Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 336 Against Chuang Wang

Ma Shiying couldn't ignore Song Qingshu.

Nanzhili has been in peace for many years, and the guards have been rotten to the root. Eight years later in history, the Qing army quickly moved south. Once Yangzhou was broken and the four towns in Jiangbei surrendered, Nanjing did not even have a large army to deal with it. They surrendered directly. Most of the courtiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty also stayed in Nanjing and joined the Qing army. These gentle scum who were full of loyalty to the army watched the Emperor Hongguang flee to Wuhu alone and helpless, and were immediately escorted to Beijing and beheaded.

This is still the case in Nanzhili, let alone Huaibei and Huaizhong. Fengyang's less than [-] spirit guard troops were wiped out. In name, Ma Shiying, the governor of Lufeng, still has [-] troops in [-] guards. Those who can fight are less than five thousand. The so-called able to fight is just going to the city to help shoot archery and throw stones.

However, the local gentry are extremely hostile to the people's rebellion against the army, and the ordinary villagers are also on the side of the government. After all, Huaiyou's life is still passable. There are as many as [-] to [-] brave men who have gone to the countryside under the hands of the squires, and there are more and more.

To defend the homeland, the fighting power displayed by these strong men is quite impressive, and they can inflict heavy damage on Gao Yingxiang's siege army. He couldn't afford to take the risk of fighting against the gangsters. Once Luzhou was destroyed, Fengyang Mansion was behind him. The imperial mausoleum had only just begun to be repaired. If it were to be dug again, his whole family would have to be executed.

Then the regular force that can be relied on is Anqing's Song Qingshuqi Huojun.

However, regarding Song Qingshu, Ma Shiying is also skeptical. On the one hand, he still has something in Song Qingshu's hands, and on the other hand, the begging army is also a thief. Crying, so when the begging army came to the city at noon, he deliberately hid in the yamen, pretending to be deaf and dumb, and refused to let the begging army in, but after hearing Song Qingshu's harsh words, Ma Shiying dared not not come, and this Once, he hadn't come empty-handed.

"Come, come, move in! Move in!"

While more than a dozen squires shouted in pain, they followed Ma Shiying's bodyguard team, and one after another was carried in with red silk on their burdens, and two heavy boxes were opened. They were ingots of large silver ingots. There were more than 1 taels, as well as high-quality rice, flour, live pigs and sheep. A lot of things were carried into the temporary teaching ground of the beggar army. Those two chubby feet were tied to the poles. The second senior brother who screamed desperately attracted a large group of soldiers from the beggar army to watch.

"Song Dashuai, Gao Yi, traveled hundreds of miles to help me in Luzhou. The common people and gentry were grateful, so they sent some things to me. I hope the commander-in-chief will accept it with a smile!"

For the first time, Ma Shiying's eyes were no longer upturned, and his forehead was full of sweat. He dismounted and bowed to Song Qingshu. Deputy smiley.

"Your Excellency is being polite, how can you be so kind?"

I'm sorry to say it, but those things were quickly carried down by the beggar army and distributed to various military camps. The fat pigs and sheep were slaughtered on the spot. In the evening, there were more than a dozen cauldrons in each camp, The entire camp about three miles long was filled with the smell of meat.

Following Song Qingshu to patrol the camp, standing on the half-repaired earth slope bastion, looking down at the dotted lights, Ma Shiying suddenly turned his head rather dignifiedly.

"Marshal Song, how many troops did you bring this time?"

"Six thousand elite soldiers, four thousand, count as soldiers, a total of 1 horses."

The roasted whole lamb was already sizzling with oil on the fire, and his mind was drifting there, Song Qingshu replied casually, but this sentence almost made Ma Shiying fall from the bastion, silly After a while, he just slapped his thigh sadly.

"Marshal, are you really here to amuse me, Ma? The intruders came from the northwest aggressively. They have 14 or [-] battalions under their command, with no less than [-] horses. Ma is still counting on the beggars for help. How can you have such a small army? Not enough for thieves to get stuck between their teeth, right?"

"Hey, Governor Ma's words are wrong. First of all, Mr. Song also served in the civil rebellion army. With a 14 army, 5000 is already very good, and in the past few years, the Ganshan border soldiers did not often go three times. Thousands, [-] troops can defeat a [-] to [-] militant army. You have seen the combat effectiveness of the Huo army, which is not inferior to the elite officers and soldiers. What's more, we are defending this time, as long as we can hold it. You don’t need to fight Chuangjun to the death, six thousand is enough.”

Song Qingshu was full of confidence, but Ma Shiying was still unsure, and was temporarily appeased by him. The cold-faced governor made his face like a bitter melon all the way, thinking over and over again, until the sheep was roasted, and Song Qingshu Pulled into the tent to share the food with the generals, he seemed to have made up his mind, and pulled Song Qingshu's sleeve to the side. It was rare for this always arrogant guy to bow his head, and lowered his voice to whisper to Song Qingshu.

"Marshal Song, Mr. Ma can let your troops enter the city, but you have to give Mr. Ma a guarantee first. Soldiers can loot, but they are not allowed to burn houses, and try not to kill people!"

It's really called holding hands and going backwards. At noon, the city gates were tightly closed to prevent the begging army from entering the city. Now they are begging the begging army to enter the city again. Song Qingshu sneered in his heart, but his face was He waved his hand with a fair heart, and opened his mouth to veto it.

