1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 220 The Anti-Qing Spring Breeze Blows Through Southern Hunan

Compared to the reasonableness of Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai, Yang Xiuqing's arrangements for the personnel in the East Hall made Peng Gang feel disgusted and uncomfortable, as if he had swallowed a fly.

There is no reason in the world to enjoy rights without fulfilling obligations.

As a member of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Peng Gang enjoyed the benefits of fighting alongside his fellow Taiping brothers and sharing the burden of the Qing army. Naturally, he was willing to pay the corresponding, or even slightly more, price.

For example, Peng Gang sold grain to Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai at an average price of one tael of silver per shi (a unit of dry measure), which was three or four qian (another unit of currency) lower than the average market price.

Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai displayed the proper attitude for asking for help, wisely refraining from interfering in the Left Army's attack on Hengzhou.

It's alright for the Northern Palace to suffer a small loss, after all, they are allies, and we should help them within our capabilities.

In comparison, Yang Xiuqing's arrangements for the East Hall were somewhat outrageous.

Yang Xiuqing and the Eastern Palace's central army, with their tens of thousands of powerful cards, almost all of which were taken away by Yang Xiuqing and the Eastern Palace's clansmen he had recognized in Cangwu, to attack Daozhou, Guiyangzhou, and Chenzhou.

The remaining 37,000 military dependents were all taken to Lingling by Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong, eagerly waiting to eat and wear the Northern Palace's food.

Even Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong, who had brought their families with them to Lingling, felt that the Eastern King's actions were unethical.

In terms of military achievements and contributions to the Kingdom of Heaven, the North Palace was no less significant than the East Palace.

Bei Dian had provided a lot of assistance to other units when he was at Zijing Mountain and Pingzai Mountain.

At the beginning of the regimental camp order, the divine weapons bestowed by the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother at the Rhinoceros Pool were mostly produced by the Red Lotus Village Armory in the North Palace.

The steel knives worn by Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong at their waists were high-quality products made from imported steel at the former Honglian Village arsenal, and they are still in use today.

When Yang Xiuqing presented Peng Gang with the imperial edict issued in the name of the Heavenly Father, Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong stood there nervously, not daring to say a word, for fear that Peng Gang would be angry and refuse to obey the edict.

After all, the food rations for 37,000 people are no small amount, and Yang Xiuqing had already made it very clear in his decree.

The North Hall was meant to provide rations for the families of soldiers accompanying the East Hall.

Unlike Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai, Yang Xiuqing did not borrow from the Northern Palace, but instead ordered Peng Gang to provide grain.

This is also something that makes Peng Gang very uncomfortable.

Peng Gang could understand Yang Xiuqing's desire to expand the Eastern Palace's power in Hunan and prevent the Eastern Palace from being overshadowed by the Northern Palace.

However, Yang Xiuqing abandoned all the military families accompanying the Eastern Palace in Lingling and even demanded their food while standing still; his behavior was far too unseemly.

“I have given my fifth and eighth brothers 20,000 shi of grain. My fourth brother’s East Palace is short of grain and asked me for some. I should help him.” Peng Gang said with his hands behind his back after reading the Heavenly Father’s decree.

Chen Chengrong was a shrewd man and knew that Peng Gang was willing to help the families of the Eastern Palace soldiers they brought because of their brotherhood. He hurriedly expressed his gratitude to Peng Gang: "Thank you very much, Your Highness the Six Thousand Years of the Northern King, for the provisions."

“Whatever amount of grain Fifth Brother and Eighth Brother take, Fourth Brother will take the same amount,” Peng Gang said.

"If you want more food, you can do things like sewing military uniforms, making straw sandals, sewing cloth shoes, twisting hemp ropes, splitting bamboo sticks, pounding rice and grinding flour, and pickling vegetables to exchange for food."

As a comrade-in-arms on the anti-Qing front, Peng Gang was willing to provide the families of the soldiers accompanying the Eastern Palace with guaranteed food rations and a safe and stable environment, so that Yang Xiuqing could attack Daozhou, Guiyangzhou, and Chenzhou with peace of mind.

