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

Chapter 60 Toast
Two days later, scout Feng Jiali came to report that there was important intelligence.

Feng Jiali is an old soldier from northern Shaanxi. He is alert and vigilant. He is well-known in the standard camp for not sending troops at night and is good at scouting the enemy's situation deep behind enemy lines.

Cen Danchu and Yu Houji were discussing the night school matter, and were summoned immediately upon hearing the news.

Feng Jiali was exhausted. He bowed to Danchu as soon as he saw him and said, "Taiwan Governor, Liuzhou military leader Tan Mingke has investigated and found out that this man has a very important background..."

Tan Mingke was a prominent figure, the eldest son of Liuzhou Tusi Tan Yuchun. He Tengjiao insisted on resisting the Qing in Huguang and issued an order to mobilize Tusi from all over Guangxi. Tan Yuchun also followed the order and came to Huguang, serving as a deputy general under He Tengjiao.

The Ming army suffered successive defeats in Huguang, and Tan Yuchun also suffered a defeat and retreated to Quanzhou area.

The ancestors of the chieftains in Guangxi were mostly Han generals during the Tang and Song dynasties. At that time, the Tang and Song dynasties sent Han troops to garrison Guangxi. In order to encourage the soldiers to stay in Guangxi for a long time, they tacitly allowed them to inherit their official positions and integrate the military and politics.

Over time, these Han soldiers gradually became Tusi, the local de facto emperors, and the imperial court did not interfere in all local military and political affairs. No matter how the dynasty changed, Tusi remained as solid as a rock and maintained its hereditary rule over the local area.

The Ming Dynasty had begun to try to change the natives into officials in Guangxi, but the results were not great. Officials were only set up in some key cities, and the rest of the area was still governed by the natives. When there was a major war, the court would also recruit native soldiers to participate in the war. For example, the Tian clan native soldiers in the Jiajing period performed well in the war against Japanese pirates and were given the name of "Lu soldiers" by the court.

He Tengjiao recruited a lot of Tusi soldiers. After the defeat, the Tusi soldiers from various places either returned to their hometowns or continued to obey He Tengjiao's command. However, Tan Yuchun was not sensible and led his troops to Quanzhou to demand pay.

He Tengjiao had no money, and even if he had money, he would not give it to the Tusi soldiers. Tan Yuchun was so angry that he led his troops to Guilin to ask Qu Shisi for money, but naturally he could not get what he wanted.

It was not the first time that a general led his troops to ask for money from his commander. However, He Tengjiao was more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything. He wrote a secret letter to Long Wenming, the governor of Zuojiang in Guangxi, asking him to get rid of Tan Yuchun.

Long Wenming was stationed in Liuzhou, where there were many local chieftains and the government had little prestige. Long Daotai also wanted to take the opportunity to improve his prestige, so he held a Hongmen Banquet, sent away Tan Yuchun's guards, tied him up tightly, and sent him to Guilin overnight.

Qu Shisi did not dare to take on this hot potato, so he asked someone to send Tan Yuchun to He Tengjiao in Quanzhou.

Not long ago, He Tengjiao gathered the armies of Hao Yongzhong, Zhao Yinxuan and Jiao Lian in Quanzhou. He had a hundred thousand soldiers and horses under his command. He was full of confidence and had the limelight. Thinking of Tan Yuchun's troops demanding money, He Tengjiao was furious and ordered Tan Yuchun to be beheaded.

"Taiwan Governor, think about it. The chieftains of the Tan family have been bullying the locals for a long time. Tan Mingke is only in his twenties, young and energetic. His father made great contributions in resisting the Qing Dynasty, but was unjustly killed by He Tengjiao. How could he swallow this bitter pill? I heard that he is gathering local soldiers and preparing to come to Guni Pass to appeal to Emperor Yongli in person."

Yu Houji fell into deep thought and asked, "Qin Mingke's move may be a motive to call for punishment. How strong is he?"

Feng Jiali said with certainty: "The Qin family is just a small chieftain in Liuzhou, and they lost many troops in Hunan. Their strength is not strong."

Guni Pass is located deep in the mountains, and the weather is unpredictable. It was sunny not long ago, but now it is covered with clouds. On the mountaintops in the distance, the fog is rolling, which makes people feel unhappy.

Danchu said, "Then we don't have to be afraid. Although Hou Xing is treacherous, he is loyal to the court and has a thousand soldiers under his command. The combination of our two armies is enough to resist Tan Mingke's chieftain soldiers."

