1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 110 You believe him just because he says there's no conclusion yet?
As expected, Xiao Chaogui and Wei Changhui's well-prepared and highly capable troops captured Xinwei in less than two days and quickly took control of the Xinwei Plain area near Jintian and Xinwei.

Xiao Chaogui quickly wrote to Peng Gang, indicating that he had dispatched Wei Changhui's younger brother Wei Jun (Wei Zhijun) and his troops to Nutan to meet Peng Gang's fleet.

Peng Gang only needed to transport the money, food, and supplies to Nutan; the rest of the journey would be escorted by Wei Jun's headquarters personnel.

It must be admitted that Xiao Chaogui's execution and efficiency are quite high.

They had barely captured Xinwei when the arrangements for transporting money, grain, and supplies were already made perfectly and efficiently.

Nutan is located at the confluence of a tributary of the Qianjiang River and the Nanmu River.

Peng Gang passed through this place last year when he was traveling to and from Guiping City to rescue Feng Yunshan.

At that time, they also encountered Wang Ji, the patrol inspector of the Dahuang River, who had set up a checkpoint at Nutan to intercept grain merchants from other places.

When Peng Gang led the vanguard fleet out of Dateng Gorge and arrived at Nutan.

Wei Jun's headquarters force of two to three thousand men was already waiting for them at Nutan.

Of course, not all of these two or three thousand people were combatants; more than half were ordinary believers who came to transport supplies.

Peng Gang could see some female followers of the women's camp from the bow of the large sampan.

The fact that Wei Jun dared to openly lead his supply train to wait for him at Nutan indicates that Sipan Village and Nanlu Village on both sides of the Nanmu River had also been captured by headquarters.

The God Society's sphere of influence has expanded from the mountains to the plains at the foot of Pingzai Mountain and the eastern part of Zijing Mountain.

Xiao Chaogui and Wei Changhui are really fast.

Qiu Ersao stopped the boat, and Peng Gang jumped off the large sampan.

The man who came forward to greet Peng Gang was a young man in his early twenties who spoke with a Hakka accent. This man was Wei Jun.

Although Wei Jun had never met Peng Gang, he had heard that Peng Gang was tall, handsome, and a student of the Imperial Academy.

Therefore, Wei Jun recognized Peng Gang at a glance.

"Mr. Peng, I am Wei Jun, and I have been ordered to come here to meet Mr. Peng's fleet." Wei Jun spoke to Peng Gang very politely.

Peng Gang made great contributions, and there were rumors at headquarters that Peng Gang was also Hong Xiuquan's long-lost younger brother and the son of the Heavenly Father.

Wei Jun naturally knew that this was a trick to fool people.

The fact that neither Feng Yunshan nor Hong Xiuquan stopped the spread of this news suggests that it was highly likely that Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan released the message.

This is to pave the way for accepting Peng Gang as a member of the Shentian family in the future.

Given Peng Gang's current achievements, his future status within the organization might not even be lower than that of his brother, Wei Changhui.

Wei Jun wasn't foolish enough to put on airs in front of Peng Gang just because he was Wei Changhui's younger brother.

"Thank you for your hard work." Peng Gang nodded slightly, exchanged a glance with Wei Jun, and then glanced at the small sampans already moored on the Nanmu River, as well as the various vehicles and horses that had been waiting for a long time near Nutan, before speaking.

"Large ships with deep drafts can't navigate the Nanmu River, so I'll unload the supplies at Nutan?"

Judging from the situation, headquarters is going to transport the supplies themselves.

They transported it themselves, which saved Peng Gang a lot of trouble.

The boatmen had just joined him, and they brought back about 1,300 men from Wuxuan.

Peng Gang is eager to integrate the new talent he has just brought in.

"Just unload it on the shore of Nutan, we'll haul it to Xinwei ourselves." Wei Jun glanced at Peng Gang's fleet and asked curiously, "Mr. Peng, how much money and supplies have you brought this time?"

"This batch is 5,563 shi of grain. The remaining supplies will be delivered to Nutan in batches over the next five days for handover." With that, Peng Gang handed the supply list to Wei Jun.

This list was not written in Arabic numerals to make it easier for Wei Jun and his team to understand.

Wei Jun is a pawnbroker by trade, so he should be able to understand this list.

After reviewing the list, Wei Jun beamed with delight: "So many!"

There are indeed many.

Peng Gang borrowed and purchased grain in Wuxuan County. After deducting losses during transportation, the total amount of grain delivered to Bitanxun and Xiadong was 34,726 shi.

The transportation alone kept us busy for almost a month.

However, Peng Gang had spent all the silver confiscated from the four major families of Wuxuan and the officials and clerks of Wuxuan, leaving only 146,640 taels.

The gold wasn't spent; all 4,636 taels of gold remained. After splitting the money and provisions equally with headquarters, the amount of money and provisions left on hand was quite considerable.

Defenses can not do without.

