Southern Ming Rebel Army

After seeing the information about the grain and silver warehouse in Suzhou, Meng Jun could not wait any longer and rushed to the grain warehouse with his personal guard Gao Yi. Soon, Meng Jun arrived at the Suzhou grain warehouse. At this time, Meng Bizhi's subordinates were guarding the door with torches outside the granary. The original grain guards had been disarmed and dared not move under the guard of the rebels. Meng Bizhi saw Meng Jun and clasped his fists and said, "General, the granary is safe and sound. There was only one idiot who wanted to set fire to the grain. I shot him dead with an arrow. The rest of them dared not move."

"Okay, I am always confident in Bizhi's work. You should work harder at night and make sure to take good care of the granary. It is our foundation." After saying that, he patted Meng Bizhi's shoulder and praised him.

"Open the granary, let's go in and take a look." Meng Jun signaled Gao Yi to open the door. Once the door was opened, densely packed cloth bags were filled with grain. Gao Yi opened one of the bags, sniffed it and said, "General, this is new grain."

Meng Jun touched the grain and was delighted. He had grain in his hands and was not worried. In troubled times, grain was a good thing that could not be bought with money. After looking at the granary, Meng Jun told Meng Bizhi to take good care of the grain.

After checking the grain, Meng Jun returned to the Suzhou prefectural government office. Although Meng Jun was very tired, there were many things to deal with, so Meng Jun could only force himself to deal with them...

As daylight dawned, the flag on the city wall of Suzhou had been changed. The original flag of the Qing army had been thrown down from the city wall, and was replaced by the flag of the Henggang Volunteer Army. Some brave people quietly opened the door and saw that there was nothing unusual in the city. In this day and age, there were still armies that entered the city without robbing or killing. The changing of the flag on the city wall did not matter to these ordinary people. As long as there was no massacre or looting, the people would be very grateful. For the people, no matter who was the emperor, everyone had to eat and pay taxes, so no one was so blind as to dare to make any unusual moves.

Meng Jun fell asleep in the early morning due to exhaustion. He woke up at daybreak and asked Gao Yi to call everyone to the prefectural government office to discuss the situation.

......

Meng Jun had a big table pulled up in the hall of the prefecture. The hall was filled with people. Meng Bizhi couldn't stop laughing. Han Xiong held Lin Shiqi's shoulders and kept talking about how he had killed two people in the armory last night. Meng Jun looked at everyone. Although they were very tired, they were all very excited. Meng Jun waited for everyone to calm down, then stroked his beard and said, "We have taken Suzhou City, but this is just the beginning. We still have a lot of things to do. We need to expand the army, build weapons, improve the city defense, and train soldiers. We will discuss it slowly and do things one by one, but time must be fast. The Qing army will soon counterattack. We don't have time to stop. Even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, we will trample them down."

"General, we need to reorganize the soldiers and recruit new soldiers as soon as possible. We need a large number of weapons, preferably firearms," Lin Shiqi spoke first.

"That's right. Select from the Green Camp and dismiss those who are not good enough. You, Shiqi, will arrange people to recruit new soldiers. Recruiting points can be set up everywhere in the city, and people should be arranged in the villages outside the city. As for weapons, I will arrange them as soon as possible," Meng Jun replied without hesitation. Meng Jun had already thought of and arranged many of these issues last night.

Meng Jun continued, "Bizhi, you should arrange the defense of Suzhou City. You should appease the civilians in the city. Those who are willing to join the rebel army are also welcome."

"Yes, General, I will do my best," Meng Bizhi replied in a resounding voice.

"General, I have a suggestion," Yang En said to Meng Jun. Meng Jun saw Yang En and said gently, "Mu De, just speak frankly, there is no need to be secretive."

"Okay, General, I have three points to make. First, we have now conquered Suzhou. If we do not expand the army, it will not be enough to cope with the current situation, so the military system needs to be changed as soon as possible. Second, we now have a city and need someone to collect taxes, handle government affairs, and manage the local area. I think this also requires the general's decision. Third, we are now in an uprising within the Qing Dynasty and are facing the danger of being surrounded by the Qing army. We need to send someone to contact Prince Lu to regent and ask for support."

"Then why not ask for help from the Emperor Longwu of Fujian?" Han Xiong asked doubtfully.

Yang En patiently explained to Han Xiong, "On the one hand, the Emperor Longwu is far away in Fujian, and distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. On the other hand, he is controlled by the Zheng family and I am afraid he will not easily help us. The Prince of Lu in Zhejiang is very close to Suzhou and can support us faster."

Yang En then said, "General, you need to change your reputation now. It has been said since ancient times that if the reputation is not right, then the words will not flow. General, you are no longer the leader of a righteous army of only 2,000 people. You have hundreds of thousands of people under your command, so it is naturally a different story."

Meng Jun thought for a moment and said, "According to Mude's opinion, what name should I use?"

Yang En said without hesitation, "The general can be called the governor, and a governor's office can be established to manage Suzhou's military and political affairs."

Everyone agreed with what he said, and Han Xiong praised him, saying, "Not bad, not bad, this is good."

"We will discuss the title and the establishment of the government later. The most important thing now is the army. This is the most important thing. Shiqi, you go and make the arrangements first. Come over later and we will discuss military affairs. Brother Han, you will be responsible for arranging the distribution of weapons in the arsenal. Everything should be based on the army first."

Meng Jun paused for a moment and suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, by the way, the publicity in Suzhou Prefecture must also be followed up, but I haven't decided who will be responsible for this matter yet."

Everyone asked in confusion, "Publicize?" Meng Jun explained, "We need to publicize the atrocities of the Eastern Tartars in the city and the villages, and let everyone know that if the Qing army were to invade Suzhou again, it would be a catastrophe. We need to tell the story of the Qing army's massacres and looting in Liaodong, Shandong, and Yangzhou in a vivid and moving way. Find all the storytellers in the city for me. I will do this myself."

Meng Jun looked at everyone, some of them seemed to be thinking about something, while others did not take it seriously. Meng Jun did not explain any further and just asked everyone to go back and do their own thing.

"Gao Yi, go and bring Zhu Tu to me," Meng Jun ordered.

...

After a while, Zhu Tu came to Meng Jun and asked, "Zhu Tu, do you know how many craftsmen there are in Suzhou?"

"General, what kind do you mean?" Master Zhu asked cautiously.

"Say it once to all the craftsmen," Meng Jun said unhappily.

"Yes, yes, yes, General. The largest number of workers in Suzhou is textile workers, with a number of 40,000 to 50,000. Suzhou weaving is world-famous. These are the most numerous craftsmen in Suzhou. There are more than a thousand blacksmiths among the military households. There should be two to three thousand people working in family workshops in the city, and there are almost two to three thousand carpenters as well."

Meng Jun had a plan when he heard this. "Gao Yi, bring all the military households and blacksmiths together, and everyone is ready to start making spears and armor." Meng Jun was worried about who to ask to be responsible for the manufacture of weapons...

As expected, no matter what time it is, the most expensive and important thing is talent.

The news that Suzhou was captured by the rebel army spread like a whirlwind. This news caught Li Chengdong off guard. He was now relying on the food and supplies shipped from Suzhou. Suzhou was suddenly gone, which put Li Chengdong in a dilemma.

"Go, inform the generals," Li Chengdong shouted to his guards irritably.

............