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

Chapter 107 Return to Guangxi
The situation has changed again.

In early June, the weather was already hot. When the news of Li Chengdong's rebellion in Guangdong reached Quanzhou, He Tengjiao's confidence increased greatly, and he led the troops to attack Yongzhou.

Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces returned to the Southern Ming, boosting the morale of the Ming army and allowing them to quickly capture Yongzhou. He Tengjiao had many generals under his command, but they were not able to lead them well. Zhao Yinxuan, Xiong Zhaozuo, Cao Zhijian, Lu Ding and other generals were not very active and did not work together.

Jiao Lian killed Feng Zhiji without authorization, which offended He Tengjiao. He was anxious to repair his relationship with He Tengjiao, so he volunteered to be the vanguard. He Tengjiao went with the flow and naturally agreed.

Bai Gui was a brave and valiant general under Jiao Lian. As usual, he acted as the vanguard and led light cavalry to attack Yongzhou. However, due to lack of coordination with the rear army, he was ambushed and could not escape after a desperate battle.

Upon hearing the news, Jiao Lian personally led Zhao Xing, Ma Qijiao, Cen Danchu and other brave generals on horseback to rush forward and risk their lives to rescue Bai Gui. However, Bai Gui was eventually killed in the battle, with his body covered with arrows from the Qing army, and he became a loyal soul under the city of Yongzhou.

Jiao Lian was heartbroken when the general died in battle, and ordered the entire army to wear mourning clothes and hold a sacrifice to call back Bai Gui's soul. In accordance with the custom passed down by the Shaanxi Hakka army, "the corpse was burned and several liters of arrowheads were collected."

During the mourning ceremony, Dan Chu was so upset that he almost lost control of his emotions. He felt a sense of sadness as if the rabbit had died and the fox had grieved for the loss of the rabbit.

Among Jiao Lian's three generals, Bai Gui is the most courageous, Zhao Xing is the most strict in military discipline, and Ma Qijiao is the strongest. In fact, Dan Chu has the best relationship with Bai Gui. They often fight side by side on the battlefield and charge into battle together. In the future, who will be Jiao Lian's vanguard general? Who will charge into battle side by side with him?

At this time, He Tengjiao sent an envoy to deliver a letter, urging Jiao Lian to advance. He Tengjiao did not comfort Jiao Lian for the initial defeat, but took advantage of the situation to accuse Jiao Lian of underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly, which resulted in the loss of troops and generals and affected morale, and made him make meritorious contributions while guilty.

Jiao Lian's face was gloomy. He said to the messenger, "Bai Zhen died in the battle, and I also got an acute illness. Go back and tell the commander-in-chief that I am unable to serve as a vanguard anymore, and ask him to find someone else."

When the generals heard this, even though they had not read the letter, they knew that the messenger had ill intentions and they glared at the messenger.

The messenger was terrified and said, "Don't worry, Marshal. I will go back and report to the commander-in-chief immediately."

The generals were all dressed in mourning. After reading He Tengjiao's letter, they were very upset and said:
"The commander is seeking revenge for his personal grudge. Commander, you must not fall into his trap."

"He is trying to win over the Yunnan Division, so let the Yunnan Division be the vanguard to attack the city."

"What a good move. He let our army be the vanguard and fight to the death with the Qing invaders. When we were both defeated, he sent the Yunnan and Chu armies to reap the spoils, just like the battle of Quanzhou."

……

He Tengjiao was not a man of many talents, and as a commander, he always tried to recruit and pacify the generals. But whenever he recruited a general, the relationship was always harmonious at first, but it would not take long for them to become distant or even enemies.

Those who were estranged from each other included Zhang Xianbi, Huang Chaoxuan, Wang Jincai, Hao Yongzhong and other generals, while those who turned against each other included Cao Zhijian, Liu Chengyin and others.

The reason was probably that the troops had poor discipline and often engaged in looting because they had no food or money. He Tengjiao was a scholar and had no skills in commanding his generals. He changed the generals one after another but never cultivated a personal army that could take on important tasks.

Jiao Lian had a closer relationship with Qu Shisi, so it was obviously impossible for him to wholeheartedly join He Tengjiao.

After traveling through time, Danchu understood a truth: many phenomena and characters in the Southern Ming Dynasty were not black and white. Struggle is an art, and one must not be like a common man who would turn against one another at every turn.

