Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 597: Emperor Wu's arms business tore the Konbaung Dynasty apart
The next day, Liu Qian convened a meeting of the Intelligence Agency headquarters staff.

The topics are:
Clean up the internal affairs and emphasize discipline. If there is any violation, the family rules will be ruthless.

He cursed at the meeting:

The Intelligence Agency became increasingly arrogant and extravagant.

During the meeting, three leaders who were too outrageous were dragged out and executed.

After the meeting,

Liu Qian asked for a roster of all personnel at the headquarters under the pretext of cutting redundant staff and streamlining agents. By the light of a kerosene lamp, he repeatedly looked through the background information of those who had entered the headquarters within the past year.

……

The more I look, the more horrified I become.

Everyone is clean = everyone is suspicious.

Liu Qian tossed and turned in the office all night and didn't get enough sleep for an hour.

The next morning.

A team of guards delivered His Majesty's order.

"Your Majesty has ordered it."

"Due to the situation, the Intelligence Agency will change its focus from today. Except for the headquarters and necessary transportation points, all other personnel will be deployed overseas. They will infiltrate Indochina and the Malay Peninsula as individual immigrants and free traders for a long time."

"The Intelligence Agency shall submit a list of all dispatched personnel to the Emperor within three days."

Liu Qian took the warrant with a normal expression.

……

He handed over the list the next afternoon.

All was calm.

Finance Minister Hu Xueyu gave a specific funding figure: 200 million taels per year.

The funds used to bribe key enemy figures are additionally settled and require a report, but can be reimbursed additionally.

If Liu Qian had not confessed to his face in that room in the palace, Li Yu would have been prepared to force a change of commander.

The Royal Guards Corps was stationed in Suzhou Prefecture.

If the removal of Liu Qian fails, then the Intelligence Agency will be massacred.

Not bad~
Liu Qian is not arrogant to that extent.

From then on, the empire's two major intelligence agencies had clear division of labor: the Intelligence Agency for external affairs and the Ministry of the Interior for internal affairs.

……

Not long after,

His Majesty issued another decree:
The army, navy, patrol police, and intelligence agencies are prohibited from engaging in any business within the empire. Once discovered, they will be severely punished.

Someone who is good at picking out words picked out two words: "within the country".

quickly,

The Army Department has announced that, effective immediately, overseas allowances for all officers and men of the 4th Corps will be suspended (auxiliary personnel will continue to receive their allowances as usual).

The 4th Legion smiled at this.

It doesn't matter!
That little subsidy is not enough to fill the gaps between our teeth.

Isn't it easy for troops stationed overseas to make some money? When the cannon is fired, there is a lot of gold.

……

Ava, the capital of the Konbaung Dynasty.

There was a scene of peace and prosperity, but in reality, a storm was coming and dark clouds were looming.

4 years ago~
The founding monarch Yong Ji Ya's son Meng Bo died and his son Zhui Jiao Ya succeeded him.

Compared with his grandfather and father's great talents and vision, the young new emperor could be described as mediocre and incompetent. He was obsessed with burning incense, worshipping Buddha and taking concubines all day long.

Expansion came to an abrupt halt.

Traveling against the current, retreating if not advancing.

……

but,

Two years ago, Agui came with an expeditionary force.

First, they killed the chieftain of Mengyang, beheaded more than 1000 of his family members and confidants, and gradually took over this territory.

He won over some of the natives and suppressed others.

He employed the descendants of Han people in the chieftain's territory as civil servants and forced their family hostages to join the expeditionary force, thus creating a loose alliance.

Along the Irrawaddy River, they attacked and cultivated land at the same time.

The cuckoo is very skilled at occupying the magpie's nest.

The hundreds of thousands of Yunnan people who followed the expeditionary force obtained farmland and houses, and their hearts were greatly settled.

After defeating the Konbaung Dynasty's army twice, Agui sent his military advisor Zhao Zhuangwen to negotiate with the surrounding forces - after joining forces to defeat the Konbaung Dynasty, both Mubang and Shan States could be autonomous, and everyone agreed to be a brother country.

This plan is very brilliant.

