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

Chapter 5: Annihilation of the Enemy
Guilin's governor's mansion lies quietly at the gate of Wenchang, looking vicissitudes and solemn. Sadly, the soldiers guarding the city gate were like frightened birds, abandoning their armor and fleeing. As the governor, Qu Shisi was in charge of all the troops, money and food, but he had no soldiers to use when the situation became urgent.

Jiao Lian only had four personal soldiers including Cen Danchu. Cen Danchu remained calm in the face of danger, gave Jiao Lian a sword, bow and arrows, and said:
"General, the Qing invaders are heading straight for Wenchang Gate. They have few troops and horses, so there must be treacherous people leading them, trying to harm the remaining garrisons. The situation is urgent. Please quickly gather the standard bearers, close the Wenchang Gate, and surround and annihilate the Qing invaders."

This sentence reminded Jiao Lian. When the Qing army attacked the city, they relied on the red cannon. After arriving in the south, the red cannon was inconvenient to carry, so the Qing army often bribed treacherous people to act as internal collaborators, and seized the city with internal and external cooperation.

He didn't have time to put on his armor, put on his quiver, and while stringing his bow, he decisively ordered: "Danchu is right. Go and gather the troops, close the city gates, and prepare for battle. No, Danchu stays, and Chen Wu goes."

Jiao Lian was skilled in archery and horse riding. He quickly strung the bowstring and came to the gate of the garrison without wearing any armor. He drew his bow and aimed his arrow. With a whoosh, the arrow flew out and hit an enemy chief.

Good archery skills! Cen Danchu secretly cheered and quickly strung his bow and arrow.

Jiao Lian didn't care. He shot the second arrow and hit another Qing soldier. The big bow had great power and Jiao Lian's arrows were accurate. The arrow pierced through the Qing soldier's cotton armor. The Qing soldier cried out and fell down the city wall.

At this time, Cen Danchu also finished stringing his bow and used a small bow to shoot at the Qing army. Pulling the string, tightening it, and shooting it out, all in one go, the arrow flew through the air and hit a Qing soldier.

Unfortunately, the small bow was not powerful enough to hit the Qing army's vital points. He took out another arrow and shot again.

Jiao Lian kept his eyes and ears on all sides. While shooting, he said, "Danchu, don't stop shooting. After the arrow is fired, don't worry about whether it hits the target or not, just keep shooting."

"Yes!" Cen Danchu became more confident and fired several arrows in succession, most of which hit the Qing army, as if he was helped by God.

The weather finally cleared up, the sun rose in the east, and the golden sunlight shone on Jiao Lian and Cen Danchu, as if they were covered with a layer of golden armor. They were like gods descending from heaven, their arrows never missed their targets, and the Qing army was terrified.

The Qing army did not dare to go down to the city to fight, dodging arrows while shooting. Since entering Guangdong, the Qing army has won every battle, and rarely encountered an opponent in Guangxi. Wherever they went, the Ming army either surrendered or fled without a fight.

They thought they could easily capture Guilin and kill Qu Shisi, but they encountered fierce men like Jiao Lian. The Qing army was a little stunned for a while and did not dare to go down to the city to fight. They only dared to shoot arrows from the top of the city to show off their strength.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Jiao Lian and his men were running out of arrows. Fortunately, they were not injured, and the battalion came over to close the city gate.

The situation was temporarily stabilized. Jiao Lian had time to put on his armor, and Qu Shisi also calmed down and led his servants to the door.

Cen Danchu, regardless of his humble status, spoke out: "General, the Qing invaders are still at Wenchang Gate, responding to the outside of the city. We should immediately counterattack and wipe out the Qing invaders in the city."

"Well," Jiao Lian said to Qu Shisi while tidying up his clothes and armor, "Stay behind, let's do it this way, I will lead the brothers of the standard camp to the city to kill the enemy. Danchu, you take five standard soldiers to stay behind to guard."

Qu Shisi quickly declined, saying, "General, it doesn't matter to me. The number of standard bearers is small to begin with, so there is no need to stay. Let them kill the enemy with you."

Cen Danchu had already seen that Qu Shisi had more virtue than talent. He was not afraid of the Qing invaders, but he had no ability to command his troops and could not come up with a good strategy to deal with them.

He did not want to miss this opportunity to make a contribution, so he said: "General, when the Qing invaders first entered the city, they were hesitant and did not dare to go straight into the garrison, which shows that they were afraid and had no courage.

"Just now, the general shot an arrow at the enemy leader, and the Qing army was leaderless and timid. They dared not even dare to spy on the garrison. We are willing to follow the general to attack and wipe out all the enemies who entered the city."

Qu Shisi was overjoyed and praised: "General, you are truly a god. You killed the enemy chief with one arrow." He also said to Cen Danchu: "Brave man! You must have good armor!"

After saying this, he ordered his servant to take off a suit of iron armor and gave it to Cen Danchu.

