1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 114 No Money Required!

"The Green Standard Army has deployed!" Xie Bin said, panting heavily.

"Li Dianyuan's Xunzhou Green Standard Army has finally arrived? How many local militia did he bring this time?" Peng Gang asked casually.

Once the God God Society issued its order to organize a troop, Guangxi, with Xunzhou Prefecture as its center, responded from all directions, and the people happily followed suit.

In addition to the members of the main branches, small groups are also continuously gathering in Jintian Village.

Some of these scattered groups weren't even members of the God's Society; they had simply heard that the God's Society in Jintian Village provided meals and were eager to come and eat from the communal pot.

Given the immense scale of the God Society's activities, it would be truly strange if the Xunzhou government authorities did nothing.

Peng Gang was originally from Xunzhou Prefecture, and had previously had frequent contact with the Green Standard Army of Xunzhou, especially the Left Battalion.

He knew what kind of people the pro-independence faction in Xunzhou were.

To think that the entire army of Xunzhou could wipe out the God Worshippers was nothing short of a pipe dream.

"It's not Li Dianyuan, it's General Min. Min Zhengwen is coming to Guiping to oversee our suppression." Xie Bin was on high alert.

"Min Zhengwen has already mustered troops in Liuzhou and is heading towards Xunzhou Prefecture."

Min Zhengwen, the governor of Guangxi, transferred troops from Liuzhou Prefecture to suppress the God Worshippers Society.
No wonder Xie Bin was so impulsive and nervous.

Peng Gang was also surprised.

The first Qing military officers to die at the hands of the God Worshippers were Wang Ji, the patrol inspector of the Huangjiang River, and Zhang Yong, the patrol inspector of the Qinchuan River.

However, these two men held positions equivalent to police station chiefs in later times. They could only be considered police officers, not military officers.

The Qing government's formal mobilization of regular troops to suppress the God Worshippers was led by Li Dianyuan, who brought the main force of the Xunzhou Green Standard Army to Siwang, with his target being Li Dianyuan's Xunzhou Green Standard Army in Huazhou.

At that time, Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan were both hiding in Huazhoushan Village, not in Jintian Camp.

In fact, Li Dianyuan did not know that Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan were the leaders of the God Worshippers Society. They always thought that the leader of the "Shangdi Society" was Wei Zheng from Jintian Village.

Li Dianyuan's entry into Siwang was entirely accidental.

The reason is both laughable and absurd.

At that time, Xunzhou Prefecture was in a state of disarray. Prefect Gu Yuankai and Pingnan County Magistrate Ni Tao felt that Jintian Village and Zijing Mountain were the bandits' old strongholds and barren lands. Since the bandits' old strongholds were difficult to attack, they let the "Shangdi Society" occupy them.

Pingnan never used to have "Shangdi Society" activities, so it's very embarrassing that it's suddenly been taken over by "Shangdi Society".

In particular, Ni Tao, the magistrate of Pingnan County, was unwilling to see the "Shangdi Society" operating within his jurisdiction, and he strongly urged Gu Yuankai and Li Dianyuan to send troops to besiege the "Shangdi Society" in Huazhoushan Village.

Although Li Dianyuan's decision to station troops in Siwang was a fluke, without knowing the full story, it still gave the God Society quite a fright.

Yang Xiuqing hurriedly ordered Meng De'en to lead 3,000 elite troops to rescue Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, which led to the so-called battle to welcome the master, and Hong Xiuquan was brought to Jintian.

However, history has been completely distorted by Peng Gang.

Not only was the uprising brought forward, but the Taiping Army was also stronger at the time of the uprising, and even Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan arrived at Jintian Village ahead of schedule.

Naturally, there would be no battle to welcome the new ruler.

However, it was somewhat unexpected for Peng Gang that the Guangxi authorities would directly dispatch their highest-ranking military officer to Guiping City to oversee the suppression of the God Worshippers.

Peng Gang originally thought that Zheng Zuchen would be satisfied with sending a general from Zuojiang Town to oversee the suppression, but unexpectedly, Zheng Zuchen directly brought out Min Zhengwen.

It is estimated that God's Society captured a county town in its first battle, which broke Zheng Zuchen's defenses and attracted his attention.

After all, the Heaven and Earth Society had been causing trouble in Guangxi for so many years, and it wasn't until last year that they finally captured Guixian County.

