The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 454: The Han Emperor Arrives at the Han River

People die for money and birds die for food. Chen Huizu is a typical example.

This guy came from a prominent family. His father, Chen Dashou, had served as the Associate Grand Secretary, the Grand Councilor, the Minister of Personnel, the Governor-General of Zhili, and even the Inspector of the Guangdong Customs, an official position that only bannermen could hold.

Chen Huizu grew up in such a top official family and never suffered any setbacks since childhood.

He had never even taken the imperial examination. He entered the court directly through the process of imperial patronage, starting as a Deputy Director of the Ministry of Revenue and then rising through the ranks.

It can be said that Chen Huizu completely followed the path of a bannerman, and even the path that only a bannerman from the upper three banners could follow.

After entering the officialdom, he became a powerful official in Beijing. His position changed every year. At the age of 37, he became the Governor of Guangxi, and at the age of 39, he became the Governor-General of Huguang.

Such a growth experience made Chen Huizu very conceited. He looked down on everyone except a few Manchu dignitaries, and he was extremely bold when it came to making money.

It doesn't matter that he chose to fight against Dayu in order to become a local bully. In history, when the Gansu relief fraud case broke out, Emperor Qianlong was so angry that he almost had a cerebral hemorrhage on the spot. He ordered a severe investigation, and dozens of corrupt officials were scared to commit suicide.

Under such circumstances, when Chen Huizu was in charge of confiscating the property of Wang Danwang, the culprit of the Gansu relief fraud case, he actually dared to switch the property and embezzle inferior goods by passing them off as good ones.

Just look at this guy, how brave he is and how crazy his desire for money is.

However, Chen Huizu is just brave after all, not unafraid.

When the battle report from Hubei came, he finally felt afraid after his younger brother Chen Yanzu was missing and more than 20,000 Hubei militiamen were completely collapsed by a surprise attack of several thousand cavalry.

"Brother Wenyuan, I have selected fifteen rare treasures and one hundred taels of gold from the treasury. Take them with you and immediately go to Jiujiang to report our request to His Majesty Guangzhong.

Hunan does not need a heavenly army to come. As long as we agree to our request, this place will immediately be restored to the Han Dynasty."

The man whom Chen Huizu called "Brother Wenyuan" was Zhou Xipu, a native of Xiangyin, who became a Jinshi in the Yiwei year of the Qianlong reign (1775).

At that time, culture and education in Hunan were not as prosperous as they were later. Unlike Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, there were not as many people who passed the exam. Therefore, even the bottom three Jinshi were still very precious.

Not only did Zhou Xipu pass the imperial examination, he did not become an official directly. Instead, he returned to his hometown to lecture in academies across the country to cultivate talents for Hunan.

He was compassionate to the lower classes and did not flatter his superiors. He was not greedy for money and attached great importance to filial piety. Therefore, he was very famous among the scholars and common people in Hunan Province.

Zhou Xipu glanced at Chen Huizu, wanting to say something but stopping himself. This guy still thought Mo Guangzhong was Emperor Qianlong. Of course, Qianlong would give you a lighter sentence as long as you paid him money, but Mo Guangzhong was not like that.

But Zhou Xipu hesitated for a moment and did not try to persuade him, because he knew very well that Chen Huizu would not have a good ending no matter what, and it would be useless to persuade him.

It would be better to go directly to Emperor Guangzhong to seek a solution. We can't let all the people in Hunan go down the same path.

So Zhou Xipu took the gold, silver and treasures given by Chen Huizu, boarded a big boat, and sailed downstream to Jiujiang.

On the other side, the militia, being chased by two thousand cavalrymen of the Xing Tang Army, had no choice but to flee down the Han River.

In addition, there were many small boats of the militia on the river. Many militiamen were frightened and swam to the middle of the Han River desperately. Unfortunately, the number of those who drowned in the Han River was far less than those who successfully got on the boat.

Seeing that the Wuchang militia had no fighting power and had basically collapsed, Reinstein did not continue to pursue them, but turned north to attack the Xiangyang militia.

The result was as he expected. After discovering that the Wuchang militia was defeated by a surprise attack, the Xiangyang militia did not dare to stay and immediately broke camp and returned north.

As a result, they were caught red-handed by 1,400 cavalrymen on the way of retreat. However, many of the Xiangyang militia were from the Green Camp soldiers of Yunyang Town, and there were still a few hundred people who had some combat effectiveness.

At the same time, there are about 30% fanatical Hunyuan believers, and their organization is better than that of ordinary militias.

Seeing the Xing Tang cavalry rushing towards them, Gao Chenggong and Qi Lin each led hundreds of believers to resist. After all, they had more than 10,000 and almost 20,000 people. As long as they did not collapse directly, they could still hold on even if they were hit by dense musket fire.