However, it is absolutely impossible for the North Palace to continue supporting the 37,000 military families of the East Palace for free.

Although the Northern Palace had acquired a large amount of grain in Yongzhou, Peng Gang needed to stay in Lingling for some time. The Eastern Palace also needed to recruit soldiers, and the Northern Palace also needed to recruit soldiers. Therefore, the Northern Palace's grain reserves were not particularly abundant.

“Since we’re idle anyway, it’s only right that we do some work to earn food,” Chen Chengrong quickly replied.

When Yang Xiuqing launched his campaign against Xiangnan, he brought all the members of the Eastern Palace's royal family with him, but he didn't bring Chen Chengrong. Chen Chengrong had some resentment towards Yang Xiuqing, feeling that Yang Xiuqing hadn't treated everyone equally and was too biased towards the members of the Eastern Palace's royal family.

With the strategy set, the Northern Palace occupied Yongzhou Prefecture and besieged Hengzhou Prefecture.

The Eastern Palace dispatched troops eastward to Daozhou, Guiyangzhou, and Chenzhou.

The auxiliary and wing troops joined forces and marched north to attack Baoqing Prefecture.

The South Hall, along with some auxiliary halls and wing halls, held the rear in Quanzhou, blocking the Qing army from Guangxi outside Hunan.

Everyone has a bright future, and the Manchu rule in southern Hunan is in grave danger.

The "Proclamation to Punish the Manchu Tartars" issued by Zuo Jun was posted in the north-central part of Yongzhou Prefecture and the south of Hengzhou Prefecture, and the spring breeze of rebellion against the Manchus also swept across all parts of southern Hunan.

Yongzhou Prefecture and Hengzhou Prefecture were the key areas in Hunan where Zuo Jun recruited soldiers.

Further north, the four prefectures surrounding Dongting Lake—Changsha, Yuezhou, Lizhou, and Changde—are the most fertile areas of Hunan and the core region where the Manchu Qing dynasty held the strongest power. The local landlords and gentry were far more powerful than those in southern Hunan. It's not that the Left Army couldn't recruit soldiers in these areas, but the efficiency of recruitment in these four prefectures surrounding Dongting Lake was far lower than in southern Hunan, and the quality of the recruits was also not as good.

Southern Hunan is rich in mineral resources and has a large number of miners. Due to the needs of their work, the miners have developed a sense of division of labor and cooperation to some extent.

Once recruited, they can become soldiers with minimal training.

This is why the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom lingered in the Hunan region to absorb fresh blood; it was simply because it valued the high-quality soldiers available in the Hunan region.

The four prefectures surrounding Dongting Lake have more and more fertile farmland than southern Hunan, and are crisscrossed by rivers and lakes. People in these areas mainly engage in farming and fishing.

It takes much longer to train farmers into an army than to train miners.

At present, the Taiping army is still in a state of mobile warfare, and the training cycle of the army is extremely important.

Miners can initially form combat capability in two or three months, while farmers need six months or even longer.

Clearly, given the Taiping Army's logistical capabilities, it was in no way possible for them to remain in southern Hunan for more than six months to train a new army.

As for the fishermen, when they reach Dongting Lake, they can recruit more new recruits to supplement the boat crew.

With Liu Daiwei, Liu Tongwei, Li Yantong, and other members of the Heaven and Earth Society who had long been active in southern Hunan as guides, they led the conscription officers to recruit soldiers in mines throughout Yongzhou and Hengyang prefectures.

The proclamation was intended for educated people. The literacy rate in the Qing Dynasty was extremely low, and there were very few literate people in the mine. As a result, few people in the mine could understand the proclamation and conscription notices that were posted.

Recruiting new employees at mines across various regions mainly involved on-site verbal presentations.

Liu Daiwei, Liu Tongwei, Li Yantong, and other former leaders of the Heaven and Earth Society were also quick-witted and did not try to reason with the miners at the mine.

They were simply told that in the past, they had followed the Heaven and Earth Society to rebel against the government and seek a way to survive.

