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

Chapter 253: Winning over the Generals
"Master, don't leave me!"

"Marshal, there are more Tartars ahead!"

……

Ma Bao was in a state of panic, like a headless fly, not knowing what to do.

After finally breaking through the encirclement, only a dozen of his followers were left behind. The Red Army arrived in time, and several officers and soldiers surrounded Ma Bao and others, saying sarcastically:

"It is said that Sanbao is the bravest among all the armies and has few rivals. Now it seems that he is just so-so!"

"That's right! Our Red Army cavalry rushed 160 miles, passed through the Tartar defense zone, and attacked Conghua by surprise, and succeeded immediately. The pseudo-magistrate Ji Yisheng was captured alive by our army and beheaded in public. Most of the craftsmen were slaughtered, and the half-finished cannons were poured with molten iron and all destroyed."

"The best part is that we were able to retreat intact without any damage. The Tartars sent troops to help, but they came up empty-handed."

"In my opinion, we should rely on our own people to handle major tasks. In the future, if there are any surprise attacks like this, we must give them to the Red Army to make the general feel at ease."

Ma Bao was both ashamed and angry, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

……

"Marshal! You're awake." A personal soldier came forward and wiped the cold sweat from Ma Bao's forehead with a towel.

Ma Bao panted heavily and turned around to see that he was lying on a camp bed. Fortunately, it was just a dream.

"What time is it now?"

The guard looked at the leak and said, "Marshal, it's already 2:45 in the morning. You've slept for eight hours. Do you want to eat something?"

After hearing this, Ma Bao suddenly felt hungry. He had an amazing appetite and was as strong as an ox, but his stomach was growling with hunger.

A chicken and three bowls of rice. Ma Bao ate while the medical officer changed the medicine.

The commander of the central army also came to report military affairs to him. Ma Bao was most concerned about his subordinates and asked, "How many of the brothers who attacked the shipyard with me the day before yesterday have returned?"

"Two hundred and fifty-seven people, four came back this morning."

Eight hundred brothers died, but less than three hundred survived. Ma Bao's eyes turned red, and tears fell into the bowl.

Before he had finished his last bowl of rice, someone reported that Cen Danchu had come to visit him. Ma Bao quickly put on his casual clothes and prepared to go out of the tent to greet him.

"Chengbi, please sit down, please sit down." Danchu had already entered the tent, pressed Ma Bao down, and asked, "I heard that you were injured in many places, so I asked the old doctor to come and help you heal your injuries. I also brought some tonic medicine to help you recover."

Ma Bao's heart warmed, and he said, "Thank you, General."

The officer in the middle camp said, "General Jue was hit by nine arrows and four knife wounds. Fortunately, God has blessed him and none of them are fatal."

The Red Army became famous, and the old doctor Li Qi also became famous. He carefully examined Ma Bao's injuries and said confidently: "It's not a big deal. There will be no future problems. After taking my medicine, he will be cured within a month."

After a brief greeting, Ma Baoping sent everyone away and discussed military affairs with Dan Chu in secret.

"General, it's all my fault that I underestimated the enemy, changed the plan without authorization, and let the soldiers plunder, which led to the Tartars taking advantage of me. I lost many soldiers and generals, destroyed my own prestige, and boosted the morale of others. I, I..."

Ma Bao was clumsy in his words and said, "I beg the general to punish me! I have no complaints."

"Chengbi, why do you say that?" Danchu said earnestly, "Victory and defeat are common in the military. Instead of blaming yourself, Chengbi should learn from the past and be cautious in the future."

"The main responsibility lies with me. The general made a wise plan. The route, guide, crossing point, and insider support were all prepared. I only need to strictly follow the plan to complete the mission and retreat with my entire division. But who would have thought, who would have thought..."

"Ah!" Ma Bao sighed, speechless. "The army needs to rely on bravery and strict discipline to fight. It is easy to be brave in battle, but it is difficult to maintain strict military discipline. Because bravery only lasts for a while on the battlefield, but military discipline needs to be enforced constantly and for a long time."

Dan Chu said earnestly: "Training soldiers and fighting are inseparable. Training soldiers requires training in martial arts, as well as training in formations. You must persist in educating and cultivating the morale of the soldiers. You are good at leading soldiers in battle, but not good at training soldiers. If you want to become a talented general in the future, you must work hard on training soldiers."

"The general's teachings are right. I will take them to heart." Ma Bao was convinced.

