Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 11 The Knife in Hong Xiuquan's Hand
Outside the mountain road, Li Dianyuan was riding on a horse, holding a Western telescope, looking at the mountain road in front of him.

Behind him was a large group of crooked Qing soldiers, each of them looking dejected as if they had just suffered a defeat.

When they first set out from Xunzhou, the Xunzhou troops were marching in a fairly orderly formation, barely looking like an army.

However, after two days of traveling, everyone in Xunzhou Association was severely exhausted. Now that they stopped, they inevitably became slack.

Looking at the shadowy figures of the God Worshipping Society followers on the mountain path, Li Dianyuan's expression became slightly solemn.

The thief was well prepared!
In this case, their plan to capture the Mountain Village by surprise and wipe out the God Worshipping Society would fail.

Beside him, Pingnan County Magistrate Ni Tao asked.

"Lieutenant General Li, what are we waiting for? When will we send troops to wipe out the evil cult rebels?"

Ni Tao couldn't hold back his excitement and was eager to make achievements and get promoted.

Upon hearing this, Li Dianyuan shook his head and said.

"The situation in the mountains is still unclear. If we rashly go into the mountains at this time, we will undoubtedly be taking a military risk."

"Let's set up camp and rest first!"

Before going on the expedition, Li Dianyuan was quite ambitious.

But now that he really had to engage in battle with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom bandits, and looking at the finished state of the Xunzhou Association under his command, Li Dianyuan couldn't help but become "cautious".

Upon hearing this, Ni Tao spoke with some impatience.

"We came to attack Shanren Village in order to capture the two bandit leaders, Hong and Feng, by surprise, and then wipe out the God Worshipping Society."

"If we delay here for too long, the God Worshipping Society will send troops from Jintian Village to reinforce Shanren Village. Then won't we be attacked from both inside and outside?"

"By then, I'm afraid this trip will be in vain!"

Upon hearing this, Li Dianyuan still shook his head.

"That's not OK."

"My brothers are very tired after two days of traveling. They need to rest before they can fight again."

"If I drag them into battle now, it would be irresponsible to them."

"Also, instead of attacking the mountain village, we should lead the army to block the mountain road and wait outside the mountain for the followers of the God Worshipping Society to come out of the mountain, and then capture them all in one fell swoop."

Of course, the reason why Li Dianyuan said this was not because he really cared about the life and death of the grassroots soldiers.

It was because if too many people died, he, as the chief officer, would inevitably be implicated, which was something Li Dianyuan did not want to see.

Upon hearing this, Ni Tao was still unwilling but had no choice but to accept the reality.

"Okay, we'll all listen to Lieutenant General Li!"

There's nothing we can do about it. Who told him that he has no military power?
He can't fight a war relying solely on the militia he has.

Now he can only follow Li Dianyuan.

……

"Mr. Feng, the Qing army has set up camp outside the mountain road, but they did not rush into the mountain. They may be trying to lure the snake out of its hole and catch the turtle in the urn."

Hu Yihuang came up to Feng Yunshan and began to report.

This was the news just sent back by the secret sentry he had stationed outside the mountain.

Feng Yunshan frowned when he heard this.

But before he could say anything, Hong Xiuquan came up to him amidst the crowd and started speaking.

"In that case, we should just hold our ground and wait for help!"

"With God's blessing, I believe reinforcements will arrive soon."

Judging from the current situation, the passages in and out of the mountain are heavily surrounded by the Qing army, and the Qing army may even have an ambush outside the mountain.

In this case, even if they can break out, they will have to pay a heavy price.

In Hong Xiuquan's view, since they had already sent people to ask for help in advance, they could just wait for the reinforcements to arrive.

No need to take risks!
Upon hearing this, Feng Yunshan, Hu Yihuang and others clasped their fists.

"The leader is wise!" As a small fry, Li Yi also followed suit and clasped his fists to praise Hong Xiuquan's wisdom.

……

Outside the mountain road, the Xunzhou group camped and rested for half a day, and their strength was almost restored.

Seeing that there was no movement in the mountains, Li Dianyuan could not help but send people into the mountains to investigate.

But once people enter the mountains, they never come back.

Li Dianyuan pulled the reins anxiously, and the warhorse under him seemed to sense his master's emotions and kept digging the ground with its hooves.

Pingnan County Magistrate Ni Tao rode up to Li Dianyuan on horseback and made a suggestion.

"The bandits in the mountains have not made any moves yet. It is not a good idea to continue like this."

"Deputy General Li, let's take the initiative!"

Ni Tao said, unable to contain his emotions.

He is not young this year. He passed the imperial examination when he was nearly fifty years old and has been working as a county magistrate for many years.

If he cannot gain some merit and get promoted, he may really have to work as a county magistrate until he retires.

Upon hearing this, Li Dianyuan thought for a moment, looked up at the sky, and began to think in his heart.

Taking the initiative to attack may be the best option at the moment.

Because he didn't know when the reinforcements from the God Worshipping Society would arrive.

If he fails to break into the Shanren Village and capture the two thieves Hong and Feng before the reinforcements from the God Worshipping Society arrive, his plan will fail.

This is something he cannot accept!
Taking a deep breath, Li Dianyuan finally made up his mind to take a strategic risk and spoke.

"Pass the military order. The entire army will enter the mountain immediately. With Wang An's troops as the vanguard, launch an offensive towards the mountain village. There must be no mistakes."

In Li Dianyuan's opinion, this first wave of troops entering the mountains would be most likely to encounter an ambush by religious bandits.

If we encounter an ambush, the casualties will probably be huge.

In this case, he would naturally not let his confidants be cannon fodder.

In his opinion, Wang An is the best choice at the moment.

Anyway, he was already thinking about taking down Wang An afterwards and replacing him with his own man.

Therefore, preparing to weaken Wang An’s troops now is definitely the best option.

For him, this matter is like killing two birds with one stone!
Soon, Wang An received the order to march. His face turned bitter, but he had no choice but to order the troops to prepare for the attack.

……

On the other side, the support troops led by Meng De'en and Wei Changhui were already halfway there.

A large group of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom soldiers and horses marched along the official road towards Huazhou in Pingnan County.

"We have to go faster."

"The Shanren Village doesn't have many people to begin with. Once the Qing monsters invade, I'm afraid the Shanren Village won't be able to hold out for long."

Meng De'en was riding on the horse, and his expression could not help but be anxious.

Wei Changhui on the side also spoke up.

"Order the entire army to speed up the march. There must be no mistakes and we must reach Huazhou as soon as possible to reinforce us."

It was not just Men De'en who was anxious, Wei Changhui was the same.

Unlike Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui, one of whom could invite the Father in Heaven to descend to earth, and the other could invite the Brother in Heaven to descend to earth, Wei Changhui was just an "ordinary person".

If he wanted to survive in the God Worshipping Society, an organization with a strong religious atmosphere, his best choice was to cling to Hong Xiuquan.

This is what he thinks and does.

For example, in the historical Tianjing Incident, he was the knife in Hong Xiuquan's hand...

(End of this chapter)