Dominate the Country

[Third update tomorrow, 9000+, today’s is a little less]

In fact, since arriving in Guangzhou, Chen Liang has had a feeling of discomfort. It’s not that he hasn’t contacted the Tiandihui and the Hong Gang here, and the second layout of the secret camp is not going well, but that the progress of things in Macau is too unsatisfactory!

Only when he really paid attention to Macau did Chen Liang understand why his good nephew valued Macau so much.

However, the red-haired ghosts in Macau have already sided with the Manchus. According to his verification, the red-haired ghosts in Macau have sold a batch of cannons to the Qing army and sent officers to train Qing army gunners. Chen Liang sent the news to the red-haired parliament in Macau through the Jesuits in Macau, but nothing happened.

And what about the thirteen lines? There has been some progress, but Pan Zhencheng, currently the head of public business of the Thirteenth Bank, is a tough nut to crack.

In order to expand business in China, it is necessary to collude with the government. The Fuhan Army can understand this, and does not need the merchants of the Thirteenth Line to express their clear attitude. It can be said that this small risk is almost non-existent for people in the thirteenth industry. What about people in the Thirteenth Line? There are few people who are not cunning. They are really well-informed when doing business with foreigners, and they have an attitude of not offending the current Fuhan Army. Only Pan Zhencheng had a different look. He also maintained some kind of contact with the Fuhan Army, but he always kept a distance from the Fuhan Army. Chen Liang wanted Pan Zhencheng to find out the exact inside story of the transaction between Macau and the Manchu Qing Dynasty. This thing should not be very confidential. As long as the identity is to a certain extent, it can be obtained easily. As a result, Pan Zhencheng pretended to be deaf and dumb.

Just when Chen Liang was upset, news came from Fujian that Zhang Qiu was defeated. You think he must be very angry mentally.

"Sir, since those people don't know how to praise, let's give them a big one!"

The environment can really change people. Two or three years ago, Chen Liang was just a member of the Chen family who was in charge of things. When he was greeted in the store, he was a businessman who smiled at everyone. But now, if something goes wrong for you, it can kill someone!

When the man next to Chen Liang saw that his proposal was approved by Chen Ming, a flash of blood flashed on Yingwu's face. This man was Xiao Jian, the master who surprised Chen Ming at first. He is one of the top masters that the secret camp recruited in the south of the Yangtze River. His family was originally a scholarly family, but the whole family was wiped out in the case of the pseudo-Sun Jiagan's manuscript. Xiao Jian and his younger sister escaped with their lives, and thus embarked on the journey of Practice martial arts to take revenge and fight against the Qing Dynasty.

Before being recruited by the secret camp, Xiao Jian had left many criminal records in Jiangnan and was wanted by the sea many times. Such a person was born in the same country as the Fuhan Army. He was trustworthy and skilled. He had friends throughout the south. Chen Liang admired him very much. From the time Chen Liang left for Fujian, Xiao Jian served as his bodyguard, together with the captain of the special operations team formed by the secret camp, codenamed "Broken Sword".

"Sir, there are too many officials in Guangzhou City, but the important ones are all heavily guarded. During these days, we have repeatedly attacked and killed Manchu officials, and these Tatar officials also know how to save their lives. Judging from the current situation, The person who is easiest to attack and has the greatest influence is the Guangdong Customs Supervision.”

"Folun, who took office in March last year, was from the Ministry of Internal Affairs..."

Since the seventh year of Qianlong's reign, the position of Guangdong Customs Supervision has been taken over by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There are about four to five hundred people in various management personnel of Guangdong Customs. In addition to supervisors and general port committee members, there are many important positions that are vacant, such as chief clerk, Daguan case book, treasury secretary, treasury ambassador, Daguan flat cabinet, and various general port offices. Cabinet books, various mouth clearing books , patrolmen, kuding, sailors, firemen, handymen, etc. are all recruited locally in Guangdong. They are just like county officials and yamen servants. They will not leave even if the superior officials leave. They often stay at the pass for a long time and are passed down from generation to generation. , regarded as property purchase. And these scribes and patrols who controlled various passes often used their power to enrich themselves and extort business travelers.

The profits that a Guangdong customs office earns throughout the year are truly unmatched by any big government.

