1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 297 Remain Calm and Composed in the Face of Adversity

“Your Highness, these Hanyang Mongols who only listen to force and never to be coaxed are truly unreasonable and despicable. The ‘Land to the Tiller’ law is such a good policy, it benefits them in every way. You treat them so well, yet they still want to come to Wuchang to cause trouble for you.” Li Qi mounted his horse and followed Peng Gang away from the Shahu camp, saying as they rode.

"After all, the laws have not yet been fully implemented in Hanyang, and the local gentry still control the area." After leaving the Shahu camp, Peng Gang shook hands with the head of his leopard-patterned horse and headed towards Wusheng Gate on the north wall of Wuchang.

"The local gentry in Hanyang are not honest, so we need to keep them in check. After the land clearing team arrives in Hanyang and redistributes the land, I will send the new recruits of the Third Battalion of the Shahu Camp to protect the land clearing team. At that time, the Second Regiment will send some veterans to lead the new recruits of the Third Battalion of the Shahu Camp."

“It would indeed be better to bring some locals from Hubei. There’s no language barrier, so communication will be easier. With them along, those rumors about our Northern Palace not allocating land to people from Hubei will be dispelled,” Li Qi assured Peng Gang.

"I will make sure that the veteran brothers from Guangxi and Hunan in the Second Regiment take good care of these new recruits from Hubei and protect the Qingtian Team."

"Don't be soft-hearted when you encounter people from Hanyang who resist the Qing's land redistribution," Peng Gang instructed Li Qi.

"The Qing central government has already dispatched a minister to oversee the militia training. If they don't retaliate this year, they will definitely take action next year. The redistribution of land in Hanyang cannot be delayed for too long."

According to intelligence gathered by the intelligence bureau, the Qing dynasty had dispatched militia training ministers to Hunan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui and other places.

This indicates that the Qing court abandoned its idea of ​​relying primarily on the rotten Eight Banners and Green Standard Army to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Instead, it began to delegate power to local authorities, cultivate local militias, and attempt to utilize their strength to quell the Taiping Rebellion.

The three towns of Wuhan were a battleground, and Peng Gang had to solidify the Northern Palace's rule in the four prefectures of Wuhan, Hanzhong, Huangshan, and Yueyang before the Qing government's local militias gained sufficient strength. He needed to complete land reforms in these areas to make them a stable base for the Northern Palace, even if it meant using bloody methods.

If we drag our feet and wait for the local militias to gain momentum and collude with the local gentry, the land reform will be even more difficult than it is now.

Although Peng Gang only knows so far that the Qing court sent the militia commander to Hubei as Luo Raodian, an old regional official from Anhua, Hunan, the specific identities of the militia commanders in other areas surrounding Wuhan are still unknown.

However, there is one thing Peng Gang is certain of.

That means that no matter who is appointed as the head of the local militia in the area surrounding Wuhan, and who is in charge of local militia affairs, he will not be given time to carry out the land reform.

"Understood, Your subordinate. The Second Regiment will do its utmost to assist the land clearing team in completing the land clearing work in Hanyang as soon as possible," Li Qi nodded and said.

In fact, since the land reform in Jiangxia County proceeded smoothly, the Hanyang gentry, led by Wang Shukun and others, were in a state of panic and had tried to contact the Qing government, hoping that the Qing government's "royal army" could fight back to Hanyang.

The first Qing official that Wang Shukun and others contacted was Liu Qixian, the newly appointed prefect of De'an Prefecture, Lin Zexu's son-in-law, and a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) from Min County.

Because De'an Prefecture was closest to Hanyang Prefecture, the first external aid that Wang Shukun and others thought of was the local militia of De'an Prefecture.

The defenses of De'an Prefecture were already weak, with only one battalion of Green Standard Army soldiers from the De'an Camp of the Huguang Naval and Land Commander, with less than 300 men actually on staff. Including the local militia, the total number of soldiers in the prefecture was less than 3,000.

Liu Qixian understood that the reason De'an Prefecture was preserved was because the short-haired rebels were busy managing their internal affairs and had no intention of sending troops to attack De'an, not because they were incapable of attacking De'an.

Liu Qixian dared not provoke the short-haired rebels again. He merely agreed to the joint appeal for help from Wang Shukun and other gentry in Hanyang, and reported the matter to his superior, Chonglun, the newly appointed governor of Hubei stationed in Xiangyang. He himself had no intention of sending troops.

At this time, the relatively safe Xiangyang served as the Qing government's base in Hubei, managing the remaining Qing territory in the province.

Not only was the newly appointed Hubei Governor Chonglun stationed in Xiangyang to handle Hubei's military and political affairs.