The lethality of the muskets at that time was not as terrifying as people later thought. If you really wanted to kill people, you still had to rely on cannons, but the raiding cavalry could not carry cannons.

At the same time, the heartbreaking fact is that after the rapid rise of firearms, the cold weapon combat capabilities of cavalry around the world have been rapidly declining.

Most of the cavalry had lost the ability to charge repeatedly in heavy armor and rain arrows from their horses.

Cuirassiers basically make a living by making one-time deals, and hussars are light cavalry who don't even have bows and arrows.

Therefore, after Reinstein charged several times and saw that he could not scare the Xiangyang militia, he had no choice but to order the cavalry to dismount and fire at them with flintlock rifles.

This also allowed the Xiangyang militia to rely on the hills north of Anlu City and successfully bide their time until nightfall. Although more than a thousand people were killed or wounded, they still managed to sneak across the Han River under the cover of darkness and save their lives.

The Wuchang militia had really bad luck. On the third day, when they were scattered and continued to move downstream, they ran into the 5,000 Jiangxi Town Army led by Yu Jinao.

At this time, there were only a few thousand Wuchang militiamen who could still gather around Chen Yanzu. How could they withstand the attack of Yu Jinao's 5,000 fresh troops? They didn't even fight much. The whole process was just a game of cat and mouse.

By this point, by February 11, the two militia groups in Wuchang and Xiangyang that were besieging Anlu Prefecture had basically been defeated.

. . . .

Wuchang Prefecture, Mo Zibu, who was originally going to respond to Tianfu, had to change his mind and went upstream from Jiujiang to Wuchang.

Because he did not expect that Reinstein and Ye Xianchun, with only two guards regiments, two Beijing camp troops, and the three garrison troops of Anqing and Chitai in Anhui and Jiujiang in Jiangxi, with only 41,000 people, could actually penetrate the entire Hubei province in just one month.

Moreover, we have not encountered many large-scale battles, and it can be said that we have not been defeated in any fierce battle.

Therefore, Mo Zibu had to give up his plan to return to Yingtian Prefecture and let Li Xianwen continue to take charge. He then led the Yulin Guards and three Beijing camp troops to Wuchang Prefecture in person to appease the local people.

"The emperor is here, the emperor is here!" At the East Gate of Wuchang City, the whole Wuchang Prefecture was in an uproar as the large red flag with a golden sun and moon, symbolizing the emperor's presence, arrived.

Countless gentry and common people dressed in their most gorgeous clothes gathered outside the Great East Gate and cheered loudly.

Mo Zibu looked at the welcoming crowd in the distance in surprise. He thought that few people would welcome him when he arrived in Wuchang, but he didn't expect there to be such a huge crowd.

"Grandpa, didn't Ye Xianchun forcefully order these people to come and welcome him?" Mo Zibu asked Chen Guangzu, the commander of the brave army who came to greet him. Chen Guangzu laughed, "Your Majesty, you think too highly of Ye Zhengxi. He's good at fighting, but not at governing. How could he have the ability to arrange tens of thousands of people to come and welcome him?

These are the gentry and common people who have come voluntarily to welcome our Han emperor. Many have come specially from other prefectures, traveling hundreds of miles."

Mo Zibu was skeptical after hearing this, but when he walked over, he realized that these people were definitely not organized by anyone. Because that kind of genuine joy and excitement could not be faked.

The crowd was so enthusiastic that Mo Zibu had to stop at the Dadong Gate. He was now even more convinced that it was not organized by Ye Xianchun.

Because if it was specially organized and it turned out like this, with even the emperor's carriage blocked at the door and unable to enter, General Ye Xianchun, the General of the Western Expedition, would be beaten with a stick.

Ye Xianchun also smiled awkwardly. These days in Wuchang almost made him doubt his life.

When in Jiangxi, it seemed easy for Yin Chengfang to govern the place. But when it came to him, it seemed so complicated and he had no idea what to do.

He could not speak Nanjing Mandarin and had to rely on his staff to communicate with him. In reality, he only played the role of a sitting official.

"Your Majesty, may you order the local nobles and elders of high standing to come before the carriage and pay their respects. After they have paid their respects to Your Majesty, you may have them proceed to disperse the people."

At this time, Tang Zhiyue, who had expelled Governor Hao Shuo from Nanfeng County, Jiangxi Province and returned to Han, came to Mo Zibu and made some suggestions.

"Yes, order ten distinguished officials and elders from Wuchang and Hanyang to come forward and pay their respects."

Although Mo Zibu didn't like the word "disperse", there was no other way at the moment. Unless the crowd dispersed, he himself could not enter the city.

