Chapter 277: Unexpected Path (Part 2)
One of the 14 garrison general positions established by the Qing Dynasty, stationed in Hangzhou and in charge of Zhejiang. The general was the highest officer of the bannermen. If they were stationed in the same province as the governor, the general would be in charge of the affairs. Although his actual power was not as high as that of the governor, his status was higher than that of the governor. For example, the Hangzhou general was a first-rank official.
The second-in-command in the city, Du Tong, reported: "General, the Green Camp has not obeyed orders and is here."
The current Hangzhou general did not curse the Green Camp for their betrayal, but just sighed, "Alas, I will lead the army to Jiangning."
The commander-in-chief was startled and hurried to stop him, "General, we cannot leave our post without permission. The court will blame us!"
The general sneered, "The court blames? Nian Gengyao did nothing, but he was also blamed, wasn't he?"
They were all speechless. The last general of Hangzhou was Nian Gengyao, but he was stripped of his post and imprisoned before he even took office. After that, the generals of Hangzhou changed back and forth like a revolving lantern. But I didn't expect that the general who impeached Nian Gengyao like others at that time would still be upset about this matter.
Before I could figure out what the general meant, I heard the general continue, "As for the court blaming me, which court is it? The court in Beijing or the court in Shengjing."
The commander was stunned. If Yongzheng had not died, the Manchu court would naturally be the court in Beijing. But Yongzheng was killed, and the Old Summer Palace was burned. No one in the garden was spared, from the emperor, the ministers of the Grand Council, to the guards, eunuchs and palace maids. The Manchu court then had two courts.
"General, shouldn't we follow the Beijing court?" the commander-in-chief asked in a low voice.
Haha! The general sneered again, "The rebels have reached Yangzhou. Aren't they afraid that the imperial court in Beijing will raid their lair?"
The commander-in-chief was just a little excited. He was an officer after all. While the enemy was on an expedition, he raided the enemy's lair and forced the enemy to report for help. He killed the enemy troops on the way. The so-called "Besiege Wei to Save Zhao" used this strategy.
"The traitor must be possessed by a ghost..."
The commander-in-chief was immediately interrupted. "I think you are the one who is possessed by evil spirits! A few days ago, news came that Huo Chong sent troops to kill all the officials in the prefectures and counties of Henan. At present, Ortai and his men in Henan have run out of food and have lost Jining. How can they pursue Huo Chong for a long distance? If Huo Chong is possessed by evil spirits, he should have died long ago. Huo Chong doesn't take the court in Beijing seriously at all. We are fighting to the death, but we have no reinforcements and no food. If we fight to the death with Huo Chong, and Hangzhou is lost, we will die and our families will be killed with us."
The general's words were like a bucket of ice water, chilling the governor's heart. The chill rushed from the base of his tail to the top of his head, and his body began to tremble.
However, the general did not stop there. He continued calmly, "If we die here, there will be no compensation. If the Shengjing court wins, we will not even have the title of loyal ministers. Do you want to die in vain like this?"
The governor was so frightened by the cruel future that he was speechless. He didn't care about anything else. He stepped forward and grabbed the general's hand, and asked anxiously: "Sir, what should we do?"
General Hangzhou felt relieved. He had already decided that he had to leave right now, but without the support of the generals and other officers, General Hangzhou would be like a phoenix without feathers, not even as good as a chicken.
Even though he felt bad about the governor holding his arm, the Hangzhou general still held the governor's shoulder in a friendly manner, "Brother, let's lead our troops westward to Jiangning and join forces with the Jiangning general. Staying in Hangzhou means death. Only by surviving first can we serve the court."
The efficiency of the Manchus was quite high. When the people of Hangzhou saw the Eight Banners marching in the city, they did not realize what was happening. They just felt that the Eight Banners were going to fight against the rebel Huo Chong who was heading south.
The news spread throughout the city immediately. In the wine shops, people who had just finished the autumn harvest were talking about the legend that the Eight Banners were invincible if they had less than 10,000 soldiers. Some people also used the battles of crossing the river in Yangzhou to judge the outcome of this battle. They didn't notice that the Eight Banners took advantage of the darkness to transport the old, young, women and children in the city out by boat.
When only the light and strong soldiers who could move quickly were left in the city, the Hangzhou general ordered this part of the Eight Banners Army to stay in the city, and he led tens of thousands of people in the city directly to Jiangning.