Luo Raodian, the Hubei assistant militia commander and one of the first 45 militia training ministers dispatched by Emperor Xianfeng, was also in Xiangyang.

Upon receiving this news, Luo Raodian couldn't help but stamp his feet and sigh.

Luo Raodian was keen to take this opportunity to recapture Hanyang Prefecture, but he had only recently arrived in Xiangyang and there was no sign of the Hubei militia; they were still in the process of raising funds and supplies.

Faced with a golden opportunity to recapture Hanyang, or at least strike a blow against the short-haired army, Luo Raodian was powerless to do so. He paced anxiously back and forth in his residence, pondering a strategy. After much deliberation, Luo Raodian concluded that only the troops in Hunan were capable of recapturing Hanyang. He then wrote to Luo Bingzhang, Zeng Guofan, and Jiang Zhongyuan, explaining the situation and hoping that Luo Bingzhang and the others could seize this excellent opportunity.

Meanwhile, in Caidian, Hanyang.

Having waited in vain for a clear reply from the Qing government, and with the Hanyang tenant farmers and laborers' attempt to cause trouble in Wuchang failing to make any significant impact, and with no sign of the Qing court backing down, Wang Shukun and other Hanyang gentry were now extremely anxious.

Despite it being the dead of winter, not the hottest time of summer, Wang Shukun and the others were still sweating uncontrollably.

Wang Shukun already knew that Wang Ergou and others, his henchmen planted among the tenant farmers' long-term laborers, had been executed in Wuchang.

Even the Northern Palace treated the lackeys of the Hanyang gentry with such ruthlessness, killing them without hesitation, and killing two hundred of them in one go.

They certainly wouldn't show any mercy to these Hanyang gentry who were behind the scenes organizing the resistance against the Qing dynasty.

Thinking of this, Wang Shukun felt a chill run down his spine.

Just as Wang Shukun was feeling a chill run down his spine and was in a state of panic, his sons stumbled and ran into the Caidian militia camp outside the courtyard.

"Father, something terrible has happened!" In his panic, Wang Chongren, the eldest son of the Wang family, didn't look carefully at the ground and almost tripped over his own doorstep.

"How dare you act so rashly! What kind of behavior is this?! How have I always taught you to stay calm and composed in the face of adversity!" Wang Shukun, though anxious, forced himself to remain calm and maintain the demeanor of a patriarch, and asked, "The Qingtian team has come all the way to Caidian?"

Wang Shukun had already heard that the clearing of fields in Hanyang was very different from that in Jiangxia County. Each clearing team was guarded by two hundred new and old soldiers from the Northern Palace, who went into the towns and villages to clear the fields in an armed manner.

"No, not at all. It's still far away. The Qingtian team is still clearing out villages and towns around the prefectural city," said Wang Chongyi from the second branch of the family.

"I thought the clearing of the fields had reached our Caidian area. It's good that it hasn't reached Caidian yet." Wang Shukun breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

“But the morale of our Hanyang militia is low, and the people are leaving.” Wang Chongren pulled out a crumpled leaflet with a red stamp and handed it to Wang Shukun for a look.

"Father, look at this."

With a heavy heart, Wang Shukun took the flyer with his withered hands, fumbled for his reading glasses with a hood, put them on, and focused intently on examining it.

I quickly understood the contents of the flyer.

The leaflet clearly states in black and yellow ink that landowners who support the "Land to the Tillers Act" and whose land and ponds do not exceed the standard of one hectare of medium-sized land are allowed to retain their original land and ponds, and a new survey will be conducted, with the new method as per regulations.

For fields and ponds exceeding the standard of one qing of medium-sized fields, the original land of one qing of medium-sized fields may be retained.

"Has the message on this flyer already spread?" Wang Shukun grabbed Wang Chongren's sleeve and asked.

"The news has spread like wildfire, from one person to ten, from ten to a hundred," Wang Chongren said with great distress.

"Thirty percent of our Cai Dian militia has already disbanded, mostly small landowners. The rest are all harboring their own agendas."

Just moments before, Wang Shukun had been teaching his sons to remain calm and composed in the face of adversity. Upon hearing this, he felt a sudden darkness engulf his vision and a loss of strength, almost collapsing to the ground. Fortunately, his sons reacted quickly and caught him in time.

After calming down, Wang Shukun could no longer control his emotions and roared hysterically, "A bunch of untrustworthy, short-sighted, and opportunistic villains! This is Peng's scheme to sow discord! Do those small landowners really think they'll be out of luck once the land is redistributed in Hanyang?"
When the rebels from the Northern Palace first entered Hanyang, they attacked Liu Guangde and his men. Now they're attacking us. After us, it'll be those small landowners! Not a single one will escape! Not a single one will escape! A bunch of spineless cowards!

(End of this chapter)