1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 179 Taking Charge Alone

"Trying to close now?! Too late! Take off your hats and block the entrance!"

Yang Huwei pulled out two flintlock pistols and fired one at each of the night watchmen and their personal guards, killing them both, three or four steps away.

Immediately, Yang Huwei threw down two flintlock pistols, drew his goose-feather saber from his waist, and took Zhang Ruying, the panicked magistrate of Luorong County, hostage.

Zhang Ruying thought he had been extremely careful, but he still let the "thief" in. In the blink of an eye, he was taken hostage by the thief and couldn't help but regret his carelessness.

The soldiers of the Left Army's Guizhou Battalion who entered the city were all wearing Green Standard Army uniforms. To avoid accidental injury in the dark, more than 120 soldiers of the Left Army's Guizhou Battalion took off their straw hats with braids, revealing their stubble, and fought off the Green Standard Army militia on night duty near the East Gate.

Two soldiers from Guizhou, who used to work part-time handling funerals, pulled out their suonas and started playing them wildly.

Upon hearing the sound of the suona, Peng Gang, who was lying in ambush outside the city with his main force, was overjoyed.

Before attacking the city, Peng Gang and Yang Huwei agreed that if they managed to trick Yang into opening the east gate, they would sound a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) as a signal.

The sound of the suona horn indicated that Yang Huwei and Wang Zhi had successfully taken control of the east gate of Luorong County.

Based on past experience in sieges, once the city gate is captured, it is equivalent to capturing the entire city.

So far, they have not encountered even one Qing army unit that could still organize street fighting and continue to resist the city's defenders after the city fell.

"All troops, attack! Follow me to the east gate!"

Peng Gang mounted his Mongolian warhorse and led the soldiers of the Left Army beside him toward the east gate of Luorong County.

The Second Battalion was the first to follow Peng Gang into Luorong County, followed by the Provisional Seventh Battalion and the Provisional Eighth Battalion.

Luorong County thus became the third city captured by the Left Army.

With the Second Battalion entering the city, Li Qi, who had extensive experience in occupying cities, quickly deployed his various companies to control the county government, seize military camps, and seal off granaries, thus bringing the situation in the city under control.

The troops in Luorong County were few in number. In the middle of the night, the Green Standard Army soldiers and local militia, who were still asleep, vaguely heard that the rebel army had entered the city. They gave up resistance and surrendered in droves.

Peng Gang thus captured an entire Luorong County with minimal casualties.

As before, after occupying the county seat, Peng Gang went to the county government office to check the Yellow Register and Blue Register, and at the same time ordered the issuance of notices to reassure the people.

The troops from Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, and even Hubei were mostly transferred from Liuzhou Prefecture to Xunzhou Prefecture to fight.

During their stopover in Liuzhou Prefecture, the local government of each county in Liuzhou was responsible for supplying food to the visiting army.

As expected, the official granaries in Luorong County had very little grain stored. The grain stored in the Changping Granary and the community granary was only 1,652 shi (a unit of dry measure), but in reality, it was very likely that there was not even 1,000 shi.

A thousand shi of grain sounds like a lot, but Peng Gang's left wing also has a large number of men.

We have to be careful with this amount of food to barely last two days.

Overall, however, the situation in Luorong County is much better than that in Xiangzhou.

Apart from the fact that the social order in the county seat had not yet collapsed, there were more and richer wealthy households in Luorong County than in Xiangzhou.

It has been confirmed that there are five large households that own more than 3,000 mu of land and have more than 1,000 shi of grain stored.

The Mo family, the largest hereditary chieftain family in Luorong County, claims to be descendants of officers under the command of Di Qing, a famous general of the Northern Song Dynasty.

This was a common practice among the local chieftains in Guangxi during the Ming and Qing dynasties. When compiling their genealogies and tracing their ancestors, many Guangxi chieftain families claimed to be officers and soldiers under the command of Di Qing and Nong Zhigao.

Of course, whether it's true or false is a matter of opinion.

The History of the Song Dynasty does not explicitly record that Di Qing left any troops in Guangxi after pacifying Nong Zhigao. Instead, it records that Di Qing believed that the garrison in Guangxi was insufficient and suggested that the Song court recruit more local soldiers.

When the local chieftains of Guangxi sought to claim kinship with their ancestors, they chose two opposing camps.

This illustrates that the identity of the local people and chieftains in Guangxi, as well as their attitude towards the central government, were fragmented, just like the terrain of Guangxi. Their degree of Sinicization was also as uneven as the mountains of Guangxi at different altitudes.

