1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 326 First Eliminate Xiang Rong and Chun
"The road from southern Hunan to Guangxi and Guangdong cannot be blocked by the efforts of Hunan province alone," Peng Gang said, glancing at the sand table.

"The fact that the anti-Qing secret society forces in Hunan were contained within Hunan's borders must have been largely due to the efforts of Lao Chongguang, the governor of Guangxi, and Xu Guangjin, the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi."

To contain the anti-Qing secret society forces in southern Hunan, it would be difficult to do so with the efforts of Hunan province alone; the cooperation of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces was essential.

Gui Fu Lao Chongguang was from Shanhua County, Changsha Prefecture, Hunan Province. He was a fellow townsman of Zeng Guofan. The two often visited each other when they were in the capital and had a close personal relationship. Zeng Guofan was able to use his personal connections to get Lao Chongguang to cooperate with the Hunan Army in suppressing the so-called bandits.

While Governor-General Xu Guangjin of Guangdong and Guangxi may have been slacking off in his military campaigns outside the province, he was remarkably competent and efficient in dealing with "banditry" that threatened Guangdong.

"Your Highness is wise. The route for the anti-Qing secret societies to leave Hunan has indeed been blocked by the troops from Guangxi and Guangdong. Currently, the large-scale anti-Qing secret society forces in southern Hunan have all fled into the mountains to fight against the Hunan troops. Those who fled back to their hometowns have not escaped the search and arrest by the judicial bureau." Qiu Ersao's tone became somewhat low.

"Zeng Guofan's Trial Bureau was originally located in Changsha, but he was ruthless. Less than three months after its establishment, under the pretext of investigating bandits, he killed two or three thousand people in Changsha Prefecture, regardless of whether they were innocent or not, and whether they were falsely accused or not.

Changsha was eerily silent; the people lived in constant fear, avoiding the Criminal Investigation Bureau and Xiang Yong like the plague. Walking the streets, everyone kept their heads down, afraid to speak, lest they be targeted by the Bureau or Xiang Yong.

“Zeng Guofan arrested even students and children who had kinship ties with us and members of secret societies in Hunan, even if they had no intention of rebelling against the Qing. On the first day of court, without obtaining any concrete evidence, he convicted them of crimes and executed them the next day,” Liu Tongwei added.

"In less than three months after the Changsha Trial Bureau was established, it killed more than a dozen students and children. Among these students and children were some of Mr. Zuo and Mr. Wang’s students in Hunan."

Even wealthy families in Changsha couldn't stand Zeng Guofan's actions and demanded that Zhang Liangji, the governor of Hunan, abolish the Bureau of Judicial Review.

Unable to withstand the pressure, Zhang Liangji had no choice but to send Zeng Guofan, along with his judicial bureau, to Hengzhou and Yongzhou to train the land and naval forces, using combat as training.

“No matter what, the secret societies in Hunan are also anti-Qing forces. With them in Hunan, they can at least tie down some of the Qing troops. Since the secret societies in Hunan are in trouble and have asked for help, whether it’s for the sake of my Northern Palace or out of consideration for the code of honor among the people, it would be best to help them if we can.” Su San Niang, who had been silent until now, couldn’t help but interject.

Although Peng Gang's Beidian and the anti-Qing secret societies in Hunan were not subordinate to each other, they shared the common goal of opposing the Qing dynasty.

Providing some assistance to the anti-Qing secret societies in Hunan would, to some extent, also tie down a portion of the Qing army in Hunan.

Furthermore, in the past, Beidian had also cooperated with anti-Qing secret societies (mainly the Heaven and Earth Society). Peng Gang would occasionally provide the Heaven and Earth Society with some money and weapons, and provide them with material support.

In exchange, the Heaven and Earth Society used its members' extensive network across various industries and their ability to travel far and wide to provide intelligence to the Northern Palace, with both sides getting what they needed.

Much of the intelligence from the North Palace Intelligence Bureau comes from the Heaven and Earth Society.

“Anyone who is determined to oppose the Qing is our friend. We will allocate 20,000 taels of silver first, 10,000 taels to the Heaven and Earth Society in Hunan and 10,000 taels to other anti-Qing secret societies, so that they can hold on for a while longer and hold on until the water rises. Then I will send ships directly to Yongzhou and Hengzhou to deliver food, guns and medicine to them.” Peng Gang said after a moment’s thought.

