Dominate the Country

[Thanks to ‘kuaifengxing’ for giving 588 as a reward]

When the spring breeze in February greened the earth, the news that the Fu Han Army was going to march north had spread from Jiangnan to the whole of China.

Armies retreated from Jiangnan to the Nanjing-Zhenjiang-Jiangyin line. The territory that the Fu Han Army wanted to occupy for a long time seemed to be only the northwest of Taihu Lake, the three prefectures of Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and Jiangning, plus Yangzhou in Jiangbei.

Armies marched towards Nanjing in high spirits. Even many middle-level officers did not know Chen Ming’s true intentions. They really thought that the Fu Han Army was going to march north. For a time, many soldiers kept saying, “Rush into Beijing and attack the Golden Palace.”

"Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger, fame, wealth and honor are dust and dirt."

"Looking at China, the people are suffering, and thousands of miles of fertile land are all barren."

"Look at the world, it's full of barbarians, and the imperfections of heaven can only be made up by ordinary people."

"A good man, leave his parents, only for the people, not for the master."

"Holding a steel knife ninety-nine, he will not stop until all the barbarians are killed."

"I am a man, why should I be a horse and cattle for the Tartars."

"The warrior drinks up the wine in the bowl, and never looks back on the journey of thousands of miles."

"The golden drums sounded together, and the people roared, and they swore not to stop until the Yellow Dragon was broken..."

The loud military songs resounded from Hangzhou to Suzhou, from Taihu Lake to the Yangtze River. The murderous fighting spirit and the strong and heroic military style have stained the weak Jiangnan with a layer of bloody and brave color. This power bursting out from the depths of the hearts of thousands of soldiers, together with the Fu Han Army, an army that galloped across the Jiangnan, was deeply imprinted in the hearts of the people in the Jiangnan.

This is the power of bravery, which is another kind of charm different from writing and ink. Unfortunately, the scholars of this era are completely different from their predecessors in the Han and Tang dynasties. The legacy of the Han and Tang dynasties has long been lost in the long river of time. "On horseback, you can govern the army, and on horseback, you can comfort the people" has long become a "dream" that exists only in the minds of countless scholars. They can't even ride a "donkey"!

When the armies gathered in the small area from Nanjing to Jiangyin in the east and west, and from Nanjing to Taihu in the north and south, countless eyes staring at Jiangnan seemed to discover for the first time that there were so many people in the Fu Han Army. Although many of these soldiers only had swords and guns, not to mention armor, they only had two grenades, but these people were full of morale and high spirits. Even if they were far from being comparable to the elite troops of the Fu Han Army, they were better than the training troops organized by the Qing Dynasty, right?

Shandong's new Minister of Tuanlian, Wang Qixu, has now become a joke. Except for the militia in his hometown of Dengzhou Prefecture, Wang Qixu could not mobilize troops from other prefectures and counties. The unfair treatment that Shandong militia received in the army heading south had already spread throughout Shandong. Whether it was the common people or the gentry and landlords, they had a purpose in contributing money and manpower to organize militia, not to be scapegoats for nothing.

If you can't do anything about the overall situation, it's also good to be able to guard your home and hometown.

A decent militia must have at least hundreds or thousands of people. The monthly food and salary consumption is a huge expense. If hundreds of people die, the pension can squeeze people dry. What's more, too many people died, and the bad influence it produced was also a great negative impact on the organizers behind them. Because many of these people were their relatives, clansmen, and tenants. Could it be that the swords, guns, and bullets on the battlefield had eyes and only went to the tenants, instead of hurting the relatives and clansmen of the rich?

Apart from other things, Li Mingxing, who is now doing his best to supervise the Qing soldiers in the prisoner-of-war camp, has become a middle-level cadre in the prisoner-of-war camp. His brothers are all dead. But he doesn't hate the Fu Han Army at all, he only hates the Qing Dynasty, Feng Sheng'e and Hailancha who drove them to the battlefield. Now Li Mingxing talks about the Qing Dynasty court as a dog Tartar.

