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

Chapter 302 Certificate of Surrender

Rongjinzhai in Pingle County, Pingle Prefecture, is a strategic point of land and water, with a river leading to Lechuan River, a tributary of the Li River, leading to Fuchuan. It also controls the post road, leading to Pingle County in the west and Baixiazhai, Bianpengzhai and He County in the east.

After Kong Youde's death, the Qing army was in chaos and had been defeated by the Red Army. The remaining troops were mainly Xian Guoan, Ma Jiaolin, and Ma Xiong. Xian Guoan concentrated in Fuchuan County, and Ma Jiaolin concentrated in He County. Ma Xiong was originally in Wuzhou, and ran away the fastest. He led the remaining troops to retreat to Zhaoqing and joined forces with the Qing army in eastern Guangdong.

The Qing army only had two strongholds in western Guangdong, Fuchuan and Hexian, connected by Bianpeng Village. If the Red Army captured Rongjin Village, they could attack Baixia Village and Bianpeng Village, and then cut off the connection between the armies of Lian Guoan and Ma Xiong.

The First Infantry Brigade of the Red Army was responsible for the battle in Pingle. Wei Guosong was stationed in Pingle and led his troops to sweep Liangfengzhai and Tuanshanbao.

"Xietai, Tuanshan Fort has been captured. The Tartars are now desperate and are resisting fiercely. Our army has suffered heavy casualties. The battle briefing of the third battalion has been reported."

Wei Guosong walked to the map, and the operations staff immediately marked the map. Liangfeng Village and Tuanshan Fort have been recovered, and the enemies around Pingle have been eliminated. Next, the First Brigade can advance eastward along the post road to Rongjin Village, posing a threat to Xian Guoan in Fuchuan and Ma Jiaolin in Hexian.

"Where is the second mark?"

The Second Battalion was ordered to besiege Guilin, and then stationed outside the city of Guilin to wipe out the remaining enemies. It was only a few days ago that the Fifth Battalion of the Second Association took over the defense.

"We arrived in Yangshuo yesterday, and are now probably in Fuli City." The infantry marches slowly, but this time they rushed back and forth and suffered a lot. Only in this way could the Red Army catch the enemy by surprise and achieve extremely fruitful results.

"Notify the second battalion, and give them two days to reach Gongcheng and five days to capture Shijiangyuan." Shijiangyuan is located west of Buchuan. If the Red Army seizes Shijiangyuan, it can further shrink the encirclement and directly threaten Buchuan's national security.

"Tomorrow, the Third Battalion will move out and head east to Rongjin Village. The camp office should also be cleaned up. We will catch up with the Third Battalion tomorrow. I will personally go to Rongjin Village to supervise the battle."

After the deployment, Wei Guosong took the battle briefing and was instantly shocked by the casualties on it. The third battalion attacked Tuanshan Fort, annihilated more than 800 enemies, and suffered nearly 600 casualties.

"Tuanshan Fort was built on the mountain. Although it is not a city, it is quite strong. The military order was urgent. The Third Battalion only had three 100% guns and launched an attack by force, resulting in heavy casualties."

"When will the new recruits arrive?"

"We just passed Zhaoping yesterday. The grain bureau sent a letter saying that the number of new soldiers is limited, and priority should be given to recruiting the personal guards. Our brigade can be allocated about 1,500 people."

After the Red Army recaptured Zhaoping, they set up a grain station in Zhaoping, which also served as a military station. During wartime, the army often suffered losses, and timely replenishment of troops was also a science. Generally speaking, soldiers could be selected from nearby prisoners or friendly forces, or recruited from the rear, and then sent to the front line after pre-war training.

When Wei Guosong led the First Infantry Brigade to fight for Pingle, the battle was very fierce and the Red Army suffered heavy casualties. After conquering the city, Wei Guosong ordered that no prisoners should be taken and all the troops should be killed. The Qing army was very frightened and called the First Infantry Brigade "barbarians".

This had a great impact on the subsequent war. The Qing army knew that they would lose their lives if they surrendered, so they held on to Shuangchengzhai and Tuanshanbao. The third battalion of the first regiment was the main force of the attack, and so far it had suffered more than a thousand casualties, and the total strength of the battalion was less than two thousand.

The First Brigade had 15,000 men, and the First Battalion was stationed at Zhenxia Pass, so they could not leave easily. The Firearms Battalion, Auxiliary Battalion, and Engineer Battalion were dispersed and assigned to three Infantry Battalions. Wei Guosong only had 400 men in the Cavalry Battalion left.

Relying on force to solve the problem was obviously not a good idea. Wei Guosong hesitated for a moment and said, "Order the local soldiers from Pingle, Fuchuan, and Hexian to help in the battle and see how many troops they can send."

