Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 481: A New Interpretation of Blood Tax and the Return of the Flowing People to the Land

Liuyang Gate is a city gate in the southeast of Changsha Prefecture.

Under the command of a mature officer,
The new recruits of the guest regiment, who had not been training for long, carried their flintlock rifles and strode forward.

The drums are beating hard and the flags are flying.
This battle was the first actual combat of the visiting group.

Very important!
last night,

Internal mobilization of fighting spirit was carried out.

Around a theme:
Whether the guest group can join the ranks of the main field army depends on its performance on the battlefield.

……

Lin Chuan, a lieutenant in the infantry battalion who was born in Yingde Hakka, had a hoarse voice and red eyes at the moment.

because,

He was particularly excited last night and walked around the camp, calling on everyone to fight to the death.

The effect is good,

This can be seen from the fanaticism of the phalanx soldiers at this moment.

Blood tax theory - any group that wants to obtain relatively favorable treatment within the empire must pay a "blood tax".

Because resources are limited, it is impossible to treat all groups equally.

She shed blood for the empire and made great contributions to the empire~
Only then can you sit in the front row, eat meat and drink wine with big mouthfuls, and receive preferential treatment.

Ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign,

There are many similar examples, so there is no need to elaborate.

……

Those who have a record of paying blood tax and have the ability to overturn the table are called the backbone group.

Those who have no blood tax record but have the power to overturn the table are called the negative backbone group.

the latter,
It will surely be met with continuous blows from the empire.

If there is any disobedience, armed encirclement and suppression will follow.

The calculating Shaoxing military judges only instilled the first half of the blood tax thinking into the Hakka officers.

The officers then taught it to the soldiers after returning to the camp.

This completed the deep pre-war mobilization of two infantry regiments.

All the soldiers accepted it silently.

because,

People who come from the bottom of society understand that survival resources are limited!

……

“Hakka brothers, move forward.”

"Kill, kill, kill."

The fanatical shouts of the phalanx prompted the artillery fire on the top of Changsha city to sound ahead of time.

Various artillery pieces spewed out flames,

The solid bullet whizzed out, hit the ground and bounced to kill the enemy.

Most of the shells missed.
Occasionally, one or two shells ricocheted into the enemy group's formation, and broken limbs and arms mixed with mud were thrown high into the air and then fell down.

Lin Chuan wiped his face, his palms were warm.

I don't know whose blood plasma sprayed on my face.

He looked up.
He saw a piece of unknown biological tissue with blood on the cap of the flag bearer walking in front of him.
My throat tightened instantly.
A strong feeling of vomiting rushed straight to my head.

He gritted his teeth and suppressed the urge to run away from the formation.

Enduring the discomfort of a tachycardia, weak legs, and a cold head, I straightened my head and raised my sword.

He shouted loudly:

"Kill, kill your way into Changsha City."

The soldiers of the infantry battalion followed suit and shouted.

Being in a group, courage can be shared.

……

Changsha City,
The city wall was covered with white smoke from the firing of various firearms.
The popularity of firearms among the Qing army was astonishing.

In fact, the rate of firearms equipment had been gradually increasing since the Tiancong period. By the Yongzheng period, the Eight Banners soldiers relied almost entirely on firearms in battle.

The so-called emphasis on horseback archery,

It's not entirely a propaganda trick.

The emphasis on archery training within the Eight Banners is just like the emphasis on bayonet stabbing in modern armies. It is essentially to cultivate the bravery of soldiers rather than having much real battlefield effect.

Archery is expensive, tiring, and ridiculously costly.

Firearms are cheap and save effort.

All the archers have deformed spines and there is no relief for the pain.

After the battle, the musketeer grinned, revealing his big white teeth, which formed a sharp contrast with his pitch-black face.

Anyone who has fought a little bit knows which one to choose.
only,
Since Daoguang,
The emperors were fooled by the lies carefully woven by their ancestors and started a weapons Renaissance, becoming fond of swords and spears.

Black humor!

……

The 3500-man Light Cavalry Corps remained in place.

Occasionally, a war horse's hooves would dig into the soil and snort.

