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

Chapter 192: The Return of the Righteous Army
The Qing army reinforcements had arrived, and Jiao Lian was extremely anxious. On the one hand, he sent troops to burn the ferry at Suoyifur, and on the other hand, he ordered his troops to fight to the death, determined to capture Quanzhou before Lekedehun.

However, when the Ming army heard that Lekedehun had come in person, their morale dropped. The Qing army under Tong Guolai regained their morale after receiving reinforcements, and their determination to defend the city became even stronger.

In the early morning of the 26th, Jiao Lian sent the Gui army to attack Suoyifur. The Qing army had been prepared and only lost a small number of ships.

Lekedehun had learned the Red Army's strength at Leigong Ridge and became cautious. The Eight Banners soldiers did not cross the river at Suoyidu, but retreated 30 miles and crossed the Xiangjiang River at Huangsha Town, and then rushed to Guilin.

At noon on the 27th, Lekedehun led his troops to Quanzhou and immediately launched an attack on the Gui division on Shufangling in the north of the city.

The brave general Zhao Xing camped on Shufang Ridge, commanding the city from a high position, bombarding Quanzhou City day and night. He was once as famous as Bai Gui and Ma Qijiao, and was one of the three great generals under Jiao Lian. Now that Bai Gui and Ma Qijiao have both died in battle, Zhao Xing has been given more important responsibilities, but he still cannot capture Quanzhou.

That afternoon, Tong Tulai opened the city gates and attacked the Yunnan Division unexpectedly. Wang Yongzuo's troops were the first to be defeated, followed by Hu Yiqing's troops. The Guangxi Division was unable to hold out and held out until dark, then retreated at night.

Danchu had mixed feelings when he heard the news, with both regret and relief. It was really unacceptable that the 30,000 Ming troops who had gathered to attack Quanzhou, with several times the number of troops as the enemy, could not capture Quanzhou. However, after this battle, the Red Army broke the myth of the invincibility of the Eight Banners, the confidence of the soldiers increased greatly, and Danchu's prestige soared, which was also a matter worth celebrating.

That night, the Red Army crossed the river overnight and withdrew from Leigongling to the west bank of Guanjiang River. They burned the floating bridges on Xiangjiang River and Guanjiang River, and withdrew to Xing'an along the east bank of Xiangjiang River.

At 3 p.m. on the 28th, the Red Army had been busy for more than ten hours and was tired and hungry. Scouts and scouts successively sent intelligence that the Qing army had not sent troops to pursue. Lekedehun and Tongtulai had few soldiers and had seen the strength of the Gui army, so they probably did not dare to pursue easily.

Danchu ordered to set up camp and rest. Scouts were sent to Huangsha Town in Quanzhou, and scouts were sent to Sanjiangkou to obtain intelligence in time. Each unit set up camp on the spot, and wooden walls and chevaux de frise walls did not need to be built, but fortresses and trenches were indispensable.

Finally free, Danchu took off his armor and felt relieved. Just as he was about to have a drink to relieve his fatigue, the battalion commander Yuan Ping came to report: "General, a group of rebels have surrendered. The leader is Wang Xihu, and Director Yang is interrogating him."

Oh? Danchu was delighted. The Red Army had lost thousands of men in Tangjiapu and Leigongling, and they were in urgent need of reinforcements. This was great, someone had come to their doorstep.

Reputation is a good thing! Doing business requires a signboard, and leading troops to war requires reputation. If the signboard is loud, business will naturally be good. If the reputation spreads, heroes will naturally come to join you.

"What is the origin of Wang Xihu? How many soldiers and horses are under his command?"

Hunan had suffered from war for a long time, and the people built forts one after another. The righteous army was also a mixed bag, some just wanted to protect themselves, some just wanted to ask for official positions from the Qing Dynasty, and some took the opportunity to plunder, but there were very few who really resisted the Qing Dynasty.

"He claimed to be from Quanzhou and was originally a coal mine boss. Quanzhou was in frequent wars and the government exploited the workers severely. The miners could not survive and nominated Wang Xihu to start an uprising and set up a hilltop in Hengling."

Hengling is a mountain range that belongs to the remnant of Yongmingling and is located east of Guanjiang. Standing on the east bank of Xiangjiang River and looking east, you can clearly see Hengling in the distance.

Miners in the Ming Dynasty were lowly and were exploited, and there were frequent uprisings among miners. Miners, especially coal miners, were hardworking and worked underground all year round. They were highly organized, obedient and disciplined, which caused the Ming army to suffer a lot.

Danchu became interested and said, "Let Yang Yuqi and Wang Xihu come in. I'll come and see him."