Hangzhou to Jiangning is only 500 to 600 miles away, and the several hundred miles from Hangzhou to Changzhou can be reached by boat. After getting off the boat, the road to Jiangning has been traveled by countless people for more than a thousand years. Manchu women did not bind their feet, and the Eight Banners provided horses and vehicles for women and children to ride. The whole journey took only six or seven days, and tens of thousands of people had arrived in Jiangning.
Jiangning is Nanjing. This Jiangning city is incredible. Not to mention the large population and abundant resources here. The city wall alone is enough to scare people to death.
The construction of Nanjing Ming City Wall changed the old square or rectangular system. On the basis of Jiankang City in the Six Dynasties and Jinling City in the Southern Tang Dynasty, the city was built along the direction of mountains and water systems. It takes advantage of mountains and rivers and the situation of empty rivers and lakes. The Qinhuai River in the south is a natural moat, Zhongshan Mountain in the east, Houhu Lake in the north, and Shicheng in the west, forming a three-dimensional military fortress with unique defensive characteristics. Among them, the Beijing city wall is 35.3 kilometers long, and 25.1 kilometers are still intact. It is the largest city wall in China and the largest city wall in the world. It has been selected as the world's largest city wall by the World Records Association. The outer city wall outside the Beijing city is more than 60 kilometers long, and the enclosed area is more than 230 square kilometers, which is the largest in world history.
The Nanjing Ming City Wall is the tallest and strongest in the country. As a culmination of ancient China's military defense facilities and city wall construction technology, its historical value, ornamental value, archaeological value, architectural design, scale, and function are unmatched by any city wall at home or abroad. It is another grand structure after the Great Wall of China.
Not only does it have such a strong city defense system, the city within the city is also very large and well built, and the city within the city can be said to be impregnable.
When General Jiangning heard that General Hangzhou had brought all the people out of Hangzhou, he was terrified. He did not open the city gates to General Hangzhou, so General Jiangning led his troops out of the city. When he saw General Hangzhou, he scolded him, "Are you going to rebel?"
General Hangzhou stepped forward with his hands empty. General Jiangning's guards were frightened by this frank action and quickly blocked General Jiangning's way. General Jiangning felt that this was a bit embarrassing, so he pushed aside his guards and signaled them to make way.
The two generals stood face to face, and the Hangzhou general asked in a low voice: "Who do you think will win between Beijing and Shengjing?"
When General Jiang Ning heard this question, his face turned green. After standing there awkwardly for a while, he simply grabbed General Hangzhou by the collar and dragged him in front of him. Seeing that General Hangzhou had no fear on his face and in his eyes, General Jiang Ning asked his attendants to walk away. He whispered, "Are you going to die? How dare you ask this!"
"I'm asking this because I want to die."
If he could become the General of Jiangning, he was definitely not a fool even if he was not good at fighting. General Jiangning let go of the collar of General Hangzhou and whispered, "The court will blame me!"
"No matter which dynasty is legitimate, as long as you and I are still alive and have soldiers, the Manchus will not be harmed. We will be the heroes of the Qing Dynasty, so how can the court blame us? If we die, it will only bury hundreds of thousands of our Eight Banners."
General Jiang Ning was almost convinced. He used up his last bit of reason to ask, "If Jiangnan is lost, the court will blame us!"
"Blame? Haha. If Beijing and Shengjing fight, which side ?"
"...Neither of us can help each other."
"You and I think the same thing. Which side do you think the elite troops from the northwest will help?" General Hangzhou asked the question.
When General Jiang Ning heard this, the last bit of his rationality collapsed. He replied angrily: "If the court blames me, I will hand you over first!"
General Hangzhou was not moved by such a threat and answered readily: "Okay. Let my people enter the city first!"
Hong Zhou in the capital did not know what the Hangzhou general had done. When he heard that Huo Chong had sent tens of thousands of troops to the Yangtze River, he immediately mobilized troops at the urging of Old Thirteen. Everyone thought that the court was going to attack Huo Chong, and although they were worried, they also thought this was a good opportunity.
Hong Zhou also thought this was a good opportunity, but looking at his uncle's appearance, he always felt something was wrong. The troops had already been assembled, and Hong Zhou went to see his uncle in the night. After briefly talking about the settlement of the troops, Hong Zhou immediately said that he might not be able to win this time. After that, Hong Zhou looked at his uncle with disappointment and uneasiness. Only when facing his uncle in private did Hong Zhou dare to quietly express his judgment. If it was in the court, he would definitely say something like this battle is sure to win.
