Ch 12: Tianbao 11
Our Tianbao, at this time, is leading his veteran soldiers in training on a large island. In this one month, more than 30,000 common people have been rescued. And most of these people are young and strong men. You must know that these people were captured and taken to the Tartars’ territory, and they haven’t died yet. Besides women, only young and strong men remain.
Li Erhu selected some people who could swim and added them to the navy. Now he is leading ships to plunder passing ships and search for islands. There have been quite a few achievements during this period.
The island Tianbao is currently on was discovered half a month ago. It is very suitable for use as a training camp, and Tianbao calls it Victory Island.
Cao Bianbiao now also has 15,000 men. He divided them into three teams, each with 5,000 men, continuing to harass the rear of the Qing Dynasty. The three teams are arranged in a character-shaped formation, simultaneously attacking three neighboring villages. In this way, even if they encounter a large Qing army, they can support each other.
The current battle strategy of the Tianbao Army is guerrilla warfare, avoiding the opponent’s main force as much as possible. Continuously attacking the Qing army’s rear not only weakens the Qing army and disrupts their morale, but also allows us to obtain countless wealth, population, and recruits.
The current Tianbao Army is still too small. Whether it’s Chongzhen’s Great Ming, Hong Taiji’s Qing Dynasty, Li Zicheng’s Great Shun, or Zhang Xianzhong’s Da Xi, each one is stronger than us. Our development is limited by our population. Therefore, I have long had my eye on those Han slaves who have been taken to Liaodong.
Liberating slaves, plundering wealth, and ensuring sufficient grain. Our Tianbao Army will only grow stronger and stronger, unlike Li Zicheng’s rebel army, which is only superficially strong.
It is now the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen’s reign. Although there is no news, according to historical records, Li Zicheng conquered Chengtian and was acclaimed as the “Grand Marshal of the Righteous Army.” From then until next year when the Great Ming dynasty perishes, the Great Shun and Great Ming will switch between offense and defense; Zhang Xianzhong will stir up trouble in the southwest but will not achieve significant success; Hong Taiji is still waiting for the opportunity to further weaken the Great Ming. However, he cannot imagine that he will die in ten months. Afterwards, Dorgon, this cunning fellow, will wait for the opportunity, acting as a mantis stalking a cicada while the oriole waits behind, seizing the empire in one fell swoop.
When Chenxi was under pressure, he also read novels, especially novels set in a certain red vegetable, many of which involve time travel to the late Ming Dynasty. Whether it’s time traveling to become Emperor Chongzhen or an ordinary common person, it feels easy to seize the world.
In reality, protagonists without systems are just self-indulgent. In the late Ming Dynasty, it is impossible to succeed relying solely on personal intelligence and insights from the future. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang came, it wouldn’t work. During the Yuan Dynasty’s end, all Han Chinese revolted against the Yuan; Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng both contributed to expelling the Tartars. The key is that the landlord class could not bear the rule of the Mongols, so the Han Chinese finally succeeded in seizing the empire. But the late Ming Dynasty is different.
First, they used the strategy of “raising bandits to control them” （Nurhaci’s rise）, and then the Little Ice Age led to continuous natural disasters, accelerating land consolidation and continuing to use the strategy of “raising bandits to control them” （Li Zicheng’s rise）. As a result, things went awry, and Li Zicheng destroyed the Great Ming.
At this time, Li Zicheng became disobedient, wielding his butcher knife against the landlords and local gentry, and then Li Zicheng perished, and the Qing Dynasty arrived.
The Qing Dynasty first appeased the Northern landlords, local gentry, and those who surrendered. The Southern bureaucrats and landlords were dissatisfied and established the Southern Ming, but they were defeated. After that, there were hundreds of years of anti-Qing and pro-Ming sentiment.
Thinking carefully about this, it’s all a power game of bureaucrats and landlords, and sometimes even things go wrong. Ordinary common people, or even emperors, are just a grain of dust, unable to change anything. Even someone with extraordinary talent, after they leave us, doesn’t everything slowly return to its original course?
I thought, if I didn’t have a system, if I were an ordinary person in modern society, even if I were to travel to Tianbao’s body, I would still be an ordinary person with martial arts skills. I simply wouldn’t be able to accomplish what the original Tianbao did. After all, many of his words are considered golden sayings by modern workers.
