There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 93 The Eight Banners Corruption
In early April this year, the White Lotus Rebellion in Sichuan and Hubei broke out in full swing. It even broke out earlier than in history, and the scale of the uprising was more rapid and intense.

The entire Sichuan Province, including the three provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, was caught off guard by the sudden rebellion of the White Lotus Sect against the Qing Dynasty and the local government could only passively defend the city.

First, the Dazhou sect leader Xu Tiande and his disciple Wang Dengting started an uprising in Tingzipu. Within ten days, they had mobilized tens of thousands of troops and called themselves the Dazhou Qinghao Army.

Next came Dongxiang County. Wang Sanhuai and Leng Tianlu (Leng Feng), a master and disciple who had long been in contact with Xu Tiande's White Lotus Sect, also gathered tens of thousands of people in Taohua Township, launched a riot, and called themselves the Baihao Army.

The two White Lotus rebel armies, Qinghao and Baihao, quickly merged after the uprising, and both sides jointly raised tens of thousands of troops to attack Dongxiang County.

Dongxiang County was able to hold out for only one day before the rebel army breached the city gates. The (alternate) Dongxiang County Magistrate Lu Lin and the Dianshi Yang Yongxi were both killed by the rebels. Their heads were beheaded in public and hung on the flagpole on the city wall. Their headless bodies were thrown into the wilderness to feed wild dogs.

As soon as the news came out, the governor of Dazhou was shocked and immediately blocked the city. At the same time, he sent a messenger to Chengdu Prefecture for help, requesting Sichuan Governor Yingshan to send troops to rescue as soon as possible.

Let me explain here that Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Zhili were relatively rare provinces in the Qing Dynasty, with only governors but no governors.

The Qing dynasty established permanent governors-general to counterbalance the overpowering provincial governors, allowing them to check and balance each other. However, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu were strategic military bases, while Tibet, the Western Regions, and Qinghai were not peaceful. Miao uprisings were also common in southwestern Yunnan and Guizhou. Therefore, a governor-general was needed to wield absolute power and suppress rebellions, rather than engage in internal struggles with the provincial governors.

The position of Governor-General of Zhili was even simpler. This place was under the emperor's feet, so there was no need to set up a governor. It was a waste of finances and it was easy for conflicts between the governor and the governor to occur.

Qianlong successively abolished the Governor of Gansu and the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and replaced them with the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu and the Governor-General of Sichuan, both of whom served as Governor-Generals. Naturally, those local officials also saw the opportunity and submitted petitions several times requesting that the Governor-General of Huguang and the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang could also serve as local Governor-Generals, but they were all ruthlessly rejected by Qianlong.

This is natural. Qianlong was ambitious, greedy and tyrannical, but he was not really stupid (he was just really bad). It was okay for him to be the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu and the Governor-General of Sichuan, but if he really made the Governor-General of Huguang and the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang concurrently serve as local governors, wouldn't the Han people be in chaos?

There are advantages to getting up early, and there are also advantages to getting up late!

For example, at this moment, Xu Tiande, Wang Sanhuai and others from the White Lotus Sect in Sichuan launched the uprising six months in advance to respond to their brothers from the White Lotus Sect in Hubei. It was inevitable that they were hasty in their preparations, but they were hasty and the Sichuan government was caught off guard.

If it had been two months earlier, or half a year later, Sun Shiyi, who had already led his troops out of Sichuan and rushed to the battlefield in Hubei, preparing to join forces to encircle and suppress the White Lotus Sect, would have run into them.

Sun Shiyi is not a very famous guy, but he is the only capable general left in Sichuan. He has participated in suppressing the Lin Shuangwen Uprising in Taiwan, quelling the Nguyen Hue Rebellion in Annan, quelling the Gurkha Rebellion, and cooperating with Fu Kang'an's army to suppress the Guizhou and Guizhou rebels.

Now, I heard that the White Lotus Sect in Hubei is very powerful, and there is a leader named Zhang Zhengmo who even dared to declare himself king and simply did not take the Qing Dynasty seriously.

So, just a month ago, this guy first moved his troops to Xiushan, then marched into Youyang, and now he has entered Laifeng through Youyang, ready to give Zhang Zhengmo a blow.

Fu Kang'an and He Lin were away, and the capable Sun Shiyi had just left. Sichuan was in a vacuum period with no generals available and no troops to deploy.

