When Fubiao Battalion was completely wiped out by the Ming army, even the prisoners were executed by the Ming army commander Chen Wen. The Qing officials and Green Camp soldiers on the territory of Shaoxing Prefecture north of Jinhua Prefecture were shocked three times a day, and rumors of the Ming army heading north almost every day were heard.

Most of the gentry and people of Shaoxing Prefecture showed a welcome attitude towards the fear of the Qing officials and soldiers. For a time, the gentry and people of Shaoxing Prefecture began to run around and set off a wave of truth when this incredibly powerful Ming army headed north.

It would be fine if it was just like this, but the undercurrents in Shaoxing Prefecture also spread to Hangzhou. With the Han Eight Banners led by Jin Li and Liu Zhiyuan stationed in Hangzhou to form the Hangzhou Eight Banners, and Zhejiang Governor Xiao Qiyuan vigorously built a city in Hangzhou, the conflict between the Qing court and the people in Hangzhou became increasingly serious.

The two counties of Shanyin and Kuaiji in Shaoxing Prefecture City, which may face the Ming army's military front in advance.

It was the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month of the fifth year of Yongli, and it was the day to send the Kitchen God to heaven. Xu Lei, the garrison of the Lunar Bing, who thought that he might not be able to go home on New Year's Eve, determined the information that the Ming army was unable to go north, and he had already led his troops back to Hangzhou. After taking a shower and changing clothes, he was preparing to take the whole family to worship the Kitchen God, begging the Kitchen God to have a few beautiful words in front of the Jade Emperor.

The wife Yu, who was made into paper-paste horses and small cakes, black beans, cub grass and other things, had already prepared the house servants. The sweet and sticky foods such as sugar melons, dumplings, malt sugar, pig blood cakes, etc. were also neatly arranged, just for the Kitchen God to enjoy. In order to achieve the effect of "eat sweetness, say good words", "passing good words to heaven, throwing bad words aside".

It is said that "the man does not worship the moon, and the woman does not worship the kitchen." After everything was prepared, Yu took the servants in the family backed down, and only Xu Lei led the males in the family to worship.

Burning incense and kowtowed, Xu Lei toasted the Kitchen God and prayed sincerely. After three toasts, Xu Lei tore off the Kitchen God statue and burned it together with paper horses, black beans, grass and other things. Then the whole family bowed and said, "It's sour, sweet, smelly, spicy, don't talk about it."

Today I sent the Kitchen God away and followed the rules to pick up the Kitchen God in a few days. However, the ceremony was relatively simple, just paste a new Kitchen God statue.

After the sacrifice, Xu Lei returned to the main hall and left home for a long time, and many things still needed to be reported by Yu. But at this moment, Xu Lei seemed to have forgotten this matter and let Yu tell the affairs of his family, the land and the income of the store over the past few days, without any reaction, just sitting on the chair and not knowing what to think about.

Seeing that Xu Lei's thoughts were flying there, Yu stopped for a while. But after a long time, Xu Lei was still in a daze, and Yu had to speak out. But he didn't take her to speak. However, Xu Lei suddenly asked, "How is Li and her mother recently? Are you still safe?"

Yu never expected Xu Lei to ask this question. But the moment he heard this question, the jealousy and hatred that had once appeared in Yu's heart.

The Li family that Xu Lei mentioned was Li Ruixin's sister. Xu Lei salivated the Li family's younger sister before getting married, and was quite neglected about it. Later, a male member of the Li family either died in battle or disappeared, so Xu Lei forced the Li family's younger sister into the room. At first, he was very fond of him, but later he could not withstand the pressure of his wife Yu. In addition, the Li family's younger sister had never been able to show anything, so he gradually became neglected. Even before returning from the encirclement of Siming Mountain last year, he had not mentioned this poor woman for some years.

Although the Li family's younger sister was favored by her wife, she was very respectful to her wife, for fear of losing her duties as a concubine, in the eyes of Yu, who had always been jealous, she was clearly showing off her power and naturally could not tolerate her.

He constantly used his wife to instigate his subordinates to bully and frame them, causing money to slander the doctor that the Li family's younger sister could not have children, which led to Xu Lei's bored feeling. Even the Li family's younger sister and her mother almost became the lowest-ranking servant in the family, and Yu's contribution was mostly due to the Yu family.

However, since Xu Lei returned from defeat in the encirclement of Simingshan, he suddenly remembered the mother and daughter. Although it was not the identity of the concubine, he strangely removed all the work of the mother and daughter, and had improved the food and clothing several levels. He was only under the care of the trusted servants and servants in a remote courtyard in the house, and that's all. As for why, he was unwilling to say it.