Pingle is adjacent to Hunan and Guangdong, and there are not many local chieftains. The local soldiers mainly include militia and tenant soldiers. The combat effectiveness of these local armed forces is average, and the militia is mostly organized by landlords, who are hostile to the Red Army. It is obviously not feasible to expect local soldiers to take on major tasks.

The director of the camp office said, "According to the scouts, Rongjiang Village is also very dangerous, and there are more than a thousand Tartars inside. Officials such as Zhou Lingxu, the governor of the pseudo-prefecture Jiang, and Yin Mingting, the governor of Pingle, have all fled to the village." "The Tartars have just occupied Rongjiang Village not long ago, and there must be surrendered soldiers of the Ming army inside. Are there any willing to surrender?"

The infantry scouts were no match for the intelligence bureau scouts, so the camp director had no choice but to say, "It would be best if we could get Rongjiang Village to surrender without a fight. The reconnaissance department has sent out scouts to make contact with the Rongjiang Village Tartars."

In the evening, a team of light cavalry entered Pinglefu City, led by the Intelligence Bureau's detective Tan Shitai.

"Please read this, Commander Xie. This is Kong Sizhen's order, ordering all the troops of Dingnan to surrender to the Red Army."

The warrant was only one page long, with delicate handwriting and a small stamp at the end. Wei Guosong read it twice and wondered, "Did the general really take Kong Sizhen as his concubine? Just this thin page of paper? Can it persuade the old Tartar of Dingnan to surrender?"

"Why not?" Tan Shitai said with certainty, "Kong Youde and Kong Tingxun are dead, and Kong Sizhen is the only survivor of the Kong family of Dingnan. The Dingnan army is desperate, and their families are trapped in Guilin. With Kong Sizhen's persuasion, the Tartars in various places will surrender."

"Do you have a token?"

"Of course there are. When I left Guilin, I picked two people from the Tartar family who can prove that Kong Sizhen's order is true."

"Tomorrow, it will all depend on your talent," Wei Guosong said, still half-believing and half-doubting. Why not let the Intelligence Bureau try and see if Kong Sizhen's warrant works? If it does, it will be easy to deal with Xian Guoan and Ma Jiaolin later.

The next day, the Red Army deployed outside the Rongjiang Village. Tan Shitai and Xian Chengren raised white flags and lowered themselves into the village.

Xian Chengren is the third son of Xian Guoan. He is only in his early twenties. He is a strict and upright person. He is the most knowledgeable among all the sons of Xian Guoan. Xian Guoan took his eldest son and second son to fight outside, leaving Xian Chengren in Guilin to assist his mother in handling housework.

Zhou Lingxu, the governor of Jiang Prefecture, and Yin Mingting, the governor of Pingle Prefecture, were both from Liaodong. They read Kong Sizhen's handwritten order over and over again and asked Lian Chengren, "Sir, is this really Miss Kong's handwriting?"

"Of course it is true. Miss Kong has married the general, and her family in Guilin has settled down."

Tan Shitai echoed, "If you can submit to the general and turn from darkness to light, your names will go down in history."

Zhou Lingxu and Yin Mingting were both civil servants appointed by the Qing court to Guangxi. They did not bring their families with them. Instead, they were not as good as the Dingnan vassal army and did not dare to surrender easily.

"You are all barbarians. In the Battle of Pingle, all the surrendered vassal soldiers were killed. This time you come to Rongjiang Village to persuade me to surrender, but I will never believe you and I will never surrender." Zhou Lingxu said unwillingly.

Talking about morality to jackals is like playing the lute to a cow. Tan Shitai snorted coldly and said, "We are barbarians, you are Tartars, we were originally Han people. We are the Guanlong Army, you are the Liaodong Army, we were originally the border army of the Ming Dynasty. Killing each other is nothing but killing each other. Miss Kong married General Cen, and the Red Army and the Dingnan Army are now one family. If you still don't wake up, the Red Army will be stationed outside the village and can raze Rongjiang Village to the ground at any time. Don't say I didn't warn you."

The defending general was an old subordinate of Kong Youde, and his family was in Guilin. He did not want to be cannon fodder for Zhou Lingxu, so he asked Tan Shitai, "If we surrender, will you guarantee it?"

"Why not?" Tan Shitai struck while the iron was hot and said, "If the general resists, he will die for the sake of the Qing dogs. What's the point? It's better to obey Miss Kong's order and lead the army to surrender. Although it will be late, it will still be loyal."

"Good." The garrison signaled with a wink, and ordered his personal soldiers to chop off the heads of Zhou Lingxu and Yin Mingting as a token of their surrender.

(End of this chapter)