The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 407: The Water Waves at the Foot of Beigu Mountain

I have to say that although "roll" may not be a good word, the person who is rolled out from millions of people is really useful.

Liang Guozhi, who was born as the top scholar, quickly helped Mo Zibu sort out the logistics system.

In particular, the arrangement and use of these hundreds of thousands of laborers, as well as the appeasement and control of the more than 300,000 residents still in Nanjing.

Liang Guozhi reorganized the city almost entirely from scratch, relying on some gentry who came with the army and the remaining officials in the city. In less than seven days, everything was in order.

This gave Mo Zibu great help, and our Emperor Guangzhong was finally able to free himself from the tedious logistical work.

In addition, Liang Guozhi's inference about Qianlong's illness was also very accurate.

The very next day after Liang Guozhi left, Qianlong was fully awake, but the Qing emperor soon discovered that his mind was in a mess, as if there was something particularly urgent to arrange, but when he thought about it carefully, his head would twitch with pain.

At the same time, although Qianlong felt close to Heshen when he looked at his handsome face, he could not remember who he was.

He opened his mouth to ask, but before he could say anything, saliva started to drip from the corners of his mouth. His facial muscles were pulled, and not only his mouth became crooked, but his eyes also became slanted.

At this moment, the Manchu and Han ministers in the room were as heartbroken as if they had lost their parents. They were completely silent after being hit by this huge blow.

It’s just that the Manchus really felt like the sky had fallen, while the Han officials were just pretending.

After another two days, Qianlong's condition improved. He was able to get up and move slowly with the help of others. When he was not speaking, his eyes and mouth were no longer crooked.

But as soon as he spoke, his true colors were revealed, and his words were unclear, so almost no one could understand what he was saying.

Inside the house, there was the sound of tea bowls falling to the ground and breaking. Several young eunuchs were still kneeling on the ground, looking terrified.

But if you observe carefully, it is easy to see that they have long lost the fear that came from the bottom of their hearts and dared not even to breathe.

Heshen was even more relaxed, as if he didn't hear anything. He was completely different from the way he used to be when Qianlong coughed and he would rush over to say auspicious words to cheer him up.

Guys, no matter how high your status is, once you can't even control your own body, don't think about controlling anything else.

Especially for a ruler like Qianlong who controls millions of people with his own abilities, a clear mind and a strong body are the most important carriers of power.

But once he loses it, it will be the end of his power and even his body.

Historically, in the late Qianlong period, Heshen even had a firm control over the emperor, making him a veritable standing emperor.

The same thing happened at this time. With the death of Emperor Qianlong, Heshen's power suddenly expanded rapidly.

He looked at the short and fat Sixth Prince Yongrong in front of him, while Yongrong looked at Heshen with a slightly flattering look.

Because in the past few days, Qianlong would only be a little quiet when Heshen was around. For example, now that Heshen was not around, Qianlong started to lose his temper and shout.

More importantly, among all people, Heshen was the only one who could basically understand what Qianlong was saying. Whenever Qianlong started to roar, it was only when Heshen translated that he would not angrily shake his head to indicate that it was wrong.

This is very important, as it means that Heshen has become Qianlong's spokesperson to a certain extent.

"Lord He, at this critical moment for the survival of the Qing Dynasty, I was originally extremely anxious, but when I saw that there were loyal ministers and capable generals like Lord He in control of the situation, I felt much more at ease."

As the sixth son of Emperor Qianlong, Yongrong's words were really corny and his attitude was very humble.

There was nothing that could be done about it. Although he was the oldest prince at the age of 34, he was adopted by Emperor Qianlong to Emperor Kangxi's 21st son, Yinxi, when he was only 17 years old.

Well, adopting one's own son to one's uncle as a grandson is a very typical Tungus ethical view.

So strictly speaking, the Sixth Prince Yongrong could not be considered as Qianlong's son, and of course he had no right of inheritance at all.

But he was unwilling to accept it, because that adoption was just a trick played by Emperor Qianlong.

When Emperor Qianlong saw that Yongrong was getting older, in order to prevent people from taking sides and investing, he simply adopted Yongrong, who still had a certain reputation for virtue, to cut off the thoughts of his followers.

Heshen looked at Yongrong, and heard Qianlong's even louder roar inside the house, and knew that he had to go in immediately.

So he asked directly, "Sixth Prince, do you really think that I am in control of the government, or do you think that I can do it?"

Yongrong's expression became even more respectful. "As long as you and I stay with the Emperor for one day, we will naturally be able to control everything. As for the minor matters outside, I, Yongrong, am willing to share the burden with you."