The large-scale mobilization of the Fu Han Army, the full turnover of troops, food and supplies, Shandong as the head of Chen Ming's army's northern expedition, I don't know how many officials' nervous nerves have collapsed. Land prices continue to depreciate, and grain prices soar. A large number of wealthy gentry fled to Dengzhou Prefecture, or fled directly to Hebei.

Qianlong transferred tens of thousands of cavalry from the Northeast and Mongolia just after the first month of the year. Together with the Beijing Banner in Beijing, the number of cavalry made Chen Ming salivate. It also made Chen Ming more deeply aware of the lack of his own strength. The Fu Han army is currently short of flintlock rifles. The spoils of the battle in northern Jiangsu have allowed Chen Ming's musket battalion to expand by four, but compared with the total strength of the entire army, that number of people is still too few. If the Fu Han army wants to fight against the large group of Qing army cavalry on the flat North China Plain, the proportion of muskets in the army cannot be less than 50%, right?

Chen Ming plans to return to Huguang with a large force to communicate with the base. In addition to the strategic layout, another reason is that he wants to return to the old nest to replace weapons and equipment. Even if the number of muskets in the general's mansion will not be too many, at least there will be enough iron armor. As long as everyone can wear armor, the combat effectiveness of his team will be greatly increased. By then, Chen Ming's non-main force, especially those new recruits, will not only be regarded as a team at the same level as the Qing army's training braves, but their combat effectiveness will surpass the Green Camp soldiers in all aspects.

Guangdong, the southernmost part of China, is also greatly affected by this news because they are next to Fujian. If the Fu Han Army does not march north, and if the Fu Han Army stays in Jiangnan for a long time, then Chen Ming's army will have a great impact on the situation in Zhejiang. At that time, Guangdong will not only fail to get the Zhejiang Qing Army to contain the Fujian Tiandihui rebels, but the Fujian Tiandihui rebels will also get reinforcements from the Fu Han Army.

In the New Year of the 34th year of Qianlong's reign, many cannons appeared in the hands of the rebels on both sides of the Taiwan Strait in Fujian. The firepower of the two foreign bandits Zhang and Zheng on the sea increased sharply, and the Tiandihui rebels on land dragged cannons outside the city of Fuzhou. The anxious Guangdong government of the Qing Dynasty was busy looking for the British to talk, that is, to buy cannons, and then transport them to Fuzhou urgently.

In just one year before and after the New Year, in a month or two, the Fu Han Army helped the Fujian Taiwan Strait rebels so much. If the main force of the Fu Han Army had occupied Jiangnan, how bad would the situation be? Just thinking about the cannons being transported to the Fujian Taiwan Strait by sea, it would make Guangdong people headache.

Fortunately, the Fu Han Army is about to march north. When its army goes north, the pressure on the Qing army in Zhejiang will inevitably be greatly reduced, and the rebels in Fujian will no longer have a source of cannons. It seems that a mountain has suddenly disappeared in the hearts of the military and political officials of Guangdong.

What? You said Shandong is going to suffer? Then..., then we are Guangdong here. Whether Shandong is in trouble or not, what does it have to do with us in Guangdong?

It's not that we in Guangdong are thick-skinned, but that you have too little experience. Haven't you heard of a saying? It's better to die than to die a fellow Taoist. When there is always a time when someone is going to suffer, then try to let others suffer, and save your own life is the most important thing.

But Guangdong is thousands of miles away from Jiangnan after all, and some news from Jiangnan to Guangdong has long lost its timeliness. But the officials and people of Guangdong are still eager for any information about the Northern Expedition of the Fu Han Army.

"I really didn't expect that those big-nosed people from England were so bold that they dared to sell cannons to the court at this time."

"They are ignorant and fearless. I think these English people will be cleaned up by the Fu Han Army soon..."

