Prime Minister Jia Jia's PPT report is very detailed and very pragmatic.
It is comprehensively analyzed from various angles such as the strength of the enemy and ourselves, the deployment of troops and horses, the supply of money and food, the right time and place, and the unity of the people. Coupled with the fonts imitated by everyone, it is more pleasing to the eye than the No. 1 Scholar exam paper.
All the ministers in the Military Aircraft Department said that the anti-bandit plan of the Shandong Prime Minister's Military Affairs was something they had never seen before in all their years as officials.
Queenie, the Minister of Etiquette, who happened to be working at the Military Aircraft Department, saw the bandit suppression PPT and couldn't help but praise: "With Heshen in the literature and Kai in the military, the prosperity of the country is just around the corner."
Basically, the Military Aircraft Department agrees with Prime Minister Jia Jia's policy of "mainly siege, supplemented by attack" for suppressing bandits, because this policy is indeed the safest.
If another forceful attack fails, and if the religious bandits are allowed to escape from Linqing, they will not be able to stop it with more than 10,000 soldiers and horses from the two provinces.
By then, it is still unknown how much manpower and material resources will be mobilized to suppress the banditry.
The Qing Dynasty is now in a troubled period. Ever since the Jinchuan bandits broke out in Sichuan and broke into Huguang, not a single good news has come.
The latest news from Hubei is that the Fan army that broke out of Sichuan was renamed the "Xinghan Army" and launched two consecutive attacks on Yichang Fucheng. However, they failed because the city was well prepared, so they instead rushed into the Dangyang area of Jingmen.
General Shang Jianbao of Jingzhou was ordered by Chen Huizu, Governor of Huguang, to lead 2,000 Eight Banners garrison troops, together with more than 3,000 Green Camp troops who were urgently transferred back to the province from Sichuan, to prepare to surround the Fan army in the Dangyang area.
Under the command of Shang Jianbao, the main force of more than 5,000 Qing troops, together with nearly 10,000 local warriors from all over the country, set up 11 camps in a row. However, they were surrounded by the Fan army and were ambushed in the rear. The green camp soldiers were not aware of it.
When Shang Jianbao gave the order to attack the Han army in Dangyang City from the front, an ambush arose from the rear and set fire to the Qing army camp.
The Qing army was frightened. They were attacked at the front and back and fled one after another. The deputy general Guo De, the guerrilla Ma Qi and the prefect Cai Wenliang were killed.
General Zheng Tai fought hard against the thieves, but was hit by several arrows and still refused to retreat. Only then did the whole army collapse, and Shang Jianbao was able to retreat back to Jingzhou.
Afterwards, an inventory showed that more than 4,000 officers and soldiers were lost in this battle, including more than 600 Eight Banners soldiers.
Shang Jianbao did not dare to fight the Xinghan army again, so he could only gather the remaining troops and retreat to Jingzhou City.
After the victory in the Battle of Dangyang, the momentum of the Han Dynasty army was unparalleled for a while, and many unscrupulous people were affected by its "expulsion of the Tartars and restoration of China" and "everywhere is uneven, no one is not fed and warm." The slogan "Everyone works together" seduced people and colluded with fellow villagers to join in, making the number of Xinghan bandits grow to more than 30,000.
Chen Huizu, the governor of Huguang, secretly reported that a large number of demagogic slogans of the Xinghan Army appeared in Wuchang City, and societies such as the Tiandihui organized riots in various places to attack government and military officials and rob military supplies and equipment.
Suddenly, the entire province of Hubei was plunged into panic.
The situation in Hubei was so serious that Qianlong issued three decrees in succession, urgently ordering Dingxi General Feng Sheng'e to quickly dispatch 20,000 elite troops to Hubei for encirclement and suppression.
The left deputy general of Dingxi, Bo Qing, who was recuperating in Chengdu, wrote to the imperial court, asking him to imitate the old system of the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties, and conduct regiment training in Huguang, so that the gentry could recruit local warriors to guard the land and bring peace to the people, or cooperate with the Green Flag Soldiers to guard key areas and go on expeditions with the battalions to relieve the Huguang soldiers. There is no hurry when the horse is not enough.
He also said that the reason why the Fan bandits entered Huguang was to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao and break the siege of Jinchuan and Jinchuan. Therefore, if the imperial court drew troops from Jinchuan, it would be a trick of the Fan bandits.
