Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 407 Qingyun
Shangyu City, in the afternoon, outside the south city was in chaos. The open space was full of panic-stricken soldiers fleeing in the mountains and plains, and the sound of shouting and killing resounded everywhere.

The 3,000 Dalanzhai righteous soldiers had completely dispersed at this time, and were chasing the fleeing enemy soldiers in the field. A group of soldiers scattered in pursuit, and anyone without hair was killed on the spot.
At this time, they said they were chasing the enemy, but in fact, these people being chased were no different from the Dalanzhai Volunteer Army.

These so-called enemy troops all wore Han clothing and spoke Han language. Even more than ten days ago, most of them had joined the Dalanzhai Volunteer Army to capture Shangyu and kill the Qing invaders.
However, at this time, the rebels had already gone crazy. Once the soldiers fell into such a frenzy, unless the supervisory team forcibly gathered them, they could only wait until the soldiers were exhausted before they could stop their actions.
The battlefield was filled with cries of killing and begging for mercy, but Lin Xingzhu turned a deaf ear to them and stared at the dozens of bandit cavalrymen in front of him.
Lin Xingzhu, wearing red cotton armor, led fifty cavalrymen to pursue closely, but the distance between the two sides was getting farther and farther.
Lin Xingzhu and his men were equipped with top-quality weapons, bows and swords, which were all Ming army standard equipment smuggled from Zhejiang Province. However, they could transport weapons but not horses.
At this time, the horses ridden by Lin Xingzhu and others were all inferior horses collected from the mountains, while the horses ridden by Xu Xin and others on the opposite side were all tall Liao horses.

Even though Lin Xingzhu and the others were skilled riders and tried their best to catch up, they still couldn't make up for the difference in horsepower.
Seeing that the two sides were getting farther and farther apart, Lin Xingzhu became anxious and shouted loudly.

"The man in front wearing a green face armor and a red tasseled helmet is the Tatar general. Anyone who captures and kills the general will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver and promoted to the next level."

"Capture and kill the enemy general, and you will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver"

"Capture and kill the enemy general, and you will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver"

The cavalrymen behind Lin Xingzhu also followed suit and shouted. The dozens of Qing soldiers in front heard the shouts, but did not even turn their heads. They just hurriedly urged their horses to speed up and flee eastward.
Lin Xingzhu did not recognize Xu Xin, and did not even know his name, but he knew that the leader in front must be the commander of the Qing army.

Although there are nearly 10,000 soldiers outside the city, they are almost all infantry. The dozens of Qing soldiers on the opposite side are all riding war horses. Who else could they be but the Tartar commander?

Of course, the Tartar general could also take off his robes and armor, have his personal soldiers lead away the pursuers, and disguise himself as an ordinary soldier, taking the opportunity to escape.
But this is basically impossible. The Qing army was defeated head-on at this time. Now the Dalanzhai rebels are chasing the defeated soldiers all over the mountains. If the Tartar commander really disguises himself as an ordinary soldier, he may be killed on the spot by ordinary soldiers.
The generals were more skilled in martial arts than ordinary soldiers, but they were not invulnerable. Even if Xiang Yu were still alive, he would have been killed instantly if he was hit by a spear or a bow.
On such a chaotic battlefield, the commander is no different from an ordinary person without his personal guards.

Xu Xin had an excellent warhorse, and with the protection of his elite soldiers, he might be able to escape. If he abandoned his personal guards and fled alone, he would be gambling with his life.
Tian Xiong broke camp at night on March 16 and left secretly. On the morning of the 17th, Xu Xin also led the Qing army out of the camp as usual.

In order to conceal the unusual situation in the camp, Xu Xin ordered 500 Green Camp soldiers to line up to wait for the enemy, and ordered more than a thousand Shaoxing surrendered soldiers to dig trenches in the south of the city. At the same time, he set up flags in the camp to make it look like the siege was unsuccessful and he was planning to lay siege.

Xu Xin tried his best to confuse the people in the city, but Shi Lang and others had already mastered the details of the Qing army, so how could they do what Xu Xin wanted?

As soon as Xu Xin led his troops out of the camp, the rebels in the city had already left the city and formed a battle array. Seeing the rebels in the city leaving the city, Xu Xin also realized that his actions had been exposed.
Xu Xin was afraid and originally planned to retreat back to the camp to gather his troops, but after seeing the rebels leaving the city, he suddenly felt relieved.
Although the 3,000 Dalanzhai righteous troops under Wang Yi were the elite troops in Siming Mountain, in Xu Xin's opinion, these so-called elite troops were only slightly better than the bandit troops under Shaoxing City.
The Qing army had just wiped out nearly 10,000 rebels under the city of Shaoxing. Xu Xin naturally knew the quality of these rebels.
Not to mention that there were more than 2,000 surrendered soldiers in the Qing army camp who could be used as cannon fodder, the 1,000 Green Camp soldiers in Xu Xin's hands were enough to defeat these elite bandits head-on.
Seeing that his true colors had been exposed, Xu Xin no longer tried to hide them. He directly dispatched all the remaining soldiers in the camp to prepare to defeat the rebels and bandits who dared to leave the city.

