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

Chapter 85: The End of a Nation
On the afternoon of February 18, Danchu led his battalion through Yangshuo. To his surprise, Jiao Lian was in Yangshuo and had not yet set out for Guilin.

When Jiao Lian heard that Dan Chu was passing by, he was overjoyed and went out of the city to meet him.

Dan Chu was wearing armor and looked exhausted, but he was in high spirits. When he saw Jiao Lian, he dismounted and saluted, saying, "General Jue, Dan Chu has been ordered to rush to Guilin for assistance. This is the standard camp of 500 people, and there will be 1,300 more to follow."

Jiao Lian couldn't hide his smile. He took Danchu's hand and said, "I haven't seen you for two months. You look much more energetic now. I have already dispatched all the generals to help Guilin. You are stationed in Yong'an Prefecture, which is far from Guilin, so you can move quickly."

"Marshal Duke has given orders, and Danchu must obey them."

When an army reaches a certain size, it will become bloated and command will be difficult. Jiao Lian was a careless person with no skills in managing the army, and he allowed his generals to be stationed in various places. All the generals had the title of general, and when there was an emergency, no matter how urgent the order was, it would always take time to assemble.

Danchu learned a lesson from this: As a general, one must hold the military power firmly in his hands to ensure that the troops can be summoned and fight when they arrive.

Specifically, first, the troops should be stationed relatively concentratedly. The troops should not be dispersed to various places just to make it easier for the soldiers to get food. Second, the hierarchical system should be firmly implemented to overcome the drawbacks of the traditional military camp system and to implement vertical leadership from the town to the squadron.

Jiao Lian moved from Pingle to Yangshuo, which was closer to Guilin and provided more accurate intelligence. From Jiao Lian, Danchu learned that Lingchuan County was still in the hands of the Ming army, Guilin was temporarily safe, and Emperor Yongli was still in Guilin.

Since this was the case, Danchu felt relieved and followed Jiao Lian's advice and led his troops into Yangshuo city to camp.

Marching and fighting has always been a hard job. Fighting is a matter of course. When marching in the wild, you need to build camps, set up stakes and tents, which are basic operations. In special circumstances, you also have to dig trenches and set up chevaux de frise. The standard camp has a high armor rate, heavy cavalry, and a lot of baggage, so setting up camp is even more troublesome.

If you can stay in a civilian house, you can save the trouble of setting up camp. If you can stay in the city, you can also prevent the enemy from raiding your camp at night.

The soldiers of the standard camp entered the city of Yangshuo for camping, and their morale was immediately boosted. In this day and age, the happiness of a warrior is so simple and pure.

Danchu followed Jiao Lian into the marquis's mansion to discuss matters.

Jiao Lian introduced: "I have decided to move to Yangshuo, which is closer to Guilin, so I can get news at any time. This house originally belonged to the traitor Li Xian, and I turned it into a marquis's mansion."

As the new marquis, Jiao Lian's status was different. He changed into casual clothes, less of a warrior, and arranged a very exquisite dinner.

Danchu felt a sense of alienation and secretly warned himself: As a general, you must never alienate your subordinates, and even more so, you must not alienate your soldiers.

After three rounds of drinking, Jiao Lianping asked his attendants, "Feng Zhiji and Zhu Minru are fighting over military pay in Zhaoping. What do you think of this?"

As Jiao Lian's trusted general, Danchu would not shy away from saying, "Zhaoping is the barrier of Pingle, and it must not be lost. We should entrust it to our trusted confidants. Zhu Minru is loyal and courageous, while Feng Zhiji is unruly and difficult to control. There can't be two tigers in one mountain of Zhaoping, so we should drive Feng Zhiji away and leave Zhu Minru alone to guard Zhaoping."

"Well," Jiao Lian nodded, drank a cup of wine, hesitated for a while, and then said: "This time when Guilin alerted the police, I ordered Zhu Minru to guard Zhaoping and transferred Feng Zhiji to reinforce Guilin. Feng Zhiji spoke rudely and insulted my messenger. Zhu Minru also secretly reported Feng Zhiji's various illegal situations..."

Having said this, Jiao Lian stopped talking, a murderous look rising on his face.

Danchu was startled. Jiao Lian seemed to want to kill Feng Zhiji. This was a chaotic time. Even if Feng Zhiji was the commander-in-chief, Jiao Lian could kill him first and report later, or even kill him without reporting. As a general, you still have to maintain a good relationship with the commander-in-chief, and you can't be as domineering and disobedient as Ma Zhiji.

He also had a grudge against Ma Zhiji. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "Ma Zhiji will surely become a nuisance in the future. However, Guilin is in urgent need of help right now. It is better to wait until the Guilin incident is over and Feng Zhiji is not on guard, and then use the excuse of negotiating pay or mediation to capture and kill him." Jiao Lian nodded slightly, his eyes gleaming with ferocity, and said, "Let's leave his head alone this time and see how he performs in Guilin."

