There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 32: In Huguang, the focus is on Jingzhou
Nie Yu is ready to attack Jingzhou!
This was not a sudden idea, but something I had thought about long ago.

Because of a very simple reason. Although he didn't want to admit it, he was indeed the first member of the "White Lotus Sect" to rise up in rebellion in the world, and his hatred for the Qing court was too great.

It just so happened that Yidu County, where he started his business, was under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou Prefecture and was located on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

What is this concept?

It is equivalent to Nie Yu setting the resurrection point directly next to the enemy's front tower, and all the enemy's front towers and people are there.

"You actually want to attack Jingzhou?"

Upon hearing that Nie Yu was planning to attack Jingzhou, Hui Ling lost all composure and shouted angrily, "You're dreaming! Jingzhou's city walls are high and thick, with well-trained soldiers and ample food. Just a few thousand of you, a bunch of rioters, lacking even adequate weapons and armor, are lucky to have conquered a county. Yet you're dreaming of attacking the city! If you dare, the Jingzhou garrison will make sure you, a traitor, never return!"

Nie Yu scoffed, "Haha, but I heard that Jingzhou City is currently undermanned. Didn't Jingzhou General Aixinjueluo Xingzhao just take all the Manchurian troops to suppress the Miao people in Hunan?"

"Otherwise, how could a high-ranking official like the Governor of Hubei Province only have 300 Manchu soldiers, and the rest are civilians?"

"Now, these three hundred Manchu soldiers have been killed in the battle of Yidu. If I lead my army to attack the city at this moment, do you think Jingzhou can withstand it?"

Can it be stopped?

Is there any need to ask? It's definitely unstoppable!

Hui Ling's heart suddenly skipped a beat. The situation he feared most had occurred. His entire army was wiped out and he deserved to die. Even with the help of his father, he would probably be dismissed from office.

Now the rebels have actually seen through Jingzhou's strengths and weaknesses. If they really want to rush to attack the provincial capital, how can we defend the provincial capital?
It is true that the city walls are high and thick, but there are no soldiers in the provincial capital. All the Manchu soldiers have been taken away by General Xing Zhao of Jingzhou to follow the governor to suppress the Miao people. They have not returned yet.

The three hundred Manchu soldiers in Huiling's hands were all that was left of the Manchu city of Jingzhou.

Once the capital of Jingzhou is captured by the rebels, the consequences will be unimaginable!

During the Qing Dynasty, although the capital of Hubei was in Wuchang, the Manchu city was built in Jingzhou, and a Jingzhou general was stationed in the Manchu city. His power was equal to that of the governor, and the governor was not even allowed to interfere in matters related to the internal affairs of the Manchu city.

The reason for this is that the strategic position of Jingzhou Prefecture is too important.

There is even a saying that specifically describes this: "If we talk about the whole country, the most important place is Xiangyang; if we talk about the southeast, the most important place is Wuchang; if we talk about Huguang, the most important place is Jingzhou."

The Jingzhou region has a complex terrain, resembling a natural fortress, with Xiangyang as its gateway. The Jianghan Plain lies in the center of Xiangyang, with the Yangtze River and Jiujiang River Valley to the east and west.

Since ancient times, if the southern regime wanted to move north, it had to first control Jingzhou and then seize Xiangfan to form a pincer attack.

In order to deploy defenses in Jingzhou and control Huguang, the Qing court went to great lengths and even set up two deputy governors in Jingzhou Mancheng. One of them went to Hunan, and the other was Hui Ling who is now captured.

Hui Ling's face turned pale, and he trembled as he asked, "You...you want to attack Jingzhou...Aren't you afraid...aren't you afraid that the Governor-General will gather the troops from Huguang to suppress and annihilate your White Lotus Sect?"

Nie Yu grinned after hearing this: "Hehe, I'm definitely afraid, but you're talking as if the Governor will let me, a rebel, go if I don't fight now. Even you, the governor of a province, have fallen into the hands of the rebels. The Governor is not blind. If he knows, he will definitely come to suppress us."