Soldiers from both sides formed their own battle array outside the city. Xu Xin was ready to drive out the surrendered soldiers, but at this moment Shi Lang, Lin Xingzhu and others suddenly led 300 cavalrymen to charge out of the city.

When Xu Xin saw the cavalry rushing out of the city, he immediately knew that something was wrong, but at this time he had no choice but to watch as hundreds of cavalry rushed towards him.

Tian Xiong's army also had cavalry. Tian Xiong had a battalion of 500 cavalrymen under his command. Everyone in the army was equipped with armor. They were Tian Xiong's private soldiers.

Tian Xiong also brought this battalion of cavalry with him on this expedition to quell the rebellion, but the problem was that these cavalry had already been driven back to Ningbo with Tian Xiong last night.

According to the news sent back from Ningbo, the pseudo-Ming bandit army that captured Ningbo numbered tens of thousands. Faced with such a large army, Tian Xiong naturally had to take the elite cavalry with him. It was impossible for him to leave the cavalry in Shangyu to deal with the bandits in the city.

Shi Lang led 300 cavalrymen to charge and harass the enemy. Just one round of arrow rain killed and injured 70 to 80 people. The Ming cavalrymen approached and fired back and forth. After only three rounds of charging, the Green Camp army under Xu Xin had completely collapsed.
This is only natural. The Qing army is full of infantry. They have no armor or horses.

The Green Camp soldiers under Xu Xin had no power to fight back against the cavalry led by Shi Lang. They could only stand there and be shot. In this situation, who would stay there and wait to die?
Once the Green Camp's army collapsed, the surrendered soldiers in front of them naturally collapsed immediately. The army left by Tian Xiong to suppress the rebellion was completely wiped out within half a day after he left.

On the post road, Xu Xin led more than 20 guards to flee for their lives. Xu Xin looked back at the pursuers hundreds of meters behind him, and his face was slightly relieved.

The chaos on the battlefield south of the city limited the speed of the horses. At this time, they had already fled to the post road, and it was almost impossible for the Ming troops behind them to catch up with them.
But before Xu Xin could relax, dozens of cavalrymen suddenly rushed out from the bushes ahead. Xu Xin looked at the cavalrymen in red cotton armor and a look of despair finally flashed across his face.

Xu Xin's horses were fast, but he forgot that the Ming cavalry outnumbered them ten to one. From the beginning, Xu Xin had no chance of escaping.

There were soldiers blocking him in front and soldiers chasing him from behind. Arrows rained down from both sides at the same time. More than 20 soldiers beside Xu Xin were quickly shot to death, and Xu Xin fell off his horse and was captured.

On a gentle slope in the south of Shangyu City, Shi Lang was sitting on a horse in red cotton armor, and below him was Xu Xin, a lieutenant general of the Zhejiang Province Green Camp who had just been brought here.
Xu Xin's hair was disheveled, his body was covered in dirt and blood, and he looked extremely embarrassed. However, Xu Xin didn't care at all. He just stared at the young man on the horse and said:

"You are not bandits from Siming Mountain, you are soldiers from Guangdong Province!"

Seeing that the Ming army commander on horseback was silent, Xu Xin said in a deep voice:

"My Great Qing court just signed an alliance with your Ming court half a year ago, and within three years, both sides will cease fighting."

"You have now sneaked into Zhejiang Province to raise troops and attack the city, breaking your promise. Do you, the Ming Dynasty, want to start another war with the Qing Dynasty?"

The cavalry on this gentle slope all wore red copper-studded cotton armor, with sabers at their waists and quivers hanging on the sides of their horses. They were extremely well-equipped.

When Shi Lang led his men to raid, Xu Xin had already discovered that these people's identities were not right.
This cavalry was extremely elite. Not only did they obey orders, they also separated and joined together without any stagnation during the march and attack, and they could even shoot arrows left and right while running. In Xu Xin's opinion, the only weakness of these people was the horses they rode. If we only talk about the quality of the soldiers, even the personal cavalry under Tian Xiong's command could not compare with these cavalry.

These people are even catching up with the elite Eight Banners in the court. If these people are just bandits in the mountains, then what are these soldiers from the Zhejiang camp?

Horses can be purchased, weapons can be looted, but archery and horsemanship cannot be learned hastily.
There is only one way to train such elite cavalry, that is to prepare money and food, and then train them for many years. Only in this way can such elite cavalry be trained.
Tian Xiong was the general of Zhejiang Province. He had 5,000 soldiers under his command and spent a lot of his own money to raise an elite cavalry of 500 people. How could Wang Yi and other rebels who were hiding in Siming Mountain and couldn't even get enough food to raise such an elite army?
To put it bluntly, Wang Yi and his people may be able to gather tens of thousands of troops like this time, but they will never be able to raise a regular army of 300 people.

