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

Chapter 17 Thinking

At three o'clock in the morning, Cen Danchu got up to patrol and walked into the night.

The captain's position is not high, but very important. He deals directly with the soldiers, just like the modern company commander, and is a real grassroots leader.

When an officer moves up a career ladder, even if he is only a captain or a lieutenant commander, he no longer leads troops directly, but passes on military orders to the team level through layers of command.

The commander's orders will eventually be passed down to the squad level, where the captain and the sergeants will execute them. If a commander does not know how to lead troops and does not know how to operate at the squad level, he is undoubtedly unqualified.

Cen Danchu became the team leader and no longer had to stand guard, but he needed to get up at night to patrol the camp and check each sentry post in the camp.

Tonight it was the turn of the three teams to patrol the camp. The captain, the head of the team, and the deputy team leader took turns to patrol. Danchu had the least experience, so he chose to patrol the camp at three o'clock.

This time period is very bad. People have just fallen asleep and have to get up to patrol. A patrol takes half an hour, and after coming back, they toss and turn and have difficulty falling asleep.

The west wind grew stronger, the moon was covered by dark clouds, and the starlight was dim.

If you say that the Emperor Star is dim and the King's spirit is weak, then of course it is superstition. But looking at the weather, it seems that it is going to rain again. If it rains for ten days like in early March, the situation will be bad!
Danchu inspected the entire camp, which took him half an hour. When he returned to Team 3, he saw that the sentry had been replaced by Cao Yu.

Seeing Dan Chu returning from his patrol, Cao Yu still asked for the password with a hint of disrespect, and his style was quite strict.

After more than ten days of getting along, Danchu has integrated into the third team and become friends with several squad leaders.

Among the ten sergeants, three were the most outstanding, namely Kuang Shi, Cao Yu and Wu Jie.

Kuang Shi is the youngest, in his early twenties, with a sharp mind, courage and strategy, and is a talent for generals. Cao Yu is the oldest, mature and experienced, and is a talent for maintaining the status quo. There is also Wu Jie, who is nearly thirty years old, brave and unstoppable, and never misses his arrow, and is a talent for pioneers.

Cen Danchu had already made plans. In the next step of expanding the army, he would add three sentries between the teams and squads, with three people as sentry leaders.

Wu Jie was the leader of the first sentry post and served as the vanguard when the battle came; Kuang Shi was the leader of the second sentry post and served as the central army when the battle came; Cao Yu was the leader of the third sentry post and served as the rear guard when the battle came.

After patrolling the camp for two or three miles, Danchu was no longer sleepy, so he just chatted with Cao Yu for a while.

"Lao Cao, what's going on in the team recently? What are the brothers thinking about?"

Cao Yu moved the fire, put down the fire stick, and said, "Brothers miss their families very much and look forward to reuniting soon. It is said that Liu Tiegun has a lot of troops and will surrender to the Qing sooner or later. The old camp is stationed in Huangsha Town, which is very close to Quanzhou and Wugang. The situation is dangerous."

Liu Chengyin was a tyrant, and everyone knew that he was unreliable. Even a small sergeant knew that he was unreliable. Emperor Yongli still fantasized about relying on him. Isn't it sad?
Cen Danchu felt sad and said, "Everyone can rest assured about the old camp. The commander has made a decision and sent someone to Huangsha Town to send a letter overnight, asking Ma Zhen to bring the old camp to Guangxi."

Cao Yu's family was also in Huangsha Town. Upon hearing the news, they were extremely happy and said, "The commander-in-chief is wise. The brothers can rest assured now."

Danchu asked: "Please tell me, Old Cao, why do you think Liu Tiegun will rebel?"

Cao Yu was a cautious person and spoke very restrainedly. He said, "Back then, when General He was in Huguang, he had the power to control Liu Tiegun. Tiegun refused to obey and sent troops to the general's hometown to arrest his son in the name of demanding salary. The general had no choice but to marry him.

"Last year, the Qing invaded Huguang, and the commander-in-chief was in a difficult situation and suffered repeated defeats. Tiegun was the commander-in-law's relative, and was afraid that the commander-in-chief would be superior to him, so he did not send any soldiers and watched the commander-in-chief be defeated.

"I heard that when the governor's envoys and his personal army passed through Wugang, Tiegun would break and plunder them. Therefore, when the governor's subordinates passed through southern Hunan, they often bypassed Wugang. If Tiegun treated his relatives like this, how can we expect him to be loyal to the court?"

Every sergeant knew that Liu Chengyin would definitely rebel, so it was foreseeable that he would surrender to the Qing Dynasty in the future.

Cen Danchu was filled with mixed emotions. He exchanged greetings with Cao Yu for a moment and then returned to the tent to rest.

The captain was a junior officer who slept with the soldiers. Eight sergeants from the first and second squads were sleeping in the tent, and at the moment they were grinding their teeth, farting, and snoring.

Cen Danchu couldn't sleep and started thinking silently.

Since crossing over, he has witnessed all kinds of chaos and tragedy, and his heart has become as hard as iron. He has made military achievements, gained Jiao Lian's trust, and temporarily gained a foothold in the army.