Heshen understood that Yongrong still knew his limits and did not expect to achieve everything in one go. He just wanted to unite with Heshen, one to control Qianlong and the other to control the outer court.

But don’t think that the Qing Dynasty is about to fall. This is meaningless.

Humph, it's very meaningful. After all, the Qing Dynasty still has half of the country. Even if it will soon lose control of it, Hebei, Shanxi, Gansu, outside the Great Wall, the south and north of the desert and Qingtang are still firmly in their hands.

Over the years, the money Heshen helped Qianlong to extort and the money he forced officials to hand over as maintenance silver totaled more than 20 million taels.

Even if one does not want any power, this money alone is enough for one to take any risk.

Heshen nodded and was about to go back to appease Qianlong when he suddenly remembered what Yuan Shoutong had said to him.

He Shen had not yet evolved into the cunning old man he would become later, so he did not think much about the meaning behind Yuan Shoutong, the cunning old man. Instead, he thought it made sense and said to Yongrong:
"Your Majesty is unable to manage affairs now, and it seems Jiangning cannot be defended.

If the Sixth Prince wants support, he might as well urge Mukden'a to rescue the tens of thousands of bannermen in Jiangning City.

If we return to the capital this way, these people, grateful for the Sixth Prince's life-saving grace, will naturally support him."

When Yongrong heard this, he immediately felt that it made sense. He nodded, and an irrepressible smile appeared on his face. "Thank you for the reminder, sir. I know what to do now."

These two idiots.

Heshen, who was not familiar with military affairs in history, thought that once Mukden'a appeared, he could not only not defeat the Xingtang army, but at least make the two sides evenly matched. Since this was possible, then bringing some people out should not be a big problem.

Yongrong was similar. Although he was known as a virtuous man, he was just not stupid.

He was not like Yongyan who was a nerd, nor was he like Yongyan, who later became Jiaqing, who had no ability to deal with affairs and could only say "What can I do" when encountering problems.

This is the level of an ordinary person. He can definitely not be called smart, let alone a hero. He is far from his father Qianlong.

Therefore, Yongrong knew more about the front line than Heshen, but he also thought that although it would be difficult to repel the Xing Tang army, it would not be a problem to cover the retreat of the bannermen in the city.

Of course, Yongrong felt that it didn't matter if the women and children couldn't be pulled out, as long as brave generals like Hao Chun and Cheng De and more than 10,000 strong men could come out.

. . . .

At this time, the main force of the inland fleet combat was actually some very small patrol boats.

The main combat target was not the enemy navy, but the pirates in the Yangtze River and its tributaries, as well as various large and small lakes.

Therefore, this required the Qing navy not to build large ships, but to build more small boats, small boats of dozens of tons, small ones equipped with two or three guns, and large ones equipped with five small cannons weighing dozens of kilograms, and then equipped with a few musketeers and archers.

Its characteristic is speed. Because there are enough oarsmen, it can move back and forth on the river like flying and can squeeze into any small river channel.

And it is not without damage. When facing those pirate boats, even if a small cannon weighing dozens of kilograms fires a shot, as long as it hits the target, it will cause heavy casualties.

On the 22nd day of the seventh lunar month, Mo Zibu was on Beigushan Mountain in Zhenjiang, drooling at the sight of more than 300 such small boats rushing out of the Yangzhou Grand Canal in the distance.

What great South Seas colonists they are!

Twenty or thirty people can drive a small boat, equipped with cannons and guns. They move very fast and are excellent swimmers. When sailing in a big river like the Yangtze River, they can be as fast as a white-fin dolphin.

As long as we can bring them to the South Seas with its many rivers and provide them with sufficient logistical support, we will definitely be able to defeat all those natives.

If there were a thousand small boats like this, combined with the large warships of the Xingtang Navy, no one would be able to stop us in the South Seas.

"What wonderful young men!" Mo Zibu was very envious. He looked at the gentry around him from the south of the Yangtze River and asked, "Who can recruit them for me and use them in Southeast Asia?"

After spending half a month together, Liang Guozhi had already figured out Mo Zibu's temper, so he said bluntly:
"Your Majesty, if you want to recruit them, I'm afraid it's impossible now, because most of them are canal workers on the Grand Canal. They now think that Your Majesty is from the sea and will cut off the inland canal transportation, and they are quite hostile to our Dayu."

Mo Zibu had known this for a long time, so he turned back to look at Liang Guozhi with a smile, "Prime Minister, what do you think? Should I cancel the grain transport?" Liang Guozhi also looked at Mo Zibu with a smile, "I think whether to cancel the grain transport should not be decided by a few people. It should be determined by whether the grain transport is still necessary and whether sea transport, with its seasonal disadvantages, can bear the heavy responsibility of transporting grain to the north."