The Luo Rong Mo clan were highly Sinicized chieftains of Liuzhou, providing a significant source of soldiers for the Liuzhou Green Standard Army.

The Liuzhou garrison had 800 local soldiers, not the kind of militia or local bravery, but local soldiers with official positions, government pay, and military salaries, just like the Green Standard Army, making them more professional.

Several members of the Mo family also held positions such as deputy director or battalion commander in Liuzhou.

The Mo family has its own mountain stronghold with local soldiers. Through generations of management, the Mo family has seven or eight thousand acres of land. The autumn harvest has only just passed, and there should be four or five thousand shi of grain stored in the Mo family's granary.

However, the Mo family's grain is mostly stored in their mountain stronghold. To take the Mo family's grain, you have to take down their stronghold.

The second largest family in Luorong after the Mo family was the Huang family, relatives of the Guangxi Provincial Surveillance Commissioner. They were nouveau riche, and their land holdings were much less than the Mo family's, estimated to be around two or three thousand shi (a unit of dry measure).

Following closely behind was the Luo family, who had long held the position of military commander in Luorong County, and they should have had more than two thousand shi of grain stored up.

The remaining two families also had more than a thousand bushels of grain stored up.

A rough calculation shows that eating from these five households could gather nearly 10,000 units of grain.

They could borrow a few hundred million bushels of grain from other small and medium-sized landlords in the county. As long as the attack on the Mo family stronghold went smoothly, they could gather enough food for more than twenty days in Luorong County.

Yang Huwei, who hadn't even had time to change his clothes, escorted Zhang Ruying, the magistrate of Luorong County, to the county government office to curry favor with Peng Gang.

Zhang Ruying was a notorious corrupt official; more than 20,000 taels of silver were found in his residence alone in the county government office.

As expected of a future prince from Daxing County, Shuntian Prefecture, he was quite adept at making money.

He was able to amass more than 20,000 taels of silver in less than a year after taking office in a poor and remote county in Guangxi.

Compared to him, Liu Zuosu, the magistrate of Wuxuan County, and Yu Sizhao, the prefect of Xiangzhou, were both extremely honest and incorruptible officials.

However, it seemed that this magistrate of Luorong only dared to be bold when it came to making money. When Zhang Ruying was dragged into the main hall of the county government by two soldiers from the Left Army, a stench of excrement hit him.

When Zhang Ruying was brought before Peng Gang, he was trembling all over and was already somewhat mentally unstable, unable to even speak properly.

Interrogation in such a mental state would yield no useful information, so Peng Gang waved his hand in disgust, signaling for him to be taken away and imprisoned.

The five advisors in the main hall, busy interrogating the clerks and clerks, looked at the county magistrate, who was being dragged out like a dead dog, with disdain and couldn't help but shake their heads repeatedly.

"Didn't I give you a saber? What? You're not used to it?" Peng Gang looked up and glanced at Yang Huwei, asking.

Yang Huwei wore a goose-feather knife at his waist, which had been captured from the Green Standard Army.

Peng Gang remembered that when Yang Huwei surrendered, he gave Yang Huwei the saber he was wearing.

"The sword the general gave me is a rare and precious weapon. I am reluctant to use it and plan to keep it as a family heirloom," Yang Huwei replied with a chuckle.

Yang Huwei was an expert with knives. Although the saber Peng Gang gave him had no fancy decorations, he could tell that it was made of excellent steel.

Yang Huwei was reluctant to use it, afraid of hurting his feelings if he cut a hole in it.

The knives seized from the Green Camp were of slightly lower quality, but they could be used as consumables, so it wouldn't be a big deal if they broke.

"Isn't a knife meant to be used?" Peng Gang said with a smile.

"General, are you satisfied with the performance of this sword of the Qian Camp tonight?" Yang Huwei looked at Peng Gang expectantly, waiting for Peng Gang's reply.

If the foundation is not solid, the ground will shake. Peng Gang pays great attention to cultivating and expanding his base.

He would also use this against those who defected from the Qing court, but he used it with strictness and caution.

The more than 120 surrendered soldiers in Yang Huwei's Guizhou camp were all carefully selected and trained for more than three months according to the Left Army's manual.

Even so, before attacking Luorong County, Peng Gang did not allow the Qianying to directly participate in military operations. Instead, he continued to train and study them, constantly instilling in them the discipline of the Left Army, making them live according to the Left Army's lifestyle, and telling them why the Left Army fought.

