There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 90 Why are Lizhou and Yuezhou gone?
Yuezhou prefect Ge Yingbin was unable to escape because he was reluctant to part with the banknotes he had embezzled during his two years in office. When he returned to the backyard of the government office to get the box where he kept the banknotes and was about to climb over the wall to escape, he was caught by Han soldiers who had rushed to the government office.

Similar to this, Tongzhi Zhong Jun was on his way home to get money when he was blocked by Han soldiers who were led by yamen runners to arrest him.

Zhao Derun, the Tongpan (Tongpan) of Yuezhou Prefecture, was the third in command. The prefect and the co-prefect he met were quite powerful, and it was difficult for him to get a say in them on a normal day. He even got the least share of the silver. Seeing that the situation in the city was becoming increasingly critical, he simply took a small amount of silver, changed his clothes, and escaped in the chaos.

The magistrate of Baling surrendered, and the county clerks who were with him also surrendered.

He was a bad person in his previous life, so he is a county magistrate in this life. He did evil things in his previous life, so he is a county magistrate in a suburb. He is full of evil and is now a county magistrate in a suburb of the provincial capital.

Well, the Baling County Magistrate was not so evil that he had not yet committed so many crimes as to be a magistrate in the provincial capital. However, being a magistrate in the prefectural capital was not an easy job either. He was not the first one to be blamed for corruption, but he was the first one to be held responsible.

Among all the officials in the prefecture, this guy is actually a rare "honest official". The magistrate of the county has no human rights. Whether he does things or engages in corruption, he has to look at the magistrate's mood.

The day after Nie Yu captured Yuezhou City, Bai Nan sent a message via radio about the easy capture of Lizhou Prefecture.

At this point, the Han army spanned three states and approached Changde and Changsha.

Everything was simple after that. Nie Yu first sent an order via telegram, forcing the wealthy gentry in Yuezhou and Lizhou to cut their queues and change their clothes. Those who refused to cut their queues or change their clothes would have their property confiscated and be exiled.

All the men were demoted to tenants of government land and sent to Jingzhou to farm, while the women were separated and given to the lone Han soldiers as wives.

Under the threat of the Han army's swords and clubs, the wealthy people in the two states did not dare to resist and could only submit. At the same time, the Han army divided its troops and attacked, sweeping through the counties under the jurisdiction of the two states one after another.

Living right next to the Yangtze River, he witnessed with his own eyes the Han army moving south along the river to Dongting Lake. Now, he saw a large force of Han army coming south again. The magistrate of Linxiang County knew that the city was gone.

This guy did not try to defend the city, nor did he choose to surrender. Instead, he put on his official uniform, faced north and bowed, and then hanged himself with a rope.

Linxiang County surrendered without a fight, and the remaining Pingjiang County was even more powerful. Chen Guangzhao, the magistrate who had just taken office last year, actually left his official seal behind and escaped in disguise.

Speaking of which, this person is quite interesting, because he is not well-known and is a typical corrupt official, but by chance he was recorded in a novel called "Admonitions", in which a note story was specially fabricated based on him, and the content of the story involves the good and bad beginnings and endings of Feng Shui metaphysics.

He was a petty corrupt local official whose name was recorded in history for inexplicable reasons.

With the capture of Linxiang, Pingjiang and Huarong counties, the entire Yuezhou Prefecture fell into the hands of the Han army.

At the same time, the Han army in Lizhou also easily captured Anxiang, Shimen and Cili counties through the Lijiang River waterway. Only when they attacked Anfu County by land did they encounter a problem.

It cannot be said to be a mistake, but the Anfu County Magistrate knew that he could not resist, so he sent several groups of messengers south to Changde to report the news and ask for help.

On the day the messenger was sent out, Anfu County was captured. The county magistrate committed suicide by jumping from the city wall, the registrar fled, and the wealthy families surrendered the city.

The only remote area of ​​Lizhou that remained was Yongding County.

……

Changde.

Three days had passed since the fall of Anfu County. The messengers sent by the Anfu County Magistrate traveled through mountains and rivers, and finally two teams arrived in Changde.

"What did you just say? The rebels took Anfu County and even lost Lizhou? Where did the rebels come from?" Xing Zhao asked in shock. He could hardly believe his ears.

