Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 335 Lag

While Meng Jun and the Qing army were fighting a decisive battle in Huguang, various forces in the world were also busy.

Sun Kewang cultivated the Yunnan and Guizhou regions, and his military camp system was flourishing. However, in Guangxi, he had some conflicts with Annan.

After the chaos in the world, Chongzhen hanged himself, and the Beijing court was officially destroyed. The original Ming Dynasty's tribute system completely collapsed. The Zheng clan of Annan felt that there was an opportunity, so they reached out to Guangxi and won over many chieftains in southern Guangxi, intending to occupy southern Guangxi.

At this time, Guangxi had already become a mess, with all kinds of forces. At the border between Guangdong and Guangxi, the important city of Wuzhou was occupied by Yang Dafu, a subordinate of Li Chengdong, while the nearby lands of Guilin were controlled by Li Dingguo's troops.

Most of Guangxi, including Liuzhou, Nanning, and Hechi, were under the jurisdiction of the court represented by Sun Kewang, while the southern part of Guangxi was densely populated with local chieftains. These chieftains nominally submitted to Emperor Yongli, but in fact, the Yongli court, or Sun Kewang, had no command over these chieftains and they had long since refused to obey orders.

The Zheng family of Annan won over many chieftains and felt that the central empire had collapsed. Perhaps the destiny had come to Annan. The Zheng family felt that they were in a good position again, so they sharpened their knives and eyed Nanning, an important city in southern Guangxi.

This gradually caused friction between Sun Kewang and Annan.

The situation in the South China Sea was not peaceful either. Ever since Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, the Dutch had been ready to make a move, but they also knew that they were not strong enough. They had tried to contact Meng Jun to jointly attack the Zheng family, but the Dutch had no way of understanding the relationship between the Zheng family and Meng Jun in detail. Meng Jun sternly rejected this and their hope of finding a place to anchor their warships was dashed.

After the failure of the alliance with Meng Jun, the Dutch were unwilling to lose such a big man, so they promised huge benefits and joined forces with the Spaniards in Manila. The warships of the two countries intercepted Zheng's merchant ships everywhere at sea and spread the word that they must completely destroy the Zheng family.

After Zheng Chenggong returned to Fujian, he was furious when he saw that maritime trade was threatened. Maritime trade was the lifeline of the Zheng family. Without maritime trade, they would have to rely on Fujian and Taiwan. Let alone supporting an army of 300,000, even supporting 50,000 people would be difficult.

Afterwards, Zheng Chenggong sent people to urgently transfer Chen Yaoce's navy back to Fujian. At the same time, he built a large shipyard in the coastal areas of Fujian, recruited many laborers, and went into the dense forests to cut large trees for shipbuilding. He also opened the Youxi Iron Mine and started a furnace to forge iron. He was ambitious and engaged in large-scale construction.

However, the people of Fujian suffered terribly from the repeated levies of corvee labor. Many scholars sometimes missed the grand occasion when Han Xiong ruled Fujian. An old man in Fuzhou said: "General Han ruled Fujian with light taxes and levies. The surname of the king is Fujianese, so why is he so harsh to the villagers?"

This was passed on to Zheng Chenggong by someone unknown. He was furious and wanted to kill the old man, but Chen Yonghua tried to stop him, saying, "As the sage said, it is better to guard against the mouths of the people than to guard against the rivers. If you kill an unknown old man, it may hurt the hearts of the people of Fujian."

After learning that the red-haired barbarians in Taiwan and the red-haired barbarians in Java (Spain in Manila) had united together and held the island of Fujian, Zheng Chenggong's confidence increased greatly, and he determined to use the manpower of the Fujianese to pacify these two barbarians.

…………

Wuchang City.

After nightfall, Meng Jun stared at the bright moon, somewhat lost in thought. Secretary Shen Congwen pushed open the door and saw Meng Jun staring at the sky quietly without saying a word. He said softly, "Your Majesty, Zhao Tongzhen sent someone to report."

Meng Jun did not turn around, but said calmly: "Read it."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Shen Congwen responded, then opened the military report and read, "I am Zhao Yongping, please report to Your Majesty. After I captured Huai'an City, I recruited canal workers on the spot to supplement the soldiers of the two towns, but there are still 20,000 strong men. I dare to reorganize them all. In my opinion, Huai'an City has been captured, Duoduo was defeated by Your Majesty, and my troops now have more than 40,000 people. They are ready to attack Xuzhou, Shandong, or go north along the canal and attack Beijing directly. What do you think?"

Meng Jun listened quietly, but there was not much pride in his eyes at the current favorable situation. He should be cautious about being proud and alone, and never underestimate the enemy until the last step.

Going north along the canal and directly attacking Beijing, such a large-scale strategy is definitely not something that Zhao Yongping's small army can accomplish. Moreover, once going north, the logistics line will be longer, and cities along the way will inevitably need to be garrisoned. The ancients said that to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huai River. Zhao Yongping was able to capture Huai'an and push the defense line to the Huai River area. This was already beyond Meng Jun's expectations. After capturing Huai'an, the city of Nanjing would no longer be exposed to the Qing army.

The battle of Huguang had just ended, and the treasury had lost countless money and grain. Not only the Qing court, but also Meng Jun, were no longer able to organize another major war. Both sides had to recuperate. It would depend on which side recovered faster, which would gain more initiative. Although the north occupied by the Qing court was extremely vast, it was mostly ruined. It would be impossible for Meng Jun, who occupied Jiangnan, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi, to recover.

After thinking for a moment, Meng Jun said in a deep voice: "Order Zhao Yongping and Gao Jinku to defend Huai'an and control the Huaihe Plain."

Shen Congwen immediately wrote down Meng Jun's order and handed it to Meng Jun for review. After stamping it with his seal, Shen Congwen hurriedly delivered the order to Huai'an.

While Meng Jun was watching the moon, Meng Hong was still in Daning County (now Wuxi) in Kuidong.

After receiving the order, Meng Hong, under the cover of his personal guard Zhou Guangyuan, finally arrived in Daning County and contacted Du Yinxi.

Because all the prefectures and counties along the way were under the jurisdiction of the Qing government, and the Kuidongshun army often went down the river to harass Yiling (now Yichang), Yidu, Changyang and other county towns, the Qing government kept a close watch on this area. Meng Hong and others traveled through mountains and rivers to avoid the Qing army, and they really went through untold hardships.

When Meng Hong arrived in Daning, he was already emaciated. Even a strong man like Zhou Guangyuan looked a little skinny. Meng Jun had a good idea. He wanted to contact the Shun army in Kuidong and take advantage of the situation to launch a surprise attack on Jingzhou and cut off Baiyintu's retreat when the Qing army gathered for a decisive battle. However, Meng Jun did not expect that when Meng Hong arrived in Daning, the decisive battle with the Qing army had already ended, but Meng Hong had just contacted the remnants of the Shun army.

Baiyintu had also begun to retreat towards the direction of Jingzhou City. The Kuidong Shun army was blocked by the Qing army at both ends of the river. By the time the news reached the Kuidong area, it was already very delayed.

After resting for two or three days, Du Yinxi arrived in Daning, accompanied by Liu Tichun, Hao Yongzhong, and Yuan Zongdi.

Meng Hong was recuperating in bed. When he saw Du Yinxi and others arriving, he ignored Zhou Guangyuan's dissuasion, put on Zhou army's clothes, tidied his appearance, straightened his body, and greeted Du Yinxi, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty.

(Meng Jun: Those who generate electricity for love will achieve great success in the future, and you will be awarded titles and become generals O(n_n)O)