Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 348 It’s over

The Zhongzheng Camp and the Zhou army surrounded Jingzhou, but the city of Jingzhou surrendered without a fight the day after Lin Shiqi arrived at the city.

Originally in Du Yinxi's plan, the two armies would attack Jingzhou together. No matter how hard Zheng Siwei defended, they would surely be able to capture Jingzhou. However, Zheng Siwei surrendered without a fight, and overnight, Jingzhou City fell under the control of the Zhou army.

Du Yinxi sighed in his heart. The subsequent impact of Meng Jun's defeat of Duoduo was too great. Zheng Siwei would rather surrender to Zhou than to Ming. Zheng Siwei's behavior was like a stick that hit Du Yinxi hard on the head, making Du Yinxi realize that the Ming Dynasty was really on the decline and there was no way to save it.

If there is hope, Du Yinxi will naturally desire the revival of the Ming Dynasty. However, if the Zhu family has really lost its destiny, then settling for the second best is not unacceptable.

Zheng Siwei was afraid of death and was deeply afraid that the generals of the Loyalty Camp would rush into Zhou's camp and cut him into pieces. As soon as he entered the camp, he begged Lin Shiqi to protect him, which annoyed Lin Shiqi.

When Zheng Siwei was in the Zhou army camp, his personal guards protected him outside the tent day and night. He only dared to eat after his personal soldiers checked that he was fine. He also assigned his trusted confidants to manage his property in Jingzhou City.

When the news of Jingzhou's surrender without a fight reached Meng Jun, he ordered the army to stop advancing westward. Meng Jun, Gu Yanwu, Shen Congwen, Qian Biao, Bai Yongfu and others, escorted by a large group of cavalry, rushed to Jingzhou.

………………

Meng Jun rushed all the way to Lin Shiqi's army.

As soon as they entered the army, Meng Jun and Lin Shiqi had just said a few words when Zheng Siwei hurried over.

As soon as Zheng Siwei saw Meng Jun, before Meng Jun even opened his mouth to speak, Zheng Siwei knelt down and said, "Your Majesty is so powerful. I, Zheng Siwei, am here to pay my respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years."

Lin Shiqi snorted disdainfully, while Meng Jun was stunned for a moment, then said with a cheerful face: "General Zheng, it is not too late to abandon darkness and join the light. Please stand up quickly."

I don't know if Zheng Siwei was pretending or not, but after hearing what Meng Jun said, he cried with tears in his eyes, "Your Majesty, if you don't blame me, I will be deeply grateful and wish I could die for you right now! Your grace is like the sun in the cold winter and the rain in the hot summer. I have met you, it's like a long drought finally ending in a good rain. I... I have finally waited for such a wise ruler like you, it's really a blessing from heaven."

Zheng Siwei's voice trembled, and his tone seemed very sincere, but such corny words really made Meng Jun uncomfortable. Meng Jun laughed awkwardly and then said, "General Zheng, let the past be the past. The ground is cold, please get up quickly."

Zheng Siwei wiped the tears from his eyes, clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, from now on, my life belongs to Your Majesty. Whatever Your Majesty asks me to do, I will do it without any hesitation or hesitation."

After hearing this, Meng Jun smiled and nodded, saying: "General, you surrendered the city and saved the people of Jingzhou. You have made great contributions and should not be charged with any crime."

After hearing this, Zheng Siwei bowed again and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will definitely live up to your expectations. Your Majesty has important matters to attend to, so I dare not disturb you."

After saying this, Zheng Siwei lowered his head and retreated to the curtain before turning around and leaving.

When Lin Shiqi saw Zheng Siwei leave, he sighed and said, "This flatterer is really shameless."

Meng Jun said nonchalantly: "It is not surprising that people flatter the weak and praise the strong. This man surrendered the important city of Jingzhou. He is a shameless villain. I am willing to buy his horse bones for a thousand gold coins."

Hearing this, Lin Shiqi hesitated, but still said to Meng Jun: "Your Majesty, Zheng Siwei once betrayed Shun and surrendered to Qing, killed Meng Changgeng, the defense envoy of Jingzhou, and broke through several Shun army cities, killing Shun soldiers wantonly. The generals of the Loyalty Camp hate him to the core, and Liu Tichun is willing to lead more than 100,000 soldiers of the Loyalty Camp to surrender. If you treat Zheng Siwei well, I'm afraid there will be complications."

Meng Jun frowned after hearing this. It seemed that Lin Shiqi was against rewarding Zheng Siwei generously? Thinking of this, Meng Jun asked, "What does Shiqi mean?"

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, even if it is to take over the Loyal Camp, you have to kill this man." Seeing Meng Jun's unhappy face, Lin Shiqi moved closer and whispered: "Of course, killing the surrendered is not appropriate, it will damage your reputation. It is better to wait for Zheng Siwei to board the ship, do something on the ship, and let..."

