"Mr. Governor, something bad has happened. There is a rebellion in Guangnan." An aide came to report in a hurry.
This man seemed extremely flustered, and he didn't even have time to take care of the most basic etiquette.
"What, someone is rebelling? I will send people to suppress it immediately." Hengchun was startled and quickly sat up. He waved to his servants to take the troupe down.
Then he calmed down again. He seemed to have overreacted just now. But not all rebels anywhere are as tough as the group in Taiping Mountain.
There are many local small forces in Yunnan, and rebellion seems to be a common thing.
However, the ethnic and local forces here are complex and cannot form a joint force at all.
Therefore, although there are constant rebellions in Yunnan, they are easily suppressed and have little influence.
"Sir Governor, the rebels call themselves the Renaissance Army. Because the officers and soldiers from Guangnan have gone to support Guangxi, the city is empty."
"The news coming from earlier said that Guangnan has been lost."
Hengchun fell down on the Grand Master's chair and lost a city. Now things were getting serious. Moreover, Guangnan still had a lot of military resources!
"So fast!" Hengchun seemed to be saying to himself.
As soon as the news came, Guangnan Mansion was lost.
What does this mean? Guangnan Mansion couldn't hold on for even one day.
"Hurry to the Admiral's Yamen and look for the Admiral to discuss matters."
The full name of Yunnan Admiral is the Chief Military Officer of Yunnan Admiral. He is a military attaché of the first rank. He was established in the 18th year of Shunzhi and stationed in Yongchang.
In the first year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, he moved to Dali Prefecture. It was under the jurisdiction of the town, association, camp, and flood levels, and controlled the general soldiers of the six towns of Linyuan, Heli, Pu'er, Kaihua, Zhaotong, and Tengyue in Yunnan Province. He directly controlled the three battalions on the left, middle, and right of Tibiao.
He also has jurisdiction over Chuxiongxie, Wuding, Dali Chengdu and other battalions, and is the highest military attache in Yunnan Province.
Now because of the establishment of the new army, the Yunnan Admiral has been staying in Kunming.
Hengchun had just taken over as governor and knew little about Yunnan's military affairs.
At this time, he was in a panic, and the Yunnan Admiral Zhang Bilu was his backbone.
After a while, a sixty-year-old man wearing the official uniform of a first-class military attaché came quickly to the governor's office. His temples were a little gray, but his steps were steady and his face was rosy.
When Hengchun saw Admiral Zhang Bilu coming in with a flourish, he hurriedly asked people to watch his seat.
"Admiral Zhang, you must already know what happened in Guangnan! Do you have any good ideas?" Hengchun got the military report, and someone must have reported the matter to the admiral at the same time.
Hengchun seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw at this time, and its attitude towards Admiral Zhang was much better than when he first took office.
You know, they just had a very unhappy time over the layoff of the green battalion troops.
Yunnan is located on the border and borders Annan, Nanzhang and Myanmar, although these countries are now vassal states of the Qing Dynasty.
But the areas on the border were ruled by chieftains. These chieftains often engaged in plunder.
The stability of Yunnan was ensured only by the intimidation of the green soldiers on the border.
After Hengchun took office, he would implement the imperial court's policy of dismantling the green battalions.
But there is no sign of Yunnan’s new army yet!
Hengchun means to dismantle the green camp and form a new army at the same time.
The veteran general Zhang Bilu felt that a new army must be established first, and the green camp troops could not move yet, otherwise the chieftains on the Yunnan border would inevitably move. The two argued endlessly about this.
"My Lord Governor, I already know that the troops will stop them and the water will cover them. I think the rebels should be heading towards Kunming. The plan for now is to deploy troops to intercept them."
"What General Zhang said is a mature and prudent statement. I will lower the military documents for you right now."
To mobilize troops in accordance with the rules of the imperial court, a document from the governor is required.
Currently, there are Zhang Bilu's third battalion of supervisors and troops stationed in Kunming. There are also Kunming's city garrison camps, but these troops are far from enough.
