Colonial Era: From Remnants to European Dominator

The bonfire was a symbol of hope and civilization, but for these Qing soldiers who had their queues cut off, it was more like a moment of peace before death.

Yang Sanxi was a veteran of the Green Standard Army from Hebei. His hometown was Tangshan. The reason he came to Guihua City was not because he loved the Qing Dynasty, but because his superior's whip was fierce and terrifying.

According to the initial military orders, part of this force from Beizhili was to fill the gaps in the southern front and besiege the Dzungar bandit army, while the other part was to reinforce the defenses of towns and villages along the way.

Yang Sanxi's purpose was to garrison Tuoketuo City, which is about 120 li (60 kilometers) away from the main city of Guihua. However, he had only gone halfway when all of his hundreds of men were killed in the wolf's den.

[Later generations later, Hohhot Tuoketuo County.]

While tied up, Yang Sanxi kept thinking about why they had to send troops everywhere. Why couldn't they have gathered in Hebei first and set off together? With more people and more power, these bandits would have no chance of capturing them.

As a squad leader in charge of a team of ten men, also known as a shed officer, Yang Sanxi only received five liters more grain per month than the ordinary soldiers. If it weren't for the extra rice and meat as a form of tribute, he probably would have quit long ago, and he wouldn't be the troublemaker he is today.

The most basic military unit of the Qing army's Green Standard Army was divided into platoons, squads, and messengers, corresponding to ten, fifty, and one hundred men respectively. Officers at each level were called squad leaders, battalion commanders, and captains.

"The rations have been distributed."

"Eat quickly, don't get any funny ideas!!"

Hearing the shouts and curses coming from ahead, Yang Sanxi was startled and wet himself. The stench of urine reached the new recruit beside him. He looked at this veteran who had once whipped him, now in such a disheveled state, with a mixture of confusion and mockery, and sneered:

"Why did Grandpa Yang pee? Did the egg break and the yolk can't be contained?!"

Yang Sanxi was both panicked and furious:

"What do you know, kid? We're doomed this time. This is our last meal. They'll kill us as soon as we finish eating."

The recruit's smug expression vanished instantly, and he began to tremble with panic.

"Then...what should we do?"

"I still have my elderly parents at home, they can't die!!"

Yang Sanxi glanced disdainfully at the recruit's increasingly soaked trouser legs. He had originally wanted to mock him, but remembering his own embarrassing state just now, he could only sigh:

"I can only be reborn as a human in the next life. I swear, if I'm a soldier again in my next life, I'll let the dogs eat me, so I won't harm my fellow villagers and myself."

Yang Sanxi's words, carried by the new recruits' wails, spread almost everywhere. In an instant, all the Qing prisoners were crying and shouting, and the smell of excrement and urine even overpowered the food.

When the bowl of porridge and wild vegetable pancakes were placed in front of him, Yang Sanxi struggled to crawl to the ground. At this moment, his legs had completely given way, and even his voice was trembling:

"Grandpa Turk, when are we leaving?"

The cook scooping the rice merely rubbed the bottom of his wooden ladle, then lazily replied:

"Eat your fill and then sleep. Why all the fuss?"

"Sleep, kill tomorrow morning—that's still somewhat merciful!!"

Yang Sanxi muttered to himself, his legs suddenly regaining some strength. After all, dying in the morning meant he could live one more night, which was a bonus night, and he could see the sun rise tomorrow. He would probably be better off reincarnated.

The next morning, as the sun broke through the fading light, all the prisoners rose in a state of panic, some even in a state of despair from not having slept all night. But Yang Sanxi was unusually quiet, simply gazing at the rising sun and the still-dim sky. The tranquility on his face did not resemble that of someone about to die.

"Don't move, stay here and await orders."

A commotion arose as some tried to escape, but were driven back by guns and clubs. Soon, the smell of excrement and urine filled the air, and the wailing was so loud it gave people a headache. Meanwhile, Yang Sanxi peered cautiously at the figure approaching from the opposite side.

The general was dressed in black armor, had a square face, and a beard that wasn't very long but not short either. He spoke with a distinct Northwestern Mandarin accent from the start.

"You are all Qing dogs who aided and abetted the evildoers. According to military orders, many of you should have been executed. However, the General is benevolent and compassionate, and he pities that you are all Han Chinese and not true traitors. Therefore, he is willing to treat you with sincerity and recruit you into our army to serve and eliminate the Qing demons together."

