Southern Ming Rebel Army

Under the cover of night, the Meng army camp seemed particularly quiet.

Since Meng Jun had attacked the Qing army camps several times in a row, he was able to successfully break through the Qing army camps every time. Therefore, when Meng Jun led his troops to go out to fight, he paid great attention to the matter of setting up camps. Therefore, every time the scouts went out to investigate, they would report the terrain ahead to Meng Jun. Whenever choosing a camp, Meng Jun would try to choose a place that was easy to defend.

The camp was naturally built solidly to resist attacks from foreign enemies and the harsh environment. However, such a demanding camping work also required the auxiliary soldiers to put in more effort. They needed to spend a lot of time and energy to dig trenches, erect fences, set up tents, etc. to ensure that the entire camp was impeccable.

Despite the hard work, everyone understood the importance of it, especially the attack on the Bolo camp on a rainy day. If the Qing camp was strong, even if the Meng army could capture it, they would have to pay a heavier price.

Outside the camp gate, a patrol team of the Meng army marched forward, the soldiers holding swords and guns tightly in their hands, looking around vigilantly.

When the patrol was going on in an orderly manner, suddenly, a burst of rapid horse hoof sounds broke the tranquility of the night. The sound came from far away and from the darkness, which made people alert.

Xiao Yi, a soldier in the patrol team, suddenly changed his expression and said nervously to his teammates: "Stop! Listen, there is a sound of horse hooves! Could it be that the Tartar soldiers are launching a sneak attack?" He said in a hurried tone.

The other soldiers also stopped and listened. The sound of horse hooves became clearer and clearer, approaching the camp. At this time, a man next to him said, "No, listen to the sound, there are only two horses."

At night, candlelight flickered in the Meng army's central tent, and the whole place was quiet.

Meng Jun was lying on the couch. After a long military career, he had developed the ability to fall asleep quickly at any time and anywhere. However, at this moment, a hurried sound of footsteps broke the tranquility of the night and spread from far to near outside the tent.

The guard at the door looked at the person vigilantly, holding a spear to stop him, and whispered: "Who is it? You are not allowed to move without a warrant."

"There is urgent military information to report to the governor, please report it as soon as possible!" the voice said anxiously.

The guard frowned and was about to say something, but he heard someone beside the man say, "I am Du Yonghe, I have an urgent report, it is of great importance and cannot be delayed!"

Seeing this, the guards knew that the matter was serious and did not dare to neglect it. One of the guards turned around and walked into the tent and gently woke Meng Jun up: "Commander-in-chief, someone wants to see you. He said there is an urgent military report."

Meng Jun suddenly opened his eyes and sat up straight. Feeling uneasy, he immediately ordered, "Let him in!"

"Governor, here's the military report from Baitong Town ahead," Du Yonghe said the first thing he said when he saw Meng Jun.

The guard took the military report and presented it to Meng Jun. Meng Jun quickly opened the report, which contained only a few words: "Commander-in-chief, Bolo attacked the city very urgently, but when the city was in danger, he suddenly stopped the attack and then retreated to the south."

Meng Jun looked at the military report with a frown on his face. He felt an ominous feeling growing stronger. Meng Jun then looked at the messenger and asked, "Which route will the Qing army take to retreat south? How many people are there? Have you found out any specific military information?"

Upon hearing this, the messenger replied, "Reporting to the governor, the Qing army has been attacking the city for two days, and there are more than two thousand corpses left under the city. The Qing army has about six thousand cavalry, more than two thousand infantry, and an unknown number of civilians, but it should be no less than 20,000. They are heading south towards Jiangshan County." The messenger's answer was well-organized, and it was obvious that he had already made up his mind.

"Jiangshan County... Jiangshan County..." Meng Jun muttered to himself, then suddenly remembered something, hurriedly stood up, quickly took out the topographic map from his bag, unfolded it, and looked towards the vicinity of Jiangshan County. There was only one pass, Xianxia Pass.

Xianxia Pass in Fujian is located at the junction of Fujian and Zhejiang. It is one of the famous passes, known as the key to the southeast and the throat of Fujian. The mountains here are steep and the terrain is complex. There are towering peaks on both sides of the pass, and the roads are narrow and tortuous, making it extremely difficult to march.

In addition, Xianxia Pass has undergone many repairs and reinforcements, forming an extremely complete defense system. The pass is equipped with a large number of defense facilities such as city walls, city gates, beacon towers, etc. If the Qing army uses the current strength, even if all of them die at the pass, they still cannot shake Xianxia Pass at all. But Bolo is not a fool, he will know this, but he still gave up the siege and turned to Xianxia Pass. What does this mean? Meng Jun sat down in a chair all of a sudden.

"Zheng Zhilong is such a rat," Meng Jun cursed angrily, gritting his teeth.

Du Yonghe was confused as he listened, thinking: "What does this have to do with Zheng Zhilong?"

The next morning, Meng Jun urgently summoned all the generals to hold a military meeting. After a short and tense discussion, Meng Jun ordered that all three towns should be lightly equipped, each carrying dry food, and quickly march to Jiangshan County! At the same time, several fast horses galloped out like arrows, carrying Meng Jun's order to Dingyang City, ordering Bai Yongfu to lead all the cavalry in the city to immediately go south and meet up with the main force.

Along the way, the Meng army was lightly equipped, without the burden of baggage, and marched very quickly. The officers kept urging their soldiers to speed up: "Hurry up! Faster! Those Tartars will definitely want to run away, we must not let them run away!"

When Meng's army arrived in Jiangshan County, it was already the afternoon of the next day. At this time, the scouts in the front reported military intelligence that the Qing army's baggage camp could be seen, and the Qing army's vanguard was only more than 80 miles away from Xianxia Pass.

Meng Jun then ordered the infantry to stop and reorganize again, and at the same time ordered the scouts to closely observe the movements of the Qing army. He then ordered the scouts to find out where Bai Yongfu's cavalry had arrived. The armies of Meng Jun and Bolo were only about fifteen miles apart.

"It's really haunting!" Bolo cursed angrily. Meng Jun had already discovered the traces of the Qing army, and Bolo had also found out about the situation of the Meng army. At this moment, Bolo was in a dilemma.

If he led the army to Xianxia Pass, the Meng bandits would have a hard time catching up with them. But in this way, the large amount of baggage and the money and food obtained from the massacre in Taizhou would all be gone. Bolo was in a dilemma and was hesitant. He then discussed with the generals of the Eight Banners.

But most people disagreed with abandoning the baggage, and they all agreed to let the baggage troops set out first, and the Eight Banners delayed time. As long as Meng Jun could be delayed for one day, the baggage could be preserved.

As the scouts in the front reported, the Bolo vanguard had turned back and the Qing army began to set up camp. Meng Jun knew that the Eight Banners generals were still reluctant to give up the money and food.

It was getting late, and the two armies set up camp at the same time. The Qing soldiers wanted to delay time, while Meng Jun was waiting for Bai Yongfu's cavalry on the one hand, and on the other hand he needed to restore the soldiers' strength.

The next morning, at daybreak, the Qing army's civilians were already pulling baggage carts and moving towards Xianxia Pass, while the Meng army's soldiers had already started having breakfast and were making preparations for the battle!