Taking advantage of Xu Lei's expedition, Yu's privately reduced the treatment of the mother and daughter of the Li family again, and only for not starving to death. However, when Xu Lei came back, he actually asked this question, which really shocked Yu's heart.

"The slut and daughter are still in the yard, and they are still in the food and clothing, but they have not been allowed by their husbands these days, and they have not let them come out."

When Xu Lei heard the word "slut", he couldn't help but frowned, and his eyes towards Yu began to become complicated.

"The word "slut" should not be said again in the future. After all, my husband and the Li family had served under the command of Duke Jingguo. There was no news about their family, so it was appropriate to take care of my husband. Moreover, Li had served on his side with a pillow and mat, so he should not be so harsh."

The word "harsh" Yu Shi sounded so harsh that Yu Shi did not realize that there was no difference between her previous death and her current news. She just married her husband, so she had to follow Xu Lei's wishes and did not dare to say too much. Anyway, Xu Lei always had to go to war as a military officer, and she was not determined by her family and the matters at home were not the final say. There was no need to go against her husband's wishes in person.

Seeing that Yu had restored the name of the Li family's sister, Xu Lei ordered: "Come and invite them to come." As soon as he said that, Xu Lei waved his hand again, signaling that the order he had just given was invalid, and then said the next sentence.

"Let's go for your husband myself." After that, he got up and walked out the door without any intention of staying.

Looking at everything in front of him, Yu was surprised that Xu Lei's attitude changed, and the jealousy in his heart rekindled again, even more violent than before.

There was no eye behind his head, and Xu Lei could not see Yu's jealous gaze. He just took two steps in three steps to go to the small courtyard where the mother and daughter of the Li family lived. After entering the yard, he saw the mother and daughter of the Li family washing clothes in the yard. When he saw Xu Lei coming, the mother and daughter quickly threw down the guy in their hands and knelt down to salute.

This scene was very normal before. Isn’t it enough for a mother and daughter who were at the bottom of the pyramid at home to kowtow to the head of the family? So much so that Xu Lei did not feel any surprise when the mother and daughter knelt down.

But when the sound of kneeling on the ground reached his ears, he knelt down and begged for mercy when he was captured alive by Li Ruixin last year. When facing the Ming army's commander, Jingruohan Chan, and Yu Fenqi, Yu Fenqi, Xu Xin and others learned the details of the Qing army's defeat in the encirclement and suppression, it instantly appeared in his mind, and was frightened and cold sweat came out.

The next second, Xu Lei stepped forward and helped Li's younger sister up with both hands, and then helped Li's younger sister up with fear. He then said to Li's mother: "My mother-in-law must not do this. You are an elder, so it should be your son-in-law who saluted you."

As soon as this statement came out, the mother and daughter were really shocked. Xu Lei had not been so respectful before, but that was the case with Zhichu before the Li family father and son died. Even after taking over the Li family's younger sister later, it was not like this. Today, is he clamped his head with the door?

But the mother and daughter of the Li family came out of the surprise. Xu Lei's next sentence instantly subverted their cognition over the years.

"In recent years, my son-in-law was blinded by lard and neglected Qian'er. It shouldn't be. In addition, he is busy with military affairs and has no time to do anything, which has caused you a lot of hardships. My son-in-law will arrange a better courtyard for you and arrange a servant and maid to serve you. In the future, you can enjoy a happy life. I hope my mother-in-law can forgive my son-in-law." After that, it was a gift.

Seeing that the mother and daughter of the Li family were already stunned on the spot, they were so shocked that they knelt down and saluted again as if they were conditioned reflexes. Xu Lei held the Li family's hand while holding it.

The Li family was also a family of Ming army officers. The Li family's younger sister was the only daughter in the family. Both her parents and two brothers took good care of her. Therefore, since childhood, she has never done any rough work except for the duties of her daughter's family such as Nu Hong and cooking.

But when Xu Lei held the Li family's younger sister's hand, the slender and smooth part of the past was no longer there, but what was left was that the roughness of his years of hard work made him, the military officer who had been holding weapons all year round, feel ashamed of himself. Not only his hands, but even the pretty face that had made him think about day and night was stained with some secular frost, and even one or two white hairs were faintly revealed in the black hair on his head.

Looking at the woman in front of her who was already like a rough girl, Xu Lei no longer had the same disgust as before. Instead, he held the Li girl's hand tighter, and his eyes became more affectionate.

"Qian'er, forgive me for being a husband for being confused for a while. Can we live a good life in the future, okay?"

