When Qianlong in the Forbidden City was wrongfully accused of stealing his wife and daughter from the Jia people of the Qing Dynasty, thousands of miles away at the Daxinkou Pier in Taiping Prefecture, Anhui, an Eight Banners Army was disembarking in sequence under the leadership of an officer, preparing to dock at Daxinkou
After a short rest, we set off to Anqing upstream.
This is also the third troop to go to Anqing from the lower reaches for reinforcements later this year.
The first two troops were the Shuiying troops who came to fight Wusongkou, and the other were the troops who came from Xuzhou on the orders of Gao Jin, the governor of Liangjiang.
The people on the shore and the fishermen on the river didn't know the difference between the Eight Banners. They all thought that these Eight Banners soldiers also came to attack Nanjing City downstream, but they didn't know that these Eight Banners soldiers actually came to Zhenjiang.
The land of Zhenjiang has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. In the early days of the People's Republic of China, in order to defend the Eight Banners of Jiangning and strengthen the coastal defense of the southeastern region, the imperial court established the Eight Banners garrison camp at Jingkou of Zhenjiang.
However, at the beginning, the Eight Banners soldiers at Jingkou were mainly composed of the Eight Banners of the Han Army. The main soldiers were Shi Tingzhu who entered the pass from the dragon and the surrendered troops of the original Ming Dynasty led by Liu Zhiyuan.
There are not many soldiers, only more than 3,000.
Over the past hundred years, the population of the Eight Banners of the Han Army in Zhenjiang has expanded to tens of thousands, and they all enjoy all the benefits of the Eight Banners like the Eight Banners of Manchu and Mongolia.
I thought that the good times would last forever, but after the current emperor Qianlong ascended the throne, he actually ordered the elimination of the Eight Banners.
There are many ways to retire, including buying out the military service in one go, introducing them to other units, and negotiating with the local government to transfer soldiers to civilians.
In short, Emperor Qianlong was determined to abolish the Eight Banners.
But we cannot treat everyone equally and come up with the two principles of "worshiping Manchuria first" and "clearing the capital first". According to these two principles, the Eight Banners of the Han Army were the first to bear the brunt.
The garrisons of the Eight Banners of the Han Army outside were the first wave of impact, and all Han troops outside the country, regardless of whether they were "Liao people" or not, were dismissed on the spot.
As a result, the Eight Banners at Jingkou in Zhenjiang were disbanded on the spot and all returned to the Han people.
The policy was not harsh. In order to prevent the Han army from causing trouble in Jingkou, the governor-general of Liangjiang, who was in charge of the dismantling of the Han army at that time, also mobilized Green Camp and Jiangning Manchu soldiers to maintain order.
When necessary, secret orders can even be issued to use force to arrest the perpetrators.
Fortunately, the Han army was timid and saw that the imperial policy could not be changed, so they had no choice but to leave the camp and become Han people.
It's just that the officials in the Liangjiang area thought that the Jingkou Eight Banners establishment would also be cut off. From then on, the Liangjiang area only had one unit to garrison the Eight Banners in Jiangning. They didn't expect that the Liangjiang officials had to go to great lengths to "drive away" tens of thousands of Han troops from the Eight Banners.
Later, the imperial court transferred 3,000 Eight Banners Mongolian soldiers and more than 10,000 family members from central Beijing to station in Jingkou, becoming the new Eight Banners officers and soldiers stationed in Zhenjiang.
Only then did the officials in the Liangjiang area know what the emperor was planning.
Many officials who came from the Han army also felt chilled by this. They had all kinds of complaints, such as cunning rabbits died and lackeys were cooked, and birds used up their good bows and hid them.
Dare to be angry but dare not speak.
Most of the Mongolian Eight Banners soldiers who came to Zhenjiang from Beijing were descendants of the Mongolian Eight Banners originally established in the early years of the Republic of China. They were mainly returnees from the Chahar, Karaqin, and Nei Khalkha tribes, but the generals and officers were still
Mainly from Manchuria.
The current deputy commander of the Eight Banners in Jingkou is Fu Qing, the former deputy general of Jiangxi Green Camp.
This person was born into a distinguished family. His ancestor was Eyidu, one of the five founding ministers of the country. His great-grandfather was Yibilong, a powerful official in the Kangxi Dynasty. His grandfather was Yinde, who also served as the minister of internal bodyguards. His aunt was Xiao Zhaoren, the second empress of the Kangxi Emperor.
Queen!
His father was Aibida, who served as governor of many places, his uncle was Neqin, who once led an army to conquer Jinchuan, and his uncle was Aragon, who was called a fierce general of the Qing Dynasty by the emperor.
Dingxi General Feng Shengfu, who died for his country in Huguang, was Fuqing's cousin!
In addition to these prominent family backgrounds, Fu Qing is also the brother-in-law of the current emperor, because his sister is a shun noble in the palace.
Anyone familiar with the inside story of the palace knows that the well-born Shungui almost became Qianlong's third queen!
After Queen Nala was deposed, the Queen Mother wanted to appoint a daughter of a clan as her queen. The only people in the palace who met this condition were Shungui people with prominent family backgrounds.
However, the emperor wanted to make the imperial concubine his queen, but he and the empress dowager disagreed. Mother and son failed to reach an agreement, resulting in the palace being vacant for many years.
