1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 116 Jintian Camp
As the team grew.

The requirements for Peng Gang's makeshift team's management capabilities are now much higher than before.

During the Honglianping period, they were able to manage about thirty people with ease.

In the early days, Honglian Village could barely manage to manage a population of about a thousand.

We now manage about 7,300 people, and that number is increasing every day.

For Peng Yi, who was in charge of the granary and logistics and also oversaw the children's camp, the pressure and workload were indeed enormous.

Every day, just the task of making, collecting, and distributing work point cards takes up most of his time.

Chen Yucheng and Zhang Handai both have good management and learning abilities.

It's a pity they joined too late; the things they could do and the pressure they could alleviate for Peng Yi were limited.

Moreover, some of the children in the children's camp are quite mischievous, and managing them is not so easy.

“If three people can’t handle it, then pick three more students from the first and second cohorts to help you out and be your right-hand men,” Peng Gang said after thinking for a moment.

"Can a battalion commander or company commander also be used?" Peng Yi asked.

This kid is truly one of our own; he really doesn't hold back, directly challenging the battalion commander and company commander.

Peng Gang had a total of six battalion commanders, one of whom was Xie Bin.

Peng Yi's insistence on selecting all the battalion commanders would have too great an impact on training; it's impossible to let Peng Yi choose the battalion commanders.

After pondering for a moment, Peng Gang replied: "You can't choose the battalion commander, but you can choose the company commander."

When the topic turned to the company and battalion commanders, Peng Gang suddenly remembered something. He pulled out a piece of draft paper from the neatly stacked ledgers and manuscripts on the camphor wood table, which resembled blocks of tofu, and handed it to Peng Yi.

"Take the company and battalion commanders to Aunt Shoushan's place to take their measurements. Give this pattern to Aunt Shoushan and the others, and have them make two sets of robes like this for each of the company and battalion commanders."

After arranging and explaining the trivial matters of the Honglian Village base, Peng Gang ordered Huang Dabiao to select a platoon of elite troops from the musket battalion to accompany him to Mengchong.

The road from Honglian Village to Mengchong follows the valley of the opposite river.

There were no roads in the world originally, but as more people walked on them, they became roads.

This road wasn't originally a road; almost no one walked on it two years ago.

There was only a narrow path, less than a foot wide, which was often blocked by overgrown vegetation.

Nowadays, because many people have settled and lived in the opposite valley, this road is frequently used.

The road was not only widened to the point where mule carts and oxcarts could pass, but even the lush vegetation that used to annoy travelers on both sides was gone.

When Peng Gang arrived in Mengchong, he happened to see Chen Chengrong loading and unloading supplies at the headquarters warehouse in Mengchong.

There are now two headquarters, one in Weibao, Mengchong, and the other in Weijia, Jintian Village.

The sacred storehouse in Mengchong was managed by Yang Xiuqing, while the sacred storehouse of the Wei family in Jintian Village was managed by Xiao Chaogui and Wei Changhui.

On the eve of issuing the regimental order, Xiao Chaogui advocated merging the two warehouses and transferring the supplies from the Meng region to Jintian Village to facilitate the regimental operation.

However, Yang Xiuqing did not agree.

Yang Xiuqing believed that the old base in Zijing Mountain had been operating for a long time, and they controlled Fengmen'ao, the eastern entrance of Zijing Mountain, making it difficult for government troops to enter. The mountain was safer, so the old base in Mengchong should be preserved.

Now that Yang Xiuqing has conquered Dongxiang, and even the western mountain entrances of Zhuzai Gorge and Shuangji Mountain are under the control of the God God Society, it is even less likely that Yang Xiuqing will give up Mengchong.

The entrances are located to the north and south. Zijing Mountain is the southern spur of the Dayao Mountains, and to the north of Zijing Mountain is the continuous Dayao Mountains.

To the south, the road that Peng Gang took from Honglian Village to Mengchong is the southern entrance to the Zijingshan Base.

In other words, Peng Gang is guarding the southern entrance to Zijing Mountain.

This is why Yang Xiuqing expressed her support when Peng Gang proposed to stay in Honglian Village and Bitanxun to guard the southern entrance of Mengchong Headquarters.

