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

Chapter 6 Leaving the City
By the time the battle was over, the battalion had won a complete victory and the Qing army was completely annihilated. The people in the city were finally calmed down and the morale of the defenders was boosted.

Qu Shisi had ordered the butchering of the dead horse and steaming of rice to reward the standard-bearer. He held Jiao Lian's hand and praised him, "You are truly the reincarnation of Zhao Zilong!"

Jiao Lian had no time to take off his armor, but only took off his helmet, pointed at Cen Danchu standing beside him, and said, "I dare not call you Zhao Zilong. Although this boy is young, he has the courage of ten thousand men, which is comparable to Xiang Yu and Wen Yang.

"His father was a soldier under my command. In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the emperor was trapped in Daozhou. His father followed me into the city to rescue the emperor and served as my rear guard. He was killed by the Western bandits."

I met a good leader.

Jiao Lian did not take all the credit for himself. He pushed Cen Danchu in front of Qu Shisi and deliberately publicized his life experience, which moved him quite a lot.

Qu Shisi was highly respected and valued by Emperor Yongli and his ministers. Cen Danchu's ability to attract Qu Shisi's attention was equivalent to hooking up with a big boss and finding a shortcut to Zhongnan.

"Ah!" Qu Shisi looked at Cen Danchu carefully, asked someone to bring a towel to wipe the blood off his face, and said: "The warrior is the descendant of a loyal hero, with a noble bearing, a clear mind, a sharp gaze, and a resolute look. He is truly a pillar of society!"

Cen Danchu smiled slightly and said, "Lord, Marshal, you are too kind. I am just fighting for my country and risking my life!"

"Great! What a great phrase 'fighting for the country without regard for one's own life'!" Qu Shisi liked it more and more and said, "I must record your merits."

After entering the garrison to rest for a while, Qu Shisi, without any airs, invited Jiao Lian to the table and discussed matters while eating.

Cen Danchu was a small soldier, so it was inconvenient for him to sit down. But Jiao Lian couldn't leave him alone, so he had a small table set up beside him, and put horse meat, pickles, rice, and light wine on it. Cen Danchu was not polite and started to eat voraciously.

Jiao Lian ate a bowl of rice first and asked, "Lord, may I ask if you have found out about the enemy troops outside the city?"

Qu Shisi was a little embarrassed and said, "I only know that the enemy general's surname is Gao, and he is also known as Gao Gushan."

"Humph!" Jiao Lian sneered, "How ridiculous! How dare you pretend to be Gushan Ezhen? I only know that the Qing invaders in Lingnan are all under the command of Li Chengdong. Even Li Chengdong is not Gushan Ezhen, and Gao dares to be so arrogant!"

Gushan means "banner" in Manchu, and Ezhen means "master" in Manchu. Gushan and Ezhen together mean the master of a banner. Later, the Qing Dynasty standardized the official system of the Eight Banners and changed Gushan and Ezhen to Dutong.

In the early Qing Dynasty, Gushan'ezhen had great power and sometimes could even discuss matters together with princes and nobles.

After the Ming army surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, those with strong strength were generally incorporated into the Eight Banners of the Han Army, while those with weak strength were generally incorporated into the Green Camp.

After Li Chengdong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, his troops were incorporated into the Han army. With his qualifications and prestige, he was not qualified to be Gushan Ezhen.

Qu Shisi continued, "Yes, Gao Gushan was a general under Tu Lie'ao, and Tu Lie'ao was a general under Li Chengdong. It is said that Tu Lie'ao is still in Pingle. In addition, Li Xian, a scholar from Pingle, became a traitor and gathered many Yao people to join the rebellion and besiege Guilin, claiming to have 50,000 soldiers and horses."

Outside the city of Guilin, the enemy camp stretched for miles, with tents like snow. It looked like there were a lot of people and a lot of momentum.

Jiao Lian was very contemptuous and said, "I heard that Li Chengdong did not enter Guangxi. The generals under his command are Du Yonghe, Hao Shangjiu, Zhang Yue, and Fan Chengen. I have never heard of Tu Lie'ao.

"Gao Gushan is a general under Tu Lie'ao, and at best he is a third-rate general. The traitor Li Xian has gathered a group of natives to besiege the city. Although they have a large number of troops, they are all a mob. Don't worry, sir. After lunch, I will lead 300 standard bearers out of the city, and we will surely defeat the enemy in one blow."

Li Chengdong captured Guangdong alone, and the Southern Ming Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Ding Kuichu, surrendered. Kuichu had served as the governor of Guangdong for many years and had a lot of wealth. Li Chengdong coveted his money, pretended to accept the surrender, secretly sent people to rob and kill Ding Kuichu, and got countless gold, silver and jewelry, with more than 800,000 taels of silver alone.

