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

Chapter 251 Burning the Shipyard
The night passed without any danger. At 9:00 am, Ma Bao led 800 elite cavalrymen to approach Qingyuan. The cavalrymen had been marching for seven hours, and had only had less than two hours to eat and rest, so they were already exhausted.

Ma Bao ordered the men to rest, but he himself could not rest and followed the Red Army scout to meet up.

There really was an insider who had been waiting at the meeting point for a long time. He saluted Ma Bao and said, "Marshal, look, the port in the distance is called Qingyuan Port, and the shipyard is located there, two miles away from Qingyuan County. The Tartars are not alert, and the shipyard is not well guarded."

Qingyuan Port is located on the east bank of Beijiang River, with the opposite bank being the estuary where Binjiang River flows into Beijiang River. The waterway here is crossed by Beijiang River and Binjiang River, and the river is deep and wide, making it suitable for a port. Qingyuan City is located on the west bank of Beijiang River and the east bank of Binjiang River.

If the Ming army counterattacked Qingyuan, they would most likely come from Zhaoqing, without having to cross the Beijiang River, and could directly attack Qingyuan City. Guangzhou is located southeast of Qingyuan, and the Qing army mostly took the east bank of the Beijiang River, and set up stations on the east bank.

Ma Bao led his troops to march at night, and the cavalry was fast, so their whereabouts were not exposed. He took out a telescope and saw that the shipyard was busy. At a glance, he saw seven or eight warships, and the keels had been laid. Qing soldiers came and went from time to time, but they were not wearing armor, which showed that they were not well prepared.

Inside and outside the shipyard, wood, coal, tung oil, ropes, canvas and other materials were piled up like mountains. Upstream, the sails were piled like snow, most of which were the Qing army's baggage ships.

"Who is in charge of the city? How many soldiers are there?"

"Xu Erxian is the commander-in-chief of the left wing under Shang Kexi. There are about two thousand soldiers in the city and about one thousand in the shipyard."

Ma Bao frowned. The Qing Dynasty did not have as many official titles as the Southern Ming Dynasty. Kong Youde, Geng Jimao, and Shang Kexi each had only two generals under their command: the left-wing general and the right-wing general. China respected the left, so the left-wing general had a higher status than the right-wing general.

Xu Erxian was Shang Kexi's top general, born in Dongjiang Town. Before Shang Kexi surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he sent an envoy to the Later Jin Dynasty to negotiate, and this envoy was Xu Erxian.

Although the Tartars have 3,000 people, they should not have many cavalry. Referring to the ratio of cavalry to infantry in the Qing army and the Han army, there are probably 500 cavalry in the Qingyuan area, and no more than 800 at most.

Ma Bao's subordinates are all elite cavalrymen who can attack and retreat quickly, so there should be no problem in attacking the shipyard.

"General," the detective said, seizing the opportunity, "Yesterday, dozens of cavalry entered Qingyuan City from the north gate. Judging from their attire, they seemed to be from the Green Camp."

Dozens of cavalrymen came, so they were not messengers, but were probably the outposts of reinforcements, followed by a large group of infantry. Since they were wearing Green Camp uniforms, it meant they were the Qing army, not the newly surrendered Ming army in Guangdong. Coming from the north, they were most likely the Jiangxi Green Camp.

Ma Bao had a bad feeling in his heart. Li Chengdong had been defeated by the Jiangxi Green Camp in his two northern expeditions. What about this time?
"Have you found out the origin of that cavalry?"

"Reporting to Marshal Jue, we have not confirmed it yet due to the limited time. However, it is estimated that they are Tartars from Ganzhou."

The arrow was on the string and had to be shot. Without caring about anything else, Ma Bao made up his mind, rode back, and summoned his subordinates, saying, "The Tartars are not well-prepared. Let's go straight to the shipyard. Except for those with white cloth tied on their left arms, all others will be killed without mercy."

The subordinates had eaten dry food and regained some strength. The battle was imminent and everything was going well. The soldiers put on their armor and their faces were filled with inexplicable excitement.

Ma Bao only slept for an hour last night, but he was full of energy and not tired at all. He led his troops towards the enemy's shipyard.

"Woo-woo-woo", the Qing army sentries quickly discovered the enemy situation and sounded the alarm with bugles.

The commander-in-chief Xu Erxian was stationed in Qingyuan City, and there was only one lieutenant general defending the Qingyuan Port Shipyard. This place was flat and there was no strategic location to defend, so the Qing army set up two camps here.

