Chapter 125 Oath of Oath

Chapter 125 Oath of Oath

Chapter 125 Oath of Oath
The crying child gets the milk. Shao Quanzhong reported heavy losses in the Wuwei battle, and now he has received another 500,000 taels of silver from the imperial court.

The imperial court really liked butchers like Shao Quanzhong, who dared to be ruthless in suppressing bandits and was also ruthless to his own people. In order to wipe out the Guangdong bandits, he dared to break the dam and let his subordinates die together with the enemy.

Shao Quanzhong had a history of massacring bandits in Chenhu Lake and Guiliu City. He reported that eight thousand people from both sides were drowned in one battle. Not only did Qiao Songnian believe it, but the imperial court also believed it.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain how his new soldiers wiped out Yang Fuqing's elite troops. From other channels, the court did receive news that Yang Fuqing's 5,000 elite troops had disappeared, and there was no doubt that the Taiping Army's second route of reinforcements had been completely wiped out.

The Qing army did this a lot. Zhang Cunren dug the Yellow River to flood the Yuyuan Army, Senggelinqin diverted water from the Grand Canal to flood Li Kaifang's Northern Expedition, and not long ago, Duolong'a used the Mata Stone water to flood Lin Shaozhang's reinforcements.

When the Qing Dynasty went to war, we basically did not consider whether innocent civilians would be harmed or whether the means were too cruel.

In fact, the Yangtze River is not an above-ground river like the Yellow River. Except for the Jingjiang River section, the river surface is usually below the ground in other places, and people cannot be flooded at all. The Yangtze River levee exists to prevent flood peaks.

When Zhang Zhidong sent people to breach the dike, there was no flood peak at all. It was just a slightly higher water level during the summer flood season. Except for the low-lying river channel, the swamp was only as deep as a person's waist, and no one could be drowned. The purpose of releasing water was to prevent Chen Yucheng's reinforcements.

But who would have sent people to monitor the water level of the Yangtze River in advance like Zhang Zhidong did? Who knew how high the river was at that time?

Butcher Shao's reputation was set in stone and he became well-known in the imperial court.

In Qiao Songnian's opinion, Shao Quanzhong suffered heavy losses this time, and the compensation alone would cost more than 800,000 taels of silver. The money given by the court was only enough to recruit soldiers, so it was reasonable for the court to promote him twice to the position of prefect.

Fortunately, Shao Quanzhong is good at making money. It is said that he got another 3 million US dollars from the American devils. Lord Qiao is not worried that Shao Quanzhong will not have enough money.

In fact, the three million dollars had not yet been received. Most of the money borrowed from the British was invested in a host of industries including money houses, pharmacies, canal shipping fleets, coal and iron mines. If so many people really died, Shao Quanzhong would be at a loss immediately.

"Congratulations to my adoptive father on his promotion to the governor of Anhui. Now he has finally entered the ranks of high-ranking officials."

Qiao Songnian was also very pleased with himself. He had a good eye for talent, and promoting Shao Quanzhong was the proudest achievement of his life. Without his godson's meritorious service in the battlefield, how could he have been promoted so quickly?

Although the governor is at the same level as the provincial governor, how can the provincial governor compare to the governor who is in charge of both military and political affairs?
It is a stretch to call the provincial governor and the provincial judge a frontier official. Only when one becomes the governor in charge of a province can one truly and proudly claim that he is one of the top rulers of the Qing Dynasty.

Mr. Qiao was a little modest. "The state affairs are corrupt. It's too difficult for your father to be the governor. Anqing is still in the hands of the Guangdong bandits. In the south, Chen Yucheng is entrenched in Tongcheng. His uncle Gong Tianan Chen Decai led Xiao Tianfu Chen Zhiguang, the pseudo military and political minister Gao Yucheng, and the pseudo spring official and deputy prime minister Lan Chengchun to entrenched in Luzhou. In the north, the Nian bandit Zhang Lexing is entrenched in Woyang. The rebels are everywhere. I, the governor of Anhui, cannot take office at all. I can only wander in Taizhou, just like the two governors of Jiangsu, Xue Huan and Li Hongzhang."

Shao Quanzhong didn't care. "If it weren't for the chaotic times, the imperial court wouldn't be willing to hand over a province and a half to us to raise troops. I estimate that Anqing will be captured in a month at most. When the Hunan Army is free, Chen Yucheng won't be able to stay in Tongcheng for long. As for the remaining rebels, they are insignificant. Without Chen Yucheng in the front, it will be a piece of cake to deal with them."

Qiao Songnian still shook his head, "But if we rely on the Hunan Army to conquer Anhui, it will be difficult to send the gods away. It will be difficult for us men to control Anhui."

Shao Quanzhong puffed out his chest and said, "My infantry will be fully trained in two months. When I take up my post in Fengyang, I will beat them to pieces. I am not bragging, but when it comes to the ability to seize territory, even those rotten garlics in the Hunan Army piled together cannot compare to me."

"Even after driving away the rebels, Anhui still has a lot of problems. Above them are the Liangjiang Governor-General Zeng Shuai and the Grain Transport Governor Yuan Jiasan. Yuan Jiasan is stationed in your Fengyang to supervise the war. If Hu Linyi had not been seriously ill and recommended Li Xuyi to be the governor of E Prefecture, it would never have been my father's turn to be the governor of Anhui.

