1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 143 Ulantai's "Brilliant Plan"

Hu Yihuang did not die, but was captured.

Feng Yunshan told Peng Gang this news.

Peng Gang was very surprised to learn this news.

Hu Yihuang was a high-ranking official in the Taiping Army and knew a great deal about its internal affairs.

Feng Yunshan came to Dachong because he heard that Peng Gang had captured Li Rui, the general of Guzhou Town in Guizhou. He wanted to use Li Rui and other high-value prisoners to exchange for the brothers in the rear army who had been captured by the Qing army.

Peng Gang directly rejected Feng Yunshan's request.

Peng Gang refused Feng Yunshan's request not because he was reluctant to part with a general who was a prisoner of war.

Peng Gang felt that Feng Yunshan was acting impulsively.

When Feng Yunshan's request was rejected by Peng Gang, he couldn't help but feel a bit emotional: "Hu Yihuang joined our God Society at the cost of his family's livelihood and made many contributions. In your eyes, is he not even as good as a general of the Qing Dynasty?"

"Don't even mention the General; even if it takes a Governor-General to exchange Hu Yihuang for me, I will not hesitate. Even if I don't have any in my prisoner-of-war camp, I will send troops to take down the Chu army camp and even Wuxuan City, capture Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong, and exchange Brother Hu for me," Peng Gang said without hesitation.

"Really? But you can't even afford to part with a general." Feng Yunshan thought Peng Gang was just being sarcastic and said sarcastically.

"Third Brother, let me ask you this: Is Brother Hu a stupid, spineless person?" Peng Gang asked Feng Yunshan in return.

"No." Feng Yunshan answered Peng Gang's question immediately without thinking much about it.

“Third Brother, let me ask you again, if the Qing demons knew that they had captured one of our Taiping Army's deputy commanders, would they handle it discreetly or publicize it loudly?” Peng Gang continued to ask rhetorically.

Given the character of Qing officials, if they knew they had captured high-ranking Taiping rebels, they would have written extensively about it and publicized it to claim credit; they wouldn't have remained completely unaware of it.

"You mean, Qingyao doesn't know Brother Hu's identity yet?" Feng Yunshan carefully considered Peng Gang's words, his expression softening slightly.

“The prisoners in the POW camp all thought that Fifth Brother and I were the ‘bandit leaders,’ so how could they know that Brother Hu was the deputy commander of our rear army?” Peng Gang patiently explained to Feng Yunshan.

"We haven't heard any news from the Qing forces about capturing the Taiping Army's deputy commander, which means Brother Hu has concealed his identity very well. If we were to exchange Brother Hu and his men for a Qing general at this time, that would be doing Brother Hu a disservice."

"It was my oversight." After figuring out the problem, Feng Yunshan said apologetically, "Then what can we do? We can't just stand by and watch Brother Hu get trapped in enemy territory, can we?"

“Of course not. How many people from the rear army were captured by the Qing demons this time? I’ll pick a number of Qing demon prisoners equal to the number of battalion commanders and exchange them with the Qing demons,” Peng Gang said. “This matter should be publicized widely so that the Qing demons’ Green Standard Army soldiers and local militias know our sincerity in exchanging prisoners.”

“This plan is feasible.” Feng Yunshan thought for a moment and said, “There are about two hundred brothers in the rear army who have been captured by the Qing demons. Seventh brother, prepare two hundred Qing demons for me.”

“Okay.” Peng Gang nodded. He could afford to exchange two hundred prisoners.

Hu Yihuang was the second most important figure in the rear army after Feng Yunshan.

It goes without saying how much Feng Yunshan cared about and valued this matter.

Within a few days, news spread among the Qing troops in Xunzhou Prefecture that the Catholic Church bandits wanted to exchange prisoners with the Qing army.

To prevent their soldiers and local militia from defecting to the Taiping Army, Qing military officers at all levels and local militia leaders frequently intimidated their men and local militia.

They were told that once captured by the Taiping Army, they would be subjected to extreme torture, such as gouging out eyes and hearts, skinning and removing bones, boiling in oil and skewering bamboo sticks, etc., described vividly as if they had witnessed it firsthand.

Many Qing soldiers and local militia believed this story, especially those on the eastern front.

Both the Qing troops on the eastern and western fronts paid close attention to this matter.

