Southern Ming Rebel Army

Wang Fugui's troops marched all the way towards Jinhua Prefecture. No one dared to stop them in any of the counties they passed through. Lanxi County, Dongyang County, Yiwu County, Yongkang County, Wuyi County, Pujiang County and Tangxi County under the jurisdiction of Jinhua Prefecture all surrendered. No county resisted. In the turbulent times, the county officials had no military power, and the cities were low and dilapidated. They could only surrender to the Ming Dynasty when they came, and to the Qing Dynasty when they came. They had no choice but to do so.

After Meng Jun prepared all the supplies, the army set out and headed towards Ningbo City. The drums in the army were like thunder and the horns were resounding through the sky, boosting the morale of the soldiers. They marched forward, and from the sky, they looked like a group of ants crawling forward, followed closely by baggage vehicles loaded with food and military supplies to provide supplies for the army.

The morale of the Meng army was high, and the tide was rising. If there were only 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers before, the Meng army would have been ready to face a formidable enemy. However, since the defeat of Bolo's camp, the morale of the soldiers has been visibly raised. The soldiers all said that Bolo's defeated army was incomplete and there was nothing to be afraid of. Meng Jun allowed such remarks to spread in the army, but privately warned the generals, "As a general, the lives of thousands of soldiers are entrusted to one person, so you must never underestimate the enemy. The art of war is all about deception. Even if the opponent seems weak, you cannot underestimate the enemy. What's more, Bolo still has more than 10,000 Manchu and Mongolian cavalry who just defeated the King of Lu."

Meng Jun must attack as soon as possible and chase Bolo. He must not let him catch his breath. At this moment, the morale of the Eight Banners soldiers is low and they are in a panic. They can only use 40% of their full strength at most. If they are allowed to recover, the outcome will be unpredictable.

Huzhou City, night.

Meng Bian sat alone in the room, feeling extremely sad. Tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes. Meng Bian and Meng Bizhi grew up with Meng Jun since childhood, and they had a brotherly friendship.

However, fate was so cruel that Meng Bizhi died heroically by the Qiantang River! This sudden bad news was like a sharp sword, deeply hurting Meng Bian's heart.

Meng Bian could hardly accept this fact. He would rather believe that it was just a nightmare. Recalling Meng Bizhi's brotherly smile in the past, Meng Bian felt heartbroken.

In this silent room, Meng Bian was alone in silence for a long time, until dawn. "Blood debt must be paid with blood," Meng Bian swore secretly in his heart.

Pushing open the door, Meng Bian decided to meet Tao Zhenming in person and urge him to start an uprising as soon as possible. The scholar had been rebelling for ten years without success, and Tao Zhenming was dithering, so Meng Bian could no longer wait.

Tao Zhenming, also known as Shanhe, was born in Changxing County, Huzhou. He was born into a scholarly family and was deeply influenced by Confucianism. He was smart and studious since childhood, and was familiar with classics, history, and literature. His ancestors left a large amount of land, and thousands of tenants worked for the Tao family. It is indisputable that Tao's ancestors must have made loans in normal years and collected land in disaster years, but human nature is complicated. Only these people can quickly gather the people and launch an uprising.

When the Qing army marched south, people thought it was a time of great change. However, the Qing court issued an order to shave the hair. After the order was issued, Jin Youjian of Changxing County led an army to capture Huzhou. Tao Wenzhen wanted to surrender immediately, but he did not expect that Jin Youjian would be defeated and killed under the siege of Tu Guobao, the governor of Jiangning.

Tao Zhenming was disheartened and simply stayed indoors, pretending to be a Taoist priest all day long and refusing to shave his head. However, the prefect of Huzhou, Kong Yingju, pressured him more and more severely. After the news came that the Qing troops had made great contributions to the siege of Suzhou and that Tian Xiong and other troops had been defeated, Tao Zhenming conspired with his relative Yan Ruanping to raise an army and seize Huzhou city.

Afternoon, Tao's house.

