Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 426 I'm Missing Li Chao

On May 53, Qianlong 28, the fifth day of the Beihai Navy's offensive.

Since the start of the war, the post road from Jilin to Shengjing has become lively, and there is an endless stream of reports from Jilin every day, and the postmen at the stations along the way no longer have the leisure time of the past.

The road of more than 770 miles is full of uneven hills and mountains.This post road, known as "Royal Road", was built and widened since the 21st year of Kangxi's east tour. There are regular earth walls nearly one foot high on both sides of the road, and wooden signs are erected every five miles. The mileage to various places in the north and south is marked.

Li Changshun is the postman of Heluo Station in Mongolia. This is the fourth station on the post road from Fengtian to Wula, Jilin. There are twelve stations in the whole post road.In the evening, just as Li Changshun finished feeding the horses and was about to smoke a pipe, he heard the sound of "cracking" copper bells coming from the north of the post road again.

"Quick! Bring the horse out! You'll be whipped if you're late!" Li Changshun hurriedly called to a postman.After speaking, he turned and went to the kitchen again, and took a bag of dry food and a gourd filled with water that he had prepared earlier.

Since the fourth year of Qianlong, all imperial edicts or urgent mails have been delivered by changing horses without changing people; and for general documents, a baton form of one station and one station is adopted, and registration is made through queue tickets and horse delivery tickets.

Just as he finished speaking, a figure appeared on the post road to the north, and it was getting closer and closer. "Jilin Military Daily~~" Tolerance immediately shouted when he saw Mengmeng and Luo standing watching.

At this time, a postman had already led the horse and waited outside the gate of the post station. Li Changshun put the dry food bag and water hyacinth into the saddle bag.When everything was ready, the courier had already arrived at the gate of the post station, pulled the reins to stop with a "wow", and raised his hand to take out Kanhe from his pocket as a signal.Li Changshun and his two companions stepped forward quickly. First, they checked the great seal that was closed, and after confirming that it was correct, the three of them together lifted the messenger from the horse's back, and then moved it to the prepared horse.The courier didn't delay after he sat down, let go of the rein, and the horse swished out, and he was already dozens of steps away in a blink of an eye.

"I said, which Jilin Military Daily is this today?"

Li Changshun said casually: "The seventh copy. We've really bled a lot this month, you bastard's rebel, what are you messing around with?"

The reason why he said this is because the postmen in the Qing Dynasty had no salary and lived entirely on the subsidized land allocated by the imperial court.If the money for the firewood for the horses above is not paid in time, the postman will have to pay for it himself.In addition, they have to endure the reminders from the management station and the exploitation of written notes. Life is extremely difficult.The reason why Li Changshun became the station was not because he wanted to, but because his father was a prisoner who was exiled to Shangyang Castle, and he was acting on behalf of his father, so he had no choice.

Several people were about to lead the horse back when they heard the sound of horseshoes coming from the south.But this time it was not a single horse, but a herd of horses.

Li Changshun took a look with his hands, and hurriedly said to his companion: "Quickly invite the two adults to come out, the officials are here!"

Not long after, Mongolian and Luo station managers and leaders who got the news were all dressed up and came to wait outside the gate of the post station.The two looked at the flag that was getting closer, thinking that the one had returned.

What came was a team of more than 30 cavalry, most of whom were wearing armor and armor, and their clothes were very unusual.The leading horse was a young military general with a stern face and two mustaches on his lips. He had a smile that was not a smile, and his expression was somewhat arrogant; the straw hat was a third-rank blue The crystal glass top is equipped with a one-eyed flower feather, and a lambskin cloak is worn outside the golden leopard mending suit with eight pythons and four claws.

Behind this general, there are more than a dozen military generals of the fifth and sixth ranks and a group of Goshha's personal soldiers, all of them have strong bodies.Careful Guan Zhan pen post style discovered that there was actually a green battalion general with a fifth-rank uniform in the team.This is really strange, he has been stationed at the station for so many years, and he has never seen an officer from the green battalion.

