Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 270 Take it lightly
Qujing City, in the early morning, more than 10,000 Ming troops surrounded Qujing City from the east, west and north.
Ma Bao, Li Dingguo and others set out from Guiyang in mid-April and headed south. After half a month, they finally arrived at Pu'an Prefecture on the Yunnan-Guizhou border in early May.
The Ming army suddenly marched into Yunnan. The Shadingzhou rebels in Yunnan were completely unprepared. Fourteen thousand Ming troops suddenly arrived at the city of Pingyiwei in Yunnan. The hundreds of Yunnan rebels in the city saw the army coming and simply abandoned the city and fled.

The Ming army entered Pingyiwei City, and thus the Ming army officially entered Yunnan Province.
When the Ming army arrived at Pingyiwei City, the Ming army's vanguard cavalry also attacked Jiaoshui at almost the same time. The Shadingzhou defenders in Jiaoshui City were also panicked.

When the main force of the Ming army entered Pingyiwei, Jiaoshui City also fell into the hands of the Ming army. After occupying Jiaoshui City, the next step for the Ming army was to go straight to Qujing, an important border town in Yunnan Province.

At this time, there were two main routes from Guizhou to Yunnan. One was through Bijie, passing Qixingguan, entering Zhanyi and reaching Qujing. The other was from Guiyang, passing Anshun, Puning, Yong'an, entering Pingyiwei and reaching Qujing.

No matter which route you take to enter Yunnan, you will eventually have to pass through Qujing. Qujing is the hub of the passage into Yunnan. As long as you occupy Qujing, you can officially gain a foothold in Yunnan Province.

Outside the city of Qujing, the sound of horns blew, and countless Ming soldiers carried simple ladders and held shields, rushing towards the city of Qujing.
Jiaoshui was the most important defensive stronghold outside Qujing City. Although Jiaoshui was captured by the Ming army in a surprise attack, the news that the Ming army entered Yunnan could no longer be concealed.
More than 2,000 Sha Dingzhou rebels in Qujing City had already closed their doors and held their ground before the main force of the Ming army arrived at the city. After the Ming army failed to persuade them to surrender, they did not give the city any time to delay and directly began to attack the city.

At this time, there was a shout of killing on the top of Qujing City, and the Ming army soldiers and the local soldiers under Sha Dingzhou fought together.

The Ming army wanted to charge into the city, but the local soldiers on the top of the city kept pushing down the ladders and driving the Ming army who jumped onto the top of the city back to the city.
Wang Shangli, holding a knife in his mouth, led the Western Army soldiers to jump onto the top of the city wall from the flying ladder.
Wang Shangli was wearing a black iron armor, which was very eye-catching and soon attracted the attention of the defenders on the city wall. Wang Shangli and the defenders on the city wall soon fought together.

The Yi general opposite looked very different from the people of the Central Plains. He wore a black narrow-sleeved homespun top and blue wide-leg trousers. His ears were decorated with yellow beeswax beads, and his head was wrapped in a black scarf. On the left side was a pointed bun.

The Yi general was also wearing armor. He was wearing a scarlet leather armor, but this leather armor was very different from the Ming army's leather armor. There were sheep horn and fish bone patterns painted on the armor, and the armor skirt below was also very short, barely covering a small part of the thigh.
Wang Shangli fought with the dark-skinned barbarian general for several rounds, but the swords and knives were so hard to penetrate the armor and leather that it was difficult to penetrate them. For a while, there was no clear winner.
The guard's armor only covered half of his body, but he was extremely agile in his movements. Wang Shangli was not careful and was knocked to the ground by the guard.

When the guard saw Wang Shangli fall, he immediately rushed over and pinned him to the ground.

Then the guard pulled out a brass-handled dagger from somewhere and stabbed it directly into the gap in Wang Shangli's armor.
Click
There was a sharp sound from under the armor. The fish belly dagger penetrated the armor, but was blocked by the bottom layer of mail.