Wang Sanhuai and Xu Tiande first captured Dongxiang County to see how the officers and soldiers would react. However, after waiting for many days, no officers or soldiers showed up. Instead, the Dazhou city gates were blocked and the protective bridge was destroyed, as if they were determined to defend the city to the death.

Now, they felt relieved. It seemed that the shortage of officers and soldiers was real, so the two groups immediately parted ways.

Xu Tiande's Qinghao Army turned westward, preparing to attack Chengdu City to test its strength.

Wang Sanhuai's Baihao Army moved to eastern Sichuan, preparing to take Kuizhou, Shiqu and other places as a foothold.

If Wang Sanhuai is lucky enough, he should be able to catch up with the Qing army led by Sun Shiyi. (Blue represents the Qing army, red represents the White Lotus Sect)
……

Mid April.

Wang Sanhuai led his troops all the way through Qianjiang Nanba Town without encountering any resistance. Instead, he continued to absorb the vagrant civilians on the road, and the size of the army further expanded.

When the army arrived outside Kaixian City, the Baihao Army led by Wang Sanhuai had nearly 30,000 people.

The Kai County magistrate was so frightened that his legs went limp that he surrendered on the spot without a fight. Wang Sanhuai easily took over Kai County. However, the surrendered Kai County magistrate still lost his life and had his head chopped off by Wang Sanhuai as a sacrifice.

The loss of Kai County frightened the prefect of Kuizhou, who immediately sent several messengers to Chengdu and Youyang to request reinforcements.

By the beginning of May, Sun Shiyi, who had already mobilized his troops to Shinan Prefecture, learned that White Lotus rebels had appeared in his hometown of Sichuan. He no longer went to Hubei to suppress the rebels, but hurried back to rescue Sichuan.

When Sun Shiyi's army returned to Kuizhou, they ran into the Baihao Army which was preparing to capture Kuizhou Prefecture and establish a foothold. A fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

Wang Sanhuai had more troops but his combat prowess was not very good, and Sun Shiyi was a good fighter but he did not have many elite soldiers under his command.

Wang Sanhuai fought several battles and found that he could not win at all, so he simply used his ability to escape and turned back to Dongxiang County, preparing to meet up with Xu Tiande's Qinghao Army to fight against this Sun Lao Hu who suddenly appeared.

When Sun Shiyi saw Wang Sanhuai running away, he immediately followed him and led his troops to chase him.

At this moment, Xu Tiande had just defeated the Chengdu Eight Banners Army in the battle of Yuechi. The Chengdu Deputy Governor Fozhu who led the army to suppress the bandits was killed on the spot. The Green Camp captain Xu Wenying, captain Tang Da and thousands of their soldiers and militiamen were all killed and scattered by the rebel army.

This battle also made Xu Tiande speechless, because he did not capture Yuechi County. He simply stationed troops in Yuechi Township. When he was preparing to attack the city, an Eight Banners Army arrived.

Xu Tiande was initially cautious, considering these were the legendary Eight Banner Heavenly Soldiers. However, as Fozhu led his troops into Yuechi County, preparing to oversee the defense of the river, within a few days, the Qing troops stationed in the city relapsed into their bad habits, seizing houses, raping women, and stealing their property. Within a few days, the people of Yuechi County were seething with resentment.

then……

The wealthy people in Yuechi County sneaked out of the city and acted as internal supporters for the White Lotus Sect. The two sides worked together and crossed the river to launch a surprise attack at night. The Qing army was caught off guard and was defeated all the way.

Fozhu, who took the lead in abusing the people, was beheaded in his sleep. Xu Wenying, the captain of the Green Camp, and Tang Da, the captain, tried to break out with their troops in a hurry, but they were outnumbered and all died in battle.

After this battle, General Guancheng of Chengdu and Governor-General Yingshan of Sichuan (in charge of Tibet), who were still waiting for news of victory in Chengdu, were both stunned.

They knew that the Eight Banners Army was corrupt, but they didn't expect it to be so rotten. The Eight Banners Army of Jingzhou was defeated by the White Lotus Sect of Jingzhou, and now the Eight Banners Army of Chengdu has also been defeated by the White Lotus Sect of Dazhou.

The Eight Banners Army was defeated, and Sichuan Governor Yingshan had to go into battle himself. At the same time, he and Chengdu General Guancheng jointly submitted a memorial to the court, requesting the court to send troops to suppress the bandits as soon as possible.

Now, Qianlong ordered the army from four provinces to suppress the White Lotus Sect in Hubei, but before it was even implemented, it had already failed!

(End of this chapter)