Mo Zibu understood that what Liang Guozhi actually wanted to say was how Mo Zibu should settle the north, and even whether he should make Beijing Shuntian Prefecture the capital like the Ming Dynasty did, and make Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture the secondary capital.

If this is the case, then the Grand Canal must be preserved.

Because in the era without steam engines, sea transportation was subject to seasonal restrictions and was quite dangerous. It was definitely not worth taking such a big risk to use it specifically to transport grain. It was too unprofitable.

While the two were talking, the Xingtang navy had already been badly defeated.

Well, to be precise, the Green Camp Yangtze River Navy that Mo Zibu had taken over was being defeated.

They were severely beaten by Mukden'a's three naval battalions, Caobiao and Hebiao, and the Caogang gang members who were the main force were extremely brave.

There were cheers and drum beats on the river. The Qing navy was chasing with high morale, while Mo Zibu's Green Camp navy was in disarray. In order to run faster, they even threw the small cannons on the ship into the water.

However, the Qing navy did not notice at all that these Green Camp navy who defected to Mo Zibu did not run downstream where it would be easier to escape, but instead struggled to escape upstream.

Mukden'a did not feel any danger at all. He was so excited that he even beat the drum to cheer in Guazhou across the river. When the Qing army heard this, they pursued them even more excitedly.

After chasing for more than twenty miles, the Qing army gained a lot of gains, but they were also exhausted due to the frantic rowing. In front of them was a huge sandbar in the river, Shiyezhou.

When the Yangtze River reached Shiyezhou, it was immediately divided into two. The Qing army commander only gave it a brief consideration before ordering to continue the pursuit.

Because even if we can't catch up, we can still land in Shiyezhou and rest.

Unfortunately, their victory ended there. After seeing the Qing navy chasing and dividing their forces in Shiyezhou, Mo Zibu immediately ordered his men to light a signal fire on Beigushan Mountain.

The rumbling sound of war drums rang out, and the Qing army, which had just divided its forces, was horrified to find that huge warships appeared in the distance. They were floating down the river like land, and they looked to be tens of thousands of ships.
"Iron chain boats, they have iron chain boats!" A Qing navy general screamed sharply in fear.

That’s right, it was the iron chain linked boats that caused Cao Cao to suffer great losses.

This is actually a very common tactic in water warfare, and it can be a powerful weapon if used properly.

For example, at this time, the Xing Tang navy locked their large ships together with iron chains and then let them float downstream.

These large ships were extremely tall. Looking up from the Qing army's small boats, they couldn't even see the decks, let alone fire at them.

However, the Xing Tang Army Navy above could steadily bombard them from high above with various muskets and artillery, and even drop bombs directly on them.

However, since most of the Yangtze River waterway here is occupied by Shiyezhou, the two channels are extremely narrow. The large ships of the Xingtang Navy rushed down the river, and the small Qing boats were unable to resist at all.

At the same time, those in the front were all crying and howling with horror, with heavy casualties, while those in the back had no idea what had happened. Even Mukden'a was still beating the drum on the shore of Guazhou.

In an instant, the Qing navy was huddled together and beaten without any ability to fight back. A large number of desperate sailors jumped into the Yangtze River and swam towards Shiyezhou.

As a result, soldiers from Wuding Town of Xingtang Army and volunteers from Zhenjiang were already lying in ambush on the shore. If they went ashore, they would be captured alive.

Seeing that the Qing army fell into chaos, the commander of the Xingtang Army, Danjia Er, released a large number of centipede boats to infiltrate and divide the Qing army.

The Qing army suffered heavy casualties and became even more terrified by the flintlock rifles on these centipede boats. If Mo Zibu had not forbade large-scale killings, they would have only needed to drive them to the river bend and then set fire to the boats to wipe them out.

But even with tactical limitations, the Qing army's defeat was inevitable.

"Let's mobilize the volunteers from all prefectures and counties to rescue people. Try to minimize the number of casualties. They are all our Han people."

After watching for a while, Mo Zibu found it boring. The Xingtang Navy not only had proper strategies and tactics, but also had much higher quality personnel and equipment. It was a completely one-sided victory.

More importantly, this kind of civil war among the Han people is really boring.

Liang Guozhi glanced at the emperor and knew that he still wanted to pull these people down to Nanyang, so he whispered to Mo Zibu:

"Your Majesty can have the Imperial Guard officers and even the eunuchs around you organize volunteers to rescue these captives in the name of the Emperor."

