1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 222: Hold on firmly, there will be a way!
The appointment of Sai Shang'a as Imperial Commissioner was the result of a political struggle among the Qing court's top officials.

Therefore, when the imperial edict issued by Emperor Xianfeng lifting the restrictions on local militias in Hunan and Guangxi provinces was delivered to Changsha by express courier overnight, Sai Shang'a had not yet taken office.

This marks the first time since the White Lotus Rebellion that the Qing government has simultaneously lifted restrictions on local militias in two provinces.

This is undoubtedly a huge boon for Hunan.

Jiang Zhongyuan, who led the Chu troops into Changsha, was overjoyed that Emperor Xianfeng had lifted the restrictions on Hunan militia.

He was glad that the young Emperor Xianfeng finally realized that the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army alone could not quell the religious bandits in western Guangdong, and that to eradicate them, he still had to rely on the local militia.

The lifting of restrictions on Hunan militia training means that Jiang Zhongyuan can legitimately train more Chu soldiers, allowing them to showcase their skills and realize their grand ambitions.

Overjoyed, Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't help but stamp his feet in regret.

The imperial edict lifting restrictions on Hunan militias came far too late.

If this imperial edict had reached Hunan a few months earlier, not only would Jiang Zhongyuan have been able to train more Chu warriors in Xinning, but various parts of Hunan would have also been able to train some usable local militias in advance.

The prefectures and counties of Hunan would not be in such a sorry state as they are today.

Daozhou fell without a fight, and the Taiping rebels lingered there, recruiting soldiers. Guiyang and Chenzhou in southern Hunan were also in dire need of assistance.

The short-haired bandits then besieged Hengyang, the capital of Hengzhou Prefecture, the gateway to Changsha.

The government troops in Guangxi were held back in Quanzhou by the Taiping rebels, unable to make any progress and unable to support the government troops in Hunan. They could only fight their own battles.

Right now, the Taiping rebels have launched another attack on Baoqing Prefecture.

The situation in Hunan as a whole can be described as utterly chaotic.

Looking back at last year in Guangxi, although the government troops did not achieve a decisive victory, especially the government troops under Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong were repeatedly defeated by the short-haired Mao.

However, in terms of the overall battle situation, the government troops were not yet overwhelmed by the rampant religious bandits in western Guangdong and still had the ability to fight back.

The two most important cities in Guangxi, Guilin, the provincial capital, and Maping, the military stronghold of Liuzhou, were preserved.

The religious cult members from western Guangdong, having escaped their prison in Guangxi, are showing the ferocity of tigers unleashed from their cages.

The weak Hunan government troops seemed to have no power to resist.

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't help but sigh.

Just as Jiang Zhongyuan was sighing deeply, his younger brother Jiang Zhongji hurried across the busiest Gongyuan Street in Changsha, returning to the Chu Yong garrison next to the Changsha Gongyuan, and went straight to see Jiang Zhongyuan to tell him some shocking news.

"Brother! Something terrible has happened! The cult bandits are approaching Changsha and are poised to attack the city!"

Jiang Zhongyuan was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, but quickly recovered from his surprise and asked, "Hengzhou Prefecture is completely lost? Was the invading enemy the Taiping Rebellion or the Taiping Rebellion?"

"The specifics are still unclear. Governor Cheng and Governor Luo want you to go to the governor's office for a meeting," Jiang Zhongji said breathlessly.

Cheng Zhitai refers to Cheng Yucai, the Governor-General of Huguang, and Luo Futai refers to Luo Bingzhang, the Governor of Hunan.

The Qing Dynasty's governor-general's jurisdiction covered at least one province, while the governor was in charge of one province. Both were high-ranking officials in charge of a region, but the governor-general's rank and power were generally higher than that of the governor.

Logically, such a high-level meeting should be held at the Governor-General's office.

However, Cheng Yucai's Huguang Governor-General's Office was located in Wuchang, not Changsha.

The highest-ranking government office in Changsha was Luo Bingzhang's governor's office.

Therefore, Cheng Yucai and Luo Bingzhang chose the Hunan Provincial Governor's Office in Changsha as the meeting place.

Jiang Zhongyuan rode his horse to the governor's office, dismounted at a side gate, and took a shortcut to enter the governor's office.

Jiang Zhongyuan was Luo Bingzhang's savior and honored guest. The gatekeepers of the governor's office all knew Jiang Zhongyuan and his relationship with Luo Bingzhang, so no one dared to stop him along the way.

