1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 358 Other Directions
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Hanyang Shipyard, Peng Gang did not rush back to Wuchang. Instead, accompanied by Wang Dalei, the magistrate of Hanyang County, he changed to a horse-drawn carriage and traveled lightly to visit the area near Hanyang City.

Although Jiangxia County has always been the undisputed leading county in Hubei Province, both politically and economically.

However, Jiangxia County, as one of the main battlefields of the Taiping Rebellion and the Qing army, suffered too much damage to recover in just one or two years.

Therefore, Hanyang County, which was not greatly affected by the war, is now the undisputed leading county in Hubei Province in terms of economy.

Hankou was under the jurisdiction of Hanyang County, and with the opening of Hankou as a treaty port, this trend clearly showed signs of further consolidation.

Hanyang City is relatively small, with the urban area enclosed by the city walls covering only 0.38 square kilometers. Before long, Peng Gang's carriage drove out of Hanyang City through Fengshan Gate.

Once outside the city, Peng Gang opened the window, and the fresh scent of earth mixed with the fragrance of rapeseed flowers rushed towards him.

What comes into view is a vast expanse of flat fields, crisscrossed by ditches with babbling streams. The winter wheat has already sprouted green ears and is growing vigorously; the golden rapeseed fields stretch to the horizon like a tapestry.

"Your Highness, please look." Wang Dalei, the magistrate of Hanyang County who was accompanying him, pointed out the window, his face filled with undisguised pride.

"Since the land survey was completed last year in accordance with the 'Land to the Tiller' decree promulgated by His Highness, and the lands of the former Qing government officials and gentry were distributed to landless or land-poor tenants, the spirit of the farmers in Hanyang has been completely different."

In the past, I farmed for employers; now I farm for myself, working from dawn till dusk, tending to the land with meticulous care! Look at how well these seedlings are growing—more than 30% better than in previous years! Next year, Hanyang County can officially begin collecting taxes.”

Peng Gang nodded slightly and noticed an old farmer carefully cleaning the irrigation ditch with his children and grandchildren on the ridge, and a woman carrying a bamboo basket fertilizing the field.

The carriage arrived at a market town about twenty miles from Hanyang City. The streets were clean with bluestone slabs, and shops lined both sides with banners fluttering in the wind.

The blacksmith shops were filled with the clanging of metal and the sparks flying; the cloth shops were overflowing with all kinds of homespun and imported fabrics; and the teahouses were packed with merchants taking a break, chatting and laughing.

"Your Highness, there are twenty-two such small market towns in Hanyang County today," Wang Dalei introduced as if reciting a familiar list.

"Since Your Highness pacified Hubei, you have implemented a policy of light taxes to protect merchants, and all miscellaneous taxes have been abolished. In markets outside Hankou, only fixed taxes on stationary merchants and itinerant merchants are levied, and merchants have become more active. Look at this street, you can see not only local goods, but also tea from Hunan and Fujian, porcelain from Jiangxi, and even foreign goods from Guangdong and Shanghai!"

The market was bustling with people, filled with the sounds of vendors hawking their wares and haggling. Although people were still dressed simply, not everyone wore the blank, listless look on their faces. Several children, holding newly bought sugar figurines, ran and laughed as they passed by.

Outside of Hankou, other markets only levied fixed taxes on stationary merchants and itinerant merchants. This was not because Peng Gang was kind-hearted and did not want to expand the tax base of commercial taxes in other markets.

The fundamental reason was the shortage of tax collectors and the consideration of restoring local commerce.

Furthermore, Hankou is the largest distribution center for goods in Central China. Many of the goods sold in the markets of the surrounding prefectures and counties, especially bulk commodities, are wholesaled from Hankou, and these goods have already been taxed in Hankou.

After passing through the market, we arrived at a primary school converted from an old ancestral hall.
Peng Gang signaled for the car to stop and quietly approached.

Although the first batch of students at Wuchang Normal School had not yet graduated, the elementary school did not yet have any teachers.

However, the school has been almost completely renovated, with desks, chairs, and blackboards all in place. On the school walls, however, are prominently displayed Peng Gang's "Edict to Encourage Learning" and a simplified version of the "Law on Land for the Tillers," as well as maps and brief introductions of various provinces and even major countries around the world.

“The county now has thirty-five elementary schools. Although they are still rudimentary, at least they give poor children the opportunity to learn to read and understand principles. We are just waiting for His Majesty to send teachers,” Wang Dalei said in a low voice.

