Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 1 Emergency

The eighth day of the third month in the first year of the Yongli reign.

Huangsha Town, Quanzhou, Guilin Prefecture, Guangxi.

The spring rain is drizzling and the north wind is rustling.

Inside the central military tent, a military officer read the latest news and couldn't help but sigh.

This man was named Jiao Lian, he was over 40 years old, from Shaanxi, came from a family of military generals, and was one of the few fierce generals in the Southern Ming army.

Jiao Lian was a skilled warrior and was good at riding and shooting. When he was young, he often went hunting in the frontier. When he saw the fine horses of the Mongolian tribe, he would push down the Mongolian riders on the horses, take the horses and return. Because he was the son of the local commander, the Mongolian tribe had no choice but to swallow their anger.

Now, Jiao Lian has been promoted to the position of "Commander-in-Chief and General-in-Chief" and has been given the seal of "General of Supporting and Suppressing the Enemy Army". However, such a brave general frowned and sighed in the morning.

The situation is getting worse and worse.

Last August, Emperor Longwu was killed in Tingzhou, Fujian. In October, Yongming Prince Zhu Youlang took office as regent. Because the Qing army occupied Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Zhu Youlang was panicked and fled from Guangdong to Wuzhou, Guangxi. Tang Prince Zhu Youlang took the opportunity to proclaim himself emperor in Guangzhou and established the title "Shaowu".

Zhu Youlang regretted his mistake deeply and returned to Zhaoqing, Guangdong in November. He ascended the throne and named himself "Yongli", becoming the third emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

The two vassal states of Gui and Tang fought for the throne and attacked each other. The Qing army took the opportunity to enter Guangdong, encountering almost no resistance along the way, and used the seized official seals to launch a surprise attack on Guangzhou, easily destroying the Shaowu regime.

Emperor Yongli had no will to resist and fled westward in panic. He moved to different places several times within a few months and was ridiculed by the Qing army as the "Running Emperor."

The emperor was like this, and the civil and military officials also lost their fighting spirit. Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi's important cities Wuzhou and Xunzhou, Hunan's Yuezhou, Changsha, Xiangtan and other places, successively fell to the Qing army. Guizhou fell to the Dashi army, and Yunnan was once again in chaos by the chieftains.

……

The Ming Dynasty was confined to a corner of Guangxi and was out of reach, just like a small boat in a storm, with its sails broken and the boat tilted, about to capsize!
Jiao Lian looked at the spring rain outside the tent and sighed again. Wuzhou is the eastern gateway of Guangxi. Now that the Qing army has captured Wuzhou, they will soon attack Pingle. After passing Pingle, going forward, it is Guilin!

Guilin is the capital of Guangxi Province and also the fundamental place for the Ming Dynasty to "restore the Central Plains from western Guangdong". There must be no mistakes!
I really want to send troops to reinforce Guilin! But Emperor Yongli is stationed in Quanzhou, and the Huangsha Town where Jiao Lian is stationed is the gateway to Quanzhou. How can Jiao Lian leave the post without receiving the transfer order?
Fortunately, Grand Secretary Qu Shisi was a minister with vision, ability and responsibility. He did not follow Emperor Yongli to flee to Quanzhou, but asked to stay in Guilin, holding the title of "Guilin Governor".

Perhaps, Qu Shisi has a way to defend Guilin.

Alas, the situation is difficult and the weather is also playing tricks on us. The spring rain has been falling for ten consecutive days, and the north wind is blowing non-stop, bringing a distinct chill.

It was really a ghost. Since the reign of Emperor Tianqi, the country has been plagued by droughts, floods, and locust plagues, and the climate is obviously colder than in the previous dynasty. It is now March, and the whole state is located in the south, but it is still a bit chilly. Ten days of spring rain, and floods are about to happen!

There was nothing to do on a rainy day. Although Jiao Lian could read, he was not good at studying. He felt quite bored in the central army tent, so he put on a straw raincoat and went to visit the old camp.

The old camp was staffed with the elderly, the weak, women and children, all of whom were the families of officers and soldiers. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the military system was abolished, and the recruitment system gradually replaced the garrison system. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the country was in chaos, and the army was in danger of losing its life at any time. The soldiers often brought their families with them when they marched to war.

Jiao Lian's army had only more than 3,000 combat soldiers, the most capable of them being the Standard Battalion, which had 300 veteran soldiers from northern Shaanxi, all of them cavalry.

