1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 221 My Brother is a Prince

Peng Yulin, the military commander of Leiyang County, was the later founder of the Xiang Army Navy.

He was the son of Peng Mingjiu, the patrol inspector of Sanqiao Town, Huaining County, Anqing Prefecture, Anhui Province. His ancestral home was Chajiang, Hengyang County, Hengzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province. He was born into a moderately wealthy family.

However, his father, Peng Mingjiu, served in Anqing for many years and had not returned to his hometown for a long time. When he returned, he found that his hometown's land had been seized by his relatives and cronies, and Peng Mingjiu died of anger.

After his father died, Peng Yulin, who was only eighteen years old, followed his mother Wang's advice to stay at Shigu Academy in order to avoid being bullied by relatives, friends and fellow villagers. Later, he traveled around to study.

Later, troubled by the need to make a living, he joined the Hengzhou Xiebiao Camp as a clerk to support his family and make ends meet.

It wasn't until the 22nd year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign (1842) that Peng Yulin met a benefactor, the then-prefect of Hengzhou, who appreciated his talent and invited him to study in the prefecture. The following year, he obtained the title of student.

In the 30th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, Li Yuanfa, the leader of the Heaven and Earth Society in southern Hunan, launched an uprising in Xinning, Baoqing Prefecture, which spread to southern Hunan and northern Guangxi.

Peng Yulin followed the Hengzhou Green Standard Army to suppress Li Yuanfa's Heaven and Earth Society, where he performed outstandingly and thus distinguished himself. He was appointed as an external commissioner and awarded the Blue Feather, but he declined the offer.

After resigning from his military post, Peng Yulin went to Leiyang to stay with a friend who ran a pawnshop, where he worked as his accountant.

By the beginning of the first year of the Xianfeng reign, the Taiping Army showed signs of heading north into Hunan, and the Heaven and Earth Society in southern Hunan began to stir.

Peng Yulin, who had previously shown his prowess in suppressing Li Yuanfa's Heaven and Earth Society, was invited by the magistrate of Leiyang County to serve as the Leiyang County militia commander. He was tasked with organizing and training the Leiyang militia to suppress the Hunan Heaven and Earth Society, which was eager to launch an uprising in various mines in Leiyang County, while also guarding against the so-called God Society bandits invading Leiyang County.

The Heaven and Earth Society of Hengzhou Prefecture originally had the opportunity to take advantage of the Taiping Army's entry into Hunan and the Qing army's preoccupation with other matters, to attack Leiyang County and raise the banner of rebellion.

Under Peng Yulin's suppression and strangulation, the Heaven and Earth Society's plan to attack Leiyang County in Hengzhou Prefecture failed.

During his tenure as the head of the Leiyang County militia, Peng Yulin did an excellent job suppressing the Heaven and Earth Society.

As for resisting the Taiping Army, Peng Yulin was completely unable to adapt to the Zuo Jun's high-intensity tactics. He only lasted for three days before breaking out of Leiyang County and fleeing north.

The surname Peng is not particularly rare in Hunan and Guangxi.

There are many people with the surname Peng in Hunan and Guangxi. The Northern King of the Taiping Army was surnamed Peng, so Peng Yong did not think of any other reason.

He didn't believe there could be such a coincidence in the world, and he couldn't believe that his younger brother, who spent his days studying the Four Books and Five Classics and had a rather weak personality, had the potential to become a king.

Peng Yong accidentally killed the beloved son of Zhou, a local gentry, in the 25th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign. He was charged with murder and had no choice but to leave his hometown and come to the mountainous area of ​​southern Hunan to make a living in order to avoid being captured by the imperial court.

After several twists and turns, he arrived in Leiyang. Because of his bravery, fighting skills, and quick thinking, he gradually made a name for himself among the miners in Leiyang. He was then recruited by the local Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) and became a minor leader of the Tiandihui at the Simenzhou Coal Mine.

When Wang Yinan suddenly mentioned Peng Yong's family, Peng Yong felt a lump in his throat and his vision blurred as he realized he hadn't seen his relatives for six whole years.

Another miner, Luo Bangyi, chimed in, "Boss, you're from Xunzhou Prefecture, and so is the Northern King. Maybe you really are relatives."

Most of the miners in Leiyang County joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Left Army with their families, and from then on, they were all under the command of the Northern King.

Peng Yong's followers harbored fantasies, hoping that Peng Yong could establish a connection with the rumored Northern King, so that they could also benefit from it.

