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From 1851 to 1855, Tian Di Hui and the navy launched at least four large-scale attacks in order to seize Wuzhou, an extremely important city on the Pearl River. When Vézé arrived in Wuzhou in 1852, the siege he saw was the second.
The main soldiers were made up of the citizens of the city, and they were the backbone of the defense. After the city was breached, the citizens were destined to be plundered by the sieging forces, and the citizens in the city would immediately fall into a state of destitution. Therefore, the defenders had the mentality of unity and forged deep friendships in the struggle.
However, such a military defense force yielded to the Liberation Army in 1855. Faced with the powerlessness of the Liberation Army in the air and on the ground, the confused militia was the first to lose the will to fight. "Flying in the sky" meant mastering the power of immortals. The weapons of the Liberation Army flying in the sky strongly shocked the leader of the militia. After the Liberation Army occupied Wuzhou, they did not plunder or kill. This result was not bad.
However, when the Regulations on the Administration of the Militia were officially handed over to the head of the militia, they understood that the Liberation Army did not intend to follow the old Manchu Qing practice. The militia, which had once been evenly matched with the government because of the war, was an organization that the Liberation Army thought had to be banned. This attitude undoubtedly made the militia leaders decide to completely turn against the Liberation Army.
Of course, if they wanted to completely fall out with the Liberation Army, it was still not enough to rely on the civilians in the city. Their own businesses were in the city, and fighting in the city would only lead to the destruction of their families. Most importantly, even if their families were destroyed, they still did not have the confidence to defeat the Liberation Army. As for the local government established in Wuzhou by the recovered Martial Manor, these militia leaders hated them to the bone, but they also felt powerless. Other than contacting each other and expressing that they would never apply for the identity of a regular militia, they became more honest.
However, things changed in September 1855, when the local officials who had been banished by the Liberation Army secretly returned. What they brought back was a letter of appointment from the Manchu Qing imperial court, as well as an announcement calling the heroes of Guangdong and Guangxi to rise up and overthrow the Liberation Army.
In the announcement, the Emperor of Manchu Qing, Xianfeng, explicitly instructed that anyone who could kill a single soldier of Vézé would be rewarded with a scholarly title, and anyone who could occupy a county town under Vézé's control would be made a county magistrate. Those who could occupy the prefectural cities controlled by Vézé would be made prefectural prefects, and those who could occupy provincial capitals would immediately be made inspector-generals.
The leaders of the militia could not help but feel excited. In their eyes, the Liberation Army was nothing special. These fellows had guns and cannons, but did the Qing Army and the militia only have fire sticks? As for the Liberation Army's ability to fly in the sky, it was originally shrouded in mystery. This made the leaders of the militia very fearful.
However, this fear was broken by the Commander-in-Chief's Office. They implemented public schools and promoted the new natural sciences. Many parents were very interested in sending their children to school, but they didn't dare to send them to the schools of the Commander-in-Chief's Office. Thus, the Commander-in-Chief's Office organized a number of popular science activities, especially the display of hot air balloons. After seeing the simple principles of the hot air balloons with their own eyes, the parents finally understood that it was a large Kongming lantern. The operator was an ordinary human, and the materials used to make it were ordinary. There were no immortals teaching them magic.
Although these popular science activities did cause many citizens to send their children to new schools, the leaders of the militia finally understood that their opponents were a group of mortals who were good at pretending to be mysterious. After confirming this, the leaders of the militia quickly began to move.
When they began to link up on a large scale, they discovered that there were far more people in the Wuzhou area who opposed the Commander-in-Chief's Office than they had imagined. The officials and troops of the Qing Army all hoped to be able to fight their way back to Wuzhou. However, these people were few in number. In total, there were less than 5,000 people. The Liberation Army stationed in Wuzhou had more than 10,000 people and horses, and they had the advantage of city defense. If they fought, there was no chance of victory.
Left with no choice, these people began to contact even more heroes. Unexpectedly, after learning of this news, many heroes of the navy also joined in. At this time, a portion of the Wuzhou troops began to retreat in the direction of Zhaoqing. Many militia members had joined the police system established by the Liberation Army. The news they received was that the Liberation Army troops had begun to attack other places. Because the total number of troops was not enough, they had to transfer troops from Wuzhou.
