1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 130 The Trip to Pingnan
"When the Guizhou and Chu armies entered Guangxi, Liu Jizu established the Xunzhou Prefecture Naval Camp. With the Guizhou army and the Xunzhou Prefecture Naval Camp as his support, Li Mengqun became bolder and sent local militias to garrison Tongling and Lema," Qin Richang said through gritted teeth.

“I was careless. I didn’t know that the Qing demons who entered Lema were the Xunzhou Prefecture naval camp of the Big Carp. I thought they were Li Mengqun’s Wuxuan militia. My men are not good at naval warfare. Not only did they take away the 500 shi of grain we purchased, but we also lost seven or eight brothers.”

Qin Richang usually entrusted the important task of purchasing grain, fodder, and military supplies to the old miners in Longshan.

Qin Richang was so angry, probably because the brothers who died in Lema were all old miners from the Longshan Silver Mine.

"I'll have Third Sister transport 500 shi of grain to the soldiers of the Central Army first," Peng Gang nodded and said. 500 shi of grain wasn't much, but he could help with this.

"Thank you very much, Commander Peng. I will remember this favor. I regret my past actions. If I had listened to Commander Peng's advice and properly trained a naval battalion, I wouldn't have suffered such a loss at the hands of the big carp!" Qin Richang sighed regretfully.

“Just thinking about that big carp makes me angry! I tried to persuade him for three whole days, and even Commander Peng offered him the position of battalion commander, but he still wouldn’t come,” Luo Dagang said indignantly.

"That damn Liu Jizu just threw him a bone, and this bastard wagged his tail and trotted to Guiping City to be Liu Jizu's dog."

Two months ago, when they were conducting united front work against the Heaven and Earth Society, Luo Dagang's former good brother, Big Carp Tian Fang, was a key target for their recruitment.

Luo Dagang wasn't angry that the big carp didn't choose to follow the Taiping Army; after all, everyone has their own ambitions, and he wouldn't force it.

What angered Luo Dagang was that when they parted, the big carp made a solemn promise to him.

He was used to being carefree and couldn't stand being restrained, so he couldn't join the Taiping Army and work with Luo Dagang to achieve great things.

But they are still brothers, and they can still fight the government troops together in the future, killing officials and helping the poor.

As it turned out, not long after Luo Dagang left, this guy accepted Liu Jizu's offer of amnesty and put on the skin of a Green Standard Army garrison officer.

“The Xunzhou Prefecture Naval Camp has been very arrogant lately. I was planning to deal with the Xunzhou Prefecture Naval Camp and the Wuxuan militia when I received the imperial edict at this critical juncture.” Peng Gang stood up and stared at the sand table placed in the center of the hall.

"Li Mengqun dared to send his local militia out of Wuxuan County. His confidence came not only from the Guizhou army and the naval battalion that Liu Jizu had assigned to him, but also from the fact that his Wuxuan militia had been successfully trained."

The Taiping army's navy on Xunjiang River was repeatedly defeated by the Xunzhou Prefecture naval force. Among the Taiping army, only Peng Gang's two boat battalions were capable of dealing with the Xunzhou Prefecture naval force.

If we don't teach the Xunzhou Prefecture naval forces a lesson and give them a good beating, these guys will only become more arrogant in the future.

As for Li Mengqun from Wuxuan County, Peng Gang had to admit that this second-generation rich kid was indeed quite capable.

They managed to get the Wuxuan militia training camp up and running in just two months.

"Now is the time to wage war, but it's a pity that we both have to go to Pingnan to receive our titles. Otherwise, we could join forces now to deal with the Big Carp and the Wuxuan Militia and avenge the humiliation of the Ma clan!" Qin Richang was also somewhat frustrated.

"Our army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Pingnan. If I had led the brothers from Longshan to attack Pingnan County, we would not have lost so many brothers."

Qin Richang had some reservations about the arrangements made by his superiors.

He understood that Shi Dakai was actually more suitable than him to stay and manage the Longshan and Lianhuashan base areas in northwestern Guixian County.

He and his fellow miners were better at blasting and were more suited to follow the main force in attacking Pingnan County.

“Let’s set off,” Peng Gang said, turning to Qin Richang.

"Go and come back quickly. We'll deal with those small fry like Big Carp when we get back."

Hong Xiuquan had just become king, and he was a man who cared a lot about his reputation. He took this reward very seriously and couldn't refuse it. Peng Gang had to go to Pingnan County in person and tell his fellow "immortals" about the increasingly serious situation in Wuxuan and Xiangzhou.

Zhou Tianjue is currently still in Liuzhou, and the Guizhou army and Liuzhou soldiers have not yet entered Wuxuan territory as a whole.

Li Mengqun and Tian Fang, nicknamed "Big Carp," only dared to harass them on the edge of their base area; they did not dare to rashly enter the mountains to encircle and annihilate them.