But even so, the tip of the dagger pierced through, and the silver-white mail was immediately dyed red by the splashing blood.
Wang Shangli felt the pain and roared, then kicked the guard who was holding him away. Then he immediately got up and clenched the sword in his hand.
Wang Shangli touched the cold mail inside, and a trace of relief flashed in his eyes. There were more than 6,000 surrendered soldiers in the Western Army. Although the Ming court had gathered swords for these people, they did not have a set of armor.
Not to mention the uncertain situation of the Western Army, even the Loyalty Battalion under Gao Yigong, which had already sent missionaries, also had a large number of soldiers without armor.
Although ordinary soldiers were not equipped with armor, the Ming court provided armor to generals above the rank of Qianzong. For generals above the rank of Lieutenant General, each soldier was given three pieces of armor: a cotton armor, a chain mail, and an iron armor.
Although the Western Army was newly joined, they were treated equally. The chain mail on Wang Shangli was the newly issued armor by the court before he entered Yunnan.

Wang Shangli held the knife in his hand. The Yi general who was kicked down was also very agile. He climbed up with his palm. The two sides began to confront each other again.

Soldiers from both sides were fighting on the top of the city walls. Wang Shangli glanced around and found that he had already penetrated too deep into the enemy's territory.

The troops that Sha Dingzhou sent to guard Qujing were quite elite. Not only did the Yi general himself wear vermilion armor, but the seventy or eighty local soldiers and personal guards behind him also wore vermilion leather armor.
Wang Shangli had only 20 or 30 armored guards around him, and the rest of the ordinary soldiers who attacked the city walls were almost all wearing only cloth clothes.

At this time, the Yi general led his men to intercept Wang Shangli, while the rest of the local soldiers and guards attacked everywhere, driving the Western Army soldiers out of the city.

Wang Shangli looked at the decreasing number of Western troops on the top of the city wall. Although he was unwilling, he had no choice but to slowly retreat with his guards and retreat out of the city.

Wang Shangli led the Western Army soldiers to retreat from the city and soon returned to the front of the army.

Liu Wenxiu looked at Wang Shangli, who was covered in blood, and didn't care about Wang Shangli's injuries. He just asked

"How is this chaotic army?"

Wang Shangli glanced at the city wall in the distance, his face darkened, and he said

"These Yunnan barbarians are very good at using their earthen bows, and are quite brave and skilled in close combat. As soon as I climbed to the top of the city wall, the barbarian general guarding the city stared at me."

"I led my men to fight with the guard for a while, but we almost fell into the trap of the thief. I'm afraid these Yunnan barbarians are not easy to deal with."

Liu Wenxiu frowned when he heard this. He was watching the battle from the city wall and found that these local soldiers were very good at archery. After the Western Army arrived at the city wall, although the number of arrows shot from the top of the city wall was small, they were very accurate and almost never missed.

At this time, listening to what Wang Shangli said, these local soldiers are not only very good at archery, but also very good at close combat. If the rebels in central Yunnan are all at this level, then it may not be easy to quell the rebellion in Yunnan this time.

Wang Shangli touched the wound on his side, and when he raised his hand, it was covered in blood. Wang Shangli did not care and simply shook off the blood on his palm.

Wang Shangli was about to speak, but at this moment, a cheer suddenly came from the top of the city wall.

Wang Shangli subconsciously looked up and saw a young general in red armor chopping the red-armored general to the ground with a single blow.
Then the soldiers behind the general also formed a formation and moved forward. With shields in their hands, the soldiers slashed down with long swords in rows, and the armored soldiers behind were immediately killed.

The Yi general who had fought with him for a long time was never seen again.
Wang Shangli did not recognize Li Laiheng on the top of the city wall, but he knew that this man must be a member of the Tengxiang Army. This time, only the Tengxiang Army under Ma Bao could afford to wear such cloth armor.

Wang Shangli was a little embarrassed to see that the Yi general he had fought hard for a long time was defeated by the Tengxiang army.
He just said that these barbarian soldiers were difficult to deal with, but in the blink of an eye, these people were killed by the Tengxiang army. How could he put his face down?
Wang Shangli looked at Li Laiheng, who was on the top of the city wall, killing the foreign soldiers as if he was in an empty space, but he couldn't help but snorted coldly.

"Why are you so arrogant? I am just relying on my weapons and armor. If you give me a hundred sets of armor, I can still attack the city."

Liu Wenxiu ignored Wang Shangli beside him and just looked at the city wall in the distance.
At this time, Li Laiheng and more than a hundred Tengxiang soldiers had firmly guarded a corner of the city wall, and on the ladders behind, there were constantly Ming soldiers rushing up to the top of the city wall, and the Yi soldiers on the city wall also began to disintegrate.