Many people only understood the gist of the first half, but almost everyone understood the second half. The goal wasn't to kill them, but to recruit them. No wonder they had food to eat last night.

"However, if anyone later wavers between the two sides, defies my military orders, and betrays the Han dynasty, I'm afraid they'll find it difficult to even die!!"

"We are Han Chinese, and we will fight for the Han people! Destroy the Qing dogs! Destroy the Qing dogs!!"

Since seeing the rising sun, Yang Sanxi seemed to have gained some insight. After the black-armored general finished speaking, he was the first to step forward. As he spoke, shouts of "Destroy the Qing!" rang out intermittently around him.

Whether it was genuine or just a charade, at least the slogan was there. Lu Heng, riding on horseback, didn't care about any of that. He just gave Yang Sanxi a deep look before riding away.

Not long after he left, Yang Sanxi became a squad leader again, but this time it was a Han Chinese military position, not a Han Chinese army position under the Manchu Qing dynasty.

It was now the morning of the fifth day. Yesterday afternoon, apart from the first and sixth battalions that were still suppressing the Qing army that was harassing the outer perimeter, the main force, totaling more than 17,000 men, had completely surrounded Guihua City. Apart from the birds in the sky, not even a mouse could escape.

[Most were surrendered soldiers and able-bodied men conscripted along the way, equipped with simple iron tools and captured Qing army weapons, even bamboo spears.]

The arguments within Guihua City have been ongoing for the past few days, and the core of the dispute is whether to fight or defend.

Those who supported attacking argued that Guihua had a strong and well-equipped army, had stockpiled a large amount of military equipment, and had a number of soldiers no less than the Hu invaders. They also had the advantage of terrain and popular support, making it difficult to lose no matter what. They argued that it would be better to go out of the city and fight in the open, rather than suffer the same fate as the Yulin Massacre and perish because of defense.

The opposing side argued that the city's high walls and strong defenses offered an advantage, and that the strategy should be to delay and wait for a change in circumstances. After all, if they lost in open battle, the city would truly become the second Yansui Town, and Guisui City would be the next Yulin.

Moreover, the defeat of the Hu bandits in the field battle after their 10,000 troops in Yansui showed that their field battle strength was extraordinary, far surpassing that of the northern troops. The reason why Yulin City was captured was because the hope outside was cut off, and the morale of the people inside was panicked, which allowed the Hu bandits to succeed. Before this, they rarely attacked cities. After the Battle of Yansui, they mainly used appeasement to deal with towns other than Yulin. This shows that the Hu bandits were not good at attacking cities.

Wouldn't it be the best strategy to simply hold Guihua?

After much arguing, General Bursai of Suiyuan finally made up his mind amidst the uproar: defend the city, defend it to the death, and keep the Turkic barbarians bogged down in Guihua, preventing them from joining forces with the main Dzungar force that was fighting a major battle ahead. In this way, the task assigned by the court to garrison the city section by section and encircle it layer by layer was completed.

-------

"Boom!!!"

The roar of cannons echoed on the city walls, and the scattered dust obscured the view.

"Reinforce the attack on the city. The first to scale the walls will be rewarded with five thousand taels of silver and promoted three ranks."

The commander in charge of the siege was Yang Zhen of the Second Battalion. He had previously commanded the Third Battalion, but after the reshuffle, he became the Second Battalion's lieutenant.

His deputy in this battle was Ayur Saihan, who was newly promoted and had mixed Mongolian and Turkic ancestry.

A name that combines the meaning of longevity in Turkic languages ​​with the meaning of beauty in Mongolian.

Of course, now he, like Heishike of the Sixth Battalion, also has a Chinese name.

These are Saihu and Mo Dingqing. The former means that they hope he will be as brave as a tiger, while the latter is purely the cunning idea of ​​those old scholars who, taking advantage of this Turkic barbarian's lack of cultural knowledge, gave him such a high-profile name. Ironically, Heishike himself was quite satisfied with it and often spoke to people in his half-baked Chinese:

"I am Mo Dingqing."

"Captain Sai, are you ready on your end?"

Saihu held his head high, the shepherd's bells on his belt jingling in the wind:

"Don't worry, the warriors are ready to meet Tengri and go to heaven!!"

Accompanied by a burst of dense military drums, a cavalry unit charged out from the right flank. The riders were all dressed in black armor, numbering no more than a hundred in total, and all wore iron masks. What was puzzling was that this cavalry used two types of bows: one was a slightly smaller horse bow, and the other was a slightly larger foot bow.