Once Zhou Tianjue's army arrives, things will be hard to say.

Hong Xiuquan did not issue a decree specifically ordering Luo Dagang to go to Pingnan County to receive his reward.

Peng Gang left Luo Dagang to oversee the base area, and appointed two musket companies and a boat battalion, and together with Qin Richang, they went to Pingnan County.

Passing through Guiping City, Peng Gang came to the bow of the boat and raised his binoculars to observe the situation near Guiping City.

During the Battle of Dateng Gorge, the Qing troops in Guiping City were on edge, seeing enemies everywhere, and dared not even leave the city gates.

Now, as the neighboring province's guest troops bypassed Guixian and entered Guiping City, they recruited and incorporated the Tiandihui boat army, which had been active on the Xunjiang River for many years, into the Xunzhou Water Camp.

The Qing army's courage had clearly grown.

They have already dared to set up camp outside Guiping City.

"Commander, a ship is heading towards us!"

Peng Gang was observing the situation near Guiping City when Chen Ajiu pointed to the twenty or so fishing boats and Mayang boats that were moving around near the North Gate Wharf, lamenting the incompetence of the friendly navy.

"The Xunzhou Prefecture naval forces have stirred up trouble! They're getting out of control! They dare to provoke us. It seems the other naval forces have emboldened them these past two weeks. Commander, please give the order! My five battalions are confident we can wipe out these scoundrels!"

Peng Gang's left wing consisted of six battalions, each numbered.

The first battalion was the musket battalion, the second, third, and fourth battalions were the long spear battalions, and the fifth and sixth battalions were the boat (water) battalions.

Chen Ajiu was the battalion commander of the Fifth Battalion.

Chen Ajiu certainly had the confidence to say this. Half a month ago, after the Xunzhou Prefecture naval forces successively defeated the Taiping Army's navy on Xunjiang and Yujiang, they attempted to seize Qianjiang.

Chen Ajiu led five battalions to defeat the Xunzhou Prefecture naval force, which then dared not covet Qianjiang.

Even when Tian Fang, the "Big Carp," went to Wuxuan to help Li Mengqun, he took a detour by land, avoiding the Qianjiang River section near Pingzai Mountain.

The boat was also raised by Li Mengqun for Tian Fang in Wuxuan.

"Are you confident you can take down the Qing Dynasty cannons on the walls of Guiping City?" Through his telescope, Peng Gang could already see the cannons set up on the walls of Guiping City.

After leaving the Pingzai Mountain area and entering the plains, the Qianjiang River widens suddenly.

Guiping City lacked heavy artillery weighing over 1,000 jin (approximately 500 kg), and its range was limited, so its firepower could not cover the entire river surface.

Peng Gang is now outside the range of the artillery of the Guiping city garrison.

Peng Gang judged that the Xunzhou Prefecture naval camp was trying to lure them into the range of the city's garrison's artillery. "I was reckless!" Chen Ajiu's attention was focused on the Xunzhou Prefecture naval camp near the South Gate Wharf, and he neglected the Qing army artillery on the Guiping city wall.

“If we stay close to the north bank, the Qing demons’ cannons won’t be able to hit a boat more than two miles away,” Peng Gang said, putting down his telescope. “If the Xunzhou Prefecture’s naval forces keep bothering us, we can stop the boat and fire our guns at them. We can fight them outside the Qing demons’ cannon range as long as we don’t cross the river.”

"Yes!" Chen Ajiu saluted Peng Gang and then went to arrange and deploy the battle.

Qin Richang watched with great anticipation as Peng Gang's naval forces engaged in naval warfare.

As Peng Gang had predicted, the Xunzhou Prefecture naval forces intended to lure them into the range of the city's cannons.

The boats of the Xunzhou Prefecture Naval Force stopped in the middle of the river.

The enemy did not move, and neither did Peng Gang.

The two fleets stared at each other on the river, facing each other from afar.

After a stalemate of about fifteen minutes, an official wearing a robe with horseshoe-shaped sleeves and an official hat appeared on the city wall of Guiping and began to beat the war drum with a drumstick.

The drums beat rapidly, seemingly urging the Xunzhou naval forces to launch an attack.

After a brief hesitation, the Xunzhou Prefecture naval forces finally mustered the courage to launch an attack on Peng Gang's fleet.

Chen Ajiu and Lu Qin remained calm and composed as they faced the challenge.

When the Xunzhou Prefecture naval fleet was only fifty or sixty paces away from them, Qin Richang and his personal guards drew their swords, ready to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Xunzhou Prefecture naval officers and soldiers.

In an instant, guns and cannons fired simultaneously, and the lead bullets and iron pellets sprayed from the gun barrels and cannons immediately swept down more than twenty Qing soldiers from the Xunzhou Prefecture naval garrison.