He said: "Marshal Jue, the commander-in-chief's move is a ruthless move to kill someone with a borrowed knife. If our army obeys his orders, we will both suffer losses and be defeated by the Qing army in Yongzhou. Later, the Chu army and the Yunnan army will take the lead. If we don't obey his orders, the commander-in-chief will impeach Marshal Jue. "For now, it is better to use the strategy of delaying and say that our army lacks food and money and is inconvenient to serve as the vanguard. This time when attacking Yongzhou, the commander-in-chief still needs Marshal Jue, and he will not dare to frame Marshal Jue. Our army can also preserve its strength and avoid being targeted by the commander-in-chief."

Although He Tengjiao had many soldiers and horses under his command, the only ones he could really rely on were Jiao Lian, Zhao Yinxuan, and Cao Zhijian. Cao Zhijian was domineering and had long since fallen out with He Tengjiao, so he was unlikely to fight to the death. Zhao Yinxuan's Yunnan soldiers were foreign troops, and they could not be replaced after the loss of soldiers and horses, so they could only recruit locally, and their combat effectiveness was much worse than before.

During the Southern Ming Dynasty, the Yunnan soldiers were brave and good at fighting, and they also became a powerful force. For example, Zhang Xianbi, Huang Chaoxuan, Zhao Yinxuan, Hu Yiqing, Wang Yongzuo, etc. were all from Yunnan, and the Yunnan soldiers under their command were all able to fight to the death.

Later, Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo used Yunnan as their rear base and trained the Western Army. Even when Wu Sangui was in charge of Yunnan, most of his men were Yunnan soldiers.

"Well," Jiao Lian pondered for a moment and said, "I also know the commander-in-chief's tricks, but I am under his control and have to endure it. But the one we should worry about is Hao Yongzhong. The commander-in-chief has been quite arrogant recently, probably because he has persuaded Hao Yongzhong. If Hao Yongzhong really comes, our situation will be difficult."

"Ah?" The generals were shocked and had a headache about Hao Yongzhong.

Danchu was also pessimistic. He thought that Guangdong had already rebelled and Guangxi was safe. It was probably a long time before the Yongan Army could return to Yongan.

The other armies waited and watched, and the attack on the city was ineffective. The Qing general You Shizhong held Yongzhou with 4,000 men, and faced the Ming army that was ten times larger than his own, but he did not show any fear.

He Tengjiao was at a loss as to what to do, so he surrounded Yongzhou tightly and waited for the Qing army to run out of food.

When Danchu first traveled through time, he hated the infighting in the Ming army, but after experiencing it personally, he became calm about it.

Sometimes he felt quite guilty. Did he fall into the big dye vat and be assimilated by them? Did he also degenerate? He had to remind himself all the time, not to forget the great cause of rejuvenation, not to shave his head and become a slave.

But facing the current situation, he only felt a deep sense of powerlessness. Without power and status, he could only struggle in the whirlpool of the times and waste time and food on the front line of Yongzhou.

We must cheer up, not go with the flow, and not let ourselves fall into depravity. Anyway, He Tengjiao couldn't capture Yongzhou in a short time, so Danchu took the time to train the troops and take in prisoners to strengthen the team.

(Historical records show that He Tengjiao personally went to the front line and surrounded Yongzhou with tens of thousands of troops. The Qing army ran out of food and killed people for food. The Ming army besieged the city for five or six months, and finally broke through Yongzhou in November.)
In mid-June, Qu Shisi sent a secret letter, which brought hope to the suffering Cen Danchu.

It turned out that disputes had arisen within the Yongli court again.

Li Chengdong rebelled in Guangdong and was granted the title of Duke of Huiguo. He wrote to the court, asking the Yongli Emperor to return to Guangzhou. Qu Shisi was worried that he would hold the court hostage, so he tried his best to dissuade him, asking the Yongli Emperor not to enter Guangdong and to stay in Wuzhou instead.

Chen Bangfu, the biggest warlord in Guangxi and Duke of Qing, had originally sent people to negotiate surrender with Tong Yangjia, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi of the Qing Dynasty. Unexpectedly, when the envoy was still negotiating surrender, Li Chengdong forced Tong Yangjia to return to the right path.

Chen Bangfu suddenly had an idea and attributed the credit for Li Chengdong's rebellion to himself, saying that he sent envoys to persuade Li Chengdong to surrender. With this credit, he wrote to the court and asked to follow the example of the Mu family in Yunnan and rule Guangxi for generations, which showed his rebellious intentions.

If the internal strife of the Ming army in Quanzhou and Yongzhou was a minor incident, then the struggle between Qu Shisi, Li Chengdong and Chen Bangfu in the court was definitely related to the fate of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

He Tengjiao and Jiao Lian did not dare to neglect and sent their brave general Ma Qijiao back to Guilin and Pingle to intimidate Chen Bangfu and Li Chengdong. Danchu took this opportunity and followed Ma Qijiao back to Guangxi.

(End of this chapter)