Chapter 216: It Is Difficult to Defeat the Bandits [Please Subscribe]

The night was quiet and people were asleep. In the silence and peace, the large crowd gathered at the Ma'an River had boarded a boat and slowly sailed away from the dock. The river washed the embankment, and the sound of the waves was so clear. The riverside was silent, as if the long dragon of people just now was illusory.

The silvery moonlight sprinkled on the ground, and there were low hums of insects everywhere.

The army had already set out. Chen Ming on the shore looked at the long dragon formed by the bright lights in the heart of the river and clenched his fists tightly. The rapid attack on Anqing City was much more dangerous than the team's sneak attack on Jiujiang Prefecture City. He was less than 50% sure that the troops would take Anqing.

The Anqing defenders were not very good. Feng Qian's troops were weak, but there were as many as 16 artillery batteries above and below the city of Anqing. Even if some cannons were dragged to Henan by Chen Huizu early, the remaining firepower was much stronger than Jiujiang. In addition, Anqing City is equipped with six gunpowder houses and sixteen bunks, as well as more than 200 barracks in the city wall. Feng Qian has recently added many gun ports around the battlements on the city wall. The defense of Anqing City is very high.

Chen Ming appointed Gao Pingshan as the commander-in-chief of the eastward troops. Huang Jie did not perform well in Poyang Lake before, and Chen Yongsheng was dragged in Wuhan. Among the battalion officers at hand, Gao Pingshan has the highest trust and training value. Although this guy made a mistake in the tail end of the Jingzhou battle-when the Fu Han army attacked Alyajiang's troops, he was a little shrinking during the pursuit, allowing Alyajiang himself to escape, and was given a bad review in Chen Ming's small notebook. But now that Chen Yongsheng is not here, Huang Jie has to be left alone again, and Gao Pingshan is Liao Hua as the vanguard. This time, Chen Ming mobilized five armored battalions and one musket battalion for the rush to attack Anqing City, with artillery and transport troops, with a total force of nearly 4,000. After deducting the team under Chen Yongsheng, these six battalions and artillery teams have accounted for one-third of Chen Ming's strength.

The withdrawal of these troops will definitely have an impact on the battle situation in Jiujiang. With this team, Chen Ming dared to declare that he would completely wipe out the Qing soldiers and militia in Jiujiang. But now, he can only defeat the Qing soldiers like Hukou Pengze.

Returning to his residence, Chen Ming was not sleepy at all. He got up and walked to the "Qing Dynasty Geographical Map" hanging on the wall. This thing was seized by him in Wuchang. The red arrows represent the Fu Han Army, and the black arrows represent the Qing Army. The black arrows represent the Qing soldiers, from the three northeastern provinces, Mongolia, Northwest, Zhili, Shandong and other provinces, like sharp arrows, piercing the Fu Han General's Mansion located in the Central Plains relying on the Dabie Mountains.

At the same time in the south, Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian and Zhejiang had troops heading north, and Sichuan also sent part of its troops to chase into Hubei.

In the paradise of Jiangnan, the news from the secret camps showed that the number of young and strong civilians summoned by the local government has been soaring. In addition to the offshore navy camps in Fujian and Zhejiang, they are also gathering towards Songhu.

Although Chen Ming first broke through Jingzhou and then captured Wuchang, and now he has seized Hukou and attacked Jiujiang, he is arrogant and arrogant. Judging from the national situation, the situation of the Fu Han Army is still very bad.

Chen Ming remembered that the second Jinchuan Rebellion had to wait until the 36th year of Qianlong. He never sent anyone to contact Jinchuan. He didn't know if his appearance would cause Jinchuan to break out earlier. The pressure facing the General's Mansion is really heavy.

The Green Camp in Gansu will reach Henan in March at the latest. The cavalry from Mongolia and the Northeast will enter Zhangjiakou and Cangzhou as soon as they enter.

Looking at the Qing soldiers shooting like arrows, Chen Ming was really worried that Chen Hui would mess up Ruzhou and Nanyang. Fortunately, Hubei has been disturbed by him, and the Green Camp in Hunan has been seriously injured. The Green Camp in Sichuan has also chased all the way to Wuchang, and they don't care about Nanyang.

Chen Yongsheng can't stay in Wuchang for a few days. When Chen Ming completely takes Jiujiang Prefecture, the upstream team should also go down the river. At that time, whether Anqing City can be taken has been settled.

Chen Ming certainly hopes that Gaopingshan can take Anqing City, so that he can attack Jiangnan. But if Gaopingshan fails to attack Anqing City, Chen Ming will have to stay at the mouth of Jiujiang Lake and fight with the Qing soldiers for a while.

The whole country is a big chess game, and the fog of war is shrouded. The real master may be able to be confident in danger, point out the country, and command the country. But Chen Ming's chess skills are very poor. Not to mention taking one step to count ten steps, he can't even take one step to look at three steps. At most, he can take one step and look at one step.

He attacked Huguang and Jiangnan not because of his brilliant strategic vision, but because of his experience as a time traveler - Jiangnan was the money bag of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty's grain transport. Conquering Jiangnan and disrupting Jiangnan would be the heaviest blow to the Qing government.

Judging from the current situation, the future of the Fu Han Army's advance into Jiangnan is uncertain, but it is definitely capable of fighting.

…

Just as Chen Ming was sitting in front of the map in the middle of the night, thinking carefully, in the distant battlefield of Henan, Tiehulu Hutong in the east of Chenzhou Prefecture.

