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

Chapter 175 Meeting with the Commander
On March 25, spring was in full swing. Cen Danchu led his personal troops to Guilin and went into the city to meet Qu Shisi.

The spring flowers are in full bloom, the catkins are flying, and the city of Guilin is full of vitality. But Danchu's heart is like the newly born spring water, rippling with ripples, with some expectation and some trepidation.

Cen Danchu and Qu Shisi are father-in-law and son-in-law as well as master and apprentice, and their relationship is extraordinary. Under the guidance of housekeeper Qu Gongmei, he went straight into the study.

Qu Shisi was sitting at his desk reviewing documents. After six months, he had aged a lot, with a pale and thin face, puffy bags under his eyes, prominent cheekbones, gray beard, and sparse eyebrows.

"Dead and lifeless", an unlucky idiom popped up in Danchu's mind. It seemed quite accurate when used to describe Qu Shisi.

"Commander-in-chief!" Danchu called out, his voice particularly cordial.

Qu Shisi paused for a moment, as if he was frightened. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Seeing that the young man in front of him was Cen Danchu, he couldn't help but feel happy and a long-lost smile appeared on his face.

"Zhuoru, you are here, please sit down. Gongmei, serve tea."

As if a dead tree came back to life, Qu Shisi's lifeless face regained its vitality and his eyes became bright.

"I estimated that you would arrive in two days, but I didn't expect that you would come early."

"The commander-in-chief's letter has arrived. We dare not delay and immediately prepare our troops and rush to the frontline to provide reinforcements."

"Well, the country is so kind and the frontline is in urgent need. Military commanders should risk their lives to serve the country. How many soldiers and horses have you brought with you this time?"

"We brought a total of 8,000 soldiers, about 4,000 of whom were combat soldiers, and another 3,000 Tusi soldiers and attendants."

Qu Shisi was about to raise his cup to drink tea, but was startled when he heard this. He remained silent and put the cup down unconsciously.

Danchu took the opportunity to have his personal soldiers hand over the gifts, saying, "Commander-in-chief, this is an emergency, and my wife and I didn't prepare any gifts. This is the clothes, shoes and hats made by Xuanhui herself, a handwritten letter, and a box of bird's nest, which can nourish the body."

A hint of tenderness flashed in Qu Shisi's eyes. He immediately opened his daughter's letter, glanced through it, and a childlike smile appeared on his face.

The father-daughter relationship is extraordinary after all. Danchu felt much more relaxed, took out the article Liu Shu had prepared for him, and said, "This is a new article written by a student recently. Please correct it."

"Oh?" Qu Shisi was very surprised. It was rare for him to have such a refined mood. He put on his glasses and read quietly:
"The Prince of Yulin and the Prince of Ningxia command the most powerful troops in the world and control the important areas of Jiang and Guang. If they can join forces and attack Nanjing, it will be as easy as taking something out of a bag. This is a rare achievement. Although there are obstacles of loyalty, once the southeast is conquered, Chu and Fujian will fall by themselves. What is the point of a small isolated city?"

"Well said!" Qu Shisi clapped his hands in praise and sighed, "Jiangxi and Guangdong rebelled one after another, and the Ming Dynasty had hope of revival. However, the court had no way to pacify them, and the Prince of Yulin and the Prince of Ningxia missed the opportunity to advance and retreat, and they were defeated one after another in less than a year. Thinking about it now, it was really like a dream."

Further down, it discusses He Tengjiao's mistakes: "The Prince of Zhongxiang is good at pacifying but not good at controlling. He is lenient to the vassal states and tolerates corruption. However, he has no plan for command and is selfish, which has led to the overall situation being affected. He was defeated and died. Isn't it his own fault?"

Qu Shisi frowned and said, "This is too harsh. The townspeople are brutal and violent, and if provoked, they will rebel. The King of Zhongxiang has been trying to make ends meet and has been unable to cope with it. This is probably because the situation is not favorable and fate is playing tricks on him. It is not the King of Zhongxiang's fault alone."

