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

Chapter 20 Recruiting Soldiers
As soon as he had the money, Jiao Lian began to send people to recruit soldiers.

Outside the city, Zhu Minru was in charge. Zhu Minru was a native of Guilin and donated the most silver. He went to the villages outside the city to recruit soldiers. According to Jiao Lian's military order, Zhu Minru mainly recruited new soldiers from farmers, miners, and common people.

Inside the city, Cen Danchu was in charge and mainly recruited soldiers from captives and death row prisoners.

Danchu led the third team of soldiers to the outside of Wenchang Gate to check on the prisoners.

Most of the cities east and south of Guilin had been captured by the Qing army. Later, if the Qing army wanted to attack Guilin, the south and east of the city would be the key directions.

The Li River separates the city to the east, and although there is the Yang River to the south, the water is shallow and silted up. In the eighth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, in order to strengthen the defense of Guilin, the Yang River was divided into two branches and led to the west and south of the city as a moat.

Today, the moat has long been silted up. The western and northern walls are built against the mountain, making them easy to defend but difficult to attack. The eastern wall is separated by the Li River, and the southern wall is empty without the protection of the moat.

Therefore, Qu Shisi placed the garrison near Wenchang Gate in the south of the city. The last time the Qing army attacked Guilin, they also used Wenchang Gate as the breakthrough direction.

In the last great victory, the Ming army captured two thousand prisoners alive, and now they are driving them to dredge the moat outside Wenchang Gate.

There was continuous drizzle and a cool breeze. It was the rainy season in Guangxi, and this year it seemed to have been especially rainy.

The Ming army was short of money and food, and the captives had an even harder life. They had to eat thin porridge and wild vegetables every day, and they also had to dig in the river and carry mud, which were all hard labor.

Many people didn't even have tools and had to dig the river mud with their bare hands. Occasionally, they would dig up a loach, which was a delicacy and had to be stuffed into their mouths immediately without any hesitation. Otherwise, the loach would slip away or be snatched away by other captives.

Cen Danchu rode on his Xuelihong warhorse and led his troops to the moat. Several prisoners had already fallen dead, and their bodies could not be dragged away in time. A dozen more prisoners were barely breathing and were dragged to the bodies by other prisoners. They wanted to struggle but had no strength.

Before the afternoon shift ends, someone will come to collect the bodies. If nothing goes wrong, more than a hundred prisoners should have died today.

Human life is as cheap as a dog's. The lives of prisoners are even worse than dogs. Who made them become running dogs of the Qing army? It is their own fault.

The Ming soldiers who were supervising the work walked back and forth, whipping the captives with horse whips from time to time. Seeing Danchu and his party, the captives unconsciously sped up their movements.

Cen Danchu saw this and had something in mind. He called the supervisor and showed him the warrant to stay behind.

The supervisor was a little surprised, but he still ordered the work to be over and the prisoners to be gathered.

The prisoners rejoiced as they were no longer required to work, but they were too weak to move quickly.

It's really terrible. At this speed, it will take nearly half an hour to finish gathering.

Cen Danchu winked at the deputy team leader beside him. Feng Lin understood and cracked his whip until it made a clattering sound. Then he shouted loudly: "Don't dawdle, hurry up!"

The overseer also raised his whip, whipping the captives so hard that they screamed in agony. The captives quickened their pace, and in less than half an incense stick of time, nearly two thousand captives had gathered.

Danchu rode forward on his white horse, looked around at the captives majestically, and shouted loudly: "I am Cen Danchu, the guerrilla commander of the Guangxi Admiral. The day before yesterday, I captured your flag and killed your general. Today, I am here to recruit soldiers under the order of Liushou and Xinxingbo.

"If there are any of you who are strong, courageous, and loyal, you may join our army, serve as soldiers, eat food, and reform yourself. Those who are unwilling may retreat under the black flag; those who are willing may stay where they are."

Prisoners are abominable. In ancient times, prisoners were often killed. Qu Shisi's decision to use the prisoners to dredge the moat was a special favor.

At present, half of these captives were Han people, and the other half were Yao people from Yangshuo and Pingle. Most of them stood still. If they retreated, they might be killed immediately.