Liu Wenxiu looked at it for a moment and nodded slightly. He knew that Qujing City was likely to be taken.
As more and more Ming troops rushed up the city wall from the gap, the Yi soldiers began to retreat continuously, obviously they were exhausted.
The Ming army outside the city was almost seven or eight times the number of the Yi soldiers. The Yi soldiers on the city wall could not drive the Ming army off the city wall, so what awaited them was being overwhelmed by the Ming army outside the city. Liu Wenxiu retracted his gaze and looked at Wang Shangli, who was looking indignant at his side, and said

"This time, the purpose of attacking Qujing, in addition to capturing the city, is mainly to improve the coordination of our three armies."

"There are enemies everywhere in Yunnan Province. Our armies will have to fight together frequently in the future. Now that we are all Ming troops, the stronger the Tengxiang Army is, the safer we will be. Brother Wang, why should you worry about this?"

"This battalion of the Tengxiang Army is the elite of the imperial court. If they really cause trouble, I'm afraid we will be the ones who suffer in the end. Brother Wang needs to adapt as soon as possible."

The Ming army that entered Yunnan was divided into three parts. One part was the Tengxiang Army led by Ma Bao. The 1,000 cavalry and 2,000 infantry that entered Yunnan this time were all elite soldiers of the Tengxiang Army. The 2,000 Guangxi troops led by Xu Gao, the lieutenant general of the Guangxi Central Army, also obeyed Ma Bao's orders. These 5,000 people were considered the direct troops of the court.
The second group was the 3,000-man Loyalty Camp led by Gao Yigong and Helan. Although the Loyalty Camp had been sent in with missionaries, the soldiers and generals in the camp were still the original Shun Camp troops, so Ma Bao did not intervene casually and Gao Yigong was still in charge.
The rest were the Western Army who were given weapons only after reaching the Yunnan border.

Each of these three groups had their own origins. Even the so-called Loyalty Camp, which had already joined the Ming army long ago, had only just joined the Ming army a month ago. The three groups were not familiar with each other.
The reason why Ma Bao launched an attack on the city with his entire army right from the start was not only because Qujing was indeed important, but also because he wanted to take this opportunity to let the three armies try to get along.

Wang Shangli remained silent after hearing what Liu Wenxiu said. Liu Wenxiu didn't care whether Wang Shangli heard it or not. He straightened his face and immediately said:

"Pass on my military order. The enemy troops are in disarray. All troops in the camp must attack the city immediately. We must take Qujing today!"

Wang Shangli's face became solemn. He responded and immediately withdrew to organize the troops in the camp. Soon, the sound of horns rang out in the Western Army camp.
When the Western Army under the city began to attack the city, the Ming army on the other two sides also sounded the attack horn. Countless Ming troops surrounded Qujing City like a tide.
As the Ming army launched a general attack, the rebels on the city wall finally began to flee. The main general defending the city was killed, and the city wall was attacked by troops several times larger than their own. It was impossible to defend the city wall.

It was already very rare for the Yi soldiers in the city to hold out until the Ming army launched a general attack. If the soldiers in the Yi army were not all relatives and fellow villagers, I am afraid that when Li Laiheng just killed the Yi general, the soldiers in the city would have collapsed.
Under the city of Qujing, the Ming army cut off the ropes, and countless Ming soldiers poured into the city from the city gate. The Yi soldiers on the top of the city finally collapsed completely.

At this time, armor became a burden. The elite Yi soldiers wearing leather armor were caught up by the Ming army and fell to the ground one after another, while the Yi soldiers without armor fled to various places in the city in panic.
The south gate of Qujing suddenly opened, and more than 300 riders rushed out of the gate and fled madly towards Yuezhouwei in the south.
If you look closely, you can see that this team includes not only soldiers, but also a group of terrified women and children.
The team rushed out of the city gate and headed for the official road. However, after running for a few miles, a group of people suddenly rushed out from both sides of the official road.

Li Dingguo led more than 500 Western Army cavalrymen to attack from both sides. Before the cavalry arrived, a rain of arrows had already covered their heads.
The fleeing cavalry was totally unprepared, and more than ten of them fell immediately. The foreign soldiers in the team were even more terrified. The cavalry in the team instantly exploded, no longer caring about the left and right, and each of them fled for their lives in all directions.
Li Dingguo led the cavalry to chase and kill the fleeing troops everywhere. The fleeing team soon fled and the remaining people were all captured.
Li Dingguo stood beside his horse with a calm expression on his face. The ground was littered with dead bodies of men and horses.