Soon after, Yang Yuqi and Wang Xihu entered the central military camp.

Wang Xihu was about thirty years old, dark-skinned, short and sturdy, with a slightly hunched back. When he saw Cen Danchu, he kowtowed and said, "I am Wang Xihu, and I am here to see Marshal Cen."

"Please stand up." Danchu noticed that Wang Xihu had long hair and immediately liked him. In this day and age, it takes a lot of courage to have long hair in the enemy-occupied area. If it were an ordinary person, they would have shaved their hair long ago and rushed to become a submissive subject of the Tartars.

Yang Yuqi helped Wang Xihu up, nodded to Danchu, and said with a smile: "General, Xihu was originally the head of the coal mine in Quanzhou. He was loyal and righteous. The Tartars were very tyrannical and plundered severely. Xihu rebelled and built a camp in Hengling to resist the Tartars. He had 1,000 elite soldiers and 100 war horses under his command."

Yang Yuqi spoke for Wang Xihu, and Danchu naturally understood what he meant. He thought that Wang Xihu must have some outstanding qualities and was worth winning over by the Red Army.

"General Yang, you are too kind," Wang Xihu smiled innocently and answered appropriately, "I heard that the Marshal killed more than a thousand Tartars in Tangjiapu and defeated them in Leigongling. Xihu has long wanted to submit to the government army, but has not met a wise leader. Today I met the Marshal, who is young and promising, and has a noble bearing. I know that there are people who can revive the Ming Dynasty. Xihu has a thousand soldiers under his command, all of whom are miners from the Quanzhou coal mine. They are hardworking and disciplined, and are willing to follow the Marshal until death to fight against the Qing invaders and work together for wealth and glory."

Wang Xihu was neither humble nor overbearing, and his words were honest and his expression was simple and solemn, which made a good impression on Danchu. He suddenly remembered that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a general who was a coal miner foreman. Qin Rigang, the Prince of Yan, was second only to the Five Kings of the First Uprising. He was the most resolute in executing orders. The two thousand coal miners under his command were hardworking and disciplined, and they were a powerful force in the early Taiping Army.

When the Taiping Army first left Guangxi, they were active in Quanzhou and Yongzhou, recruiting a large number of coal miners, and from then on they mastered the unique skill of underground siege. The status of Hunan soldiers in the Taiping Army was second only to their Guangxi brothers, and they were the backbone of the Taiping Army.

Isn't Wang Xihu a fierce general like Qin Rigang? Isn't this group of miners' volunteer army a perfect source of soldiers?
Cen Danchu was very happy and said to Wang Xihu: "Xihu, you led your troops to surrender here, which shows that the ancient saying is true, 'Those who lose their way have few supporters, while those who have the way have many supporters', which is really a true saying. This is God's help to me, I warmly welcome and gladly accept it."

Wang Xihu was overjoyed and stood up to bow again.

Danchu was very interested in the underground siege method. Compared with setting up ladders to attack the city, underground siege can effectively reduce casualties. The Qing army was accustomed to using red cannons to knock down the city walls, but this method was too costly and required the mobilization of dozens or even hundreds of cannons.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, underground siege had become a fairly mature method of siege. Engineers dug tunnels that led directly into the city or to the base of the city wall, and then tried to break through the wall.

There are many ways to break down city walls. The most common way is to bury a large amount of gunpowder and blast it underground to blow down the city wall.

The peasant army lacked gunpowder, so they had another method, which was to hollow out the loess under the city wall, leaving only a few earth pillars. They either used gunpowder to blow up the earth pillars, or tied ropes around the earth pillars and pulled them down with brute force. Once the earth pillars fell, the city wall also collapsed.

The disadvantages of the underground siege method are also obvious. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and requires precise calculation of distance and position.

Fortunately, Wang Xihu was a coal miner and should be good at this.

Danchu asked, "Xihu, when miners dig coal underground, they need to dig tunnels. Can you accurately control the direction and distance? For example, if you dig a tunnel outside the city of Quanzhou, can you accurately dig it directly below the city gate or the city wall?"

Wang Xihu was confident and said, "This is the basic skill of coal miners. I am very familiar with it."

Danchu was overjoyed, and after a moment's thought, he said, "Very good. Xihu, I am planning to expand an engineering battalion. I will appoint you as the commander of the Second Engineer Battalion, and all your troops will be engineers. How do you think?"

In addition to sieges, building strongholds and fighting stupid battles also require the expansion of engineers. Digging trenches and building chevaux de frise are huge projects, and the Red Army's existing engineers are insufficient.

Wang Xihu naturally agreed and thanked him again and again.

(End of this chapter)