Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Longping Hou Zhang Gongri watched as Song Lao San led a hundred men to rush towards him recklessly. He was horrified and said to his subordinates around him:

"Whoever stops their attack and kills the bandit leader will be rewarded with 5,000 taels of silver!"

This reward is quite high, enough for a family to live on for a lifetime.

Before Xu Hongji recruited the soldiers from the surrounding garrisons, they were treated very poorly and were all miserable.

If it were usual, no one would believe it, but the soldiers in the garrison also knew the current situation of the Southern Army. The officials were all crazy, so they really wanted to give money.

Although their fighting power was not very strong, when they heard that there was so much reward, they all rushed towards Song Lao San with roars.

So although the soldiers of both sides were not elite, they fought more and more bravely under the encouragement of their respective leaders, so that their casualties even exceeded the proportion that could only be achieved by elite troops, and there was no sign of retreat on both sides.

Although Song Laosan's side has few people, as he said, they have no way to retreat. If they cannot hold out until the Northern Army lands, everyone will die.

In addition, Song Laosan led the charge and everyone fought to the death.

Zhang Gongri relied on the fact that he had a large number of people and a large reward, and with the support of his personal guards, he did not retreat.

This stalemate is like two rookies pecking at each other. As they peck, they both get anxious and end up displaying a momentum that even the elite have never achieved.

But Song Laosan had few men after all. After more than a quarter of an hour, one third of the 4,000 troops had been killed or wounded, and most of the rest were also injured.

Song Laosan himself was already covered in blood, his sword had long been thrown away somewhere, but he was still leading his subordinates and charging at the front with a spear in his hand.

His nephew Song Wanli led the supervision team and patrolled behind the side. Looking at his uncle covered in blood, his face was already in tears.

Finally, the imperial troop transport ships approached the shore, and the first few had already begun to dock.

But of course Zhang Gongri also saw the troop transport ship on the riverside, and his eyes immediately turned red.

Once the Northern Army successfully landed, he would surely die. In the critical situation, Zhang Gongri actually mustered up the courage to take the lead and rush to the front, launching a final fierce attack.

When the soldiers of the Southern Army Garrison saw Marquis Longping personally taking to the battlefield, their morale was immediately boosted, and they all followed Zhang Gongri to charge towards Song Lao San.

……

"Hurry! Get off the boat and line up!" Zheng Chong, the Marquis of Wuyi, who was on the warship, glanced at the battle on the mudflat and urged his subordinates anxiously.

More than 30 troop transport ships docked one after another under the protection of several silk ships. The pointed-bottom silk ships did not dare to get too close to the shore because of their deep draft.

These more than 30 troop transport ships were flat-bottomed boats specially selected by the Zheng family from the navy that were suitable for inland river transportation.

Although this type of ship's ability to transport troops is far inferior to that of a large sea ship, and can only carry 180 people or more than 40 war horses, it has the advantage of a shallow draft.

The flat bottom design allows it to reach the shallows directly without having to be transported by small boat.

Under Zheng Chong's urging, the first batch of more than 6,000 people had not yet finished lining up. Seeing that Song Laosan's line had collapsed, he led more than 2,000 people to rush into the battlefield first.

"Zheng Chong, the commander of the Beijing Infantry Battalion, is here to support us. Brothers, you have worked hard. You can retreat to the rear to rest first!"

Zheng Chong drew his sword and charged towards the Southern Army while shouting to Song Wanli and the others.

Due to insufficient troops, Song Wanli, as a supervisor of the battle team, had already joined the battle and was covered in blood.

When he saw Zheng Chong coming to help, he immediately knelt down in front of him.

"General Zheng, save my uncle! He...he is surrounded!"

Zheng Chong frowned when he heard this and immediately helped Song Wanli up.

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

After saying that, Zheng Chong rushed forward with more than 2,000 men.

Last year, the soldiers of the Beijing camp dared to confront the Tartars head-on. Both their morale and strength were far superior to those of the ordinary troops inland.