The evaluation of “well-trained” is appropriate.

but,

The credit does not belong to the Wu army knights, but to the Torghut captives.

They have great experience in training and raising horses.

but,

His Majesty still refused to give in and refused to allow the Torghut people to be incorporated into the combat ranks.

the reason is simple:
worried.

If a knight with a warhorse defected, his chances of success were very high.

When His Majesty wandered around Suzhou barefoot, he loved adventure.
Now wearing golden boots, he is naturally risk-averse.

As mentioned before,

The background color cannot be changed.

Your Majesty is a Jiangsu person who is risk-averse, likes to make money and values ​​rules.

……

On horseback, Wu Simai stood still.

In the telescope,

The battle is in full swing.

The new recruits of the guest regiment pushed the trench cart at full speed.

On the top of Changsha city, guns and cannons rang out.

Under the harvest of artillery fire, the guest regiment's infantrymen were shot and fell down one after another.

The Changsha Green Camp artillery has average quality and qualified artillery skills.

Among the artillery team, there is a guerrilla general and three thousand commanders and battalion commanders who participated in the Jinchuan Campaign and still have their military qualities.

Guerrilla General Bao Yong held up his shield and poked his head out to observe.

Then squat down:

"The enemy is one mile away, the wedge should move forward a little further."

……

The gunner immediately swung the hammer and hit it twice.

The wooden wedge at the rear of the gun moved forward a little, and the muzzle was lowered a degree.
The fuse ignited with a crackling sound.

The dull sound of artillery sounded again~
Everyone worked together to pull the heavy artillery carriage backwards.

A gunner holding a water-dipped brush quickly walked to the muzzle of the gun.

The long cannon brush is pushed into the barrel, repeatedly back and forth, to clean the gunpowder residue and sparks inside the barrel.

Steam rises from the muzzle~
"The barrel is too hot."

A gunner nearby immediately took off his uniform, soaked it in water, and covered the barrel of the gun with it, causing a cloud of steam to rise.

……

Guerrilla General Bao Yong came over, pressed lightly on the surface of the barrel, and quickly pulled it out.

roared:

"Go on, load the shotgun."

"Whoo."

Professional experience is very valuable.

It’s just like the supervisor touching the red envelope to know whether the quality of the project is up to standard.

Bao Yong could tell whether the cannon would explode just by touching the barrel.

It’s simple, just practice.

The gunners struggled to reset the gun and pushed it to the battlement.

邦~
A shell fired by the Wu army's counterattack happened to hit this heavy mountain-splitting cannon.

The high-speed collision of metals produces a huge noise.
Everyone within 5 meters had severe tinnitus.

A gunner who fell to the ground looked in horror at the 1-pound barrel bouncing high and then hitting him.

It was like a hundred-pound watermelon exploding.

Red watermelon juice splashing~
The Art of Death was so brutal that the people around it fled in terror.

……

Wu Jun's 20 cannons were finally in place.

This batch of cannons were produced by the Ma'anshan Military Factory and were brand new gray iron 6-pound cannons.

An artillery lieutenant yelled:
"Free artillery fire. Blast all the battlements, arrow towers, and enemy towers within 100 feet in front of him."

So confident,

Because all he brought were long-barreled artillery.

From 3 miles away, long-range artillery bombardment was launched.

Non-direct aiming,
Instead, they used the second half of the ballistic parabola to bombard the battlements of the city wall.

For the Qing army,

This is black technology!

Bao Yong was stunned. Is this how you play with artillery?
He claimed to be the person who knew the most about artillery in Changsha, but now it seems that he was careless.

……

The guest group, which had been suppressed by the Qing army's firepower and suffered heavy casualties, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The crowd connected the trench carts, laid the wooden boards horizontally, and hammered in the nails.

Gradually fill in the moat obstacles.

This siege tactic has appeared since the Warring States Period and will never become outdated.

Because no matter how wide the city moat is dug,
The width of the moat also needs to be deliberately shortened at the first and second city gates, otherwise there will be no suspension bridge of matching length.

You can't
Rowing a boat in and out of the city gate every day, right?

Like that

The enemy hasn't come yet, but our own people have been exhausted to death.