Unfortunately, the Heaven and Earth Society was too weak to defeat the government. Now, a God Society has come to Hunan that is stronger than the Heaven and Earth Society and can make the government's army run away in terror.

In order to better resist the government and find a way to make a living for their families, they wanted to change their allegiance and join a stronger society to protect and help each other, work together to resist the government, and conquer a new land. Those who joined now were all founding heroes. Not only would they soon have new clothes to wear and enough to eat, but they would also be granted official positions and land in the future, with unlimited prospects. However, the rules of the new society would be stricter.

The mines in southern Hunan are mostly private, illegal mines, and the miners' living and working conditions are extremely harsh.

The local coal mines are mostly vertical shaft mines, and the drainage of the mine shafts relies entirely on "water frogs," which means manual drainage. Because the workers are naked, the drainage inevitably gets covered in coal sludge and mud, making them look like smooth frogs, hence the name "water frogs."

Manual drainage is extremely inefficient, and even round-the-clock shifts cannot completely drain the water from the mines. Furthermore, the humid and rainy climate of southern Hunan means that excessive water accumulation in the mines has led to frequent drownings and even mine collapses. Consequently, the mortality rate in the southern Hunan mines is extremely high.

The mines in southern Hunan were mostly controlled by local powerful figures, who in turn colluded with various gangs to monitor and suppress the miners.

Therefore, in order to survive in the cracks, the practice of visiting each other in the mines of southern Hunan became very popular. The miners would often visit each other on their own initiative to fight against the supervisors and gangsters sent by the local powerful families.

Among them, the Heaven and Earth Society was the most famous, and the number of miners in the Hunan region who joined the Heaven and Earth Society was the highest among all societies.

Liu Daiwei, Liu Tongwei, Li Yantong, and others explained things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, and the miners at the mine quickly grasped their meaning.

It would be better to have a stronger one; in the past, the Heaven and Earth Society could never defeat the government.

The newly arrived soldiers of the Northern King's Army of the God's Society were neatly dressed, full of energy, and walked with a powerful stride. They carried swords at their waists and muskets and long spears, exuding an imposing and menacing aura.

Not only did they look more impressive than the Heaven and Earth Society of the past, but even the military training of the county and prefectural governments paled in comparison.

Furthermore, the recruiting officers said that those who signed up would receive new clothes, have plenty of food, and could bring their families, so many people followed suit.

The Simenzhou Coal Mine is located on the banks of the Leishui River (a tributary of the Xiangjiang River) in Leiyang County, Hengzhou Prefecture.

Seventy or eighty naked miners jumped into the Lei River to wash off the coal grime and mud, then went ashore to change into brand-new indigo-blue homespun shirts and crisp new straw sandals.

These seventy or eighty miners often went down into the mine barefoot to mine coal. They hadn't worn decent clothes or shoes for a long time. When they put on new clothes and straw sandals, many of them felt very uncomfortable and found it difficult to adapt.

Even more extreme, some people are reluctant to wear new clothes and straw sandals, fearing that they will wear them out and want to save them for festivals and holidays.

However, under the strict orders of Li Yantong, the former leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, and the conscription officers he brought, led by Chen Gan, the battalion commander of the Provisional Ninth Battalion, they had no choice but to obediently put on their clothes and tie on their red scarves.

“Boss, I heard that Leiyang County has been captured by the Northern King’s army. In my opinion, following the Northern King’s army is more promising than following the Heaven and Earth Society. The Northern King we are going to serve is also surnamed Peng, and he is from Xunzhou Prefecture in Guangxi. It seems that he is from the same hometown as you. Could he be your brother?” Wang Yinan asked Peng Yong, the junior leader beside him, as he put on his ill-fitting straw sandals.

"If the Northern King is really your brother, then you're a relative of the King. Don't forget the brothers who have been working in the mines together for the past few years."

Peng Yong stamped his foot, tightened his scarf, and glared at Wang Yinan: "There are plenty of people in the world with the same surname. Peng Yulin, who was recently driven out of Leiyang County by the Heavenly Army's righteous soldiers, also has the surname Peng. Could he be my brother?"

(End of this chapter)