“Yongzhou Prefecture and Hengzhou Prefecture are located in the heart of Hunan Province, which is too far from Yuezhou Prefecture. Sending ships to transport grain to them would be too dangerous. Giving them some silver is already more than enough,” Qiu Zhongmin said, expressing his concerns.

“Yes, we don’t owe the Heaven and Earth Society anything.” Zhang Handai agreed with Qiu Zhongmin’s point of view.

"From here to Yongzhou Prefecture and Hengzhou Prefecture, we have to pass through Changsha City, Xiangtan City and Hengshan City. Giving us some silver is already more than enough. There is no need for our naval brothers to take such a risk."

The staff officers and high-ranking intelligence officers in Xihua Hall all personally traveled by boat from southern Hunan to the three towns of Wuhan.

They knew very well how long the waterway between the two places was and what the conditions were like along the way.

They all believed that sending the navy deep into Yongzhou and Hengzhou prefectures to supply provisions and military supplies to anti-Qing secret society forces in Hunan was too dangerous and opposed it.

Only Zuo Zongtang and Huang Bingxian knew Peng Gang well and understood that Peng Gang always valued the lives of his soldiers. Peng Gang must have had his reasons for proposing to send ships to deliver food and supplies to the anti-Qing secret societies in Hunan. Let's listen to Peng Gang's explanation first.

“In the past, it would have been very risky to send the navy’s soldiers deep into the heart of Hunan to supply provisions and military supplies to the anti-Qing secret societies there, and I would not have done so,” Peng Gang said, looking around at everyone.

"But times have changed. We now have Western steamships that can travel upstream without human power, coming and going as we please. Moreover, each steamship is equipped with cannons that can fire three or four miles away, so the Qing army on both sides of the Xiang River can't do anything to us. We obtained these ships from the foreigners by exchanging tea and silk. Wouldn't it be a waste not to use them?"

Furthermore, Zeng Guofan ordered Peng Yulin to train naval forces in Hengzhou Prefecture, and these forces were intended to be used to suppress us.

Peng Gang now has three steam paddle steamers with a displacement of three to four hundred tons purchased from Russell & Co., and Liming & Co. also intends to use their steam paddle steamers to purchase silk at a discount.

Although the steam paddle steamers brought to Wuchang by Russell & Co. and Liming & Co. were not professional warships like the Lily of the Camp, they were still armed merchant ships armed to the teeth.

These armed merchant ships were originally intended to deal with pirates, and they were a devastating blow to the small sampans of the Qing Dynasty's inland waterways. Now they could roam freely on the navigable sections of the entire Changjiu River basin.

There was no reason not to take advantage of having control over the waters, especially since Peng Gang had offered the original crew members 1.5 times their usual wages in order to retain them.

Since Peng Gang offered these crew members high salaries, they should prove their worth; otherwise, the money would be wasted, no different from hiring a bunch of foreign lords.

"Your Highness intends to deal with the Hunanese water troops?" Hearing Peng Gang's words, Zhang Handai felt somewhat relieved.

On the day the steamship arrived, he personally witnessed the foreigners' steamships sailing upstream on the Yangtze River without human intervention, and at a very high speed.

Sending foreign ships deep into the heart of Hunan to nip the Hunanese water bandits in the bud is a worthwhile endeavor, even with a slight risk.

Peng Gang stood up and walked to the sand table in the center of Xihua Hall. He looked down at the sand table from a god's-eye view and said, "Before dealing with the Hunan Army in the heart of Hunan, we need to clear out the Qing army in Yuezhou camp first. Chief of Staff Huang, tell us about the situation of the Qing army in Yuezhou Prefecture."

The Qing army in Hunan consisted mainly of the Xiang Army under Zeng Guofan and Luo Zenan, who trained to suppress bandits in Hengzhou and Yongzhou prefectures.

The remaining Qing troops in Hunan were mostly stationed in the Qing-controlled area of ​​Yuezhou Prefecture and Changsha, the provincial capital.

In the six months since the land reform began, Peng Gang has newly organized and trained three regiments, totaling more than 9,000 people.

The large number of local militias under the jurisdiction of the Northern Palace in the four prefectures have been largely suppressed, and the situation in the rear is much better than at the beginning of the violent land reform in Hanyang.

The more than 1,900 rifles and muskets and twelve small Napoleon cannons purchased from Russell & Co. have been delivered.

At present, the Northern Palace is not troubled by a shortage of troops. A small part of the elite troops have been equipped with modern guns and cannons and are familiarizing themselves with the new weapons.

