1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 262 Wu Sangui's Legacy
After the ritual of sending down the servant, Yang Xiuqing, who was enjoying the worship of the masses, was still not satisfied.

In order to break with the old and establish the new, and to showcase the martial prowess of the Taiping Army, Yang Xiuqing immediately renamed Yuezhou Prefecture to Desheng Prefecture. Even Wuchang, which had not yet been captured, was renamed Wuqiang to avoid the taboo of Wei Changhui's name.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership was keen on changing place names, and this trend was already evident in Yuezhou Prefecture.

Compared to the grand celebrations of Hong Yang and others, Peng Gang was more concerned about the Wu Zhou cannons that Shi Dakai had acquired in Yuezhou Prefecture.

The capture of Yuezhou greatly enhanced the strength of the Wing Palace, and the size of its naval forces expanded rapidly.

They even found cannons that were secretly buried or sunk in the water.

These cannons were buried in Yuezhou by Wu Sangui, the Prince of Pingxi, during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, and were used to resist the Qing army.

More than 170 years later, these cannons, buried in the underground water, were able to see the light of day again and once again shoulder their unfinished mission.

"The Yuezhou Deshengfu Armory has a lot of military equipment stored in it. Many of the weapons stored in the armory were made by Wu Sangui. After being cleaned of rust, they are better than the Qing Dynasty weapons we have captured in the past."

At Peng Gang's request, Shi Dakai took Peng Gang to inspect the military equipment that Yidian had obtained in Yuezhou.

The Wing Palace acquired so many weapons in Yuezhou that even the common soldiers were waving new spearheads and swords around the streets.

This matter cannot be kept secret. Except for Wei Changhui, all the princes are in Baling. Shi Dakai cannot handle so many weapons.

Shi Dakai made no attempt to hide anything and openly took Peng Gang to see the newly acquired cannons.

Of course, Shi Dakai also had his own purpose in bringing Peng Gang to see these cannons.

"A cannon that's been buried for over 170 years? Can it still be used?" Peng Gang asked curiously.

"After repairs, most of them are still usable, especially the bronze cannon, which is the best cannon I have ever seen. I never imagined that cannons could be made so exquisitely," Shi Dakai said confidently.

Once outside the city gate, one could see twenty or thirty muscular men sinking cannons into a pond.

Needless to say, it was mostly because Yang Xiuqing wanted to recreate the miracle of the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother bestowing divine weapons at the Rhinoceros Pool in Jintian Village.

Therefore, he instructed Shi Dakai to sink the cannon into the pond and retrieve it after the Heavenly Father possessed him.

Not long after, Shi Dakai led Peng Gang to the Wing Palace Weapons Workshop, which specialized in repairing cannons.

Upon entering, the first thing that catches the eye is a heavy cannon weighing four or five thousand kilograms placed in the center.

The cannon lay horizontally on a newly made camphor wood carriage, its dark blue rust scraped away to reveal its bronze base. Two shirtless men were repeatedly rubbing the cannon barrel with hemp rope soaked in rice vinegar, the sour, rotten smell mixed with the metallic stench of copper filling the air.

The cannon barrel and cannon body are very smooth, made of ample materials, and extremely well-made. There is also an inscription on the cannon body indicating the first year of King Zhou (1678, also known as the first year of Zhaowu).

Wu Sangui initially built these cannons for rebellion, and the cannons built in the early years of the Wu-Zhou regime were of relatively high quality.

No wonder Shi Dakai said these cannons were the best he had ever seen. Peng Gang had never seen such beautiful cannons since he came to this time and space.

It's ironic that the unearthed antique cannons, dating back over 170 years, are even better than the cannons currently in service with the Qing army.

The Qing Dynasty's technological stagnation and even its lagging behind the world was merely one of its most insignificant shortcomings.

Systemic rigidity in thought and institutions is far more fatal than technological backwardness.

Peng Gang briefly inspected the seventy or eighty antique cannons of varying sizes that were being restored.

Shi Dakai's words were true; indeed, more than half of the cannons still had value for repair.

These antique cannons include not only bronze and iron cannons, but also many bronze-iron composite cannons with cast iron liners inside the bore. This technique was frequently used by the Portuguese in Macau at the end of the Ming Dynasty and was later adopted and imitated by the Ming court.

"Great cannon!" Peng Gang exclaimed, having thoroughly enjoyed the sight.

"It's a pity I don't have professional gunners like the North Palace Artillery Battalion here," Shi Dakai said, turning to look at Peng Gang.

"Seventh Brother, could I trade some gunners for the instructor to train them for me?"

Although Shi Dakai will definitely have to hand over some of the cannons obtained from Yuezhou, the number of cannons that Yidian can keep is also quite considerable.

Shi Dakai could take this opportunity to emulate Bei Dian and form a professional heavy artillery unit.

It's not that the Wing Palace lacks skilled gunners, but the Wing Palace not only has relatively few gunners, but most of the Wing Palace gunners only know how to use them themselves and don't know how to teach them.

Unlike the gunners in the North Palace Artillery Battalion, many of them were literate, knew basic arithmetic, and could even teach newcomers how to use cannons.

“We’re all brothers, no need to talk about exchanging,” Peng Gang laughed. “I’ll transfer a group of veteran gunners to you later.” In terms of relationships, among all the halls, Peng Gang was closest to Shi Dakai, who was also from Guixian County and a classmate.