The Guangdong Customs Supervisor Fulun has a small but crucial position, and its guard strength is not even as good as the county magistrate of the county government.

Guangdong Customs does not refer to Guangzhou, but the entire Guangdong. In addition to the two main ports of Guangzhou and Macao, it is also divided into ten small ports of the province. In addition, there are five main entrances in Huizhou, Chaozhou, Gaozhou, Qiongzhou and Leizhou, and there are more than 40 small entrances in each of the five main entrances, all of which are Guangdong Customs. So don't think that there are more than four or five hundred people. The real number is more than five times that. Just like the white servants in the county government, there are also more temporary workers in various places in the customs.

"Not just one Fulun. I want to destroy the entire Guangdong Customs." Chen Liang suddenly laughed, and the laughter became louder and louder. While laughing, he patted his head and said: "Idiot, idiot, such an obvious thing is... Why can't I see it before my eyes?"

"Yes, I don't just need one Fulun for this attack. I also want the entire Guangdong Customs. Without this thing, Guangdong will be cut off from a financial path." A large number of veterans who are familiar with the 'business' started to argue, and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties Even if the last batch of newbies are quickly promoted, can Guangdong Customs be restored? And newbies will be greedier. Those old people are a bit rich, but the longer they work, the more wealth they accumulate. It's not like a newbie. A rookie who has never had enough to eat falls on a mountain of meat. He doesn't eat hard, but he fishes hard?

"Xiao Jian, take Fulun's life yourself."

"Don't worry, sir. I can cut off his head and come back at night."

"Just hang his head on Pan Zhencheng's essay line..."

…

This conversation in a small courtyard in a corner outside Guangzhou City has not been known to outsiders. So on this night, Fulun died. Not only him, but also 7 members of the Guangdong Customs General Port Committee, 8 clerks (including 2 in the Grand Customs and 1 in each General Port), 6 clerks in the Grand Customs, 2 clerks, 1 ambassador, and 1 clerk in the Grand Customs. All these important officials died in the next three to five days. Although it was not as cruel as Fulun's head being cut off and hung under the plaque of the Thirteen Hongs, few of those people died in a good way.

In an instant, the reputation of the Fu Han Army's secret camp was feared in Guangdong.

At this time, Chen Ming in Huai'an City had just received the urgent report from Fujian. He only glanced at it quickly, and Chen Ming's mouth popped out the same two words as Chen Liang: "Waste!"

It was actually discovered when the official fleet entered thirty or forty miles. What is the difference between this and being discovered by the enemy when it was touched by the enemy a hundred meters away on land? It would be a miracle if we could win!

Zhang Qiu, who escaped with his life, offered a bonus of 10,000 taels to buy Huang Gui's head, but Chen Ming didn't care at all. He now had to consider the aftermath of the Fujian naval battle and the impact it would have on the general situation.

"Grand Commander, attack Huai'an, resolutely attack Huai'an, take Huai'an, and march into the Yellow River, and everything will be solved."

At the Huai'an front, all the important generals and logistics officers of the Fu Han Army were present. But the first one to express his "opinion" was Liu Dezhao, and what he said was very much to Chen Ming's liking. Didn't Fujian suffer a great defeat on the sea? Then why didn't the Fu Han Army bring this momentum back on land? After taking Huai'an and marching to the Yellow River, the army could cross the river to the north to support the Hunyuan Sect, and could also cross the river to enter Xuzhou Prefecture and suppress Guide; not to mention that it could really turn the general situation around, at least the negative impact of the Fu Han Army's defeat in the naval battle could be eliminated.

"What do you think?" Chen Ming asked the generals.

"Mr. Liu is right. Fujian is defeated, we should fight back in Huai'an, we can't let the Tartars take over."

"Grand Commander, attack Huai'an, pull out this nail..."

"Grand Commander,..."

These are the current generals of the Fu Han Army. They are okay to listen to orders, let them fight on their own... Chen Ming always feels that these people are wooden beads, they won't move if they are not pushed. "Alas..."

Looking at the group of big men shouting and killing in front of him, Chen Ming sighed in his heart, when will his ten marshals and ten generals come?

It's been so long, are these people under his command really unteachable?

