Chapter 211: Anyway (Part 1)

Li Yuandu’s retreat this time can be said to have pushed many of the tactics he used in the Xiang Army to their limits. Whether it was the initial defense, the mid-stage counterattacks, or the final withdrawal, each was remarkable.

However, the direct victims of these tactics were the local local militias and volunteer troops. Li Yuandu pushed these militias to their limits—in every battle, he placed the more combat-effective units like the Wuyi Army and Guangsheng Army in the second line as supervisory forces, while sending these “fearless” local troops to the front line to fight to the death against the Black Flag Army.

From the start, the local troops were in a very unfavorable position. The fortifications they had painstakingly built were destroyed one by one by the Black Flag Army’s artillery.

Especially during that counterattack involving 3,400 men, Li Yuandu risked everything, promising promotions and riches to draw out the most desperate fighters among the local troops. Indeed, he brought out the artillery units from the training camps and engaged the Black Flag Army in direct artillery battles. Then, driven by dreams of promotion and wealth, these desperate soldiers charged forward with silver coins, launching three fierce assaults that inflicted significant losses on the Black Flag Army’s vanguard.

Considering the enemy’s determination to launch a determined assault, the Black Flag Army immediately reduced the size of its flanking units. But unexpectedly, Li Yuandu abandoned the supplies and heavy equipment to the local troops and then led the more combat-effective units like the Wuyi Army and Guangsheng Army in a rapid pursuit toward Guangzhou.

The nearly ten thousand local troops, who had been sold for a good price, were initially overjoyed, thinking they had seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The firearms and cannons distributed to them were enough to make them prosperous for life, and they fought especially bravely against the Black Flag Army.

Unbeknownst to them, in the eyes of the Black Flag Army, they were nothing more than transport units. After initial resistance, they quickly fell into the Black Flag Army’s encirclement. The total number of troops inside the encirclement, including newly captured conscripts, exceeded 8,000 and became the Black Flag Army’s spoils.

Eight thousand might not seem like a large number, but considering that the Black Flag Army that arrived at the battlefield numbered only about 7,000, it was a terrifying figure. What was worse, the number of captives taken by each unit varied.

One infantry company of 100 men took in as many as 760 captives and 14 rapid-fire cannons, along with hundreds of family members and merchant followers. The company commander had no idea how to feed nearly a thousand people and could only shout, “Get rice! Get rice! Let’s make some porridge first!”

The captives’ first meal was just a bowl of plain porridge, not enough to satisfy them, but it was the best solution in such a hurry. The Black Flag Army was delayed for four full days by these over 8,000 captives, along with the Qing officials, messengers, family members, and camp followers they had taken with them.

Many Black Flag Army officers were tasked with taking care of so many captives right away, plus dealing with the warehouses in Lianjiang and its surroundings. They even felt, “Even if we were to annihilate tens of thousands of enemies, it wouldn’t take this much time…”

Taking advantage of the Black Flag Army’s hesitation, Li Yuandu swiftly withdrew a significant number of his combat-ready elite troops to Guangxi. Although they were attacked multiple times by the Black Flag Army’s flanking forces along the way, over three thousand of his troops still made it to Guangzhou. This left Zhang Zhidong in shock: “Li Yuandu! You once defended Lianjiang with fifteen thousand men, yet now you’ve only brought back three thousand!” Li Yuandu replied bravely, “Lianjiang is a death trap. With thirty thousand soldiers from the Black Flag Army, if I didn’t withdraw, our entire force would be annihilated there!” He then recounted his achievements: “In any case, I held off thirty thousand strong soldiers from the Black Flag Army for seven full days. During those seven days, over six thousand of their men were killed or wounded, and their ammunition was depleted…” Peng Yulin, the former naval commander standing nearby, spoke up directly to intimidate Zhang Zhidong: “Yuandu is helping me. He did his best in the battle of Lianjiang…” Zhang Zhidong felt utterly powerless. Peng Yulin was one of the so-called Four Great Ministers of Restoration—Zeng, Zuo, Peng, and Hu. Peng Yulin commanded the navy, fought along the rivers, and ultimately led the Hunan navy to defeat the once-mighty Taiping navy. Now, Peng Yulin served as an assistant in Guangdong’s military affairs, meaning Guangdong’s military was governed by multiple authorities. Theoretically, Peng Yulin had the same power as Zhang Zhidong, plus another governor who also held equal authority. The former governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhang Shusheng, had once tried to suppress Peng Yulin but failed until his death, as Peng Yulin had the entire Hunan military group behind him. Learning from these past experiences, Zhang Zhidong became more cautious in his actions, often starting things with enthusiasm but ending them half-heartedly, always avoiding offending the powerful and targeting only lesser figures. “Since Commander Peng has spoken, let’s leave it at that. But the top priority now is how to defend Guangzhou.” In modern China, if one were to identify the three most important cities, they would undoubtedly be Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou—cities that remain China’s most crucial pillars even today. Zhang Zhidong saw this as an unsolvable problem, but Li Yuandu had a different view: “What’s the difficulty? Lianjiang alone already delayed the Black Flag Army for seven days. As long as they don’t attack Guangzhou head-on but instead focus on controlling the towns along the way, we have at least one and a half months…” “Moreover, in my opinion, controlling those towns along the way would be highly advantageous for the Black Flag Army. Attacking Guangzhou head-on would be too risky!” Li Yuandu saw clearly: “We should use this time to recruit more soldiers, purchase weapons, and train our troops, so that by then the Black Flag Army will have nowhere to strike!” In fact, the Black Flag Army also had no plans to attack Guangzhou directly. Although the towns along the way weren’t as prosperous as Guangzhou, they still held significant value. More importantly, attempting to capture Guangzhou recklessly would put them at a disadvantage. After all, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a negative example in this regard—though their capital was in Nanjing, the Zijin Mountain area outside the city was occupied by the Jiangnan and Jiangbei armies. Despite repeated fierce attacks, the Taiping forces only managed to drive the Qing troops from Zijin Mountain to Zhenjiang—still posing a serious threat to Nanjing.

Thus from the very beginning, the Black Flag Army established solid strongholds, setting up local governments in every county they captured, maintaining reliable local armed forces, and immediately organizing teams to collect grain and taxes. For this purpose, each brigade included a sizable local cadre unit. After capturing Lianjiang, they swiftly took control of over twenty counties in Guangdong, advancing while establishing administration. But what Li Yuandu did not expect was that a piece of news accelerated their progress. Tian Deming, the former prefect of Hengyang under the Qing dynasty, led the entire military and civilian population of Hengyang to defect!