……

Here we have to mention the internal composition of the Konbaung Dynasty.

The Burmese make up the largest proportion, accounting for at least 6% of the population. The rest are Mon, Kachin, Shan, Karen, etc.
The Mon people mainly lived in the Pegu area in the south and once established the Pegu Dynasty.

The Shan people, who lived in the north, established the Ava Dynasty.

The Baigu Dynasty and the Ava Dynasty, both of these dynasties were short-lived!
The Kachin people, living in the territory of the Mengyang chieftain in the north, are relatively weak.

The Konbaung Dynasty and the previous Toungoo Dynasty were both unified feudal dynasties established by the Burmese and lasted for a long time.

The experienced Agui saw through the mystery at a glance.

look familiar.

So familiar.

Our Qing Dynasty is most familiar with this.

The good thing about a long history is that you can find references for everything.

Let's put it in context. The Later Jin wanted to attack the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty had a large territory and many people. The Later Jin had a small territory and few people.

……

The Qing expeditionary army was engaged in military affairs, farming, and diplomacy, and was fighting fiercely with the Shan and Kachin people in the north.

Marriage is ancient and effective.

Agui married a noble woman of the Shan people, and Zhao Zhuangwen married a chieftain's daughter of the Kachin people.

The expeditionary force solved the trouble on the flank coming from the Shan Plateau.

Building barriers like crazy.

Use turtle tactics.

The expeditionary force suffered more than 15000 casualties and suffered more than 5000 casualties.

A brief peace was won.

……

Bhamo, a small town on the banks of the Irrawaddy River, is the northernmost city where ships can navigate the Irrawaddy River throughout the year.

In theory,

If Agui had a strong navy, he could go down the river and fight all the way to the city of Ava.

this day,
Zhao Zhuangwen walked into the central military camp in the city and whispered:

"Ashuai, a businessman wants to see you."

"What businessman?"

"A smuggler from Yunnan said he had gunpowder and firearms."

Agui was stunned, then he pushed away the official documents sent to him from various places and hurried out of the house.

in the yard,
A yellow-haired man was looking around curiously.

He was Huang Sheng, a Yunnan horse caravan merchant. He and Smith once pretended to be the chief and deputy envoys of the diplomatic envoys and dug the first pot of gold for His Majesty from Emperor Qianlong.

cheat!
It's addictive.

Although Huang claims to be a serious businessman, his seriousness is limited.

……

"Sir, you have come a long way and you must have worked hard. Come, let's prepare a feast and entertain you."

Ah Gui's attentiveness was beyond imagination. He even took the initiative to reach out and hold Huang Sheng's hand, as if they were old friends reuniting.

The welcoming banquet was very sumptuous, with huge bowls of meat and wine, but no trace of official authority.

After three rounds of drinking,

Zhao Zhuangwen smiled and asked:

"I wonder what goods Mr. Huang has?"

Huang Sheng put down the bowl:

"Come on, take a sample."

……

The attendant carried a wooden box into the house and opened it.

In an instant, the house fell silent.

Everyone looked at Huang Sheng with complex and sharp eyes.

Huang introduced them one by one:

"Flintlock rifles, gunpowder, lead bullets, bombs, ahem, these are all brand new weapons, but I can't tell you where they came from."

Ah Gui looked strange.

Zhao Zhuangwen's face was filled with horror.

The rest of the generals were in the same mood, too depressed to speak.

Finally, it was Agui who broke the awkwardness. He raised his wine bowl:

"Come on, let's do it for the righteous businessman Huang Sheng!"

Everyone quickly stood up and toasted each other, and the atmosphere became lively again.

……

The dinner table is not a place to talk about business.

But if we get along well over the drink, everything will be easy to talk about later.

Huang stayed for 2 days and successfully reached an arms deal with Agui.

The business of 1500 flintlock rifles, 1 kilograms of gunpowder, 5 lead bullets, and 500 spherical iron shell bombs was sold for 10 taels of silver.

The two parties agreed to complete the transaction in Myitkyina.

Myitkyina is the northernmost navigable limit of the Irrawaddy River during the dry season.

Currently under the control of the expeditionary force.

This is very interesting.

