1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 314 Time Changes, People Change
(Chapter 312 has been blocked by censors)
With the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's strategy of launching a northern expedition finalized, and taking into account the historical precedent of the Taiping Army's first failed northern expedition, the plan was adopted.

Peng Gang had written to Yang Xiuqing at the end of January, stating that the Northern Expedition to Youyan could be planned slowly and gradually.

Riding on the momentum of conquering Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Changzhou, and Wuxi, the troops split into two routes and marched north.

The eastern route went north along the Grand Canal, capturing Huai'an and Qinghe (Qingjiangpu), while the western route crossed the river and went north, passing through Chuzhou, capturing Fengyang, and finally seizing Sizhou.

Once the Huai and Si River regions in northern Anhui and northern Jiangsu are secured, efforts can begin to develop these areas, using them as a logistical base and springboard for the next northern expedition.

Once the foundation in the Huai and Si regions is solidified, the next step will be to seize Xuzhou, which has been the site of more than fifty large-scale battles throughout history, and then head north to Shandong to remove the Qing dynasty's barriers.

Shandong connects to Youyan in the north, guards the Yangtze and Huai Rivers in the south, and controls the Central Plains in the west. With its hilly terrain, it faces the vast and flat North China Plain, giving it a commanding position, allowing it to advance or retreat as needed.

If Tianjing can capture Shandong, it will become extremely proactive in terms of strategy.

Then, Shandong could be used as a springboard to take the capital and complete the Northern Expedition.

As long as we occupy Shandong, it doesn't matter if we fail to capture the capital city in one go. We can retreat to Shandong to regroup and plan for another battle.

In other words, as long as Yang Xiuqing could control Shandong, his Northern Expedition would have a greater margin for error.

Perhaps it was because Peng Gang's Northern Expedition strategy and route had fundamental differences with Yang Xiuqing's.

Perhaps times have changed, and Yang Xiuqing is no longer the charcoal burner of Zijing Mountain four years ago, but the Eastern King, the Ninth Prince, and the Heavenly Father. No one is allowed to question his decisions or offend his authority, not even his own brothers in the divine family.

Peng Gang sent his letter at the end of January. The letter, which was over a thousand words long, seemed to have sunk without a trace and has not received a reply to this day.

"Neither the commander-in-chief and troops of the Northern Expedition, nor the funds and provisions promised to us by Tianjing for the Western Expedition, have we heard anything from them," Peng Gang sighed and shook his head as he spoke to Zuo Zongtang.

Five days ago, the Wing King wrote a letter saying that the Shaanxi-Gansu troops under Sai Shang'a and Li Mengqun, as well as the hastily formed Jiangxi troops, have moved from Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province, to the front line of Nankang Prefecture. They seem poised to attack Jiujiang and Hukou and dredge the Yangtze River waterway.

The Wing King requested the Eastern King to relocate the troops under Qin Rigang, the Marquis of Dingtian, to strategic locations along the Yangtze River, such as Hukou, Pengze, and Madang, to alleviate some of the pressure on the Shi brothers.

The main force of the Wing Palace, with Shi Jia at its core, was one of the strongest in terms of combat power among the various palaces. It was also quite numerous and had the strength to contend with Sai Shang'a's Shaanxi-Gansu Camp, a powerful Qing army.

Although the main force of the Yi Palace had a large number of soldiers and generals, it could not withstand the large defense area that Shi Dakai was responsible for. The main force of the Yi Palace was spread out along the more than 700-mile Yangtze River defense line from Jiujiang to Wuhu.

Faced with the main Qing army forces under Sai Shang'a and Li Mengqun, who had gathered in Nankang Prefecture, Jiangxi, the wing palace's forces were somewhat stretched thin.

Shi Dakai must have realized that Sai Shang'a and Li Mengqun were about to launch an offensive against the Yangtze River defense line managed by Yidian. Yidian's forces were too scattered, and he was not entirely confident in stabilizing the current defense area. He hoped that Yang Xiuqing could transfer Qin Rigang to the Hukou, Pengze, and Madang areas to help him defend the Yangtze River defense line and protect Tianjing.

"Did the Eastern King agree?" Zuo Zongtang asked, stroking his beard.

"The Eastern King did not agree, but he promised to send Lin Qirong's Eastern Palace troops to garrison Hukou and Pengze," Peng Gang said.

"Marquis Qin Rigang, along with Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and Ji Wenyuan from the West Palace, are still stationed in Yangzhou."

“Although the Eastern King does not want the Marquis of Dingtian and the Wing King to get too close, he still considers the overall situation,” Zuo Zongtang said after a moment of contemplation.