This also caused Shun Guiren to miss the opportunity to become the queen, and now he is still just a nobleman.
There are eight levels of concubines in the palace. The nobles are only the fifth level. The following are Changzai and Yaosheng.
However, no matter how low the status is, the noble woman is still the emperor's woman.
Therefore, Fuqing, the emperor's brother-in-law, was naturally cared for by the Liangjiang officialdom. In addition, with his prominent background, his official career had been prosperous in recent years.
As a result, his crime of abandoning the defense of Nanchang along with the governor Haicheng was not investigated. Instead, he was recommended by Gao Jin, the governor of Liangjiang, as the deputy commander of the Eight Banners at Jingkou.
The deputy general is a second-rank official and a flag bearer, so he is naturally much more noble and dignified than the second-rank green camp deputy general.
Zhenjiang is also a prosperous place, with much more oil and water than Nanchang. It is a place to raise people.
It's just that Fuqing never expected that he had just "escaped from the tiger's mouth" in Jiangxi, and less than half a month after taking office, he received an urgent document from the Ministry of War, ordering him to lead his troops to Anqing to fend off thieves.
This made Fu Qing so anxious that he stamped his feet. However, there were so many military orders that he dared not disobey them.
He had no choice but to take the 1,600 Mongolian Eight Banners officers and soldiers and rush to Anqing by boat. It took them a few days to reach Taiping Mansion.
At this rate, it will take at least seven or eight days to reach Anqing.
The subordinate officers were worried that if they marched like this, their superiors would blame them.
Fuqing was not worried about this. The reason was already thought out when he set out. It was probably because the Northern soldiers were not good at boating, so many sergeants were seasick, which delayed the advance.
After landing, he handed over the work of arranging the troops to his subordinates and went to the town to find an inn to stay.
After drinking and eating with all his friends, Fu Qing wiped his mouth and went upstairs. Before leaving, he glanced at Barda, the co-leader in charge of logistics work. The latter naturally understood and called the shopkeeper to whisper a few words.
The shopkeeper agreed repeatedly, called the waiter and whispered a few words. After a while, the waiter went to bring over Ma, a woman who did a half-open business in the town.
But when Mr. Ma was about to go upstairs to do business, someone caught sight of Deputy Dutong Fu first.
"Who are you?"
Looking at the bannerman brought by the guards who claimed to be the bannerman of the Central Military Academy, Fu Qing was a little confused, because he had never seen this person before, and he seemed very unfamiliar to him.
The bannerman "Ba Ba" stepped forward to beat Qian, and after saluting according to the rules, he said softly: "When I return to the capital, it doesn't matter who the slave is, the important thing is this."
"What?"
Fuqing curiously looked at the banner man's hand, and immediately his eyes tightened, because what this man was offering was actually his sister Yunying's personal jade pendant.
Yunying is a noble person in the palace.
There are two jade pendants of the same kind, which were made by Fuqing Amma Aibida with a lot of money for his two daughters. One is engraved with English characters and the other is engraved with light characters.
"Why is this jade pendant here with you?"
Fu Qing looked solemn. Ever since the chaos broke out in Beijing, his sister Yunying and his younger brothers and sisters in Beijing had mysteriously disappeared.
He asked people to search for the whereabouts of his brothers and sisters for a long time, but no trace of the whereabouts of his brothers and sisters was found. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Zongren Mansion, the Shuntian Mansion and other relevant units also searched, but they still could not find any clues about the disappearance of the Fuqing family.
Later, for unknown reasons, various departments suddenly stopped searching for Shun Guiren and his family. The case was sealed and became an unsolved case in the 41st year of Qianlong's reign.
As the elder brother, Fu Qing didn't know about this, so he still spent a lot of money to hire people to travel around, just to find the whereabouts of his relatives.
It’s really like seeing a person in life and a corpse in death.
Deep down in his heart, Fu Qing was mentally prepared that most of his younger siblings would be killed during the palace turmoil. Today's search was just a matter of doing his best and obeying fate. Unexpectedly, more than a year later, his sister's personal belongings would appear again.
This made Fuqing feel nervous and worried.
The visitor seemed to understand the thoughts of the Vice-President Fu, and said: "So that Lord Dutong will know that everything is well with your sister and brother. My master specially asked someone to take care of you, especially Mr. Shun, and my master even more so."
Extraordinarily favored”
These words made Fuqing frown immediately, because these words sent too many signals and were too strong.
The visitor ignored Fu Dutong's reaction and said that he was sending a message to Fu Dutong on the order of his master.
"What words?"
Fu Qing didn't show it on his face, but his heart was already beating wildly, and he even had murderous intentions.
"My master said that since ancient times, Uncle Lang's family has been a close relative."
The person who came simply said this.
There is no following.
However, Fu Qing deduced some information from these simple words, suppressed the waves in his heart, pretended to be calm and asked the visitor: "Who is your master?"
The visitor did not hide anything and said frankly: "Prince He Shuorui and General Fuyuan are my masters."
"What?!"
Fuqing stood on the spot in shock.
In Anqing City, Jiangning General Songchun also received a letter from home.
There was only one line in the letter - "Old cousin, can you help me?"