……

After sending away this well-connected smuggler, Ah Gui and Zhao Zhuangwen looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

"Ah Shuai, I suddenly realized it."

"I've realized it too."

The two of them seemed to be playing a guessing game and neither of them spoke clearly.

But in his heart he breathed a sigh of relief. His biggest fear, the sharp sword that was about to stab him from behind at any time, was temporarily sheathed.

Ah Gui's heart was as clear as a mirror.

The guy who was just sent away and was drunk and singing "The Book of Songs. Dian Feng. Thinking of Women" with yellow hair shaking, was 10% Wu.

The fact that we were able to escape from Yunnan successfully was probably because someone let us go on purpose.

……

Ah Gui and Zhao Zhuangwen ate fried peanuts while enjoying the dry and cool breeze of the season.

silence!

The expeditionary force is like the peanuts on the plate, being picked up one by one and examined carefully.

"Zhuang Wen, what's the next step?"

"I'm afraid we don't have the final say on how to go."

Ah Gui nodded calmly.

The expeditionary force today has no shortage of food, but is extremely short of firearms and gunpowder, cotton cloth, and metal tools.

Of course, the most scarce item was gunpowder.

Fought two defensive battles with the Konbaung Dynasty, which consumed a lot of resources.

……

The cool season is from October to February in the lunar calendar.

As the name suggests, it is a season with relatively cool temperatures and relatively little precipitation.

Perfect for long distance travel!

Huang was very efficient. Ten days later, he delivered the goods to the expeditionary force in Myitkyina.

The soldiers of the 7th Corps were escorted in plain clothes.

The guns and bullets were separated and the delivery was done very cautiously.

The expeditionary force took over five ships of arms and transported them along the Irrawaddy River to 5 miles south of Bhamo City, where they landed and switched to land transportation.

50 mile away,

It is the front line where the two armies are confronting each other.

The expeditionary force used the turtle defense tactic.

……

The long-term confrontation made the Konbaung Dynasty more anxious, not himself.

The longer you delay, the better it will be for you.

When the Konbaung army found that they could not break through by land, they decided to attack by water.

Unfortunately,
On the surface of the Irrawaddy River, there are more than a dozen iron chains as thick as wrists blocking the river, and tree forts on both sides are equipped with bows and arrows and firearms for attack.

The Konbaung Dynasty's navy forced its way through three times.

They were all forced back by the fireboats upstream.

Agui has extensive and sophisticated military experience.

……

This time, it’s different.

The expeditionary force actually chose to leave the fortress and fight in the field, which was naturally what the Konbaung army wanted.

Both sides deployed their troops.

As soon as the war started,
The Qing infantry, armed with new flintlock rifles, marched shoulder to shoulder, following the triangular military flag.

Meng Lu, the commander of the 3-man Gongbang army, was horrified:
"The Qing army was actually equipped with a large number of flintlock rifles? The damn Frankish East India Company sold arms to both sides."

"Go up there."

"War elephant soldiers, break the formation."

……

70 huge monsters roared and rushed out of the camp.

A row of strong men rushed out from the Qing army.

They poked the torches into the ground, lit the spherical bombs, and then rushed forward, throwing the bombs with force like throwing a hammer.
Although war elephants have been trained, they are basically not afraid of gongs, drums, arrows, and blades, and sporadic lead bullets cannot cause damage to their thick skin.

But when encountering explosions or fires, they are still afraid.

The fear instinct engraved in biological genes cannot be eliminated.

Hundreds of spherical bombs were thrown in one breath, and the explosion was violent.

The war elephants were blown away and fled backwards. Some of the war elephants, under the control of their drivers, avoided the main formation and fled from the two wings.

But a few war elephants still stepped into the crowd.

The densely arrayed musketeers suffered heavy casualties.

……

The Qing army's grenadiers continued to run forward with bombs on their backs.

Behind him followed three rows of musketeers.

This crazy posture made Meng Lu feel frightened.

He drew his scimitar and shouted:
"on!"

"Kill all the Qing soldiers."

The Konbaung army was a typical Western-style army from the beginning, and they quickly re-formed their troops at the command of their officers.

