1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 245 Mutual Kindness
The present-day Chenzhou Qin was Chen County during the Qin Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Yang Qiu, the governor of Guiyang Commandery, began to build the city. In the ninth year of the Kaihuang era of Emperor Wen of Sui, Guiyang Commandery was renamed Chenzhou.

The city of Chenzhou was located on the west bank of the Chenjiang River, a tributary of the Leishui River, which is now the Suxian District and Beihu District of Chenzhou City.

The city of Chenzhou during the Qing Dynasty was built in the second year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty. The western moat was expanded during the Jingtai reign, and the city wall was added in the seventh year of the Zhengde reign. The outer city was built in the forty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign, but the outer city no longer existed by the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, although Chenzhou was a prefecture city, its city wall area was extremely small, only 0.19 square kilometers, smaller than many county towns.

Chenzhou was isolated south of Hengyang. When Yang Xiuqing's Taiping Army East Palace troops withdrew from Chenzhou, they only burned down the empty treasury and did not disturb the people.

Although the people of Chenzhou were worried about the Taiping Army, they were also secretly relieved that they had not been massacred and looted by the bandits, and watched the Taiping Army head north.

When Yang Xiuqing passed through Chenzhou, apart from smashing the local Confucian temple and temples of local gods and recruiting local young men into the army, he did not cause much damage to Chenzhou.

When Yang Xiuqing's Eastern Palace troops withdrew from Chenzhou, the Qing army under the command of Xu Guangjin, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, arrived from Shaozhou Prefecture in Guangdong, south of Chenzhou, and led more than 10,000 brave soldiers from the six prefectures of Zhao, Luo, Lian, Lei, Guang, and Shao in Chenzhou to restore the city.

The people of Chenzhou had just witnessed what the real devastation of war was like.

The discipline of the Guangdong garrison during the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns had long since fallen into disarray.

Upon entering the city, the Guangdong soldiers, under the pretext of "pursuing and suppressing escaped bandits," launched a search and arrest operation. Anyone whose appearance was suspicious was beheaded, leaving their heads behind, while their bodies were thrown into the Chenjiang River to drift away.

If a household is accused of being a “traitor,” it will be looted immediately, and then set on fire.

The people fled into the mountains and forests in droves. Those who were unable to escape, whether old or young, were either raped or kidnapped.

Women who were beautiful were especially sought after by brave soldiers. They were raped on the city walls during the day and forced into prostitution at night, their cries of agony never ceasing.

The worst affected area was the commercial streets and markets south of the city, near the Chenjiang River wharf.

This place was originally the main road connecting Chenzhou and Hengyang, the most prosperous place in Chenzhou. Now, it is littered with rubble, and the smoke still lingers. The charred corpse of an infant can be clearly seen in the ashes, with crows pecking at the body and refusing to leave, which is horrifying.

The brutality of the Guangdong garrison was so extreme that even Xu Guangjin, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi and the commander of the army, could hardly stand it anymore.

Forced into southern Hunan under the strict orders of Emperor Xianfeng, a distraught Xu Guangjin once considered restraining the Guangdong garrison.

However, considering that the Guangdong soldiers were already arrogant and difficult to control, and that he would still need these Guangdong soldiers to suppress the Taiping rebels in the future, Xu Guangjin had no choice but to give up and turn a blind eye to what the Guangdong soldiers were doing in Chenzhou.

Three days after the war, Xu Guangjin forced the local gentry of Chenzhou to come forward and "present their victory."

The local gentry of Chenzhou were devastated, with many lamenting in private: "Chenzhou has never suffered such a calamity in two hundred years. When the Taiping rebels came, they demanded money, but at least they survived. Now that the government troops have arrived, we have nowhere to go!"

The actions of the Qing army made the people of Chenzhou, who originally had no intention of joining the Taiping Rebellion, regret that they hadn't joined the Taiping army earlier. So they simply moved their entire villages north to Hengzhou Prefecture to search for traces of the Taiping army and joined them.

The local gentry of Chenzhou, who had taken refuge in the mountains, was also afraid of being plundered by the Qing army again. Hearing that the short-haired rebels in Hengzhou Prefecture were quite friendly to the local gentry and did not believe in foreign religions or burn down Confucian temples and ancestral halls, he weighed his options and went north to Hengzhou to seek refuge with the short-haired rebels.

Xu Guangjin was preoccupied with figuring out how to fool Emperor Xianfeng, and had no interest in considering the feelings of the local gentry in a small place like Chenzhou.
The local gentry of Chenzhou presented the victory report, and Xu Guangjin immediately wrote a memorial to Emperor Xianfeng: "Thanks to the bravery of the Guangdong troops, Chenzhou has been recovered, the banditry has been quelled, and the people praise the Emperor's grace and weep to welcome the army."
After sending out the news of the victory, Xu Guangjin waited for news from Murcha Fuxing, the general of Gaozhou Town, who was heading north to attack Yongxing County, in the Chenzhou prefectural government office, which had been burned beyond recognition and only a few inner rooms and side rooms remained.

In addition to its own territory, Chenzhou has five counties under its jurisdiction. Yongxing County is located in the northwest of Chenzhou and borders Leiyang County, which is under the jurisdiction of Hengzhou Prefecture. The county seat of Yongxing County is located on the east bank of the Lei River.

The Guangdong troops intending to enter Hengzhou Prefecture must pass through Yongxing County.

Not long after, Guangdong Naval Commander Hong Mingxiang reported: "Your Excellency, our commander Fu Xing of Gaozhou Garrison, together with the Green Standard Army of Gaozhou Garrison, Qin Dingsan, He Chun and other Guangxi garrison soldiers, has recaptured Yongxing County. The road to Hengyang is now unobstructed. Commander Fu invites you to go to Yongxing and then north to Hengyang to suppress the religious bandits."