The corruption of the Southern Ming officialdom can be seen from this. Li Chengdong was very satisfied with the huge sum of money. After capturing Wuzhou, he led his confidants back to Guangzhou and sent second-rate generals to invade Guangxi.

However, the Southern Ming army was even weaker. Not only was it unable to defeat the second-rate generals under Li Chengdong, it also collapsed at the first touch. Important cities in Guangxi such as Wuzhou, Pingle, and Xunzhou were lost one after another.

What? Using only 300 standard bearers to attack tens of thousands of Qing troops? Qu Shisi couldn't believe it and tactfully advised: "General, why not wait for the infantry to come, and then we can defeat the enemy more confidently by cooperating inside and outside."

Still waiting for infantry? The people in Guilin are running out of food, and people are panicking! At dawn today, the defenders went out of the city to Dawei to get food, but they were careless and the Qing army took advantage of the situation and entered. What if the Qing army sent reinforcements to attack the city? How to resist?

Jiao Lian was not good at speaking, and wanted to praise Cen Danchu, so he said: "Sir, this man is both civil and military, and often says surprising things. Danchu, try to explain it for you."

"Yes!" Cen Danchu stood up and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "There are three reasons why our army can win. First, the Qing invaders have just arrived and have not yet established a firm foothold, and they are just a motley crowd. Gao Gushan is a third-rate general, and Li Xian is even more of a shameless traitor, so we don't need to be afraid of them.

"Secondly, although the number of standard soldiers is small, they are all elite veterans who have fought hundreds of battles, and each of them can fight one against a hundred. When the time comes, the standard soldiers will ride on horses and wear armor and charge directly into the enemy camp, killing Gao Gushan and Li Xian first, and the Qing invaders will be defeated.

"Third, there are many militias outside the city, waiting and watching for a long time. Although they can't attack the enemy, they can take advantage of the situation. As long as the standard camp breaks through the enemy camp, the militia will be greedy for spoils and will definitely lead the army to join the battle."

"Well, that makes sense." Qu Shisi pondered for a moment, turned around and went to the inner room, then an old servant followed him out, holding a wooden tray in his hand.

Qu Shisi lifted the red cloth, revealing more than a dozen silver ingots and several strings of gold and silver jewelry. Although they were not treasures, they were the only valuables in the mansion.

He sighed and said, "Rui Ting, the mansion is poor, so I can only take out these two hundred taels of silver and a few sets of jewelry from my wife. General, please don't think it's too little, use it to reward the soldiers."

Shi Si admired Jiao Lian very much and changed his courtesy name to refer to him.

What? Only 200 taels of silver? He was the governor of Guilin, the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, the Minister of Personnel and Military Affairs, and the one in charge of the army and grain of the whole country. But he only had 200 taels of silver in his house, and he had to use his wife's jewelry to reward the soldiers!

When did the great Ming Dynasty fall into such a state? In the early and middle Ming Dynasty, a soldier would be rewarded with 50 taels of silver for beheading an enemy. Even in the later Tianqi and Wanli periods, beheading an enemy was still rewarded with 30 taels of silver.

Look at Qu Shisi again, he is wearing a coarse linen shirt and has a thin face. The furnishings in his house are old, with only broken tables and old chairs. Where is the slightest bit of aristocratic air?

Cen Danchu's eyes turned red and he felt extremely uncomfortable.

Jiao Lian took the wooden tray with tears in his eyes and said, "Mr. Qian is very thoughtful. I would like to thank you on behalf of the brothers in the standard camp. In the afternoon, I will lead the standard soldiers out of the city to kill the enemy and take the reward from the Qing invaders."

At 3:00 pm, the standard camp assembled. All officers and soldiers were well fed and well fed, and after a short rest, they were full of energy, their horses were neighing, their armors were shining, and they had all the necessary bows, arrows, swords, spears, ropes, etc.

Qu Shisi personally saw off the pacesetters and poured them farewell wine. Many Guilin residents also came out to see them off.

The drawbridge was slowly lowered, and three hundred armored standard-bearers went out one by one and lined up outside the trench.

The Qing army was already on full alert, with a huge crowd of soldiers and horses. Of course, the number of people was not 50,000, but at least 7,000 or 8,000. However, there were no red cannons or rockets in the Qing army, so it was obviously not an elite force.

When Qu Shisi arrived at the top of the city wall, he saw that the Qing army had a large number of horses, while his own side had only 300 cavalrymen. He couldn't help but worry for Jiao Lian.

(End of this chapter)