1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 188 The First Baturu of the Qing Dynasty

Peng Gang would definitely have to do the work of counter-espionage and catching traitors, because enemies lurking in the shadows are far more dangerous and destructive than enemies in the open.

There's no need to simply use the head sent by Yang Xiuqing to proclaim the miracle of Yang Xiuqing, the Heavenly Father, descending to earth to expose the traitor.

The twenty-four princesses that Yang Xiuqing and Hong Xiu sent to Peng Gang were relatively more difficult to deal with.

Sending it back would not only displease Yang Xiuqing and Hong Xiuquan.

Now is the time to wage war, and the Left Army is far from the main force. Peng Gang will not waste precious military resources to escort them back.

It's unrealistic to expect the officers under their command to marry them now.

Neither he nor Luo Dagang were married yet.

Peng Gang called Huang Dabiao, who was standing guard outside the door and staring intently at the twenty-four young women inside the county government office, to come in.

Huang Dabiao was so engrossed in watching that he didn't even hear what Peng Gang was saying, but in the end, he was caught by the sharp-eyed Huang Bingxian.

Huang Bingxian was worried for Huang Dabiao, even though Peng Gang had not explicitly stated that he wanted to bring those women from outside into his harem.

But those women were sent to be the Northern King's consorts after all. This fool is really bold, daring to stare at the reserve Northern King's consorts like that.

"Huang Dabiao, what's wrong? You can't even listen to what I'm saying when you see a woman, and you can't walk away?" Peng Gang asked with a gloomy face.

"Reporting to Your Highness, it's not that I can't walk away when I see women, it's just that I can't walk away when I see beautiful women." Huang Dabiao habitually addressed Peng Gang as General, but this time, he changed his mind a bit, remembering that Peng Gang had just been enfeoffed as the King of the North, and hurriedly changed his address.

Peng Gang was already furious, but Huang Dabiao was still standing there dumbfounded. Huang Bingxian, who had a good relationship with Huang Dabiao, used his knee to forcefully nudge Huang Dabiao's knee joint.

Caught off guard, Huang Dabiao knelt down on the ground.

"Huang Dabiao, how dare you spy on the Princess Consort of the North and even speak disrespectfully to her! What audacity! Confess your crimes now!" Huang Bingxian rebuked Huang Dabiao.

"Who said they were the Northern King's consorts? Even the legendary long-lived Peng Zu only lived to be eight hundred years old. How could anyone in the world live to be six thousand years old?"

Peng Gang disliked the title "Six Thousand Years Old," as it always made him feel a chill in his groin.

"From now on, all members of the Left Army may address me as His Highness the Northern King. We in the Left Army need not avoid using the character 'King' in our names."

"Just now, Yang Guozong asked people with the surname Wang to change their surname to Huang. Should we change the roster?" Huang Bingxian asked, following up on this topic.

After Cangwu was enfeoffed as king, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's etiquette system became increasingly strict and outrageous.

Before leaving Xihua Hall, Yang Fuqing specifically instructed that people in the Heavenly Kingdom were not allowed to use Wang as their surname, and all people with the surname Wang should change their surname to Huang.

“The surname is given by our ancestors. How can we force people to change their ancestral surname? They should keep their original surname,” Peng Gang said, shaking his head.

The taboo system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was too outrageous, with too many commonly used characters.

Strictly adhering to the set of rituals of Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, Feng Yunshan, and others would be quite inconvenient.

Wang is a common surname, and there are too many people with the surname Wang in the Left Army.

If we were to make changes, almost the entire roster would have to be redone, which would be too costly in terms of manpower and resources.

"Understood, sir." Huang Bingxian understood.

"Huang Dabiao, do you know your mistake?" Peng Gang looked at Huang Dabiao kneeling on the ground and questioned him sternly.

“Your subordinate should not have spied on her or spoken disrespectfully to the Princess Consort of the North,” Huang Dabiao said, bowing his head.

“No, that’s not it. Your eyes are on your own head. Nobody’s stopping you from looking at women. Your mistake was daydreaming while on guard duty,” Peng Gang asked sternly.

"Do you admit your wrongdoing and acknowledge your guilt?"

"Your subordinate acknowledges his guilt," Huang Dabiao nodded and said.

“Since you know you’re guilty, you must accept the punishment,” Peng Gang said to Huang Dabiao.

“Get up. Don’t you like looking at women? Go to the women’s camp and call Su Sanniang and Peng Min to the West Flower Hall. Then put them in solitary confinement for a day.”

