The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Among this group of Han soldiers were members of the Eight Banners of the Fuca clan. Seeing that Sabusu was so humble in order to save his life, he couldn't help but step forward and curse him.

"Sabusu, you are at least a high-ranking noble of my Fucha clan, why are you so shameless?"

"Pooh!"

Sabsu didn't care about any of that. The Qing Dynasty was gone now; what use was loyalty then? So he retorted:

"What Fucha clan? My surname is Fu, and my name is Fugui!"

"Sir, spare my life!"

The flag officer looked at Sabsu and said, "You're in good shape, but it's a pity you're too old. You look over forty. Even if you were a Blue Banner servant, we wouldn't accept you into the army. Just execute you!"

Upon hearing this, the soldier from the Fucha clan rushed forward and, before Sabusu could even beg for mercy, beheaded him with a single stroke without the slightest hesitation.

Because the Manchu Qing dynasty was a slave society, and now that Beijing had been destroyed and families had been killed, these lower-ranking Eight Banner soldiers hated the Eight Banner nobles with a passion.

After the government office was breached, more than forty people were stationed there. Unaware of the danger, a large number of Manchu families came to seek refuge, only to be killed as soon as they arrived.

After it got completely dark that day, the Eight Banner soldiers and their families in the city were basically cleared out, and the city gradually fell into silence.

After a thorough count, the Eight Banners soldiers in the city numbered only a little over six hundred. The original main force consisted of ten Niru (military units) with nearly three thousand men, but they had been transferred to the Central Plains to quell the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories long ago.

In the main hall of the Ningguta government office, several leaders of exiled prisoners and three centurions of the Han army were gathered together. The table was full of rice and meat, but the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

Because the three centurions were flying the Han army flag, while most of them were actually rebels from the Ming Dynasty.

As a figurehead and江湖人士 (jianghu figure, meaning someone involved in the underworld or江湖义气, a code of honor among literati), Zhou Hu stepped forward nonchalantly and took the initiative to grab a piece of venison.

"Whether it's the Ming Dynasty or the Han Dynasty, it's still the land of my Han people, which is better than it being taken away by the Tartars!"

"Eat, eat, eat! I won't hold back!"

After Zhou Hu finished speaking, he began to gnaw on the stewed venison, each bite containing an ounce of meat.

After Zhou Hu said that, and seeing how ravenously they were eating, the atmosphere was thawed. The leaders, who had been hungry for a long time, started to eat heartily.

The Han Chinese centurion was relatively educated. After learning some things from the people of Beijing, he immediately showed a look of grief and indignation.

"My name is Zhao Lie, and I am a centurion in the Han army!"

"Our Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty was originally a Taiji of the Dzungar tribe in the Western Regions. It was because he felt that he had half Han blood and could not bear to see the Manchu Tartars enslave the Han people that he mobilized the entire strength of his tribe to launch a surprise attack on Beijing!"

"In the Central Plains today, our great Han people occupy the north, while the Manchu Tartars still occupy the southeast. The traitor Wu Sangui occupies the southwest under the guise of overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming, and there are two other traitors who have declared themselves kings in Guangdong and Fujian."

After listening to Zhao Lie's brief account, and knowing that Wu Sangui, this traitor, still had the audacity to use the banner of the Ming Dynasty, several leaders of the Southern Ming rebel army were filled with righteous indignation. In particular, Ji Nanshou slammed his fist on the table.

"That treacherous dog Wu Sangui killed my Yongli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty! I, Ji Nanshou, will surely take his life and devour his flesh!"

The other leaders nodded in agreement; they shared the same goal: to fight the Manchus and to defeat Wu Sangui.

Zhao Lie had witnessed the battle during the day, especially Ji Nanshou's immediate killing of the Eight Banners soldiers, so he took the initiative to raise his wine cup.

"Brother Ji, I, Zhao Lie, admire heroes the most. Your Eagle Claw Kung Fu during the day was incredibly impressive. How about I introduce you to my Han army?"