Chen Youhe smoked a long pipe with a silver jade mouth, and a silk bag was attached under the pipe. Chen Youhe took a deep breath, and the smoke from his mouth enveloped his entire face. Just as the impact of the war had enveloped the entire Chenzhou Prefecture, this originally rich place became a base for the Qing army to attack the general's mansion from the east because it was close to Yancheng and Xuzhou. Therefore, money and grain, people and goods were collected, and the people's livelihood in the entire Chenzhou Prefecture was uneasy.

Chen Youhe's family was the big boss of Chen Yihe's business. When the Fu Han army captured Zhoujiakou, Chen Yihe was able to survive the disaster safely because of his relationship with Lu, the shopkeeper of Shunfeng Business. In the following transactions, Chen Yihe made a lot of profit.

But as the environment became worse and more and more donations were collected, Chen Youhe was considering whether to close the business. As a time-honored merchant in Chenzhou Prefecture, Chen Yihe would not close down for a day, and the government would not forget his Chen family if he did not raise funds.

Chen Yihe is a century-old brand, and Chen Youhe was reluctant to give up this brand. But compared with the gains and losses of the entire Chen family, the business, which now has little profit, is not so important. At most, he will set up the business after the war.

Although at that time, the shopkeepers and clerks of Chen Yihe's branches may not come back. After all, the shopkeepers and clerks of the branches are not the rich Chen family. The more chaotic the war is, the more grain prices soar, and the less likely they are to be idle. Besides, who dares to say how long it will take for this commotion to be settled? By then, Chen Yihe will not be the current Chen Yihe.

Everyone said that they were "loyal" to the court, but when they really spoke from the heart, they all felt that the Qing Dynasty would not fall.

But the people of Lushan were making too much noise, and Chen Ming had already entered Jiangnan. When Jingzhou was broken, tens of thousands of Eight Banners were wantonly ravaged. Those were the Eight Banners. The nation, people are born with iron-clad crops.

Then he broke Wuchang again, and the Governor of Huguang was forced to death by him. Dingchang's death was too unfortunate. No matter how you look at it, his death makes people feel that it is inseparable from the approaching Fu Han Army. And the governor of Huguang, such a frontier official, is too far away and too unattainable for ordinary merchants and landlords. This also makes them more awed by the general's mansion in their hearts.

If the Fu Han General's Mansion last year was just a rootless duckweed in the hearts of the general public and gentry merchants, it would not represent anything even if they took over Nanyang Prefecture. Then the current Fu Han General's Mansion is a monument in the hearts of the general public and gentry merchants. Facing the towering and majestic mountain-like body of the Qing Dynasty, a monument seems very small, but for the common people and gentry merchants, a monument-like general's mansion has made them awed.

Chen Youhe has a good relationship with Shunfeng Company. He wants to close Chen Yihe's company, not only considering the government - he can cry poor in front of the prefect in the future, but also considering the feelings of Shunfeng Company.

The methods of dealing with the two sides are different, but Chen Youhe's "heart" is the same, both sides must be served well and not offended.

Just like Fang Tinglan and other medicinal material merchants in Yuzhou, they dare not openly violate He Yan's order, but they can contact the local tiger Shouyuan Sect in Yuzhou and let Shouyuan Sect take the blame.

Chen Youhe's current "heart" is similar to Fang Tinglan and others.

Chen Youhe did not sleep all night, and the thought that lingered in his heart determined the fate of the Chen family and the future...

Aligun also had difficulty falling asleep that night. As the military minister who came to Henan to supervise the war and the representative of Emperor Qianlong, Aligun had a mission and power far greater than He Yan, Wu Dashan and others.

He could kill any third-rank lieutenant general, second-rank deputy general, fourth-rank prefect, and third-rank governor. This power was simply amazing.

And with great power came great responsibility. The power in Aligun's hands allowed him to directly enter the peak of his life, but the responsibility he shouldered made it possible for him to be ruined and die without a complete corpse.

——He wanted to suppress the General's Mansion and pacify Henan as quickly as possible. But how easy is this?

The current Aligun is not the Aligun who came from Beijing. During his time in Zhengzhou, Aligun has clearly realized how difficult the Fu Han Army and the General's Mansion are.

They built strong camps on the edge of their own territory, guarding key transportation points or key terrain.

It was impossible for the Qing army to march straight into the heart of the enemy. The Qing army could only attack one fortress after another. Look at the various troops on the battlefield in Henan now. Which one has not been knocked out by the strong defense of the rebels?

What kept Aligun awake tonight was Wu Dashan's military report. The Shaanxi Green Camp finally took over Pengpo Town, but repeated the same mistakes in the process of attacking Linru. Attack after attack, failure after failure, the morale of the soldiers was low, and the military discipline was even worse.

Today's military report is not the first failure of the Shaanxi Green Camp's attack on Linru, this is the third battle.

The reputation of the Shaanxi Green Camp is going to be lost in Henan.

As far as Aligun knows, the two bandit leaders who defeated the Shaanxi Green Camp again and again in Pengpo Town: Yang Ping and Feng Shaohua, were just two early mountain bandit leaders in Ruzhou. This is really laughable. The two mountain bandit leaders made the elite officers and soldiers of Shaanxi helpless. It's ridiculous, ridiculous!

Now the Pengpo garrison has retreated to Linru, which has more troops and stronger defenses. With news of Wu Dashan's defeats coming one after another, Aligun is about to despair of the Shaanxi troops.

"It is difficult to suppress the bandits, and it is so hard to be loyal to the country..."