Chapter 10 of 10

Chapter 10

13 min read3,335 words

The Taiping generals were in good spirits, which meant that the Qing army generals were not faring well. Wei Ze had just transported the recovered goods to Yong'an City when Feng Yunshan obtained Wei Ze's letter from Yang Xiuching that very evening. The commander of the Qing army's Northern Camp in Yong'an, Xiang Rong, finally finished entertaining the imperial guards sent by the imperial envoy Seshang A and returned to his main tent with a serious expression.

At noon, the Taiping army suddenly launched an attack, forcing Xiang Rong to lead the Northern Camp troops to counter. However, the Taiping army seemed to be playing some kind of trick, as they only harassed and then retreated. Xiang Rong withdrew his troops in the afternoon and only then learned that three imperial guards had arrived at the Northern Camp.

The rank of the imperial guards was naturally not comparable to Xiang Rong's, but they were people who could directly report to the emperor. Moreover, the three were delivering a letter from the imperial envoy Seshang A, so Xiang Rong could not neglect them. One of the imperial guards was injured, and Xiang Rong personally comforted him before hosting a banquet for the other two guards. It wasn't until evening that everything was settled.

Xiang Rong was 60 years old, a veteran general of the Qing dynasty. With his experience, even if he couldn't remain completely unperturbed, he could usually see things clearly. However, at this moment, Xiang Rong couldn't remain indifferent to what had happened. His concern was not entirely about the nearly a thousand pounds of salt and gunpowder. No matter how difficult transportation was in Guangxi, the Qing army's Northern Camp in Yong'an was not short of such supplies. What Xiang Rong truly cared about was whether the imperial envoy Seshang A would support his anti-bandit strategy.

Xiang Rong commanded the Northern Camp in Yong'an, while Wulan Tai commanded the Southern Camp. Both had been fighting the Taiping army since the beginning of their uprising and had suffered defeats at their hands.

As a long-time opponent of the Taiping army, Xiang Rong had already led his troops to besiege the Taiping army shortly after the Jintian Uprising. After six or seven months of fighting, on September 11, 1851, the Taiping army abandoned their base in Zijin Mountain and broke through to Pingnan. Xiang Rong led his troops in pursuit but was ambushed by the Taiping army in Guancun, suffering a major defeat. Xiang Rong was deeply frustrated and lamented, "I have been in the military for several decades and have never seen such a bandit. Since I started dealing with this bandit, I have fought dozens of battles, and I have never suffered such a defeat!" Afterward, he retreated to Pingnan County and claimed illness to avoid further action. The Taiping army was able to move freely. The Qing court, citing Xiang Rong's negligence and delay, dismissed him from his post.

However, Wulan Tai, who was responsible for suppressing the Taiping army, also suffered repeated defeats. A few days after Xiang Rong was dismissed, he was reinstated and given command of the Northern Camp.

Xiang Rong and Wulan Tai did not have any deep personal grudges, but they had a very traditional conflict between generals. Yong'an was surrounded by mountains, making it relatively easy to besiege. The purpose of the Qing army setting up the Northern and Southern Camps was to surround the Taiping army on all sides and annihilate them. As capable generals who had both suffered defeats at the hands of the Taiping army, they had a serious strategic disagreement.

Wulan Tai advocated "surrounding and attacking," gradually eliminating the Taiping army's outposts outside Yong'an City and ultimately annihilating them inside the city. Xiang Rong, on the other hand, advocated "letting them out and then attacking," a traditional strategy of leaving one side open to lure the enemy out.

Unfortunately, Wulan Tai's attempts to eliminate the outposts were unsuccessful, and Xiang Rong's strategy of leaving one side open also failed, even resulting in significant losses.

Thus, the conflict erupted. Since neither side was blameless, neither was willing to admit their mistakes. Xiang Rong and Wulan Tai both believed the other was unwilling to play a supporting role, and the conflict escalated. The lack of cooperation between the Northern and Southern Camps led to no significant progress in the siege.

Of course, Xiang Rong, being a veteran, was better at learning from his failures. After his reinstatement, he changed his approach and adopted Wulan Tai's strategy of "surrounding and attacking." He first moved his camp from 30 li to 15 li from Yong'an City and launched a fierce attack on the Taiping army's outpost to the north. He aimed to eliminate the outer outposts before advancing to Yong'an City. In January, Xiang Rong moved his camp several times, engaging in bloody battles with the Taiping army, and finally moved his camp to just outside the Taiping army's forward positions.

Changing strategies was something that could be done but not openly discussed. Xiang Rong did not want the imperial envoy to use this as an excuse to suppress him or to give Wulan Tai control of the war.

"Sir, your worries are unnecessary," the secretary knew Xiang Rong's concerns and said calmly while sipping tea.

"How so?" Xiang Rong, who trusted the secretary greatly, asked anxiously.

"Sir, since the imperial envoy has such a character, and Wulan Tai has been ineffective in suppressing the bandits, the emperor is already dissatisfied with him. The imperial envoy, having suffered losses from them, will not repeat the same mistake," the secretary said calmly. "In my opinion, this letter will reveal the imperial envoy's current thoughts to you."