The Ming cavalry attacked from the east bank of the Beijiang River, and they must be coming to attack the shipyard. The deputy general of the Qing army did not dare to neglect it, and immediately led his troops out of the camp. As soon as they formed the battle array, the Ming cavalry arrived. A long-distance attack is beneficial when it is fought quickly. Ma Bao was also not vague, and divided the troops into three parts. The left wing and the right wing each had 300 cavalrymen, and they attacked the Qing army from both wings at the same time. He personally sat in the center of the army, led 200 personal soldiers, and confronted the Qing army head-on.

The two sides had equal numbers, but the cavalry's combat effectiveness was several times that of the infantry. In less than a quarter of an hour, the Qing army's right wing was shaken.

Seeing this, Ma Bao seized the opportunity and led his 200 soldiers to attack the center of the Qing army. He was very brave and shot arrows on horseback, and before engaging the enemy, he took out a whip gun from his waist.

This whip-like spear is shaped like an iron whip, with a sharp blade at the end, which can kill the enemy from seven or eight steps away. Only a brave general can wield this weapon. Ma Bao holds the reins in his left hand and wields the whip-like spear with his right hand, like a swimming dragon, invincible.

The commander led the way bravely, and the soldiers were also brave and devoted. The Qing army was quickly defeated, and the Ming cavalry rushed forward and killed the defeated Qing soldiers.

"Brothers, rush into the shipyard first! Burn the ships and kill the craftsmen!" Ma Bao shouted, and the flag bearers behind him waved the military flag.

As the central army's flag moved, the Ming cavalry also abandoned the defeated Qing soldiers and rushed into the shipyard.

This shipyard was quite large, and could manufacture more than a dozen warships at the same time. Seven or eight warships had been basically formed, coated with tung oil, and were being dried. The craftsmen were in a mess. The quick ones grabbed the sampans and paddled into the river to escape; the clever ones just grabbed a piece of wood and swam into the river first; most of the craftsmen were like headless flies, following each other, desperately escaping to the north.

The Ming army killed anyone they saw and burned any ships they saw. Except for a small number of traitors who were tied with white cloth strips, all the others were killed without mercy.

Soon, a fire broke out in the shipyard. Warships, wood, tung oil, ropes, canvas, coal, and many other materials were all burned. The shipbuilding materials that the Qing army had painstakingly collected were destroyed in an instant.

Ma Bao led two hundred personal soldiers and rode to the north of the shipyard, where he killed the craftsmen and blocked the Qing army's reinforcements.

The unarmed craftsmen were like lambs to be slaughtered, waiting to be killed by the Ming army without any resistance. The Ming cavalry were also furious and showed no mercy to the craftsmen.

These craftsmen were of course Han Chinese, but they were building ships for the enemy, which was an unforgivable crime. The various towns in Dongxun had repeatedly issued orders to strictly prohibit craftsmen from working for the Tartars, and now was the perfect time to kill one to warn the rest.

Ma Bao had killed countless people and his heart was as hard as iron. He never showed mercy when killing his enemies. But he felt sad after all when he slaughtered his compatriots.

In troubled times, human life is as cheap as a dog. In Qingyuan alone, at least 100,000 people died. In the first year of the Yongli reign, the Three Loyalists of Lingnan revolted, and Bai Changcan, the commander of the Qingyuan Guard, defended the city. Li Chengdong, then the governor of Guangdong in the Qing Dynasty, sent troops to attack Qingyuan, and massacred the city after conquering it. In February of this year, Xu Erxian, the general of the Qing army, and Jiang Dingguo, the deputy general, led troops to attack Qingyuan, and the defenders resisted. After the Qing army conquered the city, they massacred the city again.

The Qing army was small in number and was used to massacring cities to intimidate the Southern Ming army and civilians. In addition to the Yangzhou Ten Days and Jiading Three Massacres, the Qing army massacred cities in every province. In Qingyuan, Guangdong alone, the Qing army massacred cities twice.

Most of the people killed were Han Chinese. An intelligence agency detective was reluctant and advised Ma Bao: "Marshal, the craftsmen are all Han Chinese. It is better to treat them as captives. The craftsmen are disabled and can no longer serve the Tartars."

The Red Army also made optimization adjustments to the treatment of prisoners of war. For the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners, they generally slaughtered without mercy; for the Han Eight Banners, they generally cut off their ears and noses, cut off their tendons in their hands and feet, and removed their index fingers and thumbs, but no longer cut off their arms; for the Green Camp and even other Ming troops, they tried their best to get them to surrender.

"How can we have time to deal with prisoners on the battlefield?" Ma Bao flatly rejected Zhen Hou's suggestion and urged his subordinates to kill the craftsmen.

In the first year of the Yongli reign, Ma Bao, who still had a braid, joined Du Yonghe and Zhang Yue in capturing Qingyuan and participating in the massacre. This time, he would naturally not show mercy.

(End of this chapter)