The composition of the Ming army was rather chaotic, and could be roughly divided into standard soldiers, camp soldiers, city guards, scouts (who were not collected at night), interpreters, family servants, native soldiers, and village soldiers, etc. Standard soldiers were the personal soldiers of the generals, who were directly commanded by the generals and were the most elite.

Jiao Lian was kind to others and shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, which won their hearts. He also took special care of the old camp and settled the elderly, the weak, women and children in Huangsha Town.

As we approached an ancestral hall, we could hear the sound of reading aloud from inside.

I saw a teacher in his thirties, with his eyes closed, shaking his head and talking nonsense: "When the human heart is one, if the principles of nature exist, human desires will disappear; if human desires prevail, the principles of nature will disappear. There is no such thing as the combination of the principles of nature and human desires..."

There were fifty or sixty teenagers sitting down, their clothes were tattered, most of them were made from military uniforms, and were covered with patches. Most of the teenagers were playing and laughing with the people at the tables next to them, some were fighting crickets, and some were dozing off...

Jiao Lian remembered. These young men were from the army. Most of their fathers died in battle and there was no one to discipline them. Therefore, he hired a private tutor to teach them some literacy and then recruit them into the army when they were 18 years old.

In the early Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that male members of military households had to serve in the army when they reached the age of 16. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, all regions recruited soldiers, and any man over 16 years old could apply. Jiao Lian, out of sympathy for the people, postponed the age of his sons to 18.

These orphans in the camp should have cherished the opportunity and studied hard, but they did not take the tutor seriously at all. The tutor was also incompetent and could not control the students, so they had to study with their eyes closed.

What a good-for-nothing! I spent money to hire a tutor, but none of them studied seriously. Jiao Lian looked a bit disappointed, but he saw an older boy in the back row, concentrating on reading.

The boy was about 16 or 17 years old, with a muscular upper body, a clear profile, slightly furrowed eyebrows, and tight lips, revealing a sense of determination. There was a lot of noise around him, but the boy was not affected at all and was immersed in the book.

Jiao Lian was delighted and walked into the ancestral hall and took off his raincoat.

The young men were the first to notice Jiao Lian. They sat back in their original seats, put out their books, and did not dare to make a sound.

The teacher felt something was wrong, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that it was the Marshal. He stopped talking nonsense, his old face flushed red, and he felt ashamed and guilty.

The ancestral hall became unusually quiet.

The young man was still immersed in his books, his voice was loud and clear, his voice was particularly abrupt in the empty auditorium: "The way of being a general is to lead by example, not only in battle, but also in every difficult situation. To share the same feelings is not only to share the same feelings in times of adversity, but also in times of peace. Moreover, how can the soldiers alone learn skills without the general being bothered to learn them..."

It turned out that the boy was reading Qi Jiguang's Jixiao Xinshu, a book that focused on military training and warfare. The content was specific and practical, and it was highly valued in the late Ming Dynasty. Both the Ming and Qing armies regarded it as a treasure.

Although Jiao Lian did not read books, he was familiar with Jixiao Xinshu. The boy studied seriously in the noisy classroom, just like an old monk in meditation, which impressed Jiao Lian.

He walked to the podium and cleared his throat. The teacher stepped aside consciously, and the young student put down his book and stared at him like everyone else.

Jiao Lian sighed and said, "I asked Mr. Zhang to teach you so that you can learn some characters and have a basic understanding of loyalty and righteousness, so that you can have a good future when you join the army.

"We are living in troubled times, so we should put the country first and the nation first. As children of the standard camp, you should remember the aspirations of your fathers, study hard, and serve the country in the future. But the way you just played and made a fuss really disappointed me."

The young men all lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at Jiao Lian. Only the young man who was studying remained calm, his eyes showing a calmness and determination beyond his age, looking at Jiao Lian neither servilely nor arrogantly.

The air in the house seemed to be frozen. Outside the window, wind and rain were raging, knocking on the window, bringing waves of desolate sounds that made people feel bad.

Jiao Lian looked around and said in a deep voice, "You are not young anymore, the oldest is sixteen or seventeen, the youngest is eleven or twelve. When I was young, I rode my horse in the frontier and fought with the Hu people. You are all soldiers from northern Shaanxi. Now you are living in the south. What are your ambitions?"

At first, no one dared to respond. Jiao Lian's eyes were sharp, and he only asked questions to those naughty boys.

The teenagers gave a variety of answers:

"I wish I could have a thousand acres of good farmland, three meals a day, and choose between bread, noodles, meat, and dumplings."

