Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 188: Situation of the Armies
Hejiang, Chishui River.

Although Aisin-Gioro Changlin of Guizhou sent out his troops later than Fucha Mingliang, he was able to engage in battle with Lao Piao earlier because he went down the Chishui River, because Lao Piao had also been fighting along the Chishui River.

Although Chen Gu's order was to let Lao Piao guard the Chishui River to guard against Changlin, Lao Piao could not stay there and could not go anywhere else, so he just fought along the Chishui River.

Anyway, the Green Camp soldiers in the garrisons along the way were not strong and did not dare to fight at all. Wherever Lao Piao went, the soldiers either fled or surrendered. It was easy for him to win, which was more or less a credit. He could just regard it as a training exercise.

It just so happens that these new recruits of the joint defense team need some training, otherwise it would be difficult for them to digest so much food every day.

Lao Piao's relentless pressure forced Chang Lin, who had originally wanted to just sit there and do nothing, to send troops to respond. Otherwise, he was really afraid that Lao Piao would lead his army and easily march into Guizhou.

Guizhou had few soldiers, and Changlin finally gathered only three or four thousand soldiers, including some old, weak and sick people. Therefore, Changlin did not plan to fight Lao Piao face to face, but just found a hillside along the Chishui River for defense.

To prevent Lao Piao from becoming more and more demanding.

But Chang Lin had no idea that Lao Piao was a battle maniac. If you ignored him, he might just make trouble in the Chishui River. But since you dared to send troops, Lao Piao would be excited.

In fact, Changlin had no intention of fighting with Lao Piao, because he was stationed in Renhuai County, and Lao Piao went up the Chishui River and only reached the Chishui City of later generations, with Xishui County of later generations in between.

Of course, at that time, Chishui City and Xishui County were just market towns that had just developed due to shipping. The distance between the two was almost two hundred miles along the Chishui River.

But when Lao Piao learned that Changlin was stationed in Renhuai, he accelerated his march for three days, and then rushed to Renhuai to give Changlin a good beating.

Chang Lin was completely confused when he escaped. He couldn't understand why Lao Piao would run up the Chishui River to fight him even though he was stationed in Renhuai.

Is this guy sick?
Guizhou is extremely poor. The Governor Changlin works hard but his annual profit is still not as much as that of a prefect. Why don't you attack those wealthy counties and prefectures in Sichuan instead of coming here to attack such a poor and remote place?
Because the annual tax silver for the entire province of Guizhou was only 100,000 or 200,000 taels, even if the land tax was included, it was still less than the tax silver of a prefecture or county, so the treatment of the Green Camp soldiers was very poor, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers was relatively poor.

In the end, Changlin was captured and Lao Piao occupied Renhuai County. When he learned that he had captured a governor, whose surname was Aisin-Gioro, Lao Piao was very happy. After leaving a thousand Jiangjin County joint defense team stationed there, he also brought back a few jars of Maotai Shaochun for Chen Gu at Maotai Town, where the Renhuai Port on the Chishui River is located.

"The leader doesn't like drinking!" Yunhua couldn't help but remind Lao Piao.

Lao Piao curled his lips and said with a smile: "It's good that he doesn't like to drink. The locals say that the longer this wine is stored, the better it tastes. If he doesn't want to drink, just keep it. When it's stored for a long time, I will steal it out and drink it!"

Yun Hua pulled the corner of his mouth, and did not continue to dwell on this issue, but asked: "Why don't you continue to attack Guizhou? The credit of taking over a province is enough to live on for a lifetime."

"What a bullshit achievement! Guizhou is extremely poor, and there are bandits and robbers everywhere. There are also local chieftains causing chaos, and the terrain is complicated. It is easy to fight, but considering the terrain of Guizhou, it will probably take several years to go around. Whoever wants to fight can do it.

We station troops in Renhuai to keep the Chishui River open, and that will be enough to exchange for the refined iron and brass in it. I also want to go to Chengdu, but I don’t know if Chen Gu has conquered Chengdu yet!”

Lao Piao couldn't help but sigh. It was boring to fight Guizhou alone. "Pass the order. From today on, the transportation of silk, cotton, linen, copper, iron, salt, etc. on the Chishui River will be tax-free. Anyone who dares to transport opium will be killed without mercy!" Chen's army attacked officials and wealthy families and promoted equal distribution of land, but did not ban merchant ships, and did not even search various workshops and shipyards.

Lao Piao never prohibited merchant ships from passing through the Chishui River when he blocked it. He only collected taxes according to customary practice. However, the inspection of goods at each outpost was extremely strict. Lao Piao even trained some hunting dogs to confiscate opium.

If they encounter the transportation of irritating spices, such as chili peppers, peppercorns, star anise, etc., they will be inspected repeatedly and strictly, which has completely blocked the circulation of opium in Guizhou and Sichuan.

Now that salt and iron are tax-free, it is equivalent to giving profits to merchants, and it can also further reduce the possibility of the circulation of opium. After all, if people can make good profits from other businesses, there is no need to risk being beheaded for selling opium.

Lao Piao wanted to go directly to Chengdu after returning to Hejiang, but he encountered the obstacle of returning to transfer troops.

After carefully inquiring about the current situation, Lao Piao decisively left the obstacle behind to garrison Hejiang and govern Renhuai, while he himself led the army to Zizhou.

Although this was against the rules, the roadblock had no way to resist the old drifter and finally had to stay and watch the old drifter leave.

Although Chengdu had been captured by the Green Camp Army, Chen Gu was still in Mianzhou, and Scar had already entered Shu Road and was confronting Fu Cha Mingliang, a veteran general of the imperial court. Lao Piao naturally wanted to rush over to take a look, and maybe there would be a chance to fight Fu Cha Mingliang.

After all, the Shu Road is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Scar can defend against Fu Cha Mingliang, but even with the addition of Chen Gu, it is impossible to destroy the imperial army on the Shu Road, so there is definitely a chance.

At Jiange on the Shu Road, a hundred miles ahead of Zitong County, there is a place called Yanwu, where mountain people gathered to form a small market town. At this time, the army led by Scar was stationed in this small market town.

Twenty miles ahead of Yanwuchang Town along the Shu Road is a small town called Wulian, where the vanguard of the imperial army, led by Fucha Oron, with an army of 3,000 men, was stationed.

A few days ago, scouts from both armies had a skirmish on the Shu Road.

The scouts of an army are naturally the elite among the elite, but unfortunately Jiange is also known as the Five-foot Road, which means it is only about one meter wide, leaving no room for them to maneuver. The scouts of the two armies fired at each other with rifles and muskets for a while, and the imperial court was completely defeated. After leaving behind several corpses, several people ran away and went back to deliver messages.

Then the two armies entered a state of confrontation.

There was no way to start a war in this kind of terrain where one man could block the passage of ten thousand men, so Fuca Oron had to send someone to report to his father Mingliang.

Scar calmly traded with the mountain people for supplies. At the same time, with the help of Lao Nian, he sent people to capture Zitong County, temporarily solving the supply problem.

"I heard that the leader has left Zizhou and will soon arrive in Mianzhou. I need to go back to see him!" Lao Nian said to Scar.

(End of this chapter)