Although the Qing army was numerous and powerful, its overall record against the Taiping army since the start of the war was more defeats than victories.

No one could guarantee that they wouldn't be the next one captured by the Taiping Army.

Faced with the demands of the God Society for an equal exchange of prisoners, and in order to maintain morale, Lin Zexu decided to have Ulantai hand over the prisoners and exchange them with the Taiping Army.

Ulantai agreed to the task, but delayed for a few days, creating two very ingenious, mechanism-equipped letter boxes. After finishing the letter boxes, Ulantai carefully admired his masterpiece and ordered all the prisoners to be summoned before him. He wanted to interrogate them one last time to prevent any oversights.

The Qing side was very disappointed when they learned that the Taiping Army was only willing to exchange one battalion commander, one hundred Green Standard Army soldiers, and one hundred local militiamen for prisoners.

Ulantai had originally hoped that there were important figures among these long-haired prisoners who could bring him surprises.

I don't want them to be just a bunch of small fry.

"What official position do you hold over the God's Society cult bandits?!"

Before long, it was Hu Yihuang's turn to be interrogated.

Hu Yihuang had already been tortured to the point of being a bloody mess, but his mind was still very clear. No matter how he was asked, he insisted, "I am the deputy company commander."

Hu Yihuang had considered disguising himself as an ordinary Taiping Army rear guard soldier.

However, his attire was so different from that of the captured rear guard soldiers that it was virtually impossible for him to pass by pretending to be an ordinary soldier.

Hu Yihuang had no choice but to settle for second best, claiming to be a deputy company commander in the rear army.

"What rank is a deputy company commander?" Ulantai asked in rapid succession.

“It’s similar to the foreign affairs commissioners from the pro-independence camp,” Hu Yihuang replied.

After multiple interrogations, Hu Yihuang repeated the same story over and over. Ulantai gradually lost patience and felt that these prisoners were unlikely to give him any surprises.

He then waved to his men to hand the two letter boxes to Hu Yihuang.

There were two boxes. One box was marked "Peng Gang personally opened," and the other box was marked "Wei Zheng personally opened."

Hu Yihuang held the two wooden boxes, secretly delighted.

The demon in front of him asked him to deliver something, which meant he would be allowed to go back. He had endured for more than half a month and had finally made it through.

Hu Yihuang just couldn't understand why this Qing demon would include two exquisite wooden boxes when he was just delivering a letter.

"Handle these two boxes carefully. Inside is a secret letter from the Commander-in-Chief to two of your God Society's top bandit leaders! It's not something a lowly Foreign Commissioner like you can open and read. Make sure to hand them over to Peng Gang and Wei Zheng so they can open and read them themselves!" Ulantai instructed, then waved his hand to have his men take the captured religious bandits away.

After the prisoners were taken away, Ulantai boasted to his men with a smug look on his face, "These two letter boxes of mine explode as soon as they are opened, destroying an area of ​​two or three zhang in radius! This plan can kill two religious bandit leaders without losing a single soldier. With the religious bandit leaders dead, the bandits will be leaderless, and the bandits in western Guangdong can be pacified in no time!"

Jiang Zhongyuan, the Chu Yong commander who remained silent, expressed doubt about Ulantai's supposedly brilliant plan.

God would teach the bandit leader to be completely unguarded and open the two mailboxes that Ulantai had given them.
Ulantai had shown Jiang Zhongyuan great kindness and favor, and since Ulantai was so pleased with his own plan, he was quite pleased with himself.

Jiang Zhongyuan didn't want to spoil Wulantai's fun when he was already at the top of his rope.

After all, this was the only hobby his benefactor, who claimed to be an expert in military strategy and familiar with firearms, usually had.

Jiang Zhongyuan did not have high hopes for Ulantai's approach.

He believed that while Ulantai's unorthodox methods could be used to defeat and eliminate the religious bandits in western Guangdong, one should not place too much hope in such methods.

Defeating the God Society cultists on the battlefield is the right path.

Ulantai may have been eccentric in his personality and quirks, but in Jiang Zhongyuan's view, he was more than just an abstract figure compared to the other Eight Banners generals.

Ulantai was one of the few normal and capable people among the Eight Banners.

At least under Ulantai's management, the Guangdong Ordnance Bureau and Firearms Battalion produced firearms and trained gunners that performed admirably in this battle against the rebels.

(End of this chapter)