There were two or three hundred dull-witted prisoners who retreated tremblingly under the black flag.

Sergeant Kuang Shi led ten standard bearers, each carrying a stone lock, and walked to Dan Chu. Dan Chu pointed at the stone lock and said, "This stone lock weighs thirty kilograms. Anyone who can lift it above his head can join our army and eat food."

The captives were eager to try and lined up to lift the stone locks.

Being a soldier and eating food is much better than digging mud in the river under the city. At least, you don't have to worry about food. Otherwise, the prisoner camp is short of food and medicine, and the daily labor is heavy. If you don't starve to death, you will die of exhaustion, or die of illness.

It took half an hour to select more than 800 prisoners who could lift the 30-jin stone lock above their heads.

These eight hundred people were checked in terms of their physical appearance and demeanor. Those who were sickly or had wandering eyes were removed. Finally, there were more than six hundred people left.

The remaining more than 1,000 people all rushed to the moat and continued to work. The captives cried bitterly and begged Cen Danchu to take them in.

No one paid any attention to them. The supervisor raised his whip high and shouted, "You brought this upon yourself. You can't be forgiven. Get to the riverbank. Even if we have fewer people, we can still do the work. Hurry up! Everyone has to do more!"

More than 600 prisoners gathered together, and Danchu gave them a lecture: "You are all accomplices of the tiger, and you deserve it. Today, the elders and the marshals have shown special mercy and allowed you to serve as soldiers and eat food in order to reform yourself. You must serve with all your heart, obey military discipline, and fight the enemy bravely, otherwise, you will be killed without mercy."

Next, the second screening was carried out. Team leader Chen Wu led his men to carry over several large baskets filled with brown rice.

The prisoners had not eaten dry rice for a long time. When they smelled the fragrance of the rice, their eyes lit up and their mouths watered.

Danchu shouted loudly: "Each person should hold a stone lock in each hand and walk forward thirty steps without stopping or falling. Those who achieve this will be rewarded with a bowl of rice and allowed to join the standard camp and become the personal soldier of Xinxingbo."

This is much more difficult than lifting a ball. But for the sake of the rice balls, the prisoners were eager to try.

Finally, more than 100 captives were selected. One of the captives, who was nearly 30 years old, had dark skin, a determined look in his eyes, and walked with a vigorous pace, attracted Danchu's attention.

When they called him over and asked him about it, they learned that his name was He Guoju, a Yao from Yangshuo, and that he was captured by the Ming army the first time he went to the battlefield.

Danchu asked, "He Guoju, I see you look good, how come you have gone astray and are willing to be a running dog for the Qing invaders?"

He Guoju was a little nervous, but he was also very calm and said, "Replying to the commander, I am a good man in the village. Li Xian, a scholar from Yangshuo, recruited soldiers to protect his hometown, claiming that he would protect the country and the people.

"I applied for the military service, hoping to earn a career in the army. When I entered the camp, I was ordered to shave my head, and then I realized that I had been deceived by Li Xian. Fortunately, the commander-in-chief killed Li Xian in battle, eliminating the traitor for the country, and I was recognized by the commander-in-chief, and I have been on the right path since then."

It was the first time that Cen Danchu was called the Great Commander. Seeing that he responded appropriately, he was delighted and asked, "I think you can throw the stone lock?"

He Guoju answered truthfully: "In reply to the commander, I can't throw stone locks, but I have learned martial arts since I was a child in the village, so I have some strength."

Strength is one thing, but He Guoju has a resolute expression and although he is nervous in front of the military officer, he remains composed. He is a very good talent.

Cen Danchu was very satisfied and said, "Well, you will work under me from now on."

There is one advantage of being a recruiting officer: you are close to the water and get the first chance to recruit good talents.

The next day, Danchu went to the prison again to recruit soldiers from the death row prisoners. There were three prisons in Guilin City, namely the provincial prison, the prefectural prison and the county prison. There were many death row prisoners with various charges, including those who had injured officials, those who had become bandits and those who had robbed houses.

Generally speaking, these death row prisoners were born in troubled times, had no food to eat, and were unwilling to sit and wait for death, so they took risks. Danchu selected about 60 people from them, including about 20 strong and strong ones.

(End of this chapter)