Jiao Lian is a good leader, without any evil intentions, full of loyalty, brave and courageous. Following him, your own safety will not be a problem, and you can also slowly accumulate strength and grow stronger.

However, Jiao Lian has the talent of a general but not a commander. The Southern Ming Dynasty was in turmoil both internally and externally. With Jiao Lian's talent, it would be difficult for him to cope with such a complicated situation. Before Cen Danchu traveled through time, he was a middle-aged office worker who was interested in history, military affairs and geography. He knew the character Jiao Lian, but he was not impressed.

Perhaps, like the "Three Loyalists of Lingnan" and the "Four Generals of Yongli", he is famous for his loyalty and integrity. As for his role in history, it is far less than that of Li Dingguo, Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Huangyan and others.

I can’t control that much anymore.

At present, the situation is deteriorating. But the morale of Jiao's army is high and they are united, so they can still fight in the future. I am in the standard camp and the development momentum is very good. I should continue to work hard and accumulate strength before the overall situation deteriorates, so as to strive to lead an army on my own.

Looking at the long term, what are your future goals?
To wear the Qing Dynasty but not rebel is like wearing an electric drill in your anus. To surrender to the Qing Dynasty and become a slave is impossible for Cen Danchu anyway.

Is it possible for a rebellion to succeed? Of course it is possible.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty was a foreign race that ruled China, but it was too easy for them to gain power and their foundation was as fragile as paper.

In terms of military strength, the core military force of the Qing Dynasty was the Eight Banners of Manchuria. Before entering the Shanhai Pass, the Eight Banners of Manchuria had 309 Niulu, plus 18 half-Niulu, with a total force of less than 60,000.

The Manchus were small in number and were very secretive about the number of their troops. Official documents never disclosed the number of troops. Even in old Manchu archives, there were very few records of the number of armored men.

During the reign of Nurhaci, there were clear regulations on the number of armored soldiers in each Niulu: each Niulu had 10 "White Baiyala" (heavy armored cavalry), 40 "Red Baiyala" (cotton armored cavalry), and 50 infantry.

Afterwards, the Eight Banners of Manchuria fought for many years, suffered heavy casualties, and the number of troops that each Niulu could send out was constantly decreasing. After entering the Pass, the Manchuria exhausted the strength of the entire clan, and the total number of troops was definitely no more than 60,000.

In addition to the Eight Banners of Manchuria, there are the Eight Banners of Chahar in Mongolia (belonging to Inner Mongolia), with a total strength of less than 30,000 troops.

In addition to the eight Mongolian banners, there were eight Han banners. Including the four kings and one duke, the total force did not exceed 60,000.

There are also Outer Mongolians, whose total military strength should be tens of thousands.

These troops were the core military force of the Qing Dynasty, and their total number certainly did not exceed 200,000. The total population of the Eight Banners was even smaller, less than one million.

During the southward march, a large number of Ming troops surrendered. These surrendered troops had limited loyalty and were likely to change their flags if the situation changed.

In the early Qing Dynasty, surrendered generals frequently rebelled and anti-Qing righteous armies emerged one after another. Until the 12th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the Three Feudatories launched a rebellion, and many people responded, even in the capital.

In addition, the Qing Dynasty was tyrannical and brutal, with countless tyrannies such as massacres, enclosure of fields, forced escapees, forced conscription, and shaving of hair.

If there is wise leadership, strict organization and effective measures, there is still hope to drive out the Tartars and restore China.

What should we do? Nothing more than to have enough soldiers and food.

It is difficult to have enough soldiers and food in this chaotic world. But there are two feasible ways, which may help to turn the situation around.

First, follow the example of Zheng Chenggong and monopolize trade. Guangxi is not near the sea, so this path is temporarily unavailable.

Second, follow Li Zicheng's example and distribute the land equally and exempt the tax. This is a tried and tested method.

At the beginning of each dynasty, different degrees of equal distribution of land were implemented to curb land annexation and win the support of farmers.

Even Ye Zhupi had proposed the policy of "granting land according to the number of people" to distribute the land in Liaodong to the captured Liao people. Huang Taiji followed suit and implemented the policy of "registering people as households" and formulated the "Regulations on Leaving the Master", which changed Han serfs into civilian households, stimulating the production enthusiasm of the Liao people.

The Manchus captured the Liao people, but gave them wives, cattle, sheep, and land. The Liao people had no worries about food and clothing, so who would care about national justice? Who would be willing to work for the Ming Dynasty?
Li Zicheng also put forward slogans such as "equal distribution of land and exemption of taxes", "equal distribution of land and exemption of grain", and "no taxation for three years", and won the support of farmers.

The Dashun Army was not as elite as the Ming Army, and was defeated repeatedly and nearly destroyed several times. However, because he won the hearts of the people, Li Zicheng rose again and again after repeated defeats and finally destroyed the Ming Dynasty.

Is it really feasible to distribute land equally in this era?
How can we implement equal distribution of land without a team of cadres?
Or, combine equal distribution of land with military farming? Or reduce rent and interest?

Emperor Yongli was a useless man. If he really became powerful in the future, would he support the Ming Dynasty or start a new one?
With many questions in mind, Cen Danchu fell asleep.

(End of this chapter)