"shooting."

A puff of white smoke rose up and the Qing army grenadiers fell down.

However, the remaining grenadiers still lit their bombs and rushed forward.

……

Many people panicked, and sporadic shooting broke out without command.

Bombs were thrown into the crowd.

The violent explosion threw the formation into complete chaos.

The Qing army's flintlock musketeers also arrived quickly and defeated the enemy with a single volley of fire.

Two rounds of salvos sealed the victory.

Afterwards, all the Qing army's infantry pressed forward.

Aquila's son Attis led only 800 cavalrymen to quickly attack the enemy's flank and rear, which was an extremely bold move.

Half an hour,

The corpses of the Konbaung soldiers stretched for more than ten miles.

……

Ava city.

Before the news of the defeat reached us, Meng Lu's personal soldiers arrived first.

With the loss of more than 8000 men, the army was in a state of gloom.

Meng Lu believed that Zhuijiaoya would not let him go, so he decided to strike first.

Clear the court
A bloody coup d'état enveloped the city.

The mediocre king who had been on the throne for four years was killed on the spot by angry soldiers, and his cousin Meng Lu declared himself the successor in a pool of blood.

result,

Just 7 days later, Meng Lu was killed by his uncle Meng Yun.

There were two consecutive armed coups, and the city of Ava was slaughtered in large numbers, with thousands of bodies floating down the river.
The Meng people in the south smelled an opportunity and quickly rose up in arms.

In just two months, the Konbaung Dynasty fell apart, with various forces taking turns to take the stage.

The entire kingdom was divided up into five forces: the Mon people living by the sea in the south, Shan State and Mubang in the northeastern plateau, the Konbaung Dynasty in the central plains, and the expeditionary force in the north.

……

Agui was very calm. He just swallowed a small piece of plain and then stopped.

Dig deep trenches and build thick fortifications.

Expand the army, open up new land, clarify internal affairs, and gather refugees.

With the expeditionary force as the skeleton, the Yunnan immigrants as the torso, and the indigenous people as the limbs, they lived a low-key life.

Don't be greedy and don't try to swallow an elephant.

The key is to digest the existing territory well.

The expeditionary force watched as the Shan, Mubang and Mon tribes besieged the city of Ava.

Actually,
Ah Gui and Zhao Zhuangwen have a consensus - they can only win by a small margin.

If the expeditionary army grows stronger and has a tendency to unify the country in a foreign country, the Wu army stationed in Yunnan will most likely intervene.
……

In order to verify this conjecture.

Agui sent someone to contact Huang Sheng and proposed to buy firearms again.

Huang Sheng waved his hands, saying that arms smuggling was too risky, and doing it occasionally would be cheating God. If he smuggled frequently, he would lose his head.

Arms cannot be sold, but civilian supplies can be sold.

quickly,

Agui tacitly allowed dozens of Yunnan merchants to enter Myitkyina and open shops. In addition to selling to the expeditionary force, they also sold various daily necessities to forces such as Mubang and Shan State.

Silk, cotton, ironware, tea, and porcelain, all at very reasonable prices.

We also sell luxury goods, but not in large quantities, but we have regular customers.

The chieftains along the border have a special liking for luxury goods from the upper country.

……

After gaining a foothold, these strong "Yunnan businessmen" began to purchase local specialties such as jade, jadeite, and timber. They did not offer high prices, but paid in cash.

A hidden commercial route began to develop along the long Irrawaddy River.

If you look further ahead, you will find that this business route is extremely long.

The source is the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The source is the Andaman Sea, or the Indian Ocean.

The route is roughly: Yangtze River - Yuanjiang River - Yunnan-Guizhou land route (Zhenyuan to Lincang) - Irrawaddy River.

The cities it passes through are:
Jiangning, Wuhan, Changde, Guiyang, Kunming, Myitkyina, Ava, Yangon.

Goods and arms can flow freely.

Perhaps one day, armies will also be mobile.

Ah Gui and Zhao Zhuangwen finally guessed correctly - the Emperor Wu was indeed playing a big game, and there were many pieces on the board, and they were just two of them.

(End of this chapter)