At this time, the Governor-General of Huguang, the Governor of Hunan, the Commander-in-Chief of Hunan, the Provincial Governor of Hunan, the Circuit Intendant, the Provincial Judge, the Prefect of Changsha, and senior Green Standard Army officers of the rank of Deputy General and above had gathered at the Governor's Office to discuss the plan to defend the city.

Facing a hall full of civil and military officials from Hunan Province, Jiang Zhongyuan, who had only served as a county magistrate, was not intimidated at all and entered the main hall to take his seat with great composure.

With a formidable enemy at hand, the Hunan officials present were all clear-headed and none of them deliberately made things difficult for Jiang Zhongyuan, who held the rank of prefect. They all treated Jiang Zhongyuan with considerable courtesy.

After all, Jiang Zhongyuan's Chu Yong was the only unit among the various Hunan troops that had fought against the Guangdong Western Rebellion bandits multiple times and had a respectable record.

They all placed high hopes on the two thousand Chu soldiers brought by Jiang Zhongyuan.

Most of the Hunan civil and military officials in the main hall of the governor's office looked extremely grim.

Cheng Yucai, the highest-ranking official present, was particularly uneasy.

If it weren't for the severe reprimand Cheng Yucai received from Emperor Xianfeng when he traveled from Hengyang to Changsha to report a border emergency, he would have loved to run back to Wuchang in one breath.

Although there were still 1,500 to 1,600 Green Standard Army soldiers in Changsha, including the Hunan Provincial Military Command and the Provincial Military Command, Luo Bingzhang also temporarily recruited and trained 3,000 local militiamen, and Jiang Zhongyuan's 2,000 Xinning Chu soldiers had also entered Changsha.

In addition, there were more than 900 Green Standard Army soldiers under Cheng Yucai's Central and Right Battalions, which were under the command of the Governor-General of Huguang.

The garrison in Changsha was not small, numbering over 7,500 men.

Moreover, the newly appointed Imperial Commissioner Sai Shang'a is already on his way. Sai Shang'a is a Manchu, and Manchu imperial commissioners have always been treated much better than Han imperial commissioners. Naturally, Sai Shang'a would not leave without leading troops to suppress the religious bandits in western Guangdong.

As long as Changsha holds firm, there is a way to resolve the situation. The dire situation in Hunan is mainly due to the deterioration of the southern and central regions.

The situation in Changsha Prefecture has not yet reached the point of being out of control.

Even so, Cheng Yucai still felt that Changsha was not safe enough.

"Now that everyone is here, let's discuss how to defend Changsha. What are your suggestions?"

Seeing that Cheng Yucai was distracted, Luo Bingzhang started by asking the Hunan civil and military officials present what good strategies they had for defending the city.

"Are the invading enemies short-haired or long-haired? How many are they? Is Hengzhou Prefecture still in the hands of the government troops?" Jiang Zhongyuan was in no hurry to offer advice; he wanted to understand the specific situation first so that he could prescribe the right remedy.

"In his most recent letter, Prefect Tao vowed to live and die with Hengyang City. Hengyang City has been guarded by scouts. Although the short-haired rebels have surrounded Hengyang City, the city is high and the moat is deep, with the Xiangjiang River flowing into it. The short-haired rebels have not yet taken Hengyang City, let alone the entire Hengzhou Prefecture."

As he spoke, Luo Bingzhang emphasized the determination of Tao Enpei, the prefect of Hengzhou, to live and die with Hengyang City. He glanced at Cheng Yucai with disdain and continued.

"The invading religious bandits are long-haired, not short-haired, and their numbers are at least three thousand. They seem to be the vanguard of the long-haired bandits."

Upon hearing Luo Bingzhang's words, the Hunan civil and military officials present, except for Hunan Governor Bao Qibao, who had followed Cheng Yucai back to Changsha from Hengyang, all looked at Cheng Yucai with a hint of mockery and disdain for his behavior.

If Cheng Yucai hadn't returned to Changsha, the defenses of Hengyang would not have been so weak, and the city could have held off the rebels in western Guangdong for a longer period, buying more time for the defense of Changsha.

Of course, based on this alone, the Hunan officials present would not dare to scoff at the top officials of Hunan and Hubei provinces.

The reason they were so brazen in their attitude toward Cheng Yucai was that they all knew that Emperor Xianfeng had issued an imperial edict severely reprimanding Cheng Yucai, with words so harsh that they were extremely rare since the Daoguang era.

