1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 241 The Six Kings Gather
"The local militia in Xinning County are difficult to deal with, and the local people are very hostile towards us. Our recruitment efforts in Xinning County are not going smoothly," Shi Dakai said, dismounting from his horse.

Wei Changhui added, "The main recruitment efforts of the Auxiliary and Wing Palaces were in Shaoyang, the prefectural capital, and Xinhua County in the north. They recruited about 50,000 to 60,000 new people."

After the death of King Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, who had previously been indifferent to Peng Gang, became much more attentive and friendly.

Although the Auxiliary Hall and Wing Hall divided up most of Baoqing Prefecture, the number of new recruits they could gather was certainly not as many as those in the East Hall and North Hall, which occupied almost all of the two prefectures and two states in southern Hunan.

But Wei Changhui also understood that if it weren't for the fact that the North Palace sold them grain from the auxiliary and wing palaces to support their march to Baoqing Prefecture, they wouldn't even have had the opportunity to recruit new people in Baoqing Prefecture.

"Fifty or sixty thousand is not a small number. We can spare more than ten thousand able-bodied men to fill the ranks, which should help us recover a bit," Shi Dakai said as he walked with Peng Gang into Hengyang City.

"The important thing is that we acquired quite a few ships in Shaoyang and Xinhua, and trained some sailors like the Northern Palace did, so we won't have to rely entirely on foot for marches in the future. Seventh Brother, you arrived in Hengyang before us. Did Fourth Brother tell you when we're going to attack Changsha? And how he plans to attack?"

After occupying Xinhua County, which borders Changsha Prefecture in the north of Baoqing Prefecture, Shi Dakai did not immediately head north along the Zi River to attack Anhua County and Yiyang County in the northwest of Changsha Prefecture.

However, Shi Dakai sent a small detachment to infiltrate Changsha Prefecture to conduct reconnaissance.

Shi Dakai was aware that Changsha Prefecture was organizing large-scale local militia training, and that a constant stream of guest soldiers, especially those from the north, were entering Changsha territory.

Xiao Chaogui had already attacked Changsha once before, and the Qing army in Changsha was prepared. Now, a large number of foreign troops were pouring into Changsha. Shi Dakai felt that given the current situation in Changsha, it wouldn't be easy to take the city.

Although the Taiping army's strength increased greatly after entering Hunan, and its number of people almost doubled.

The new recruits from Hunan, let alone those with real combat experience, haven't even had any experience in battalion or regimental training, so their combat effectiveness is limited.

The veterans from Guangxi led them to practice field warfare, using their superior numbers to attack smaller cities such as prefectural and county towns.

Both Shi Dakai and Wei Changhui were 90% confident that they could defeat the Qing army.

Neither Shi Dakai nor Wei Changhui were very confident about attacking the heavily defended provincial capital.

After all, in the year and a half since the uprising began, the Taiping army had failed to capture the provincial capital twice in a row, and the two biggest losses were caused by the attacks on the provincial capital.

“Fourth Brother has been busy planning with his advisors these days and hasn’t revealed a single thing to the outside world,” Peng Gang said, shaking his head.

After Yang Xiuqing captured Guiyang Prefecture, he also posted the "Proclamation of the Emperor to Punish the Hu" along the way, recruiting learned scholars as advisors, which achieved some success and attracted some talents.

Qian Jiang, a scholar from Gui'an, Zhejiang, who had long been active in Guangdong, joined Yang Xiuqing when Yang attacked Chenzhou and was treated as an honored guest by Yang Xiuqing.

Yang Xiuqing has been discussing the upcoming battle plan with Qian Jiang and his team in a closed-door setting for the past few days, without revealing his thoughts to the outside world.

Perhaps because Feng Yunshan, Peng Gang, Wei Changhui, and Shi Dakai all publicly stated that Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan would temporarily manage the Western Palace, Yang Xiuqing failed to annex the Western Palace as he wished, and thus harbored some resentment in his heart.

In the days since Feng Yunshan and Peng Gang arrived in Hengyang, Yang Xiuqing had never invited them to the Eastern King's Mansion to discuss the attack on Changsha.

Although Yang Xiuqing, the de facto leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, never revealed the Taiping army's next strategic direction to the outside world.

But one thing is certain: the question for Changsha is not whether to fight, but how to fight – whether to fight with all our might or to fight defensively.

Xiao Chaogui died at the gates of Changsha. He couldn't explain to his soldiers why he didn't attack Changsha to avenge his brother.

As for how to fight, that depends on how Yang Xiuqing performs and how much the Taiping Army is willing to pay.

As they chatted, Peng Gang and his group arrived at the Hengzhou Prefectural Government Office.

After being separated for several months, the six kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were able to gather together in one place, a rare occurrence.

However, the atmosphere of the gathering was no longer as harmonious as it had been in Guangxi.

Yang Xiuqing, the person in charge, had a gloomy face, and the atmosphere in the main hall of the government office was somewhat oppressive.

"If we want to attack Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, we must first resolve our concerns about the rear." Yang Xiuqing broke the silence in the main hall of the government office by speaking first.

Compared to Xiao Chaogui, Yang Xiuqing was much more composed and had a better overall perspective.

Before attacking Changsha, Yang Xiuqing planned to deal with the Qing army pursuing the Taiping army from behind, in order to create a safer external environment for the attack on Changsha.

“The Qing army under Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong is no longer what it used to be. The task of containing and defeating the Qing army under Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong will be entrusted to me, Bei Dian.” Peng Gang readily accepted the task.