The rebels in Jingzhou haven't been pacified yet, so how come another group of rebels appeared in Lizhou and even took down a big city like Lizhou?
The key point is that there is no news at all. Could it be that the Anfu County Magistrate spread rumors and came to report them as soon as he heard a little rumor?

The messenger's face was filled with fear, and he could only kowtow and say, "I don't know either. The master asked me to deliver a message saying that most of Lizhou has been lost, and the rebel army is fighting with flags with Chinese characters on them. They should... they should be rebels from Jingzhou. I heard that the rebels in Jingzhou like to use flags with Chinese characters on them." "Rebels from Jingzhou!?" Xing Zhao was even more confused after hearing this.

Didn’t Fu Zhi just lead an army of 6,000 rebels to Jingzhou? How come the rebels in Jingzhou still had enough strength to move south and even capture the city of Lizhou?

In an instant, a bad premonition surged in Xing Zhao's heart. As if knowing what Xing Zhao was thinking, another messenger added: "Sir, I remember those Jingzhou rebels seemed to be wearing the uniforms of officers and soldiers. If they were not holding the Chinese-character flags, you would not have recognized them as rebels..."

Buzz~!

Now there was no need to be confused. Xing Zhao suddenly felt dizzy and almost fainted on the spot.

The uniforms for officers and soldiers are not valuable things, but they are not easy to get, especially at this time when Fu Zhina's army is heading north to Jingzhou and there is no news at all.

Xing Zhao had previously thought that the other party was busy suppressing bandits and had no time to send a letter to Changde Prefecture. Now it seems that it is not too late, but it is obvious that they have been defeated. If he thinks of the worst case scenario, it is possible that the entire army has been wiped out.

Although the 6,000-strong Ping bandit army had a complex composition, at least there were 4,000 to 5,000 combat-ready soldiers. Even so, they were unable to defeat the Jingzhou rebels, who even had enough strength to march south to attack the city.

Xing Zhao waved his hand to send the messenger away, and then seriously thought about what to do.

There is no way to hide the problem. He is only the general of Jingzhou, not the governor of Huguang, not even the governor of Hunan. Now he is in Changde to manage military affairs, which is considered to be exceeding his authority.

Even if he did not exceed his authority, if this rebel took over Lizhou, he, a mere general of Jingzhou, would never be able to bear this responsibility. A general of Jingzhou is only a general of the entire city of Jingzhou, not a general of the two lakes.

The status is lofty, but the actual power is very limited.

After pondering it over for a long time, Xing Zhao decided he had to pass on the blame first. He hurried back to the government office to write a memorial. He was the only high-ranking official in Changde now, so he had to pass the blame on to someone else.

He stayed up all night writing memorials. At dawn, Xingzhao opened his eyes with dark circles and finally finished writing four memorials to shift the blame.

A memorial was sent to Hui Ling, the governor of Hubei in Wuchang, asking him what was going on with the rebels in Jingzhou and why they came to Hunan.

A memorial was sent to Zheng Yuanjun, the Hunan Provincial Governor in Changsha, asking him to cooperate as soon as possible to suppress the rebels in Lizhou, and hinted that the rebels were from Hubei, and this guy should know what to do.

A memorial was written in two copies, one to the Governor-General of Liangjiang, Fu Ning, and the Governor of Hunan, Jiang Sheng, in Chenzhou, and the other to Fu Kang'an, Prince Fu in Xiangxi, asking them to help send troops to suppress the rebels in Lizhou.

The last memorial was submitted directly to the imperial court, exposing to the court that the situation in Hubei had become completely corrupt. The more serious the better. In short, it was to exonerate himself of the crime of negligence in Changde.

There were four memorials, a total of five books. After they were written, he went to find Hu Wenquan, the prefect of Changde, to polish and sign them. At this time, he no longer cared about the differences between Manchus and Han people. He had to get rid of this big pot as soon as possible.

After spending several days, the memorial was finally sent out by express boat, but bad news came back immediately.

Yuezhou Prefecture was also lost, and the entire territory fell!
The people of Xingzhao were confused. The Miao people in Xiangxi had not yet been dealt with, and Changde Prefecture suddenly became the front line in the confrontation with the rebels.

Are the rebels in Jingzhou really the White Lotus rebels?

How can he be so good at fighting?

Damn it, Hui Ling, this dog slave, in order to cover up the guilt of losing cities and territories, he actually deliberately concealed such serious military intelligence and did not report it.

(End of this chapter)