If we talk about the talent of training soldiers, if Cen Danchu is ranked second, I am afraid no one dares to claim to be the first. The Red Army was established not long ago, but it has a very good system for training soldiers. It has built a military academy, a teaching team, and a night school for soldiers.

Around the Spring Festival this year, the long-term students of the Military Academy and Yongan University graduated one after another, and the Red Army had a more sufficient talent pool. Danchu decided to assign instructors to the team level and to fully equip all units above the team level with instructors.

Schools, teaching teams, night schools, teaching…some of these training techniques were created by the Red Army, while others originated from the Ming Army. They look simple but are difficult to do.

Ma Bao had dealt with the Red Army before and was familiar with it, but when it came to imitating the Red Army's military training, he was still at a loss and had no idea where to start.

Perhaps, they could submit to Cen Danchu like Liu Fangliang and Yang Yandi did, and their subordinates would be reorganized into the Red Army. The Red Army would send people to help train and reorganize the army, and all training problems would be solved.

This is a serious matter and requires long-term consideration.

"How many soldiers and horses did Chengbi lose in this surprise attack on Qingyuan?"

Ma Bao's heart sank, and he sighed, "There are no less than 500 cavalrymen and no less than 800 war horses."

The loss was indeed not small. Danchu hesitated for a moment and said, "This matter was caused by me. I will find a way to give you a thousand war horses as compensation. How about that?"

One thousand war horses? This is not a small number. You have to know that Guangdong does not produce horses, and good war horses are hard to come by.

"Thank you, General!" Ma Bao was overjoyed and stood up to salute.

"Chengbi, sit down, sit down. You fought for me, and if you suffer any damage, I will replenish it for you."

Yesterday, Danchu led his army to rescue Ma Bao, turned defeat into victory, and seized more than 400 war horses from the Qing army. If another 500 or 600 war horses are collected, the total number will be 1,000.

During the war years, war horses were in short supply. Guangdong did not produce horses, so good war horses were hard to come by. But thanks to the Qing Dynasty, the Red Army was able to easily gather war horses in Guangdong.

It turns out that the Manchu Qing dynasty started out as a nation of horse riding and archery, and attached great importance to war horses, so they strictly enforced a horse ban as soon as they entered the country.

In the second year of the Yongli reign, which was also the fifth year of the Shunzhi reign, the Qing government reiterated the horse ban, prohibiting civilians from raising horses. "Civil and military officials and soldiers are allowed to raise horses, and military candidates are allowed to raise one horse each." In the twelfth year of the Shunzhi reign, it was stipulated that "civilians are prohibited from riding horses forever." In the third year of the Kangxi reign, it was stipulated that "anyone who violates the ban on horse trading and is reported, regardless of whether they are horse dealers or horse dealers, will be hanged."

The harsh horse policy imposed a heavy burden on the people. For example, in the second year of the Yongli reign, Lu Shiyun, a thousand-man commander of the Shanxi Green Camp, went to the countryside to inspect the horse ban and took the opportunity to extort money. Wang Xianming, a farmer in Jiaocheng County, could not bear the harassment and started an uprising. He joined forces with Jiang Jianxun, the adopted son of Jiang Ge, to fight against the Qing Dynasty.

After the Qing army entered Guangdong, they used the excuse of the horse ban to collect war horses and bought them at low prices. Civilian volunteers rose up, and the Ming army also took the opportunity to buy war horses to replenish military supplies.

After the Red Army entered Foshan, Huang Heming led an army of volunteers to join them. Huang Heming was born into a family of horse dealers and brought many high-quality war horses to the Red Army.

"May I ask, Marshal, Gao Jinku is leading the Tartars to help us. Should our army attack them?"

Gao Jinku is also a fellow Shaanxi native. Ma Bao was defeated by Gao Jinku three times in a row and had long hated him to the core.

Cen Dan initially commanded various towns, with about 30,000 soldiers under his command, stationed in Foshan and Sanshui. Guangdong was rich, and the Pearl River Delta was a land of plenty, which could support a large army stationed there for a long time.

However, Shang Kexi was constantly calling for reinforcements and intensifying the siege of Guangzhou. The Red Army's continued avoidance of battle was not a long-term solution.

Dan Chu hesitated for a moment and said, "I am the general, leading the army to travel thousands of miles to fight the Tartars. Even if Du Yonghe passively avoids fighting, I will lead the army to challenge the Tartars."

(End of this chapter)