There was a moment of silence at the table, and Jiao Lian asked again: "What do you think of Hao Yongzhong?"

Nan'an Hou Hao Yongzhong, whose original name was Hao Yaoqi, was a rude man with bad military discipline. He was ostracized when he was in the Dashun Army. Because he was brave in battle, Li Zicheng even protected him. After Li Zicheng's death, Hao Yongzhong killed his chief general and his army, which made him despised by the generals of the Dashun Army. Later, he defected to He Tengjiao.

In the great victory of Quanzhou last December, Hao Yongzhong was credited with the greatest achievement. However, he evacuated Quanzhou without authorization, which triggered a great change. His troops were at their peak, but they had no money to pay for them. In Guilin, Hao Yongzhong followed Li Zicheng's example of "recovering stolen goods to help pay for them":
"They set up camp in the training ground and captured villagers every day, strangled their legs with string, and interrogated the officials about their talents and wealth. After counting tens or hundreds of people, they drew a circle under each name, and divided the salary according to the number of people, and demanded the money according to the number of people they had."

Jiao Lian was also hostile to Hao Yongzhong. He fell out with Hao Yongzhong in Guilin and the two troops had friction. After mediation by Qu Shisi and Lu Kezao, the two stopped fighting. Jiao Lian returned to defend Pingle, while Hao Yongzhong took his anger out on the militia outside the city and massacred 18 villages east of the water.

Danchu didn't want to anger Jiao Lian, so he said carefully: "Hao Yongzhong has a strong army and is the best among all the troops. Last time he rescued Xing'an, he was able to send out a thousand elite cavalry at a time. His strength should not be underestimated."

Jiao Lian was very disdainful and said, "Hao Yongzhong has always been a scourge. If Feng Zhiji is a minor scourge, Hao Yongzhong is a major scourge. As early as the first year of the Hongguang reign, Hao Yongzhong submitted a letter of surrender to the Qing invaders. The Qing invaders disliked his fickleness and his troops were unwilling to shave their heads, so this matter was not carried out.

"Now that a powerful enemy is pressing in from outside, Hao Yongzhong is alone in Lingchuan. When his food supplies run out, we can invite the Yunnan troops to attack him from all sides. Even if he has more troops, he will surely be defeated."

What? At this time? Are we still going to kill each other?

Dan Chu looked at Jiao Lian in disbelief. He saw murderous intent on his face. He had hatred towards Hao Yongzhong, but also seemed to be excited about taking revenge.

What happened to Sir Alex? Why do people become different when they get to a high position?
The Dashun Army broke through the capital and forced Chongzhen to death, which was considered an unforgivable crime. The officials of the Southern Ming hated the peasant army to the core. During the Hongguang period, when the treacherous prime minister Ma Shiying was in power, there was a saying that "it is better to die by the invaders than by the bandits."

But what time is it now? The Qing army has reached the doorstep, and Guilin only has Lingchuan as a barrier. Hao Yongzhong is defending Lingchuan alone, and Jiao Lian wants to take the opportunity to attack him. What is going on?
There is a very classic saying in later generations' evaluation of the Southern Ming Dynasty: internal strife will lead to the destruction of the country, and the destruction of the country will also result from internal strife.

With the Southern Ming's rulers and ministers being such despicable people, the sun would have risen in the west before the country was destroyed.

But what was the root cause of the internal strife? Was it the system of mutual checks and balances designed by Zhu Yuanzhang?

Obviously not.

The internal struggles of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were also very serious. Let's talk about Gongshun Wang Geng Zhongming. Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde were as close as brothers when they were in Dongjiang Town, and Kong Youde regarded Geng Zhongming as his sworn brother.

Later, Kong Youde's status gradually rose, while Geng Zhongming was inferior to Kong Youde. After the two crossed the sea and surrendered, Kong Zhongming seized Kong Youde's people. Kong Youde impeached Geng Zhongming, and Geng Zhongming wrote a letter to take the blame. For this, Huang Taiji personally mediated between them and summoned them to the palace for a banquet.

Geng Zhongming's subordinate Shi Mingxiong and others plotted to murder Geng Zhongming, and Geng Zhongming reported it to the Qing court. After Huang Taiji verified the facts, he executed Shi Mingxiong and others, and made Geng Zhongming obedient.

Danchu realized at this point that the root cause of the internal strife in the Southern Ming Dynasty was that the court had no authority and that the emperor was cowardly and unable to exercise his power.

The court, the emperor, and the foreign ministers and generals were not good enough. Qu Shisi and Jiao Lian were both not generous and tolerant, nor were they talented in military and literary studies.

Who should shoulder the heavy weight of the universe?
(End of this chapter)