Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 219: KFC on Thursday

The twelfth year of Chongzhen, late summer.

The summer in southern Liaoning seems to disappear earlier than usual. Before a few warm days have passed, people can feel the coldness of autumn and winter.

A cool breeze mixed with water vapor whistled past, like ice seeds hitting his face. Feng Hanmin shivered, and the air he inhaled into his nose became more and more stinging.

Feng Hanmin was originally from Zhili. Three years ago, the Tartars invaded the pass and plundered, and he was captured and brought to southern Liaoning to do hard labor.

Somehow the weather these days is getting colder year by year. It is now colder than when he was a child, and southern Liaoning is colder than his hometown.

He still remembered that some days ago, he risked his life to follow the military master back to Dengzhou by boat.

At that time, he knew that the Tartar navy had blockaded the sea, and crossing the sea by boat would be a risk of death. But in such a chaotic time, who knew whether he would survive the next day? Even if he died, he would rather be close to home.

Fortunately, with the protection of the military commander and the blessing of God, he was lucky enough to arrive in Dengzhou and finally set foot on the land connected to his hometown.

On the day King Zhishun was arrested and paraded through the streets, he jumped three feet high for joy.

He ran around and mixed some dog shit with the mud, then shot the traitor hard at it, and it actually hit him.

Looking at the dog traitor's face full of sorrow and pain, Feng Hanmin felt so relieved that he was full of energy to work.

Originally, the Beiwei Army allowed "slaves" like Feng Hanmin to return home.

However, the Tartars invaded the pass and plundered many times. Their homes were burned down and their relatives and friends were slaughtered. They had no houses, no land, and no money, and were left homeless.

He also tried working as a temporary worker for some masters to cut wheat, but they deliberately lowered his wages and said that there were plenty of people who would do it if he didn't want to.

It would be better to join the Beiwei Army as an auxiliary soldier or a laborer. Although it is very dangerous to go to the front line to fight, at least you can earn a living.

So, when the government troops marched north to Lushun, he once again became the tail following the Beiwei Army.

The government troops were of average strength, but driven by the Beiwei Army's fierce attacks and charges, they successively captured Lushun, Nanguan, and Jinzhou, all the way to Xiaojiaguan, and finally broke through Pangu Fort and successfully joined forces with the soldiers of Fuzhou...

The army seized countless amounts of money, food, weapons, and flags, which piled up into several small hills.

Feng Hanmin also benefited from this. The clothes and shoes on his feet were taken off a Jinzhou Tartar, and some of them were too big and didn't fit him well.

However, Feng Hanmin had no complaints. Having "new clothes" and "new cloth shoes" was already a favor from General Beiwei.

At first, government troops tried to snatch the goods from him one after another, but the Beiwei Army stepped forward to stop them, holding their swords and looking down on the crowd: anyone who dared to harass the people would be killed with a sword from the Beiwei Army. Only then did they intimidate the government troops.

There are many government troops that have been gathering these days, including thousands of people from the Baoding Governor's Office and thousands of people from the Southern Zhili Governor-General's Office. There will be more reinforcements, ammunition, money and food arriving soon.

It is said that the current emperor was very pleased when he heard about the successive great victories in southern Liaoning. He ordered troops from all provinces to rush to support southern Liaoning so that western Liaoning and southern Liaoning could work together to defeat the Eastern Tartars.

The old superior of the Beiwei Army also sent 700 elite soldiers. The emperor also approved that the thousands of elite soldiers newly recruited by General Li do not need to be transferred to western Liaoning, but directly to Dengzhou to support southern Liaoning.

According to some "former slaves" who used to be soldiers and militiamen, if the imperial court gets serious about it, it will destroy this breakfast.

Feng Hanmin didn't understand any allusions or idioms, he only knew that the emperor wanted the Jiannu to die.

It just so happened that he also hoped that all the dogs would die.

The Tartars destroyed his family and forced him to leave his homeland and become a slave for several years. He wished he could eat the Tartars' flesh and drink their blood.

Reinforcements continued to arrive from various directions, and the total number of government troops was about to exceed 40,000. At this time, Governor Li sent another 500 "new recruits".

And a flag.

Faced with the support of their old superior, the Beiwei Army was not very interested, but they were very excited about this specially made flag.

It seemed as if these five hundred elite soldiers were not as valuable as a single hair on this battle flag.

The white bone dragon flag with a black background was huge, and the flagpole was as thick as an arm. It was usually placed on a carriage for transportation, or displayed in a large military tent, and not shown to the public.

However, I have repeatedly heard the Beiwei Army say that it will take some time for this flag to transform people into the "Fourth Disaster", and at that time, more than a thousand "newcomers" will come directly.

Feng Hanmin was puzzled. How could a human being become a natural disaster? This natural disaster was actually ranked fourth. How terrifying must the first three natural disasters be?

What’s going on with the more than a thousand “newcomers”? Will the old boss of the Beiwei Army send reinforcements?
The Beiwei Army is fair and just, but their weird catchphrases and strange "relaxation" are incomprehensible.

For example, beheading prisoners.

During these days, the government troops captured several cities and fortresses, and captured countless bannermen and bondservants. The bannermen were basically killed, while the bondservants shaved their heads and stayed in the army to serve as civilian laborers.

Only the Beiwei Army acted differently. They organized the captured defeated soldiers into teams, and every morning they ordered a group of people to dig deep pits. Then they beheaded all the diggers in front of the other prisoners.

As the Beiwei Army captured cities along the way, they executed a few prisoners along the way. Regardless of whether they were Manchu, Mongolian, or Han, as long as they belonged to the Eight Banners, they would be tortured and then beheaded.

