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

Chapter 221: Freeing Liu Fangliang

The night was as dark as ink, and a cool breeze suddenly blew. Outside Wutunso City, countless corpses were left on the battlefield, and the groans of the wounded were endless.

Today's battle was not fierce, but there were heavy casualties. Of course, most of the dead were innocent refugees. There were not many elite soldiers in the Loyalty Camp, and many were forced to recruit men who were not used to fighting, so there were heavy casualties.

There was no war of justice in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the same is true for today's battle. An unexpected surprise was that the Red Army captured Liu Fangliang alive.

"Marshal Jue, our army has captured Liu Fangliang alive!" Director of the Education Bureau Chu Yongpei broke into the central army tent and said excitedly.

There were several lanterns lit in the tent. Danchu was reviewing documents by the light. He was overjoyed when he heard the news. He stood up and asked, "Where is Liu Fangliang now?"

"He was also in the prisoner camp. He had a fever and had not yet recovered. He was also injured, so he was captured by our army. In the evening, a prisoner identified him. After interrogation, it turned out to be Liu Fangliang."

"Very good," Danchu paced back and forth in the tent and said, "Bring him to see me immediately. Remember, be polite to him."

"I know." Chu Yongpei said goodbye and left. Soon, he brought back a strong man in his thirties.

His right hand was bandaged, showing that he was injured, and his face was pale, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness. He stood without bowing, and his attitude was defiant, yet calm and composed, as if he had experienced many storms.

"Are you Liu Fangliang?" Danchu asked without taking it as an offense.

"That's right." Liu Fangliang said with his head held high, glancing at Dan Chu with a look of contempt.

"Liu Fangliang, you are already a prisoner of our army, how dare you be rude?" Chu Yongpei shouted, glaring at him.

"I was captured because of illness, not because of my crime in battle. You can kill me or chop me up as you wish, but I am too stubborn to worship the Emperor Dashun in my life. No one else."

"Bastard!" shouted the captain of the personal guards, Cen Yong, and moved forward with a sword in hand.

"Get out!"

"Marshal!" Cen Yong shouted unwillingly, but seeing Dan Chu's stern expression, he could only step back two steps in hatred.

"Brave man! Please take a seat!"

Liu Fangliang sat down with a big smile, and his attitude became slightly restrained.

"I heard that Mingyuan is from Chang'an?"

Mingyuan? Cen Danchu actually knew his courtesy name and his hometown?
Liu Fangliang was surprised. He was a rough man, who was good at writing and had made great military achievements. When the Dashun Dynasty was founded, Li Zicheng named him Marquis of Ci, which made him a nobleman, so he was given a courtesy name. However, most of the generals of the Dashun Dynasty were rough men, and they rarely addressed each other by their courtesy names.

"Mr. Liu is indeed from Chang'an." Liu Fangliang's attitude softened a lot, and his tone was not so stiff anymore.

"When did you join the army? How old are you?"

"In the fifth year of Chongzhen, I was seventeen years old."

In the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Tianqi (1627), Wang Er, a peasant in Baishui County, northern Shaanxi, led a hungry uprising, killed the county magistrate, and occupied the county town, marking the beginning of the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty. The governor of Shaanxi at the time was afraid of being blamed by the court, so he concealed the incident and did not report it, which led to the uprising of peasants in northern Shaanxi spreading like wildfire.

The following year was the first year of Chongzhen, and Gao Yingxiang raised an army to respond. Around the turn of the second and third years of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong joined the uprising.

Liu Fangliang started the uprising in the fifth year of Chongzhen, and he already had a long career in the Dashun Army. It is estimated that he has been in the army for seventeen years and is thirty-four years old this year.

As the vanguard officer of the rebel army, Liu Fangliang was fast on horseback and quick with his spear, and was known as the "invincible general on white horse and silver spear", a title that was not undeserved.

"What a coincidence," Danchu said with a smile, "We are from the same hometown and have similar experiences. I officially joined the army in March of the first year of the Yongli reign and served as a soldier under Duke Xuan. I was also seventeen years old at that time." After hesitating for a moment, Liu Fangliang said against his will, "The general is a man of both civil and military skills, and has a good way of training soldiers. I am a rough man, and I dare not compare to the general."

"Ah," Danchu stood up and said, "When I was young, I admired Mingyuan's style. 'White horse and silver spear invincible general', 'Luo Cheng in the world, Zhao Yun reborn', the lightning white dragon horse under his crotch, the plum blossom silver spear in his hand, just thinking about it makes me fascinated.

"In the battle of Shangluo Mountain, Mingyuan did not eat or drink for a whole day and night, and used his silver spear to kill several officers of the government army; in the battle of Zhuxian Town, he defeated Sun Chuanting and annihilated the main force of the government army; in the battle of Hebei, all the government troops south of the capital were defeated; in the battle of Shanhaiguan, he overwhelmed the Guanning Iron Cavalry; in the battle of Tongguan, he led his troops to attack the Tartar camp..."

