The Reversal of the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 133: Summoning the Spirits? “Boom, boom, boom…” Unlike previous times when they waited for the Qing troops to launch the first attack, this time it was the drums of the bandit-suppression forces that sounded. Although the Qing forces had arrived at the battlefield before the anti-bandit troops, the latter outnumbered them. Moreover, most of the Green Standard Army soldiers had been drafted from various units; with little training, their military proficiency was naturally lacking. Among these Green Standard soldiers in the Qing army, many had been stationed at city gates just days prior, while others had been guarding waterways, postal stations, or serving as “city enforcement officers.” To carry out this campaign against Zhang Rui, Li Shiyao had to mobilize a massive number of troops to bring them here for battle. Before entering the Pass, the Qing troops were quite elite, but the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners declined rapidly after crossing the Pass. In many cases, the Qing court’s victories were won precisely by these Green Standard troops from all sorts of places. It wasn’t because they were elite, but because they had “**** more men.” Kang Xi, the so-called “Emperor of the Ages,” in order to avoid relying on the Green Standard troops, mobilized nearly 8,000 Eight Banners troops to besiege 800 ruffians who had traveled all the way from Moscow. In the end, they couldn’t defeat them and had to rely on sheer numbers to build a wall and encircle them. Just like that, upon hearing that another 1,500 men were being dispatched from Moscow, this “Emperor Without Equal” ceded hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of Siberian territory to others. This included Lake Baikal—known to the Han Chinese as “Beihai” and under Mongolian control at the time. It is laughable that it took this “Emperor of the Ages” a personal campaign resulting in thousands of casualties before he could finally defeat these 800-odd ruffians who had wandered over from Moscow—and even then, only by besieging them for a year with 8,000 troops. One can only imagine the amount of provisions required to sustain those 8,000 troops during the siege; how many Han Chinese must have died transporting those supplies? The fact that 1,500 soldiers from Moscow, a full 10,000 li away, were enough to make this “Emperor of the Ages” so anxious that he was willing to sign the “Treaty of Nerchinsk”—which modern textbooks describe as an “equal treaty”—is sufficient proof of just how severely the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners had declined. By the time of the Qianlong Emperor, the Green Standard Army—descendants of the Three Feudatories—was also performing mediocrely. This was evident in the battles against the Great and Lesser Jinchuan and the Great and Lesser Hoja, they were outnumbered and their troops were even “worse” than the enemy’s. Clearly, the Qing troops were “worse,” but they could not withstand the enemy’s numerical superiority, so the battles ended in stalemates. Victory in both the Greater and Lesser Jinchuan campaigns and the Greater and Lesser Hoja campaigns was only achieved after deploying the “Jianrui Corps,” which Qianlong had built at great expense. During the Burmese War, the two sides fought for nearly five years, and the Burmese had also recognized this fact. It was only then that Burma proposed a peace treaty (which the Qing court referred to as a surrender), and in the end, the Qing Dynasty saved face while Burma reaped the tangible benefits. It is laughable that the prestige of our mighty Qing Dynasty, with its powerful army, was repeatedly slapped in the face by Burma. As a result, the Qing Dynasty lost two provincial governors, including Yang Yingju. Because Zhang Rui’s forces were smaller and well-trained, they naturally recovered much faster than Li Shiyao’s Green Standard Army. The Green Standard soldiers from Guangzhou who had defected to Zhang Rui were also better trained than the disorganized Green Standard troops outside the city, especially since they were led by Zhang Rui’s military officers. “General, the rebels’ forces are approaching. If our men do not quickly regroup and form ranks, the situation will become dire.” Chen Muqing, standing beside Li Shiyao, said with concern “I know, Ensign. Issue orders immediately—tell the commanders below to reorganize their formations at once. Otherwise, I shall execute someone to establish my authority.” Li Shiyao shouted urgently