Since the Li family's younger sister was forced to be a concubine, the Li family's mother and daughter never imagined that there would be such a day. However, before they could pinch the soft flesh on their bodies to confirm that they were not dreaming, they were called by Xu Lei and respectfully invited the maid to a larger courtyard. In Xu Lei's declaration of restoring the identity of the second house of Li, they completed the transformation from the Xu family's slave to the master.

Although the second wife is also a concubine, she will not be bullied by other concubines as long as she is favored at home. The Li family’s younger sister has become the second wife of Xu Lei, the youngest generation of young officers in the Extraordinary Camp in this year. If you don’t know, you may think that there are some palace fights, house fights and other plots. But except for Xu Lei, no one in the Xu family knows why all this is because of it. At least Li Ruixin will continue to do something bigger with Chen Wen or will be defeated and died.

While the fate of the Li family's mother and daughter changed, on an island in Taihu Lake more than 200 miles north of Hangzhou, two men in coarse linen were discussing the changes in the current situation in the rumor.

"Brother Yu, I thought it would be better to wait until the matter is understood before setting off. God knows whether that Marshal Chen has anything to do with the Qi family. If you took You Ming's nephew to rashly, wouldn't this effort be wasted? It would be better if you and my brothers continued to attack the Tartars with their brothers on this Taihu Lake, and they would always be worthy of Changxing Bo and those brothers who fought to the death."

The speaker was Qian Yingkui, a native of Songjiang Prefecture, Nanzhili. He was a general of Wu Yi, the Changxing Bo, who had launched an army to fight against the Qing Dynasty a few years ago in Taihu area. After Wu Yi's death, Qian Yingkui once went to Susong to continue to fight against the Qing Dynasty. Historically, under the background of Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Huangyan's three-enterprise entry into the Yangtze River, he called himself General Pingnan to fight against the Qing Dynasty. Later, he was appointed as General Pingnan by the Emperor Yongli, and was appointed as General Pingnan and General Tongzhi. Until he was defeated in the 12th year of Yongli, he was killed by the Qing army.

The brother Yu that Qian Yingkui called was Yu Shizhong. His ancestors once followed Qi Jiguang to fight against the Japanese and hereditary Qianhu. After the southern capital fell, he went to Taihu to join the Wu Yi army and served as guerrilla. When Wu Yi died for his country, Yu Shizhong led his subordinates to attack Qing army ships and fish on Taihu Lake, and continued to fight against the Qing Dynasty as the general of Wu Yi.

Qian Yingkui and Yu Shizhong didn't have a good relationship when they were under Wu Yi's command. After all, one was a fisherman and the other was a hereditary officer. There were always differences in cognition and concepts. Until Wu Yi's death, although there were still many anti-Qing armed forces in Taihu Lake, they almost all regarded Zhang San, the barefoot army of the Taihu Lake Baitou Army as the leader. It was not their rebels under the banner of the Ming army, and they continued to persist here. The two with weak power gradually let go of their conflicts and cooperated with each other.

However, as the news of the Qing army's defeat in Jinhua, Zhejiang, the Ming army suffered a crushing defeat, Yu Shizhong heard from the rumors that Chen Wen was the son-in-law of the Qi family in Penglai, and he thought about fighting against the Tartars under the new version of the Qi family in Chen like his ancestors to fight against the Japanese, and then restore the Ming Dynasty.

This time, I came to discuss with Qian Yingkui that I would entrust the 100 subordinates under his command to Qian Yingkui, so that I could sneak south to Jinhua with my only son, so that I would not be besieged by the Qing army along the way because of too many people.

Qian Yingkui was a loyal man. What he said this is also a very likely fact, but Yu Shizhong had already made up his mind to go south before. After all, Taihu Lake is in the Su-hu area where the Qing army gathered heavily, and it is difficult to develop its power. If it is consumed for a long time, it will not be able to restrain the local Qing army, which has long been far from here, and it is far from going south to Jinhua to join the army. Even if everything starts from scratch, it will be better than going half-dead.

Seeing that Qian Yingkui had to persuade him again, Yu Shizhong shook his head and then said, "Brother Qian, we followed Changxing Bo to raise an army in order to restore our Ming Dynasty and fight for the descendants of the future generations and descendants to become slaves of the Tartars."

"At present, we wandered in Taihu Lake, while the court was defeated by Zhoushan. I don't know where to go. Mr. Chen is already the last established royal army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Whether it is for himself or for the court, even if he can only do his best to go south to Jinhua, it will be better than wasting his years here. Brother Qian doesn't need to persuade him anymore. If you remember the hardships of your brothers and you and my brothers over the years, you will be kind to these brothers who once fought with the Tartars under Changxing Bo. I thank you here."