Although I use Tianbao’s body, I only inherit his martial arts skills. Tianbao’s intelligent mind and smooth social skills cannot be inherited.
Chenxi has always relied heavily on the system. Fortunately, although many of the system’s functions are unusable, some basic functions remain, such as the analytical capabilities of the supercomputer.
This ability allows him to pretend in front of others to be a wise, intelligent, and cunning leader. It also helps him analyze many correct decisions. Another function is to detect the loyalty of his subordinates. This is not some fantasy that makes the other party completely loyal; nor is it directly hearing the other party’s inner thoughts, but rather data analysis by the supercomputer, analyzing everything from the interaction, language, and behavior between the two parties. A person cannot be inexplicably loyal, nor can they suddenly betray.
Under advanced technology, everything can be analyzed. This is just the most basic function of the system, and it is also the reason why Tianbao dares to let Li Erhu and Cao Bianbiao lead troops independently.
Now the Tianbao Army is growing stronger by weakening the Qing Dynasty, while waiting for the final showdown between Li Zicheng, the Great Ming, and the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty wants to act as a mantis stalking a cicada while the oriole waits behind; I will be the hunter who catches the oriole. A year and a half is enough time.
Suddenly, Tianbao thought of a good idea.
We’ve been plundering these villages, but we won’t get much money, because the Qing Dynasty’s real wealth is in Shengjing. It’s fine in the early stages, but once we have more people, I’m afraid the funds won’t be enough. And before the Great Ming is destroyed, it is not a good idea to attack Shengjing; we would only attract more attention and become a target.
Where can we get more wealth?
Tianbao walked to the map, his eyes burning as he looked at a place ━ Hanseong, the capital of Korea. Anyway, Korea is already a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, and we are just a group of pirates. Moreover, in later generations, they have forgotten their ancestors, which is extremely annoying; I don’t have any psychological burden attacking them.
In a few days, when they return, we will cooperate by land and sea, and go there together. I heard that Dodo is currently in the Korean Royal Capital; if we capture or kill him, it will also be revenge for the many Han Chinese he slaughtered later.
Suddenly, a soldier ran in.
“Report, leader. News from Pidao: A large Qing army has arrived at Tieshan on the coast opposite Pidao and is making rafts to cross the sea. The army is led by Jirgalang of the Bordered Blue Banner, and there are an estimated 20,000 men. General Zhang requests further instructions.”
Tianbao thought for a moment and then sent someone to contact Li Erhu. With the Tianbao Army’s current naval strength, the Qing army would not be able to attack Pidao. However, we should still try to delay the time, let them waste time making the rafts, and then attack. We have plenty of time, and we can use them to train new recruits afterwards.
In this way, three months passed. Jirgalang’s men not only failed to defeat the Tianbao Army, but also lost 5,000 or 6,000 men, including 1,000 from his Bordered Blue Banner.
He could no longer bear it and immediately retreated to the nearest city for defense, while simultaneously sending a report to Hong Taiji for reinforcements. It’s not time to worry about face now; if his troops suffer excessive losses, his status will also be affected. Other princes are enjoying themselves in Shengjing, while he is here suppressing bandits. It’s simply not worth it.
From now on, the Qing army began to fight passively, but bad news continued to come. The enemy was everywhere; one village was plundered after another. The coastline is long, and we always don’t know where the enemy will land. By the time we receive news of the village’s destruction, the enemy has already fled.
Since the sea has been blocked, supplies purchased from the South have been cut off. The nobles in Shengjing City are used to their luxurious lives; the sudden interruption of these luxury goods has caused them to complain incessantly. Hong Taiji frequently sent letters to inquire about the battle situation.
A private rushed in hastily.
“Report, I have important news for the Prince.”
“Speak.”
“Half a month ago, that band of pirates led a large army into Hanseong. Prince Dodo was captured in Hanseong by the pirates.”
“What? Dodo was captured?” Jirgalang was startled and immediately stood up and asked.
Dodo is no ordinary person; he is the fifteenth son of the late Emperor Nurhaci, and he was ennobled as Prince Dodo. Although he made a mistake at the beginning of the year and was demoted to Prince Dodo and sent to Korea, unexpectedly, he was captured by a band of pirates. This is a major event.
“Quickly prepare my horse; I’m going back to Shengjing to see the Emperor.”
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