From He Tengjiao, Qu Shisi couldn't help but think of himself. If his prestige was not as good as He Tengjiao's, how could he control Hao Yongzhong, Zhang Xianbi, Zhao Yinxuan and other arrogant and fierce generals? The current situation was even more serious. The various towns were in disarray, and the Qing army was about to invade Guangxi. If he took over as the commander-in-chief, could he do better than He Tengjiao?
The following passage is clearly a suggestion to him:

"During the chaos of the Western Jin Dynasty, Qu Yun was fond of using titles to please people. All prefects were given the title of General of the Military Region, and were given the title of Palace Attendant and Palace Attendant. The commanders of villages and forts were also given the title of Silver and Green General. In our dynasty, titles are becoming more and more common. All meritorious officials are Dukes, and Lieutenants are also given the title of Earls. How is this different from the Western Jin Dynasty?

"Yang Xiong once said, 'If the ruler is in the right way, all the treacherous people in the world will serve as his envoys; if the ruler is in the wrong way, all the treacherous people in the world will serve as his enemies.' When the King of Ningxia rebelled, the emperor was overjoyed and issued an edict saying, 'I am reborn with the help of all the heroes. I thank all the heroes for their help.' The whole world laughed at him...

"The ruler is weak, and the commander-in-chief has great power. He must give high titles and salaries to encourage heroes, and he must enforce laws to restrain the various towns. Benevolence alone is not enough to solve the problem, and justice must be used to make decisions, so that power can be exercised and laws can be established. In the past, the Song Dynasty had Zong Ze, who was able to turn the tide and establish a partial peace in the Southern Song Dynasty. If the court had an important official like Zong Ze, it would not be unable to rule over the enemy by dividing the river...

"One person alone cannot support the overall situation. One must be close to the nobles and intimidate the villains. Ma Jinzhong, Jiao Lian, Hu Yiqing, Yang Guodong, Xiong Zhaozuo, Wang Jincai, Ma Yanglin and others are all brave and daring. Sun Kewang, Li Chixin and others are the legacy of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and are capable of great use...

"In the past, Tang pardoned Shatuo and pacified Huang Chao. The commander-in-chief could also use Li Chixin, make friends with Sun Kewang, use empty titles to collect real soldiers..." Zong Ze was an important minister in the relationship between the two Song dynasties. When the Jin army surrounded Bianliang, Qinzong appointed Zhao Gou as the Grand Marshal of the Army and Zong Ze as the Deputy Marshal. Zong Ze had such a high status. Zong Ze was very prestigious among the military generals. He used military generals such as Yue Fei and contacted the righteous army in the world. He played a vital role in the establishment and stability of the Southern Song Dynasty.

What the Southern Ming lacked most was important officials like Zong Ze. Whether it was Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying in the Hongguang Dynasty, Huang Daozhou and Zhang Kentang in the Longwu Dynasty, or He Tengjiao and Du Yinxi in the Yongli Dynasty, they all lacked sufficient authority in front of the military generals and were unable to control them. How could the revival be achieved without consistent military orders?
Danchu hoped that Qu Shisi could turn the tide like Zongze and maintain the precarious situation of the Southern Ming Dynasty, but it was obviously wishful thinking.

After reading it, Qu Shisi remained silent for a long time. This article was still useful, but like He Tengjiao, Qu Shisi had a great prejudice against the peasant army, believing that Li Zicheng had forced Chongzhen to death, which was an unforgivable crime, so how could he reuse them?

He took a sip of tea and said, "The article is very well written. It shows that Zhuoru works hard and makes progress. I am impressed by him."

Danchu said bluntly: "Commander-in-chief, I think that the troops of the Duke of Xingguo are very strong and are defending Chenzhou, Guiyang and other places to protect the Zhenxia Pass. We should send troops to reinforce the Duke of Xingguo and respond to Quanzhou from a distance."