"Then take down Huai'an City and completely wipe out the Qing army south of the Yellow River!" Chen Ming made a decision, a decision that everyone expected. Anyway, he also had this in mind when he went north in a big way this time. Besides, if he really wanted to take down all of Jiangsu Province north of the Yellow River, he could get tens of thousands of soldiers just by recruiting soldiers.

Without the Grand Canal, tens of thousands of canal workers in northern Jiangsu and hundreds of thousands of people along the canal would have lost their livelihoods. Moreover, the economy in northern Jiangsu was not good this year. The salt factories stopped working, and the salt workers and cooks took advantage of the war to flee. The Fu Han Army raised the recruitment, and it was not a big deal to have an extra 10,000 or 8,000 people.

For example, in Yancheng, the Fu Han Army easily recruited two or three thousand canal workers and a large number of hungry people with food. The army went to war, and the transportation of money, food and materials relied on thousands of canal boats salvaged from the Grand Canal, which was not very laborious.

Chen Ming led the army from Yancheng to the east and approached Huai'an. The Qing army in Baoying retreated directly to Huai'an City. The Fu Han Army in Gaoyou Prefecture took the opportunity to go north, seize Baoying, and join Chen Ming's troops along the canal to the west of Huai'an City. The Qing soldiers did not go crazy and tear up the Gaoyou Lake embankment [also the west embankment of the Grand Canal].

Chen Ming had been stationed under the city for four days. He only took out several strongholds set up by the Qing army outside the city, and did not launch a formal attack on Huai'an City. Because of the news from the secret camp, the Qing army, militia, and the canal soldiers in Huai'an City should be 20,000 people. This is not a small number.

Moreover, Huai'an City is not a city, but two cities, divided into new and old. I won't talk about the old city, which has a long history. The new city was built by Shi Wenbing [Zhang Shicheng's general] when he was guarding Huai at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. It was originally an earthen city. When Yu was in command in the tenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, he "took bricks and stones from the abandoned city of Baoying to build it." In the twenty-first year of Yongle, "additions were made and buildings were built on the gates." In the second year of Zhengde, General Guo Hong and Prefect Chen Wenzhu in the fifth year of Longqing repaired the new city respectively. In the 11th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty, the governor-general approved the project and "issued more than 25,700 taels of silver". Jin Bingzuo, the magistrate of Shanyang, "undertook the repair, and the inner wall was reinforced with earth and thickened". After the new city was built, "it also helped the old city".

Between the old and new cities, "it was originally a transport road" and "was the place where grain ships were stored in the past". Because the Yellow River moved north, the transport road was changed to the west of the city. This place was gradually silted up and mostly lakes. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates were rampant and invaded Huai'an twice. In the 39th year of Jiajing, the northeast corner of the old city was connected to the southeast corner of the new city, connecting the old and new cities. This is Liancheng, commonly known as Jiacheng. Later, the former Ming Dynasty raised and thickened Liancheng and added four enemy towers.

The construction of Huai'an Liancheng made the old city, new city and Liancheng of Huai'an connected as one. This pattern of three cities in parallel is the only one in the history of city building in China. It also caused certain obstacles to the Fu Han army's attack on Huai'an.

Chen Ming's headquarters was set up in Ciyun Temple outside Huai'an City. Chen Ming had never heard of this place, but he knew Ciyun Temple in Shushan very well. However, after entering the temple, he asked around and found out that this place did have a history. It was the place where a monk named Dajue passed away. This monk Dajue's Dharma name was Tongxiu, and his courtesy name was Yulin and Yulin. He was known as Yulin National Master in the world. He was closely related to the rumor that Shunzhi became a monk. In the 13th year of Yongzheng's reign, Yongzheng used Ciyun Temple as the place where Dajue passed away. He ordered to allocate silver from Huaiguan to build a large monastery style, set up incense and offerings, and ordered the Minister of Internal Affairs and Huaiguan Supervisor Nian Xiyao to supervise the construction of this temple. He also bestowed the plaque "Ciyun Temple" and changed the temple into a temple.

It is said that this place requires "officials to get off the sedan chair and military officers to get off the horse". But this rule is pure delusion for the Fu Han Army.