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

Chapter 280: Incorporating the Loyalty Camp

November 2nd, Laibin County, Liuzhou Prefecture.

Laibin is located on the north bank of the Hongshui River, only 120 miles away from Liuzhou. The road is flat, with the Hongshui River and Qianjiang Plains. Infantry can reach Liuzhou in two days by rushing, and cavalry can reach Liuzhou in less than one day by rushing.

Cen Danchu led a large army and stationed them in Laibin County, but they were lying dormant. The 30,000-strong army of the Imperial Guards, the Second Infantry Brigade, and the Auxiliary Brigade were hiding in Shuiniu Ridge and Fanpu Ridge in the north of Laibin City. There had been no movement in recent days, as if the years were peaceful.

In addition, the first battalion of the first naval brigade and the first baggage battalion have already advanced to Xiangzhou of Liuzhou Prefecture. They can go up the Liujiang River to Liuzhou, which is only a two-day journey.

But in Liuzhou, more than a hundred miles away, the Zhongzheng Camp and the Dingnan Feudal Army had been fighting for ten consecutive days, killing each other fiercely.

Guangxi has two major central cities, Guilin in the north and Nanning in the south, both of which were once the capitals of Guangxi. The Red Army used Nanning as its base, and the Yongli court moved to Long'an County, Nanning Prefecture.

For Kong Youde, capturing Nanning was undoubtedly the primary goal of the Dingnan Army. He sent his first general, the left wing commander, Lian Guoan, to attack Nanning, with his deputy general Quan Jie as his escort.

The quickest route from Guilin to Nanning is through Liuzhou, then through Kunlun Pass, and then directly to Nanning. The Red Army took this route when they tried to capture Nanning.

Kong Youde was eager to seize Nanning, so he also chose to go through Liuzhou. However, Liuzhou was the base of the Zhongzheng Camp, and the Zhongzheng Camp was not to be trifled with. The two armies fought for ten days, and the Zhongzheng Camp gradually showed signs of decline.

Another general of Dingnan, Quan Jie, followed the line of Guoan to attack Qingyuan. Qingyuan was located to the west of Liuzhou, where the natives and Han people lived together. It was originally the sphere of influence of the Red Army and served as a barrier for Liuzhou.

The Yunnan Division was defeated in Guilin and retreated to Qingyuan. In order to lure the Qing army south, the Red Army allowed the Qing army to attack Qingyuan. The Yunnan Division was also in a state of weakness. Once Qingyuan fell, the Loyalty Camp would be even more passive.

"General, the Loyalty Camp has sent another messenger to ask for help, saying it's urgent." Lu Shouyi, the scout marquis, came to report, and whispered to the people in the tent, and added: "The messenger is Li Laiheng, the marquis of Sanyuan."

Since the Qing army invaded Guangxi, the Loyalty Battalion has sent envoys to ask for help many times. Counting on my fingers, this is the seventh time that the Loyalty Battalion has asked the Red Army for help.

"Well," Danchu said without hesitation, "Bring him in."

Liuzhou is surrounded by rivers on the west, east and south, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Dingnan vassal army was good at using firearms, and they brought red cannons from Guilin to bombard the northern city of Liuzhou.

The Loyalty Battalion fought hard and unyieldingly. They collected coffins from the city, filled them with mud, and used them to prop up the north gate. If the north city wall collapsed, they would immediately tear down houses to repair it. The Qing army rushed into the city twice, but was repelled by the Loyalty Battalion each time.

However, the red cannons of the Qing army were too powerful, and the northern city wall was riddled with holes. If the Qing army was allowed to bombard the city, Liuzhou would surely be lost in the long run.

Cen Danchu was just about to take this opportunity to incorporate the Zhongzheng Camp, so he kept his troops in place and waited for the Zhongzheng Camp to surrender.

Qu Shisi was also in the account, attached to Cen Danchu. He had already returned the imperial seal to the court, regarded himself as a commoner, and was unwilling to express his opinions easily.

The Zhongzheng Camp was in a difficult situation, but Qu Shisi was actually quite pleased. The Dashun Army forced Emperor Chongzhen to death, which indirectly led to the Qing Army's entry into the pass, and they were guilty of an unpardonable crime. Now, they could take this opportunity to add insult to injury to the Zhongzheng Camp.

Before Li Laiheng arrived, Qu Shisi said, "Zhuoru, the Zhongzheng Camp is the remnant of the bandits. Li Laiheng is your adopted son and cannot be trusted. We should take this opportunity to let the Zhongzheng Camp fight the Tartars. No matter who wins, our army can succeed by taking advantage of their chances."

