Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 566: The Impure Purpose of the Coating Revolution

On the way north, Shi Lingyang felt heavy-hearted.

He disbanded all his old subordinates and incorporated them into the Liaodong Corps to further strengthen command and supervision.

At the same time, he promoted some civilians again, and appointed 54 people at once from guerrillas to generals to increase the tentacles.

The army marched towards Niuzhuang city in a mighty manner.

……

Niuzhuang was originally the confluence of the Liaohe River and the Hunhe River.

The Tang army set up a military station here during its expedition against Goguryeo. The fleet could sail upstream from the Bohai Sea and along the Daliao River to reach Niuzhuang.

Time passes, circumstances change, and the stars change.

The hydrological conditions of the Liaohe River have changed dramatically.

It was the dry season, and large ships did not dare to go upstream for fear of being stranded. Otherwise, the fleet could have bombed Niuzhuang City to pieces.

Seeing the intimidating cannons in the team, the Liaodong Corps was full of confidence.

The civilians said:

"We're going to win."

Ordinary people in the 18th century had a mysterious worship for cannons.

……

Niuzhuang City, all four gates are closed.

The Qing army looked at the large army appearing outside the city and looked at each other in bewilderment. Anyone with a little common sense could easily figure out that - Lushun was finished.

Morale was lost for a while.

On the other hand, outside the city, the Liaodong Corps was in high spirits, holding up their weapons and cheering.

"Surrender without killing!"

The civilians' faces turned red as they roared, and they fell into a collective frenzy.

Shi Lingyang approached the highest commander of the 2000 regular troops, a deputy captain of the navy.

"The soldiers under my command are a motley crowd. They are good for fighting when the wind is favorable, but your cannons must be at the forefront at critical moments."

"Don't worry, my lord. I understand."

……

In full view of everyone, the first round of shelling came.

The gunners pulled out four 4-pound shipborne cannons and opened fire from four miles away with acceptable accuracy.

Shi Lingyang opened the telescope and looked at the Niuzhuang city wall where thick smoke was billowing.

A smile appeared.

"It is truly a military and national treasure."

"The skilled craftsmen of our Wu State are unrivaled in the world. They are so rare, so precious."

On the other hand, in Niuzhuang, the defenders fled in panic with nowhere to hide.

suddenly~
A shell landed on the city gate tower, and a large amount of collapsed bricks and tiles instantly buried more than a dozen people.

"Fire, fight back."

A group of Eight Banners soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs.

However, the city defense artillery could not reach the Wu army at all, and all efforts were in vain.

Seeing the artillery shells fired from Niuzhuang City fall on the open space between the two armies, the Liaodong Corps cheered again, and everyone stretched their necks to look at Niuzhuang City shrouded in smoke.

He was calculating in his mind how much silver he could rob and how many women he could have after breaking in.

……

Since the establishment of the army, Shi Lingyang has issued many military orders, but he has never mentioned the crime of entering a city to loot.

It's not negligence, but deliberate indulgence~
Use blood and silver to stimulate these mobs, arouse the evil of human nature, and thus turn sand into stone.

After the 12-pound guns suppressed the enemy first, more 6-pound guns continued to move forward to 2 and a half miles, deployed their positions, and began precise shelling.

The battlements, parapets, and arrow towers were reduced to a pile of broken rubble.

The defenders were forced to retreat from the bare city walls because there was nowhere to stand or hide.

……

The gunfire stopped.

Shi Lingyang rode his horse past the front of the legion with his right arm raised high.

call out:

"Brothers, charge into Niuzhuang and rob the money, food, and women. If you are a real man, charge in the front, and if you are a coward, run behind and don't block others from making money."

"Go ahead."

9000 people cheered, howled, and rushed towards the city wall in no formation, with a dozen simple ladders in the front.

The wall of Niuzhuang is not high.

You can climb up by using the wooden ladder.

The gunners looked at this excited mob.

Just a quarter of an hour later, a huge crowd rushed over the city wall and the city gate was opened from the inside.

……

A group of armored civilians rushed to the front with spears in hand, stabbing anyone they saw and quickly defeated the Eight Banners soldiers who were trying to organize a resistance.

Like mercury pouring out of the ground, it scattered along the streets.

After the mob entered the city, they completely lost control of their command. They searched for property in groups of three, five, or dozens, hacking at anyone they saw and breaking into any house they saw.

In this situation,
Even Shi Lingyang didn't dare to rush into the city, for fear that these people would recognize him with their eyes but not with their knives.

In order to defend their homes, a small group of flag soldiers hid on the roof at the end of the alley and used muskets, bows and arrows to block the attack.

The casualty rate among the civilians was quite high.

However, numbers can make up for tactical disadvantages.

The heart of a beast can suppress the fear of death.

The sounds of fighting in the city lasted for an hour and a half before gradually quieting down.

The Wu army had been lined up outside the city and did not want to get involved in the mess.

……

When Shi Lingyang entered the city, he saw corpses piled up, blood flowing like a river, and his horse's hooves slipping several times.

He couldn't help but draw his sword and look around vigilantly.

Finally found a familiar old colleague.