In front of Li Dingguo were kneeling nearly a hundred captured soldiers, women and children. Soldiers from the Western Army were walking among them, tying up all the captives with hemp ropes.
Bai Wenxuan rode his warhorse and came from a distance. Before he got close, he jumped off his horse. When he arrived in front of Li Dingguo, he bowed and said:
"General, all the soldiers who escaped from the city have been killed, and a big fish was caught."

Bai Wenxuan did catch a big fish, but this big fish did not belong to Sha Dingzhou, but to the Ming court.

The Longwu Dynasty received a false report and mistakenly believed that Mu Tianbo was causing trouble. On the one hand, they ordered Sha Dingzhou to eliminate Mu Tianbo and pacify Yunnan Province. On the other hand, they sent Luo Guoyan to serve as the Yunnan Provincial Governor in an attempt to strengthen their control over Yunnan Province.
After receiving the order, Luo Guoyan brought his family to Yunnan. When he arrived in Yunnan, he found that Sha Dingzhou had killed the Mu family and had almost occupied the entire Yunnan province.

Seeing that Sha Dingzhou had conquered all of Yunnan, Luo Guoyan joined Sha Dingzhou's army. Since Luo Guoyan's family was in Qujing, Sha Dingzhou returned the favor and sent Luo Guoyan back to Qujing to guard the city.

Seeing the Ming army attacking the city, Luo Guoyan knew that he could not escape the blame, so he hurriedly took his family and fled with Sha Dingzhou's army in the city. However, he did not expect that he would be defeated by the ambush troops led by Li Dingguo as soon as he left the city.
Although the Ming army left the South Gate open, the purpose of leaving the South Gate open was to force the defenders in the city to abandon the city wall and escape. In fact, Ma Bao and others had no intention of letting the rebels in the city go.
Luo Guoyan was wearing a Confucian robe and was brought to the front of the army by soldiers. His robe was disheveled. He looked at Li Dingguo in front of him, who was wearing armor, and immediately shouted:

"General, please wait, wait. I am Luo Guoyan, the governor of Yunnan Province, and I am also a minister of the Ming Dynasty."

Li Dingguo glanced at Luo Guoyan, whose hair was disheveled, and waved his hand, and the soldiers also retreated.

Luo Guoyan heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the soldiers retreat. He straightened his clothes and bowed, saying:
"May I ask where the general's troops are from?"

"I am Da Xi Xi..."

When Li Dingguo said this, his expression froze for a moment, and then he spoke again

"I am Li Dingguo, the general of the Loyalty Battalion under the command of Regent Gui."

After the Dashi Army surrendered, the court named it the Loyalty Camp. Strictly speaking, there was no Dashi Army at that time, only the Loyalty Camp of the Ming Dynasty, and Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and the other four were all generals of the Loyalty Camp of the Ming Dynasty.
Luo Guoyan heard what Li Dingguo said, but he didn't care about the Loyalty Camp or the Loyalty Camp at all. He put on a flattering smile and quickly spoke.

"It was General Li who ordered me to go to Yunnan for inspection, but I didn't expect these bandits to be so bold and rebellious. I was also captured by these bandits."

"I have important military intelligence that will surely help the general to accomplish great deeds in Yunnan Province. I also know where the bandits have hidden their stolen goods in the city. I am willing to take the stolen goods out for the general and help the court put down the rebellion in Yunnan Province as soon as possible and save the people of Yunnan Province from danger."

Li Dingguo's face turned cold when he heard this. Imprisoned by the enemy army?
If Luo Guoyan was really imprisoned by the rebel army, he would have been either trapped in prison or killed by the rebel army. How could he have escaped with the rebel army in the city?

Luo Guoyan was clearly a traitor. Seeing that the Ming army had broken into the city, he knew that he would not be able to escape, so he followed the chaotic army in the city and fled.
Li Dingguo looked at Luo Guoyan with a flattering expression, his face turned cold, and he also lost his patience.
"Capture this criminal official and hand him over to Governor Zhang for punishment."

"I am not guilty, I am not guilty. My family is in the hands of these traitors. I have no other choice, no other choice..."

Li Dingguo ignored Luo Guoyan's struggle and waved his hand. The soldiers beside him immediately stepped forward and dragged Luo Guoyan away.

After Li Dingguo captured Luo Guoyan, all the rebels in the city were captured and wiped out by the Ming army. As the army moved in, Qujing was controlled by the Ming army.

(End of this chapter)