These militia leaders were skeptical. They entrusted Zhaoqing's friends and relatives to inquire about this matter and received the same news. At this time, the Liberation Army had already controlled almost half of Guangdong. Each city needed to be defended, and there was an extremely insufficient number of troops. Not only had Wuzhou's Liberation Army been mobilized, but Zhaoqing's Liberation Army had also been mobilized. Furthermore, according to rumors, the Liberation Army was fighting with the Qing Army in Fujian. Many troops were moving in the direction of Fujian.
As if to confirm this news, the 5,000 Liberation Army guarding Wuzhou moved another 1,000 people to Zhaoqing. It was clear that they planned to continue to reduce their troops. The militia leaders finally could not restrain themselves. Although 3,000 to 4,000 people was a great power, they could no longer guard Wuzhou like an iron bucket like they had in the first few months. These forces, which had opposed the Liberation Army as their goal, finally summoned up the courage to hold a leadership meeting.
On the surface, the leaders were a few officials who had secretly run back to Wuzhou, but they were tactful. The highest-ranking official was the secretary in charge of the treasury, Qin Deli. From the beginning, he had made it clear that he only wanted credit and then he would return to the capital to receive his reward. As for after Wuzhou was seized, the people who would be appointed prefectural magistrate would naturally be these people who had contributed. He would definitely not fight for this position.
As the boss of the Wuzhou militia, Li Shouchang was naturally elected as the leader by the militia leaders. At this meeting, Li Shouchang also saw the representatives of the other powers. The first was naturally the representative of the Qing Army. The Qing Army guarding Wuzhou was the Green Camp. This group of people ate the food of being soldiers and had developed many bad habits in the city. They were tainted with wine, women, avarice, eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. Many of them were also addicted to smoking.
After the Liberation Army seized Wuzhou, they did not accept them. Instead, they were dismissed. These Qing Army did not know how to farm and did not want to farm. After being dismissed, many people simply became bandits. However, in these chaotic times of war, and Guangxi was a place where the people were valiant, the days of these bandits were not easy. Knowing that someone was preparing to kill the Liberation Army and take back Wuzhou, they all contacted each other. More than 1,000 people gathered. The leader of this group was a general called Liu Wensheng. He had a mouthful of black teeth from smoking. The leader of the militia, Li Shouchang, had seen him before and knew that he was a heavy smoker. At the beginning of the meeting, Liu Wensheng was able to sit still. In the end, after only a while, he couldn't help but become restless. After a while, Liu Wensheng showed signs of wanting to burst into tears again. However, he also knew that at this time, he could not immediately light up his cigarette, so his subordinate offered him a Leaf Tobacco. Liu Wensheng quickly began to smoke. From the pungent smell, Li Shouchang could smell that this Leaf Tobacco had been soaked in Great Smoking Paste. The pungent smell was very unpleasant. However, at this time, Li Shouchang did not want to bother with it.
Of course, Liu Wensheng's attitude was very firm. "As long as everyone can open the city gates, I will take my brothers and kill our way into the city. I will definitely not leave a single one of the Liberation Army alive!"
The other important force that opposed the Liberation Army was the heroes of the boat army. Among them, Li Shouchang was a little familiar with a few of them. The two people at the front were called Hu Youlu and Wu Fengcai. In 1852, they had attacked Wuzhou together. After that, they had participated in the various attacks on Wuzhou.
Hu Youlu claimed to have two to three thousand soldiers and horses under his command. Seeing the strange gaze cast by Li Shouchang, his old opponent, he laughed loudly. "I've always asked Luo Dagang to call me big brother, but after this big brother Luo became an official of the Liberation Army, he changed. Not only did he not take care of his brothers, but he also scooped up all the benefits on the river into his hands. Big brother is heartless, so don't blame us brothers for being unjust. If we can take down Wuzhou this time, I, your brother, will at least get an official position. Zhang Guoliang was once a bandit, but after being recruited, he still became a high-ranking official. I will now sincerely seek refuge with the court! "
Hearing these words, Li Shouchang, who did not completely believe him, could only nod.
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