"Your subordinate obeys." Huang Dabiao stood up, turned around and left Xihua Hall in a dejected manner.

After Huang Dabiao left, the people in Xihua Hall continued to discuss military affairs.

Luo Dagang said, "The Eastern King's side won't let us attack Guilin. It seems they don't want our Left Army to gain any more prominence. Should we attack Guilin or not?"

The "Heavenly Father's Edict" is said to be the will of the Heavenly Father, but it is actually Yang Xiuqing's intention.

Yang Xiuqing specifically instructed Zuo Jun not to attack Guilin, simply because he feared that Zuo Jun would be able to capture the provincial capital Guilin alone.

Since the uprising began, the first county town and the first prefecture city captured by the Taiping Army were all achieved by the Left Army.

It wasn't until the main force of the Taiping Army captured Cangwu, the capital of Wuzhou, that they managed to win back a city.

Clearly, Yang Xiuqing, who had just regained some ground, did not want the Left Army to capture the first provincial capital and overshadow the main force once again.

"It's not so easy to make a name for yourself by attacking Guilin City," Peng Gang said, shaking his head.

"Guilin is not an isolated city. There are still a large number of Qing troops in Liuzhou, Lipu, and Pingluo."

"Leaving aside the likes of Qin Dingsan and Zhou Fengqi for now, before attacking Guilin, we must first deal with Xiang Rong's Qing troops."

Guilin City will definitely be attacked, but before attacking Guilin City, we need to clear out the Qing troops around Guilin Prefecture.

To avoid being attacked from behind by the surrounding Qing troops when attacking Guilin.

"Will I lead the troops or will you lead the troops this time to attack Xiang Rong?" Luo Dagang asked.

“I’ll lead this time,” Peng Gang said.

"I feel at ease having you stay in Yongfu County to oversee things from the rear."

Peng Gang rested in Luorong County for a while and is now full of energy and strength.

Luo Dagang had only recently captured Yongfu County and was somewhat exhausted.

Peng Gang decided that Luo Dagang would stay in the rear this time, while he himself would personally lead the troops into battle.

After finalizing the troops for this expedition and discussing military affairs, Peng Gang finally left Xihua Hall to meet the mortal couple that his immortal brothers had chosen for him.

The twenty-four women were completely free of mud, even on their skirts, indicating that they had arrived in sedan chairs.

The twenty-four women ranged in age from fourteen or fifteen to seventeen or eighteen, all with fair and beautiful faces.

They originally thought the Northern King should be an older man, around the same age as the Heavenly King and the Southern King, but they never expected that the rumored Northern King was only around twenty years old, not much older than them.

Seeing that the Northern King was not only handsome but also tall and robust, she couldn't help but feel a little excited about becoming the Northern King's consort.

"Have you ever been to school? Can you read and write?" Peng Gang asked, looking at the group of junior and senior high school girls.

These women have delicate, fair skin, and even if they come from humble backgrounds, their families must be relatively well-off.

“My daughter’s father hired a private tutor for her, and she has been well-versed in the Four Books for Women and the Illustrated Explanation of Women’s Conduct since she was a child.”

“My daughter attended the clan’s private school and knows some characters.”

"My daughter has some knowledge of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting."

A boudoir is a private school specifically for teaching unmarried women virtue, art, and literature.

Primarily in the form of family private schools, some clans that value the education of women within the clan would also open clan-based girls' schools.

The tutors of the girls' schools were mostly elderly Confucian scholars who had lost their sexual ability, were highly respected, were female heads of the clan, or were learned women.

It was an informal educational institution whose main purpose was to teach women to be virtuous and adaptable to feudal ethics, so that they could be good mistresses or obedient concubines under feudalism.

The education model that women from wealthy families in the Qing Dynasty received was a limited enlightenment under this gender segregation.

The core educational philosophy can be summarized in eight characters: "In the education of women in their boudoirs, virtue precedes talent." The most outstanding and renowned female tutor among them was Gui Maoyi, who was hired by the Pan family of Suzhou (the family of Pan Shi'en, the top scholar in the Qianlong era).

Gui Maoyi was in charge of teaching poetry to the women of the Pan family. His tuition alone was as high as 120 taels of silver, and he received countless gifts during festivals. His treatment even surpassed that of most male tutors.

These twenty-four girls had all attended a private school for girls. It seems that the immortal brothers put a lot of thought into choosing wives for Peng Gang, knowing that Peng Gang likes literate people.