Danchu was overjoyed and said, "Thank you for the reward."

The city of Guilin was shrouded in clouds of war, but an indomitable fighting spirit was gathering in front of the garrison.

The three hundred standard bearers were fully armored, and their momentum was overwhelming. The Qing army was already terrified, so they climbed up the Wenchang Gate Tower and circled the city to find a way out.

Jiao Lian said to Biaoying: "Good men, follow me to kill the enemies and make meritorious deeds!" After that, he took the lead and went to pursue the Qing army.

Cen Danchu followed closely behind, riding an old chestnut horse, his armor gleaming in the sun. The chestnut horse seemed to understand human nature, sensing the tense atmosphere on the battlefield, and also galloped. The Qing army was getting closer and closer, and Jiao Lian drew his bow and arrow on horseback, shooting arrows like meteors, with undiminished power. Cen Danchu saw this and followed suit, unexpectedly also shooting down two Qing soldiers.

Suddenly, Cen Danchu surpassed Jiao Lian and caught up with a Qing soldier. The Qing soldier took advantage of him because he was a teenager and used a surprise attack. Cen Danchu was quick-witted and twisted his body to avoid the fatal blow.

However, the horse's horsepower was insufficient and it could not catch up with the Qing army. In a hurry, Cen Danchu hung his bow and arrows diagonally behind him, drew his sword, gathered all his strength in his arms, and threw the sword at the Qing army.

The Qing soldier cried out as he was stabbed in the back by the sword and fell off his horse. Cen Danchu caught up with him, drew his sword, and killed him with one blow.

Jiao Lian chased after him and praised him, "Good boy, follow me. When it comes to fighting, put your head aside for now, and don't lose the big picture for the small one."

The Ming army counted military merit based on the number of heads taken. Whenever there was a battle, officers and soldiers would often fight over the heads, delaying the war.

"Yes!" Cen Danchu agreed, and then jumped onto the abandoned warhorse of the Qing army. This was a chrysanthemum green horse, in its prime, wearing light armor, and was obviously more agile than the red horse.

After changing its master, Juhua Qing was a little resistant at first, but Cen Danchu hit the horse's belly with the back of his knife. The warhorse felt the pain and gave in, then spread out its four hooves and charged forward.

Ju Huaqing ran fast and gradually caught up with the Qing army. Cen Danchu stood out too much and had few friendly troops around him. The Qing soldiers in front also noticed him and turned around to shoot arrows.

Cen Danchu was wearing iron armor, and he did not avoid the arrows, but charged forward. The Qing soldier saw him approaching and was about to change his sword, but Cen Danchu had already rushed over, raised his sword and killed the Qing soldier with one blow.

Jiao Lian laughed loudly behind him and praised: "You rascal has stolen my limelight! But be careful, the waist knife is easy to bend, check it often."

"promise!"

Cen Dan was on the battlefield for the first time, nervous and excited, and spoke surprisingly little. He looked at his sword, and it was indeed bent and unusable.

Looking around, there happened to be a Qing soldier's corpse next to him, with a horse lance left behind. That was it, Cen Danchu didn't pick it up, picked up the horse lance and continued to charge forward.

Jiao Lian and his men had already caught up with the Qing army, fighting against the enemy with a small force and not losing ground. Cen Danchu joined the battle, and the horse lance was heavy and long, which was most suitable for a man with abundant martial arts like him.

"Bang!" The horse lance hit the enemy's spear, the enemy felt pain in the palm of his hand and the spear fell off his horse.

"Hit!" Cen Danchu thrust hard again and stabbed the enemy's throat. Warm blood spurted out and splashed onto Cen Danchu's face, and the air was filled with the smell of blood.

Juhuaqing was already very close to the front, and Jiao Lian and others were all worried about Cen Danchu.

"Sweep!" Cen Danchu didn't care at all. He swept his spear horizontally, knocking down two Qing soldiers. Two or three enemy weapons fell in front of his horse.

It was really a ghost! The Qing army was defeated and turned their horses to flee. Some people simply dropped their weapons, jumped off their horses, and let the Ming army slaughter them.

"Fly!" Cen Danchu got excited and used the horse lance as a javelin, throwing it forward with all his might, hitting another Qing soldier. The horse lance pierced through the enemy's chest.

"Pay attention," Jiao Lian reminded again, "On the battlefield, you must ensure that your weapons are always at hand."

"Yes!" It turns out that the horse lance is so useful. Cen Danchu picked up the horse lance in front of him and continued to chase with Jiao Lian and others.

The Qing army completely collapsed and dared not resist the Ming army anymore. They fled from Wenchang Gate to Ximen, but had no way to escape.

More than half of the 300 Qing soldiers died. The remaining Qing soldiers abandoned their horses, climbed up the West Gate Tower, and jumped from the city wall to the outside of the city, luckily saving their lives.

(End of this chapter)