When everyone stopped their horses, all the people waiting at the gate of the station knelt down and saluted.

"See you, my lord, for a humble position!"

"Get up!" The leading officer jumped off his horse, and urged the oncoming leader: "Hurry up and feed and drink the master's horse, and leave in two quarters of an hour."

The leader said flatteringly: "My lord, Marshal Fu."

The general said: "The brigade is still behind, and it will be there in half an hour. The masters are in charge of standing in the front."

After the military commander finished speaking, he turned around and said to the military officer in green uniform behind him, "Mr. Yang Qian, please follow me to see the horse feed, don't feed your horse with rotten grass."

The leader was startled when he heard this, and quickly waved his hands and said, "My lord, you don't dare to kill a villain. They are all high-quality ingredients mixed with salt, and you definitely don't dare to fool them."

The general ignored the reminder, but looked at the military officer of the green battalion.The military officer known as "Mr. Yang Qian" gave a respectful slap, and then got up and went to the stable.It's just that when he walked into the courtyard of the post station, a wry smile appeared on his face unconsciously.

He is Yang Yuchun, a 29-year-old from Chongzhou, Sichuan.In the early days, his family was also a wealthy family. Unfortunately, when he was 16 years old, his father offended the local gentry and was falsely accused of being imprisoned, which led to the decline of his family.

Yang Yuchun studied since he was a child, and later turned to martial arts. When he was 17 years old, he was selling chickens in the prefectural city of Chengdu. He happened to pass by a martial arts gym in the city, and saw several bannermen teenagers trying out their bows.Yang Yuchun felt itchy, so he stepped forward and asked for a try.Everyone didn't think so at first, but because he spoke politely and seemed to be well-educated, they agreed.

Unexpectedly, Yang Yuchun superimposed the three hundred-pound bows in the field and drew them five times in a row, and his jaw dropped in shock immediately.You must know that the most powerful Manchu generals at that time was the Sauronian Batulu Hailancha, who could only pull a 230-pound bow.

After Yang Yuchun tried the bow, he continued to sell chickens, but the master of the martial arts school was shocked when he heard about it, and immediately went out to find him on the street, and offered to accept him as an apprentice to pass on his skills.The master of the martial arts hall was originally the head of martial arts in the Yue family's mansion in Chengdu, and the Yue family was the family of Yue Zhongqi, who was once hailed by Qianlong as "the giant of the military officials of the three dynasties".

Given such an opportunity, Yang Yuchun certainly would not let it go, he kowtowed to his teacher on the spot.Two years later, when taking the martial arts exam, he easily pulled a 240-pound heavy bow and shot through three targets with one arrow, which shocked the audience.Later, he was appreciated by Fukang'an, transferred to the army, and then participated in the Hirata Five Rebellion and the Battle of the Platform, and was promoted to Chief Qian through his meritorious service.

Don't think Mr. Qian is just a rank six. This is Mr. Qian of the Qing government's economic control army, which is much better than the reserve of the fifth rank.

Historically, in the late Qianlong period, Yang Yuchun's fiercest battle was against Fukang'an against Gurkha.He led 3600 Chengdu Green Battalion soldiers to defend the Henghe Iron Bridge, and repelled 21 attacks by [-] Kuo troops. It was definitely a bloody battle.Incidentally, it was the British officer corps that led the profile army at that time.

But in this time and space, Marshal Fu was reappointed by Qianlong to deal with Beihai Town, and Yang Yuchun's fate also changed.

Although Fukang'an was optimistic about him and took him out of Fujian after consulting Qianlong, some of the Eight Banners generals under Marshal Fu couldn't get used to it and often deliberately made things difficult for him.Yang Yuchun knew how to repay Marshal Fu, so since he left Shanhaiguan, he has been swallowing his anger and doing things cautiously.