Just then, Chen Gan, the officer in charge of recruiting soldiers at the Leiyang mine, blew a copper whistle, which was the signal for the new recruits to assemble.

Upon hearing the whistle, the miners at the Simenzhou mine gathered around Chen Gan in twos and threes, and lined up in formation under the guidance of the conscription officers.

The 800 miners recruited by the mines near Simenzhou in Leiyang County were of high quality, mostly young and strong men in their teens and twenties, with very few miners over thirty years old.

Chen Gan counted the number of people according to the still-wet roster, nodded with great satisfaction, and completed the grouping and organization of the eight hundred young men into the Leiyang Camp.

After completing the most basic reorganization work, the conscription officers, led by Chen Gan, took these 800 new recruits from Leiyang by boat down the Lei River to the armory in Leiyang County to collect weapons and arm them.

Before the 800 Leiyang soldiers who had just received their Green Standard Army weapons could even play with them, Chen Gan, Li Yantong, and others continued to order them to board the ship.

The plan was to take these greenhorns to Hengyang, the capital of Hengzhou Prefecture, where the siege was in full swing, to broaden their horizons, see how the Left Army's regular troops attacked cities, and hear the intense sounds of gunfire, so that they could adapt to high-intensity warfare more quickly and keep up with the Left Army's combat rhythm.

This would also boost the morale of the left-wing attacking force and put pressure on the defenders of Hengyang.

On the way to Hengyang by boat, Chen Gan flipped through the roster and saw Peng Yong's name marked with a conspicuous black circle. Next to it was a note indicating that he was from Guixian County, Guangxi, and had a basic understanding of literature. His eyes lit up and he ordered the accompanying guards to find Peng Yong.

After some investigation, it was found that Peng Yong was indeed literate, a rare talent among miners, and also a fellow townsman from Xunzhou Prefecture in Guangxi, with a very upright character.

Chen Gan was overjoyed and prepared to transfer Peng Yong to his Provisional Ninth Battalion for proper training.

"Battalion Commander Chen, judging from your accent, you're also from Guixian County, Xunzhou Prefecture?"

During the conversation, Peng Yong felt that Chen Gan's accent was somewhat familiar, so he subtly inquired about it.

"I was originally from Qintangxu. My family had a few acres of sloping land, which we cultivated to make a living. But then a disaster struck, and even selling the land didn't help. I had to beg everywhere. Fortunately, I met the Northern King while begging in Qishixu. He took me in and nurtured me, which is why I have achieved what I have today." Facing his fellow townsman from the same county, Chen Gan patiently chatted for a few minutes.

Speaking of this, and thinking that he was the only one in his family to have survived to this day, and recalling the little things about how he was taken in by Peng Gang and given a new life, Chen Gan's voice choked up.

Now he has finally made something of himself, and has made a name for himself, managing about seven hundred people under his command, but not a single relative is able to witness his success.

"Is His Highness the Northern King from Daxu?" Peng Yong asked, following up on the conversation. "No, the Northern King is from Qingfeng Village," Chen Gan replied, shaking his head.

Chen Gan was one of the twenty-four trainees in the first cohort. He was brought to Honglianping from Qingfeng Village by Peng Gang, which is why he knew that Peng Gang was from Qingfeng Village.

The first batch of 24 trainees consisted of impoverished teenagers from Qingfeng Village and neighboring villages, as well as displaced teenagers from Qishixu.

Peng Yong wasn't very lucky. If the recruiting officer who came to the Simenzhou Coal Mine in Leiyang County was a first-term recruit from Qingfeng Village and the surrounding villages, he would most likely have recognized Peng Yong.

Upon hearing the familiar name of Qingfeng Village, Peng Yong trembled all over.

Wang Yinan and Luo Bangyi were right; he could indeed establish a kinship with the Northern King.

It's just a matter of how close or distant the relationship is.

Peng Yong was still unsure whether this Northern King was his own brother or from his own clan.

"May I be so bold as to ask, what is the name of the Northern King?" Peng Yong asked.

"The King of the North's name is Gang," Chen Gan replied.

After learning about the Northern King's birthplace and name from Chen Gan, Peng Yong stood there dumbfounded, feeling utterly incredulous.

Peng Gang from Qingfeng Village, Guixian County.

At this moment, Peng Yong was certain that this Northern King was his third brother, Peng Gang.

Suppressing his excitement and joy, Peng Yong's thoughts raced.