"Really?" Xiang Rong had already received the letter from Seshang A, which the imperial guards had brought, but he had not yet opened it. Hearing the secretary's words, he immediately opened the letter. After reading it once, Xiang Rong's frown completely relaxed. The letter did not say much; Seshang A ordered Xiang Rong to dismiss a thousand "unwilling to fight" Guilin soldiers. These Guilin soldiers were not originally under Xiang Rong's command, and dismissing them only required Seshang A's order. However, Seshang A specifically assigned this task to Xiang Rong, the commander of the Northern Camp. Apart from this, the letter contained no other content.

In the political arena, many things did not need to be explained. This simple order clearly expressed the imperial envoy Seshang A's firm support for Xiang Rong.

After carefully reading the letter several times and confirming that he had not missed anything, Xiang Rong's heart, which had been hanging, finally settled. He handed the letter to the secretary and finally relaxed, picking up his teacup to drink tea. The secretary also read the letter carefully and said with a smile, "Congratulations, sir, you will no longer be slandered by Yao Ying."

"Indeed!" Xiang Rong responded calmly. A few months ago, Seshang A had found Xiang Rong unreliable and followed Wulan Tai's advice in all actions. With Yao Ying, Seshang A's aide, completely favoring Wulan Tai, Yao Ying and Wulan Tai had made it impossible for Xiang Rong to appeal to Seshang A. This time, it seemed such a situation would not occur again.

The secretary, more adept at political matters than Xiang Rong, immediately advised, "Sir, this time we have heard that the emperor has urged the imperial envoy Seshang A to 'supervise nearby.' If the imperial envoy still relies solely on Yao Ying and Wulan Tai, he would be supervising the battle in Xinwei. However, so far, the imperial envoy has not mentioned this. Instead, he has sent imperial guards to our Northern Camp. This indicates that the imperial envoy intends to supervise the battle at the Northern Camp. Since the imperial envoy has this intention, please invite him to the Northern Camp as soon as possible."

Xiang Rong was enlightened by these words. Since the Qing army had both Northern and Southern Camps in Yong'an, the camp where the imperial envoy supervised the battle would become the main camp. Xiang Rong immediately responded, "If so, I will write a letter now to invite the imperial envoy to the Northern Camp."

The secretary shook his head, "Sir, during the banquet, the imperial guard mentioned the rebels' hairstyle. You might as well investigate this first."

A few days ago, the three imperial guards arrived at Xiang Rong's camp. The leading imperial guard, Kelongduo, repeatedly asked about the identity of the Taiping army and the purpose of the "Worship of God Society." He was particularly interested in the hairstyles of the Taiping army. Xiang Rong was initially puzzled. Fortunately, the secretary was not just a figurehead. After inquiring from the Qing army's Liu Buzong, who was in charge of transporting supplies, he learned that the attackers had hairstyles similar to those of Taoist priests. The secretary finally understood what was happening.

The coiled hairstyle was a traditional Han Chinese hairstyle. The Qing dynasty feared nothing more than the Han people restoring their own rule. In the past, the Qing dynasty had killed countless resisters to force the Han people to adopt the queue hairstyle. For the Qing, the restoration of Han hairstyles and clothing was a nightmare. If the Han people restored their traditional hairstyles and clothing, the Qing, with their queue hairstyles, would stand out. This would not only mean the fall of the dynasty but also the ruthless slaughter of the Manchu people. The loss of the nation and the extinction of the race were not just metaphors. The Qing were extremely sensitive about the queue.

Xiang Rong, however, did not care about this at all. He believed that as long as the Taiping army was destroyed and the rebels killed, the rest of the issues were insignificant. His priority was to invite the imperial envoy to the Northern Camp as soon as possible to quickly annihilate the Taiping army in Yong'an City.

Seeing Xiang Rong's indifference, the secretary mentioned the famous "Soul-Stealing Case" during the Qianlong era. This case was originally a minor economic dispute. The local officials handled it simply, but in their reports, they included a rumor about the case.

The rumor was absurd, claiming that someone could turn a person into a zombie-like puppet by cutting their queue.

When Qianlong learned of this, he became extremely agitated, as if someone had kicked him in the groin. He immediately launched a grand investigation. The queue was a symbol of the Qing's rule over the Han people, and cutting it meant the end of Qing rule.

Thus, this minor case became a major scandal.

The secretary, well-versed in history and the political system, knew how important the queue was to the Qing court.

The secretary had read books. "Since the age of binding hair" was a common phrase in Han literature, but it had no meaning in the Qing era. Learning from the imperial guards that the rebels had real bound hair, the secretary knew this was a serious matter.

"What should we do?" Xiang Rong, a military man, had no concept of this. However, he trusted the secretary and could not think of a way to immediately investigate the hairstyles within the Taiping army.

"Sir, more and more Heaven and Earth Society members have been escaping from Yong'an City recently. We can ask them," the secretary suggested a more detailed method.

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