At this time, forty miles away, the tail of Fukang'an's brigade had just passed Weiyuan Fort, and the head of the team was only twenty miles away from Mongolia and Luozhan.

Marshal Fu still sat in his big sedan chair, and the 36 bearers changed at any time on the road.But at this time, Fukang'an looked anxious, and the military newspaper from Jilin in his hand was almost crushed by his fingers.

"Two roads go out together, sea and land go together. Hmph, it really is a good method."

On the fifth day of the war, with the continuous collection of military reports from the front, Fukang'an thought he had finally seen Beihai Town's actions clearly, and he also thought that Zhao Xinyi was in Jilin City.After all, the occupation of Jilin City can threaten Shengjing in the south, thereby breaking the defense of the Qing army in the Changbai Mountain area; it can threaten the Qing army in Heilongjiang to the north, and at the same time gain tens of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land. not for.

In fact, in Fukang'an's view, Qinggui's blindly adopting a defensive strategy in the military is not enough.To deal with Beihai Town, one has to keep attacking. Even if it is filled with human lives, Zhao Xin's troops must be exhausted.Jilin General's Mansion now has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under its jurisdiction, and taking a defensive position is purely a waste of court money and food.To deal with Beihai Town, you have to adopt a hit-and-go strategy, constantly adopting harassment tactics to gradually consume the opponent's strength.When Zhao Xin's soldiers can't keep up, he clenched his fists and attacked again.

The problem is that Dingkoulong of the Eight Banners only has a total of 10,000+. If we really want to follow Fukang’an’s style of play, I don’t know how many families in the city will have to wear filial piety; and the internal resistance of the Eight Banners will not allow him to do so.Therefore, if you want to destroy Beihai Town, you must use the Green Battalion; at worst, recruit troops while fighting.The Eight Banners, Manchurian, Mongolian and Han are counted with a total population of just over 50, and there are hundreds of millions of Han people.

When he went north from Fujian to Beijing to meet with His Majesty this time, he proposed a new military plan to Qianlong, which was also the result of his two years of hard thinking.

With the northern part of the Li Dynasty as the base and the Tumen River as the natural line of defense, the army took the sea route from Shandong or the land route from Shanhaiguan.The commercial sandships conscripted along the coast of the south of the Yangtze River provided supplies to the Qing army, that is, they were transported from Niuzhuang to the north of the Li Dynasty.In this way, the logistics supply line of the Qing army will be much shorter, and at the same time, the impact of the green battalion soldiers on people's livelihood outside the customs will be much reduced.

Qianlong's plan for Fukang'an was thought hard, and he repeatedly discussed with the Minister of Military Aircraft and the University Scholars for several days, and finally decided to adopt this plan.In fact, Qianlong also understood that if he wanted to destroy Beihai Town, it would be impossible to rely solely on the strength of the Eight Banners.If the Eight Banners are almost put together, if the Han people get into chaos again, the Qing Dynasty may really hang up!
So when Fukang'an asked Qianlong to take Yang Yuchun out of the customs, Qianlong agreed on the spot.

As for whether Li Chao objected, Qianlong and the military ministers didn't care.Since the "Six Envoys' Interrogation Incident" more than 100 years ago, Li Chao is still very obedient, doing what he is called, and dare not criticize him at all.Of course, some benefits still have to be given.

Speaking of the "six envoys' interrogation incident", it was a heavy blow to Li Chaojun and his ministers back then, which was enough to hurt the muscles and bones, and never dared to defy the Qing Dynasty again.

It is said that during the "Battle of Bingzi", the king of North Korea, Li Ji, ran to Nanhan Mountain City, was surrounded for more than 40 days, and then surrendered. His son Zhaoxian and his sons Li Wei and Li Hao were also taken to Shenyang as hostages.