Since this colleague who had worked with him for many years had decided, Qian Yingkui had to put aside his persuasion, took out the long-established wine, and then packed two fish and some side dishes for wine as a banquet before leaving. Because they all knew that in such a chaotic world, this parting may be a difficult time to meet again in this life.

It was not until the next morning that Yu Shizhong left Qian Yingkui's territory with Hangover, and returned home and took his son to Huzhou on a boat, preparing to cross Hangzhou and Shaoxing to enter the boundary of Jinhua Prefecture from there.

But he didn't know that when some of the victories in Jinhua Prefecture spread, several prefectures and counties occupied by the Ming army continued to cross mountains and rivers to join the army, and he was just one of them.

……………………

As the initiator of all these changes, Chen Wen did not know the changes in the situation of the Li family's mother and daughter, nor did he know very well how many people went to the Ming army to join the army. Chen Wen, who used a splint made of willow wood that was easy to grow, and with his left arm hanging back to Jinhua City after finishing his inspection of the counties in the occupied areas.

The mansion of the General of the Enemy in the city that had been planned was far from being put on the agenda, so Chen Wen simply lived in the military camp outside the city. At this moment, he was thinking about what he saw and heard along the way, and also to prepare for the subsequent military operations.

Although the Qing army has repelled the large-scale encirclement and suppression, the situation faced is still very difficult.

After a series of wars, Jinhua Prefecture was already in ruins, and Yiwu's vitality was difficult to recover for a while. City abandoned by the Qing army, such as Fucheng, Lanxi, Tangxi, Yongkang, Wuyi, etc., were also plundered and destroyed to varying degrees. Only Dongyang and Pujiang in the entire Bawu land were well preserved. If Wuyun Town, the county seat of Jinyun County, Chuzhou Prefecture, there were only three counties that had not been destroyed.

Fortunately, the Qing army came and went in a hurry and was in a panic, and the damage to the villages and towns was much smaller. With the supply of these land, Chen Wen could still barely support until March while distributing rewards and pensions for military merits and rewards during the Spring Festival.

As for the few months before the start of the summer tax, the cost of training, purchasing military ordnances, building military camps and forts, he could only wait for Wang Jiang to come back and let the governor scratch his head. He made up his mind to be a hand-off manager, train troops as he did when he was in Tiantai Mountain, and then continued to recover lost ground and roll the snowballs up to eventually achieve the goal of overwhelming the Qing army.

Several battles this year. The newly built Nantang, Yiwu and Dongyang battalions performed unevenly, which was related to Chen Wen's arrangements when he was in the organization. After all, armor, cavalry, artillery, engineers and other troops were only enough to fill the Nantang camp, and the Yiwu and Dongyang battalions could only be settled for the time being. As for the general, the Yiwu camp almost collapsed when facing the Dubiao camp, while the Dongyang camp caused the Fubiao camp to escape due to insufficient cavalry, which led to the Yiwu county town being severely damaged.

In addition, most of the officers under Chen Wen only joined the army for a year. The lack of experience in the war also made them unable to maximize the advantages of the Ming army when facing the Qing army, and at the same time, they also left many leaks to be exploited by the Qing army.

Of course, there is another biggest problem, that is, the flexible battle formation such as the Mandarin Duck Formation is not thick and dense enough. Once it cannot effectively break through the opponent's battle formation, it will be difficult to hold on for too long in the war of attrition against the dominant opponent under the wide terrain. Originally, the Mandarin Duck Formation had a good effect in the mountainous areas in eastern Zhejiang, but when it came to the battle of Xiaoshun Town, the Qing army, which had an advantage in the number and changed its tactics, was very uncomfortable.

Qi Jiguang had never encountered this problem. If he was still alive, forget it. Then there would be nothing to do with Jiannu. After thinking about it, Chen Wen still thought that Qi Jiguang's multi-army collaborative combat system could be used as a reference, but the problem returned to the starting point - no money!

Not to mention, the cost of one or even half a car and artillery battalion could make Chen Wen lose everything, let alone collect all these four organizations. If he has that money, he might as well build a few more infantry battalions. What is easier to smuggle horses from the Qing army occupied area as an auxiliary.

In addition to this key issue, the chariot and artillery battalion was in the desert and the grasslands could be used as a temporary camp to protect infantry and cavalry, but now he was fighting the Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers in Zhejiang. Moreover, the Mongols in Qi Jiguang's era did not have artillery, but the Qing army he had to face had the most hateful ones. Hangzhou, which was separated from Jinhua, was also stationed in the Qing army, which was famous for its use of firearms, the Han Eight Banners soldiers stationed in Hangzhou. It may seem that it would be a bit unworthy of the loss of the car training artillery battalion.

