1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 145 Sharpening Swords for the Chu Army

News of the deaths of Wei Zheng and Peng Gang, leaders of the God Society, by Ulantai's wooden box bombs reached the Qing army camp.

Upon learning this news, Ulantai was absolutely convinced of the deaths of Wei Zheng and Peng Gang and was overjoyed.

He requested Lin Zexu to launch a fierce attack on the God God Society's strongholds in Pingzaishan and Zijingshan, hoping to wipe out the God God Society in one fell swoop.

At the same time, Ulantai couldn't wait to report his victory to the Ministry of War and Emperor Xianfeng, explaining that he had cleverly killed two leaders of the God Society.

Regarding the incident where the leader of the God Society bandits was killed by Ulantai's wooden box machine.

The two veteran generals stationed in Guiping City did not believe it.

Lin Zexu and Zhang Bilu both experienced firsthand the ferocity and cunning of the God Society's bandits.

The two of them naturally wouldn't easily believe a message that hadn't been verified.

Ulantai was extremely dissatisfied that his suggestion was ignored, believing that Lin Zexu and Zhang Bilu were raising bandits to enhance their own power, and that their intentions were despicable.

Ulantai once boasted that if the Green Standard Army and local militia dared not fight, he would personally lead the Eight Banners troops into Zijing Mountain to peacefully suppress the bandits and directly attack the God Society bandits' lair.

Of course, Ulantai was just talking and didn't take any concrete action.

Let's not even discuss whether the 1,500 Eight Banner soldiers under Ulantai's command would actually dare to go into the mountains to suppress bandits.

Even if they went into the mountains, the Zijing Mountain and Pingzai Mountain areas were not suitable for cavalry operations.

If Ulantai wanted to send the Eight Banners soldiers into the mountains to suppress bandits, he could only have them dismount and serve as foot soldiers.

To make matters worse, the warhorses ridden by the Eight Banners soldiers were not adapted to the climate and water of Guangxi. Within just two months, the injury and illness rate of the warhorses of the Eight Banners soldiers, who had not experienced any battles, had exceeded one-third.

Ulantai knew exactly what kind of people the Eight Banners soldiers were.

Ulantai only wanted to use this as a pretext to coerce Lin Zexu and Zhang Bilu into sending troops; he wasn't foolish enough to actually lead the Eight Banners troops into the mountains to suppress the bandits.

Ulantai's strength lay in the artillery he brought, especially the heavy artillery.

The Taiping army lacked heavy artillery, whether on the eastern or western front.

The only Qing army force that could consistently suppress the Taiping army was the artillery brought from Guangzhou by Lin Zexu and Ulantai.

Despite his纨绔 (wan ku, a spoiled, dissolute young man) nature, Wulantai was not an uneducated or incompetent person.

He also knew that without the cover of infantry, the artillery he and Lin Zexu brought from Guangzhou would sooner or later become fish on the chopping block for the Taiping army.

What Ulantai currently lacks is infantry troops that can be used to cover his artillery and help him expand his military achievements.

Ulantai wanted to claim the credit for annihilating the God Society bandits, to show off to his master, and to prove that there were still capable and valiant generals like him in the Eight Banners.

However, Jiang Zhongyuan's eight hundred Chu soldiers alone could not satisfy Wulantai's ambition to achieve this.

Ulantai needs more foot soldiers who are capable of serving.

Ulantai's short-sighted and self-serving behavior, which undermined each other, left Lin Zexu and Zhang Bilu deeply disappointed and somewhat uneasy.

“Ulantai commands a large army and is highly regarded by the Emperor. It’s just a pity that he has no cunning and is too impetuous,” Zhang Bilu said worriedly.

"If the cult leaders could endure for years before finally launching their attack, how could they be fools? Why would they personally open the wooden box given to them by Ulantai? Ulantai was used as a bait by the cult leaders! He was made a fool of!"

Ulantai was not only made a fool of by the God Society cult bandits, but also used as a tool.

However, these words were too detrimental to unity, so Zhang Bilu ultimately did not say them, leaving some face for Ulantai.

