1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 244 The officials of the pseudo-Qing dynasty are not credible.

Leiyang County has readily available logistical support points, and it is currently the beginning of the rainy season, with the Leishui waterway remaining clear.

Leishui was indeed an ideal battlefield for annihilating the Qing army under Xu Guangjin, Qin Dingsan, and Hechun.

"What if the Qing army doesn't take the Leishui River?"

Cheng Dashun, the commander of the Fourth Regiment, expressed his concerns.

“The Qing army will definitely take the Leishui River,” Huang Bingxian said with great certainty.

"If we don't take the Leishui official road, given the Qing army's character, how many soldiers can they bring from Chenzhou to Hengzhou Prefecture? Even if the Qing army does take the mountain road and crosses the mountains, a small number of them might be able to enter the heart of Hengzhou Prefecture, but they won't pose much of a threat to us. We can leave one or two regiments as a mobile force to annihilate these Qing troops."

Not every Green Standard Army general has the ability of Xiang Rong to lead troops on a rapid, unconventional march while still ensuring that not many soldiers fall behind.

Xu Guangjin's Guangdong soldiers had never fought against the Left Army, and their encounters with the Taiping Army were also very limited.

Huang Bingxian did not want to make too many judgments about Xu Guangjin's Guangdong soldiers.

Qin Dingsan was a defeated general of the Left Army, and most of the soldiers under his command, the Guizhou Army, were newly recruited soldiers who had only been enlisted for a year.

He Chun led a second-rate Chu army and the Guilin militia.

The only one worth praising is Zhang Guoliang, who performed brilliantly in the pursuit of the main force of the Taiping Army not long ago. Most of the soldiers under his command were fierce bandits from the Tiandihui in Guangxi.

Zhang Guoliang himself has some talent for leading troops in battle, and he might be considered a formidable opponent of Zuo Jun.

"The Second Regiment, the Seventh Regiment, and the Heavy Artillery Battalion will remain in Hengyang. The rest of the troops will go back to prepare. We will set off immediately at dawn tomorrow and follow me to Leiyang County."

After listening to the discussion among the senior officers of the Left Army and considering all opinions, Peng Gang pondered for a moment and made a final decision to march towards Leiyang County and set up the battlefield in Leishui.

After the meeting, Peng Gang left Xihua Hall and headed to the inner courtyard, deciding to get some rest and recharge before heading to Leiyang the next morning.

Before they even reached the inner quarters, Chen Nanshan, the deputy director of the prisoner-of-war management office, arrived with two high-ranking prisoners from the prisoner-of-war camp to find Peng Gang.

"Your Highness, Li Rui and Chang Sheng wish to see you," Chen Nanshan reported to Peng Gang.

In the year and a half since the campaign began, the Left Army has killed or captured quite a few high-ranking Qing officers.

Li Rui and Chang Sheng are currently the highest-ranking prisoners of war in the POW camp. Li Rui was the former general of Guzhou Town in Guizhou and was captured by the Left Army during the Dongxiang Campaign at the end of last spring.

Chang Sheng was the deputy general of the Sichuan North Garrison. He was originally a confidant of Zhang Bilu. In the Battle of Bogong'ao last summer, under Zhang Bilu's instruction, he surrendered to the Left Army with 1,542 Guizhou soldiers and 743 Sichuan soldiers.

In total, the two soldiers from Guizhou and Sichuan who surrendered together spent about a year being reformed in the prisoner-of-war camp.

Even excluding the Green Standard Army officers and soldiers of the Qingjiang Brigade in Guizhou, such as Yang Huwei and Wang Zhi, who voluntarily defected during the battle, the Left Army had precedents of absorbing Qing prisoners of war for its own use.

The first to try something new was the Sixth Regiment, which was a naval corps.

In the Battle of Guilin Daxu, the Left Army captured 180 Chaozhou soldiers and 685 Fujian soldiers. These Chaozhou and Fujian soldiers were former subordinates of Lin Zexu and were skilled in swimming.

In particular, the Fujianese soldiers, many of whom were naval soldiers of the Fujian Navy before entering Guangxi, were not only proficient in swimming but also skilled in using swords and shields, making them a rare force in the Qing army with close combat capabilities.

Luo Dagang and Chen Ajiu, both former pirates, were very fond of these prisoners who were excellent swimmers and skilled in close combat.

During the reorganization in Hengyang, twenty Chaozhou soldiers and two hundred and twenty-two Fujian soldiers were specially selected from the prisoner-of-war camp and incorporated into the Sixth Regiment.

The Left Army has a shortage of high-quality reserve soldiers for its naval forces, but the Army Division has no shortage of high-quality reserve soldiers.

Leaving aside distant examples, in the past two months alone, only about one-third of the miners and farmers recruited by the Left Army in Yongzhou and Hengzhou prefectures have been incorporated into the regular army.

The remaining two-thirds were assigned to reserve battalions as a reserve source of soldiers.

Therefore, Peng Gang was not so eager to recruit Qing army prisoners of war, and would only occasionally select a few dozen of the most outstanding prisoners of war from the POW camp to replenish the losses.

Li Rui and Chang Sheng initially adopted a wait-and-see attitude.

However, they saw Luo Dagang and Chen Ajiu take away more than two hundred Chaozhou and Fujian soldiers who were less experienced than them from the prisoner-of-war camp.

As the Left Army successively captured Yong and Heng prefectures, demonstrating its potential to sweep across the land, and the number of prisoners of war in the prisoner-of-war camps increased, Li Rui and Chang Sheng began to worry, fearing that further delays would diminish their value to Peng Gang.