As for who is right and who is wrong between Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui, there is actually no right or wrong; each has their own reasoning.

It's just a difference in stance and strategy.

Yang Xiuqing's efforts to protect the Zijingshan base are aimed at maintaining stability.

Xiao Chaogui advocated using Jintian as a springboard to seize the entire Xinwei Plain and even the wealthy areas on both sides of the Xunjiang River, which was quite radical.

At this stage, the Qing army has not yet pressed on.

Xiao Chaogui's proposals naturally had a more obvious effect, and he had more supporters.

Yang Xiuqing's proposals would only prove effective when facing the Qing army's encirclement and suppression efforts.

After all, mountainous areas are easier to defend than plains.

"Commander Peng, I was just on my way to Honglian Village to find you." Peng Gang was one of the six army commanders initially appointed by the regimental command, so Chen Chengrong now addressed him by his official title, calling him Commander Peng Gang.

"You also successfully captured the mountain stronghold of the Wei family chieftain in Wuxuan?" Peng Gang asked.

After parting ways with him in Dongxiang, Chen Chengrong followed Yang Xiuqing to attack the strongholds of the two hostile forces, Huangjia Tubao and Tusi Weijia Shanzhai, in Dongxiang, Wuxuan.

Now that they've returned laden with spoils, they must have already captured the earthen fortress and the mountain stronghold.

"Taking Huangjia Fortress will be more troublesome. The Wei family chieftain's wolf soldiers are overrated; they're just a bunch of show-offs, all looks and no substance," Chen Chengrong said casually.

"Commander Yang has ordered that the money and grain captured by the Central Army this time be distributed among Commander Peng's Left Army: 3,760 shi of grain, 12,380 taels of silver, and 435 taels of gold."

Although Yang Xiuqing and Peng Gang were both army commanders.

However, Yang Xiuqing's position as commander of the Central Army was much higher than Peng Gang's position as commander of the Left Army.

Feng Yunshan's proposed military system was based on five armies: center, front, rear, left, and right. Subsequent additions were numbered after center, front, rear, left, and right, such as Center 1, Front 1, Rear 1, Left 1, and Right 1.

Shi Dakai is now the commander of the First Army, a position slightly lower than Peng Gang's.

"Where is Commander Yang now? I want to thank him in person!" Peng Gang said happily.

Yang Xiuqing was still kind-hearted. Peng Gang had eaten at the homes of wealthy families in Wuxuan and knew their financial situation well.

Yang Xiuqing only had one and a half wealthy households this time, and the fact that he could produce so much money and grain suggests that he most likely split the seized money and grain with Peng Gang.

"Commander Yang has already gone to Jintian to take charge of the regiment's camp," Chen Chengrong said.

“Perfect timing, I’m going to Jintian too,” Peng Gang said with a smile.

After leaving Mengchong, passing through Sanjiang, crossing Fengmen'ao, quickening our pace, and crossing a rocky slope, we emerged from the valley.

Suddenly, the view opened up before us, revealing Jintian Village, located on the edge of the Xinwei Plain near Rhinoceros Ridge.

Dust billowed from the mountain pass. Shouts, faintly like thunder, were carried on the wind.

Looking down, Jintian Village was already densely packed with people, seemingly without end.

The hillsides near Jintian Village are covered with mats, the fields are like tides, and the gullies, woodlands, and rocky beaches on the mountainside are filled with people and fluttering flags.

The mountain wind carries the sound of gongs and drums, booming and pounding like thunder and waves, stirring the heart.

As far as the eye could see, there was a huge, dark mass of people, stretching from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside, and even the pine forest on Rhinoceros Ridge was crowded with people.

Upon reaching the edge of the camp, Peng Gang noticed that the area around the camp was mostly filled with cards at the end of their positions.

Although, for the sake of ease of allocation, organization, and management, Peng Gang's Honglian Camp and the headquarters' Jintian Camp both implemented separate camps for men and women.

However, the rules and methods for operating the two operations are still somewhat different.

Besides the members of the Shentian family, the remaining members at Jintian Camp included high-ranking leaders such as Qin Richang, Lin Fengxiang, and Li Kaifang.