No sooner had Peng Gang withdrawn from Lingling City than Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong's Qing troops, who had been watching from afar behind Beidian, occupied the city.

Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong's Qing army is very annoying. If you fight them, they turn around and run away; if you don't fight them, they stick to you like shadows. "We have more than just Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong's Qing troops behind us," Yang Xiuqing said, shaking his head slightly.

"Qin Dingsan, Zhang Guoliang, and He Chun are nothing to fear. At worst, I will send Zhijun with a force to assist Yang Guozong and the others in ambushing Qin Dingsan, Zhang Guoliang, and He Chun, so that they will not return alive." Wei Changhui thought that the other force Yang Xiuqing mentioned was the force of Qin Dingsan, Zhang Guoliang, and He Chun.

Among Qin Dingsan, Zhang Guoliang, and He Chun, Wei Changhui admits that Zhang Guoliang is quite capable. After all, he had suffered losses under Zhang Guoliang's guidance.

As for Qin Dingsan and He Chun, compared to other Qing army Green Standard Army officers, they could barely be considered capable.

However, they did not have many soldiers, only around five thousand.

Aside from the fact that Zhang Guoliang's men were former members of the Guangxi Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) and many of his officers were either double-red-stick or red-stick (a symbol of authority), making them indeed difficult to deal with.

Qin Dingsan's troops were mostly new recruits, while He Chun's troops were either second-rate Chu soldiers or newly recruited Guilin militia during the defense of Guilin City, and their combat strength was not strong.

“Zhang Guoliang has only recently been granted amnesty and has not yet assumed a high position. He doesn’t have many men under his command. Most of the Qing troops on this route should be Qin Dingsan and He Chun’s troops,” Shi Dakai said, revealing his thoughts.

When Zhang Guoliang was first recruited by the Qing government, the Qing government granted him the official title of Qianzong of Xunzhou Xielvying (at that time, Zhang Guoliang had not yet changed his name and was still called Zhang Jiaxiang).

Shi Dakai was fully aware of this, but he had no idea how many ranks Zhang Guoliang was promoted by the Qing court after he made meritorious contributions.

Zhang Guoliang started from a very low position, beginning as a centurion. Even if he were promoted, he wouldn't rise many ranks in a short period of time.

No matter how high they rise, they will only be Qin Dingsan's general and He Chun's deputy general.

A low official rank means a smaller number of troops that can be commanded. The majority of the Qing army in this route was undoubtedly the deployment of Qin Dingsan and He Chun.

As for who the supreme commander of this Qing army was, Shi Dakai couldn't make a judgment.

Based on official rank and seniority, Qin Dingsan was definitely higher than Hechun, but Hechun was a Manchu.

It was a Qing dynasty tradition to use Manchus to control Han Chinese, and Hechun may have been the commander of this Qing army.

“If it’s someone like Qin Dingsan or He Chun, Fu Qing and the others can handle it. I won’t bring this matter up in public,” Yang Xiuqing said, clearing her throat.

"Xu Guangjin's Guangdong army has marched north from Shaozhou Prefecture into Hunan. According to the latest news, Xu Guangjin has led the Guangdong army to occupy Chenzhou Prefecture."

"Xu Guangjin has entered Hunan?" Wei Changhui was surprised and puzzled by the news of Xu Guangjin's entry into Hunan.

"Xu Guangjin has always only cared about his own little corner of Guangdong. In the past, as long as we didn't show any signs of entering Guangdong, we always kept to ourselves and didn't interfere with Xu Guangjin. Why did Xu Guangjin go north to Hunan this time?"

Although the Taiping Army only fought against Xu Guangjin's Guangdong Army in Wuzhou Prefecture, Guangxi, the battle in Wuzhou Prefecture allowed them to gain some insight into the Guangdong Army's strengths and weaknesses and the character of Xu Guangjin, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi.

The Guangdong Green Standard Army's navy is strong, while its land forces are relatively weak.

In the Battle of Wuzhou Prefecture, the Taiping Army suffered a naval defeat at the hands of Hong Mingxiang, the Admiral of the Guangdong Navy.

On the other hand, the land forces regained their footing, with Yang Xiuqing's central army defeating the Guangdong land forces, resulting in a draw between the two sides.

In the past, Xu Guangjin did not care about the war in Hunan and Guangxi. As long as there was no sign of the Taiping Army entering Guangdong, Xu Guangjin had no interest in suppressing the Taiping Army.

It was indeed unusual that Xu Guangjin entered Hunan territory shortly after Yang Xiuqing's Eastern Palace troops left Guiyang Prefecture and Chenzhou.

The waterways between Shaozhou Prefecture and Guiyang Prefecture and Chenzhou Prefecture were not connected, so Xu Guangjin could not bring his navy into southern Hunan, but only his land forces.

In terms of naval warfare, even Peng Gang couldn't confidently guarantee that his navy would be able to defeat the Guangdong navy.

However, when it comes to land battles, all the princes present are confident that they can put up a fight against Xu Guangjin.

Xu Guangjin's entry into Hunan this time was to use his own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths.

Xu Guangjin was not so ignorant and foolish.

Peng Gang pondered that either Sai Shang'a had put pressure on Xu Guangjin, or Emperor Xianfeng could no longer tolerate Xu Guangjin's inaction and issued him a stern ultimatum, even threatening to remove him as Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, forcing Xu Guangjin to change his stance and make a statement.

Considering that even Lin Zexu couldn't mobilize Xu Guangjin back then, Peng Gang is more inclined to believe it was the latter.

(End of this chapter)