"The teacher trainees from Wuchang Normal School will graduate after the New Year and be assigned to teach elsewhere," Peng Gang said, patting Wang Dalei on the shoulder.

“Well done, keep up the good work. You are an old man from the time when I was in Pingzaishan. There are still vacancies for prefects in various prefectures. As long as you county magistrates are dedicated to your duties, you will fill these vacancies sooner or later.”

"Thank you for your guidance, Your Highness. Without you, I would not be where I am today. I will certainly serve you wholeheartedly and live up to your expectations," Wang Dalei said excitedly.

In his early years, Wang Dalei worked for the Wang brothers, Wang Zuoxin and Wang Dazuo, of the Wang family in Zijing Mountain. Later, when Wang Dazuo of Dachong was besieged by Peng Gang, he had to betray his own family and join Peng Gang in order to save his life.

The Wang brothers made empty promises to him, and Peng Gang also made empty promises to him.

However, compared to the promises made by his brothers from the same family, Wang Dalei preferred to accept the promises made by Peng Gang.

The promises the Wang brothers made to him were rarely fulfilled, and were mostly small, insignificant gains.

The promises Peng Gang made to him were not only larger than he could have imagined, but they were also largely fulfilled.

Wang Dalei was not even a student in the imperial examinations before, but now he is the most respected person in a county, something he never dared to dream of in the past.

Peng Gang wasn't simply making empty promises to Wang Dalei.

After the western expedition, excluding the scattered prefectures and counties around Dongting Lake, Peng Gang now controlled seven prefectures.

However, no prefect has been appointed to date, although there are indeed seven prefectural vacancies under his jurisdiction.

For mid- to high-ranking officials at the prefectural level, Peng Gang indeed preferred to select and promote those with grassroots work experience from among the county magistrates rather than directly appointing them from outside the county.

After a brief tour of Hanyang County, Peng Gang took a ferry back to the Northern Prince's Mansion in Wuchang.

After escorting the American trading company's merchant fleet through the waters of the Jiangxi war zone and successfully delivering the provisions and supplies to support the troops of the Wing Hall in Madang Town, Chen Miao, the acting commander of the Sixth Regiment, returned to Wuchang to report to Peng Gang.

Chen Miao's return was rather unfortunate; when he returned, Peng Gang was in Hanyang cutting the ribbon for the establishment of the Hanyang Shipyard.

Chen Miao waited at the Northern Prince's Mansion for most of the day, until the sun began to set, before he finally met Peng Gang.

"I have successfully escorted the fleet of the American trading company through Jiangxi." As he spoke, Chen Miao took out a stack of banknotes from his pocket and handed them to Peng Gang.

"These are silver notes from several managers and captains of foreign trading companies, bribing their subordinates as a thank you for escorting them. They said they could exchange them for gold with Western merchants in Hankou. I dare not accept them privately."

Peng Gang curiously took the banknotes that Chen Miao handed over and examined them.

It turns out that the British banknotes were issued in China by the British bank, the Liru Bank (also known as the Oriental Bank), to both British and European and American merchants.

In the early 1850s, British banks such as Standard Chartered and HSBC, which would later become household names, had not yet entered China to conduct business.

At that time, the largest and most successful foreign bank in China was Liru Bank.

The bank was a colonial bank chartered by the British government in the 19th century. Its predecessor was the West India Bank, established in 1842. Its headquarters were initially located in Bombay, India, but it moved to London in 1845 and was renamed the Liru Bank.

In the same year, it established branches in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and in 1847 became the first foreign bank to enter Shanghai, mainly engaged in international exchange and banknote issuance, and participated in triangular trade settlements between Britain, India, and China. The bank obtained a Royal Charter from the British government in 1845.

By the mid-19th century, major currencies such as the British pound, the French franc, the US dollar, and even the ruble already had paper money.

Unlike later paper currencies, the paper banknotes of this time were circulating currency based on the credit of the issuing bank. The credit and strength of the issuing bank had a great influence on the acceptance and even the value of the paper banknotes.

Even though they are both made of pounds, one-pound banknotes issued by the Bank of England and Barings Bank have vastly different values ​​compared to one-pound banknotes issued by other unknown banks.

One-pound banknotes issued by the Bank of England and Barings Bank are indeed worth one pound, and in some regions, such as India and Australia, they even have a premium.

One-pound banknotes issued by unknown, unlicensed banks were sometimes so bad that even using them as toilet paper was considered too much of a hassle.

The magistrates and captains of several American trading companies bribed Chen Miao not with silver notes, but with genuine "gold notes" that could be exchanged for gold of equal value upon presentation and had no time limit.

