Chapter 518 I want to join the Taiping Army
On the walls of Wuzhou, the Qing army prisoners who were building the city walls saw the Ming Navy, which had disappeared on the river for several days, appear again. This time, the Ming Navy's warships came more than last time, and were densely packed on the river surface that lasted for more than ten miles. The wings of each warship were filled with flags. From a distance, it looked like the West River turned into a sea of flags.
As the first warship was docked on the dock renovated by the prisoners, the sound of trumpets sounded on the river. Then, one warship after another docked at the dock, and the boards were lowered from the bow. With the flag bearer on the warship, teams of Taiping Army in red uniforms drove ashore from the board under the guidance of a bear flag embroidered with a bear flag. I don’t know how many Taiping Army the Xiong Army flag guided the captains off the ship. Before the prisoners came to their senses, dozens of warships leaned on the dock, and then teams of Taiping Army in red uniforms drove ashore under the guidance of a Qilin Army flag embroidered with a kilin Army flag.
The captives could not count the number of docks they built along the river by themselves. They only saw the Ming army endlessly driving from the ship to the shore. First, the Xiongju Army flag, then the Qilin Army flag, then the Qinglong Army flag, the Elk Army flag, and the Vermillion Bird Army flag. Each military flag guided thousands of Taiping Army to the shore from the ship to the shore. There were countless small flags behind each military flag, with various numbers embroidered on it.
Thirty thousand people? Forty thousand people? Fifty thousand people? Hundred thousand people?
The prisoners were shocked by the huge forces of the Taiping Army. They could not count how many Taiping Army had arrived. They were breathing heavily and watched teams of Taiping Army slowly approaching Wuzhou City from miles away. Among the prisoners, there were many veterans who had seen the formation. They had defeated many Ming troops and cut down countless Ming soldiers' heads, but this was the first time they saw such a neat and large army.
Finally, the prisoners saw a military flag embroidered with Pixiu and stepped onto the shore under the escort of the Taiping Army with hundreds of iron armor. The appearance of the iron armored soldiers made one of the prisoners dumbfounded, and murmured in a daze: "My goodness, the Ming army in Guangdong was so good yesterday. This iron armored soldiers were not even made by our old prince. This armored soldiers, this momentum, are the most powerful soldiers in the world!"
"If it's not a strong army, we will be defeated so badly?"
A prisoner named Wang De next to him smiled bitterly, then lowered his head again and worked silently. He was really afraid of being killed by the Taiping Army and was beaten.
At the forefront of the iron armored Taiping Army, a very young general was riding on a big green horse. After the general got ashore, he did not rush to enter Wuzhou City, but instead pointed at Xijiang and said something to the dozens of officers surrounded by him.
The Taiping Army, the second town that monitored the prisoners to build the wall, looked at the captives who were used as coolies on the city wall with contempt, and then proudly said to them: "Our general is here!"
While speaking, dozens of horse-riding generals in the city rushed out of the city gate and ran towards the young general, and then got off the horse from afar. Then, the Taiping generals who killed the Qing army in Wuzhou were so angry that they were abandoned with their arms and armor bent their knees in front of the young general, and knelt down in unison: "Welcome the general!"
The voice spread far away, making the prisoners on the city wall hear it clearly. At that moment, they were shocked. The commander of the Taiping Army was that young man?
"Looking at the posture of the Ming army in Guangdong, I'm afraid the Manzhou people can't beat it. It depends on the power of those soldiers. It's not something we can just catch a master at will. Alas, I don't know how long it takes to practice to be so powerful." Chen Wu's heart was overwhelmed, and he felt that the Ming army from Guangdong was too strong and far from being able to match those of the Guangxi green camps.
After hearing Chen Wu's words, Wang De's heart moved, looked up at the city, and found that the Ming army who supervised the army was looking outside the city, and then said in a low voice: "If we followed such a strong army, we would not have surrendered the Qing army to do this Lush Green Camp back then."
"Yes, why can't we keep up with such powerful soldiers? Otherwise, we wouldn't have fallen to this level today."
Chen Wu looked embarrassed, and he was indescribable. He had hope. The Admiral led a large army back to the rescue. The Ming army in Guangdong would definitely not be able to stop him. Unexpectedly, there were so many reinforcements coming from behind, and it seemed that they could fight like the Ming army that captured Wuzhou. Just looking at the scale of the reinforcements was much stronger than the Admiral. How could they fight this battle? Once this army gained a firm foothold in Guangxi, the captured Qing army would probably be very sad.
Wang De suddenly wanted to join the Taiping Army. However, no one wanted to be a prisoner for life. He was a prisoner who would be exhausted to death at any time. He wanted to work with the strong army and become a member of the strong army. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the Taiping Army would not really consume them as coolies like this, because not all the prisoners could become coolies. At least those captured Hui soldiers asked the Taiping Army to drag them to the riverside to feed fish and turtles. Although they are very bitter now, they are still alive and still have food every day. Even if they are not full, they can't starve to death.
When the sun sets, work can go back to rest. Although every time the rest comes, some officers called the An Army envoy will come and gather them together and tell them how the Manzhou people treated the Han people cruelly and how miserable the places where the city was slaughtered were, and talk about the matters of Yangzhou's ten days, Jiading's three slaughter, Fuzhou's three slaughter, Guangzhou's three slaughter, and Liuzhou's city slaughter, and what about the Manzhou people just treat them as cannon fodder envoys. In the future, the Manzhou people will be bullied by them forever and let them be used as cows and horses.
At the beginning, the surrendered soldiers of the Green Camp and the Han Army were very resistant to the An Army envoy of the Taiping Army because they all participated in what they said. Not to mention the distance, they did not do any of the more than a dozen city massacres in Guangxi, otherwise why would Guangxi have only a hundred thousand people left now, and how could millions disappear out of thin air during the Ming Dynasty? The Taiping Army said that the Han people who were massacred were miserable and how miserable women were taken away by the captives? Didn’t they say in disguise that they were cruel and that they were accused of the Manzhou people? So both officers and soldiers disagreed with them, and they were very indifferent to what the An Army envoy said, and they were very annoyed. If they were not for their life being held in the hands of the Taiping Army, they wouldn’t bother to pay attention to these long-lasting guys.
However, as I listen to these things every day and the tragic things I hear every day are different, officers and soldiers suddenly have a change in their mentality. They are no longer the original intention of collecting money and doing things for others, nor are they just living for their own family in troubled times and not caring about others' deaths, but suddenly feel a little guilty about what they have done in the past.
The Taiping Army's An Army envoys did not seem to have to forcefully change the mentality of prisoners overnight, allowing them to actively join the Taiping Army and become anti-Qing soldiers, but subtly influenced them. The Green Camp soldiers were originally low in status and became prisoners of the Taiping Army, so some of the captured Qing troops would be active and think that it would be not a good thing that they could be rescued and become Green Camp soldiers again, and joining the Taiping Army may not be a bad thing. However, no prisoners have taken the initiative to join the Taiping Army and take revenge on the Manzhou people who killed the Han people.
Chen Wu had no idea, nor did Wang De. They just thought that what they had done in the past might have been wrong, but when a Han army prisoner suddenly fell to the ground and asked his companions to cut off their braids with angular stones, they were stunned.
Chapter completed!