"Sir Governor, I still don't know the specific situation of the rebels in Guangnan. Their speed is too fast and the news from the local area has not been fully transmitted."
Zhang Bilu meant to collect information first and not to blindly mobilize troops to prevent the bandits from attacking from the east to the west.
"Also, Mr. Governor, the arrears of military pay must be paid first, otherwise I will worry about the soldiers mutiny."
Hengchun was about to say whether he wanted money or not, but he immediately realized that Zhang Bilu was trying to use this matter to compete with him on the New Army matter.
"General Zhang, please rest assured, I will find a way." Hengchun did not dare to refuse. Now is the time to use troops, and the situation is stronger than the people.
The Yunnan column swore to revolt on the second day of February and occupied Guangnan City that day.
Peng Ruicong, the prefect of Guangnan, preyed on the common people. The evidence was conclusive and he was beheaded in public in the city.
The Fuxing Army announced that Guangnan would be exempted from taxes for one year. All prisoners in prison would be released unless they were serious traitors or evildoers.
Long Qi led his people to establish the Fuxing Military Government in Guangnan.
According to the practice of the Renaissance Army, notices were posted announcing the new policy.
When the Fuxing Army entered the city, they did not forcibly requisition any grain, and they did not destroy or loot.
Instead, they used their money to buy grain from large local households and use it as military rations.
The local large households and landowners were so benevolent that not one of them raised the price of grain, and all of them sold their grain to the Fuxing Army at a fair price.
Although the Renaissance Army punished evil and promoted good, it did not target the gentry and landlords.
Otherwise, it will be easily defined as a peasant army, and then the landlords and gentry will completely side with the imperial court.
As long as they are not targeted, the landowners and gentry will choose neutrality. They value their own family interests more and do not care who is in charge.
Guangnan was the logistics base for the Qing army supporting Guangxi.
After occupying Guangnan, the Renaissance Army obtained a large amount of military supplies, and with the purchased grain, the Renaissance Army's logistical problems were solved.
Long Kaiyun left a regiment to garrison the pass between Guangnan and Guangxi to prevent the Qing army supporting Guangxi from returning to reinforcements.
On the third day of February, the Renaissance troops divided into two groups, one heading for Kaihuafu and the other for Guangxi Prefecture.
On the fifth day of February, the Renaissance Army suddenly appeared at the foot of Wenshan City and destroyed the city. Ding Gongnan, the chief military officer of Kaihua Town, was killed.
The rest of the Green Battalion of the Qing Army all surrendered. If the officers and soldiers had not surrendered so easily in the past, the reason this time was that the news of the imperial court's disbandment of the Green Battalion had spread, and people's hearts were floating.
Moreover, these guys have not received military pay for half a year and are already on the verge of mutiny.
The column commander Long Kaiyun decided to recruit these green battalions to serve as auxiliary troops for the Renaissance Army.
There are two reasons. First, these Yunnan Green Camp soldiers often have to fight with chieftains, and they still have a certain fighting ability.
Second, the Renaissance Army now has no time or manpower to manage these prisoners.
Immediately, the Renaissance Army screened these people. Those who smoked heavy cigarettes and those who were unwilling to serve as soldiers all collected their weapons, paid them travel expenses, and let them go home.
Those who are willing to stay and work with the Fuxing Army will receive a settlement fee of ten silver dollars per person.
He immediately recruited two thousand Green Camp followers.
At the same time, another army, led by Long Er, also successfully captured Guangxi Prefecture.
At this time, the news of the uprising in Guangnan reached Kunming, and the first scene appeared. Hengchun went to discuss with the admiral Zhang Bilu.
Although the surrounding prefectures and counties did not have orders from the governor's office, they had already begun to carry out defense work on their own.
The Renaissance Army occupied two prefectures and one state, which gave them a buffer space and also allowed them to build up their own momentum.
Long Yun did not let the army stop, but handed over the city behind to the militiamen behind.
The army continued to attack with the gathered surrender troops and the young men recruited along the way.
Attack Lin'an Prefecture all the way, and attack Minjiang Prefecture all the way. Surround Yunnan Prefecture from the east and south, with the sword pointed directly at Kunming.
