Han’s Son is Not a Slave

General Ling Hai's affairs behind Chen Qice's death were extremely sad. Because the old general did not have much wealth in front of him, Zhou Shixiang took out 3,000 taels of silver and handed it over to Chen Qice's eldest son, Chen Shibang, for the funeral. [w.SuiMеng.lā At the same time, the old general's memorial was quickly sent to Qinzhou, and the Governor Yamen of Qinzhou handed it over to Kunming. Presumably, the court would reward him accordingly after receiving the old general's memorial.

After the funeral, according to the wish of the old general during his lifetime, his navy division was officially adapted as the navy division of the Taiping Army. Zhou Shixiang ordered Wu Yuan to be the commander of the navy, and he was actually awarded the rank of general; The old general's staff, Hu Deyu, served as the prefect of Zhaoqing, and the old general's eldest son, Chen Shibang, served as the magistrate of Xinhui.

Because the old generals arranged in advance, and the main generals were willing to rely on the increasingly powerful Taiping army, the reception and reorganization of the Zhaoqing and Xinhui naval divisions went very smoothly. According to the statistics, there are 78 lucky boats, 68 fighting boats, sea falcons, and walking boats that can be used in naval battles under General Linghai's department. There are 78 inland water vessels such as boats and sand boats, and dozens of others are still under construction. The navy has 7,850 officers and soldiers, including 52 generals and schools below the total.

Among the old general's subordinates, the generals Zhou Sheng and Zheng Chengkui had made an offer to accept the Taiping Army's adaptation when the old general was still alive. The former had a feud with the Qing army, and his lifelong wish was to enter Beijing and destroy his Aixin Gioro family, so he had long wanted to join the Taiping army, which had repeatedly won the Qing army; the latter witnessed it with his own eyes in his cooperation with Zhou Shixiang. Knowing how the Taiping Army was able to destroy the dead and grow stronger step by step, and how it completely wiped out the army, he also had the heart to take refuge.

In the past, when the Taiping Army did not rise, Zhou Sheng and Zheng Chengkui followed the old generals to fight against the Qing Dynasty along the coast. Although the navy was large in scale and strong in combat effectiveness, they also repeatedly inflicted heavy damage on the Qing army navy. He was able to be driven to an overseas island by the Qing army and persisted. Without a stable land, the navy has no fixed source of food and salaries, the court has long neglected these navy, and the governor-general of Guangdong has no money to pay, which makes it difficult for the navy in Guangdong to maintain.

When going up and down Chuan Island, the officers and men of General Ling Hai's navy even turned their warships into fishing boats and went out to sea to fish for a living because they had no food. In those days, the sailors were desperate for the future, until the old general resolutely led them to Xinhui. Since then, the navy has undergone earth-shaking changes, first gaining a foothold in Xinhui City, and then taking Zhaoqing. The navy has more and more warships, more and more soldiers, and bigger and bigger sites. Soldiers will no longer send warships out to fish because they have no food.

How did all of this come about? The navy is all unclear, so for the powerful Taiping Army, they are close and willing to join. After all, these days, only the strong side can eat and survive. The generals may have other thoughts, such as conferring meritorious deeds, and being famous for the ages, but the soldiers are simple, and they will take revenge when they are full. Whoever can take their revenge, they will die for whomever.

During the Battle of Xinhui, Wu Yuan was the named commander in chief. After occupying Zhaoqing, the old general asked for credit for him, and the imperial court came to the decree to grant Wu Yuan the commander in chief of the Guangdong Navy, under the subordinate of General Linghai.

Wu Yuan never persuaded the old general to join the Taiping Army, but he did not object to it. He was an orphan adopted by the old general back then. He had followed the old general for more than 20 years, and to a large extent regarded himself as the old general's personal soldier. Will. If the old general hadn't made arrangements before his death, Wu Yuan might also consider starting his own business. After all, accepting the command of others and leading an army alone are fundamentally different.

I would rather be the head of the chicken than the tail of the phoenix. The Taiping Army has no naval division, and I will continue to rely on him for a long time in the future. Moreover, I am also the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong naval division granted by the imperial court, so the old generals in the past could get it from the Taiping Army. In the future, Wu Yuan can get the same benefits, or even more. But now that the old general has made arrangements, Wu Yuan has let go of his self-reliance. He also knows that if he goes his own way, I am afraid that the people below will not agree, at least Zhou Sheng and Zheng Chengkui may bring it with him. The boat went directly to Zhou Shixiang. Because of their own internal strife, it would be better for everyone to follow Zhou Shi together, so that the navy can maintain unity.

