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

Chapter 103: Same Party and Opposition to Different Parties
The palladium is a cold weapon that evolved from agricultural tools and was not common in ancient wars. Similar to the dagger, the palladium is a weapon that can be used for both offense and defense.

In order to deal with the long swords of Japanese pirates, Qi Jiguang combined tong and palladium into one to make tong-palladium. Although it is called tong-palladium, it is actually a kind of palladium. "Journey to the West" was written during the Wanli period, and the weapon used by Zhu Bajie was roughly palladium.

Li Maozu, the governor of Guangxi during the Qing Dynasty, came from a family of military generals in Liaodong and was the great-grandson of Li Chengliang, the Earl of Ningyuan during the Ming Dynasty.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Liaodong frontier troops were the elite of the Ming army and cost a lot of money. By the Southern Ming Dynasty, most of the Liaodong Ming troops had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and were organized into the Eight Banners of the Han Army.

Therefore, many people in the mainland hated the Liao people and believed that the Liao people had invited wolves into their homes. This Li Maozu was a descendant of the Liaodong Li family and was appointed as the governor of Guangxi by the Qing Dynasty. Seeing the Ming army's massive counterattack, Li Maozu was unwilling to surrender, but instead stepped up preparations for war, willing to live and die with Quanzhou.

They are all Han people, why did Li Maozu fight so desperately?

Cen Danchu sighed and asked Fang Yizhi for advice. Fang Yizhi was the right assistant general of Yong'an Army and Danchu's think tank. In this battle, he followed the army to help Danchu manage the central army and prepare food and weapons. His position was crucial.

"Brother Mi, Li Maozu is the great-grandson of Li Chengliang. He has received the grace of the country for generations. Why would he be willing to work for the Qing Dynasty? The three false kings have retreated to Wuchang, and Jin Shenghuan has rebelled in Jiangxi. Quanzhou has become a hopeless situation.

"The commander-in-chief sent an envoy to persuade him to surrender, but he killed the envoy, claiming that it was the duty of the frontier officials to defend the territory and that he would rather die in Quanzhou than withdraw from Guangxi. On the other hand, there are countless civil and military officials in our dynasty who have surrendered, but not many who have died loyally.

"What exactly is the problem?"

Fang Yizhi also sighed. He was also listed as a member of the Donglin Party. The Donglin Party had always claimed to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic. When the Qing army came, so many people surrendered!
Without saying much else, let’s just talk about the “Three Great Masters of Jiangzuo”, which were very representative at that time.

Qian Qianyi, the leader of the Donglin Party and the head of the Jiangnan literary world, led the Hongguang Dynasty officials to surrender, handed over Nanjing to Duoduo, and was appointed as the Minister of Rites of the Qing Dynasty. Qian Qianyi was already in his fifties and was not as good as his concubine Liu Rushi. He was ridiculed by his contemporaries, so he resigned and returned home. He contacted anti-Qing righteous people in his hometown, but was arrested by the Qing Dynasty and thrown into the capital prison.

Wu Weiye, the leader of the Fushe Society and the master of the Meicun style of poetry, has been living in seclusion since the Qing army marched south. His relative Chen Zhiji has been an official in the Qing court and involved in the Qing court's party struggles. He has been recommending Wu Weiye to the Qing court, trying to attract him as a supporter. The Qing court knew that he was famous all over the world, and kept sending people to recruit him. His mother was worried about the harm to the family and kept urging him to go north. Wu Weiye couldn't feel at ease and still hid in his hometown, fearing that he would betray in the future.

Gong Dingnie was also famous. He was a good friend of Fang Yizhi. He surrendered to Li Zicheng first and then to the Qing Dynasty. He was not only despised by the Ming people, but also by the Qing people. The Qing people ridiculed him as "a criminal of the Ming Dynasty and a bandit censor". Dorgon also despised him, thinking that "such people should just sit quietly and not talk nonsense", "people can only blame others if they are loyal", "comparing himself to Wei Zheng and comparing Li Zicheng to Emperor Taizong of Tang, which is shameless".

How could a mere Li Maozu be so stubborn?
Fang Yizhi replied: "The Tartars are a foreign race and are trying to win over the surrendered ministers by any means. Li Maozu is a Liao man and his ancestors had relations with the Tartars. This is unusual. His family is all in the north, so he is willing to fight to the death.

"In addition, the laws of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were extremely strict. Border officials had the responsibility to defend their territory. If they did not die in battle, they would die by law. Li Maozu was the governor of Guangxi. If he died in Quanzhou, he would receive a generous pension and his descendants would be able to inherit his legacy. If he fled without fighting, even if he did not die, he would be exiled to an extremely cold place and his family would be enslaved.

"Kong Youde has fled north, and Li Maozu is isolated and helpless. Our army is large and powerful. We can defeat the minority with the majority and conquer Quanzhou. Li Maode will surely die this time."

Danchu nodded and said, "Scouts reported that there are estimated to be 4,000 defenders in Quanzhou City. The number of defenders in Yongzhou is unknown, but it will not exceed 4,000. Yesterday, the Yunnan Division and the Chu Division fought a fierce battle with the Qing Army southeast of Feiluan Bridge. The Qing troops fought with palladiums, but our army was so large that we fought them to a draw."

The Qing Dynasty had a governor and a general in Quanzhou and Yongzhou. According to the regulations of the early Qing Dynasty, the governor could organize more than 1,500 standard soldiers; the general generally had two or three battalions under his command, plus the central army, which should have 3,000 to 5,000 people.