When faced with Zhao Lie's offer of a patronage, Ji Nanshou initially wanted to refuse, but then he remembered that the Ming Dynasty was gone and he had nowhere else to go, so he picked up his wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.

"Brother Zhao thinks highly of me, so I am naturally happy to accept!"

With Ji Nanshou agreeing to join the Han army, the atmosphere immediately eased. After drinking and eating meat together, the men were even more inseparable.

After a few rounds of drinks, a tipsy Ji Nanshou suddenly remembered something and plopped down next to Zhao Lie.

"There are a thousand exiles in Ningguta, five or six hundred of whom are young and strong. We have been able to survive for a few years thanks to those scholars who were exiled to Ningguta because of the literary inquisition, especially Mr. Wu Zhaoqian."

"Would it be alright to have him/her come over?"

Zhao Lie certainly liked scholars!

Now, throughout the Han Dynasty, because of Liu Weiqing's recruitment of Zhou Peigong, all the generals are extremely respectful to those scholars who are not in office, so they looked at the personal guards beside them.

"Go and invite Wu Zhaoqian and the other gentlemen over for drinks and food. Don't neglect them!"

In the Han army, a general had two personal guards, a centurion had five personal guards, a chiliarch had fifty, and a lieutenant general led three thousand men and had one hundred personal guards.

As for the generals, there was no fixed quota. For example, Subutai had eight hundred, who were often used to charge into battle.

These personal guards were there to protect officers from blind spots and prevent them from being attacked while they were charging into battle. Therefore, when officers were promoted and received a raise, their personal guards were given priority for promotion.

This system is essentially giving generals personal guards on the surface. This could easily lead to the emergence of warlords, but it is much safer than generals directly training their own personal guards. At least the military pay is in the Ministry of War, and they will obey the orders of the imperial court.

Not long after, a scholar in his early forties, with a black headscarf, a refined and upright appearance, and a goatee, swaggered in.

He sat in the middle without any hesitation, picked up the wine cup on the table and drank it all in one gulp, completely different from the other seven or eight scholars who were obsequious and submissive.

Before Zhao Lie could speak, the scholar took the initiative to strike up a conversation.

"Student Wu Zhaoqian has been in Ningguta for seventeen years because of his cheating in the imperial examinations, and has always served as an advisor to the Ningguta General."

"I had heard before that your Han Dynasty had already entered Beijing and driven the Manchus south of the Yellow River. I didn't expect you to have reached Liaodong so quickly. It seems that your emperor has a very good strategic vision."

After Wu Zhaoqian finished speaking, he picked up another piece of venison and began to gnaw on it fiercely, leaving bits of meat all over his beard. This kind of fierceness was completely unlike that of a scholar.

Zhao Lie didn't know how to get along with scholars, so he just smiled and nodded in agreement. Just as he was about to say something, a Han soldier ran in, looking very nervous.

"Report to the centurion: Lights have just appeared three miles north of the city, and the number appears to be no less than five hundred people, who are setting up camp!"

Why would they come to the area around Ningguta in the middle of the night? Could it be that there are other Eight Banners forces elsewhere that know Ningguta has been captured and are coming to its aid?

Thinking of this, Zhao Lie got up to go out and take a look, but Wu Zhaoqian grabbed his arm.

"No rush, no rush. Those outside the city are probably Rakshasa people. They've come three times in the past six months, taking advantage of the Manchus' troop redeployment back to the Central Plains, each time with just one or two men!"

"More than 500 people came this time. I guess they've already found out that there's a civil war in the Central Plains and want to take the opportunity to capture Ningguta and seize Liaodong. Their artillery, muskets, and cavalry are well coordinated. A few years ago, General Bahai of Ningguta led nearly a thousand cavalry from three Niru to fight against two hundred Rakshasa demons, and more than a hundred were killed or wounded!"