For Liu Huaiwen and the various leaders on Mount Liang, Zhu Jinsong, the grand leader, was good in every aspect. The clothes he wore were clean enough, and the food he ate was filling enough. He was generous to both the common people and his subordinates, and spoke politely, seeming more like a wise and benevolent ruler than those sung about in operas.
However, there was one point: the great leader seemed to know nothing of what "cherishing" meant. When a problem could be solved with grenades and landmines, he never considered any other method.
Zhu Erdan once said that his habit of throwing grenades wildly was learned from his brother, which was entirely true.
Upon hearing that Zhu Jinsong's words implied he intended to trouble Agui and Mingxing, Liu Huaiwen, the chief steward of Mount Liang, felt a pang in his heart.
Liu Huaiwen, puffing on his dry pipe, said in a low voice, "Great leader, don't blame me for being long-winded, but this rebel den, Mount Liang, truly has little surplus grain. If you want to fight the Tatars, I don't object, but these grenades and landmines, you must conserve them."
Being spoken to like that, Zhu Jinsong, who felt he was in the wrong, desperately wanted to drag Zhu Erdan to him and give him a good beating.
If it weren't for Zhu Erdan, he, the great leader, wouldn't have been singled out by Liu Huaiwen.
He let out an angry snort and ignored Liu Huaiwen, instead turning his gaze to Ke Zhiming, "What's the movement from the Tatars now?"
Ke Zhiming cupped his hands, "Replying to my young master, Agui, that imperial commissioner, has dispatched Fu Heng to Jinan under the guise of an imperial commission. It seems he intends to temporarily ignore Chen Tailai and the Eight Trigram Sect and focus all his efforts on suppressing us on Mount Liang."
"According to intelligence from Caozhou Prefecture, Chen Tailai and the Eight Trigram Sect have completely joined forces. The two factions are preparing to jointly attack Fukang'an, who is entrenched in Heze, and completely take over all of Caozhou."
"Furthermore, the Eight Trigram Sect has had increasing disagreements with the Third Young Master recently. However, the Third Young Master has remained silent and has not sent any letters back. I don't know what the Third Young Master's plans are."
Zhu Jinsong nodded and then turned his gaze to the various leaders present, "Everyone, discuss this. The Tatars might launch a full-scale suppression of us on Mount Liang. How should we respond?"
Among the leaders present, apart from the members of the Heaven and Earth Society led by Ke Zhiming, Steward Li, who had surrendered later, and Young Master Lin, who had joined later, most were old brothers who had cooperated with Zhu Jinsong to kill Magistrate Liu. Therefore, they spoke without much reservation.
Liu Ergou said, "Didn't the great leader say that opening oneself up with one punch prevents a hundred punches from coming? Rather than waiting for the Tatars to suppress us, why don't we give them some trouble first?"
"Anyway, Erdan has already taken Laizhou. As long as we advance from the south, and let Erdan and Geng Rui split off another force, we can directly surround Qingzhou from the east and south. Once Qingzhou is taken, Jinan will basically be within reach. Then, after taking Wuding, all of Shandong will be under our control on Mount Liang."
Speaking of this, Liu Ergou then turned his gaze to Ke Zhiming, "Brother Ke, does your Heaven and Earth Society have any way to directly kill Agui and Mingxing? As the saying goes, a snake cannot move without its head. If Agui and Mingxing can be killed directly, all the Tatars in Shandong will be thrown into chaos!"
Hearing Liu Ergou's words, the various leaders on Mount Liang echoed his sentiment. Only Young Master Lin, who had joined later, cautiously asked after obtaining Zhu Jinsong's consent, "Isn't this too risky?"
"It's true that the Tatar Banners are not reliable, and the Tatar Green Standard Army is also unreliable. However, what we have seen is only the Banners and Green Standard Army in Shandong. The Green Standard Army that has fought in the Dajin Chuan and conquered Burma might not be so easy to deal with, right?"
"Our foundation on Mount Liang is still too weak. Causing some trouble for the Tatars is fine, but if we were to assassinate Agui and Mingxing and take Jinan, wouldn't the Tatar Emperor go mad?"
Liu Ergou snorted and said, "Let the Tatar Emperor go mad if he wants to. As long as we can take over half of Shandong, not only the Eight Trigram Sect and Chen Tailai will respond to our uprising, but the entire Qing Dynasty will be in chaos. At that time, can the Tatar Emperor still pay attention to us?"
Young Master Lin frowned, "If the Tatar Emperor goes completely mad and mobilizes the Green Standard Army of Zhili and even the Banners and Green Standard Army from beyond the passes to suppress the rebels, can our grenades, landmines, Hongyipao, and flintlock guns withstand it?"
Liu Huaiwen, puffing on his dry pipe, slowly said, "Withstand? We can't! If the Green Standard Army of Zhili and the Banners and Green Standard Army from beyond the passes are like the Green Standard Army in Shandong, then it would be fine. But I fear that the Green Standard Army of Zhili and the Banners and Green Standard Army from beyond the passes are as Young Master Lin said, capable of enduring casualties."
"You have followed the great leader in battle many times. You should know that our victories so far have basically been due to the prior collapse of the Green Standard Army. If any Banner army or Green Standard Army can withstand casualties, then what about the outcome of the battle, you can ponder it yourself?"
Liu Ergou intended to refute, but after pondering, he had to agree with Liu Huaiwen's statement.
That's right, on the surface, Mount Liang had been continuously victorious, as if the army of Mount Liang was naturally superior to the Tatar army. But if one looked deeper, it was not difficult to discover that these victories were basically because the Tatar officers and soldiers had never experienced the power of grenades and landmines. Once a certain army could withstand casualties, after Mount Liang had thrown most of its grenades and launched a counterattack, the final outcome would indeed be uncertain.