In addition to military defense, a large city must also consider the convenience of residents' lives and commercial exchanges.

……

Changsha City was already in disrepair, and could not withstand such a fierce bombardment.

It was broken into pieces and the quality was obviously much worse than that of Wuchang.

There are no more battlements.

It is difficult for the Green Camp soldiers to maintain their defense.

It is like a person standing on the edge of a rooftop, with the Wu army rushing up with ladders under his feet.

Many defeated soldiers fled in both directions along the city wall.

Zeng Di also became anxious.

He rushed up to the city wall with a knife in hand, grabbed Bao Yong, and slapped him in the face:

"what happened?"

"Master Zeng, there is nothing we can do. Bandit Wu has a magic cannon."

"You're a demon to your mother."

Bao Yong was slapped twice more and had tinnitus.

I thought,

Mr. Zeng's hands are so strong, what subject did he pass?

……

1 quarters of an hour later,
Liuyang Gate was in danger, and the Wu army climbed up the ladders and almost broke through the city wall several times.

Zeng Di transferred a group of chieftain soldiers.

He is short, thin, dark, fierce and not afraid of hand-to-hand combat.

A major characteristic of the Green Camp soldiers is that they are afraid of close combat.

The battle entered a tense stalemate.

Wu Simai saw it clearly through the telescope.

on the one hand,

I was shocked by the fierce will of the guest group.

on the one hand,

He lamented that he had too few infantrymen. If he were assigned the 1st Expeditionary Army, they would attack together and Changsha would surely fall.

……

"Commander-in-chief, what should we do?"

"Wait!"

Wusimai's small eyes were full of ferocity.

He is not stupid.
Send precious cavalry into siege?

His Majesty would be furious if he knew about this, and dismissal would be the least of his punishment.

Your Majesty has spent so much time accumulating this little fortune, it is very precious.

All the war horses were captured on the battlefield.

Due to war and disease, the high loss rate of war horses is unimaginable to outsiders.

Wusimai,

People are on the battlefield in Hunan.

But his heart drifted to the northern grasslands. He thought that only by controlling the Hetao region could he train war horses on a large scale.

……

"Sir, we are waiting for the battle."

A middle-aged Torghut man walked over quickly, with his hand on his left chest and a submissive attitude.

"You guys want to attack the city too?"

"Yes."

Seeing Wusimai hesitate, the man said:

"We swear to the Eternal Heaven that we are loyal to the Khan of Jiangnan and are willing to fight for him."

Wu Simai suddenly had an idea and came up with a compromise.

1 quarters of an hour later,
500 Turgut horsemen were fully armed, most of them were equipped with swords and shields, and a few were armed with spears.

Wusimai thought about it.
They were also given 200 pistols.

Close combat,
The tactic of holding a pistol in the left hand and a broadsword in the right hand is particularly good.

When you encounter an enemy at close range, shoot first.

No shield or armor can stop the violent lead bullets, which hit the target with one shot.
……

Just before entering the battlefield,

Another city gate located on the east side, Xiaowu Gate, suddenly opened~
Zeng Di led the Hunan Army into the battlefield!

As the Minister of Hunan Tuanlian,

He deployed one-third of the militia in his hometown of Yuanzhou, and brought the other two-thirds to Changsha to assist the governor Sun Shiyi in defending the city.

Qianlong suddenly adjusted the governor of Hunan, mainly because he took a fancy to Zeng Di’s chieftain relationship.

It can be said,
This is a cautious yet bold pilot.

The unified dynasties of all dynasties had been carrying out the policy of land reform for thousands of years, but they might have put a sudden brake on it during Emperor Qianlong's reign and started to go in reverse.

Create a phenomenon - change the flow back to the local!
everything,
Just to cause trouble for the State of Wu.

Qianlong would rather deal with 500 fierce chieftains than deal with just one Wu Kingdom.

The chieftains had no political acumen, did not know how to manage finances, and were unable to call on the Han people to follow them.

……

Wu Simai was stunned.
He quickly grabbed the telescope and saw that more than a thousand Qing soldiers pouring out of Xiaowu Gate were not wearing uniforms and their clothes were in a mess.