"Hehe, just rest assured, the governor. The begging army camped beside the Jindou River, which played a much better role than guarding in the city. There is a saying in the military that they are each other's horns. Now the begging army and Lu Zhoucheng, exactly one south and one north, is like a bull's horn to withstand the invading army from the northwest, and it cannot be defeated."

"Marshal Song won't just run away when the bandits come, will he?"

It's really not a business to be on the pole. When you want to enter the city, you won't be allowed to enter the city. Now that you don't enter the city, you still suspect it. Seeing Ma Shiying's suspicious face, the mustache of a typical treacherous minister trembled. Song Qingshu simply took advantage of the situation A bow.

"How about this? Luzhou city will be handed over to the military officer in the city, and the magistrate will guard it. Master Ma will stay in our begging army for a few days. You can always rest assured that you will be Song's army supervisor. right?"

This approach can be regarded as the basic approach of the imperial court. No matter how domineering the generals are, send a civil servant to send a eunuch to supervise the army, most of them can always control the obedience, such as the current Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng, but those are all officers and soldiers. The army formed by eating the salary of the imperial court, the beggar army is a rebel army through and through, and there is no Zhao'an until now. If Song Qingshu really wants to leave, with Ma Shiying and his dozen or so soldiers Can't stop it at all.

However, after all, seeing it with your own eyes is better than worrying about it in the city. After a moment of hesitation, Ma Shiying finally agreed.

This is exactly what Song Qingshu wanted. Only by letting this guy see it with his own eyes can his gratitude be maximized, and with 14 soldiers and horses, it is enough to stop Gao Yingxiang's [-] army. I'm afraid my heart will be a little heavier.

I'm really worried. After receiving Song Qingshu's promise, the majestic Governor of Lufeng followed Song Qingshu like a thief. When Song Qingshu went to patrol the camp, he also followed Song Qingshu. For no reason, an old man in his forties was added as a tail, which made Song Qingshu himself quite dumbfounded.

The Chuang army did not come the next day, but the scouts sent by Xiao Luobo sent news that Gao Yingxiang led his troops to plunder near Lu'an, and it would take at least two or three days before they approached Luzhou. After a good meal and good meat, more than 9000 beggars were driven up and down slopes with hoes by Song Qingshu.

Next to the Jindou River, three trenches were dug around the small hill, and the water from the Jindou River was poured into them. The last trench was made by Tibetans. It was dug chest-deep, on top of the hill, and outside the bastion made of sacks. , poured soil again, and tamped it with big stones, and it was also as high as the chest. The twenty small red cannons brought this time, which are almost equivalent to Western six-pound guns to eight-pound guns, are also the same. Line up on the top, this defensive formation was learned by Song Qingshu from the defensive formation laid down by Russian Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov during the Battle of Borodino when Napoleon attacked Tsarist Russia.

Even Napoleon's French army, which was invincible all over Europe, was intercepted. It is estimated that the invasion army, which is much worse than Napoleon's army, should not be able to break through.

In the past two days, there is another unexpected time, that is, the division formed by the thugs captured from Anqing City mutinied. They were not there when dividing the meat, but they were forced to stand up to them when they were working. There were about a thousand people, and some of the half-disabled divisions completely quit the next afternoon, and started a conflict with the surrounding guards. When Song Qingshu arrived, the Daxing division was surrounded by the fourth division in Jindouhe On the side, two thousand eight or nine hundred gangsters were carrying hoes and shovels confronting Liu Tichun's bayonet.

This is what Sun Chuanting is most worried about, but the solution is still a bit strange, just like Coca-Cola and Pepsi fought to the death in later generations, but very Coke disappeared after being implicated, and the unlucky one was Ma Shiyingma, who was begging for a living to supervise the army governor.

Fearing that this person with the highest official title would be expected to do something good or bad, Ma Shiying went back to the city overnight to collect donations from those gentry in Luzhou, raised about 2 taels of silver, and distributed them to the mutinous thugs. The guy was sent back to the barracks, and Song Qingshu also promised that after this battle, they will be regarded as regular soldiers of the beggar army when they go back, and each person will be paid on a monthly basis. Originally, what they did in Anqing City was to work hard for money. The governor of the government at the head guaranteed that there was an even bigger gangster, Song Qingshu, at the other end, so the thug was appeased.

Of course, it is impossible to expect them to dig trenches and let them fight Gao Yingxiang's Chuangjun.

On the fourth day, that is, early in the morning of the eighth day of May in the ninth year of Chongzhen, the beggar army guarding the Jindou River was still taking turns with hoes, and a black line suddenly ran from the northwest of Luzhou along the Jindou River. The upper reaches of the river were rolling in, and the whole sky seemed to be covered with a layer.

Suddenly called out by the orderly, they looked into the distance with a binoculars. At first glance, Ma Shiying and Song Qingshu's expressions stiffened at the same time.

If you look closely at that black line, you can see that there are countless people and horses, carrying flags of various colors, rushing towards you overwhelmingly, you can't see the end from the left, and you can't see the tail from the right. The momentum is just like during the Battle of Wenquanguan Like the wailing of a Greek poet.

Zeus, why did you turn yourself into a mortal, change your name to Xerxes, and then bring all mankind to destroy Greece?
Looking at the rushing Chuangjun, Song Qingshu had the same idea for a moment.

(End of this chapter)