Fuxing was a Manchu of the Plain White Banner, the great-grandson of Commander-in-Chief Mukedengbu, and was granted the title of Third-Class Imperial Guard through hereditary privilege.

He initially served as the Commander of Huai'an Road in Zhili Province, and was later promoted to Deputy Commander of the Central Army of the Imperial Guard.

At the end of the 30th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, he was promoted to the position of General of Gaozhou Garrison in Guangdong. Later, he followed the Taiping Army into Shaozhou Prefecture to supervise their entry into Hunan and guarded the northern gateway of Guangdong.

"Fuxing is quite sociable, getting mixed up with Qin Dingsan and Hechun so quickly?" Xu Guangjin said sarcastically, his face dark.

"An ungrateful wretch."

Qin Dingsan and He Chun are Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong's men.

Xu Guangjin was the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and had military power over the Guangxi garrison. Zhou Tianjue, the Governor of Guangxi, and Xiang Rong, the Commander-in-Chief of Guangxi, were his subordinates.

Xu Guangjin's subordinates' subordinates should naturally also be his subordinates.

However, Xu Guangjin had been observing the situation from the sidelines in Guangdong and had been slow to enter Guangxi to assist in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion.

Among the generals in Guangxi, his reputation as the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi had long been ruined in the eyes of the Guangxi generals.

Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong were dissatisfied with Xu Guangjin, and their subordinates Qin Dingsan, He Chun, Zhang Guoliang, and others also disregarded Xu Guangjin. They were reaping what they sowed.

But Fuxing was different. Fuxing was someone he brought from the Green Standard Army in Guangdong. Fuxing's close relationship with Qin Dingsan and Hechun, who were at odds with Xu Guangjin, made Xu Guangjin very uncomfortable.

If he asked himself honestly, Xu Guangjin did indeed feel guilty towards the generals in Guangxi, but he never mistreated Fuxing.

Unfortunately, Fuxing was a Manchu general, and despite his dissatisfaction, Xu Guangjin couldn't do anything about it.

"Your Excellency, should we go to Yongxing County or not?" Hong Mingxiang asked.

Fuxing, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was arrogant and ignorant of his place. He was greedy for credit and wanted to enter Hengzhou Prefecture with Qin Dingsan, Hechun and others to suppress the religious bandits in western Guangdong as soon as possible. That was Fuxing's business.

During the 27th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, when Xu Guangjin served as the Governor of Guangdong, he had already shown kindness to Hong Mingxiang, who only wanted to follow Xu Guangjin.

Having known each other for many years, Hong Mingxiang was well aware of Xu Guangjin's character. Xu Guangjin was mature and prudent. At present, Hunan was in chaos, and the religious bandits in western Guangdong were powerful. Following Xu Guangjin would not lead to great losses.

"Shangshan, how is the matter of procuring ships going?" Xu Guangjin asked Hong Mingxiang about the progress of procuring ships in the past few days.

The battle of Wuzhou Prefecture left him with the stereotype that the religious bandits in western Guangdong were good at land warfare but not at naval warfare.

Xu Guangjin wanted to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses, and to use his old tricks again, to engage the Taiping Army with his navy.

The problem was that there was no waterway connecting Chenzhou and Guangdong, so the Guangdong navy's ships could not enter Chenzhou. Xu Guangjin only brought some soldiers and cannons from the Guangdong navy.

As for boats, he planned to requisition civilian boats in Chenzhou.

"I have failed in my duty to the Governor-General. I have not been able to acquire any ships, and have only managed to have the naval officers and soldiers build more than thirty rafts," Hong Mingxiang said in a low voice.

"The fishermen and boatmen of Chenzhou said that when the Taiping Rebellion passed through Chenzhou, all the boats and rafts that could float on the water in Chenzhou were confiscated by the Taiping Rebellion."

"Damn those Taiping rebels!" Xu Guangjin cursed the Taiping rebels and sighed deeply, "Without ships, my Guangdong navy is useless."

Xu Guangjin relied heavily on the Guangdong Navy and his command battalion.

Therefore, Xu Guangjin was displeased with the Green Standard Army of Gaozhou Town in Guangdong and Qin Dingsan, He Chun and others. He was not furious.

It's not necessarily a bad thing that Fuxing, this arrogant Manchu nobleman, is willing to pave the way for his Guangdong troops.

The incident was caused by Fu Xing's greed for credit and recklessness. He had made a contribution, and as the commander of the Guangdong garrison, Xu Guangjin could also benefit from it.

Xu Guangjin did not criticize the former admiral Hong Mingxiang excessively.

Having worked together for many years, Xu Guangjin knew Hong Mingxiang's character well.

Hong Mingxiang is always very efficient. The fact that he and the Guangdong Navy could not requisition ships and had to build rafts themselves as a temporary measure shows that there were really no ships available to requisition in Chenzhou City.

Xu Guangjin had shown Hong Mingxiang kindness by helping him, which was based on the fact that Hong Mingxiang had once saved Xu Guangjin from pirates in Fujian and Guangdong.

Both sides have a debt of gratitude to each other.

Hong Mingxiang was known for his efficiency and even dared to secretly purchase foreign cannons to equip the warships of the Guangdong Navy.

The Guangdong Navy wasn't as bad as the Army Navy; it was thanks to the capable leadership of Admirals like Guan Tianpei and Hong Mingxiang that it was able to achieve something.

“The navy can also fight on land. Governor-General has always treated the brothers of the navy very well. As long as Governor-General gives the order, the soldiers of the Guangdong navy will fight bravely to kill the enemy!” Hong Mingxiang said firmly.

(End of this chapter)