"Hahaha, that's right!" Mo Zibu reacted and quickly asked Huo Ran to make arrangements.

"Your Majesty, signal smoke signals are being lit across the river, and red flags are flying. The First and Second Battalions of the Imperial Guards Xiongnu Cavalry, as well as the Imperial Guards Longxiang Cavalry Battalion, are ready to attack.

Brigadier General Rakoczi Zog and Brigadier General Pierre Ney asked if they could deploy the cavalry.

"Go out and tell them to kill Mukden A in Guazhou!"

Mo Zibu had already prepared cavalry on the north bank, and would launch a surprise attack on Mukden'a after the Qing army in Jiangshan was defeated.

"Lord Zhao, I appoint you as Governor of Jiangbei. I give you five hundred elite soldiers and one thousand volunteers. Go immediately to recapture Yangzhou and recruit the Han people of Yangzhou and Huai'an in Jiangbei to join the light."

Zhao Yi and Zhao Wenhao were overjoyed. He had finally gotten a position as the governor of a province.

On the north bank of the Yangtze River, Mukden'a, the governor-general of the Qing Dynasty's grain transport system and the governor of Jiangbei, Huaiyang and Xu Sanfu, looked at the battle situation in the river in horror. He had never expected that the situation would be reversed so quickly.

But his bad luck was not over yet. Before he could prepare to retreat, smoke of war suddenly rose in the west.

Mukden'a's Goshha pointed to the horrified people in the distance and shouted, "Cavalry, where did the southern bandits come from?"

After all, Mukden'a was a brave general who had fought in the Qing-Myanmar War and the Jinchuan Wars. He immediately ordered 600 cavalrymen of the Xuzhou Green Camp and 288 Banners cavalrymen to cover the rear, and the 11,000-man army began to retreat from Guazhou.

Rakochi Zog took a look at the cavalry on the opposite side and found that they had basically no muskets, so he made battle deployments.

"Send out one hundred cuirassiers at the front, use muskets to open a passage, and suddenly accelerate forty meters!"

Rakoczi Zog's judgment was correct. The Qing cavalry was basically not equipped with muskets. Not only that, their war horses had deteriorated greatly due to a long period of peace and were no longer as good as European war horses.

The 100 cuirassiers wore French plate cuirass and Hungarian lobster-tail iron helmets decorated with long red tassels. They held sabers in their right hands and flintlock pistols hidden on their left sides.

When the Qing army saw that these cavalrymen had changed their horses and put on iron armor and helmets early, they immediately became contemptuous of them. They started shooting with horse bows from 67 meters away.

As a result, it was completely impossible to penetrate the breastplates of these cavalrymen, and even the thin layer of fine iron covering the front of the war horses could not be penetrated.

The Qing army fought more and more fiercely. They came to stop the enemy, not to play games. In order to increase their lethality, they had to close the distance with the cuirassiers.

At forty meters, the cuirassiers captain's eyes suddenly widened, and with a wave of his saber, he led the charge with a loud shout.

In an instant, the cuirassiers who seemed to be moving slowly suddenly burst out at an extremely fast speed.

In the eyes of the Qing cavalry, these heavily armored cavalry appeared in front of them almost instantly.

Fifteen meters, firing randomly with pistols!

Get close and stab with the saber!

The Qing cavalry was caught off guard and was directly defeated.

Afterwards, this team of cuirassiers was responsible for chasing and clearing out the enemies, while the remaining hussars, each with three horses, gave chase.

Finally, not far from Guazhou, a thousand elite cavalry caught up with the retreating more than 10,000 Qing troops.

Mukden'a had never expected that the Xingtang cavalry would arrive so quickly. Before the musketeers had even finished forming their battle array, Rakoczi Zog and Pierre Ney had already broken into the Qing army's formation from the west and north.

Then they rushed back and forth and hacked and killed. No matter how Mukden'a adjusted, the panicked Qing army was unable to stabilize its formation.

The two sides fought three or four times. After the Xingtang cavalry broke through the Qing army's formation three times, the Qing army completely collapsed from top to bottom. Only Mukden'a and his more than a hundred Goshaha were still holding on under the flag of the commander-in-chief.

Mukden'a was very tenacious. He held the strong bow passed down from his ancestors and shot down three charging hussars in succession. However, the situation was already over and it was not something that he, a master archer, could reverse.

Ten minutes later, the more than one hundred Eight Banner soldiers were completely wiped out. Mukden'a's head was smashed in by Pierre Ney's short-barreled musket, and his armor and the governor's flag were all seized.

All the Qing forces in Jiangbei, except for 20,000 in Xuzhou City, were wiped out.

(End of this chapter)