After that, although North Korea sent troops to assist the Manchus in the Songjin War, they still secretly communicated with the Ming army to provide food, grass, and money; Cui Mingji, who once represented the king in Namhan Mountain City to go out of the city to negotiate a peace, was the main contact person.After Hong Chengchou was captured and surrendered, he sold Li Chao.So the Manchu Qing was furious, and ordered Prince Zhao Xian, who had been living in Shenyang as a hostage for a long time, to return to Seoul, and ordered the accompanying Qing envoy to order the King of Korea Li Ji to come out of the city to meet him.

The problem is that the father's welcoming of the son is inconsistent with the Confucian rituals and laws, and it implies that the imperial envoys of the Qing Dynasty are angels.Therefore, the two classes of Korean courtiers and scholar-officials who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty resented this.Soon after returning to Seoul, Prince Sohyun was poisoned to death in Changdeok Palace within a few days.After a few years, Fenglin Dajun Li Hao succeeded to the throne as Emperor Xiaozong.

The questioning by the six envoys happened after Hong Chengchou surrendered and betrayed the Li Dynasty. Huang Taiji sent six officials headed by Gushan Ezhenying Erdai to the Li Dynasty to pursue the responsibility, and escorted the Korean ministers including Cui Mingji and others to Fenghuang City for interrogation. , was finally found guilty, and was escorted to Shenyang for detention.

This investigation lasted as long as four years, which greatly shocked the Joseon court and created a situation where everyone was in danger.Under the strong oppression of the Qing court, it was a foregone conclusion that the Li Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty would turn against each other.Later, when the warship of the Ming army approached the coast of North Korea again, North Korea followed the policy of "no answering, no food, no approaching the shore", and escorted the nine captured Ming soldiers to Shenyang.

So in the 11th and 14th years of Shunzhi, the Qing envoys arrived in Seoul twice and ordered Li Chaozheng to mobilize blunderbuss soldiers to help deal with Luocha.Li Chao obediently dispatched more than 400 soldiers and horses to participate in the "Battle of Houtongjiang" and "Battle of Humar".

After Qianlong agreed to Fukang'an's plan, he moved very quickly.When Marshal Fu set off from Shengjing, the envoy of the Lifan Academy to Li Chao, accompanied by Li Chao's envoy in Beijing, had already crossed the Yalu River.

At this moment, in the North Navy camp five miles north of Qianyuanpu on the west bank of the Tumen River, an official wearing the official uniform of the Li Dynasty was protesting to Deng Fei.

"Lord Deng, I am under the order of Lord Fu Yin to ask your army to withdraw from our territory."

After the Jin Lichao official Brabla finished speaking, Deng Fei said, "What if I don't retreat?"

"We tried to persuade you with good words, but Master Li of Qingxing Mansion had already treated him with courtesy. If your army doesn't listen to the advice, when our soldiers arrive, there may be something unbearable to say."

Deng Fei suddenly realized: "Oh! So you are going to declare war on Beihai Town."

When the official surnamed Jin heard this, his beard trembled in anger. How could he give up such an excuse, so he said angrily: "It is clear that you have forcibly occupied our country's territory, how can you beat it back and talk nonsense?!"

Deng Fei waved his hands and said with a smile: "I've told you before that I'm borrowing it for a few days." He frowned and thought for a while, then said: "Well, ten days at most, we promise to leave within ten days."

The official surnamed Jin sighed helplessly, put on a pitiful look and said: "Master Deng, let the emperor of the Qing know about your actions like this, and our country can't afford to suffer! I beg you, I beg you, get out of the camp and go away." .”

Seeing that the other party was only in his early forties, Deng Fei called himself an old man, and felt a little funny.He gestured with two fingers, and said, "200 taels of silver, ten days, what do you think?"

The official surnamed Jin remained expressionless, just staring at Deng Fei.

Deng Fei extended a slap and said, "500 taels?"

The eyebrows of the official surnamed Jin twitched, like a cramp.

Deng Fei patted the table and said, "800 taels, no more!"

The official surnamed Jin stretched out his hand and said, "Pay the money first!"

(End of this chapter)