Qianlong agreed with Bo Qing'e's opinion, but did not agree with Huguang's opening of team training. As long as the governor of Huguang, Chen Huizu, and the governor of Hubei, Zheng Dajin, tried their best to organize it and block key entrances, "making sure Changmao is trapped in Hubei."
It is also secretly decreed that peace talks with Da Jinchuan can be initiated again if the amount is increased, so that troops can be sent to Hubei to support the suppression.
There was chaos in the west, big things happened in the east, and everyone in the Military Aircraft Department was also very worried.
There is no problem with Jia Jiashikai's strategy of encirclement and suppression, but two problems lie before the elders of the Military Aircraft Department.
Without solving these two problems, the eight-character policy of "mainly siege, supplemented by attack" cannot be implemented.
The first question is where the money and food come from.
Prime Minister Jia Jia's plan mentioned in the plan for the establishment of the Hebei camp, the encirclement and suppression of officers and soldiers' salaries, artillery materials, crossbow defense equipment, food, drink, vegetables, rice, etc. The supplementary steps are estimated to be at least one million taels.
This does not include pensions for officers and soldiers, silver rewards before battle, recruitment of civilian husbands, etc.
The second problem is that Linqing is an important canal town. If the canal transportation is cut off for a month or two, the capital can still sustain it. If it is cut off for a year and a half, hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners disciples in Beijing and hundreds of officials will have to go without food.
Wasn't the reason why the emperor was shocked at the beginning because the Qingshui cultists cut off the canal and cut off the lifeblood of the Qing Dynasty with one blow?
Silver is used in Sichuan, silver is used in Huguang, silver is used in the northwest, silver is used in the capital, and silver is used in Shandong.
The financial lifeblood of the Qing Dynasty depended entirely on the canal. If the problem of dredging the canal was not solved, it would be useless no matter how strong the construction of the Hebei capital was.
Regarding these two issues, Qianlong did not make arbitrary decisions. He ordered to ask the Prime Minister Jia Jiashikai, the Governor of Shandong Cathay, the Zhili Chief Envoy Yang Jingsu and others.
Soon, the prime minister and governor on the front line rushed the supplementary plan into the Yangxin Palace.
Shandong Governor Cathay, Zhili Chief Envoy Yang Jingsu, and Tianjin Governor Xu Ji all expressed support for Prime Minister Jia Jia's eight-character policy. As for the preparation costs, Shandong was willing to bear 400,000 taels, Zhili was willing to bear 300,000 taels, and Tianjin was willing to bear 100,000 taels.
, the remaining 200,000 taels will be settled by the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War.
This solved the big problem of money and food.
Regarding the canal issue, Jia Jiashikai pointed out that although the religious bandits occupied the old and new cities of Linqing and threatened the canal that ran through the west gate, the northern and southern sections of the canal were still controlled by the government troops. It was just the Linqing section that had problems.
Therefore, the grain can be "abandoned and replaced by trucks" at Liulinji, south of Linqing, and then detoured hundreds of miles eastward to the Jiamaying Canal Ferry in the northern section for shipping again.
In this way, although it takes a lot of trouble and increases losses, it can ensure that the grain arrives in Beijing in time.
Yonggui, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, is a serious, pragmatic and attentive leader, and immediately asked the Ministry of Revenue to organize professionals to evaluate the plan for changing transportation for hundreds of miles.
In the end, it was concluded that although the transshipment loss was between 10% and 20%, it was not acceptable in the long term, but it was acceptable in the short term.
There is no better solution.
The plan was approved by the court.
In order to prevent frontline generals from intercepting water transportation without permission, Yonggui cautiously wrote to the emperor, asking officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs to go to Linqing to inspect the transportation of water grains.
Qianlong agreed.
In Linqing, the Hebei camp under preparation has initially taken shape.
Next to the Grand Canal, in a temporary tent surrounded by cloth curtains.
Jia Liu ordered the big cake specially made according to his request to be served.
I cut a piece first and gave it to Shandong Governor Guotai: "This belongs to Brother Guo."
He cut another piece and gave it to Xu Ji, the governor of Tianjin: "This belongs to Mr. Xu."
He cut another piece and gave it to Yang Jingsu, the chief envoy of Zhili: "This belongs to Mr. Yang."
Looking at the remaining cake on the plate, the three senior provincial officials laughed in unison: "This belongs to the Prime Minister."