In addition, they all understood that the enemy was just a group of garrison soldiers, and they were garrison soldiers from the south of the Yangtze River. Their roars and momentum overwhelmed the Southern Army.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, Zhang Gongri, who was already holding on, could no longer hold on.

He glanced at the Huangshiji mudflats and saw more soldiers from the Beijing camp gathering and charging towards him, and he immediately knew that the game was over.

Zhang Gongri gritted his teeth and ordered the remaining troops to retreat.

But Zheng Chong was unwilling to let this group of people go. He kept chasing Zhang Gongri closely, chasing them for several miles until he saw the enemy's reinforcements, and then he ordered a retreat.

After a wave of battles and pursuits, the number of people who escaped with Zhang Gongri was less than a thousand.

As the commander-in-chief of the army, Zhang Shikang did not board the ship in the first wave of people crossing the river.

All the generals, including the brothers of the Second Son Regiment, disagreed with Zhang Shikang's participation in the first wave of landings.

So much so that when Zhang Shikang stepped onto the Huangshiji mudflat, it was already more than half an hour later.

The battlefield was littered with corpses, some from Song Laosan's troops and some from the Southern Army's garrison soldiers, but most of them were Song Laosan's.

There were only a thousand or so remnants of Song Laosan's army left. They were all injured and demoralized. They gathered together and stared blankly at Zhang Shikang and his personal guards.

Since these people had not received much training, although they were all wearing ordinary military uniforms donated by the gentry of Jiangnan, it was difficult to hide the peasant background on their faces.

As a former bandit, he was somewhat afraid of the elite and powerful soldiers of the Beijing camp.

Zhang Shikang frowned. He didn't expect that a beach landing battle would be so brutal.

He couldn't help but look at this group of peasant soldiers with new eyes. Out of four thousand men, only more than a thousand were left. They looked defeated, but they did not collapse. Even the elite border troops might not be able to do that.

This is a tough battle that can only be sustained if one is truly risking one's life. It is a fight to the death, and it is nothing more than this.

He ran towards the group of people with dozens of personal guards. The group of peasant soldiers consciously made way for them, revealing Song Wanli who was kneeling on the ground in the crowd.

Song Wanli grabbed his uncle's hand and sobbed. Under the bright sun, the two bloody men were particularly dazzling.

Song Laosan was covered in blood and half of his left cheek was gone. Even if Hua Tuo were alive, he would not have been saved.

He breathed hard, trying hard not to die.

"Grand Marshal! Marshal, please save my uncle! He...he is my only relative!" Song Wanli kept kowtowing to Zhang Shikang.

Although he had never seen Zhang Shikang, when he saw Zheng Chong following behind this man, he knew that he was the Grand Marshal.

His hometown suffered a disaster and he lost his parents at a young age. He was raised by his uncle. The uncle and nephew wandered around Henan and Shandong and suffered a lot.

After finally having a chance to turn things around, who would have thought that my uncle would collapse at dawn.

His uncle had always protected him from the wind and rain. Now seeing his uncle like this, Song Wanli almost collapsed.

Zhang Shikang was also very disappointed, but as a marshal of the army, he had already become accustomed to separation and death during the battle with the Jianlu last year.

It is not uncommon in the military camp for brothers to collect the bodies of their brothers and for fathers to bury their sons.

Zhang Shikang ignored Song Wanli, but walked to Song Lao San and squatted down, with a smile on his face, and asked gently:

"Guerrilla Song, I'm Zhang Shikang. Do you have any last words?"

Song Laosan's eyes were already covered in blood, and he didn't know if he could see clearly anymore. But when he heard Zhang Shikang's voice and question, he immediately became a little excited.

He held on and refused to die, just waiting for Zhang Shikang.

The pensions and rewards he promised to these subordinates did not come from Zhang Shikang, but were made up by himself in order to win the battle.

He had to do it, otherwise he would be sorry for the brothers who had fought with him through bloody battles, and even if he got to the bottom, he would be stabbed in the back by others.

……