Ming Xing slumped in his chair, having pondered for most of the day without finding a way out of the predicament. Ke Shan, seated below Ming Xing, was equally at a loss.
North of Jinan, the Qianlong Emperor's imperial carriage was fast approaching Wuqiao.
South of Jinan, Zhu Xiaosong occupied Yizhou Prefecture and a portion of Yanzhou Prefecture, Chen Tailai held Jining Prefecture and another portion of Yanzhou, and the Bagua Cult controlled most of Caozhou Prefecture, starting from Shanxian. These three rebel factions directly blocked Qianlong's path south of the Yangtze River.
The entire situation was a deadly trap, with wolves at the front and tigers at the back.
Faced with this scenario, Ming Xing, the Governor of Shandong, was certainly doomed. The best options now were either to raise the banner of rebellion like Chen Tailai, or to quickly change his identity and find a place where no one knew him to live out his days in obscurity.
Recalling the misdeeds of his ancestors when they entered the pass, if Zhu Xiaosong and Chen Tailai failed, it would be one thing. But if they succeeded, what good future could they, the Manchu lords, expect?
Ming Xing and Ke Shan stared at each other in silence for a long time. Finally, Ke Shan tentatively suggested, "Your Excellency, why not summon all your advisors and let them help brainstorm a solution?"
Ming Xing sighed, "I do not trust them now. The rebellion of just one Chen Tailai has already cost me half my life. If those Shaoxing advisors give me a few more bad ideas, I will be completely finished."
Ke Shan persuaded him, "Your Excellency, that's not the right way to think about it. Think about it, what is the foundation of our Great Qing's rule? It is our Manchu Eight Banners. Who gave you the position of Governor? It was His Majesty, not the Ministry of Personnel."
"To put it plainly, no matter how big the trouble in Shandong is, it is merely the common folk causing trouble. As long as our Eight Banners remain stable, the foundation of the country will not be shaken. As long as His Majesty doesn't take it seriously, the Ministry of Personnel can do nothing to you, right?"
"To put it bluntly, since our Qing was founded, has there been a year without commoners clamoring for the restoration of the Ming? The disturbance caused by Wang Lun of Shou Zhang was no smaller than this one, yet in the end, our Qing remains our Qing, and those commoners, they cannot overturn the sky!"
With each word Ke Shan spoke, Ming Xing's eyes lit up a little brighter. By the time Ke Shan finished, Ming Xing seemed to have come back to life, saying with great spirit, "You are right, indeed. The foundation of our Qing's rule is our Manchu Eight Banners, and our entry into the Central Plains was by the mandate of heaven, not at the invitation of these commoners."
However, after speaking, Ming Xing couldn't help but feel a bit dejected, "Although the disturbance caused by Wang Lun was significant, it did not affect the Grand Canal transport. Once Chen Tailai rebelled, the Grand Canal transport would be affected..."
Ke Shan replied, "Chen Tailai is just a minor figure. Without the Grand Canal transport, our Qing still has sea transport. Previously, we used the Grand Canal transport because His Majesty pitied those commoners and gave them a way to earn a living. Now, they are recklessly cutting off the court's canal transport, so how can His Majesty indulge them further?"
"Besides, are there not Lord He and Lord Fu? Even if Lord He cannot protect you, or is unwilling to protect you, Lord Fu is of the same Fucha clan as you. Can he stand by and watch His Excellency the Governor fall into misfortune?"
After listening to Ke Shan's analysis, Ming Xing slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Why should I bother with advisors? What you have said is enough! Rest assured, if I can get through this safely, you will be richly rewarded in the future!"
With that, Ming Xing began to write a memorial of self-reproach.
In this memorial, Ming Xing "honestly" confessed his crimes of misjudging people and mismanaging his subordinates. He then explained that Chen Tailai, the Governor-General of the Rivers, had long harbored rebellious intentions, and it was likely that Zhu Xiaosong and the rebels of the Bagua Cult were all connected to Chen Tailai. Then, changing the subject, he stated that the people of Jinan city missed His Majesty dearly, and thus requested His Majesty's imperial carriage to stop and reside in Jinan, allowing the people to assuage their longing for their sovereign before proceeding to tour Mount Tai.
After writing the memorial of self-reproach, Ming Xing sent a messenger on horseback with a letter to Fu Kangan, hoping that Fu Kangan would help him out of consideration for their shared Fucha surname. Ming Xing himself then took the memorial to Wuqiao to welcome the imperial entourage.
However, what Ming Xing never expected was that Fu Kangan at this moment was also extremely distressed and could not spare any attention for the unlucky Ming Xing.
Fu Kangan had initially thought that the Bagua Cult was just like Wang Lun's Qingshui Sect in Shou Zhang, a group of village ruffians playing God and seeking rebellion. With insufficient suppression by local authorities, it would be as easy as a hot knife through butter for Lord Fu to personally lead the Shandong Green Standard Army to quell the rebellion.
Fu Kangan's thinking was not entirely wrong. Although the Bagua Cult initially had a formidable momentum, after Fu Kangan personally led the troops to suppress them, the Bagua Cult was quickly routed. Chenggu and Cao County, occupied by the Bagua Cult, were soon recovered by Fu Kangan, and the progress of suppressing the rebellion was indeed under Fu Kangan's control.
However, as the suppression continued, Fu Kangan began to feel that something was amiss.
First, the Bagua Cult suddenly abandoned its usual practice of coercing the populace. They no longer forced people to believe in the Bagua Cult or to join their ranks. Instead, they started killing officials and distributing grain, openly proclaiming the slogan of restoring the Ming Dynasty.