Qin Rigang was ranked first among the three Heavenly Marquises, and his power was much greater than that of the other two Heavenly Marquises: Marquis Fen Tian, ​​Luo Dagang, and Marquis Butian, Hu Yihuang.

Marquis Fentian, Luo Dagang, was subordinate to the North Palace, while Marquis Butian, Hu Yihuang, was subordinate to the South Palace.

Marquis Dingtian, Qin Rigang, was only nominally subordinate to the Wing Palace.

From the beginning of the uprising, Qin Rigang's troops were very independent. They were commanded by Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing and Peng Gang, but it was rare for them to be directly commanded by Shi Dakai. Shi Dakai had a deep opinion about this and often had disagreements with Qin Rigang.

Of course, Qin Rigang was mostly under the command of Yang Xiuqing. Hong Xiuquan stopped interfering in military affairs not long after the Jintian Uprising. Peng Gang only commanded Qin Rigang for a short period of time when he was managing the Lianhuashan and Longshan base areas on the south bank of the Qianjiang River.

Compared to Shi Dakai, Qin Rigang and Yang Xiuqing, who were nominally from the Wing Hall, were more like direct superiors and subordinates, and more like people from the East Hall.

Qin Rigang held a high position and wielded great power, ranking second only to the kings. Although he did not have the title of king, he was in fact a king.

“Even if the Wing King and the Marquis of Dingtian are close, they will never be on the same page,” Peng Gang said, taking a sip of hot tea after sitting down.

“The Marquis of Dingtian has already submitted to the Eastern King and follows his lead without question. The Eastern King doesn’t really need to do anything more.”

Shi Dakai's core team consisted of his clan and fellow villagers.

Qin Rigang's core team consisted of his clan and old miners from the Longshan Silver Mine.

One palace cannot accommodate two clans. Based on this point alone, even if Yang Xiuqing did not deliberately distance himself from Shi and Qin, the two would not be able to get along.

"Qin Rigang, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and others are all veteran generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and all have military talent. They are suitable candidates for the Northern Expedition. The Eastern King has them stationed in Yangzhou, which seems to be his intention to have them go north along the Grand Canal to take Qingjiangpu, the residence of the Qing Dynasty's River Governor." Zuo Zongtang took the tea handed to him by Huang Dabiao, held the cup in his hand, and was not in a hurry to drink the tea.

"The Western Palace has many talented generals; Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang are outstanding generals of our time. As for Marquis Dingtian, he still lacks experience." Peng Gang put down his teacup and gave his evaluation of Qin Rigang, Lin Fengxiang, and Li Kaifang.

"The Eastern King's intention is for the Northern Expeditionary Army to take a roundabout route and swiftly advance towards Yandu, without being greedy for conquering cities and territories, which would waste time. The River Governor Yang Yizeng and the Grain Transport Governor Yang Dianbang are both stationed in Qingjiangpu. With both governors stationed in Qingjiangpu, there are bound to be several thousand troops there. Qingjiangpu is also a crucial town controlling the Grand Canal and the Yellow River, so its defenses will inevitably be very strong. It will take at least a month to take Qingjiangpu."

Although Peng Gang and Qin Rigang had a better personal relationship, in all honesty, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang were better generals than Qin Rigang.

Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang fought alongside Xiao Chaogui in numerous tough battles since the attack on Wang Zuoxin's fortress at Zijing Mountain in late 1848, and their performance in combat was much better than that of Qin Rigang.

Qin Rigang's moment of glory was in the early stages of the uprising, when he joined forces with Luo Dagang and fought back and forth with the former troops of Zhang Bilu, the first general of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in southern Xinjiang, in the mountainous area on the south bank of the Qian River.

Since leaving his base on the south bank of the Qian River, Qin Rigang's combat performance has been rather mediocre.

The process of withdrawing the siege of Guilin and heading north along the Hunan-Guangxi corridor illustrates this point well.

The Taiping army hastily withdrew from the siege of Guilin, which led to their camp being ambushed by the Qing army. Yang Xiuqing investigated and held those responsible accountable after arriving in Quanzhou.

Qin Rigang was punished by Yang Xiuqing as a warning, but Zeng Shuiyuan, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and even Ji Wenyuan in the West Hall were not punished by Yang Xiuqing for this matter.

Although Peng Gang did not have a detailed understanding of the specific process of the Taiping Army's main force withdrawing from Guilin, this did not prevent him from inferring the behavior of these Taiping Heavenly Kingdom generals during the withdrawal from Guilin based on the results of Yang Xiuqing's post-war accountability.