The Thirteenth Elder nodded, "If we fight Huo Chong, it's only a fifty-fifty chance. But if we fight Shengjing, our army of more than 100,000 people has a 70 to 80 percent chance of winning. Even if we can't win, at least we can drive the Eighth Elder out of Shengjing!"
Hong Zhou stared at Uncle Thirteen in a daze for a while, then he suddenly woke up and praised loudly, "Uncle Thirteen, that's how it should be, that's how it should be!"
As the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, Lao Shisi no longer held military power. Just when he was having a headache about raising food and fodder for these hundreds of thousands of troops, someone suddenly ran in and reported, "Your Majesty, the court has ordered the troops to be dispatched!"
"Oh." Old Fourteen responded casually, without any enthusiasm. If this guy was going to come and talk about food and grass without knowing what was going on, Old Fourteen was ready to get him out immediately.
"Your Majesty! This time we are not sending troops south to Shandong, but to go out of the border! The emperor has mobilized so many troops to go out of the border to Shengjing!"
Hearing this, the Fourteenth Elder's hand trembled, and the pen fell to the table. After confirming that this person was not wrong, the Fourteenth Elder went directly to Hong Zhou. When he saw Hong Zhou, the Fourteenth Elder asked anxiously: "Your Majesty, do you think that I will leak the secret?"
Hong Zhou shook his head, "Fourteenth Uncle, of course you won't leak the secret. But there are so many people in the army, if I tell you in advance, someone will definitely leak the secret. Please don't blame me, Fourteenth Uncle."
Old Fourteen originally wanted to use this excuse to vent his dissatisfaction with Hong Zhou. As for how much of this dissatisfaction was directed at his brothers as a whole, Old Fourteen knew in his heart that the proportion was definitely more than half, perhaps as high as 80%.
However, Hong Zhou did not wait for the Fourteenth Old Man to come up with a reason, and continued, "Fourteenth Uncle, Eighth Uncle colluded with Huo Chong, and everyone knows this. The most important thing at the moment is Huo Chong's disaster. But the Eight Banners are not thinking about Huo Chong! The Green Camp is the one that has been fighting Huo Chong recently, and the Eight Banners are waiting and waiting for the court to come up with a result. They want to see the result, and I will give them the result! Fourteenth Uncle, do you just want to watch us Bannermen being overthrown by the Han people?"
The Fourteenth Elder was speechless. After a moment of silence, he reluctantly spoke, "I obey your order."
In early October of the lunar calendar, snow had already begun to fall outside the Shanhaiguan Pass. The Qing troops guarding Shanhaiguan Pass were watching from the top of the city walls with their hands folded , when they saw something moving in the snow. They were just leaning out to get a closer look when suddenly the snow began to surge, and a man suddenly stood up in the snow below the city walls, drawing his bow and shooting arrows at the top of the city walls.
The Qing army in Beijing who leaned out to watch were caught off guard, and felt a pain in their left eye, screaming as if their brains had exploded. They fell headfirst into the city.
It turned out that the arrow had entered his left eye socket and the arrowhead had pierced his brain directly, killing him instantly.
It wasn't just one person who was lying in ambush in the snow. The Qing army in Shengjing, accustomed to the bitter cold, had already taken advantage of the heavy snow to lurk under the city. Someone took the lead in launching the attack, and the other Qing soldiers hiding under the snow stood up, threw away their thick fur coats, set up ladders and began to attack the city.
The deputy general of the Shanhaiguan garrison rushed to the main general's place and saw that the other garrison commanders were already there. The deputy general quickly reported, "General, the Eighth Master has sent troops to attack the city. Please quickly mobilize the troops to repel them."
"Fight back? Why fight back?" the commander asked coldly.
The deputy general was confused. Why fight back? If he didn't fight back the Eighth Master, he would occupy Shanhaiguan. If Shanhaiguan was lost, the road to Beijing would be open. If he didn't fight back, the Qianlong Dynasty would face huge risks!
"Capture him and send him to Master Eight!" the commander of Shanhaiguan ordered calmly.
Several personal soldiers rushed over and pinned the deputy general to the ground in a blink of an eye. The deputy general was not willing to surrender easily, and he struggled and shouted: "Brothers, rebellion... rebellion will kill all nine generations of your clan! You can't be confused!"
