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

Chapter 300: Strange things to live in
On December 8, the battle of Guilin was settled, and Cen Danchu entered the Dingnan Palace under the escort of his personal guards.

Kong Youde set himself on fire, trying to burn down the entire palace. Fortunately, the Red Army entered the city quickly, and the fire did not spread. After two days of cleaning, the palace was cleaned up and turned into the headquarters of the general.

The plaque of the palace had been taken down, and everyone discovered that it was an old one, with "Prince Dingnan's Palace" written on the front and "Prince Jingjiang's Palace" on the back. Kong Youde came and went in a hurry, occupying Prince Jingjiang's Palace in October and being defeated in December. He actually only lived in the palace for more than a month.

The Red Army smashed the signboard of "Dingnan Palace" and temporarily borrowed a signboard from a shop along the street. They wrote red characters on it and hung a signboard reading "The Headquarters of the General Who Conquers the Enemy" on the door of the palace.

Danchu had just sat down in the lobby when the Director of the Operations Bureau, He Zhaoji, came over to report the military situation and said, "General, the city of Guilin has been gradually pacified, and the preliminary results of the battle have been counted."

Danchu took the battle report and glanced through it quickly, feeling mixed emotions.

The Red Army killed many people: He Jiucheng, deputy general of the left camp of Dingnan, managed to break out of the city by chance, but was killed when he encountered the Red Army; Shen Bangqing, deputy general of the rear camp (in charge of guerrilla affairs), died in the battle when breaking out at Wenchang Gate, and his son was killed by the Red Army; Zhang Shunjiu, commander of the rear camp (in charge of the garrison of the central army), was killed in the street fighting in Guilin; Li Yangyang (brother of Li Yangxing, the chief of the royal palace) and Zhou Xiong, garrisons of the rear camp (in charge of the general affairs of the thousand soldiers), were killed by the Red Army in the parade ground; Li Zhixiong, the commander of the rear camp, was killed in Luocheng, Guilin; Yang Dali, the standard-bearer of the patrol, died in the battle at the south gate of Guilin, and his whole family committed suicide...

The captured and surrendered vassal soldiers included: Zheng Yuanxun, deputy general of the right camp (in charge of guerrilla affairs), Cai Bin, guerrilla commander of the central army, Wang Jingshi, garrison commander of the central army of the right camp, Liang Yinglong, garrison commander of the right camp (in charge of general affairs), Li Yaolong, garrison commander of the central army of the central camp...

In addition, most of the civil servants in Guilin were captured. Wang Yipin, the governor of Guangxi, surrendered before fighting, while Zhang Quanke, the inspector general, and Zhang Xingguang, the governor, led the standard-bearing troops to fight, but were captured after exhausting their efforts.

The families of the Dingnan vassal were all in Guilin. When the Red Army broke into the city, the vassal army put up a fierce resistance. Many nobles fought desperately and were killed along with their entire family.

One hundred and twenty members of Kong Youde's family were killed, with only Kong Tingxun and Kong Sizhen escaping; Sun Long, a second-class Asihaha, was killed in Lipu, and his sons Sun Yanshi, Sun Yanlian, and Sun Yanling were in Guilin, leading their servants in an alley battle and died, and the whole family committed suicide; Cao Dexian, a third-class Zhengqinminhaha, was the commander-in-chief of the right wing, and died in Yanguan. Cao Dexian's eldest son, Cao Shengzu, a third-class son, was in Guilin, leading his servants in resistance, and the whole family committed suicide; in addition, Cheng Xikong, Yang Chengxian, a first-class man, Hong Wensheng, a light chariot commander, and Sun Yingyuan, a cavalry commander, died in the war...

The Dingnan vassal army had fought for decades, and there were many brave generals and martyrs. Pingle still had two generals, Ma Jiaolin and Lian Guoan. Ma Xiong, Wang Yongnian and other brave generals of the vassal army had fled to eastern Guangdong, Meng Liangchen had fled to Hexian, and Meng Yimao had fled to Huaiji.

Dingnan's troops had lost their morale, and the towns were defeated one after another. As long as the Red Army attacked with all its might, it would not be difficult to defeat or even annihilate the Dingnan troops. The key point was that there were two vassal states in eastern Guangdong, Jingnan and Pingnan. The Qing court appointed Zhang Cunren as the Minister of Five Provinces and Bashan as the General of Jingnan, and was determined to take Guangzhou.