God would take over a county town with a single move, and even hold a public trial, confiscate the property from wealthy households, and distribute porridge.

Even if Zheng Zuchen didn't understand the God Society, he could still tell which enemy was more terrifying and more worthy of serious attention.

"Where did you get this information? Is the source reliable? Do you have any more detailed information?" Peng Gang asked Xie Bin about the source of the information.

All that is known is that Min Zhengwen transferred troops from Liuzhou Prefecture to Guiping City to oversee the suppression of the God God Society.

They had no idea how many soldiers he was bringing, when he would arrive, or which route he would take.

There is far too little information.

Moreover, the reliability of the source of the information is still uncertain.

"Huang Zhenyue sent Chen Xingwang to tell me," Xie Bin said with great certainty after a moment of contemplation.

“I think it’s believable. Huang Zhenyue and Chen Xingwang have no reason to deceive us and try to lure our people out of Pingzaishan to annihilate them. The Xunzhou Green Standard Army doesn’t have the guts or the ability to do that.”

Huang Zhenyue was a battalion commander in the Left Battalion of the Xunzhou Green Standard Army.

When Peng Gang was the director of the Zijingshan Association, he had a few meals with Huang Zhenyue, and they could be considered fair-weather friends.

Huang Zhenyue and Chen Xingwang, the former flood control officer of Bitan, are cut from the same cloth.

Timid and cowardly, greedy and scheming, he likes to make money through side jobs.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. It's normal for two people in the same battalion to get along well and share similar interests.

Rather than calling them military officers, they were more like businessmen.

"Where is Chen Xingwang?" Peng Gang asked.

"Wait outside," Xie Bin replied.

"Let him in to see me." Peng Gang let Chen Xingwang in.

When Peng Gang first met Chen Xingwang two years ago in Bitanxun, Chen Xingwang was arrogant and disdainful towards him.

Time had passed, and when Peng Gang saw Chen Xingwang again, this time it was Peng Gang's turn to sit. Chen Xingwang stood nervously, observing Peng Gang's expression and his words.

“Chen Balong, no, now I should call you Chen Qianrong.” Peng Gang looked Chen Xingwang up and down with amusement, who was dressed in casual clothes and looked timid.

This guy really hasn't changed at all; you can't see a trace of military spirit in him. "How dare I, how dare I? I, a mere centurion, am only here because of General Peng's influence." Chen Xingwang looked extremely apprehensive. After thinking for a long time, he couldn't figure out how to properly address Peng Gang, so he simply called him "General."

"You know that's enough. Did Huang Zhenyue send you?" Peng Gang asked unhurriedly, holding a teacup in his hand.

"Huang Durong sent me," Chen Xingwang nodded hurriedly.

"Why did he send you to tell me all this?" Before Chen Xingwang could finish speaking, Peng Gang immediately threw out the next question, giving Chen Xingwang no time to think and organize his thoughts.

"Huang Durong hopes that General Peng Tuan will remember our past friendship and show leniency if we encounter each other on the battlefield, ensuring the safety of his family," Chen Xingwang quickly replied.

"The information you've provided so far isn't enough for me to give him a break, let alone ensure the safety of Huang Zhenyue and his family," Peng Gang said slowly.

The Xunzhou Green Standard Army consisted of only two battalions: the Left Battalion and the Right Battalion.

Given Huang Zhenyue's attitude as the left battalion commander, Li Dianyuan probably only has the right battalion and Zhang Jiaxiang's former Heaven and Earth Society subordinates who have just been recruited.

"Huang Durong said he knew more details, but..." Chen Xingwang hesitated to speak, but steeled himself and used his thumb and forefinger to form a circle, gesturing the shape of the silver ingot.

Love costs money!

Huang Zhenyue and Chen Xingwang are truly a pair of clowns who would rather die than spend money; they've even dared to do business with this traitor.

Peng Gang nearly lost his composure, but managed to control his expression as he asked, "Tell me, how much silver do you want for your information?"

"Huang Durong said he doesn't want any money," Chen Xingwang said, waving his hand.

"No money?" Peng Gang was puzzled, feeling that something was amiss.

"I want gold!" Mentioning gold and silver emboldened Chen Xingwang, and he said with great enthusiasm.

“We know that General Peng has captured Wuxuan and taken advantage of the wealthy households there, so he certainly has plenty of money to buy our information.”

