of illness received 30 taels.

Aristotle once said:
Everything in this world has a price, and human life is no exception. If the price is reasonable, no immoral behavior will anger the person involved.

……

After 7 days.

Outside Changsha, a massive Qing army arrived.

After four days of work, instead of attacking the city, they set up deer fortifications, chevaux-de-frise, and barbed wire, and dug horse traps.

On the city wall.

The lieutenant laughed and said, "It seems the Qing army intends to besiege us?"

Wang Pingfan nodded: "Changsha is not afraid of being besieged. The city has plenty of supplies. Please invite General Wang Fuchen to come."

"Whoo."

Wang Fuchen, who escaped from Changde Prefecture on horseback by relying on his abnormal personal strength, also fled into Changsha. As soon as he entered the city, he was ordered to hand over his weapons.

Sure enough, Wang Fuchen started shouting as soon as he arrived.

"Wang Pingfan, what right do you have to treat me like this?"

"Ma Yaozi, I'm just taking precautions, don't overthink it."

Do you have the prince's warrant?

"No."

"Then what makes you think you can?"

"I am the garrison commander of Changsha. Every blade of grass and every tree in Changsha is under my control, including you."

"If I had known, I would have gone to Baoqing."

"Ma Yaozi, tell me about the tactics the Qing army used to attack Changde?"

"They bombarded the city with cannons first, then kept piling up people. They kept sending people up, and when they died, they kept sending people up and dying. The corpses were almost half the height of the city wall, and then Changde collapsed."

"So intense?"

"Hmph, the Qing army's casualties are estimated to be between ten and twenty thousand."

"Ma Yaozi, if I were to order you to lead your troops out of the city to launch an attack now, would you be willing?"

"Give me back the knife, and I'll go right away."

Wang Pingfan looked at the eager Wang Fuchen and felt somewhat relieved.

……

A few days later~
The Qing troops gathered outside Changsha began to march out, sweeping through the surrounding area, destroying post stations, and blocking supply routes.

Jiang Qingyun did not intend to launch a direct attack on Changsha. Instead, he planned to isolate Changsha first by sending troops to cut off the official road from Liling to Pingxiang, thus cutting off the transportation lines between Hunan and Jiangxi for the second time.

He gazed at the majestic city of Changsha in the distance, utterly perplexed. Why didn't Wu Sangui retain his memory?
If I can't figure it out, I'll just stop thinking about it.

The real reason was that Wu Sangui hoped to achieve a breakthrough on any of the three offensive routes, so his troops were spread out evenly.

Having lost Yuezhou, the Wu army would need to deploy a large field force to defend the Liling-Pingxiang passage, which they simply could not provide.

……

East of Liling City.

On the banks of the Yuanjiang River.

What's that foreigner up to?

"Shall we build a fortified city?"

"What kind of city was built so crookedly?"

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, not understanding, but obediently following orders.

Before selecting a site, Ferdinand Verbiest, escorted by cavalry, surveyed the geography of the Liling-Pingxiang passage and learned about the military defensive significance of the mountain pass. He decided to design a massive bastion fortification and named it Fort Our Lady!
Compared to other similar giant fortresses in Europe that are exquisitely designed and made of high-quality materials, Fort Santa Maria was crude in both design and construction.

The height and thickness are significantly reduced, and the angular error is even greater.

But it doesn't matter; the most important thing about a giant bastion defense system is its depth.

After the enemy forces break through the outer defense line, there are still second and third defense lines, which the enemy forces must overcome one by one by incurring huge casualties.

……

Ferdinand Verbiest was a very pragmatic person who made use of what was available.

"After the town of Liling was demolished, the timber and bricks were transported down the river to this place."

“The workload will be allocated to each flood season. Each person will be rewarded with 5 taels for the first flood season to be completed, 4 taels for the second flood season, and 3 taels for the third flood season.”

“We used silver to hire and mobilize the local people, and settled their wages according to the amount of work done, on a daily basis.”

"The civilians were responsible for transporting materials and digging trenches, while the soldiers were responsible for building the walls."

1500 Eight Banner soldiers were responsible for perimeter security, 4000 Green Standard Army soldiers were responsible for building the main fortress, and 5000 civilians were mobilized to move supplies.

Five days later.

Wang Pingfan immediately sent letters to Hengzhou and Kunming requesting reinforcements, while also sending troops out of the city to frequently harass them, resulting in constant small-scale skirmishes between the two sides.

……

The fourteenth of the first lunar month.

"The rebels have emerged!"

As soon as the Wu army came out of the city gate, the sentries on the watchtower started banging gongs frantically.

5000 Manchu Banner soldiers and 2000 New Army soldiers remained outside the city to guard the area. Upon hearing the alarm, the cavalry arrived first and used mounted archery to block the enemy. The New Army arrived later and took turns firing arquebuses to block the enemy.

Wu Jun, a small shareholder, couldn't gain any advantage at all.

Wang Fuchen suggested, "Let's just launch a full-scale attack, since there aren't many Eight Banner soldiers anyway!"

"No, what if Changsha falls?"

"Half of them attack?"

Wang Pingfan thought this made sense, so he mustered more than 10000 soldiers and sent them out of the city gates at the same time.

Sure enough~
The Qing army retreated into their camp, using muskets and bows to repel the enemy, while a cavalry force of about 3000 men provided support from a distance.

Wang Fuchen:
"Let's just pull down the cannons on the city wall and break this turtle shell today."

"no!"

"I will personally lead the vanguard."

“The garrison in Changsha is mostly infantry. I’m worried that when we’re attacking the camp with all our might, the Eight Banners troops might suddenly rush over. If that happens, our morale will be thrown into chaos, and everyone will run into the city. The Eight Banners troops might take advantage of the chaos to enter the city.”

"It's not good to hear that tens of thousands of us are trapped in the city by thousands of people."

"The local must yield to the overall situation. I have already written to the Prince and am waiting for him to adjust the deployment."

"How to adjust?"

"No comment."

Wang Fuchen was furious and stormed off.

Objectively speaking, Wang Pingfan was a qualified general. He considered things very carefully; war is a game of chess, and Changsha needed to be subordinate to the overall situation.

Jiang Qingyun's tactics began to take effect. After the Eight Banners troops pursued and burned several large ships of the Wu army along the river, the Wu army's supply line was once again blocked, and a large amount of supplies were stranded in Hengzhou.

……

Kunming.

Wu Sangui was quite shocked and even somewhat angry upon hearing the news.

Changsha has ample firearms, elite soldiers, strong city walls, and a seasoned general. Why won't you, Jiang Qingyun, just attack Changsha honestly?
“Zhao Xia State Chancellor, Guo Zhuangtu.”

Before long, the two hurriedly entered the Prince's mansion.

"Meet the prince."

“Both of you are family. Please sit down and let’s discuss the battle of Changsha.”

Xia Guoxiang and Guo Zhuangtu exchanged a glance.

Guo Zhuangtu excitedly said, "Your Highness, just now, Wang Jinbao, the commander of the Sichuan Green Standard Army, sent a letter expressing his willingness to serve Your Highness."

(End of this chapter)