Chapter 69: The Fury of the Rainy Season

  The whole world seemed to have fallen into a bottomless abyss, with rolling dark clouds pressing down on the top of their heads. The iron-like raindrops hit their bodies and the ground, making a loud cracking sound. The long queue of Qing soldiers crowded on the narrow mountain road, which was like a chicken's intestine, without any shelter from the rain, enduring the baptism of this storm.

  The expeditionary force launched a campaign that year, but forgot to prepare sufficient rain gear. On such a battlefield, almost every raincoat was a life. The Qing army also made the same mistake, with tens of thousands of soldiers climbing up such high mountains in the rain, struggling bitterly in the torrential rain. Unfortunately, they had no air force for emergency airlifts and could only be exhausted from responding, suffering unbearable hardships.

  In the continuous rain, the temperature dropped sharply. Especially in the high-altitude Gaoligong Mountain, wet clothes stuck to the body, it was truly a chilling cold to the bone. If Zhang Yong and Xian Guoan, and even the vast majority of the Qing army, did not believe that people would freeze to death in this warm May, reality would give them many ruthless lessons.

  Zhang Yong let out a deep sigh, gazing at the two soldiers who had been carried in. They were frozen stiff and couldn't move. He felt their hands and forehead, which were all icy cold. Their eyes were wide open and kept rolling around. But when someone brought hot soup to feed them, they couldn't swallow it anymore, and he could only watch as they died before his eyes.

  "Your Excellency." It was still the mature and steady General Hu Xianzhi who spoke cautiously, "Over a hundred people have frozen to death, and the number of wounded and sick is increasing continuously. Locusts and mosquitoes are rampant, the rain is continuous with little clearing, and the soldiers cannot bear the suffering. It would be better not to..."

  Zhang Yong raised his hand to interrupt his subordinate's words, closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "With the enemy army blocking our way ahead, several charges have been made in vain, resulting in not insignificant losses. Trapped in this hellish mountain forest, our military strength is dwindling day by day, don't you think I'm anxious? If it were only our Gansu Green Camp here, ordering a retreat wouldn't be difficult. But with the Han army of General Li also present, who would dare to suggest it first? Wouldn't we inevitably face punishment from our superiors later on?"

  In Kunming's view, annihilating the remaining Ming army in Tengchong was clearly not a difficult task. If they suffered such heavy losses and returned without achieving anything, when it came to assigning blame, either Zhang Yong or Xian Guoan would have to take the fall. Therefore, although both Zhang Yong and Xian Guoan were harboring thoughts of retreat, neither of them wanted to be the first to suggest it and give the other an advantage.

  If Zhang Yong leads the Gansu Green Camp to retreat first, Xian Guoan can tell Kunming that he is struggling alone and shift the blame to Zhang Yong. Conversely, the same applies. In fact, both of them are holding on, or still have the illusion of breaking through the Ming army's blockade and rushing out of the mountains.

  But from the perspective of combat preparation, the rainy season had a more significant impact on the Qing army. The bird guns under Lin Huan's command were completely useless in the rain, while the Ming army stationed on the mountain had rain shelters and personnel responsible for drying gunpowder, ensuring that the musketeers maintained a high firing rate. As for the Qing army's bows and arrows, the impact of the rain was even greater, with the bow arms becoming damp, the bowstrings getting wet, and the arrow feathers becoming wet, making it not only difficult to hit targets but also causing the bows to constantly deteriorate. In contrast, the crossbows used by the Ming army's mountain troops were less affected, as the crossbow bolts did not have arrow fletching and could still basically guarantee their range and accuracy.

  It's one thing to know in your heart and another to make a decision. In the past few days, the Qing army's physical strength has been declining, their attacks have been repelled, and even the dry firewood for cooking and warmth is almost gone, the situation is getting worse and worse. But neither Zhang Yong nor Xian Guoan dared to make a decision easily, so they just kept dragging it out.

  "Besides..." Zhang Yong wanted to speak but hesitated, shaking his head with a bitter smile.

  Since the "cannon fire" sounded on the Ming army's defensive position, Zhang Yong felt embarrassed, after all, his own soldiers surrendered and became part of the Ming army, which was not a glorious thing. The impact on morale is not too worrying, what Zhang Yong worries about is that if he returns without merit, Xian Guoan may write an article to shift all the blame to him. Therefore, no matter what, he cannot propose retreat, in order to shut up Xian Guoan's mouth, he must also show a strong desire to attack and strive for victory with determination.

  "This trick of Wei Zongshi is indeed very sinister, causing discord between the governor and the lieutenant general, and forcing our Gansu Green Camp to retreat with no way out. If we retreat, it will give others a handle! " Hu Xianzhi sat down dejectedly, sighing and saying: "Abandoning Hui Slope, Da Village, Tea House, Bridge Head, Cold Water Ditch, North Zhai Public House, luring our army into the mountains to suffer from the rainy season, what a vicious plan, what a big gamble, how terrifying is the rainy season in western Yunnan!"

  Zhang Yong nodded slightly, having the same feeling. Now it's hard to advance or retreat, and he just realized that he had fallen into Ming Jun's trap. He stroked his chin whiskers and speculated: "Could it be that Li Dingguo has arrived, and the pseudo-Ming army has made such adjustments, trapping our army in a difficult situation."

  "False Jin Wang?" The Qing army general, Wang Ziqi, was slightly startled and fell into deep thought. Li Jinwang's two names were famous, his reputation was great, he naturally believed Zhang Yong's guess more, and did not believe that the false Ming royal family would have such a strategy.

  After a long while, Zhang Yong stood up and said: "It's not possible to worry about it, I'll go see General Xian, remind him, and discuss how to break through the Ming army's blockade and escape this difficult place!"

  ……

  When it rains, it pours down like a deluge, with raindrops as big as iron beans; when it stops, it's like a resentful wife, sighing and sobbing in an endless expanse of time, unable to stop. This is Yunnan's rainy season, the subtropical rainy season.

  Zhu Yongxing gently brushed away the raindrops on his face and stood under the thatched shed, gazing out at the scenery. The mountains and fields seemed to have undergone a baptism, with countless springs flowing from the rocks, splashing waves rushing down the road. As his gaze shifted to the foot of the mountain, the beautiful scene suddenly disappeared, replaced by a desolate and nauseating landscape.

  The corpses of the Qing soldiers who were too close to the trenches or fell into the trenches were vivid, and there seemed to be streams on top, with white maggots forming slow-moving streams. In just two or three days, it had become like this, and Zhu Yongxing was secretly shocked.

  It's been said that in the subtropical rainy season, there are two kinds of insects that are most abundant: leeches and flies. One eats living people, and the other eats dead people. Zhu Yongxing has now experienced both, and he even once let out a blood-curdling scream when he saw a finger-sized leech hanging from his calf.

  But compared to the corpses in front of the array, Zhu Yongxing felt that if the Qing army could make the ants bite, it should be a happy thing, at least proving that he was still alive. If even the ants didn't care about you, there was only one kind of insect left to visit, the maggots on the white and rotten corpses.

  Zhu Yongxing shifted his gaze, gazing at the distant mountains, where smoke and mist lingered, less than yesterday. When the Qing army had no dry firewood for cooking and warmth, they could only eat raw rice. Without hot food and water, in this high-altitude forest rain season, even the strongest men would quickly weaken.