The managers and captains of the Citizens' trading company did not deceive Chen Miao. This stack of Liru Bank notes, worth eight hundred pounds, could indeed be exchanged for gold and silver worth slightly less than eight hundred pounds from Western merchants in Hankou.

“Very good.” Peng Gang nodded slightly and asked, “When you passed through Jiangxi, did you encounter any Qing naval forces there?”

Peng Gang had known for a long time that Li Mengqun, Liu Yuxun, and others had established the Ganyong Navy with the support of local gentry and wealthy merchants in Nanchang Prefecture.

However, the main combat objective of the Jiangxi Army, whether land or naval, at this stage is to escort Sai Shang'a's army eastward to Anhui and Jiangnan, and has not yet invaded Dehua and Ruichang counties of Jiujiang Prefecture, which are under the control of Peng Gang in the upstream area.

Peng Gang's navy has not yet clashed with the Jiangxi navy.

"We clashed when we entered the waters near Madang to deliver supplies to the Shi and Lin checkpoints in Madang," Chen Miao recalled of the battle.

"The Jiangxi Navy is disorganized and its commands are inconsistent. It is not even as good as the Hunan Navy that Peng Yulin trained in Hunan. The Jiangxi sailors are cowardly and afraid of death. Our warships can scare away a large group of them as soon as they fire a cannon."

Chen Miao participated in and commanded the Battle of Jinggang, where he fought against the Hunan Army Navy.

This mission escorted a fleet of merchant ships belonging to the American trading company, delivered supplies to the Taiping Army in Madang, and also clashed with the Jiangxi naval forces.

Compared to the Hunan Army Navy during the Battle of Jinggang, Chen Miao believed that the Jiangxi Army Navy performed worse on the battlefield.

At least under Peng Yulin's tutelage, the Xiang Army Navy was able to form a respectable battle formation on the river. With the support of the supervising fleet, the Xiang Army Navy dared to charge forward. A few elite Xiang Army Navy soldiers were even able to hold out until the boarding phase with the Beidian Navy and engage in close combat.

"I remember Peng Yulin was an apprentice engine room operator on your flagship, the Hanyang. How has he been doing lately?"

Upon hearing Chen Miao mention Peng Yulin, Peng Gang asked Chen Miao about Peng Yulin's performance.

Peng Yulin was captured by the Northern Navy during the Battle of Jinggang.

Because of the Xiangxiang Braves led by Luo Zenan and Zeng Guoquan, who had massacred Hengzhou Prefecture, Peng Yulin, a native of Leiyang County in Hengzhou Prefecture, had a very poor impression of the Xiang Braves.

Many of the prisoners captured by Peng Yulin's Xiang Army and water troops were from Hengzhou. Peng Gang had briefly occupied Hengzhou Prefecture.

During Peng Gang's occupation of Hengzhou Prefecture, he did indeed crack down hard on wealthy families, but he was quite friendly to local small families and ordinary people. He did not even forcibly conscript men within the territory of Hengzhou Prefecture.

Apart from those from Xiangxiang County, the captured Hunanese watermen, including Peng Yulin, all volunteered to serve Peng Gang before they had even been in the POW camp for three months.

Some of the Hunanese soldiers and watermen who had received favors from the Northern Palace during Peng Gang's occupation of Hengzhou Prefecture expressed their willingness to serve Peng Gang even before entering the prisoner-of-war camp.

The captured Xiang Army watermen who intended to join the Northern Palace were selected and successively assigned by Peng Gang to the Sixth Regiment, where they were mixed with the Sixth Regiment.

Peng Gang arranged for Peng Yulin and a small number of clever and quick-witted Hunanese sailors to be captured and put on training a steam paddle steamer, not to humiliate them, but rather to cultivate them in a key way.

Currently, Peng Gang's nine steam paddle steamers are still operated by foreign sailors and technicians, and the local crew members and trainee technicians do not yet have the ability to operate steam paddle steamers independently.

Each steam paddle steamer can only accommodate a limited number of trainee crew members. Many sailors from the Sixth Regiment who came from Guangxi have not yet had the opportunity to take on trainee positions on steam paddle steamers due to their qualifications and age.

“He is indeed capable of training naval engineers. Master Tom, the American chief engineer on the Hanyang, has a very high opinion of Peng Yulin, saying that Peng Yulin is the smartest and fastest learner he has ever seen, and that he is now qualified to become a qualified engineer,” Chen Miao replied.

“Since he’s already familiar with the engine room position, let’s switch him to another position so he can continue learning,” Peng Gang instructed.