Wow, man, what you said is true, but it makes sense!
Even he himself was captured alive, and three hundred... or two hundred and fifty-seven Manchu soldiers died. The executioners were already tired and replaced before they had chopped off all the heads. With a high-ranking official like the governor captured alive and the Manchu soldiers' heads piled up like a Jingguan, if the governor wanted to keep his official hat, he would have to dispatch troops to suppress the bandits.

Similarly, whether Nie Yu attacked Jingzhou or not would not affect the Qing army's furious dispatch of troops to attack him after they learned the news.

Hui Ling said with a stern expression, "Even if you, the White Lotus Cult, really captured Jingzhou, and the Governor sent troops back to reinforce, do you think this ragtag bunch of people, just a few thousand men, could hold Jingzhou City?"

Nie Yu said, "How can we know without fighting? Besides, you don't really think that Yidu and Changyang counties represent all our forces, do you? Yidu and Changyang are just branches of our sect. Even my father is only the head of a branch. The real main force of the army is in Xiangyang, Yunyang, Shinan and other prefectures, as well as our brothers in the four provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Henan."

"As long as I can capture the governor alive and take down Jingzhou City, the rest of the brothers in the sect will surely rise up in response. In an instant, we will have a million-strong army, and half of the Qing Dynasty will belong to my White Lotus Sect!"

"What did you say!" Hui Ling exclaimed.

This time he was really shocked. He didn't think that the White Lotus Sect had few members, but he also thought that only Yidu and Changyang counties would dare to rebel.

Most of the White Lotus sect members were probably a motley crowd who did not dare to rebel. Even the former leader of the White Lotus sect in the Central Plains, Liu Zhixie, was captured by the government because there was a traitor in his group who was afraid of rebellion and betrayed Liu Zhixie.

However, when the local authorities were preparing to take Liu Zhixie to the capital for execution by lingchi, for some unknown reason he escaped and disappeared.

Qianlong was furious and ordered a search for the White Lotus Sect members, which successfully aroused local public resentment and eventually led to an uprising and riot!
"General, we found it!"

As he was speaking, Bai Nan came running out of the general's tent with a cloth bag in his hand.

Nie Yu took the cloth bag. It was quite heavy, but the appearance of the cloth was quite gorgeous and obviously not cheap.

There was a brocade box inside. When it was opened, it turned out to be a large square silver seal.

The "Imperially-Decreed Qing Dynasty Code" stipulates that silver seals or silver passes can only be used by local civil and military officials of the first or second rank or third rank officials in Beijing, and often double seals are used.

One piece is placed in the yamen for viewing, and the other is carried with you.

Nie Yu turned the seal over. In addition to the standard official seal engraving, there was also the word "Xingzai" specially engraved on the front.

Oh, the golden seal shown in "Yongzheng Dynasty" does exist, and it was cast by Emperor Qianlong, but it is very heavy, very heavy. Don't expect to hang it around your waist. It has only been used once in history, that is, during the Battle of Humen by Lin Zexu.

It works!
Four words—as if I were here in person!
Seeing that the other party had taken out the official seal that he had hidden in a hurry, Hui Ling, who had been silent and pretending to be stupid, finally showed a look of despair.

"It's useless even if you have this governor's official seal. Without this governor's personal appearance, the local government won't believe you!"

After hearing this, Nie Yu was speechless and just said "Oh". Then he ignored this guy and asked someone to take him away first, and asked He Shunan to bring a few people over.

If Hui Ling was still here at this time, he should be able to recognize that these people were his advisors and staff. Surprisingly, none of them died in the chaos, while others were very unlucky and none of them survived. They were all captured together with Hui Ling.

Without waiting for their reaction, Nie Yu suddenly said with a sinister grin, "Haha, are you afraid of death?"

　It’s so nice to be on vacation, I even forgot to type
　　
　
(End of this chapter)