After a while, ten gentry in the crowd naturally passed the inspection of the Palace Front Office and were brought to the side of the carriage.

"Your Majesty, how late you have come! The people of Huguang have been tortured by the rebellious Qing Dynasty and feel as if they are in hell. Every day we long for Your Majesty's rescue, just as babies long for their parents!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, the Han army is so close, yet we still cannot reach it. I wait day and night, but even if I wait till autumn waters flow, it's just like this!"

My goodness, these people came up and attacked me, the Great Emperor Mo.

When they talked about urgent matters, many old men burst into tears, causing the people watching around to cry.

Mo Zibu felt a little embarrassed, but he had no choice. If he didn't consolidate Jiangnan, he would not be able to do many things in the future.

At the same time, we must also pay attention to the world situation, join the camp of France, the former leader, and fight against Britain together with the whole world.

Now, after only one year of recovery, they have raised an army of over 100,000, which is considered fast.

But for the people of Hubei, it was indeed a little late. The army was in Jiujiang, but they could not be rescued.

Of course, what Mo Zibu didn't realize was that Chen Yanzu and the others had been such bastards over the past year or so that they were even worse than the Qing Dynasty.

At the same time, Mo Zibu also understood one thing, which was why his journey north was so smooth.

Because in this world, when it comes to grand narratives, nationalism is indeed a very sharp and useful double-edged sword.

The reason why these Hubei elders welcomed him so much was simply because Mo Zibu was a Han Chinese, and the Dayu Dynasty had been defeated, so they were no longer slaves at least spiritually.

At least they can restore their ancestors' clothing, just like what the eighty-year-old Wuchang elder who was crying in front of Mo Zibu said.

"Once the Great Yu Dynasty is defeated, he can live his life as usual. When he dies, he can also face his ancestors with dignity."

Even Mo Zibu didn't know that in today's Jiangnan region, it was popular for slightly wealthier families to make a few pieces of Han Dynasty clothes and put them in small boxes, which they would then burn as gifts for their ancestors or directly dig up the mounds and bury them in their ancestors' graves.

After being defeated, Mo Zibu, who felt a little guilty, could only comfort these gentry and elders, and specially allocated a carriage for them to follow his carriage and enter Wuchang City together.

When the people of Wuchang outside and Hanyang who had crossed the river saw these local prestigious gentry and elders standing next to the emperor's carriage, they finally felt relieved and happily made way for the emperor's carriage to enter the city.

In fact, they were crying so hard because they were still a little scared, because they didn't know whether it was the Qing Dynasty or Chen Yanzu and others who spread rumors everywhere, saying that Emperor Mo wanted to kill all the people in Huguang, which scared the people a lot.

After arriving at the Huguang Governor's Office in the city, Mo Zibu stayed there temporarily and began to meet with people from all walks of life in the city in batches. Then things became clearer.

The people that Chen Yanzu was able to recruit in Hubei were basically the groups that benefited greatly from the rule of the Qing Dynasty. Most of them were the powerful bullies who helped the Qing government immigrate to Sichuan during the Huguang Filling Movement.

Because only these people, who have relatives serving as high-ranking officials in the Qing Dynasty and who themselves have strong power in the local area, can do such an unethical thing as seize the land of ordinary people and then send them to Sichuan.

This set of operations seems easy, but it is actually very difficult.

Because you need to suppress it locally and prevent the matter from being brought to the higher authorities, and you also need to make the officers escorting immigrants along the way do their best to ensure that nothing goes wrong along the way.

After arriving in Sichuan, local officials were willing to use a combination of kindness and force to appease these resentful immigrants.

Only in this way can you gain benefits without getting burned.

Therefore, these local tyrants are generally the most powerful in the area. They also know that their land is not obtained legally, and they are afraid that after the new dynasty Dayu comes, those who have suffered losses will stand up and report them.

At the same time, they were also worried that Emperor Mo would use benefits to reward meritorious officials and target them.

All in all, this is all caused by money. They are afraid of losing their vested interests in the Qing Dynasty, so they follow Chen Yanzu to make trouble. Even if it is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, they still want to give it a try.

Since this is the case, it will be much easier to deal with. Mo Zibu will go to Wuchang and investigate every prefecture one by one, picking out those wealthy families who followed Chen Yanzu in causing trouble and bullying the locals.

Then, let the local gentry who are not so cruel go to stabilize the local area, and the specific official positions will be assigned after the special examination is held after Huguang is taken.

As soon as this policy came out, the whole of Hubei became quiet. Except for the isolated Xiangyang, Yunyang and Shinan Prefectures, most of the prefectures and counties were waiting obediently for the investigation.

(End of this chapter)