Dan Chu did not hesitate to use words of praise to outline Liu Fangliang's legendary life in just a few words.

Looking back on the past, Liu Fangliang is filled with emotion.

At the peak of his power, he led an army of 250,000 to sweep the Ming army in Hebei, Henan, and Shandong. Zuo Liangyu, Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo and other Ming army generals were deterred from going north to defend the emperor. Li Zicheng successfully captured the capital, and Chongzhen was forced to hang himself.

Now that the hero is in his twilight years, Liu Fangliang can only huddle with Liu Xiyao for warmth. After today's great defeat, Liu Xiyao was killed, and Liu Fangliang was captured, and he is at the end of his rope.

Fortunately, Cen Danchu's tone was sincere, and Liu Fangliang still had a glimmer of hope.

Without hesitation, he said, "A general who has been defeated dare not talk about bravery. General, I am unworthy of your praise. If you have anything else to say, please feel free to tell me."

"That's straightforward!" Danchu praised, "Brother Mingyuan is my senior and a fellow villager. I have no intention of killing him. On the contrary, I will release Brother Mingyuan, release the prisoners from the Loyalty Camp, and return the captured horses and weapons."

"General!" All the generals in the tent exclaimed in unison, all of them looked incredulous.

Not killing the prisoners would be fine, treating them well would be fine, but why do they have to release all of them and return their weapons? Isn't this letting a tiger go back to the mountain? Has the commander suddenly lost his mind?
Liu Fangliang was also half-believing and half-doubting, not knowing what tricks Cen Danchu was going to play, and asked back, "General, are you serious?"

"Hahaha!" Danchu laughed and said, "I, Cen Danchu, always keep my promises and never go back on my words. Tonight is late. After breakfast tomorrow, I will release both the man and the horse, and return the weapons and armor together. I will never break my promise."

Seeing that Danchu had made up his mind, Chu Yongpei agreed, "Liu Fangliang, the Red Army never shows mercy to the enemy. If we catch a Tartar, we kill him without mercy. If we catch a Green Camp, we cut off his right hand and cut off his ears and nose. Marshal Jue did this heroic act today because he did not regard the Loyal Camp as an enemy, but as an ally. You have to know the good and bad of this."

"Marshal Jue is so kind and righteous. Fangliang is deeply grateful!" Liu Fangliang was overjoyed. He stood up, knelt on one knee, and gave Danchu a standard military salute.

Danchu stepped forward to support him and said solemnly: "Before, I sent envoys to Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng to make peace. I believe Brother Mingyuan has heard about it. Li and Gao were bewitched by Chen Bangfu and did not know the truth, which led to many misunderstandings between our two armies and the battle today.

"I was determined to fight against the Qing dynasty, so I founded the Red Army, determined to drive out the Tartars and restore China. The Loyalty Battalion is strong and powerful, and has an irreconcilable hatred for the Tartars. It is an ally of the Red Army.

"Today, we have fought and become acquainted. Tomorrow, I will send an envoy to establish friendly relations and ask the Loyalty Battalion to advance to Liuzhou. Brother Mingyuan, please meet with Madam Gao, Li Chixin, Gao Bizheng, Dang Shousu, and Liu Guochang, and convey the Red Army's intention to establish friendly relations. From now on, the Red Army and the Loyalty Battalion should support each other and be determined to resist the Qing."

The reason why the Loyalty Camp wanted to seize Nanning was actually because of Liu Xiyao and Liu Fangliang. Danchu knew this very well, but did not point it out.

Liu Fangliang was also anxious to make peace, and said, "Don't worry, Marshal. I will persuade the generals of the Loyalty Camp to seize Liuzhou. However, if Marshal allows the Loyalty Camp to take the north bank of Xunjiang River, then this will be a success."

Danchu said without hesitation: "If the Loyalty Camp restrains its troops and does not engage in looting, the Red Army can pass through."

"With these words from Marshal Jue, Fang Liang is confident that he can convince Li Chixin. If this fails, I am willing to surrender my head to apologize to Marshal Jue."

Danchu smiled. The generals of the peasant army were so simple. The Loyalty Camp was marginalized and had reached the end of its rope. It lacked heroes like Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo. It had strength but no ambition. The veterans were still there, but the team was already scattered. Such a Loyalty Camp was undoubtedly the most ideal ally of the Red Army. In time, when the Red Army became stronger, how difficult would it be to incorporate the Loyalty Camp?
Danchu asked someone to prepare wine to see Liu Fangliang off.

Before leaving, Liu Fangliang bowed again and said, "Master, I am very grateful for your kindness. We will meet again in the future."

Danchu drank a full cup of wine with him and said meaningfully: "Brother Mingyuan is young and strong, brave and good at fighting, and should not be wasted in the Loyalty Camp. If you are wronged by Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng in the future, you may condescend to join our Red Army. I will respectfully welcome you ten miles away and appoint you as the general."

(End of this chapter)