Of course, the teachers of the girls' private schools did not only teach the three obediences and four virtues, music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and stories of virtuous women; what they specifically taught varied depending on the clan and the times.

The private tutors at the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou even hired foreign teachers to teach the women of their clan English and French so that they could understand foreign goods invoices and account books and help with business.

"Has anyone studied mathematics?" Peng Gang continued to ask.

Although Cangwu was the first commercial port in Guangxi, it was not an open port city and did not directly engage in foreign trade.

Peng Gang didn't expect any of the women from these wealthy families in Cangwu to speak foreign languages.

However, Cangwu has a strong business culture, so these girls should come from business families and have some knowledge of arithmetic.

"My daughter has studied mathematics."

"My daughter has also studied it."

Seven girls had studied mathematics, which was a good thing.

Just as they were talking, Su Sanniang and Peng Min rode their horses to the Yongfu County Government Office. They dismounted in front of the office, handed the reins to the guards standing at the gate, and strode in to meet Peng Gang.

"Third Sister greets His Highness the Northern King. May I ask what brings His Highness the Northern King to see you, Third Sister?" Su San Niang bowed to Peng Gang and stood up to ask.

“Third Sister, Sister, haven’t you always complained that there are too few literate people in the women’s camp? These girls can all read. You should take them back to the women’s camp and teach them basic Chinese and basic mathematics. When you’ve taught them enough, come and report to me,” Peng Gang said to Su San Niang and Peng Min.

When Luo Dagang heard that Peng Gang was going to send the Northern King's consorts, whom Yang Xiuqing, Hong Xiuquan, and Feng Yunshan had chosen for him, to the women's camp, he felt something was amiss and stepped forward to remind Peng Gang, "Your Highness, these women were all chosen for you by the Heavenly King, the Eastern King, and the Southern King. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to send them to the women's camp? What if they question you about it later?"

“With the Qing demons not yet eradicated, how can we think of a home? Now is not the time to consider matters concerning our children.” Peng Gang said to Su San Niang, “San Niang, let’s take them back to the women’s camp and settle them in properly.”

Although Yang Xiuqing had the power to restrain the princes.

Strictly speaking, Peng Gang and Yang Xiuqing were not in a superior-subordinate relationship, but rather more like partners.

If he is unhappy in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and breaks away to establish his own power, Yang Xiuqing and the others will have no way to deal with Peng Gang.

In short, if you're comfortable in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, stay; if you're not, leave.

Peng Gang doesn't need to worry about what Yang Xiuqing and others think.

Pingluo Prefecture's capital city is located at the confluence of the Gui River and the Pingluo River (Gongcheng River).

Pingluo City was the most important waterway hub between Guilin Prefecture, Pingluo Prefecture and Wuzhou Prefecture, controlling the Guijiang River waterway.

The headquarters of Xiang Rong, the Governor of Guangxi, was located in Pingluo City.

Chu scouts discovered that the left wing of the army had penetrated deep into enemy territory and was now located in Yongfu County.

Upon learning of this, Xiang Rong was greatly excited, believing that the short-haired and long-haired religious groups had split up and were far apart.

The government troops had a large force in Liuzhou, Guilin, and Pingle.

If the three armies work together, they will surely be able to achieve their goal in one battle and wipe out the short-haired cult bandits in Yongfu County.

This is the best opportunity to wipe out the short-haired cult bandits!
Now or never.

Xiang Rong quickly wrote to Lao Chongguang and Li Nengchen in Guilin City, and Qin Dingsan and Zhou Fengqi in Liuzhou Prefecture, explaining the advantages and disadvantages and agreeing to meet to suppress the Short Hair Rebels.

Xiang Rong's confidence did not come from the Chu army and Zhengan soldiers whose units had been decimated, nor from the Chao and Min soldiers who, although capable of fighting, were arrogant and difficult to control.

Instead, they came from the four thousand elite soldiers of the Sichuan Camp that Emperor Xianfeng specially transferred to him from his hometown of Sichuan.

Xiang Rong suffered three defeats at the hands of Peng Gang, and Peng Gang had almost squandered all his resources. He was now struggling to find a sufficient number of his own troops.

With these four thousand elite Sichuan soldiers as his core troops, Xiang Rong was even more confident in leading the Chaozhou and Fujian militias to suppress the Mao rebels.

