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

Chapter 78 Teaching
The sixteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival.

The Yong'an Army had just expanded and there were too many new recruits, so it was not appropriate to give them a holiday. So they arranged an education class, a literacy class, and a drama on the Lantern Festival.

At the beginning of his business, Danchu personally taught the standard battalion and the central army, with the topic of "On the inevitable defeat of the Qing Dynasty". In addition to the officers and soldiers of the standard battalion and the central army, the officers and "instructors" of each battalion were also present and sat in the front row.

"Instructor" is a newly created official position in the Yong'an Army, deployed in units above the battalion level. In peacetime, he is responsible for educating officers and soldiers, conducting literacy education, and accepting soldiers' complaints. In wartime, he is responsible for supervising battles, verifying military exploits, and punishing illegal and cowardly behavior.

This was not Danchu's original idea. In the first-level organization of the Ming army, the captain and deputy captain had similar functions. The Liaodong Guanning Iron Cavalry had a "supervisor" who trained the soldiers in peacetime and supervised the battles in wartime. The function was quite similar to "teaching".

Danchu tried to go further. In addition to setting up a teaching team in the standard camp, he also assigned a "teacher" to each camp and appointed himself as the "chief instructor".

According to his idea, the team was the basic organization of the Ming army, and "teaching" should be set up at the team level. However, due to the shortage of talents, he could only settle for the second best and meet the needs of the battalion level first.

The instructor of the standard camp was Yu Houji. He also sat in the audience honestly, listening to Danchu's lecture attentively, trying to understand something more profound from it.

Danchu took out a copper megaphone in the shape of a trumpet and said loudly:
"Brothers, let me first draw a conclusion for this class. The Qing army will definitely lose, and the Ming army will definitely win. Some brothers will say that the Qing army is particularly strong, winning more battles than losing, and rarely encountering an opponent.

"The elite Ming frontier army, Li Zicheng's Shun army, and Zhang Xianzhong's Western Army were all powerful at one time, but they were all defeated one by one by the Qing invaders. The general said that the Qing invaders would definitely lose and the Ming army would definitely win. Isn't this just a lie?
"Hey! I'm not lying! I have many reasons to prove that the Qing army will lose and the Ming army will win. Let me list a few for you first."

Most of the new soldiers joined the army just to have a meal, and they really didn't care who would rule the country. This was understandable, not to mention these new soldiers from poor families, even many scholars were indifferent to this.

In the eyes of the world, the Qing Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains was just a normal change of dynasty. The emperor took turns to sit on the throne, and as long as his official position and property were preserved, it didn't matter whether the court was named Zhu or Aisin-Gioro.

Danchu taught the class in person, and no one dared to desert. He asserted that the Qing army would be defeated, which aroused great interest among the soldiers.

"First, the Qing invaders were tyrannical and committed countless crimes. The hair on our bodies is a gift from our parents and should not be discarded lightly. But the Qing invaders forced us to shave our heads, and everyone had a braid, looking like pigs and dogs. The Chinese have their own crowns and clothes, but the Qing invaders forced us to change our clothes, and everyone wore monkey crowns and clothes, looking like animals.

"The Qing barbarians have a small population, and they take Chinese women as slaves and concubines. All the women have been defiled by the karmic dogs, leaving Chinese men without wives and concubines. They take Chinese men as bondservants and ahars, and use them as cattle and horses for the Tartars, hoping to wipe out the Chinese race.

"As soon as the Qing invaders entered the country, they seized farmland and occupied millions of acres of our fertile land. This is called 'enclosure of land'. Landowners and tenants were taken as slaves. This is called 'fleeing'. When slaves escaped, the Qing government hunted them down and persecuted them cruelly. This is called 'escapees'.

"He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. The Qing invaders were so tyrannical that they caused unrest in the world, and heroes rebelled one after another. Even though they entered the pass and occupied many provinces in the Han area, they only occupied a few cities. Outside the cities, the rebel army rose up and occupied vast rural areas and mountains.

"Brothers, think about this. If the Qing invaders come to Yong'an, they will confiscate all our land, take all the men as slaves, and rape the women. Will you resist or be willing to be a slave and give your wife and daughter to the Qing invaders for rape?"