"I've seen plenty of Manchu bannermen who are all talk and no action," Lin Zexu said after coughing twice. "Don't pay any attention to Ulantai. We'll continue with our plan, proceeding step by step, to trap the rebels. As long as I remain the Imperial Commissioner, I won't let Ulantai run rampant."

Although Ulantai was arrogant and difficult to control, Lin Zexu was currently in charge of the military and political power in Guangxi, serving as the imperial commissioner in charge of suppressing bandits.

As long as Lin Zexu doesn't agree to send troops to Wulantai, Wulantai won't cause any major disaster.

Of course, Lin Zexu and Zhang Bilu dared not do anything to Ulantai, who was openly undermining them.

The person in the Forbidden City surely knows the true nature of the Eight Banners soldiers and their officers.

Despite knowing that the Manchu soldiers and generals were unfit for command, Emperor Xianfeng still dispatched Wulantai and Hechun, among others, to Guangxi to suppress bandits.

Its purpose and intention are self-evident.

Although Emperor Xianfeng was willing to give important positions to Han officials, he still harbored a deep-seated political mindset of maintaining a separation between the Manchus and the Han.

“Ulantai’s sabotage of Lin Gong’s cause is ultimately not a good thing for the overall situation of bandit suppression in western Guangdong,” Zhang Bilu sighed.

The God Society cult's attempt to turn the tables by releasing the signal that Wei Zheng and Peng Gang were dead was also not a clever move.

Even so, while the rebels' actions did not cause their army to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly, they did exacerbate discord among Qing officers and generals, even leading to mutual sabotage.

"How is Xiang Rong doing?" Lin Zexu inquired about the situation of the Qing army on the western front.

“After the battle of Taicun-Zhangzhong Bridge, the Chu army and Zhengan soldiers were severely weakened. At present, Xiang Rong only dares to set up camp in Sanlixu, digging trenches and building earthen fortifications to confront the God Worshippers under Peng Gang’s command,” Zhang Bilu replied.

"Xiang Rong has repeatedly asked me for reinforcements, complaining that the Chu army was severely weakened and lacked troops after the great battle. Lord Lin, should we allocate some troops to Xiang Rong?"

After pondering for a while, Lin Zexu said, "Haven't all of Li Nengchen's three thousand Yunnan soldiers been transferred to him? If that's still not enough, let him recruit more local militia."

Lin Zexu understood Xiang Rong's little scheme.

Lao Chongguang, the Provincial Governor of Guangxi, had recently told Lin Zexu that the Guangxi Provincial Governor, in order to ensure the safety of Guilin, the provincial capital, had allocated, raised, or solicited donations from the provincial governor, providing a total of 220,000 taels of silver to the Chu Army and Zhengan Army, which was almost half of Guangxi's annual military expenditure.

Before Xiang Rong entered Guangxi, the governor of Hunan also raised 160,000 to 170,000 taels of silver for the Chu army and the Zhengan army.

With the spoils and loot from the Chu army in Guilin Prefecture, Xiang Rong certainly wouldn't be short of money to recruit and hire local militia.

Xiang Rong asked him for troops simply because he didn't want to spend the Chu army's own money.

Lin Zexu's grain and salary supplies from Guangdong and other provinces were not much more than Xiang Rong's, but the number of soldiers to be supported on the eastern front was much larger than on the western front. Naturally, Lin Zexu would not tolerate Xiang Rong, this old fox.

Near Lemei Lake in the middle reaches of the Dongxiang River.

Peng Gang, along with two staff officers and the first company of the first battalion, conducted a thorough reconnaissance of the area.

It was confirmed that there were no Qing troops active near Lemei Lake, and that Lemei Lake was indeed suitable for water storage.

After the measure of flooding the Chu army camp by storing water in Yulemei Lake proved to be feasible.

Peng Gang transferred the first and third battalions, as well as 1,500 men's reserve personnel from Dachong, and ordered them to build a dam at Lemei Lake to block the river water.

During the time the Chu army was detained by the dam at Lemei Lake, in order to distract the Chu army and gather information on the Qing army's positions, Peng Gang dispatched the Second and Fourth Battalions to take turns harassing and reconnoitering the earthen forts of the Chu army's camp.

The Chu army camp was heavily guarded, and the counterattack artillery fire was exceptionally fierce.