Zhang Cunren and Bashan were highly valued because the Red Army was reinforcing Guangzhou. The Qing court was far away in the north, far from the front line, and was slow to react. It transferred Zhang Cunren and Bashan to reinforce Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao. Unexpectedly, the Red Army made a feint and concentrated its troops to attack Dingnan, killing Kong Youde in Guilin and defeating the famous king for the first time.

The Manchurian reinforcements have reached the city of Guangzhou, and the city is about to fall. It won't be long before the Red Army will have to march eastward to fight the three enemy armies of Shang Kexi, Geng Jimao, and Bashan. Before that, Cen Danchu must deal with the surrendered soldiers in Dingnan. He has already held the family members of the vassal army hostage, and it would be best if he could take this opportunity to unite the vassal army in Dingnan.

"Is there any news about Kong Tingxun and Kong Sizhen?" Danchu asked, his tone full of concern.

"We are searching for them carefully." He Zhaoji replied, "The captives said that Bai Xiazi and two others broke out from Wenchang Gate. I have sent letters to all the troops, asking them to conduct a strict investigation and to find them alive or dead." Qian Bingdeng, who was standing by, asked, "General, if you catch Kong Sizhen and Kong Tingxun, what are you going to do with them?"

"Kong Tingxun should be placed under house arrest, and Kong Sizhen should be married off to the sons of trusted men in order to win over the surrendered soldiers from Dingnan." Danchu responded without hesitation.

In fact, he had already made up his mind to marry Kong Sizhen to his adopted son Wang Hua, who was the son of his fourth wife Liu Shu, and was thirteen years old this year, but had not yet been betrothed.

"No," Qian Bingdeng said bluntly, "Kong Tingxun is Kong Youde's only son. If he stays alive, he will be a disaster. If he lives, the old people of Dingnan will regard him as their leader and secretly think of joining them. It is better to kill him and put an end to the disaster forever."

There were many traitors in the late Ming Dynasty, and Kong Youde was the most despised and was called the chief traitor by his contemporaries. He surrendered to the Qing Dynasty very early, and fought all the way from Shanhaiguan to Guangxi, defeating the Ming army many times. Compared with other traitors, Kong Youde was the most vicious and cruel, often massacring people without any reason.

Although Qian Bingdeng was a scholar, he hated Kong Youde, a traitor, so much that he wished he would die out as soon as possible.

Danchu thought for a moment and said, "You are right. Once Kong Tingxun is caught, he will be executed."

Qian Bingdeng was very happy that his plan worked, and said, "General, I have something to say that I cannot help but express."

"Please, please."

Qian Bingdeng was well-versed in books and spoke eloquently: "The Art of War says that winning every battle is not the best of the best. The Red Army was always victorious in attack and always strong in defense, and had become an elite force. However, Xiang Yu was strong enough to lift a tripod and win every battle, but his power gradually declined, and he was defeated at Wujiang and committed suicide. Why?
"To conquer the world, in addition to winning by force, one must also practice benevolence and righteousness, vigorously unite friendly forces, and even turn enemies into friends. Liu Bang did not have the talent to command soldiers, but he had the ability to command generals, so he was able to unite Han Xin, Peng Yue, Ying Bu, Lu Wan and other generals, and finally defeated Xiang Yu.

"Emperor Gaozu was a commoner from Huaiyou, but he was able to drive out the Tartars and bring peace to the world. Why? Emperor Gaozu was very good at uniting friendly forces and turning enemies into friends. How did he turn enemies into friends? There is no other way, but through marriage.

"Taizu took Guo Zixing's legitimate daughter as his concubine, who became Consort Guo Hui, and the Guo family army finally surrendered; he took the daughter of Hu Tingrui from Jiangxi as his concubine, who became Consort Hu Shun, and Xu Shouhui's former subordinates surrendered; he demoted Chen Youliang's eldest son Chen Li to the title of Marquis of Guide, and took Chen Youliang's second daughter Consort Da Ding as his concubine, and Chen Youliang's former subordinates surrendered; he took Consort Xi, a palace maid from the Northern Yuan Dynasty, as his concubine, and married Qin Wang Zhu Chong to the sister of Yuan Dynasty general Wang Baobao, and the Yuan and Mongolian forces collapsed..."

Qian Bingdeng said meaningfully: "Kong Sizhen is a rare treasure. For the sake of the overall situation, the general should take Kong Sizhen as a concubine. The old troops of Dingnan are leaderless, and their families are trapped in Guilin. As long as the general forgives the past and marries Kong Sizhen to win them over, the Dingnan soldiers will surely return happily."

Danchu thought about it for a moment and thought it was feasible. He said, "Good, sir, what you said is absolutely right."

(End of this chapter)