What's even stranger is the swords hanging on their saddles. They weren't the curved swords commonly used by cavalry, but rather horizontal swords, which were longer and wider than ordinary horizontal swords, reducing their sharpness while increasing their chopping power.

If the horizontal sword is nothing special, then the "matrix" hanging at the waist is something that sends chills down one's spine.

At this moment, the smoke on the city wall was still so thick that it was impossible to open one's eyes. The explosive shells, which had been mixed with lime and sand, were not enough to cover the entire Guisui City, but they were more than enough to cover one of the city gates.

"These barbarian bandits are far too cunning! Cough cough—have more torches prepared, light them in broad daylight! Damn it, I'll scald them to death with molten gold!!"

On the side of the city wall, Arsleng, the cavalry officer guarding the south gate, also known as Chengen Gate, was wrapped in a veil. Because there were too many people and the air was too stuffy, he had long since taken off his helmet and thrown it at his feet. Only the plain cotton armor he was wearing was not reduced, but he had added an outer coat to protect himself from the wind and arrows.

"The sound of horses' hooves, it's cavalry."

Arslan's expression changed instantly, and he waved his hands repeatedly:

"Light torches and fire arrows! Fire arrows!!"

The torchlight illuminated the dust in a crimson glow, but due to limited visibility, only blurry and rapidly moving figures could be seen. Below them lay a seemingly deep but actually long-dilapidated moat.

Originally, according to the Ministry of War's requirements, the moat of a major city in the Hetao region like Guihua should have been built to a standard of at least eight zhang wide and two zhang deep. However, in recent years, due to the blockage of garbage and the long-term disrepair of the moat, its actual depth has long been less than three meters. The so-called eight-zhang moat is now nearly 60% covered by garbage or stones.

Construction waste, household garbage, and silt that had not been dredged for a long time had completely blocked the moat, so much so that it could be easily crossed with just a little wood, leading directly to the city gate.

So much so that not long after the arrows from the city wall fell, the leading cavalrymen had already abandoned their horses and fled to the city walls.

"Whoosh!!"

Arrows from the city wall were scattered all around. The first armored soldiers to reach the city wall advanced along the wall, using it as cover to avoid the arrows falling from above, and occasionally nocking arrows to shoot at the soldiers who showed their faces.

*Smack!*

A long arrow with armor-piercing power shot down from below, piercing the shoulder armor of a Green Standard Army soldier on the spot. As he fell to the ground, cries of agony filled the air, causing panic among the other soldiers, who became unsteady on their feet as they gripped their bows and spears.

"Hold on, quickly pour in the golden liquid----"

A dozen chamber pots, filled with yellowish excrement and urine, cascaded down the city wall, their stench so foul it made one want to vomit.

"Dodge to the side with your shield raised, don't panic----"

Captain Wu Hai, wrapped in cotton gauze, had the smell of mud and sand filling his nostrils. Above him was a rattan shield wrapped in cowhide, the best way to resist the golden liquid.

The "golden juice" brought not only so-called bacterial infections, but also a kind of poison gas. When boiling hot excrement and urine, the resulting fecal toxins would have been considered a biological weapon in the era of cold weapons.

Ordinary iron shields are often ineffective against the golden liquid. These specially made shields, covered with cowhide on the outside and rattan armor on the inside, are not 100% effective against the golden liquid, but they are currently the best solution.

On the city wall, arrows and molten gold rained down. The iron-clad soldiers, relying on the wall, used rattan shields, layers of clothing, and outer iron armor, and even mud and sand cloths to cover their faces, to desperately resist the physical and chemical attacks.

Outside the city, an infantry force several times larger than Iron Face was rapidly advancing, pushing ladders captured from Yulin City.

Behind them stretched an army that seemed to extend for miles, the banners bearing the character "Li" like lights in the night sky, drawing everyone's longing.

"The barbarian bandits are rampaging and attacking the city. The south gate has been in disrepair for years; I'm afraid—"

"Can we send more troops?"

At this moment, Bursa sat in the governor's mansion, feeling extremely uneasy. The urgent report that had just come from the south gate had almost scared him to death. Some of those Turkic bandits had actually used ladders to climb up the city wall. Although they were all killed, the fall of the south gate was almost inevitable.