"Stop. Go quickly and call it a day."

"Whoo."

The man knelt down on one knee reluctantly, but unexpectedly, the gold ingots in his arms rolled out as he moved.

Shi Lingyang dismounted and walked over, kicking him so hard that he rolled a long distance away.

I hate that iron cannot become steel.

It took a full half hour to barely complete the assembly.

9000 of the 6000 people returned, and the rest died in Niuzhuang City for unknown reasons.

But the survivors didn't care and even openly shared the proceeds of the robbery.

"Brother, how much did you steal?"

"Ten silver ingots, how about you?"

"Hey, just two gold ingots."

"How many girls did you find?"

"Hehehe~Brother, let me tell you, this flag girl~"

The two laborers were chatting happily, without any trace of the cowardice they had shown when doing hard labor in Lushun.

……

Shi Lingyang urged his horse to pass by, pointing his whip:
"There is an order in the army that anyone who makes a loud noise will be killed."

The people around drew their swords and surrounded them. The two chatting people in the encirclement also instinctively raised their swords.

Confrontation.

Shi Lingyang sneered:
"Kill them both, and the property will be yours."

"You still won't take action?"

……

the next morning,

The legion rushed to Haicheng, 40 miles away, but found nothing.

When the commander of Haicheng heard that Niuzhuang fell so quickly, he was terrified and led his troops to retreat to Liaoyang City in the north, but he did not forget to set fire to it before leaving.

The Liaodong Army was not angry. There were many villages around Haicheng, and they swept through them one by one, taking away food, cloth, salt, gold, silver, clothes, and livestock.
There were corpses scattered all over the ground, all stripped naked.

The Liaodong Corps dressed thicker and thicker, and put on all the good clothes they saw, a typical West Coast style of dressing.

From a coward to a monster.

Shi Lingyang became fearful, and after discussing with other naval officers, he decided to lead his troops to quickly attack Shengjing.

If we delay any further, I'm afraid something unexpected might happen.

A counselor said meaningfully:

"My Lord, you forged a sword without a guard yourself."

Shi Lingyang smiled:
"No problem. I want to chop the stone with my sword. The sword will break and the stone will crack."

The staff officer bowed sincerely:
"My Lord, you are wise."

...The marching speed along the way was acceptable and was not hindered by the heavy artillery.

First of all, there is no shortage of mules and horses.

The Liaoxi Banner people raised a lot of large livestock, which was related to the situation of more people than land outside the Great Wall.

People are used to cultivate the land inside the Great Wall, and large livestock are used to cultivate the land outside the Great Wall.

Second, use buoyancy.

The supplies were placed in the captured flat-bottomed boats, and the people on the shore pulled the boats forward. This experience came from the friendly forces who attacked western Hunan and marched along the river.

……

On that day, Shi Lingyang chopped off 20 heads in the name of military law to establish his authority and intimidate the jackals.

The troops entered northern Liaoning.

There were constant streams of bannermen from Liaodong coming to surrender.

It was impossible to tell whether these slaves were Manchu or Han, or from other ethnic groups. They brought their old and young, bowed their heads, and shouted "Long live the Emperor Wu".

Shi Lingyang accepted all of them, cut off his queues and incorporated them into the Liaodong Corps.

Liu Si, a bannerman from Lushun, was given the title of guerrilla and was overjoyed. He regarded himself as a loyal minister and beat and scolded the bannermen from Liaobei at every turn.

He followed the emperor in southern Liaoning, so naturally he was more loyal than the bannermen who followed the emperor in northern Liaoning.

He only hated that he was born in southern Liaoning. If he was born in the south of the Yangtze River, he would have been a loyal and capable minister.

……

The army went up the Hun River, and along the way there were cultivated fields, densely populated areas, and villages adjacent to each other.

Use war to support the war and collect grain locally.

The size of the team is like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger.

Go all the way, grab all the way.

The Liaodong Army not only had rice to eat, but also pork stewed with cabbage every other day. The morale was high, and everyone was eager to go out and carry out the task of armed grain collection.

A Wu Jun staff officer wrote in his diary:

Wherever we march, there are corpses everywhere along the way, which can serve as "road signs".

After three years of military service, I firmly believe that human nature is evil. It takes 3 years to make people good, but only three days to make them evil.

Joining forces with the Liaodong Legion is a risky move.

……

The bondservants who joined the army felt particularly comfortable, and they spread the word:
The "Qing soldiers" are back again!
Although these soldiers did not have braids and the country's name was changed to Wu, they firmly believed that this army was the second Qing Dynasty, fierce and tyrannical.

In order to show their active performance, the bondservants led the way, dug ditches, set up camps, cooked, and pulled the oars, all of them rushing forward bravely.

evening,

The Wu army camp, which was half a mile away from the Liaodong Legion camp, welcomed a group of uninvited guests.

The sentry raised his flintlock and shouted:

"Stop, what are you doing?"

"Sir, don't shoot. We are all good people from Liaodong who are here to welcome the king's army. We have been incorporated into the army."

"What are you doing here?"

"There is wine, roast chicken, braised meat, and my daughter in the car, for the general."