Moreover, they are now working together to resist the Qing, making them allies.

Since Shi Dakai had asked, Peng Gang was willing to help.

After observing the weapons workshop in the wing hall, Peng Gang accepted eighteen bronze cannons, each weighing about a thousand catties, as a gift from Shi Dakai. He then accompanied Shi Dakai to his lodgings and inquired in detail about the Qing army's defensive posture in Wuchang Prefecture.

Several days ago, Shi Dakai had already sailed down the Yangtze River and captured the county towns of Linxiang and Jiayu along the Yangtze River, leaving troops to garrison them.

Jiayu County is located within the territory of Wuchang Prefecture in Hubei Province.

When the Qing army in Hubei was mentioned, Shi Dakai showed disdain.

"The governor of Hubei, Chang Dachun, personally went to Yuezhou Prefecture to arrange defenses and asked Wu Shimai, a local tycoon in Yuezhou, to hire more than 3,000 fishermen as soldiers and equip them with 500 boats of various sizes to guard the waterways, hoping to protect Yuezhou and block us from Hubei. As a result, our army captured Baling City in less than two days," Shi Dakai said with a cold sneer.

"This Governor Chang was also a remarkable man. Seeing that Yuezhou was in danger, he built a fortified water fortress by blocking huge rocks with large ships and sinking them into the river at Luxikou, upstream of Jiayu County. He then dispatched the 75-year-old Eight Banners veteran, the Hubei Provincial Commander Bolergongwu, to lead more than 2,000 naval troops to garrison the fortress."

They thought they had cut off our waterways, preventing our army from crossing the Luxi River by a single boat. Guess what happened next?

"That scoundrel Bole Gongwu ran away?" Peng Gang laughed.

What good could come of a general leading troops under the Eight Banners?

In the year and seven or eight months of fighting the Qing army, only two Eight Banner generals, Ulantai and Hechun, performed reasonably well.

Of course, these two are just the tallest among the short.

Ulantai and Hechun's performance was by no means that of an outstanding general. They were just not as incompetent as other Eight Banner generals.

"Before I even reached Luxikou, that bastard Bolegongwu was so scared that he ran back to Wuchang overnight, abandoning his soldiers," Shi Dakai said, nodding.

"The water soldiers recruited by Chang Dachun surrendered directly to me, and I took over the county seat of Jiayu by land. Compared to the Qing forces in Guangxi and Hunan, the Qing forces in Hubei are truly incompetent."

In Guangxi, the Qing army was at least able to put up a fight. Although the Qing army in Hunan was not as capable as the Qing army in Guangxi and could not engage in direct field battles with the Taiping army, they still dared to harass the Taiping army.

The Qing army in Hubei either fled or surrendered along the way, and Shi Dakai has yet to have a chance to fight a decent hard battle with the Qing army in Hubei.

"In that case, Wuchang can be taken!" Hearing Shi Dakai say this, Peng Gang felt much more at ease.

Compared to the Qing army's strict defense of the provincial capitals in Guangxi and Hunan, the defenses of Wuchang were practically non-existent for the Taiping army.

"If there are no unforeseen circumstances, Wu Qiang can be dismissed." Shi Dakai thought for a moment and gave an affirmative answer.

Judging from the current performance of the Qing army in Wuchang, it doesn't seem like they are capable of holding Wuchang.

Yang Xiuqing celebrated, but her mind remained clear.

The next day, after demonstrating the miracle of the Heavenly Father bestowing cannons, the Taiping Army was once again given a shot in the arm.

To avoid any unforeseen complications, Yang Xiuqing immediately led his troops down the Yangtze River and headed straight for Wuchang, the capital of Hubei Province.

The two-hundred-mile waterway from Baling City to Luxikou in Wuchang Prefecture was unobstructed.

The main force of the Taiping army, heading east, reached Luxikou in just two days.

The section of the river near Luxikou has not yet been cleared because it was blocked by Hubei Governor Chang Dachun who threw a huge rock into the river.

The Taiping army had no choice but to disembark at Luxikou and walk downstream, either to transfer to another boat or to continue their journey along the river to Wuchang, the capital of Hubei province.

At this moment, Shangli, Zhongli, and Xiali in Heyetang, Xiangxiang County, Hunan Province, have been reduced to ruins.

In particular, the mansion of the Zeng family, the most powerful family in the area, was littered with corpses in front of it.

This most luxurious mansion in Xiangxiang County was engulfed in flames after the last chest of wealth amassed by the Zeng family over the years was carried out of the courtyard, at Luo Dagang's command.

　Regarding the Taiping Army's acquisition of a large number of weapons left over from the Revolt of the Three Feudatories in Yuezhou, Li Xiucheng's autobiography clearly states: "After capturing Yuezhou, we obtained Wu Sangui's weapons, which were transported by boat and sailed straight down to Hubei."

　　The credibility of the parties' accounts is quite high.

　　In 2011, seven cannons from the Wu Sangui era were unearthed in Yueyang. Some of the unearthed cannons are now in the Yueyang Museum, which shows that the claim that Wu Sangui buried weapons in Yueyang during the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories is not only highly credible, but also that the number was quite considerable.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)