If Yang Xiuqing did not intend to send a king on a northern expedition, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, the core generals of the Western Palace, would be the most suitable candidates to lead the expedition.

Qin Rigang's official rank was higher than Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, but that did not mean he was more capable than them.

Qin Rigang and Xidian had no prior experience in joint operations.

From a military perspective, if Yang Xiuqing had ordered Qin Rigang, Lin Fengxiang, and Li Kaifang to launch a northern expedition, whether Qin Rigang was appointed as the commander-in-chief or as the deputy commander, it would have been a terrible move.

"If the Eastern King is so anxious that he doesn't even want to fight at Qingjiangpu, he can only abandon northern Jiangsu, pass through Chuzhou, take Fengyang, and cross the Yangtze River from northern Anhui to launch a northern expedition." Zuo Zongtang paced back and forth, deep in thought.

"Since the Eastern King is pursuing speed, Shandong is unlikely to be attacked. The only way to bypass Shandong is to send troops northward from Henan. Henan has many plains, which is a good place for cavalry. The Heavenly Army's strength lies in infantry, and cavalry is its weakness. If the Eastern King launches a northern expedition in this way, it would be extremely unwise."

Zuo Zongtang also felt that Yang Xiuqing's strategy of taking the unconventional route and rushing to Yandu, without being greedy for conquering cities and territories, and that his pursuit of a quick victory was unrealistic and too reckless.

The Qing dynasty's rule in the north was more stable than in the south.

It is true that the Taiping Army has won a series of victories in the past two years and has eliminated many Qing troops.

However, the Qing troops that the Taiping Army has eliminated in the past two years have mostly been infantry.

The Qing government's main cavalry units, such as the Mongolian Cavalry, Jilin Cavalry, and Heilongjiang Cavalry, remained fully organized.

"The journey from Yuezhou to Jiangning went incredibly smoothly," Peng Gang said.

"The gentleman personally went to the North to take the imperial examination and knows the situation there. The Eastern King's knowledge of the North is all hearsay."

After leaving Changsha, the Taiping army swept through the land with almost no resistance, which inevitably fostered a sense of complacency among the Taiping army, making them think that the Northern Expedition would be as easy as going down the Yangtze River.

Peng Gang had already distanced himself from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's central leadership, and Yang Xiuqing was also autocratic. If Yang Xiuqing were to insist on his own way and adopt a radical Northern Expedition strategy, Peng Gang would not be able to influence Yang Xiuqing's decisions.

At most, he could only offer some reminders and suggestions to the generals of the Northern Expedition. After discussing the Northern Expedition from Tianjing, Zuo Zongtang steered the conversation to Peng Gang's marriage, presenting several auspicious dates chosen by his wives, Zhou Yiduan and Wang Quan, based on the birth dates of Peng Gang and Wang Yunheng, for Peng Gang to choose from.

Peng Gang carefully examined the auspicious dates provided by Zuo Zongtang and circled the date May 4th.

Zuo Zongtang noted this down, and suddenly, as if he had just remembered something, he asked Peng Gang, "Does Your Highness still remember Li Mengqun?"

“This fellow is my old nemesis who fought alongside me all the way from Guiping to Hubei, how could I not remember him?” Peng Gang laughed. “Isn’t he currently organizing local militias in Jiangxi?”

Peng Gang and Li Mengqun are the same age.

Back when Peng Gang was the head of the local militia and a coal miner in Pingzaishan, Li Mengqun was the magistrate of Guiping County.

Peng Gang is now the King of the North, and Li Mengqun is the registered prefect.

Li Mengqun was one of the more courageous Qing officials. Peng Gang had a deep impression of Li Mengqun, who had been sent by the former Guangxi governor Zhou Tianjue to persuade him to surrender.

"Li Mengqun has entered into a marriage agreement with the newly established Cheng family in Nanchang, becoming their prospective son-in-law," Zuo Zongtang said slowly. "Li Mengqun's training of Yongshun in Jiangxi will certainly require the Cheng family's help."

"The Cheng family? The family of Cheng Yucai, the Governor-General of Huguang during the Qing Dynasty?" Peng Gang thought for a moment and asked.

"Who else could be the newly established Cheng family in Nanchang Prefecture besides the three Cheng brothers?" Zuo Zongtang said with a smile. "The three Cheng brothers all passed the imperial examination during the Jiaqing era and were all appointed as governors during the Daoguang era. The fact that three members of one family became governors was a famous story at the time."