It is really hard to judge some things and some people in the Southern Ming Dynasty. Just like He Tengjiao, he was a commander-in-chief and carried the expectations of the whole world. But judging from his actions, he did not accomplish anything but caused more trouble than success:
During the Longwu period, He Tengjiao, together with Hubei Governor Zhang Kuang, squeezed out the remnants of the Dashun Army, gathered stragglers as their own army, and had no ability to control their generals, which led to a situation in which military men such as Liu Chengyin, Cao Zhijian, and Huang Chaoxuan became domineering and divided.

Emperor Longwu led the army in person, but He Tengjiao refused to send troops, which was the worst behavior and he had an unshirkable responsibility for the death of Emperor Longwu. When Du Yinxi won the counterattack in Hunan, He Tengjiao was selfish and instigated Hao Yongzhong to kill Chen Youlong who had returned from the rebellion, provoking the Ming army to kill each other and giving the Qing army a chance to catch its breath. Unfortunately, he died for his country with great righteousness and was praised by later literati as a pillar of the anti-Qing resistance.

There were also Hou Xing, Ma Jixiang, Pang Tianshou and others who were treacherous but loyal to the Yongli Emperor. Most of these people followed the Yongli Emperor all their lives until the Burmese curse.

However, although loyalty is important, it cannot save the situation. After half a year of observation, Danchu gradually realized:
The Southern Ming Dynasty had no shortage of people's hearts, loyal officials, or troops. What it lacked was firm and correct organizational leadership, a court that could issue orders smoothly, and a wise and courageous emperor. If it wanted to turn the tide, it had to start over, bypass the Yongli court, and rebuild a firm and powerful leadership core.

"There is another matter that I need to report to the governor." Feng Jiali said with a heavy expression, "Yesterday, I took scouts to Huaiyuan and saw with my own eyes a group of boats flying yellow flags. One of the large boats was decorated with dragon carvings. The boats were dragged upstream by boatmen and will reach Guni Pass tomorrow. After asking around, I learned that these boats belonged to Houxing and were used to welcome the emperor to visit Liuzhou."

Going downstream from Guni Pass, you can reach Liuzhou, a big city in western Guangxi. To Emperor Yongli, Liuzhou was obviously more comfortable and livable than Guni Pass.

Tan Mingke was coming, and the imperial boat was also about to arrive. Emperor Yongli would soon leave Guni Pass.

Danchu said in a deep voice: "Inform all teams to clean their weapons and strengthen their vigilance. Except for necessary personnel such as those who go out to the camp to cut firewood, other soldiers are not allowed to leave the camp."

In the Tusi stronghold, Emperor Yongli summoned the Chief Minister Yan Qiheng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Ma Jixiang, and the eunuch Pang Tianshou to discuss what to do next.

Ma Jixiang said: "In Liuzhou, Long Wenming, the governor of Zuojiang, sent a secret report saying that Tan Mingke led 500 local soldiers to Guni Pass to complain about his grievances. He suggested that the court take the opportunity to encircle and annihilate Tan Mingke to prevent future troubles."

All of them were in the core decision-making circle of the Ming court. They knew everything about He Tengjiao's execution of Tan Yuchun, but they all chose to protect He Tengjiao.

Yan Qiheng immediately retorted, saying, "Your Majesty has entered the barbarian territory, so it is inappropriate to kill him. Besides, the Tan family has been chieftains for generations, and their power is deeply rooted. If we provoke a mutiny among the chieftains, things will go wrong."

Upon hearing about the mutiny, Emperor Yongli was immediately terrified and said, "Sir, you are right. So, how should we deal with this matter?"

"It would be better to send a small official to flatter Tan Mingke. After a while, Tan Mingke will run out of food and naturally retreat."

Ma Jixiang interrupted, "We must be on guard against others. We should notify Hou Xing and Cen Danchu and have them step up their guard to protect the imperial carriage at all times."

"Good," Emperor Yongli said, "Hou Xing said that the imperial boat has been prepared. When will it arrive?"

Ma Jixiang was in charge of this matter and said, "We will be able to reach Guni Pass by noon tomorrow at the latest."

Although he had not mentioned the southern tour, Yan Qiheng was already convinced that the Yongli Emperor was going to Liuzhou. He had advised him many times about this, but the Yongli Emperor would not listen.

This might be the last chance. Yan Qiheng was unwilling to give up and said, "Tan Mingke is resentful and unruly. If the emperor goes to Liuzhou, it will be close to the Tan family's fiefdom, which is really inappropriate!"

Emperor Yongli refused to listen and said, "Sir, there is no need to talk about this matter anymore. I have my own plans."

(End of this chapter)