…
When the Fuxing Army in Yunnan was revolting, two bandits under the banner of the Fuxing Army were also revolting in Ningyuan Prefecture in Sichuan and Xingyi Prefecture in Guizhou.
Like Long Yi and others, they were part of Huai Haijun's "Flower Planting Plan".
The three took action at the same time, forming an iron triangle in the three provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan.
…
Chalingguan is an important passage between Hunan and Jiangxi.
To the west is Liling under the jurisdiction of Zhuzhou Prefecture in Hunan Province, and to the east is Pingxiang under the jurisdiction of Yuanzhou Prefecture in Jiangxi Province.
To the north is Taiping Mountain and a water channel along the Lujiang River.
There are some newly formed small settlements outside Chalingguan.
After the former Huai Navy occupied Jiangxi, they vigorously recruited refugees in Hunan to build embankments in Poyang Lake.
Most of the refugees entered Jiangxi through Chalingguan.
Because refugees need to undergo epidemic prevention observation before entering Jiangxi.
Therefore, some people were stranded outside Chalingguan, and these people formed several small mobile settlements.
Luo Bingzhang ignored this when he was in power in Hunan.
The flow of refugees out is a good thing for Hunan. At least Luo Bingzhang himself cannot resettle these refugees.
In the past, these people often turned into bandits and were eventually suppressed by the army.
Now that it can flow to Jiangxi, it is too late for Luo Bingzhang to be happy.
As for the few small settlements outside Chalingguan, the officials in Liling were not willing to manage them.
The Huaihai Navy Government in Pingxiang was worried that there would be chaos in the unmanaged settlements, so it sent a company of garrison troops to station here.
Although strictly speaking it was the Huai Navy that crossed the border, this was approved by the Liling government.
Stationed in Zhuzhou is Zeng Guoquan's newly built "Ji" battalion. This battalion is equipped with rifled guns newly purchased by the Hunan Army.
For more than a month, Zeng Guoquan strictly followed the orders of his elder brother Zeng Guofan and trained his troops in Zhuzhou.
Zeng Guoquan's method of training soldiers was extremely rough. He felt that to train soldiers well, they must rely on the whip in their hands.
Be more ruthless with them now. Only when they get to the battlefield can they be more ruthless with the enemy.
But after two months of military training in Zhuzhou, Zeng Guoquan felt that these soldiers were missing something.
Well, it lacks some bloodiness.
If you have never killed anyone or seen blood, you naturally lack blood.
Su Shen was Zeng Guoquan's deputy general.
This man is tall, with thin cheeks, sharp eyes, and resourceful wit. He is Zeng Guoquan's think tank.
Su Shen has always been responsible for things that use his brain.
In February, the weather had warmed up, but Zeng Guoquan still wanted to take his men out for some activities, so he found Su Shen.
"Vice General Su, I'm going to take my brothers out to see the blood. Are there any bandits around here?" Zeng Guoquan didn't have the guts to directly attack the common people.
It would be great if there are bandits. You can not only suppress bandits and claim credit from your brother, but also train troops.
However, Su Shen had not heard that there were bandits nearby. The refugees who had no food to eat could just go to Jiangxi to make ends meet.
Who would want to be a bandit if he could fill his stomach?
When he saw Su Shen, he didn't know that Zeng Guoquan had obvious displeasure on his face.
Then Su Can seemed to think of something, and his eyes lit up.
"General, there seems to be a place where we can find one." So he told Zeng Guoquan about the refugee settlement outside Chaling Pass.
"Is that the jurisdiction of Zhuzhou?" Zeng Guoquan did not dare to be careless and confirmed again.
"Yes, Chaling Pass is the boundary between Hunan and Jiangxi. Chaling Pass is now in the hands of the Huaihai Navy on the opposite side, but the west side of Chaling Pass is indeed Hunan's territory."
"General, you can do this. I'll go find the county magistrate and write a handwritten note saying that there are refugees gathering in Liling and requesting our army to disperse them."