Jiangxi's literary tradition has flourished and endured. The Peng family, another prominent family of scholars and officials in Nanchang Prefecture, also boasted the reputation of producing three governors and ten vice-ministers in five ministries. However, the Peng family of Nanchang has now been overshadowed by the Cheng family.

The Cheng family of Xinjian, Nanchang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, produced four Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), eleven Juren (successful candidates in the provincial imperial examinations), two Hanlin scholars, and over a hundred students and officials of various ranks during the century from the Jiaqing to the Guangxu reigns.

Of the four Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) from the Cheng family, three were the three Cheng brothers, Cheng Yucai, Cheng Yucai, and Cheng Yucai, who all passed the imperial examinations during the Jiaqing era.

The three Cheng brothers all served as high-ranking officials during the Daoguang reign. Cheng Yucai rose to the position of Governor-General of Huguang, Cheng Huancai to the position of Governor of Jiangsu, and Cheng Maocai to the position of Governor of Anhui. They were known as the family with three governors-general, making their family extremely prominent.

Looking across the entire province of Jiangxi, no clan can rival the Cheng family of Xinjian, Nanchang.

It could be said that the ancestral graves were emitting auspicious smoke, and three wisps of bluish-purple smoke suddenly appeared.

When Peng Gang first entered Hunan, Cheng Yucai, the Governor-General of Huguang, was supervising the troops in Hengyang. However, Governor-General Cheng was not good at fighting but good at running away. Before even engaging in battle, he fled all the way from Hengyang back to Changsha, where he remained holed up until Cheng Yucai was dismissed from office and sent back to his hometown by the furious Emperor Xianfeng after the fall of Wuchang. Peng Gang never had the chance to fight Cheng Yucai.

When the Taiping Army captured Wuchang, they seized hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from the office of Cheng Yucai, the Governor-General of Huguang.

The Cheng family produced three provincial officials during the Daoguang reign, and such a huge amount of property was found to have been confiscated in the governor's office in Wuchang.

The three Cheng brothers would occasionally use the money they embezzled to fund schools, build water conservancy projects, and do charity work in their hometown to win people's hearts.

It is likely that the Cheng family has amassed a considerable fortune in their ancestral home in Nanchang, Jiangxi.

With the Cheng family's help behind the scenes, it's no wonder that Li Mengqun, a man from Henan, was able to establish the Ganyong (a military unit) in Jiangxi so quickly.

As for the Peng family of Nanchang mentioned by Zuo Zongtang, he was referring to Peng Yuanrui, the deputy chief compiler of the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries).

Peng Yuanrui, along with his father Tingxun, brother Yuanchong, and son Yimeng, were all members of the Hanlin Academy across three generations.

"Is there any literary tradition in the world that can continue for thousands of years without fading away?" Peng Gang shook his head.

“Being proficient in the eight-legged essay and the imperial examination does not mean being able to handle affairs. Many members of the Cheng and Peng families are in Nanchang, including local officials such as Cheng Yucai and Cheng Huancai. The foundation of these two families is more solid than that of Jiang Zhongyuan and Luo Zenan, yet none of them can shoulder the heavy responsibility of organizing local militias. In the end, it was Li Mengqun, an outsider, who had to take the lead in organizing local militias.”

Zuo Zongtang chuckled; these words struck a chord with him.

After spending the night at the Hanyang Prefectural Government Office, Peng Gang proceeded to Hankou, the final stop of his inspection tour, the following day.

For more than six months since arriving in the three towns of Wuhan, Peng Gang initially used the Hanyang Prefectural Government Office as his Northern King's Mansion and resided in Hanyang.

After the Taiping army left, the Huguang Governor's Office in Wuchang was used as the Northern King's Mansion, and he resided there permanently.

Of the three towns in Wuhan, Peng Gang moved his residence to Wuchang, while Hankou was the town he visited the least.

After crossing the Yangtze River by boat, we approached this golden shop on the riverbank.

A vibrant and bustling atmosphere of everyday life immediately washes over you.

The vast river surface was almost entirely covered by merchant ships of all sizes coming and going.

It presents a slightly chaotic but vibrant and busy scene.

The large, heavily laden cargo boats, with their deep drafts, moved slowly across the river.

The slender and agile Hunan-Hubei fast sailboat broke through the waves, with tiny splashes of water occasionally landing on the deck piled with neatly bundled tung oil and tea leaves.

Aside from merchant ships from Hubei and Hunan provinces, as well as those from further upstream, Peng Gang could even spot cargo ships coming from downstream.

Countless sampans and boats, like agile water striders, shuttled back and forth through the gaps in the giant ship, picking up and dropping off passengers and transporting small goods.