There are many problems, and they must be resolved before the Qing army recovers, because the scale of this year's battle is far beyond Chen Wen's imagination. Although he won, the trajectory of history has deviated from it.

Zheng Chenggong is now surrounded by troops in Zhangzhou, with a huge momentum. In history, various departments of the Qing army in Fujian, Chen Jin's Supervisor Biao Battalion and Ma Jinbao's Zhenbiao Battalion went to rescue the siege one after another. In the end, he was either defeated or surrounded by the city and became a turtle in the jar. Even Chen Jin himself was killed by his family slaves. In the end, he relied on the Eight Banners in Hangzhou to defeat Zheng Chenggong's army and rescued Zhangzhou.

But now, Ma Jinbao's town camp has no more than three melons and two dates left. The old nest of the Dubiao camp is in Quzhou. At present, there is only the assistance of the broken Quzhou Green Camp, so it is probably difficult to go to Fujian to help. As for the Eight Banners in Hangzhou, they are even separated by Chen Wen in Hangzhou. When Fubiao camp urgently needs time to rebuild, it is a different story.

Zheng Chenggong's pressure dropped sharply, but Chen Wen's pressure became greater. It is indeed much more difficult to rely on how to survive this prefecture and county, than to guide the country on Tiantai Mountain.

The problem needs to be solved urgently, and there is no solution, but all the points lie in the matters of money and food, and these two problems are now Chen Wen’s weakness.

There were strange thoughts in my mind, so that Zhang Jun knocked on the door and brought an officer in without even notice. It was not until Zhang Jun shouted softly beside him that Chen Wen reacted. He looked closely and saw that the officer who came with him was the cavalry officer sent by Wu Dengke and Li Ruixin to pick up Wang Jiang.

"Where is Governor Wang now? Is it still safe?"

The door had been closed by Zhang Jun who was guarding outside the door. When he heard Chen Wen's question, the officer suddenly fell to the ground and claimed to be a death sentence.

"I am incompetent. Governor Wang was captured by Ningbo Green Camp two months ago and has surrendered to the Tartars at this moment."

Hearing this, Chen Wenru fell into an ice cellar.

……………………

"Qi Jiguang and the End of Military Reform of the Chinese Empire"

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Translation of Zhejiang Army Martial Arts School

...With Zhang Juzheng's death, Qi Jiguang's efforts to lead the Chinese Empire toward military modernization were completely shattered.

The emperor's millions of troops were ruthlessly shattered by the barbarians from Tungus during the process of complete feudalization, and his successors were even more unable to resolve the corruption and depravity within the government and the army. The empire was eventually crushed by the barbarians who took advantage of the situation in the tide of peasant uprisings.

Fortunately, like Tessie, the craze of barbarian invasion will eventually be smashed to pieces in front of the mountains woven by spears and muskets.

In the mid-17th century, the Tungus barbarians once occupied more than 90% of China's land, and the successor emperor was forced to retreat to Yunnan, which was regarded as a barbaric place by the Chinese at that time, and hid from the shameless and treacherous Sun Kewang. However, when Chen Wen raised the banner of rebuilding the Qi family army on the southeast coast of China and trained the army with Qi Jiguang's military letters as the basis, he quickly curbed the momentum of the Tungus barbarians and their servants on the southeast battlefield.

However, as the war deepened, and the Tungus barbarians and their servant army tried to replicate Chen Wen's experience and rely on the overwhelming advantages of manpower, material resources and financial resources to end the resistance of the remnants of the Chinese Empire, Chen Wen was forced to strengthen the new army that was always at a disadvantage through continuous changes, and finally completed a counterattack against the barbarians.

However, with Wang Yi being killed by the barbarians and Wang Jiang being captured, Chen Wen was unable to embark on another path, and it had a profound impact on the future of the Chinese Empire in later generations...

When I was studying military affairs in China and traveling around the world, I once heard such a sentence written at the end of this book.

"If during the Longqing period, Qi Shaobao wrote a letter to ask the garrison stations across the country to go to Jizhen for training, the plan to be implemented, facing the mandarin duck formation that had been planned by millions of people in our emperor, only tens of thousands of males were not enough to hold on. But there is no word "If" in this world. What we do today is not only to copy Qi Shaobao's successful experience, but also to continue along this path and carry out more deepening changes to eliminate any barbarians who dare to challenge China. As Emperor Xian said: Those who are righteous and martial arts prosper, even those who jump will be killed even if they are strong."

(Volume 2, Fire of Stars, Ended) (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!