I immediately guessed it was a group training.

Looking again, we saw a lot of guys dressed strangely, and we could tell at first glance that they were soldiers.

He pointed at the Torghut people in front of him.

Said:

"You rush to the right side of the artillery position and protect the artillery. This will be a great achievement. Do you understand?"

"As ordered."

500 Torghut sword and shield soldiers began to move quickly.

However, Wusimai issued a crazy order:

"Fall back!"

……

The messenger dared to blow the horn only after confirming it again and again.

moment,

The two groups of tourists who were climbing and attacking were confused, and the retreat process became chaotic.

The Changsha defenders were encouraged.

Zeng Di looked at the messy scene outside the city and felt very conflicted.

At this time, there were only 800 suicide squads of soldiers leaving the city.

not enough!

It is far from enough to achieve an epic reversal.

"Brother, send more troops."

"Futai, this is a good opportunity."

A group of people looked at the rare scene of one side chasing and the other side fleeing outside the city, and they all became excited.

can only say,
People from Hunan are still a bit domineering.

Perhaps there is another important factor: the Hunan Army and the Wu Army had never fought against each other and were not familiar with each other.

There are misunderstandings between each other.

……

Zeng Di's triangular eyes revealed cruelty and bloodthirstiness.

Draw the sword:

"The Wu bandits have been defeated. Open the city gates! All forces attack!"

Zeng is crazy, even the mentally ill are ashamed of themselves~
He ordered the opening of Xiaowu Gate, Liuyang Gate and Huangdao Gate, and the Changsha defenders came out in full force, with 3 Green Camp soldiers and 1 militiamen all leaving the city.

The drawbridge was slowly lowered and the city gate creaked open.

The huge crowd of Qing soldiers howled and crowded out of the city.
The Zeng brothers took the lead, riding horses and holding swords.

Looking at the soldiers around me who were rushing out of the door enthusiastically,
Shouting:

"The governor has issued an order that after the Wu bandits are driven back, you are allowed to massacre the Xiangtan County. You are not allowed to put down your weapons for three days, and you are allowed to take any gold, silk, or women you want."

The Qing army's emotions instantly reached their peak.

The soldiers were even more excited, making all kinds of animal-like howls to express their joy.

Epilepsy!
Too crazy.

……

of course,

There were also a few people from Xiangtan County among the Green Camp soldiers, and their heads were buzzing at the moment.

A captain from the Green Camp, whose hometown is Xiangtan County, protested angrily to his superiors on the spot, and more than a dozen people followed suit in protest.

Zeng's ninth son grinned fiercely.

Draw a knife and yell:

"Sympathize with Wu the thief, kill him, and count your heads as military merits."

moment,

These dozen or so protesting soldiers were stabbed with guns and knives and became the first victims.

The Hunan Army doesn't care about training.
Even if there are people from Xiangtan, they all come from remote villages.

They were eager to try it out. After all, they had never been to the county town in their lives. They wanted to bring Dao into the city to have a look and try the local food, fire-cooked fish.

People's joys and sorrows are never shared.

sometimes,
Other people’s sorrow may be your own joy.

……

It turns out that

Courage is contagious, and so is stupidity.

Everyone was inexplicably confident and excited.

Due to the large amount of outbound traffic in a short period of time,

From time to time, someone was pushed into the moat and floundered in the water, causing the friendly troops to laugh, as if the person who fell into the water was very unlucky.

Wu Jun's group retreated in a rather embarrassing manner.
It's not fake, it's real.

The ladders were abandoned and the formation was in disarray.

Not surprisingly, the signs of collapse are already appearing.

after all,

Who among the ordinary soldiers would guess whether the commander was faking defeat or really defeating him?

……

Lieutenant Lin Chuan looked at the lonely artillery position and the hundreds of Torghut sword and shield soldiers deployed on its right side.

And looking up into the distance,
We saw our cavalry retreating to the southeast, with smoke and dust billowing behind them.

A crazy idea suddenly came to my mind.

Find wealth in danger!
In one go, the Hakka people paid their blood tax for 20 years.

(End of this chapter)