Xu Xin asked in a deep voice, but the young general in front did not turn back.
Shi Lang rode on his horse, looking at the battlefield below. At this time, the pursuit in the field had come to an end.
The soldiers around Wang Yi had already begun to gather soldiers in the field. Groups of Qing soldiers knelt on the ground. The shouts of killing gradually died down, and even the smell of blood in the air seemed to gradually fade away.
Shi Lang sniffed the gradually thinning smell of blood in the air, and a trace of regret flashed across his face. Shi Lang liked the smell of gunpowder and blood.

The bloody smell on the battlefield not only makes him excited but also makes him smell the taste of power and fame.
Although Shi Lang has been in the army for ten years, he is not yet thirty years old. If he doesn't kill people, how can there be a thirty-year-old earl in the world?

My uncle Shi Fu was just a fisherman's son twenty years ago. How could he have become a duke if he hadn't killed people? The chaos in the world is a stepping stone for military men like them to pursue fame and fortune!
Shi Lang sighed softly, then retracted his gaze. He looked down at Xu Xin, who was staring at him closely, and spoke softly:

"If you are a smart person, then I can't keep you."

Xu Xin's face turned pale when he heard this, but Shi Lang ignored Xu Xin's expression and spoke again.

"Many people in the court hate you old Ming army generals who surrendered to the Tartars, but I don't have any opinion of you. The Tartars are powerful, and those who know the times are heroes."

"But the emperor doesn't like you people. What did the emperor say back then? You don't want to be good Han people, but become dogs for the Tartars."

"But being a dog is also good. If you don't act like dogs, how can I rise to the top?"

When Shi Lang said this, he suddenly grinned, with a cold smile on his face.

"Also, whether or not to break the agreement is not up to you, a petty general. If I kill you, the court will naturally not break the agreement."

Xu Xin saw the murderous intent on Shi Lang's face and was about to speak, but Shi Lang had already lost interest and simply waved his hand to the side.
The soldiers at the side stepped forward and dragged the frightened Xu Xin away. Suddenly, a scream was heard from the bushes, and soon the soldiers returned with a bloody and hideous head.
Shi Lang glanced at the heads below, waved his hand, and said

"Prepare the head and bring it back to Zhejiang Province. Also take his official seal and flag. After all, he is a legitimate lieutenant general in the Tartar court, so this is a credit no matter how small."

The guards took the order and retreated. At this time, another guard came running down the mountain and said

"General, we have received 600 Tartar surrenders. What should we do with them?"

Shi Lang thought for a moment, a hint of coldness flashed across his face, and he spoke directly

"Although Siming Mountain is unified, northern Zhejiang is still ruled by the Tartars"

"Wang Yi cannot tame these people. Pass on my order to select the generals above the small flag from the surrendered soldiers, and then kill them all."

The guard bowed and accepted the order, his face expressionless. But before he left, Shi Lang suddenly stopped the guard and said:

"Forget it. We will be returning to Zhejiang Province soon anyway. Why should I continue to be a bad guy? Tell Wang Yi my order and let him decide for himself."

"Also, tell Wang Yi that it is meaningless to stay in Shangyu, and withdraw the troops back to the mountains today."

The guards bowed again and accepted the order. Seeing that Shi Lang had no more orders, they left in a hurry.
At the foot of the mountain, soldiers from Dalan Mountain were cutting the braids of the surrendered soldiers. Once the braids were cut off, they would be transformed from surrendered soldiers of the Qing army back into the righteous soldiers of Siming Mountain.

Shi Lang looked at the surrendered soldiers who had been gathered and guarded at the foot of the mountain, and knew that the war in Shangyu was completely over.
They have been delayed for two days by Ningbo, and Tian Xiong's army has also rushed back to Ningbo. No matter how the war in Ningbo goes, they can no longer affect the situation there.

After Shi Lang's suggestion was passed on to the Dalanzhai army, Wang Yi and others did not know how to discuss it, but in the end they really followed Shi Lang's suggestion and killed all the flag officers who surrendered from the Green Camp.
In fact, this is indeed the most effective approach. As long as these grassroots generals exist, these Green Camp surrendered soldiers will never be able to truly return to their hearts.

Only by getting rid of all these generals can Wang Yi and others truly annex these hundreds of elite Green Camp troops.

The 300 soldiers under Shi Lang were indeed elite, but they were Shi Lang's personal soldiers. After Shi Lang returned to Zhejiang Province, these people would also follow him back to Zhejiang Province.
This is also as it should be. These 300 people are the elite selected by Shi Lang from the best of 5,000 soldiers.

If Wang Yi thought that after Shi Lang returned, they would be able to take over these hundreds of elite soldiers, then that was really wishful thinking.
After the Dalanzhai rebels cleaned up the battlefield, they transported away all the supplies that could be moved from Shangyu City, and then they finally withdrew and began to return to Siming Mountain.
When Wang Yi and his men were on their way back, the Qing troops on the front lines in Zhejiang Province had already received the news that Ningbo had fallen.
(End of this chapter)