Although Liu Ergou had confidence in his own troops, he would not underestimate the Tatar officers and soldiers too much, because the great leader had said during his lectures that they should despise the Tatars in strategy but respect the Tatars in tactics.
Thinking of this, Liu Ergou couldn't help but turn his gaze to Zhu Jinsong, "Great leader?"
Zhu Jinsong took a couple of puffs from his rolled dry tobacco, narrowed his eyes, and said, "You discuss. I just want to hear your opinions now. Whether you agree with offensive action or passive defense, everyone, feel free to express your thoughts. The more you debate, the clearer theιη will become."
As soon as Zhu Jinsong finished speaking, the various leaders in the room couldn't help but exchange glances and then began to argue.
Some agreed with Liu Ergou's proposal, believing that if they occupied all of Shandong, it would set an example for all forces that wanted to rebel against the Qing, and then the entire Qing Dynasty would be in chaos, making it impossible for the Qing to focus on suppressing Mount Liang.
Others agreed with Young Master Lin's proposal, thinking that it was fine to cause some trouble for the Tatars now, but they had to control the extent of it, at least not to the point of driving the "money-deaf old dog" mad, because once the "money-deaf old dog" went mad, it was really uncertain whether Mount Liang could withstand it.
After arguing for a long time, the various leaders also got tired. Zhu Jinsong then smiled and said, "Are you all done arguing? What result did you reach after all that arguing?"
It was clear that whether they agreed with offensive action or passive defense, neither side could convince the other. From the scene, it seemed that those who advocated passive defense had a slight advantage.
This made Zhu Jinsong feel very gratified.
Frankly speaking, whether it was the previous response to Mingxing's encirclement and suppression, the ambush of the imperial commissioner Agui, or Zhu Erdan's unstoppable capture of Linqu and Laizhou, repeated victories had made the old brothers who started with Zhu Jinsong a bit overconfident.
This situation was not good.
Although Zhu Jinsong had never taken the Tatar officers and soldiers seriously, that was from a strategic perspective. If it were from a tactical perspective, then it could be said without exaggeration that Zhu Jinsong's attitude towards dealing with the Tatar officers and soldiers was extremely careful and cautious every time.
Because, as Young Master Lin said, Mount Liang had only dealt with the Qingzhou Banners and the Shandong Green Standard Army from beginning to end. They had not yet engaged with the Green Standard Army of Zhili or even the Banners and Green Standard Army from beyond the passes.
In fact, even the reason why the Shandong Green Standard Army gave the impression of being useless was largely due to Zhu Jinsong's prior surprise attacks or ambushes, which had first bombarded them dizzy with a large number of grenades and landmines.
If the Tatar officers and soldiers were given the opportunity to set up their formations and engage in a head-on battle, the outcome would indeed be uncertain.
Therefore, they must not treat the Tatar officers and soldiers as the Seventy-fourth Division of the reorganized army based on the impression that the Shandong Green Standard Army was useless.
The correct approach was to treat them as the Seventy-fourth Division of the reorganized army.
Zhu Jinsong allowed these people to argue freely so that they could argue clearly, realize their shortcomings, and not think they were invincible every day.
Frankly speaking, it was a matter of right and wrong, and those who understood would understand.
Of course, recognizing one's shortcomings was a good thing, but underestimating oneself was not. Zhu Jinsong did not want the leaders of Mount Liang to become timid.
After taking a couple of puffs from his dry pipe, Zhu Jinsong narrowed his eyes and said, "Since you've finished arguing, let me say a few words."
"Fighting has its benefits, and not fighting also has its benefits. Therefore, how to find a balance is our biggest problem now."
"As Er Gou said, if we occupy all of Shandong, we can make the entire Qing Dynasty chaotic. This statement might be true, or it might be false, because before we occupy all of Shandong, no one can guarantee this. At the same time, who can guarantee that the Qing will not concentrate its forces to deal with us because of this?"
"It's like killing a chicken to warn the monkeys. After all, we are the first to make a move. As long as we are suppressed, other places that want to cause trouble will have to weigh it carefully."
"As for Young Master Lin's suggestion that we should develop quietly and then deliver a fatal blow to the Tatars when our strength is sufficient, this also has merit, but it's not entirely correct."
"The same sentence: we were the first to make a move. The commotion we caused and the impact on the Tatars, although not as great as Chen Tailai's, will the Tatars let us go? Even if the Tatars choose to deal with Chen Tailai first, after dealing with Chen Tailai, won't it be our turn?"
"Therefore, when we should take the initiative, we must take the initiative. We must lead the Tatars by the nose, so that they cannot concentrate on dealing with Chen Tailai, and so that they cannot figure out our strategy."
Speaking of this, Zhu Jinsong directly looked at Liu Ergou and said, "Er Gou, you take your battalion to Linqu and attack Yidu. Er Dan's forces will continue to attack Dengzhou."
After Liu Ergou cupped his hands and agreed, Zhu Jinsong said to Ke Zhiming, "Zhiming, send people to contact Chen Tailai. After all, this person was originally the Governor of the Yellow River. He still has some original troops under his command. Ask him if he needs flintlock guns. As long as he dares to buy, we dare to sell."
Ke Zhiming was stunned and asked, "Young master, flintlock guns..."
Zhu Jinsong waved his hand and smiled, "The flintlock guns sold to Chen Tailai are not the same as the flintlock guns we use ourselves. Don't worry, I'm not that foolish."