They are not allowed to live with family members, the family unit has been completely abolished, and men and women are especially prohibited from living together.

Although Peng Gang's Red Lotus Camp also prohibits men and women from living together, same-sex family members are still allowed to live together.

Furthermore, the Jintian regiment's camps were not divided as finely as Peng Gang's; they were only divided into male and female camps based on gender.

The last card belongs to the male camp.

The so-called "last men" refers to the non-combatants who are positioned after the able-bodied soldiers.

Those over fifty, under fifteen, cooks, and handymen are all considered to be at the end of the card.

The last card is actually a reserve force, especially the scouts in the last card.

Child soldiers typically do not participate in combat directly; many children, however, will cheer and wave flags from a distance when fighting.

Or participate in some low-intensity military tasks such as patrols or sentry duty.

If Chen Yucheng hadn't been with Peng Gang, he would be at the end of the game at Jintian Camp right now.

Of course, the last card doesn't necessarily mean weak fighting power.

The child soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom repeatedly performed extraordinary feats, and when they fought, they were even more ferocious and fearless than the soldiers themselves.

In January 1853, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captured Wuchang, the provincial capital for the first time. The first to storm into Wuchang were fifty child soldiers from Paiwei.

When passing by Paiwei Camp, Peng Gang met an old man carefully carrying a bowl of porridge to his grandson.

He handed the pink porridge to his grandson and let him drink it.

Immediately, the old man sat on the woodpile, smoking his pipe. The timid, submissive look he once had when he was a compliant citizen was gone from his cloudy eyes; only a resolute determination remained.

While smoking tobacco made of some unknown herb, he said to his six- or seven-year-old grandson beside him, "Grandson, remember, our lives were given by the Emperor, not by the Tartars or the officials in the government."

The little grandson just kept nodding, head down, drinking his pink porridge.

This porridge is made by chopping sweet potatoes with the skin on and mixing them with rice before cooking.

It's easy to cook, can be made with both rice and other grains, is easy to digest, and can fill you up quickly. Peng Gang's Honglian Camp often makes this kind of porridge.

Peng Gang glanced at the grandfather and grandson before continuing on his way.

In remote areas, tents are often made of straw or pieced together from rags.

The onlookers, seeing Peng Gang and his group riding horses, carrying muskets and knives, and wearing coarse cloth clothes without patches, couldn't help but cast envious glances.

They were talking amongst themselves, discussing who these newcomers were.

As they got closer to the center of Jintian Camp, decent tents gradually appeared, erected with complete tarpaulins.

The people I meet are getting younger and younger, mostly teenagers or young adults in their twenties or thirties.

Correspondingly, these people were the main force of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Some of the able-bodied men were practicing spear fighting shirtless, some were marching in step, and some were reciting the heavenly rules in a circle. The children watching the training near the camp were also learning along with them, doing so meticulously and without any playfulness.

Most of these people were Hakka speakers, and they were all thin and sturdy.

Despite their tattered clothes, mostly coarse cloth and short tunics, with few even having straw sandals, they all stood ramrod straight and had resolute eyes.

They did not have uniforms, and the weapons they carried were all kinds of things, including machetes, hoes, fire tongs, homemade guns, wooden sticks, and bamboo spears.

They were a bunch of peasants.

Yet this very group of impoverished people, armed with rudimentary weapons, is about to shake the seemingly rock-solid foundation of a super empire with a territory of tens of millions of square kilometers, a population of over four hundred million, and a reign of more than two hundred years.

The God Society has a weapons workshop in Mengchong, and Jintian Village has also started forging weapons. Half of the cold weapons in Penggang Honglianping Arsenal are supplied to the headquarters.

Seven or eight days ago, the Jintian Regiment exchanged 1,250 rifles and 200 long and short knives from Peng Gang's inventory, which were intended for expanding the army.

Logically speaking, their equipment shouldn't be this bad.

I reckon all the real weapons have been thrown into the Rhinoceros Pool, and since the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother haven't had a chance to descend and manifest their power yet, they can't be retrieved and used for the time being.

(End of this chapter)