to the ensign beside him “Yes, General.” The standard-bearer quickly knelt and shouted, then ran out to issue the orders. “Counselor Chen, have you noticed that the rebels’ forces haven’t diminished—in fact, they seem to have grown?” At that moment, Li Shiyao held one of the Qing Dynasty’s few “Thousand-Mile Eyes,” closing one eye as he peered through it at Zhang Rui’s forces across the field. “Some of them look like they’re wearing Green Standard Army uniforms?” Having said this, Li Shiyao handed the spyglass to Chen Muqing. Chen Muqing took it and, mimicking Li Shiyao’s posture, peered through it at the situation across the field. “Indeed, General. Could it be… could the Green Standard Army troops from Guangzhou have defected to the rebels?” Chen Muqing suddenly asked nervously. “Defected to the rebels?” Li Shiyao paused for a moment upon hearing Chen Muqing’s words, then said, “That’s impossible! Those Green Standard Army soldiers aren’t fools. These rebels are bound to be wiped out by our Great Qing; defecting to them is a sure path to death.” “I’m afraid those rebels must have used some trickery. Otherwise, how could there be so many Green Standard Army soldiers over there?” Chen Muqing handed the spyglass back to Li Shiyao with both hands and said Li Shiyao took the spyglass Chen Muqing handed back, used it to observe the situation across the way once more, and said, “Damn it, it really is true. If that’s the case, Guangdong is in grave danger!” “Yes, I hope we can crush them in one fell swoop this time. Then we’ll have time to deal with them.” Chen Muqing was also anxious. Through the spyglass, Li Shiyao saw that the front ranks of the Qing army’s square formation were almost fully deployed. Li Shiyao had originally planned to build wooden carts to block the rebels’ musket fire, but everything was too rushed, and they hadn’t brought any craftsmen along this time. Li Shiyao had no choice but to abandon the plan. However, to counter Zhang Rui’s musketeers, he deployed soldiers armed with simple shields at the front. It was truly a sad state of affairs for the Green Standard Army: the court provided them with a knife, but they had to procure their own shields. Consequently, very few actually used them. The battlefield was already small to begin with, and the use of Minié bullets by the anti-bandit forces extended the engagement range even further. Thus, the anti-bandit forces had barely advanced a short distance before entering firing range, while the Qing forces across from them were still frantically trying to form their ranks. “Within 150 zhang…” “First row, prepare…” “Fire…” “Bang…” A crisp volley of musket fire rang out Due to the Qing dynasty’s restrictions on firearms, coupled with the fact that since the “Three Feudatories” , Green Standard Army soldiers in the remote regions of Guangdong had rarely had the opportunity to use matchlock muskets. During the Qing Dynasty, information did not travel far and wide; many Green Standard Army soldiers had never seen one in their entire lives, so they were unaware that such a thing as a musket even existed. Many Qing soldiers facing the bandit suppression force, upon hearing this synchronized volley, assumed it was just firecrackers being set off somewhere. “We haven’t even started fighting yet—why are they setting off firecrackers?” one Qing soldier asked the one next to him in puzzlement “How should I know? Are they celebrating their victory?” the other soldier replied, equally baffled “I don’t think they’re celebrating a victory. I’d guess they’re using it to pray for good luck before the battle,” the first Qing soldier offered his opinion. “Pray for good luck? They’ve got so few men—don’t they realize how many of us are here? If each of us spat a mouthful of spit, it’d be enough to drown them. And they still think they can beat us? Unless every single one of them gets possessed by a god, they’re all headed for certain death,” the other Qing soldier said mockingly. “Possessed by spirits? With so many of us, how is that even possible!” The Qing soldier didn’t seem to catch the other’s sarcasm. Writing a book is truly no easy task. While others are having fun, you have to sit there and type away! While others are traveling with their families, you still have to sit there and type away! While others are sleeping, you still have to sit there and type away! Sacrificing so much time and energy to write, only to earn two cents per chapter—it’s truly no easy feat. If subscriptions remain this low, how can an author possibly focus on writing?