Deputy Commander-in-Chief Garbi, a member of the Bordered Blue Banner of Mongolia, was a thoughtful and meticulous person, and immediately offered words of comfort:

"Commander-in-Chief, there is no need to worry. Although the South Gate is old and in disrepair, the city wall is still intact. We still have tens of thousands of soldiers in the city, and we will deploy them one by one. No matter how fierce the Turkic barbarians are, they will not be able to break through in a short time."

This wasn't just a simple consolation. The entire city of Guihua was practically a complete military institution, with everything designed for warfare. Not to mention the already difficult-to-attack city gates, even the barbicans behind them were thicker than the city gates in many other places, not to mention the tens of thousands of defenders.

Unless it's some meteorite falling from the sky or there's a traitor within, even an army of 100,000 can hold out for a while.

"That makes sense, that makes perfect sense!!"

"Just to ensure the South Gate is not lost, I would like to ask Jingchen to bring the silver from the mansion to reward the troops. I don't want the soldiers to say that I, Bulse, am stingy and only know how to make empty promises."

The "serious minister" that Bursa spoke of was none other than Fucha Alinbao, the assistant commander who had remained silent until now. Upon hearing the order, a barely perceptible flash of anger crossed his eyes, and he then whispered:

"The government funds in the prefecture were originally intended for next year's expenses. If they are all spent at once, I fear that after the barbarian bandits leave, there will be a famine next year. To repay the Emperor's grace, I have specially added five thousand taels of silver to support the troops. I humbly request your permission."

"Excellent!!"

Seeing that this "opium dealer" was so sensible, Bursay didn't say anything more, but urged him to deliver the cash to the city gates as soon as possible, so as not to discourage the soldiers.

After Alinbao left, Galbi, who was standing to the side, spoke up:

"The fact that the Commander-in-Chief is pressuring him like this may cause trouble."

"he----"

A slight, disdainful twitch appeared at the corner of Bursai's mouth:

"He's just a collateral branch of the Fucha family, a fallen nobleman, what can he do to me?"

"Besides, he controls the supply of opium dens of all sizes in Guihua. In normal years, it would cost more than fifty or sixty thousand taels. If he still complains after paying five thousand taels, I might as well give up my position as commander to him!!"

"If he doesn't make any mistakes in this battle, that's fine. But if he reveals even the slightest flaw, I, the Commander-in-Chief, will have no choice but to impeach him for delaying the battle and endangering the soldiers. At that time, whether the opium trade in this city belongs to Fucha or someone else will be up to us to decide."

"Ha ha----"

Listening to us and hearing our unrestrained laughter, Galbi felt that it was best not to take more than one's share when serving as an official in the Qing Dynasty. Taking too much would attract unwanted attention, and Alinbao was a prime example of this.

Ah Linbao, who had retrieved five thousand taels of silver from his cellar, was now in a state of panic. He felt that this money could not buy peace. Sure enough, as soon as the money was distributed to the city gates, the commander-in-chief ordered him to be transferred to guard the south gate. Meanwhile, the lowly cavalry officer was moved to the inner city to live a peaceful life.

-------

"How many people died?"

"A total of 527 people died from morning till night."

"If you include the injured, the number has exceeded seven hundred."

Lu Heng's words became less and less confident. Although most of the dead were surrendered Green Standard Army soldiers along the way, it was still a loss for his own forces. If the loss of more than 150 armored soldiers was added, the losses were almost equivalent to a medium-sized war.

It should be noted that the entire Jinshan army consisted of no more than three thousand truly fully armored elites; the majority were actually wearing half cotton armor, half leather armor, or no armor at all.

The majority of them were able-bodied men without armor.

"The closest I came was that time in the afternoon."

"Yes, about ten men managed to gain a foothold on the city wall that time, but they were eventually surrounded by reinforcements and all of them died in battle."

Tears welled up in Lu Heng's eyes as he spoke of the warriors who had scaled the city walls:

"Those were all fine sons of Jinshan Prefecture! I saw with my own eyes their heads hung on the city walls, impaled on spear tips. After the city falls, we must slaughter all these bastards!!"

Li Yuanheng's hands, clasped behind his back, trembled several times. His eyes held an unprecedented heartache, but he quickly swallowed back the tears that welled in his eyes, and his tone was unusually calm:

"It's normal for people to die in sieges. The important thing is to find a way to break through the city. The south gate is severely damaged, so we can only try to take it down. But even if we break through this gate, there's still the inner city. If we keep fighting like this, how many of the 20,000 troops I've painstakingly assembled will be left?"

"A thousand-mile dike can be breached by an ant hole; a city can be breached not only by brute force, but also by skill."