Adding the 1,000 soldiers recruited in advance by Li Maozu, the Qing army had about 8,000 troops in the two places, and the number should be accurate.

The one thousand temporarily recruited palladium soldiers actually showed their prowess on the battlefield and blocked the attack of the Ming army, which was a headache.

Fang Yizhi pondered for a moment and said, "The palladium knife comes from a farm tool, and its nemesis is also a farm tool. General, have you ever heard of the flail?"

The flail also comes from farm tools and is a tool used by farmers to thresh grain. It consists of a long and a short wooden stick, connected by a rope or chain in the middle, making it less labor-intensive to wield.

Ming army defenders were often equipped with flails. When the enemy climbed up the city walls with ladders, the defenders stood on the battlements of the city walls. Since it was inconvenient to attack the enemy with their weapons straight, they could use the short end of the flail to hit the enemy.

To put it bluntly, the flail is like a large nunchaku, a weapon that can change the direction of attack. Danchu understood it immediately and said, "Brother Mizhi is right. I will advise the commander as soon as possible to use the flail to break the enemy's hand."

"Hmm," Fang Yizhi hesitated to speak, as if he had something to hide.

When Danchu saw this, he asked directly, "Brother Mizhi, what's the matter?"

"Yesterday, the commander-in-chief asked me to meet him and invite me to join his staff to help him with confidential matters."

Dan Chu was shocked. Fang Yizhi was a talent and should not be wasted by a loser like He Tengjiao. So he said:
"Brother, you are both virtuous and talented, both civil and military. As early as the second year of Longwu, you were appointed as the Minister of Rites and the Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion by the current emperor. Now you are serving as a military officer in our army, which is really unfair. However, I heard that the commander-in-chief has a narrow mind and can hardly accomplish great things. If you go there, not only will it be difficult for you to display your talents, but you will also be implicated by him."

Fang Yizhi smiled calmly and said, "General, you have misunderstood. I know the commander-in-chief's character very well. The emperor has repeatedly called on me to serve, but I have repeatedly declined. How could I join the commander-in-chief's staff?
"However, Du Ge's troops swore to counterattack in Xiangxi with great momentum, and Ma Jinzhong and other brave generals were willing to serve. The commander-in-chief was also eager to counterattack, and tried his best to win over the Yunnan Division, the Chu Division, and even Cao Zhijian in the Zhenxia Pass area.

"I heard that he also sent someone to contact Hao Yongzhong in Liuzhou and invited him to go to Huguang. General, do you feel that the commander-in-chief is deliberately alienating Xinxing Hou and seems to want to take his trusted troops to grab military merits?"

"Humph," Cen Danchu sneered and said, "More than being estranged, I also heard that Feng Zhiji has already intended to change his allegiance and has been in frequent contact with the commander recently."

Jin Shenghuan rebelled and Kong Youde fled north, and the situation was very good. However, He Tengjiao, as the commander-in-chief, made inappropriate moves, which cast a shadow on the Ming army's counterattack on Huguang.

Fang Yizhi sighed: "The Qing invaders often said that the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by factional strife. During the Battle of Guilin, the Qing invaders were at the gates of the city, and the troops worked together, so they were able to fight hard and defeat the Qing invaders.

"Now that the situation has improved a little, everyone from the commander-in-chief to the general has started to unite and attack others. I am really not optimistic about this counterattack on Huguang. What is the general going to do? Will he lead the Yong'an Army to counterattack Huguang?"

As a general who conquered the barbarians, Danchu was still a general under Jiao Lian, so he could not act on his own. He was originally quite optimistic about the current situation, but after hearing what Fang Yizhi said, he was greatly disappointed and sighed:

"It depends on what Xinxing Hou does. If the commander-in-chief excludes Xinxing Hou and he refuses to go north, I will have a reason to return to Yong'an."

Fang Yizhi was very insightful and said, "Everything depends on human effort. The general should persuade Xinxing Hou to return to Guilin. As for the reason, we can say that the army has gone north, leaving Guilin and Pingle empty.

"In order to prevent Li Chengdong from spying on Guilin, we specially ask Xinxing Hou to return to Guilin and Pingle. The most urgent task for our army is to work hard to manage Yong'an and continue to expand the army, so that we can have the possibility of turning the tide in the future."

"Well," Danchu pondered for a moment and said, "Brother Mizhi is right."

After talking a lot today, Fang Yizhi mustered up his courage, dismissed his attendants and asked, "Last year, I met the general for the first time and asked him for a plan to save the nation. The general replied with the eight-character motto 'start a new business and ask the tenants to pay taxes'. Today, I dare to ask the general, does starting a new business mean replacing the Ming and Qing dynasties to establish our own?"

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were many people who claimed to be kings and emperors, including not only royal family members and distant vassal states, but also various mountain kings.

Many scholars were unwilling to surrender to the Qing Dynasty and took shelter among military generals. Even among the high-ranking Qing army, there were many anti-Qing patriots around them. For example, Fang Guangchen, the counselor of Wu Sangui, the King of Pingxi, and Jin Guang, the counselor of Liu Xuanchu and Shang Kexi, the King of Zhishun, were all anti-Qing patriots at heart.

Danchu and Fang Yizhi were already familiar with each other, so he confessed to him, saying, "I have the ambition to clear up the world and to become the king, but I am not yet fully grown and cannot act rashly."

Fang Yizhi smiled and said, "It's just 'build high walls, slowly claim the throne, and store up food'. I will lend a helping hand, General."

(End of this chapter)