Emperor Xianfeng's timely assistance greatly encouraged Xiang Rong, reigniting his fighting spirit. He was deeply grateful and secretly vowed to eradicate the religious bandits and live up to Emperor Xianfeng's high expectations.

The first to reply to Xiang Rong were Qin Dingsan and Zhou Fengqi.

Generals Qin Dingsan and Zhou Fengqi were very enthusiastic, saying that as long as Xiang Rong came to Yongfu to suppress the Short-haired Rebellion bandits, they would definitely bring Guizhou and Hubei soldiers to help out and assist Xiang Rong.

Qin Dingsan also boasted to Xiang Rong about his remarkable military exploits in which he personally led the Guizhou troops to recapture Luorong County not long ago.

It is said that Qin Dingsan led the Guizhou army to kill more than 3,000 short-haired rebels and seized countless short-haired weapons and flags. He said that the short-haired rebels were nothing special. In the letter, he kept belittling the fighting strength of the Zuo army and instigated Xiang Rong to attack Yongfu County.

In the realm of exaggerating military achievements, Qin Dingsan was no match for Xiang Rong.

Xiang Rong immediately noticed that there was something wrong with Qin Dingsan's battle report.

He and the Short-Haired Cult were sworn enemies, and he had fought alongside Qin Dingsan. Xiang Rong knew the strength of the Short-Haired Cult and Qin Dingsan.

He simply couldn't believe that Qin Dingsan had the ability to annihilate more than three thousand short-haired rebels.

The Short-Haired Bandits were an extremely rare and formidable bandit group in the two hundred years since the founding of the Qing Dynasty.

If Qin Dingsan had this ability, he wouldn't need to be some kind of brave and valiant warrior; he could just become the number one warrior of the Qing Dynasty.

However, the short-haired military flags and weapons that Qin Dingsan sent to show off to him did not seem to be fake.

After thinking it over, Xiang Rong concluded that Qin Dingsan must have gotten incredibly lucky. He managed to ambush the short-haired bandits' elderly, weak, women, and children while they were attacking Yongfu County.

Thinking of this, Xiang Rong couldn't help but feel jealous. Why couldn't he, Xiang Rong, encounter such a good thing?

Every time I encountered him, it was the main force of the short-haired gang.

As a seasoned veteran and admiral, Xiang Rong knew perfectly well what Qin Dingsan and Zhou Fengqi were up to.

Qin Dingsan and Zhou Fengqi were simply trying to take advantage of a loophole.

But as long as the two of them are willing to send troops to suppress the God Society bandits, it wouldn't hurt to let them pick up some scraps.

There's no such thing as wanting a horse to run without feeding it.

Xiang Rong was overjoyed that Qin Dingsan and Zhou Fengqi were willing to send troops, feeling that there was hope of eradicating the Short-haired Rebels.

A day later, Lao Chongguang's reply followed closely behind and was delivered to Pingluo City by a courier.

Xiang Rong opened Lao Chongguang's reply with great joy, but after listening to his staff read the contents of the letter, Xiang Rong felt extremely indignant.

Yesterday's great mood vanished in an instant.

In his letter, Lao Chongguang stated that everything should be done with the provincial capital Guilin as the priority, and that all the nonsense about the provincial capital being in Guilin and the prefecture being in Guangxi was just that—nonsense. He subtly implied that there was no way he could conscript the garrison of Guilin.

"Lao Chongguang is such a coward!"

After listening to Lao Chongguang's reply twice, Xiang Rong couldn't help but curse Lao Chongguang as a coward who only dared to hide in Guilin City.

"General Xiang, as long as Commander Qin and Commander Zhou of Liuzhou are willing to send troops to jointly suppress the Short-haired rebels, the matter can still be accomplished. We must not miss the opportunity to fight because the Provincial Governor does not send troops," Zhang Guoliang interjected beside Xiang Rong.

"Are you fighting in the Jiaoben Titai?" Xiang Rong glared fiercely at Zhang Guoliang.

Zhang Guoliang, a mere centurion, was not qualified to interfere in or criticize the military affairs of the Chu army.

"This humble servant dares not! This humble servant has misspoke, please forgive me, General!" Eager for battle, Zhang Guoliang realized his mistake and hurriedly prostrated himself to apologize.

"Damn it! Get the hell out of here!" Xiang Rong roared, telling Zhang Guoliang to get out of the command tent.

To Xiang Rong's surprise,

Compared to the next heavyweight's outrageous moves, Lao Chongguang seemed exceptionally gentle.

(End of this chapter)