The Duke of Xingguo was Li Chixin, who was promoted to Duke years ago for his contribution in recovering Hunan. As the overall situation in Hunan was deteriorating, Li Chixin led his army to retreat to Chenzhou. Du Yinxi led his personal army to join him and stubbornly blocked the Qing army in Chenzhou and Guiyang.

Jirgalang regarded Du Yinxi and Li Chixin as the main enemies and personally led the main force of the Qing army to fight against them.

Qu Shisi, however, was hostile to Li Chixin and said, "Duke Xingguo is a remnant of the bandits, and his nature as a bandit has not changed. The Prince of Zhongxiang ordered him to reinforce Nanchang, but he led his troops to station in Chaling and refused to move forward. When the Qing invaders marched south, he defeated them without a fight, burning, killing, and looting along the way, causing public resentment."

This is pure prejudice. When Nanchang was besieged, even Li Chengdong was unwilling to send troops to rescue, let alone Li Chixin? The Loyalty Battalion was not favored by He Tengjiao, Qu Shisi and others, and had no food or salary. They were in a state of flux. If they didn't grab food, would they starve to death?

"Commander-in-chief," Dan Chu opened his mouth but was interrupted by Qu Shisi.

"You don't have to say anything. I have my own strategy for military and national affairs. Let me ask you, how many troops do you have in your Red Army now?"

"I dare not hide it from you, Commander-in-Chief. We currently have 16,000 soldiers and horses, and half of them are sent to reinforce Quanzhou this time." Danchu was a little cautious and did not count the garrison troops from various places. Otherwise, with the garrison troops from various places, the Red Army should have 20,000 soldiers.

Sixteen thousand soldiers and horses were not too few among the various towns of the Southern Ming, but they were not too many either. On the Huguang front, Li Chixin, Ma Jinzhong, Zhang Xianbi, and Wang Jincai had relatively strong troops and horses, often claiming to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, but in fact, they were indistinguishable from the soldiers and civilians, and only about thirty to fifty thousand of them could fight in battle, and only about ten to twenty thousand of them were elite soldiers in armor.

The Qing army was invincible on the Huguang front, and the generals were defeated one after another. Cen Danchu was able to send 8,000 Red Army soldiers to reinforce the front, and he was also able to mobilize 3,000 Tusi soldiers, which was even more precious.

"That's right. In this battle, you will be under the command of Xinxing Hou, and all your troops will be transferred to the front line of Quanzhou."

"Commander-in-chief, the Qing invaders are powerful, and all the towns should cooperate sincerely. Quanzhou and Chenzhou should fight as one, and cannot be separated."

"Stop talking." Qu Shisi was a little impatient. He took out a stack of letters from the drawer and said coldly, "These are all memorials impeaching you. Some were copied from the court, and some were written to me by others."

Qu Shisi's sudden change of attitude caught Danchu off guard. He glanced at the letters, which numbered more than a dozen. The top one was written in bold handwriting and clearly signed, and it was undoubtedly from Jinbao.

Jin Bao, a native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, is the "Tiger Tooth" among the "Five Tigers" of the Chu Party. He is an upright and outspoken person, simply an angry young man who scolds everyone he catches.

He was regarded as a tiger's fang by the Chu Party in Dongxun's territory, but he also wrote a letter to criticize Li Chengdong, the Chu Party's backer, saying that he was self-reliant and ignored the great cause of rejuvenation. The fierce party struggles in the Ming Dynasty were roughly like this.

In the first month of the year, Chen Bangfu wrote a letter to impeach Jin Bao, asking the court to send Jin Bao to Xunzhou to serve as his military supervisor, intending to harm him. The court officials were furious and sat in front of the court in protest, wearing green clothes and resigning.

Emperor Yongli had no choice but to appease Chen Bangfu with gentle words and reject Chen Bangfu's request. Jin Bao still did not restrain himself and continued to do as he pleased.

Danchu was dismissive of this and said, "Commander-in-chief, my students are determined to fight against the Qing Dynasty. As long as we can defeat the Qing invaders, we will not hesitate to do anything else."

(End of this chapter)