As for food, supplies, and military provisions, Peng Gang, who had just signed a major contract with Russell & Co., had no shortage of them.

Once the troops are familiar with their new weapons, they can launch an attack on the Qing army in Hunan and Hubei, annihilating at least a portion of the Qing army's fighting force, further expanding the buffer zone and compressing the Qing army's operational space in Hunan and Hubei.

"There were two main Qing troops within the territory of Yuezhou Prefecture. One was the Qing troops under Xiang Rong, He Chun, and Deng Shaoliang stationed at the Yuezhou camp, a dozen miles south of Baling City."

Xiang Rong, He Chun, Deng Shaoliang and others claimed to have an army of 100,000, but in reality, including the civilians, auxiliary soldiers and their families in Yuezhou camp, the number was at most 30,000 to 40,000.

The veteran soldiers of the Chu army that Xiang, He, and Deng relied on, along with the Zhengan soldiers recruited from western Hunan, amounted to at most 20,000 men.

Huang Bingxian took out his red leather notebook, flipped to the last page, glanced at the contents, and said.

"After Xiang Rong entered the Yuezhou camp, he used generous pay and rewards to train and support his troops, but he could not support many elite soldiers."

"What about the other Qing army in Yuezhou Prefecture? Is it still Jiang Zhongyuan's Chu troops?" Peng Gang asked about the situation of the other Qing army in Yuezhou Prefecture.

Since being appointed as the prefect of Yuezhou Prefecture by Emperor Xianfeng, Jiang Zhongyuan has been recruiting and training new soldiers, collecting grain and wages, and expanding the Chu army in Pingjiang County, a former territory of Yuezhou Prefecture.

Huang Bingxian answered without hesitation: "After Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army was sent to Hengzhou and Yongzhou, Zhang Liangji transferred Jiang Zhongyuan and the main force of the Chu Army back to Changsha, the provincial capital, to stay in Changsha with Wulantai's troops."

He left only his capable subordinates Liu Kunyi and Xi Baotian in Pingjiang County, south of Yuezhou Prefecture, to recruit and train new soldiers.

Most of the Chu soldiers were stationed in Changsha. The Chu soldiers in Pingjiang County numbered only one or two thousand, and most of them were newly recruited Chu soldiers brought from Baoqing Prefecture and recruited locally in Pingjiang County. There were relatively few veteran Chu soldiers from Xinning County.

Ulantai was the General of Jingzhou and should have been stationed there.

However, after Luo Dagang and Lin Fengxiang conquered Jingzhou, they not only razed the entire city to the ground, but also destroyed several sections of the city wall of Jiangling.

Seeing that Jiangling was difficult to defend, Wulantai led the soldiers he had brought from Guangdong to stay and garrison Changsha.

Emperor Xianfeng's original intention in transferring Wulantai to Hunan was to monitor the local militias in the region, and he also agreed to Wulantai being stationed directly in Changsha.

After listening to the staff officers' reports, Peng Gang had a clear understanding of the recent deployment of the Qing army battalion in Hunan.

The Qing army that the Hunan authorities could use in field battles mainly consisted of three forces: one of which was the Qing army under Xiang Rong and He Chun in Yuezhou.

One of them was the garrison of Wulantai, Jiang Zhongyuan, and others in Changsha, Hunan Province.

One force consisted of the Xiang Army led by Zeng Guofan and Luo Zenan in Hengzhou and Yongzhou prefectures. These three forces were stationed in relatively scattered locations and were quite numerous, especially the Qing army stationed in Changsha, the provincial capital.

It was unrealistic to wipe out all the Qing troops in Hunan in one fell swoop, but Peng Gang was confident that he could eliminate a portion of them.

Peng Gang stared at the sand table for a long time, his gaze finally settling on the Yuezhou camp marked on the sand table.

Although Xiang Rong, He Chun, and others' Yuezhou camp was fortified with rammed earth walls, fortified camps were still easier to attack than tall and sturdy large cities.

Furthermore, the Qing army at Yuezhou camp was located on the front line of the confrontation between the two sides, less than 20 miles from Baling City. It was also more convenient for the Qing army to attack Yuezhou camp, as they could obtain supplies in Baling City on the spot, which would put little pressure on their logistics.