Hu Deyu used to be the magistrate of Taishan. After the Qing army entered Guangdong, he defected to the old general and has been doing staff affairs. He has integrity, otherwise he wouldn't be able to live and sleep with the navy at sea every day. He also doesn't have the heart of power. If he has it, he was afraid that he had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty early. After more than ten years, how could he be the prefect in the Qing court? Follow Zhu Ming, who is about to die, to die.

Hu Deyu is loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and he is also wholeheartedly planning for the old general, so when the old general decided to come to relieve the siege of Xinhui, he also persuaded him, and later also fought with Zhou Shixiang's men over the captured trophies and food, but what he did was not To fill his personal pockets of Hu Deyu, but for the old general and thousands of naval officers and soldiers under his command.

The death of the old general made Hu Deyu very sad, but he knew what was the most important thing at the moment. Before the old general died, he was thinking of King Qin saving the emperor. As his aide and a minister of Ming Dynasty, Hu Deyu put down his grief, He tried his best to cooperate with Zhou Shixiang to integrate the navy, and also happily accepted the post of Zhaoqing prefect appointed by Zhou Shixiang. Even if he knew that Zhou Shixiang did not have the authority to appoint the prefect, he still accepted it calmly, all he thought was to stabilize the situation in Zhaoqing as soon as possible and prepare for the Western Expedition.

After the navy was integrated, Zhou Shixiang allocated another 80,000 taels of silver to expand the scale of Zhaoqing Shipyard, ordered the shipyard to build as many sand ships as possible before August, and ordered Zheng Chengkui to lead a fleet to go back up the Liujiang River to Guangxi to explore waterways. Detect hydrology and prepare for Taiping's massive westward advance.

In addition to the old general, Zhaoqing also has another force, but it is the town general Zhu Tong. The general of Zhenguo is the first grade of the military attache, the eldest son of the county king is called the eldest son of the king, the second son and below are all generals of Zhenguo, and the next sons are generals of the auxiliary country.

Zhu Tong is the ninth-generation grandson of King Ning Xian. After the Qing army entered the customs, most clans chose to surrender to the Qing army, such as Zhu Changbi, the king of Lu who surrendered in Hangzhou. However, Zhu Tong resolutely refused to surrender to the Qing army. He scattered his family wealth and raised volunteers to resist the Qing army. Like Zhu Wei'e, the Tang king who insisted on resisting the Qing army in Taishan, he was a model of the clan who did not surrender until his death.

Zhou Shixiang admired Zhu Tong's deeds of dispersing his family wealth and insisting on fighting against the Qing Dynasty, but Zhou Shixiang always felt that he was at a disadvantage when he really dealt with this general of Zhenguo. Because this clan is really an anomaly, no matter what he does, he is not willing to suffer, and he is good at calculating like a businessman. When discussing with him about the reorganization of his department, Zhu Tong showed that he was not shrewd, but almost greedy, or the lion opened his mouth.

After Chen Qice's navy was accepted by Zhou Shixiang, Zhu Tong knew that it was inevitable for the Taiping army to take over Zhaoqing. He could not refuse the Taiping army's takeover of Zhaoqing, so he shrewdly chose to cooperate. There are only three or four thousand soldiers under his command, and only a few hundred soldiers can fight. If you really don't cooperate, you don't need Zhou Shixiang to do anything, and Chen Qice's subordinates can eat him.

Being weak doesn't mean that Zhu Tong is willing to let Zhou Shixiang be at the mercy of him~www.wuxiaspot.com~ He put on the air of a clan and asked Zhou Shixiang for the establishment of two towns. The two town soldiers not only asked Zhou Shixiang to give people money and food, but also weapons.

Zhou Shixiang felt that Zhu Tong was really shameless, but the other party appeared to be loyal to the country and put on the air of a clan. It was really difficult for him to offend him, let alone force him to submit. You can only have patience and discuss with the other party. In the end, after some bargaining, Zhu Tong satisfied himself with the condition he had originally thought of - the establishment of a town.

Zhou Shixiang gave Zhu Tong's command a town system, which was designated as the eighth town of the Taiping Army. In addition to the 4,000 soldiers he commanded, more than 1,000 soldiers were recruited from the navy's troop seat, plus Guo Zhiqi. The two thousand volunteers who had been recruited along the coast finally made up three brigades. Another 100 junior officers were drawn from the Third Town and the Military Training Institute to be assigned to this town and ordered to garrison Zhaoqing.

It took more than half a month to sort out the matter in Zhaoqing. During this time, Zhou Shixiang sent invitations to the generals of the Ming army stationed in various places, asking them to come to Zhaoqing to discuss the matter of the King of Diligence. A total of more than 20 posts were sent out, but only 7 people expressed their willingness to come. On the other hand, Qinzhou's Governor Yamen and Gaozhou's four government governors didn't even have a reply.

Zhou Shixiang was very angry, and he decided to solve it by force. (To be continued.)