Peng Gang's relationship with Xiao Chaogui and Wei Changhui, who belonged to the same faction within the association, was neither good nor bad.

He remained outside the core decision-making level for a long time to avoid future gossip, accusations of embezzling funds, and attempts to make things difficult for him.

Peng Gang instructed Wei Jun to issue a receipt to his men after each batch of money and grain was inspected: "Once Brother Wei has inspected the money and grain, issue a receipt as proof."

Upon hearing this, Wei Jun was taken aback for a moment, hesitated slightly, but still agreed: "Even close brothers should keep clear accounts, that's only natural. Mr. Peng is very thoughtful and considerate."

"Now that Xinwei has been captured, when does headquarters plan to attack Jiangkouwei?" Peng Gang asked.

Although Xinwei is relatively prosperous, it is still just a small market town and certainly cannot satisfy Xiao Chaogui and Wei Changhui's appetite. Next, they will definitely attack Jiangkou Market Town.

Jiangkouwei is as rich as Guiping, the capital of Guizhou. If we can capture Jiangkouwei, the money and grain we get will be enough for all the members of the God Church to live on for at least nine months.

More importantly, controlling Jiangkouwei would allow them to sail downstream and seize Pingnan County.

If we can gather enough money and grain from Jiangkou Market, Wuxuan County, and Pingnan County.

At that time, there will be no shortage of supplies even if we fight against the Qing army for a year or two.

Peng Gang just didn't know what Xiao Chaogui and Wei Changhui were thinking or what their plans were, so he wanted to try and find out from Wei Jun.

"It's still under discussion, and there's no conclusion yet." Wei Jun seemed to remember something and quickly changed the subject.

Wei Jun's attitude has already given Peng Gang the answer.

Whether or not Jiangkouwei could be captured was crucial to the continued operation of the regiments and battalions; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it concerned the very survival of the Heavenly Kingdom.

After Xiao Chaogui captured Xinwei, people from Jiangkouwei fled to Pingnan County and Guiping City every day with money and grain to seek refuge.

Xiao Chaogui was an impatient man, so how could he not have decided to attack Jiangkouwei by now?

Peng Gang guessed that Xiao Chaogui didn't want him to get involved in the battle at Jiangkouwei and share the credit with him.

After all, Peng Gang had already made a contribution to Wuxuan not long ago, and if he were to capture Jiangkouwei, probably no one in the association could surpass his achievements.

Peng Gang didn't care about whether the credit was shared or not. What he really cared about was how much money and grain Xiao Chaogui would give him after taking Jiangkouwei, and whether or not they would attack Pingnan County.

Pingnan County is much richer than Wuxuan.

We will not attack the city now, but wait for other Green Standard Army troops, or even foreign troops from outside the province, to enter Guangxi to fight.

It would be much more difficult to attack the city again.

Peng Gang was eager to return to Honglian Village to expand his army, and it was impossible for him to stay in Nutan and count and deliver money and grain with Wei Jun indefinitely.

He entrusted the task of delivering the money and grain to Lu Qin and Huang Bingxian.

At the same time, Qiu Zhongliang was ordered to take two companies and accompany Li Qi to escort 20,000 taels of silver to Muge to find his father, Qiu Gusan, and buy grain and salt from him.

Before leaving, Peng Gang handed over Liu Zuosu, the magistrate of Wuxuan County, along with the county magistrate, the county assistant, the registrar, and all other officials to Wei Jun, instructing Wei Jun to escort them back to headquarters and leave the decision of how to handle them to headquarters.

Peng Gang tried to persuade them, but they remained stubborn, especially Liu Zuosu.

Peng Gang knew they were unlikely to serve him, so he decided to hand them over to headquarters.

When the people around heard that the people who had just been escorted off the boat were the magistrate, assistant magistrate, and registrar of Wuxuan County, one of whom was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) and the other two were Juren (successful candidates in the provincial imperial examination), they were immediately struck by the news.

Everyone became interested and gathered around to watch the spectacle; even Wei Jun was particularly curious about the three officials.

On the way back to Bitanxun from Nutan, Huang Dabiao, who was next to Peng Gang, couldn't help but mutter, "Sir, we captured Wuxuan County. We also left half of the military supplies we seized in Wuxuan to Chen Chengrong and Lu Liu. Why should we give half of the money and food to headquarters?"

Huang Dabiao felt heartbroken that half of the money and grain he had just received had been given away before he could even enjoy it.

Although he was nominally a member of the God's Society, he had no sense of belonging to the society and only recognized Peng Gang and his classmates and brothers from Honglian Village.

“If we don’t share some money and grain with headquarters, how will we distribute the money and grain from Jiangkouwei in the future?” Peng Gang said.

"But Wei Jun just said that the headquarters hasn't decided whether or not to attack Jiangkouwei yet; it's still uncertain," Huang Dabiao said, puzzled.

“You’re not convinced when I say you’re stupid, but you believe me when he says there’s no conclusion?” Peng Gang laughed.

(End of this chapter)