There were a few people who looked hesitant, and when they heard this, they suddenly drew their swords and prepared to fight back against the commander. But they didn't expect that a dozen personal soldiers suddenly jumped out from behind them, and in a blink of an eye, they pinned down and tied up these people.
The commander ignored the men's cursing and struggling, and shouted, "If you rebel, I will kill all nine clans. Although the Eighth Master is kind, I will not tolerate any injustice. If you rebel against the Eighth Master again, I will not let you off the hook. When the Eighth Master takes power, I will kill all nine clans, or at least the whole family!"
Seeing that no one among his subordinates jumped out to object, the Shanhaiguan garrison commander ordered: "Go, open the gate. Welcome the Eighth Master into the city!"
Shanhaiguan, once opened by the great traitor Wu Sangui in surrender, once again opened its gates to attackers from the north.
Almost at the same time, Huo Chong finally began to try to cross the Yangtze River. Standing on the boat, Huo Chong held the handle tightly, but still swayed from side to side. Huo Chong had to admit that this was his first time to cross the Yangtze River by boat.
The last time he took a boat was not to cross the river, but to travel along the river on a luxury cruise ship. The cruise ship was quite large, tens of thousands of tons. Huo Chong completely forgot whether it was bumpy. Or maybe it was because Huo Chong could only remember the bumpy ride in the cabin with the girl he was traveling with.
It was autumn flood season again, and Huo Chong had a deeper understanding of the natural dangers of the Yangtze River. After finally crossing the river, Huo Chong sat on the shore with other Shandong brothers. At least Huo Chong swam quite well in the pool, and only retched. The other Shandong brothers had never experienced this before, and vomited a lot, and some even vomited bile.
While Huo Chong's troops were struggling to cross the river, the general of Hangzhou had already rushed back to Hangzhou from Jiangning. The elderly, children, women and valuables had been sent to Jiangning, and the people left in Hangzhou were all young bannermen with nothing to worry about. When they heard that they were going to Jiangning to reunite with their relatives, the bannermen had no objection and were even very excited.
When the general of Hangzhou led his army to leave, he could not help but climb up the city wall again. He saw that the city had grown to a considerable size, and he was reluctant to leave at this time.
There were more than 20,000 government offices in the Manchu city, including the public office, the general office, the left wing general office, the Manchu eight banners assistant office, the Mongolian eight banners assistant office, the scribe office, and the council office. The military facilities in the city were relatively complete: there was a large parade ground located in the north of the city (now the Lakeside Park area); there were also artillery drills and two inspection stations built to suppress soldiers and civilians; there were eight arrow halls, one for each banner; and at the same time as the arrow halls, there was also an official school set up specifically for learning Manchu. In addition, the Zhejiang Governor's Office, Zhejiang Provincial Administration Commission, South Granary, Meiqing Academy, Eight Banners Guild Hall, etc. were also located in the Manchu city.
However, this feeling did not change the Hangzhou general's decision. He came down from the city wall after a short while and shouted to the troops waiting under the city: "Let's go! To Jiangning!"
Huo Chong did not immediately send troops to Hangzhou, but first captured Zhenjiang. The resistance in Zhenjiang was minimal, and although the local people in Zhenjiang knew that Huo Chong was a "traitor", they also knew that Huo Chong and the Han army that rebelled were Han people, not foreigners.
As for the purpose of the uprising, the people of Zhenjiang certainly knew that if Huo Chong did not become emperor, he would be killed as a traitor.
In addition to this thing that even a fool could understand, Huo Chong put forward the slogan of expelling the Tartars and restoring China. In this era, no one would misunderstand. Everyone knew that Huo Chong's enemies were the Qing court, Qing officials, and the Qing army.
So although they were afraid, there was no large-scale resistance from the people, and no civilians came forward to pledge allegiance to the Qing Dynasty.
Huo Chong certainly didn't want things to continue like this. He even ordered the army not to tell people in Jiangnan about the Shandong land reform. Huo Chong even ordered that the officials who were caught should be locked up first, and not immediately taken to the city and shot.
As a local, Gao Pang was very important to Huo Chong. Gao Pang immediately suggested that they go to visit his teacher first. As a famous scholar in Jiangnan, Chen Mingtai was already famous. Now that he was the teacher of the top scholar, he had even greater influence.
However, Gao Pang did not expect that as soon as he saw the people from Chen Mingtai's family, he heard a scream. It turned out that the people thought Gao Pang was dead, and they were so scared that they shouted: "Ghost! Ghost! Master! Ghost!"