Danchu did not refute him openly, but just smiled bitterly and said, "Lord, the current situation is so difficult, we should still put the overall situation first. As long as we can fight against the Tartars, we are all Red Army comrades, and I am willing to help."

Most of the Southern Ming emperors and ministers were hostile to the peasant army. From the regents to the nine ministers and censors, few dared to advocate an alliance against the invaders. Xun Zhen was short-sighted and had no regard for the overall situation, so he was also unable to take on the important task.

Soon, Li Laiheng entered the central army tent. He was smelly, his hair was disheveled, his eye sockets were sunken, and his armor was damaged in several places, obviously he had experienced many fierce battles.

Upon seeing Cen Danchu, Li Laiheng immediately knelt down and bowed. Seeing that all the people in the tent were Danchu's confidants, he said, "General, Duke Xun Guo went out of the city to fight the day before yesterday and was hit by the Tartars' cannon. He died last night due to his injuries. I am afraid that the army will be in disarray, so I have not announced his death and have come to ask for troops in person. I beg the general to send troops immediately, otherwise, if you go too late, Liuzhou will be lost!"

Huh? Everyone was shocked and turned their eyes to Danchu.

Danchu was also shocked, caught off guard by the sudden news. Historically, Gao Bizheng died in the fourth year of the Yongli reign. In another month, it would be the fifth year of the Yongli reign, but Gao Bizheng suddenly died in battle. Could it be that there was really a will of heaven? He quickly regained his composure and asked a key question, "Who will take over the leadership of the Loyalty Camp?"

There were only two people who were qualified to succeed the Loyalty Battalion: Li Laiheng and Dang Shousu. Li Laiheng was Li Chixin's adopted son, and he was very wise and brave. After Li Chixin's death, Gao Bizheng succeeded to lead the Loyalty Battalion, but he had to seek Li Laiheng's opinion on everything. Gao Bizheng was to Li Laiheng just like Li Chixin was to Gao Bizheng. Although he was the commander-in-chief, he did not have absolute prestige, and he had to consult with Gao Bizheng on everything.

Compared to Li Laiheng, who was in his early twenties, Dang Shousu had been through many battles and was a veteran of the Dashun Army. He had great prestige in the Zhongzheng Camp. If he had ambitions, he could have challenged Li Laiheng's position. Fortunately, Dang Shousu was a responsible person and had a good relationship with Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng. When Liu Xiyao, Liu Fangliang, Liu Guochang and other veterans of the Dashun Army left the Zhongzheng Camp, Dang Shousu always stood firmly on the side of Liu Chixin and Gao Bizheng, and tried his best to maintain the unity of the Zhongzheng Camp.

"To reply to the general, I am a humble man, but I am ordered by Empress Dowager Gao and supported by Marquis Xingping (Dang Shousu) to take over the leadership of the Loyalty Camp." Although Li Laiheng was young, he had traveled all over the country with Li Chixin and had been through hundreds of battles. He was neither humble nor arrogant when facing Dan Chu.

Danchu had a good impression of him, and personally stepped forward to help him up, saying, "Very good, very good. With you continuing to lead the Loyalty Camp, the soldiers will have someone to rely on, and they can rest assured."

Li Laixiang was no ordinary man. Historically, after Gao Bizheng's death, Li Laixiang took over the leadership of the Loyal Camp and traveled from Guangxi to Kuidong to persist in resisting the Qing. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the Thirteen Families of Kuidong were constantly defeated. Liu Tichun, Hao Yaoqi, Yuan Zongdi and others either committed suicide after being defeated or were captured and sacrificed. Wang Guangen, Ma Tengyun and others surrendered to the Qing. In the end, only Li Laixiang was left.

In the third year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the Qing government mobilized 200,000 troops to blockade Kuidong. Li Laixiang ran out of salt and rice, burned down his mountain stronghold, and committed suicide with his wife and confidants. After Li Laixiang's death, there was no anti-Qing armed force on the mainland that respected the Ming Dynasty. In the same year, Zhang Huangyan, a minister of the Southern Ming Dynasty, was arrested in Zhoushan and died without giving in.

In the later generations, when commemorating Zhang Huangyan, there was a saying that "Huangyan's death marked the end of the Ming Dynasty". However, in Cen Danchu's opinion, Li Laixiang persisted in resisting the Qing Dynasty in Kuidong, and his historical contribution exceeded that of Zhang Huangyan. However, because he came from the peasant army, he was not recognized by later literati, and no one wrote books about him, so he was not well-known in history.