Once the Qing army's Yuezhou camp is breached and the Qing troops are completely driven out of Yuezhou Prefecture, it will be much easier to seize the counties along Dongting Lake, completely control Dongting Lake, and cut off the Hunan authorities' land and water connections with Hubei and even Sichuan.

In this way, the Hunan authorities will only have two channels left to obtain war resources.

One option was to exhaust Hunan's own human and financial resources, while the other was to seek assistance from neighboring Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces.

As for Hunan's other two neighboring provinces, Guizhou and Guangxi, these two provinces are not even self-sufficient, and the war resources they can provide to the Hunan authorities are extremely limited.

Although Jiangxi and Guangdong had the capacity to provide grain and military supplies to Hunan, the grain and military supplies from Jiangxi and Guangdong had to be transported overland, which was very costly.

If this plan succeeds, it will greatly weaken the Hunan authorities' war potential.

"Gather supplies and formulate a detailed battle plan to break through the Yuezhou camp. This time, when we attack the Qing army's Yuezhou camp, I don't want to just raid the camp, but to annihilate the Qing army in the Yuezhou camp."

Having made up his mind, Peng Gang pointed to the Yuezhou camp on the sand table and said to his staff.

"Hunan and Hubei are one. When we deploy troops in Yuezhou Prefecture, the Qing army in Hubei will more or less take action. We should also take the situation in Hubei into account."

Not long after the nearly two thousand rifles and twelve small Napoleon cannons delivered by Russell & Co. entered the Wuchang Chu Wangtai Arsenal, Peng Gang distributed them.

Sixty Colt revolvers were distributed to staff officers and personal guards in the General Staff, and another sixty were distributed to senior officers as sidearms.

The entire training battalion was re-equipped with various Springfield M1842 rifles, becoming the first unit in the entire army to be fully equipped with standardized flintlock and breech-loading rifles.

The remaining Springfield rifles, along with the Brown Bess and Politoed guns that the training battalion had replaced, were distributed to the First Regiment.

The Chalville rifles purchased from Russell & Co. were uniformly distributed to the Second Regiment.

As for the twelve small Napoleon cannons, skilled personnel were drawn from the original heavy artillery battalion and mountain-splitting artillery battalion, with packhorses provided as a priority, to form two field artillery companies.

Peng Gang personally instructed the troops who had been assigned the new weapons to train diligently and quickly integrate with them.

On the compacted loess soil of the Wuchang City Horse Riding Ground, the sounds of running exercises mingled with a crisp, unprecedented crackling sound.

The thick, choking white smoke that used to permeate the air has thinned out, replaced by a sharper, denser barrage of gunfire, like a sudden storm.

Surrounded by his personal guards, Peng Gang, along with Zuo Zongtang, Liu Rong, Lu Qin, Li Qi, and others, ascended the rammed earth platform at the parade ground. He calmly watched the troops who were training in the field, the training battalion that he had poured his heart and soul into building.

The training battalion was the only unit under Peng Gang whose soldiers were all "old thieves" from Xunzhou, as the Qing government called them. They were all elite veterans from Guiping County and Guixian County in Xunzhou Prefecture, Guangxi, making them extremely pure.

Below the high platform, Battalion Commander Huang Dabiao was personally supervising his soldiers in practicing with their newly equipped firearms.

The soldiers of the First Company of the Training Battalion—bite open the fixed paper bullet casing, reverse the fuse, stuff in the bullet, compact it, and finally put on that precious "copper cap" (mercury fulminate cap).

"First rank! Raise your guns—aim—fire!" Huang Dabiao's voice was loud and clear, almost cracking.

boom! Bang bang bang bang!

The command and the explosion of the muskets were almost simultaneous, and a cloud of dust rose from the rammed earth target wall a hundred paces away.

The precision and speed of this volley were far superior to those of the volleys used when operating muskets in the past.

This is partly due to the continuous training of these veterans in the training camp, who, having been tempered by the flames of war, have become increasingly skilled in firing volleys.

Replacing weapons with standardized, uniform ones is also an important reason.

Previously, although Peng Gang had flintlock muskets, they were few in number. Even the seven hundred or so men in the training camp could not be equipped with flintlock muskets, so they had to use a mix of flintlock muskets and bird guns.

The training battalion was equipped with rifling Springfield rifles that fired Minié rounds.

The Minié bullet solved the problem of insufficient gas tightness in traditional muzzle-loading guns, with extremely long range and high accuracy. A well-trained shooter can reliably hit a human-shaped target at a distance of 200 meters.

