The days when I ransacked the house in Jinyiwei

A scholar led six other scholars to form a team of more than 100,000 people out of thin air and stabilize the rebellion in just over 30 days. This is a legend in itself.

The legend continues.

The fourteenth year of Zhengde, July 24, early morning.

The Ning Wang rebels came out in full force and attacked Wang Shouren's base camp.

Under the heavy reward from King Ning, the rebels were all ferocious. This time, they came to fight Wang Shouren. You know, Wang Shouren's head was worth 10,000 taels of gold.

Wang Shouren ordered Wu Wendi to lead 3,000 Hakka soldiers and 20,000 bandit soldiers as the vanguard to meet the enemy.

An ancient sage once said: Money moves people's hearts.

An ancient sage once said: Money can make the devil work.

The ancient sages also said: To succeed in doing big things, there are three conditions: first, money! Second, money! Third, still money.

It doesn't matter if that ancient saint had a slicked-back hair and a cigar in his mouth. Anyway, what he said was the truth.

Prince Ning risked his entire family fortune, and the rebels' fighting power increased more than tenfold.

It seems that gold and silver are far more useful than "Taizu's Imperial Edict".

The Hakka soldiers suffered heavy casualties. The front troops led by Wu Wending gradually began to be unable to withstand the heavy pressure of the rebels. The battle line began to retreat, retreat, and retreat again.

Finally, after 8,000 casualties, Wu Wending's troops were completely defeated. His bandit troops fled in panic. Only 2,000 Hakka troops were left struggling to hold on.

Wang Shouren, who always remained calm in the face of disasters, was shocked: What happened to the rebels? Did they drink the magic water and think they were invulnerable?
After a brief surprise, Wang Shouren picked up a bow and a pot of arrows and rushed towards the fleeing vanguard.

He shot ten arrows in a row, and each arrow hit the head of a deserter.

He shouted, "Anyone who flees from the battlefield will be executed immediately! Where is Wu Wending?"

Wu Wendi was also unequivocal. He drew out his sword and drew a line on the ground, shouting out a sentence that will go down in history: "This is the boundary. Anyone who retreats will be killed!"

After saying this, the elegant and easy-going Magistrate Wu, who was a successful candidate in two imperial examinations, chopped a deserter with a knife, cut off his head and held it high: "This is the fate of those who retreat!"

Generally speaking, if a skilled soldier deserts from the battlefield and a civilian officer dares to try to stop him, he will most likely be hit by a hidden arrow.

But at this moment, Wu Wendi's face was stained with the blood of the deserters. He raised his head high like a killing god, and actually intimidated those bandits who were hesitant.

One of the bandit leaders shouted, "We will die if we retreat, and we will die if we advance. It is better to die heroically! Brothers, follow me!"

Wang Shouren and Wu Wendi worked together to stabilize the situation, and the defeated front troops began to rejoin the front line.

The battlefield situation is changing rapidly.

"Boom boom boom!" The sound of cannons rang out over Poyang Lake.

At the most critical moment, the Ning Wang navy rushed to the Poyang Lake battlefield from Hongdu! They fired artillery at the Ming army from Poyang Lake!
The battlefield situation has reversed again! The rebels are at a disadvantage!

At the critical moment of life and death, Wang Shouren inherited the glorious tradition of the Ming army! Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, and Ming Taizong Zhu Di were possessed by their souls at this moment! At this moment, he was not fighting alone!
Wang Shouren rode a white horse, holding a bow and arrow, and swept back and forth among the chaotic troops. The morale of the rebel army was greatly boosted, and the battle line was gradually stabilized.

The bloody battle lasted from early morning to dusk.

The rebels and the counter-rebels were like two strong men wrestling in a pool of blood. The two sides fought to a stalemate, and then to each holding on to their last breath.

Wang Shouren saw that the time had come and shouted, "Flag officer, blow the horn!"

The sound of a horn rang out over the battlefield. This horn was a message to the county magistrate Wang Mian.

Wang Shouren gave Wang Mian a fresh force of 4,000 men in advance. These 4,000 men were strong men selected from the civilians. The two armies fought bloody battles for a day, but the fresh force was hiding in the south line and did not move.

The horn sounded, and Magistrate Wang shouted: "Brothers, the time to reverse the situation has come! Follow me to kill the bandits!" Led by Wang Mian, 4,000 fresh troops plunged into the rebels like a sharp knife.

The situation changed immediately!

The rebels first retreated in small groups of dozens of people, followed by hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of people.

The fierce general Wu Wending took the lead and led the remaining thousand Hakka soldiers to pursue them relentlessly. The rebel soldiers all shouted and followed the Hakka soldiers to rush forward.

King Ning, who was watching the battle, saw this scene and whispered two words: "It's over!"

Then Prince Ning ordered Liu Yangzheng: "Pass the order. The entire army will withdraw to the navy warships in Poyang Lake. Wang Shouren has no navy! There is nothing we can do!"

Night falls.

The remaining 30,000 soldiers of Prince Ning fled in batches to more than a hundred warships in Poyang Lake under the cover of the navy's artillery.

Wang Shouren had no navy and could only watch the rebels linger.

Covered in blood, Wu Wendi strode up to Wang Shouren and said, "Governor Wang, I have a plan to destroy the rebels."

Wang Shouren blurted out: "Fire attack."

Wu Wendi nodded: "Yes, it is a fire attack."

Wang Shouren said: "During the Hongzhi reign, there was an old general named Ye Guang who was very good at setting fires. Unfortunately, the fire he set was not here. If you want to set a fire, you need to gather fishing boats and load them with kerosene. The boatman who sets the fire must be a man who is ready to die."

Next to Wu Wending stood a captain named Lai, a famous warrior among the Hakka people.

Captain Lai said, "We still have eight hundred Hakka men left. We are willing to go into the lake and set it on fire!"

Wang Shouren said sternly, "Anyone who sets fire to a lake will die. Are you willing to go, Hakka?"

Captain Lai drew out his sword and slashed at Zhizhi. "Kacha", a finger fell to the ground: "Hakka boy, you are ready to die!"

Wang Shouren clasped his hands together towards Captain Lai and said, "I would like to thank you on behalf of the imperial court, and thank you, my fellow Hakka man!"

The arson plan was set, and Wang Shouren spent the next two days collecting fishing boats loaded with kerosene.

The end of King Ning is approaching.

July 26, dawn.

More than two hundred fishing boats rushed towards the rebel warships.

Liu Yangzheng and Li Shishi, the two military advisors, laughed at the Ning Wang's flagship and said, "Oh, a bunch of broken fishing boats dare to charge our warships. It's really like an ant trying to shake a tree."

"That's right, you are overestimating yourself!"

Prince Ning, however, managed to squeeze out a sentence from between his teeth: "Fool! Wang Shouren wants to use fire attack! Quickly order all the warships to fire and bombard the fishing boats!"

There stood a man on the leading fishing boat—the elegant and easy-going general, Wu Wendi!
He decided to live and die together with the Hakka soldiers and carry out this suicide mission.

Led by Magistrate Wu, the Hakka men were in high spirits and rowed their fishing boats desperately towards the rebel warships.

"Boom boom boom", the rebel warships began to bombard and many fishing boats were sunk.

However, dozens of fishing boats still approached the warships, and the Hakka men set fire to the hay that had been doused with kerosene on the fishing boats.

Perhaps God was blessing the Ming army, as a strong wind suddenly blew up. The wind fanned the flames, and the fire spread across the rebel warships. (End of this chapter)