Li Rui and Chang Sheng were unwilling to waste their time in the prisoner-of-war camp, living a meaningless and confused life. So they discussed it and begged Chen Nanshan to take them to see Peng Gang.

Seeing that the two men had always behaved well and often helped him manage the prisoners of the Guizhou and Sichuan armies, Chen Nanshan, after careful consideration, decided to bring them to see Peng Gang.

"What brings you two here?" Peng Gang glanced at Li Rui and Chang Sheng behind Chen Nanshan and asked casually.

"We have eaten Your Highness's food for a year and feel very indebted to you. We wish to serve Your Highness and are willing to be your servants, at your side, without hesitation!"

Li Rui and Chang Sheng spoke in unison, as if they had planned it beforehand.

“Your rations are earned through your labor; it’s not like you’re eating my rations for free,” Peng Gang said calmly, standing with his hands behind his back.

"You two hold high-ranking positions in the puppet Qing Green Standard Army. The Left Army is too small to have suitable positions for you. I don't have any generals or deputy generals here."

Prisoners of war in the POW camp had to work and study in exchange for food rations. A few skillful prisoners even learned needlework and sewed clothes for the Left Army in order to exchange for more food rations.

“The officials of the pseudo-Qing dynasty are not to be counted. As long as Your Highness is willing to give us a chance, we are willing to be lowly soldiers,” Li Rui said hastily.

"Me too," Chang Sheng quickly echoed, "We hope Your Highness will give us a chance!"

Li Rui led the Green Standard Army in Guzhou Town, Guizhou for a long time. The Green Standard Army in Guzhou Town was composed of roughly equal numbers of Han and Miao soldiers. The proportion of Han and Miao soldiers among the Green Standard Army in Guzhou Town captured by Peng Gang was also roughly equal.

Chang Sheng was Zhang Bilu's old subordinate, and had long led Sichuan and Guizhou soldiers for Zhang Bilu.

The two of them are indeed of high value, and having them assist in leading the prisoners in Guizhou and Sichuan can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

“Li Rui and Chang Sheng have performed very well in the POW camp, and I am willing to vouch for them.” Chen Nanshan, who had long been in charge of managing POWs, stepped forward to vouch for Li Rui and Chang Sheng.

Firstly, it was to set an example for other prisoners of war, based on their good performance over the past year.

Secondly, with the increasing number of prisoners of war in the POW camps, incorporating more trustworthy prisoners of war into the army would alleviate the pressure on their POW management offices.

Although Chen Nanshan was unaware that Peng Gang was about to break camp and head to Leiyang to fight against the Qing army led by Xu Guangjin, Qin Dingsan, and He Chun.

However, Chen Nanshan also knew that since the Left Army captured Hengyang, it had not launched a large-scale offensive against the Qing army for more than a month, and would soon launch another large-scale offensive.

At that time, the number of Qing soldiers captured by the Left Army will only increase, and the pressure on the prisoner-of-war camps will become greater and greater.

After pondering for a long time, Peng Gang turned to look at them and said, "Since Nanshan is willing to vouch for you, I will give you a chance. Nanshan, take Li Rui and Chang Sheng back and each of them should take four hundred outstanding Guizhou and Sichuan soldiers who are prisoners of war. Give them a good talking-to. Tomorrow I will have the First and Third Regiments go to the prisoner-of-war camp to pick you up. You will temporarily serve as auxiliary soldiers for the First and Third Regiments and help them out."

After speaking, Peng Gang, feeling increasingly tired, waved his hand, signaling Chen Nanshan to take them back to camp to select men. At the same time, he called Huang Bingxian over and asked Huang Bingxian to inform the First and Third Regiments to select a group of junior officers to be assigned to the auxiliary troops to lead the auxiliary soldiers.

On the way back to the prisoner-of-war camp from the Qingquan County government office.

Li Rui and Chang Sheng both knew that Peng Gang was willing to give them both a chance, and Chen Nanshan's guarantee played a key role. They were both extremely grateful to Chen Nanshan: "Thank you, Deputy Director Chen, for guaranteeing us both."

Chen Nanshan was also from the Green Standard Army. He was once a commander of the Green Standard Army in Xunzhou. He was captured by the Left Army during the first attack on Wuxuan and was the first Green Standard Army officer captured by the Left Army.

It's somewhat surreal that a former deputy general and a former commander-in-chief would treat a former centurion with such utmost respect and gratitude.

"No need to thank me, you earned this opportunity yourselves." Chen Nanshan said in a businesslike manner, while also giving the two a lecture.

“When you go to the battlefield, keep your spirits up. Don’t run away at the sight of the enemy and embarrass our POW camp! You can afford to lose face, but I, Chen Nanshan, can’t.”

“We’re fighting against the puppet Qing soldiers now, not the rebel army,” Chang Sheng assured, patting his chest. “Don’t worry, Deputy Director Chen, when they run into us, it’s those puppet Qing soldiers who will be the ones to run away.”

This is not Chang Sheng boasting; the prisoners of war from Zhang Bilu's former subordinates were the highest quality prisoners in the POW camp.

Before being captured, this team had the most impressive record in battles against the Taiping Army.

Chang Sheng was already a top-tier member of the Green Standard Army. When he engaged in battle with the Qing army, and with the powerful Left Army as his backing, he was truly not afraid of the Qing army.

(End of this chapter)