"Yes, I will make the arrangements when I get back," Chen Miao replied.

"How is the situation in Madang?" Peng Gang asked Chen Miao about the situation in Madang, which could also be described as the Jiangxi battlefield.

After the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Shanxi, communication between Wuchang and the Northern Expeditionary Army became increasingly difficult. Peng Gang had not received any new information from the Northern Expeditionary Army for two months.

It is currently the twelfth lunar month, and if nothing unexpected happens, this should be the most difficult time for the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Despite the hardships faced by the Northern Expeditionary Army, it still had at least 10,000 capable soldiers, making it unrealistic for the Qing army in the north to wipe out the Northern Expeditionary Army in a short period of time.

Unlike the Northern Expeditionary Army, which was far away in Zhili, Peng Gang was able to keep abreast of the movements of the anti-Qing allies in Jiangxi.

Since the Jiangxi naval forces of Li Mengqun and Liu Yuxun were weak, it was impossible for them to break through the blockade of the Beidian naval forces in a short period of time and cross the barriers of Jiujiang and Huangzhou to threaten the three towns of Wuhan.

Peng Gang was able to defend against the westward advance of the Qing army downstream with a relatively small number of troops.

With the Qing army in the north busy dealing with the Northern Expeditionary Army, the Qing army in Hunan suffered a major setback during Peng Gang's western expedition and retreated to Changsha, making it difficult to pose a threat to Peng Gang in the short term.

This means that as long as the Taiping army in Jiangxi can tie down the Qing army under Sai Shang'a at the Madang battlefield, Peng Gang can freely allocate a portion of his land forces to other areas.

For example, the Xiangyang direction, in order to realize the strategic intention of controlling the entire Hubei province.

"The Wing King dispatched a considerable number of reinforcements to the Madang battlefield, which temporarily halted the Qing army's offensive," Chen Miao said.

"The Qing army cannot take Madang in a short time. Of course, the Wing King and his men have limited forces, and the Shaanxi-Gansu garrison is indeed stronger and more numerous than other Qing troops. The Wing King and his men will find it difficult to drive the Qing army out of Madang in a short time."

When my subordinate returned, the Qing troops around Madang were setting up camp and building fortifications, seemingly intending to besiege Madang for a long time.

If you can't take it down or beat them, then besiege them and wear them down.

This was a tactic used by the Qing army in Guangxi. Before Peng Gang's westward expedition, the Qing army in Hunan also used a siege tactic against Baling City, but they failed to besiege it.

The period when the Qing army's strategy of trapping the Taiping army truly put them in a difficult position was during the time when they were stationed in Guiping City and besieging the Taiping army.

At other times, the Qing army either failed to encircle or trap the enemy due to changes in the balance of power, or because the commanders' abilities could not keep up with the plan.

The strategy of sitting in a straitened situation has never truly succeeded.

Sai Shang'a commanded one of the Qing Dynasty's top-tier field-fighting troops. With the strong support of Zhang Fei and Li Mengqun, theoretically, he could have surrounded a portion of the Wing Palace troops and a small number of East Palace troops in Madang.

As for whether Sai Shang'a, as the current military commander in Jiangxi, has the ability, it is obvious.

Sai Shang'a commanded a strong army, and the Qing government prioritized supplying Sai Shang'a's troops with provisions and pay, never delaying payment.

If Sai Shang'a had been capable of opening up the situation in Jiangxi, he wouldn't have been lingering in Jiangxi even though Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing had established their capital in Nanjing almost a year ago.

It wasn't until Li Mengqun practiced some coordinated combat techniques in Jiangxi that Sai Shang'a's operations in Jiangxi began to show some improvement.

It was only because Sai Shang'a was a Manchu that Emperor Xianfeng and the Manchu nobles in Beijing were so lenient towards him.

If it were Han Chen who had been in charge of the Shaanxi-Gansu Camp, he would have been dismissed and replaced long ago.

"The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 6th Regiment are temporarily stationed in Jiujiang to monitor the situation on the Jiangxi battlefield. Report any unusual activity immediately," Peng Gang instructed Chen Miao.

"Yes, Your Highness." Chen Miao hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.

"Your Highness, the battalions of the Sixth Regiment are scattered, and my subordinates are overwhelmed. The Sixth Regiment needs more naval officers who can take charge independently."

“You’re practically calling out Chen Ajiu by name,” Peng Gang said with a smile. “If we count the days, this kid will graduate from the Martial Arts Academy after the New Year, along with the fourth cohort of students.”

(End of this chapter)