"Tell me, how many taels of gold do you want?" Peng Gang took a sip of tea and asked Chen Xingwang to name a price.

"One thousand taels!" Chen Xingwang gestured with the number one.

"A thousand taels of gold! What a huge appetite!" Upon hearing Chen Xingwang's offer, Peng Gang slammed his teacup onto the unlacquered camphor wood tea table.

A thousand taels of gold? You really dare to ask for that!

Peng Gang didn't know whether Huang Zhenyue or Chen Xingwang had a bigger appetite.

"One price! Eight hundred taels of gold!"

Seeing that Peng Gang would not accept the offer of 800 taels of gold, Chen Xingwang lowered his offer and gave him a 20% discount.

Peng Gang knew that the price Chen Xingwang offered was definitely not the same as Huang Zhenyue's offer.

This guy won't get up early for nothing; he definitely won't make a wasted trip. He'll try to profit from the price difference.

Peng Gang remained unmoved and made no comment, waiting for Chen Xingwang to make another offer.

"Seven hundred taels of gold!"

"Six hundred taels of gold!"

"Five hundred taels of gold!"

When the price dropped to 500 taels, Chen Xingwang stopped lowering it as he had done before.

Five hundred taels of gold was certainly not Huang Zhenyue's asking price, but it was Chen Xingwang's bottom line.

Peng Gang had Peng Yi fetch 250 taels of gold and tossed it to Chen Xingwang: "Here's a deposit of 250 taels of gold for you. If the information you provided is true, the remaining 250 taels of gold will be settled with you immediately."

If I discover that you have cheated, I will go back and tell Huang Zhenyue, and I will personally take the hundred or so taels from his head and the hundred or so taels from your head, Chen Xingwang.”

As he spoke, Peng Gang stood up and patted Chen Xingwang's bald head.

"Guaranteed authentic! The information is absolutely authentic! You can rest assured, I wouldn't dare to deceive or cheat you even if I had a thousand lives!"

Chen Xingwang took out a large satchel he carried with him, wrapped the gold in it, picked it up and weighed it in his hand. Feeling that the weight was correct, he said...

"Min Jun has appointed the Liuzhou Xiezhong Battalion in Liuzhou, together with half of the Admiral's City Garrison Battalion brought from Guilin, and has raised a lot of local militia. They are heading towards Guiping City by waterway via the Liujiang and Qianjiang Rivers, and will definitely pass through the Qianjiang River section near your Pingzai Mountain."

"How many militia units have been mobilized?" Xie Bin interjected from the side.

"How would I know? You're a soldier yourself, you should know that the number of people in each bandit suppression operation is never fixed." After replying to Xie Bin, Chen Xingwang turned to Peng Gang and asked, "General Peng, may I leave now?"

"Of course." Peng Gang patted Chen Xingwang on the shoulder and took out the jade feather tube that had been confiscated from the Liu family during the raid on Wuxuan's house, and handed it to Chen Xingwang.

"Chen Qianrong, go back and tell Huang Durong that this is a business with no capital and huge profits, a steady stream of income. We should do it often."

Consider this jade feather holder a reward for your hard work running the errand. There are many officials and gentry in the prefectural city; surely some of them will appreciate its value.

Having received the jade feather tube, Chen Xingwang, who was initially annoyed that the trip hadn't yielded as much profit as he had expected, immediately cheered up.

Chen Xingwang thanked him profusely and said he would definitely pass on his message to Huang Zhenyue before taking his leave with a cheerful smile.

After Chen Xingwang left, Peng Gang summoned Luo Dagang and the battalion commanders to a meeting.

Although it was common knowledge that Min Zhengwen was unaware that the troops were stationed in Guangxi.

But no matter what, he was a provincial governor, equivalent to the commander of the Guangxi Military Region. The resources he could mobilize were far beyond what Li Dianyuan, a mere deputy general, could compare to.

Peng Gang dared not underestimate his opponent.

After everyone arrived, Peng Gang briefly explained the intelligence he had just received, then turned to Xie Bin, who came from the Guangxi Green Standard Army, and asked him a question.

"How many men would the Liuzhou Xiezhong Battalion and half of the Guilin Admiral's City Garrison have? What would their equipment be like?"

The exact number of militia members is currently unknown, but the number of Green Standard Army regular troops, which is one and a half battalions, can be estimated.

(End of this chapter)