Before he could finish his words, Meng Jun interrupted him and said in a deep voice: "Zheng Siwei has a grudge against the generals of the Loyalty Camp. Does he want to dirty our hands in order to avenge them?"

Lin Shiqi argued: "Your Majesty, the Loyalty Camp has more than 100,000 soldiers, while Zheng Siwei is just a fickle villain. Please think twice about which is more important."

Meng Jun's serious expression became relaxed after hearing this, and he said in a leisurely tone, "Yes, Zheng Siwei is a villain. He surrendered to the Qing when he was strong, and surrendered to the Zhou when he was strong. But now Zheng Siwei has surrendered to me, and the Loyalty Camp still regards the Ming as the legitimate dynasty. In the eyes of outsiders, Zheng Siwei's death, no matter how he died, is related to us."

Lin Shiqi was silent when he heard this. However, what Meng Jun did not say in his heart was that the Loyal Camp had a grudge against the generals who surrendered to the Zhou army. He was going to kill the generals who had a grudge against them. Then, even if the Loyal Camp surrendered, was it really serving him or just a nominal surrender? If there was really a deep hatred, he could just wait until later and send a death soldier to monitor day and night, and kill Zheng Siwei as soon as he went out, instead of forcing the Zhou army to kill the surrendered generals.

Perhaps, Liu Tichun did not have this intention, and Lin Shiqi did not know it, or he underestimated the sequelae of Zheng Siwei's death at his hands. The leader and the deputy were unclear. Moreover, the Loyalty Camp had long been divided into various departments. Liu Tichun was only the nominal leader of the Loyalty Camp. Each department was doing its own thing. This was the general trend. Would the generals of the Loyalty Camp really go against the trend because of an insignificant person?

The next day, Meng Jun invited Du Yinxi and the generals of the Loyal Camp to Jingzhou City.

Meng Jun sat in the main seat, Du Yinxi sat in the deputy seat, and below them sat the generals of the Zhou army and the generals of the Loyal Camp. As for Zheng Siwei, he declined the invitation to the banquet on the grounds of poor health.

Everyone clinked glasses and talked a lot until the party was in full swing.

At this time Du Yinxi coughed twice, and the noisy voices of the crowd gradually died down, and everyone listened to the speech of Lord Du.

Du Yinxi's eyes revealed the depth of vicissitudes of life. He said slowly: "It has been said since ancient times that if the name is not right, the words will not flow. The king's attitude is ambiguous now. He regards the Shaozong Dynasty, which no longer exists, as his master. How can he stop the world from talking nonsense?"

Meng Jun remained silent upon hearing this, while Gu Yanwu at the side asked, "In your opinion, should Your Majesty obey the order of the Gui clan?"

Du Yinxi nodded and said, "Since the time of Emperor Anzong, there have been constant internal conflicts, including the conflict between Fuzhou and Luzhou, the conflict between Tangzhou and Luzhou, and the conflict between Guiyang and Tangzhou. The country's strength has been exhausted by internal consumption. Although Emperor Wenzong died, it is a pity, but now the court no longer has the fight between the two vassal states. This is the time for us to work together and not cause any more trouble. Please think twice, Your Majesty!"

Meng Jun has now controlled the area south of the Yangtze River, and his successive victories on the battlefield have earned him increasing reputation. In such a situation, in the eyes of many people, he is no longer just a hero in troubled times, but Meng Jun already has the potential to become the common ruler of the world.

If Meng Jun completely abandons the banner of the Ming Dynasty and brazenly acts on his own, who can stop him? The Ming Dynasty has now become a mirage. The many princes who represent the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty are all unworthy of the task of reviving the country. Yongli has been on the throne for several years. From the beginning, he fought with the Shaowu court, and then fled all the way. He has gradually lost the support of the people. Even those literati are only a minority who are obsessed with the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty.

Hearing Du Yinxi's earnest words, Meng Jun spoke up: "In terms of the closest bloodline to Emperor Lie, among the current vassal kings, Gui Fan is naturally the most suitable. However, Gui Fan ignored the presence of the Qing army and sent troops to attack Emperor Wenzong (Emperor Shaowu). However, as soon as there was a slight disturbance, he abandoned the country and fled. This is a loss of composure in the face of danger, which is a great loss of dignity for a monarch. Moreover, the world is in danger now, and it is time for the emperor to rise to the challenge. How can such a cowardly ruler take on the responsibility of reviving the country?"

Du Yinxi understood the implication of Meng Jun's words, that Yongli's running around like a rat was not the behavior of a wise ruler, but in Du Yinxi's eyes, this was just an act of his inflated ambition.

Listening to the conversation between the two, the generals of the two armies below, although confused, knew that what they were talking about was a major issue in the world. No one said anything, only Qian Biao came to Bai Yongfu and asked, "What do these elegant words between the king and this old man mean?"