Based on this, Peng Gang deduced that Xiang Rong did not readily believe the rumors that Peng Gang and Wei Changhui had been killed in the bombing.

Although the harassment and reconnaissance by the left army did not cause significant casualties to the Chu army, Zhengan soldiers, and the affiliated local militia.

The soldiers of the second and fourth battalions of the left army, who were responsible for harassing and reconnaissance of the Chu army's camps and earthen ramparts, did not come away empty-handed.

The Qing army's artillerymen liked to fire cannons from a distance to scare away the left wing soldiers who were harassing their earthen fortress camp.

Based on this, the soldiers of the Left Army figured out the location of most of the Qing army's firing positions under Xiang Rong's command.

Xiang Rong's Chu army had a considerable number of cannons.

"Xiang Rong's Qing army had at least eighty mountain-splitting cannons and at least twenty-four heavy cannons!"

After half a month of harassment and reconnaissance of Xiang Rong's Qing army camp, Li Qi, the battalion commander of the Second Battalion, drew up a map of the Qing army's position and submitted it to Peng Gang for review, and told Peng Gang about his findings.

"The Qing army's artillerymen were not only unskilled and cowardly, but also very lazy. For half a month, these cannons of the Qing army had not moved their positions and had been firing from the same spot."

It was precisely because of these twenty-odd heavy cannons that Xiang Rong's Qing army was able to establish a foothold in Sanlixu, taking advantage of the fact that the Zuo army lacked heavy cannons.

Peng Gang carefully examined the Qing army's defensive position map drawn by Li Qi. Although the map was not very well drawn, the scale was a major problem.

However, it is quite intuitive that the Qing army's artillery positions were clearly marked.

Li Qi also carefully used different symbols to distinguish between the mountain-splitting cannon and the heavy cannon.

Li Qi estimated and noted the Qing army forces at different positions and earthen forts, whether they were Chu troops, Yunnan troops, Green Standard Army, or local militia, based on the information he had gathered and his experience fighting the Qing army.

What is even more commendable is that although Li Qi did not draw contour lines, he marked the approximate height of each gun position with numbers near the position, and also noted the approximate locations where the Qing army had set up traps.

After Li Qi submitted the Qing army's defensive layout map, Qiu Zhongliang, the fourth battalion commander, also submitted his own Qing army defensive layout map to Peng Gang.

Qiu Zhongliang's map of the Qing army's positions is more exquisite, with fewer issues regarding scale, clear lines, and elegant handwriting, making it more comfortable to read.

However, Qiu Zhongliang was not as good at details as Li Qi, and he was not as sensitive to information of important military value as Li Qi.

For example, Qiu Zhongliang did not specify the height of the Qing army's artillery positions.

In comparison, Peng Gang preferred Li Qi's map of the Qing army's defensive positions.

Although Li Qi's map of the Qing army's defensive positions looks rough, it contains more valuable information than Qiu Zhongliang's map.

The map is not very detailed and has a large scale problem, but it can be improved and corrected in later work.

Important enemy information that was overlooked cannot be filled in later by simply filling in the gaps in one's understanding.

For example, the height of the Qing army's artillery positions.

After flooding the Qing army's positions, they could determine which Qing army artillery positions were likely to be flooded and which were not, based on the height of the Qing army's artillery positions.

This allowed them to make targeted offensive troop deployments, efficiently capture Qing army positions, and seize Qing army artillery positions.

For example, the Chu army, the Yunnan army, and the local militias of various ethnic groups and regions also had significant differences in their fighting will and tactical skills.

This information can also be used to make corresponding offensive deployments, avoiding the waste of troops and the embarrassing situation of using good steel on the back of a knife.

"Battalion Commander Qiu, take a look at Battalion Commander Li's map of the Qing army's defensive positions, then look at yours. Which map do you think is better?"

Peng Gang placed the two maps on an unpainted camphor wood table, allowing Qiu Zhongliang to compare them himself with the Qing army's defense deployment map he had created and the Qing army's position deployment map drawn by Li Qi.

　I was a groomsman today and drank a lot of alcohol, so I got a bit tipsy when I got back. I was so confused that I only managed to write one chapter.

　　I apologize to everyone.

　　The missing chapters will be added later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)