A teahouse by the Pearl River, He Huazhang, who escaped from Suzhou, is the owner of this teahouse. He Huazhang, who came to Guangzhou, followed Chen Ming's instructions, kept a low profile, and just stayed in the teahouse to collect information. When Chen Ming wanted him to get excited again, he would send instructions. He Huazhang is still the highest-level spy in the secret camp, and Chen Liang is not qualified to command directly. Such treasures need Chen Ming to issue every order personally.

In recent days, there was a sudden news in Guangzhou that the British reached an arms agreement with the Qing government and sold 20 cannons and corresponding cannonballs and gunpowder to the government. Then the government sent these cannons and ammunition to Fuzhou. The Fuzhou defenders relied on these cannons to barely survive the last wave of attacks by the Tiandihui.

As soon as this news was exposed, it immediately caused a sensation in Guangzhou. You know, there is also the Tiandihui in Guangzhou. Moreover, the Tiandihui righteous army in Fujian is obviously backed by the Fu Han army. Even the Hunyuan Sect’s disgraced team, Chen Ming also threw out a Shandong general, and Zhang Qiu’s foreign bandits also gave a Southeast Navy Admiral. It is said that the Fujian Taiwan Strait righteous army has given women to Chen Ming, and the relationship is close.

If the Fujian righteous army breaks through Fuzhou City, it will be of great significance, and it must be something that the Fu Han army will be happy to see. As a result, the British intervened and disrupted the good situation. Could the Fu Han Army tolerate this? Absolutely not. The entire Guangzhou street streets all had the same view.

In the teahouses and restaurants in Guangzhou, people would lower their voices and be a little cautious when discussing this matter; but outside Guangzhou, in the Thirteen Hongs, few people would be cautious.

In winter, the foreigners' sailboats generally returned home. Taking advantage of the monsoon, the ships with full sails could quickly reach India. The European sailboats were only inferior to the hard sailboats in the East, which could use the wind from all directions. The European sailboats had to sail with the wind, so they had to take advantage of the monsoon when traveling to the East.

In spring and summer every year, merchant ships from various countries came to Guangzhou along the southwest monsoon. Every winter, the northeast trade winds continued to blow from the mouth of the Pearl River to the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. Summer monsoon, winter monsoon, back and forth.

There were European merchant ships that stayed in Guangzhou during the winter, and sometimes there were many of them. Because of the cargo and money issues, they stayed in Guangzhou anyway, so they would stay until the next winter.

Those foreigners could not enter Guangzhou City and were kept in captivity, and the big foreign horses could not live in the trading house. On the river about 200 yards away from the southwest corner of Guangzhou City, Europeans could only move around in that area or go to Macau. European merchants and sailors of this era often climbed onto the roofs of their rented apartments and gazed at Guangzhou across the city walls, looking at the bustling streets and spacious houses with gardens. They could only walk along the outer wall of the West City and look into the city through the long black city gate corridor.

But this year, some rules have changed. More than once, people saw big-nosed foreigners riding in carriages into the governor's office, and some big foreign horses also lived in the trading house openly; and at a certain time, Pan Zhencheng frequently went in and out of the foreign trade house. People in Guangdong said that the court was showing favor to the foreigners. If the court wanted to buy cannons from foreigners, shouldn't it give them some benefits...

"Boss, Mr. Fang is here to see you." He Huazhang was lost in thought when he felt his arm touched. He turned around and saw a subordinate whispering.

"Mr. Fang? This is Xiao Jian..." He Huazhang thought to himself, it seems that the two people really got it right, Mr. Chen Ba is not going to swallow this breath..."

Now the entire eastern coastal area is in a situation where one hair can move the whole body. The actions of the Fu Han Army in Jiangnan can closely affect the Tiandihui Yijun and the two foreign bandits Zhang Zheng in the Taiwan Strait in Fujian, and can affect Shandong and Guangdong...