The sentry's eyes widened, not knowing what to say for a moment.

The military judge who was patrolling the camp heard the commotion and rushed over to take a look, and was in a state of confusion.

He tried to force a smile:
"What's your name? Where are you from?"

"Yin Donggeng, a bondservant under Ganquan Fort."

"Okay, okay. I'll write down your name and report it to the general. Leave the other things behind, and take this little girl back."

……

Yin Donggeng quickly introduced in a low voice:
"General, Xiaofang is my biological daughter. She is not betrothed yet. She is pretty and obedient. The general is exhausted on the expedition. How can you live without a servant in the tent?"

The military judge suppressed his nausea and patiently explained:
"We are about to attack Shengjing. General, you need to save your energy and not waste it on meaningless things. Do you understand?"

"I understand. After we defeat Shengjing, I will bring it to the general for his enjoyment."

"Let's go."

"Yes."

He had just taken two steps when he was suddenly stopped by the military judge.

"Master, do you have any other instructions?"

"Take this note and go back and ask Shi Hou's people to give you two more levels."

Yin Donggeng burst into tears instantly, wiped his tears and left with a smile. He even did not forget to solemnly and seriously kowtow to the south.

The Yin family has been in Liaodong for 7 generations. His ancestors were doing well, but he fell into poverty and borrowed a large sum of money from a bannerman master, and now he can't even pay the interest.

Therefore, he had enough motivation to rebel against the Qing Dynasty.

If you want to recognize a master, you must recognize the most authentic master.

The Liaodong Army was obviously not authentic, belonging to the "Han Eight Banners". The Wu Army was the authentic "Manchu Eight Banners".

……

The Chinese military tent.

The deputy captain looked up at the military judge who suddenly broke in angrily.

"what happened?"

"Nothing. I just want to say that after the battle of Shengjing, if this Liaodong Corps is incorporated into our Wu Army, there will be endless troubles."

The deputy captain sighed:

"Don't worry, sit down."

The two chatted secretly and exchanged opinions in low voices.

First, keep it confidential.

Because we are in need of manpower right now and Shengjing has not been captured yet, we need a large number of soldiers who are willing to fight for their lives.

Secondly, there must be no internal strife and no breaking of the bottom line.

Try to reasonably consume most of the mob in the war, but don't do it too obviously. The lucky ones who survived will be dealt with after consulting the court, and they will not be incorporated into the army.

……

The military judge carefully inspected the Liaodong Corps and after questioning and investigating dozens of people, he gradually formed a clear picture of the newly surrendered bannerman group.

Poor, frustrated, has enemies, has violated the law, and has great ambitions.

At least one of the above is satisfied.

These people had sufficient motivation to oppose the Qing Dynasty, and they were also outright speculators.

Moreover, these speculators are very cruel. They like to do things to the extreme in order to please their new masters.

The common people only chop people, but the bannermen torture them.

The military judge was quite surprised by the killing which was carried out to vent anger.

The Baoyi who were able to survive and reproduce on the black soil had extremely distorted psychology. Those who were healthy and upright could not escape the cruel selection and had died long ago.

……

Black soil, vast plains, the dense Liaohe River system, and hundreds of years of continuous development have made the agricultural conditions in the Liaobei region quite good.

Thousands of miles of fertile land, just right.

"My Lord, this is a great place."

"Where's the good?"

"The ground is very flat."

Shi Lingyang nodded. For Fujianese, any place with flat land is a good place.

No problem.

If there is a choice, who wouldn't want 30 mu of land, a cow, a wife and children, and a warm bed? Fujianese don't like to go to sea, but they have no choice but to go to sea to make a living.

……

In Liaoyang, war clouds are gathering.

Hong Xiang, a general of Shengjing and a member of the imperial family, mobilized his troops to fight a decisive battle in Liaoyang.

Officials at all levels frequently came and went in the yamen.

There were also scouts riding back and forth, constantly reporting the situation of the reinforcements to Hong Xiang in a timely manner.

An assistant leader complimented:

"General, with you in command of this battle, we will surely win."

Hong Xiang smiled reservedly:
"I have gathered 7000 soldiers from Shengjing, Xingjing, Fenghuangcheng, Yizhou, Jinzhou, Liaoyang, Ningyuan, Guangning, and Kaiyuan."

"Everyone, the rise and fall of Liaodong depends on this one move."

……

Hong Xiang had considered this arrangement.

If Liaoyang cannot be defended, Shengjing will be the next. As a member of the royal family, he is under great pressure, and neither the imperial mausoleum nor Shengjing can be lost.

The Wu army advanced northward, capturing cities and territories.

He could no longer sit still in Shengjing, and after much deliberation he decided to lead his army south, choosing Liaoyang in the south as the battlefield instead of Shengjing.

Below him, there were the deputy governor-general of Fengtian, the deputy governor-general of Jinzhou, as well as 5 city defense commanders, 10 assistant commanders, and more than 70 lieutenants.

It can be said that the stars are shining and the troops are gathered.

This is also the entire military force of the Shengjing General Defense Zone. If it is defeated, Shengjing will be a lamb to be slaughtered.

(End of this chapter)