He longed to go to Lingling City immediately to reunite with Peng Gang, but the thought that his younger brother had become a king while he was still just a minor leader filled Peng Yong with mixed feelings. He felt it would be too undignified to go and reunite with Peng Gang like this.

After much deliberation, Peng Yong, his heart pounding with emotion, pleaded with Chen Gan: "I am deeply grateful for Battalion Commander Chen's kind offer. I am willing to serve you, but I have yet to achieve anything and feel ashamed. On this trip to Hengyang, could you give me and my fellow miners a chance? Let us also attack Hengyang City?"

Chen Gan had not yet figured out Peng Yong's identity, nor did he know what Peng Yong was thinking. Seeing Peng Yong's eagerness to fight, Chen Gan was very satisfied with Peng Yong's performance and felt that he had not misjudged him. This miner leader in front of him had guts.

Chen Gan gave a thumbs-up in approval: "As expected of a man from my Gui County, you have guts! You have guts! I will try to get the city attacking part of the plan from Deputy Commander Luo."

At the moment when the main force of the Taiping Army was besieging Guangxi.

The governor of Guangxi, Zhou Tianjue, had realized that the Taiping Army had grown from a band of mountain bandits huddled in Zijing Mountain into an armed force capable of besieging the capital of a province within just one year.

The imperial court mobilized the entire southern region, sending elite troops from Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangdong, and Fujian provinces to aid Guangxi, but still failed to wipe out the God Worshippers. Instead, they were defeated by the rebel army, suffering a significant loss of strength.

At present, the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army alone are not capable of wiping out the religious bandits.

After much deliberation, Zhou Tianjue submitted a memorial to Emperor Xianfeng, frankly explaining the matter to the emperor and exaggerating the performance of local militias, hoping that Emperor Xianfeng would lift the restrictions on local militias, as only by organizing more local militias could the rebels be eradicated.

At the same time, Zhou Tianjue also stated in his memorial that the rebels would definitely head north to Hunan for food, and advised the Qing army in Hunan to train more local militia and take precautions.

To be fair, this memorial is the most serious and far-sighted of all the memorials submitted by Zhou Tianjue, who was known for his abstract style.

Aside from not mentioning Zhou Tianjue's own dismal record against the Taiping Army in the memorial, there is nothing wrong with Zhou Tianjue's memorial.

However, the Qing government has always been very cautious about opening up local militias.

After all, the local militias were armed forces funded and organized by local Han gentry, which were difficult for the imperial court to control. Unless absolutely necessary, Emperor Xianfeng himself, and even the Eight Banners officials in the capital, were unwilling to loosen the restrictions on local militias.

Rather than lifting restrictions on local militias, they would rather pray that the Eight Banners Green Standard Army and the existing local militias could create a miracle under the leadership of Imperial Commissioner Li Xingyuan.

The idea of ​​pinning one's hopes on the creation of the Eight Banners Green Standard Army is undoubtedly absurd.

Emperor Xianfeng and the civil and military officials in Beijing did indeed receive miraculous news, but what they received was news that the Western Guangdong rebels had completely annihilated Li Xingyuan's main force of the Qing army in Hunan with a small detachment of short-haired soldiers, and that Li Xingyuan himself had died at Huangsha Pass. The news also indicated that the Western Guangdong rebels would soon enter Hunan.

This explosive news reached the Forbidden City, shaking the entire Qing court's central government.

Even Emperor Xianfeng himself was so angry about the news that he was dizzy and fainted.

Emperor Xianfeng couldn't understand why, despite sending two imperial commissioners and spending over ten million taels of silver, they still couldn't eliminate the major threat of the religious bandits in western Guangdong.

The performance of the two Han Chinese imperial envoys greatly disappointed Emperor Xianfeng.

This time, Emperor Xianfeng appointed Sai Shang'a, the chief Grand Councilor who came from the Mongol Plain Blue Banner, as Imperial Commissioner, bestowed upon him the Ebilun sword, and gave him eight million taels of silver to urgently send him to Hunan to supervise the suppression of the religious bandits in western Guangdong.

Emperor Xianfeng granted Sai Shang'a far more power and military support than the previous two imperial commissioners.

This shows that Emperor Xianfeng had high hopes for Sai Shang'a, hoping that Sai Shang'a could wipe out the religious bandits in western Guangdong in one fell swoop and eliminate future troubles.

After careful consideration, Emperor Xianfeng decided to partially adopt Zhou Tianjue's suggestion to lift the restrictions on local militias, which had been rampant with religious bandit activities in western Guangdong and Guangxi and Hunan provinces.

(End of this chapter)