The torture methods included, but were not limited to, being dragged behind a galloping warhorse, being stripped naked and hung upside down in the river, being whipped with a whip dipped in sea water, and having the fingernails and toenails pierced with steel needles... For Baoyi, sometimes five whippings were used to kill, and sometimes two whippings were used to keep alive.

They fought their way to the city of Fuzhou and reunited with their friendly forces, but they still kept more than a thousand prisoners. They said it would be boring to kill them all at once, just like delicious meat is always saved for the end and enjoyed slowly.

Just as Feng Hanmin finished relieving himself at the designated spot, he heard a loud roar, "Behead!"

At the command, hundreds of defeated soldiers' heads fell to the ground, and their headless bodies softened and fell into the dug pits. Feng Hanmin and others only needed to backfill the soil.

"How many Tartars will you say will march south? The general said the Tartar troops are not far from Fuzhou."

A laborer stopped what he was doing and rested his chin on the wooden handle. A string of snot hung from his nose. Seeing others looking at him with disgust, he hurriedly sniffed and sucked the stuff back up.

Feng Hanmin's movements also slowed down. He dug and backfilled the soil absentmindedly while listening to other people's discussions.

"I heard the Tartars are going to send a hundred thousand soldiers."

"Ah! One hundred thousand Tartars?!" With a dull thud, the shovel in a civilian's hand slipped to the ground.

He glanced in disbelief at the nearby government troops, his expression frozen in terror for a moment before shifting to nervousness. His legs trembled as he spoke in a trembling voice, "They say that if there are less than ten thousand Tartars, then ten thousand or more are invincible. A hundred thousand Tartars would make them invincible. Is there any hope for us to survive?!"

"Bullshit, the general has already said that the imperial court has also sent a large number of troops in Liaoxi. Even if the Tartars have 100,000 troops, they can split them equally on both sides, so at most 50,000 troops."

A hot-blooded man raised a shovel and gestured in the air for a while. He blinked and looked at the Beiwei Army's martial arts performance in the distance. He quickly corrected his posture, pretending that he had a sharp spear in his hand and thrust forward.

"Even if there are only 50,000 Tartars, they are still more numerous than the government troops in southern Liaoning." The civilian man from Dengzhou began to sob, "I haven't married yet to carry on the family line. I can't die..."

"Coward! The government troops are right in front of you, and you're still afraid of this and that. I didn't ask you to fight the Tartars."

"I think this Beiwei army is quite capable. With only a thousand men they captured Fuzhou, and another thousand defeated the Tartar navy and captured Lushun and Jinzhou. Perhaps they can defeat five with one. The Beiwei army now has over three thousand elite soldiers, which is more than enough to defeat over ten thousand Tartars. The rest of the government troops can then use their numbers to defeat the remaining ones."

"I hope God will protect the government troops from this disaster..." A middle-aged civilian clasped his hands together and muttered to himself.

"This sharp stake is inserted here, but it needs to be pushed in a little deeper... Yes, yes, move it a little to the left, right! Right here! Push it in!"

Under the command of a Beiwei general who would jump every two steps, several civilians drove a wooden stake into a designated location. Half of the pointed stake was buried in the soil, and the other half above the ground was painted with red paint.

The laborers didn't understand why ten sharp stakes painted red were inserted in the open space. The entire open space was divided into three directions, and ten groups of red-painted stakes were inserted at intervals of dozens of steps.

Feng Hanmin, including many civilians who were driving the stakes, were very curious about why the Beiwei Army did this.

"This is a secret method of the masters..."

A commoner who had studied in a private school for several years contributed his own ideas.

He said that this was a magic circle set up by the Beiwei Army in order to use secret magic to kill the "luck" of the Tartars during the war. The price was forty-nine years of the life of the person performing the magic, and there was no guarantee of success.

Although everyone thought it was ridiculous, this person's statement was supported by some people's eyewitness accounts.

When the Beiwei Army attacked Fuzhou, they were able to cast a glowing "red light spell" in the middle of the night, making the night sky as bright as day, and they were able to attack the city in the middle of the night.

When the main force of the Beiwei Army attacked Lushun and Jinzhou, they could use the "Samadhi True Fire" to melt the iron-clad city gates, or throw out the "crystal bottle" of explosive flames to devour the entire body of the Qing soldiers.

The spells cast varied: "Long Live the Emperor", "Ya Shit, Wild Boar Skin", "Damn You Are Incompetent", "Chicken Appears"...

"So the general has asked a master to perform a ritual in the battlefield. As long as the 'luck' of the Tartars is broken, even if there are 100,000, let alone 50,000, the government troops will be able to win!"

Feudal superstitions allow everyone to find psychological comfort. They are like lonely drowning people grabbing a suspended log.

As long as the massive formation is completed, the Tartars will naturally disperse, and they can continue to eat and work in peace...

"It's time for dinner, it's time for dinner!" The army cooks were banging on iron buckets and shouting melodiously, as if calling the flocks of sheep wandering in the distance.

"dinner time!"

Feng Hanmin seemed to see a huge wheat steamed bun appear in the air, and he felt his body filled with the power to charge.

He picked up the shovel and charged forward desperately.

He was young and ran very fast, and soon he was in the top 50.

Today's lunch is still hot porridge with pickles and steamed buns.

After taking a mouthful of hot porridge, Feng Hanmin felt that his mood was as warm as spring for the whole day.

However, the wonderful moments are always short-lived. Just as he was about to eat a few more mouthfuls of steamed bread with the hot porridge, he heard a horn resounding through the sky. The soldiers of the Beiwei Army roared "The Tartars are coming" and began to assemble.

Feng Hanmin stood up blankly and looked ahead. The rolling army of the Tatars kept coming into view from behind the barrier of dust.

(End of this chapter)