Emperor Xianfeng was probably already extremely dissatisfied with the incursion of the religious bandits from western Guangdong into Hunan. Cheng Yucai just happened to leave Hengyang City at this time and head north to Changsha, the provincial capital, which just happened to run into Emperor Xianfeng's anger.

Emperor Xianfeng seized the opportunity to make an example of Cheng Yucai, using him as a case study to deter others and intimidate the Hunan officialdom.

In officialdom, cold-heartedness and treachery, sycophancy and opportunism are commonplace.

It was clear to everyone that Emperor Xianfeng had not yet taken action against Cheng Yucai because he considered the imminent threat of a major enemy and that it was not advisable to rashly remove the frontline officials.

Cheng Yucai will settle scores later; it's only a matter of time before he strips Cheng of his peacock feather and official hat.

With the Governor-General of Huguang about to be dismissed, the civil and military officials of Hunan naturally no longer needed to fawn over Cheng Yucai as they had in the past.

They would even sniff out Cheng Yucai's farts to find out what they smelled like, as if they wanted to know what Cheng Yucai had eaten and the health of her digestive system.

Upon hearing that Hengyang was still standing, and that the rebels from western Guangdong who were invading Changsha were the Long-haired Mao, not the Short-haired Mao, and that their numbers were at most three or four thousand, they realized that the city was still in Hengyang.

Jiang Zhongyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Zhongyuan was afraid of short hair, but he wasn't so afraid of long hair.

Although the Taiping Rebellion was strong, it was not invincible.

Chu Yong has defeated the Taiping rebels before.

Changsha City is located near Changsha and Shanhua counties.

Located on the west bank of the Xiang River, the city wall is laid out in a strip shape that is long from north to south and narrow from east to west. It borders the Xiang River to the west, with a circumference of fourteen li. The city wall is 24 feet high, and the parapet has 4,679 crenellations, each 2 feet high.

The section of the wall at Tianxin Pavilion in the southwest of Changsha is the highest section of the Changsha city wall, with a height of 41 feet and 7 inches.

Changsha was equipped with heavy artillery, including as many as nine red-coated cannons weighing over 5,000 jin each!
Despite the fact that Changsha has been neglected for a long time and many parts have collapsed.

However, the number of troops defending Changsha made up for this.

The Taiping rebels' attempt to attack Changsha with a mere three or four thousand troops was far too overconfident and arrogant.

Three or four thousand men wouldn't even be enough to encircle Changsha, let alone capture it.

Moreover, Changsha Prefecture not only has the garrison of Changsha City, but also a lot of local militias in the surrounding areas, such as the more than 1,000 militias from Xiangxiang County trained by Luo Zenan.

Jiang Zhongyuan strongly suspected that the Taiping rebels were unaware of the defenses of Changsha.

Before he could speak, Bao Qibao, trying to save face, spoke first: "What's there to be afraid of with just three or four thousand Taiping vanguards?"

The Hunan Provincial Commander Bao Qibao was an illiterate man with a history of desertion in the face of battle. The Hunan civil officials in the main hall despised Bao Qibao even more than Cheng Yucai. Few people were willing to pay attention to Bao Qibao, and no one wanted to engage with him.

They all thought Bao Qibao was bragging and exaggerating.

If the cult bandits are truly not a threat, then why did Bao Qibao flee from Hengyang back to Changsha?
Seeing the atmosphere become somewhat awkward, Luo Bingzhang looked up at Bao Qibao: "What good ideas does Minister Bao have?"

Bao Qibao was a crude and uncouth man, and Luo Bingzhang did not expect him to come up with any good ideas.

However, Bao Qibao was, after all, the Governor of Hunan, and his elite battalion was an important force in the defense of Changsha. Since Bao Qibao wanted to offer advice, we should consider the soldiers' situation, not his generalship.

Luo Bingzhang still had the right to speak and offer suggestions to Bao Qibao.

Encouraged by Luo Bingzhang, Bao Qibao took a puff of his pipe and spoke in an excited, hoarse voice: "Changsha is the largest city in Hunan, with high walls and thick ramparts, even surpassing Guilin."

The bandits in western Guangdong are not good at attacking cities. Governor Zhou, General Xiang, and Governor Lao were all able to defend Guilin, so we will surely be able to defend Changsha as well.

We can also carry the City God onto the city wall and have him help us guard the city.

(End of this chapter)