Surrendered soldiers with rich combat experience are a double-edged sword; they can be quickly formed into combat forces and deployed on the battlefield.

Learning well takes a thousand days, but learning badly takes more than a day.

If the proportion of Qing soldiers who surrendered in the army is too high, then it will be the Qing army assimilating the Left Army, rather than the Left Army assimilating the Qing army.

"From this day forward, the Qianying Provisional Twelfth Battalion will be granted the designation. I will instruct the women's battalion to sew the flag for the Provisional Twelfth Battalion as soon as possible," Peng Gang said after a moment's thought.

"In addition, I will send someone to select soldiers with experience in using swords and shields for the 12th Provisional Battalion, and you will be responsible for training them in using swords and shields. Special instructors will also be selected to be in charge of marching, discipline, and cultural classes."

One battalion of sword and shield soldiers, mainly composed of surrendered Green Standard Army soldiers, was mixed in among the twelve battalions. Peng Gang could accept this proportion.

Although Xie Bin, the battalion commander of the third battalion, and Hou Jiyong, the company commander of the fourth battalion, were also Green Standard Army officers.

However, neither of them had picked up too many of the bad habits of the pro-independence camp.

Peng Gang also dispersed the Green Standard Army soldiers in Bitanxun and Shangdongtang and incorporated them into various battalions.

The soldiers they led were all trained by Peng Gang and his students. Peng Gang was not worried that Xie Bin and Hou Jiyong would corrupt the atmosphere of the Third Battalion and the First Company of the Fourth Battalion.

"Thank you General!"

Having received a satisfactory answer, Yang Huwei and Wang Zhi happily withdrew from the main hall of the county government, no longer disturbing Peng Gang.

The end of the battle in Luorong County does not mean the end of the battle within Luorong County.

They won't offer us grain unless we attack the Mo clan chieftain's stronghold.

The following morning, Peng Gang summoned Li Qi, the commander of the Second Battalion, Xiao Maoling, the commander of the Provisional Eighth Battalion, and Chen Xuyuan, the company commander of the heavy artillery company, and ordered the three of them to lead troops to attack the mountain stronghold of the Mo clan chieftain and seize grain.

The battle for Luorong County last night was too swift; the heavy artillery company hadn't even brought their cannons to the battlefield before the fighting was over.

Chen Xuyuan was somewhat frustrated by this, but when he heard that there was still a battle to be fought, he immediately perked up.

Li Qi was overjoyed. With Peng Gang's arrangement, if Peng Gang himself did not personally lead the expedition, he would definitely be in charge of this attack on the Mo clan chieftain's stronghold.

This means that, like Battalion Commander Lu Qin, he has gained the opportunity to train in commanding troops independently.

"The attack on the Mo clan chieftain's stronghold will be commanded by Second Battalion Commander Li Qi, with Heavy Artillery Company Commander Chen Xuyuan as the deputy commander. The three of you must work together to take down the Mo clan chieftain's stronghold as soon as possible," Peng Gang instructed.

"Remember, we're fighting this battle for grain, not to capture the stronghold. If the Mo chieftain is sensible and willing to hand over four thousand shi of grain, we'll let them off the hook for now. But if they don't hand it over, or hand over less than four thousand shi, even if it's just one shi less, we'll blow up their stronghold with cannons! Understand?"

"Understood!" the three replied in unison.

"I'll be waiting for your triumphant return in the county town. You can decide how to attack the stronghold yourselves, but remember to report your progress to me every day," Peng Gang said to the three of them.

As the force expanded and battles became more frequent, Peng Gang could not personally go to the front lines for every battle. He needed to cultivate and train a group of officers who could stand alone.

Luorong County has been captured. The county town is now walled, making it safer, and there are more supplies available.

Peng Gang ordered the Tongziying, Nüying, and Wengsouying camps stationed in Jiangkou Town to relocate to Luorong County.

After the grain requisition work in Luorong County was completed, they continued north to Guilin.

Luzhai Town is only 34 li away from Luorong County. Moreover, Luzhai Town has no city walls and only two or three hundred local militia members.

That afternoon, Lu Qin, the battalion commander in charge of attacking Luzhai Town, brought good news: the First Battalion, the Provisional Eleventh Battalion, and the Pishan Artillery Company had easily captured Luzhai Town and brought the situation under control. They are currently requisitioning grain from Luzhai Town.

(End of this chapter)