"I don't see you, sir. I wonder what important matter you are looking for me for today?" Tao Zhenming asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"I have something important to discuss, so we need to talk quietly," Meng Bian said seriously.

Tao Zhenming frowned and thought to himself, "How could this man be so rude?" Then he took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Sir, if you have anything important to say, please feel free to speak up."

Meng Bian stared at Tao Zhenming and did not answer.

Tao Zhenming looked at Meng Bian, and suddenly his heart was shocked. Then he seemed to think of something and said with a smile: "Since you have something important to discuss, let's go into the study and discuss it in detail. Ah Qing, no one is allowed to disturb you."

"Yes, sir," a servant serving beside him bowed and replied.

The two entered the study, Tao Zhenming put away his smile and asked seriously: "Tell me, what's the matter?"

"When are you going to start the army? How many able-bodied men will you have? How much military equipment will you need? Are you going to attack Changxing County or Huzhou City?" Meng Bian asked in a calm but quick tone.

Hearing this, Tao Zhenming stood up in shock, and the pen and inkstone beside the table were knocked to the ground with a "bang" sound.

Tao Zhenming looked at Meng Bian in panic, and stammered, "Sir, please don't talk nonsense."

"I am a subordinate of Governor Meng Jun of Suzhou. The governor defeated the Eight Banners of Bolo at Qiantang River a few days ago. The Bolo army has been collapsed." Meng Bian looked at Tao Zhenming and said in a steady tone.

Hearing this, Tao Zhenming's panicked heart slowly calmed down. He sat down slowly and spoke after a moment: "Sir, where did you know that I wanted to raise an army..."

"Yan family, you don't need to ask anything else, just tell me how many people you have prepared now, what kind of weapons and armor you have, and whether you have firearms," Meng Bian interrupted Tao Zhenming's next words and said hurriedly.

Tao Zhenming held his breath for a while before saying, "I plan to drive straight to Huzhou and conquer it in one fell swoop. I will send out troops in May. I have gathered more than 500 people, a number of weapons, and a few firearms."

Meng Bian was stunned, and was so angry that he wanted to curse, but he held it back, his face flushed, and he said, "How many people are there exactly? Don't say a few or so."

"Oh, oh, I spoke out of turn. Wait, let me take a look," Tao Zhenming said somewhat embarrassedly, then bent down and began to rummage in the drawer.

Meng Bian's face was even more ugly. Such a life-threatening matter was actually thrown into the drawer of the study. It was simply reckless! This behavior was tantamount to putting himself and others in extreme danger.

"Found it, please take a look, sir." Tao Zhenming flipped out a page of name list from the bottom and handed it to Meng Bian.

Meng Bian took it and looked at it. There were densely packed names, a total of 545 people. Meng Bian nodded after reading it and said, "Where are the weapons? Are they complete?"

"Complete equipment. Three hundred spears, more than a hundred swords, ten muskets, fifty bows, and more than two hundred arrows." Tao Zhenming took out another piece of paper and read quickly.

"It's barely enough. Are these people organized?" Meng Bian's brows relaxed a little and asked again.

"How can we gather together? We have to wait until something big happens, then we can gather together." Tao Zhenming shook his head like a rattle.

Meng Bian's mouth twitched with anger. More than 500 people, without any organization at all, they ran away in a swarm as soon as they gathered together. How could they take down Huzhou City? And they sent troops in May, but it was too late.

Meng Bian said in an unquestionable and decisive tone: "Gather these people immediately! No matter what excuse or name you use, such as land reclamation, you must ensure that the people on the list are in place. Then find a suitable place to organize and train them. At the same time, transport the weapons to the outside of Huzhou City in advance and hide them properly. In March, start the army."

Tao Zhenming was stunned. After a while, he murmured, "Are we too impatient? How about we discuss it in detail? How can we make such a hasty decision on such an important matter?"

"No need to discuss further. I have been through many battles and you know more than me." Meng Bian waved his hand to signal him to shut up.