"Damn it! The short-haired naval camp has gotten more guns and cannons!"

"This is bizarre! The short-haired homemade gun is more accurate than the matchlock gun!"

"You bastard! Shall we charge or not? Prefect Liu is still beating the drums on the city wall to cheer us on!"

"What are you talking about! These short-haired thugs came prepared!"

"No matter how loudly Lord Liu beats his drum, it can't stop the short-haired guns from firing!"

"Survival is the priority. If we retreat, we'll only get a scolding from Prefect Liu! If we charge forward, we'll be eating bullets from those short-haired guns and cannons!"

"What kind of life is it to risk your life for only two taels of silver and one shi of rice a month!"

After suffering a loss, the Xunzhou Prefecture naval forces made a fuss for a while and then returned to the North Gate Wharf.

To facilitate combat operations and treat head wounds, Peng Gang's regular soldiers in the Sixth Battalion of the Left Army and the reservists in the Men's Battalion all cut off their queues.

Therefore, the Qing army referred to themselves as "short-haired".

Since the start of the war, it has always been Peng Gang who has captured the weapons of the Qing army; the Qing army has never captured any of Peng Gang's weapons.

The Qing army still doesn't know that Peng Gang has an arsenal and can produce self-propelled muskets using steel and iron materials purchased and stockpiled before the war.

They still believed that the strange muskets used by Peng Gang's left army were homemade muskets.

Chen Ajiu chased them to the middle of the river, and suddenly more than twenty cannons on the city wall of Guiping City opened fire.

Fortunately, Chen Ajiu remembered Peng Gang's instructions and stopped chasing after them when they reached the vicinity of the river, thus avoiding entering the range of the Qing army's cannons.

The solid iron projectiles fired by the Qing army's cannons only created jets of water on the river surface about 60 or 70 paces away from Chen Ajiu.

Having shaken off the entanglement of the Xunzhou Prefecture naval forces in Guiping City, Peng Gang and Qin Richang's fleet stayed close to the north bank, avoiding the range of the Qing army's cannons, and continued heading towards Pingnan County.

"The Xunzhou Prefecture Naval Force is nothing special. My brothers exaggerated their fighting strength to me," Qin Richang said thoughtfully, recalling the battle with the Xunzhou Prefecture Naval Force just now.

The brothers who had retreated from Lema kept boasting about how powerful the Xunzhou Prefecture naval force was, which completely fooled Qin Richang.

Having witnessed firsthand the clash between Peng Gang's boat battalion and the Xunzhou Prefecture naval force, Qin Richang didn't think the Xunzhou Prefecture naval force was particularly formidable.

"It's not that the Xunzhou Prefecture naval force is too strong, it's just that our Taiping Army's navy is not good at naval warfare, which allowed them to take advantage of us," Peng Gang said, putting away his telescope.

The Xunzhou Prefecture Naval Battalion was only slightly stronger than the Xunzhou County Green Standard Army, and could not be considered a strong army.

However, Qin Richang's troops lacked firearms and cannons, had few good swimmers, and even fewer who knew how to fight at sea.

If the Xunzhou Prefecture naval forces were to engage Qin Richang's infantry in a land battle, they might not have gained the upper hand.

The road from Guiping City to Pingnan County is flat and has almost no obstructions.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's high-ranking officials seemed to have no intention of leaving Pingnan County, which made Peng Gang somewhat worried.

Like Guiping, the former capital of Pingnan County, the county seat is built along the water, located at the confluence of the Wujiang River and the Xunjiang River, tributaries of the Xunjiang River.

Peng Gang and Qin Richang's group stopped their boat at the dock and entered the county town under Lu Liu's guidance.

The Taiping army had exceptionally good discipline and never harmed the people in the slightest.

Along the way, we didn't encounter any robberies, or even a single case of forced buying or selling.

The county government office in Pingnan County has been converted into the Heavenly King's Palace.

Peng Gang and Qin Richang followed Lu Liu to the "Heavenly King's Palace," which had only had a new plaque.

Upon seeing a group of girls around ten years old, who were quite pretty, lining up in a long queue at the entrance of the "Heavenly King's Palace," he frowned and asked Lu Liudao, "These women don't seem to be from the Women's Camp. What are they doing gathered at the entrance of the Heavenly King's Palace?"

"The Heavenly King, the Commander of the Central Army, and the Commander of the Front Army are selecting women to fill their harems." Lu Liu didn't think there was anything wrong with this, taking it for granted, and casually told Peng Gang.

Qin Richang, standing to the side, felt somewhat resentful.

He had been separated from his family for more than two months, and the men at headquarters, who were not lacking in female companions, were even holding a talent show to fill their harems.

(End of this chapter)