If it were merely this, Fu Kangan would not have been troubled. After all, rebels are rebels. Even if the Bagua Cult stopped their charade, could they possibly transform into a more organized regular army than the Dzungars?
Especially after the Peasant Association gradually surfaced, Fu Kangan felt that the situation was becoming increasingly difficult and vexing.
This so-called Peasant Association did not openly declare the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, nor did they confront the main army directly. However, these Peasant Associations were secretly instigating the people to resist taxation and grain levies!
Damn it! Why did I, Lord Fu, bring troops to suppress the rebels? Was it for my own enjoyment? No, I, Lord Fu, am not doing this for my own enjoyment. It is so that you, the common folk, can live in peace. Now, with the war effort strained, you common folk are still resisting taxation and grain levies?
If you don't contribute money and grain, what will I, Lord Fu, use to pay my soldiers their rewards? What will my soldiers eat?
In a fit of rage, Fu Kangan immediately ordered the disbandment of the local Peasant Associations, declaring that anyone who dared to continue organizing them would be treated as a rebel of the Bagua Cult and suppressed together.
Fu Kangan's order could not be said to be entirely useless; it could only be said to be worse than useless.
Having tasted the benefits of the Peasant Association, you expect them to disband just like that?
As a result, not only did the Peasant Association not disband, but they instead embarked on a vigorous campaign of targeting gentry and distributing wealth and grain, essentially engaging in rebel activities just like the Bagua Cult. What's more, the Peasant Association dug up old grievances from a hundred years ago, greatly publicizing the massacres committed by our Qing when they entered the pass, and constantly reminded the people to be wary of the imperial army slaughtering villages.
This made Fu Kangan extremely agitated. The past is the past. Aren't you all alive now? What does the death of others have to do with you? Isn't it good for everyone to live as obedient servants?
As a result, Fu Kangan, in his anger, first massacred several villages that had Peasant Associations and connections to the Bagua Cult. Fu Kangan thought, you common folk are unwilling to live as servants? Then I, this governor, will kill until you are willing!
Zhou Xun once said, "If one does not die in silence, one will break out in silence."
Shandong has always been a peculiar place, and Shandong men have always been perceived as generous and honest. Many are even the type who are so honest that you can't get a word out of them with three sticks, and even when wronged, they mostly tend to be tolerant.
This is their image.
In reality, the Shandong men can be compared to Confucius himself – leading three thousand followers everywhere to spread learning. If you reason with Confucius, he will reason with you properly. If you don't reason with him, Confucius can beat you until you listen to his reasoning obediently.
This is the reality.
Not to mention those who would at any moment kill their way to Tokyo to seize the throne.
If Fu Kangan had not engaged in village massacres, it might have been different. But by engaging in village massacres, he only further validated the rumors that Fu Kangan intended to slaughter villages and reinforced the old grievances of the Qing's great slaughter when they entered the pass.
As a result, while some people were indeed intimidated by the Manchu killings, more people, under high pressure, began to actively participate in the Peasant Association and respond to the Bagua Cult. If Fu Kangan's army intended to suppress them, villages would find ways to inform the Peasant Association and the Bagua Cult.
Even though Fu Kangan occupied several major counties and controlled the army, farmers constituted the largest base of the population in our Qing. This gave Fu Kangan a direct experience, more than a hundred years in advance, of what is known as a people's war on a vast scale.
And the most fatal blow was that Fu Kangan had originally thought this was just an ordinary rebellion suppression. He had not brought enough artillery and firearms, and had not even brought many powerful bows and crossbows. The Green Standard soldiers could basically only rely on spears and sabers in combat.
In this way, there was no technological gap between the two sides. Instead, the Bagua Cult possessed more firearms than Fu Kangan's army.
Coupled with the support of local Peasant Associations for the Bagua Cult, the result was that the Bagua Cult took the opportunity to launch a fierce counterattack against Fu Kangan, causing Fu Kangan not only to lose Chenggu County and Cao County, which he had recently recaptured, but he couldn't even hold Dingtao. In the end, he could only rely on the fortified city of Heze, the administrative center of Caozhou Prefecture, for defense.
Under these circumstances, Ming Xing still wanted Fu Kangan to help him out of consideration for their shared Fucha surname?
With a few rustles, Fu Kangan casually tore Ming Xing's letter to shreds and, with a gloomy face, cursed, "This good-for-nothing has turned Shandong into this mess, and he still has the nerve to ask me, this governor, to help him!"
After cursing, Fu Kangan looked up at the map on the wall.
The more he looked, the more his expression soured.
Yizhou, Yanzhou, Jining, Caozhou – four prefectures formed a line, and nearly a third of Shandong was in chaos. Not to mention the White Lotus Rebellion in Hubei, his original plan of a swift suppression followed by welcoming the imperial carriage was now declared bankrupt.
After pondering with a frown, Fu Kangan simply wrote a memorial and sent it via the specially appointed spies of the Nian Gan Bureau to the imperial camp with urgent speed.
...
In the forty-ninth year of Qianlong, the tenth day of the second month, Wuqiao Imperial Camp.
The Qianlong Emperor was half-closing his eyes, reclining on the couch, his left hand resting on his waist, absently tapping a rhythm. Lord He, a pillar of our Qing, stood before the imperial couch, holding Fu Kangan's memorial.
After a long while, Qianlong suddenly asked, "Have you all read it?"
Lord He responded with a "Yes," and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, your servant has read the memorials from Lord Fu and Ming Xing."
Qianlong grunted, then pressed further, "What do they say?"
Lord He first let out a chuckle, then bowed to Qianlong and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, after reading the memorials from Lord Fu and Ming Xing, your servant is deeply moved and doesn't know what to say for a moment."
Qianlong snorted and said, "Whatever you have to say, just say it."