"In this way, our troops can dispatch normally, and even the Governor will not blame him." Su Shen's face was filled with an evil smile.
"Hahaha... Okay, that's great. When the time comes, tell the refugees to cause trouble and our army will suppress them."
With that said, he began to control the matter. The "Ji" camp had a total of 1,500 people in three battalions: left, middle and right.
Zeng Guoquan refused to take them all with him. That would make too much noise, and besides, just a few refugee settlements were not enough for a 1,500-strong army.
Therefore, Zeng Guoquan set out to the southeast with only 500 people.
On the other side, Su Shen also completed the formalities and caught up with Zeng Guoquan's team.
There are three small settlements walking along the official road five miles west of Chaling Pass. These people did not build serious houses.
Dig a pit half a person deep in the ground, use soil to build an earthen wall half a person high, then put branches on top, cover it with thatch, and paste it with mud.
A shack that can accommodate a family is built.
Most of these shacks were built by previous refugees. After the previous wave of refugees were taken away, the vacated shacks would soon be occupied by new refugees.
Because of the previous Chinese New Year, Huai Haijun suspended the work of collecting refugees for a period of time.
So now there are nearly three to four hundred refugees in each of the three settlements.
These people were dressed in rags. Because it was winter, these people had basically all the clothes they could wear tangled up, so they looked very messy.
Many people stuff soft grass or reeds between their outer clothing and underwear to increase warmth.
But it also breeds a lot of parasites.
Fortunately, it is not as cold here in Hunan as in the north, otherwise these refugees would have froze to death long ago.
Another reason why they are willing to gather here and not leave is because the Huaihai Navy opposite will come over once a day to distribute porridge.
Although I don't have enough to eat, I won't starve to death.
Wang Xiao is a squad leader of the third regiment of the Huaihai Navy's Jiangxi Yuanzhou Garrison Brigade. His company is stationed between Chalingguan and these refugee settlements.
They are the forward outposts placed outside Chalingguan.
At the same time, he is also responsible for the security of these three refugee settlements.
Wang Xiao and the others are also responsible for delivering meals every day.
Today, as usual, Wang Xiao and the ten soldiers in his class pulled two flatbed trucks from the camp to the refugee settlement.
There is a large wooden barrel on the flatbed truck. There is a valve underneath. When the valve is opened, the porridge in the wooden barrel will flow out. This is very similar to the water truck used by farmers to pull water.
When we arrived at the settlement, people from the three settlements were waiting in line.
More than a thousand people lined up in two lines, three to four hundred meters long.
They all knew the rules. A few dirty, faceless women stood at the front.
These people were selected by Wang Xiao and others to help share the porridge every time.
Wang Xiao and others were on guard to prevent newcomers who didn't know the rules and caused trouble in the crowd.
But Wang Xiao is not worried because they have been doing this kind of thing for a long time and there has never been any danger.
The soldier held his musket, pointing the muzzle at the sky above and to the right.
Sometimes I would chat with familiar refugees.
"Squad Leader Wang, when can we enter the customs?" asked an old man with gray hair.
This old man is only slightly older, in fact he is in his forties or fifties, but his long-term malnutrition makes him look senile.
"Oh, Uncle Zhang, it's coming soon. It's spring now, and there are a lot of places that need people. You will all be over soon."
"That's great. We don't want to live here for nothing. It's better to find a helper quickly." The old man surnamed Zhang said.
The porridge was quickly distributed, and basically everyone could get a bowl. There were also some leaves in the porridge, and some people even added some.
Otherwise, these people won’t be able to stand it even if they just drink plain porridge.
Several women poured boiling water into the bucket through the opening, shook it, and rinsed off the rice grains stuck to the wall of the bucket.
Then they were distributed to some elderly people and children.
Although it is just water with rice grains, it is still considered gruel in the eyes of these refugees and cannot be wasted.
After that, Wang Xiao led his men and walked back with the barrel. They had to return the barrel to the pass.
After walking for a while, Wang Xiao suddenly heard gunshots coming from the refugee settlement behind him.
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