Although he knew that Danchu was exaggerating, Yu Houji still smiled knowingly and exchanged a glance with the instructors around him: To educate the new recruits, exaggeration and incitement are still necessary.

The soldiers of the personal guards were the first to shout: "Stand up and resist!" Then, the training team, cavalry team, musket team, artillery team, baggage team, and medical team all responded in unison. Being in the group, everyone was swept up in it, and shouted consciously or unconsciously. "Stand up and resist", four simple words, after repeated endlessly, gave people an inexplicable excitement and confidence.

The shouting continued for a long time until Danchu made a gesture and the soldiers stopped shouting.

He continued, "Brothers, how many people are there in total among the Manchus? At most, less than 200,000! But how many people are there among the Han people? No less than 50 million, not to mention that there are many Yao brothers, Dong brothers, Miao brothers, and Hui brothers!

"Fifty million versus two hundred thousand, that's two hundred and fifty to one. Even if the Manchus have three heads and six arms, can't we beat one Manchu with two hundred and fifty people?
"Some people may ask, since there are so few Manchus and so many Han people, why do they always lose the war? It is mainly because of the factional struggles in the court, the lack of unity and cohesion among the Han people, and too many traitors.

"When Sun Chengzong and Xiong Tingbi were in charge of Liaodong's defense, the Tartars were afraid of them and dared not invade. Who would have thought that the court would be dominated by treacherous ministers and the emperor would be incompetent and listen to the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. Sun Chengzong retired and returned to his hometown, where he organized his people to resist the Tartars and died heroically for his country. Xiong Tingbi was arrested and imprisoned, and was beheaded. His head was displayed to the nine borders...

"Emperor Chongzhen trusted Yuan Chonghuan and sent him to lead the army in Liaodong. But he didn't know that Yuan Chonghuan was also a ruthless person. He first forged an imperial edict to kill Mao Wenlong, causing a mutiny in Dongjiang Town, and then colluded with Huang Taiji to lead the Manchu Tartars to approach the capital...

"There are also the traitors Wu Sangui, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, Shen Zhixiang, etc., all of whom are generals of Liaodong and Dongjiang. The high-ranking officials of the court treated them with great respect, but they regarded the traitor as their father and became his accomplices..."

Danchu's eyes widened with anger, he scanned the room, and asked, "What do you think, should those treacherous officials in the court be killed?"

"He deserves to be killed!" the soldiers responded in unison, and they also had a hint of contempt for the court.

"Should those traitors be killed?"

"Deserves to be killed!"

Danchu continued in a stern voice, "Well, the past is a lesson for the future. From now on, our Yong'an Army must learn from the lesson and always be united. Soldiers must listen to the squad leader, the squad leader must listen to the sentry leader, the sentry leader must listen to the captain, the captain must listen to the battalion commander, and the battalion commander must listen to me.

"Once a military order is issued, all units must not have the slightest doubt or resistance, and must immediately carry it out without conditions. In peacetime, comrades help each other, and in wartime, comrades fight side by side.

"If you don't talk about comradeship, don't blame the military law for being ruthless. On the battlefield, officers must lead by example. If a captain is trapped by the enemy and his subordinates do not rescue him, three sentinels will be beheaded; if a sentinel is trapped in the battle and his subordinates do not rescue him, three sergeants will be beheaded; if a sergeant is trapped in the battle and his subordinates do not rescue him, nine soldiers will be beheaded.

"If the first battalion is trapped in the battle and the second and third battalions do not rescue, the commanders of the second and third battalions shall be beheaded; if the first squad is trapped in the battle and the second and third squads do not rescue, the captains of the second and third squads shall be beheaded; if the first sentry is trapped in the battle and the second and third sentries do not rescue, the sentry commanders of the second and third sentries shall be beheaded...

"If someone betrays the Yong'an Army, surrenders to the Tartars and becomes a traitor, I don't need to tell you the consequences, right? Loyalty is the first virtue of a soldier. I hate traitors the most. If anyone dares to betray the Yong'an Army, I will never tolerate him, even if he escapes to the ends of the earth..."

(End of this chapter)