At a distance of 500 meters, although the accuracy decreases, it still has lethal lethality and can effectively suppress enemy fire with salvos.

The only drawback is that muzzle-loading guns with rifling are slower to load than smoothbore guns.

Peng Gang picked up the binoculars donated by the British mission to check the target practice.

The telescope Peng Gang used previously was bought by Luo Dagang on the black market in Guangzhou in 1848, and its quality was rather average.

The telescope presented to him by the British mission was a high-end model manufactured by Ross & Dalmayer.

This company is known for producing high-quality telescopes and lenses. Last year, its products were exhibited at the first World Expo, the London World Expo, where they shone brightly and made a name for themselves.

It's definitely a high-end product; the image quality is much clearer.

Through the binoculars, Peng Gang could clearly see that the impact points on the target wall were almost in a straight line!

"Accurate! Absolutely accurate! Those pedantic scholars dismiss Western artifacts as mere tricks and gimmicks, but these are far from tricks and gimmicks; they are clearly deadly weapons." Zuo Zongtang, standing nearby, also raised the binoculars Peng Gang had given him. After seeing the results of the target practice, he couldn't help but gasp in amazement and exclaimed.

"With such a powerful weapon, the Qing army under Xiang Rong and He Chun is not far from being destroyed."

"Once we break through the Yuezhou camp, we'll march on Mr. Zuo's hometown, Xiangyin. Once we take Xiangyin, we won't leave," Peng Gang chuckled.

"At that time, I hope Mr. Zuo will step forward to recruit one or two regiments of new soldiers for me in Xiangyin."

"That's for sure." Zuo Zongtang looked somewhat saddened when Xiangyin was mentioned.

"Rest assured, sir. I will make Zeng Guofan and his Xiang Army pay tenfold or a hundredfold for the blood debt they committed in Xiangyin." Peng Gang knew why Zuo Zongtang was so saddened.

Because Zuo Zongtang defected to the Northern Court, some of his relatives in Xiangyin, as well as his former students at Yuelu Academy and Chengnan Academy, were persecuted by the Judicial Bureau.

Zeng Guofan originally wanted to kill even the family of Zuo Zongtang's father-in-law and son-in-law, namely Tao Shu's sons.

In the end, it was only because Luo Bingzhang and Zhang Liangji considered the Tao family's immense influence in Hunan and protected them that Zeng Guofan did not take any action against the Tao family, but instead placed them under house arrest.

As for Zuo Zongtang's other relatives and students, they were not so lucky.

"I just didn't expect Zeng Disheng to be so ruthless, not even sparing my distant relatives," Zuo Zongtang sighed.

The fire caps were precious. After a round of volley fire and they became proficient, Huang Dabiao stopped having the company conduct live-fire exercises and instead had the company commander lead the company to practice infantry and bayonet fighting.

During a break in the drills, Huang Dabiao caught sight of the Northern King on the watchtower. Excitedly, he rushed up, forgetting all about the proper etiquette, and knelt down on one knee with a thud, clasping his hands above his head. His tiger-like eyes, bloodshot from excitement and exhaustion, glared intently at Peng Gang: "Your Highness! Your Highness! This...this real foreign gun is really effective! It's even better than our old muskets!"

Peng Gang remained calm and nodded slightly: "Stand up and speak. The gun is a good gun. However, the training needs to be further improved."

Huang Dabiao stood up, not even bothering to brush the dust off his knees, and eagerly moved closer, spittle practically flying out as his words poured out like a flood: "Your Highness! It's more than just a good gun! It's... it's fucking amazing! Incredibly good!"

You have no idea! Back then, using those muskets was pure torture, utterly suffocating! In the rain, they were practically firewood! We had to pray the Dragon King wouldn't sneeze! The brothers would be soaked to the bone, but the matchlock would wilt first! At night, firing a gun, the sparks were practically guiding the enemy's arrows and cannonballs! If the wind was strong, the matchlock would sway wildly; whether it hit anything depended entirely on whether the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother were pleased.”

As he spoke, Huang Dabiao brought over a percussion cap pistol: "Take a look at this one. Put the brass cap on, and hey! It's damn nimble! It's not afraid of the wind! It doesn't go out in the rain! It hits wherever you point, and fires as soon as you say it, cleanly and decisively, without any hesitation! When the brothers feel at ease, their hands don't shake, their morale is high, and they fire volleys that are dense and fierce!"

(End of this chapter)