Qu Shisi took advantage of Li Laiheng's youth and had no good feelings towards him, saying, "Marshal, the Gao family was established by the pseudo dynasty, and the pseudo dynasty has never had a queen mother title. You are the Marquis of Sanyuan conferred by the Ming Dynasty, so you must follow the rules when addressing him, and you must not break the etiquette."

Li Laiheng had a request to the Red Army, so he did not dare to refute Qu Shisi. He had to turn to Danchu and said anxiously: "General, Liuzhou is extremely urgent. The situation is just like Shanhaiguan back then. Liuzhou is the barrier of Nanning, just like a piece of stone outside Shanhaiguan.

"Back then, the late emperor and Wu Sangui fought a fierce battle outside Shanhaiguan. They fought for many days at Yipanshi, but the two sides were deadlocked. The late emperor urgently dispatched reinforcements and asked them to rush to Yipanshi overnight. Wu Sangui had nowhere else to go and even recognized the enemy as his father and begged the Tartar for help.

"At that time, whoever's reinforcements arrived first would win the Battle of Shanhaiguan, and then occupy the capital and rule the Central Plains. Unexpectedly, the Qing cavalry was fast and arrived at Yipanshi before our army.

"As a result, the late emperor was defeated and had to retreat to the capital and Xi'an, and eventually lost the world. General, don't forget the past, it will be a lesson for future generations!"

This analogy was quite inappropriate. Cen Danchu smiled and said in a joking tone: "Li Laiheng, your words are full of innuendos. You are comparing me to Dorgon."

Li Laiheng hurriedly left his seat and apologized, "I was in a hurry and said something wrong. I beg the general to forgive me."

Danchu smiled and said: "The reason why the Tartars helped Wu Sangui with all their strength is because Wu Sangui was willing to surrender. I supported you in seizing Liuzhou, so you gained a foothold in western Guangdong.

"The situation is urgent right now. The Loyalty Battalion controls a strategic location and cannot be independent. They must either submit to the Red Army or surrender to the Tartars. Duke Yun and I are sworn brothers and have been accommodating and caring for the Loyalty Battalion for a long time. The Loyalty Battalion is in imminent danger, so you must make a decision early."

Li Laiheng had just taken over the position of commander-in-chief and was eager to consolidate his position and protect the families of his soldiers. He resolutely said: "I will never forget the general's kindness. As long as the Red Army is willing to send troops to rescue Liuzhou, they will be the reborn parents of the Loyalty Battalion. I am willing to join the Red Army and will never have second thoughts."

Lu Shouyi, the detective standing by, was very obedient and interrupted, "But 'obey the order but not the command'?"

A few days ago, Gao Bizheng had sent envoys to ask for help many times, and Danchu took the opportunity to propose to recruit him. Gao Bizheng thought highly of himself and was unwilling to be reorganized into the Red Army. He proposed "accepting the appointment but not the transfer", that is, accepting the Red Army officer position but not being controlled by the Red Army.

Danchu certainly wouldn't allow it. The Loyalty Battalion had been through hundreds of battles and was worth incorporating, but if it was to be incorporated, it had to be a complete incorporation. The Red Army would pay them and provide shelter for the families of the Loyalty Battalion. The Loyalty Battalion had to follow the Red Army's organization, dismiss the old and weak, reduce the number of troops, and obey the Red Army's command on all matters such as personnel and military orders.

Li Laiheng was determined to submit, saying: "The general is extremely wise, and the Loyalty Camp should sincerely submit to him, and will not only accept the title, but also the orders."

Everyone discussed the reorganization of the Zhongzheng Battalion on the spot and decided to reorganize it into the 4th Infantry Brigade of the Red Army, reducing the number of personnel to 15,000, with Li Laiheng as the brigade commander and Dang Shousu as the deputy brigade commander.

Under the assistance, there are four battalions, numbered respectively as the 10th, 11th and 12th Infantry Battalions, the 4th Auxiliary Infantry Battalion, and other direct-affiliated units such as the cavalry battalion and the engineering battalion.

Time was urgent, and the Loyalty Battalion had no time to reorganize, so it changed its flag to the Red Army and followed the Red Army to fight. General Danchu would send troops to reinforce Liuzhou, and after defeating the Dingnan vassal army, the Loyalty Battalion would reorganize.

(End of this chapter)