"I wish to be a standard-bearer under the general, riding a good horse, drawing a strong bow, killing the enemy on horseback, and eating meat when I dismount."

"I wish to be appointed a general, promoted to a high official, to have a sedan chair to ride in, a luxurious house to live in, wives and concubines, many children and grandchildren, and a fortune of millions."

"I wish to build a fortress, a paradise, to gather fellow villagers and clansmen, to escape the war, men to farm and women to weave, and poetry and books to pass down from generation to generation."

……

Jiao Lian was not satisfied and finally asked the young scholar.

The young man stood up and said in a firm voice, "I wish to emulate the great commander and be appointed General Conquering the Tartars. I will lead the troops in every battle, and I will be victorious in every attack and strong in every defense. I will take the heads of enemy generals in the midst of thousands of troops, and devote my entire life to expelling the Tartars and restoring the Ming Dynasty. After my death, I will have my tomb inscribed with the words 'Tomb of the Former General Conquering the Tartars, Lord Danchu Cen'. That will be enough."

The answer given by this young man named Cen Danchu was quite interesting. He flattered without leaving any trace, had great ambitions, and spoke in a rather arrogant tone.

The Ming Dynasty's border threat was the northern barbarians, and the title of General Conquering the Northern Barbarians was an important title for a general. For example, Xu Da, Tang He, Chang Yuchun, Li Wenzhong, Wang Bi, Lan Yu, and other generals who founded the Ming Dynasty, as well as Qiu Fu, a famous general in the Jingnan Campaign, were all appointed as General Conquering the Northern Barbarians.

Although Jiao Lian was appointed as the General of Conquering the Enemy, in fact, there were words "aiding and suppressing" in front of his title. The full title was "General of Aiding and Suppressing the Conquering the Enemy", which was far inferior to the General of Conquering the Enemy.

"Haha", Jiao Lian couldn't help laughing and said, "You boy actually has the ambition to be like Cao Man!"

Jiao Lian was very interested in Cen Danchu and called him to the side room to ask about his situation.

Cen Danchu was secretly delighted. He was originally a middle-aged office worker from the modern era, who was interested in history and geography, but suddenly his soul traveled to the Southern Ming Dynasty and became a boy soldier in Jiao Lian's army.

For a month, Cen Danchu worked hard to adapt to the environment, studied diligently, and practiced martial arts diligently. Today, he finally caught the attention of the coach.

"Well, I remember your father. In the 16th year of Chongzhen, the bandits attacked Quanzhou. I served as the vanguard of the central army of General Yang Guowei, who conquered the barbarians. I defeated the bandits at Huangshayi and recovered Yongzhou..."

Recalling the past, Jiao Lian's eyes lit up and his tone became much more cordial:
"At that time, the emperor was the Yongming King, trapped in Daozhou. I led my personal soldiers to climb over the wall and enter the city to rescue the Yongming King. The Yongming King was frightened and fell ill, unable to walk, so I carried him on my back and escaped through the city wall.

"Your father was my personal soldier. He protected Prince Yongming and I when we left the city, but was trapped by bandits and died in the chaos. Danchu, you are the descendant of a loyal hero. I see that you are well-spoken, have a noble bearing, and are strong and sturdy. You will become a great man in the future."

So there is such a story. Cen Danchu secretly thought that since Prince Yongming had become Emperor Yongli, and there was such a connection, he might as well write something about it in the future.

He said: "My father was a personal soldier of the Marshal and was loyal to the Ming Dynasty. His death was a worthy one. I am willing to follow the Marshal until death, kill all the Manchus and revive the Ming Dynasty!"

"What an ambition!" Jiao Lian patted Cen Danchu on the back and said, "A good father will have a good son. If all the young people in the world are as ambitious as you, the Ming Dynasty will be revived in no time!"

At this moment, several cavalrymen came galloping in the rain. The sound of their horses' hooves broke the silence of the camp.

Jiao Lian was very strict in military discipline and prohibited cavalrymen from riding horses inside or outside the barracks, in order to save horsepower and prevent the soldiers from panicking.

But there is one exception: if there is an emergency military situation, the messenger can rush into the camp on horseback.

Jiao Lian and Cen Danchu were attracted to the door by the sound of horse hooves. As expected, a general from the battalion came hurriedly with a messenger. After seeing Jiao Lian, the messenger did not have time to dismount and salute, and said anxiously:
"Marshal, it's urgent!"

(End of this chapter)