The rough shouts, the boat captains' calls, the clanging of the anchor chain, and the crackling of the sails being adjusted echoed along the banks of the Hankou River.

The docks in Hankou were piled high with goods, and the laborers who made a living by working hard at the docks gathered like ants at the various docks of Hankou.

The shouts of "Hang-ho! Hang-ho!" rose and fell as countless bare-chested, dark-skinned dockworkers carried huge sacks and wooden crates, stepping on shaky gangplanks to unload goods from afar and load local cargo onto ships.

Because they felt bad about wearing out their clothes, even though it was still chilly in early spring, the dockworkers mostly carried goods shirtless.
Peng Gang disembarked and walked along the dock into the town. The streets, though somewhat narrow, were exceptionally bustling. The cobblestone paths were worn smooth as mirrors by tires and footsteps. Shops lined both sides, their signs and banners obscuring the sky.

Goods warehouses from both the north and south were filled with a dazzling array of goods, teahouses and taverns were bustling with activity, and handicraft workshops operated day and night.

Compared to my last visit to Hankou, the streets here were noticeably cleaner this time, clearly indicating that they are regularly swept and cleaned.

Although you can still occasionally see trash on the streets, the piles of garbage have disappeared.

Peng Gang arrived at the former Hankou Patrol and Inspection Office, which is now the Hankou Tax Bureau. Chen Xingwang, the director of the Hankou Tax Bureau appointed by Peng Gang last year, works here and collects commercial taxes in Hankou.

Next to the Hankou Tax Bureau was the Urban Management Bureau, which was responsible for managing Hankou and maintaining order in Hankou. The director of the Urban Management Bureau was concurrently Qiu Zhongliang, the battalion commander of the tax police battalion stationed in the area.

Upon entering the second floor of the Hankou Tax Bureau office, Peng Gang stood by the window with his hands behind his back, his gaze never leaving the river surface outside where thousands of sails gathered.

Peng Gang skipped the pleasantries with Chen Xingwang and Qiu Zhongliang, who had come to report to him, and went straight to the point: "How many boats come and go here every day, and what do they carry?"

Chen Xingwang took a deep breath, clearly having done his homework and full of confidence, and answered as if reciting a menu: "Your Highness, on a good day, no fewer than two thousand ships of all sizes enter and leave the various docks of Hankou, mainly small cargo boats. Upstream passenger ships mostly carry Sichuan grain, Yunnan copper, Guizhou lead, Hunan timber, and Chongqing lacquer; downstream, there are more large ships, carrying Huai salt, Suzhou cloth, Zhejiang silk, Jiangxi porcelain, Guangdong sugar, and Fujian tea."

Of course, the above-mentioned merchants were all from other places; there were many more local Jianghan merchants who came to Hankou to sell local specialties. Although Hankou was affected by the war and was not as prosperous as before, it was still a golden commercial port connecting nine provinces and gathering goods from all over the world.

Apart from strategic materials such as grain, salt, sugar, iron, nitrates, and sulfur, which are allowed to enter but not leave, Peng Gang does not prohibit the free trade of other commodities.

Merchants are driven by profit, and despite the high risks of war in Hubei, merchants still came to Hankou to trade.

After all, the bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish; high risk is often accompanied by high returns and high profits.

“Now that the goods have gathered in all directions, shouldn’t we also gather up and collect all the taxes and fees of my palace, such as the fees for official documents, the fees for official documents, the ship material tax, the gate tax, the deed tax, and the goods tax?” Peng Gang turned around and looked at Chen Xingwang with sharp eyes.

"Of course, this is the most important task His Highness entrusted to me in Hankou, how could I possibly forget it?" Chen Xingwang said excitedly.

"At first, collecting taxes and fees, especially the brokerage fees and brokerage commissions, was not very smooth. However, since Your Highness cleared the land in Hanyang and implemented the fundamental policy of the law that the tiller owns the land, all the brokerage firms have become much more sensible. I have doubled the fees for the remaining brokerage fees and commissions and issued them out. Even so, those brokerage firms are scrambling to sell them."

However, the major brokerage firms are deeply entrenched and difficult to control. Previously, several of these firms were the most vocal in their refusal to recognize our Northern Palace's brokerage certificates and licenses, and their unwillingness to pay the fees. Instead of selling the certificates and licenses to them, I sold them to the more obedient local small and medium-sized brokerage firms that had long been suppressed by the major firms. Compared to the major firms, the smaller firms are easier to manage and more compliant.

(End of this chapter)