Bai Yongfu now dislikes Qian Biao very much. He lost the bet on the weather last time, although the money was not much, but afterwards Bai Yongfu found out that Qian Biao asked Li Wendao about the weather before betting with him. In Bai Yongfu's opinion, Qian Biao is not a good person. Gambling character is like a person's character. Isn't such behavior cheating?

Bai Yongfu didn't want to answer, but when the words came to his mouth, he thought of an idea, and then smiled at Qian Biao, leaned over and whispered: "This old man asked the king to hand over all the territory to the escaped emperor. Now the king is hesitating. You can see that the king is frowning, and it is obvious that he is thinking..."

When Qian Biao heard this, before Bai Yongfu finished speaking, he slammed the table and shouted, "Your Majesty, this cannot be done!"

Bai Yongfu, who was sitting nearest, was startled by the loud shout. He didn't expect Qian Hanwu to react so strongly. At this moment, Bai Yongfu suddenly felt a little regretful, fearing that he would speak without restraint and say something shocking, which would affect him.

Not only Bai Yongfu, but the generals of both armies also looked at Qian Biao in amazement.

Meng Jun was startled by the shouting and looked over quickly, only to see Qian Biao's eyes were red, his fists were clenched, and he seemed to be about to cry.

Qian Biao's eyes were filled with tears as he shouted, "Your Majesty, you have built such a great foundation, how can you give it up to others? If Your Majesty wants to do this, then I... I... I... I will hang myself on this beam right now!"

When Bai Yongfu heard this, he shook his head and moved his butt away.

Meng Jun was stunned for a moment, then he laughed and scolded, "You idiot, what nonsense are you talking about."

Qian Biao pointed and said to Bai Yongfu: "Just now he said that the king wants to give away all his assets..."

Before he could finish his words, Bai Yongfu covered his mouth with his hand and said to everyone with a smile: "General Qian is a little drunk."

Meng Jun coughed and said to everyone, "Everyone, continue, continue."

At this time, Qian Biao was still saying, "Why are you covering me? What do you mean by not being able to drink? I can drink three of you."

"Okay, okay, you can drink, just shut up. I give in."

Du Yinxi quietly observed this episode. All the generals of Zhou army were promoted by Meng Jun. This army of hundreds of thousands was also gathered together bit by bit by Meng Jun. His prestige was very high. Du Yinxi was also an old minister who had been in charge of the army for so many years. He knew very well that as long as Meng Jun wanted to become emperor tomorrow, his subordinates in the army would certainly not oppose it. Instead, they would flock to his act of becoming emperor.

As Qian Biao sat down, Du Yinxi said to Meng Jun in a friendly manner: "Your Majesty, I am not a corrupt scholar. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. If Your Majesty can really restore our Han Dynasty, even if the world changes its nature and name in the future, it will not matter. I only hope that Your Majesty can think of the people of the world and not easily create internal rifts!"

This topic is too sensitive. Only now that the imperial court is far away and he is under the control of Sun Kewang like a puppet, and Du Yinxi is old and has no time to care about his reputation after his death, can he dare to speak out.

His meaning was very clear. If Meng Jun could recover the Northern Capital, then by then, he would naturally be the one who would be chosen by Heaven. The change of surnames in the world would be nothing more than a change of dynasties. Du Yinxi did not want Meng Jun to send troops to the south and destroy the Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop when the threat from the Qing court was not great. Even though the Ming court was now in name only, the Ming Dynasty, which had nurtured scholars for hundreds of years, still had a righteous cause.

All the generals in the Loyal Camp looked at each other in bewilderment. Some of the words were not heard carefully, but the sentence "change surname and name" was heard clearly by everyone.

Liu Tichun originally thought that Du Yinxi was an old minister of the Ming Dynasty who was loyal and had no ulterior motives. He never expected that he could say such words.

Hao Yongzhong nodded and said to He Zhen beside him: "Yes, the elder is right. In the Ming Dynasty, the emperors have changed one after another. I thought that by following the previous emperor (Li Zicheng), I could change the dynasty. I didn't expect it. Alas!"

After listening to Du Yinxi's words, Meng Jun was silent for a while, and then he said softly: "Since Anzong ascended the throne, most of the ministers have been incompetent. Even the current Yongli Prime Minister, Ding Kuichu, is vindictive and has no tolerance for others. The rest are cowardly and incompetent ministers, and I don't even want to mention them. Only Du, the Lord, can unite all forces and serve the public. Lord, I don't know what will happen in the future, but I will be determined to restore the country and never live in peace in a corner!"

Du Yinxi nodded when he heard this, picked up the cup, drank it all, looked at the many generals in the hall, and said with some emotion: "The sky is high at the corner of the sea, the moon is full on the mountain, the clear tears of Xinting are sprinkled with colorful spots, the spring breeze blows away the dream of rise and fall, the tide ebbs and flows in Xiaoshi Bay."

Du Yinxi had tears in his eyes, but he didn't know why.

(One update today, but it's a big chapter, one chapter equals two o＞_＜o)