Now Li Xuyi and Duolong'a are in Tongcheng to contain Chen Yucheng, Song Qing's Yijun has formed an independent army in Bozhou, Miao Peilin is entrenched in Shouzhou, claiming to have 100,000 troops, and they are caught between the Guangdong bandits and the court. They are troublesome in the end. We can't drive away any of these masters, and it is too difficult to control Anhui."

Shao Quanzhong laughed loudly, "Adoptive father, what I need is your reputation as a governor. If these 'friendly troops' don't leave, I'm good at beating them up. When the time comes, I'll be responsible for making trouble, and you, adoptive father, will just be responsible for taking the blame for me."

Qiao Songnian puffed out his chest and said, "As long as you can fight, Yuting, no matter how big the mess you make, your father will help you bear it."

The father and son cooperated happily and laughed at each other.

…………

Two months later, a grand military parade was held in Hailing City with colorful flags flying and drums beating.

Lord Qiao Songnian, the Anhui Governor-General and the Governor of Jiangning, who was also in charge of the grain depots in the south and north of the Yangtze River, brought a group of officials from Anhui and Jiangning stationed in Taizhou to Wanghai Tower to review the Huai Army.

Shao Quanzhong, the prefect of Fengyang and commander of the Huai Army, announced the formation of the Huai Army infantry and led a town of Huai Army soldiers, totaling 11,301 people, to be reviewed. Ahem, the extra number was Shao Quanzhong himself.

Among these troops, the combat troops include five battalions on the two wings of the infantry, one artillery battalion, one cavalry battalion, and one engineering battalion, totaling 7,450 combat troops, and 3,851 people in the command organization, logistics, and civilian staff of various troops.

Before the military parade began, dozens of officials at all levels felt that it was boring. The Huai Army had spent millions since its establishment, but it had only trained more than 10,000 soldiers. Lord Qiao and Shao Quanzhong were too greedy.

In this era when any warlord could claim to have tens of thousands of soldiers, a number of more than 10,000 people seemed too small.

What they didn't know was that although Lord Qiao was not an honest official, neither he nor his son embezzled a single penny when it came to supplying the Huai Army.

To develop the only fully modernized force in the Qing Dynasty and train it to world-class standards requires an enormous amount of money.

In fact, before the outbreak of the Civil War, the United States of America had built an army of this level with all its national strength, but it only had a total of 16,000 people.

As soon as the parade troops appeared, all the officials, except Qiao Songnian and Wu Wenxi who had expected it, were shocked.

At the same time, a thought came to their mind: if this unit had appeared at Baliqiao a year and a half ago, the British and French devils would never have been able to enter the capital.

Walking in the front was the newly formed military band of the Huai Army, with trumpets and drums playing in unison, and the tune was said to be the Prussian "Emperor Wilhelm's Training Song." However, ahem, no one knew whether this song existed in Prussia.

Shao Quanzhong appeared next. He was dressed in military uniform, wearing the shoulder straps of a major general, a pistol slung across his belt, white gloves, holding a command knife in his hand, and riding a tall horse. He looked handsome and energetic, and looked very impressive.

Behind him was a cavalry of personal guards equipped with long and short rifles, led by Zhang Siwen, who wore colonel's epaulettes.

Arriving in front of Wanghai Tower, Shao Quanzhong raised his command knife with his left hand and shouted, "Salute!"

The guards followed suit, saluted with their right white gloves on their wide-brimmed hats, and looked to the right front, saluting the Wanghai Tower.

Behind them was the cavalry battalion led by Grant, followed by five infantry battalions, an engineering battalion with a large amount of equipment, logistics, medical troops, and military police troops towing Hale rockets, food, ammunition, marching tents, and hot air balloons, and finally, a reinforced artillery battalion consisting of six companies with thirty-nine artillery pieces of various types pulled by a large number of horses as the core.

As each column passed the reviewing tower, the commander in front would raise his sword like Shao Quanzhong and lead his subordinates in saluting.

It was the first time for officials from the two provinces and the people of Hailing City to see what a complete modern mixed division looked like, and they were immediately full of confidence in the future of their hometown.

With such troops protecting them, Jiangning Provincial Government and Anhui will be the safest places in our Qing Dynasty in the future.

Ronghui, who was pregnant, and Wenxiu, whose pregnancy was not very obvious, watched the ceremony in Wanghai Tower under the protection of a large number of servants and five elderly people.

Both of Shao Quanzhong's women had dazed looks in their eyes, and they looked admiringly at their high-spirited husbands.

In front of Rong Hui's eyes, she seemed to see the entire China with chimneys standing in rows, machines roaring, steam trains everywhere, ironclad ships showing off their power at sea, and a grand wedding ceremony being held in front of the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum...

Wen Xiu was in a trance, and felt that her extravagant wish of wearing a phoenix crown was not so far away...

The soldiers on parade passed through Hailing City and lined up at the dock. The transport fleet of more than 300 large canal ships belonging to the Wen Group had already assembled here.

The soldiers of a town will no longer return to the camp, but will directly take a boat into Anhui to escort Shao Quanzhong, the prefect of Fengyang, to take office.

Shao Quanzhong swore an oath at Hailing Wharf to march westward. The Huai Army was initially formed and finally left Shaojiaweizi, where it was born, and began its journey to conquer the world.

(End of this chapter)