Southern Ming Rebel Army

Jiangning City, Governor's Office.

"Pijiang, go and persuade Mr. Shizhai tomorrow. I really don't want to see him again." Hong Chengchou had an ugly look on his face and kept pinching his brows with his hands. Two hours ago, he went to the prison to persuade Huang Daozhou to surrender, but was met with his harsh sarcasm, which made Hong Chengchou unable to calm down for such a long time.

Although Huang Daozhou was in prison in Jiangning, Hong Chengchou treated him very well. Not only did he have a single room, but his daily meals were delivered by restaurants in the city. He could also read and write, and even send and receive letters.

In prison, Huang Daozhou wrote a poem to express his feelings: "Things have changed in the past sixty years, and there is little vitality. I, an old minister, will use all my blood to see the Central Plains return thousands of miles away." He firmly believed that the royal army would restore the country in the future.

When faced with Hong Chengchou's attempt to surrender, Huang Daozhou said nothing and did not talk to him. He just turned around and wrote the following words: "His name will be passed down in history. Although he did not succeed, he can be emulated. His great kindness was too great to repay his country and instead he became an enemy." Comparing Shi Kefa with Hong Chengchou, Hong Chengchou was extremely embarrassed.

Mao Xiang hesitated when he heard this and said, "Governor, I'm afraid Mr. Shi Zhai won't listen to me."

Hong Chengchou sighed and said, "I'll do my best. If he still refuses to surrender, the court will surely order his death. I think he is already old, so why should he suffer the punishment of the sword and axe?"

Mao Xiang nodded and said, "Yes, Governor. I will go and persuade Mr. Shi Zhai tomorrow."

……

In the evening, Mao Xiang came to the teahouse where Meng Bian was. Liu Guquan looked up at Mao Xiang and said with a smile: "Sir, do you want to have dinner or stay in the hotel?"

"Invite friends to dinner, find a private room, bring the menu, and recommend some signature dishes of the restaurant," Mao Xiang also said loudly.

"Sir, please follow me."

The two of them came to a private room, gently pushed open the door, and saw Meng Bian standing with his hands behind his back, looking at the scenery outside the window.

The sound of the door being pushed open made Meng Bian look back. After the two entered the room, Liu Guquan whispered, "I'll arrange for someone to prepare wine and food. It's in the next room."

Mao Xiang nodded, and Liu Guquan went out immediately. Mao Xiang and Meng Bian looked at each other. Mao Xiang took out a sealed bamboo tube from his arms and handed it to Meng Bian carefully. Meng Bian took the bamboo tube and asked in a low voice: "What is this secret report?"

"This is the situation of the garrison in West City of Jiangning, as well as the usual rotation time, the identity of the garrison officer in West City, and their place of residence. I have written them all in the letter, but I don't know if it will be of any use," Mao Xiang looked at Meng Bian and whispered.

Meng Bian was a little surprised and said, "Mr. Mao, you have only been in the Governor's Mansion for a few days, and you have been able to find out the confidential matters."

"I have a photographic memory since I was young, and I was organizing documents beside Hong Chengchou. However, Hong Chengchou did not allow me to touch documents such as military newspapers. This was what I saw from the desk, but I came here for another important matter," Mao Xiang explained briefly and then said anxiously.

Meng Bian did not speak when he heard this, but listened carefully. He only heard Mao Xiang say: "Hong Chengchou has already submitted a petition to Dorgon, requesting that Leke Dehun be transferred from Huguang back to Jiangning. The land of Huguang will be handed over to Kong Youde. At the same time, Hong Chengchou has also requested Beijing to transfer the eight northern banners to the south. As for whether Dorgon will agree, it is still unknown."

Meng Bian frowned and said, "Okay, I understand."

Mao Xiang wanted to leave immediately after he finished speaking, but when he turned around, he couldn't help but say, "Master Meng, does Mr. Shizhai (Huang Daozhou) have any way to rescue him?"

Meng Bian was stunned and asked, "Who is Mr. Shizhai?"

Mao Xiang patiently explained, "The Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, concurrently the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of War, is Huang Daozhou."

"Oh, it's him. Although he was captured, the Qing army didn't kill him on the battlefield, so they wouldn't send him to Jiangning City to be killed. Besides, he's in prison. With the manpower we have in Jiangning, we can't jailbreak him. Let's wait and see. If there's a chance, we can save him."

Mao Xiang shook his head and said in a low voice: "Today, Hong Chengchou went to persuade Mr. Shizhai to surrender, but Mr. Shizhai refused to surrender and even insulted Hong Chengchou. Hong Chengchou said that if he did not surrender, the Qing court would order him to be killed."

Meng Bian frowned. He had no feelings for these civil servants, but Huang Daozhou was quite tough. If there was a chance, it would be fine to lend a hand to save this man. However, Huang Daozhou was too famous, and Hong Chengchou was keeping a close eye on him. This Tartar was not a decoration in Jiangning City, so it was not easy to save him.

Thinking of this, Meng Bian said comfortingly: "You go see Mr. Shizhai tomorrow. If there is a chance, I will find a way."

Mao Xiang nodded when he heard this, looked at the time, it was almost time, then turned around and left, opened the door and walked into the next room. After a while, several people entered the next private room, and from time to time, they could hear people talking and laughing.

Meng Bian listened to the laughter from next door, breathed a sigh of relief, then left the room, returned to his secret room, took out a piece of letter paper, copied it again, and reported what he had learned about Jiangning's people's livelihood, economy, city layout and important buildings in recent days. He then handed the secret report to Zhou Zhuo, ordering him to take the two of them to Suzhou as soon as possible to report to Meng Jun.

A banquet came to an end. Mao Xiang was afraid that he would say something wrong when drunk, so he said that he had important things to do the next day and should not drink too much. He drank a few glasses of wine reluctantly and then the banquet was dismissed.

Suzhou City.

In the last few days before the New Year, Meng Jun, who was busy with work, decided to give himself a day off. On this day, Meng Jun ignored everything and galloped on horseback around the outskirts of Suzhou accompanied by his personal guards. It turned out that all traces of war under the city of Suzhou had disappeared, and the scars of war had returned to their original state under the heal of time.

Since Meng Jun returned to the army, he has been consolidating the military and political affairs and practicing internal skills. No matter how severe the external situation was, Meng Jun suppressed the restless thoughts of the generals and focused on consolidating the foundation.

As for the economy, in order to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, after discussing with Yang En and others in the Governor's Office, it was decided to postpone the opening of the sea to prevent unrest in the rear. Meng Jun decided to make plans after recovering Nandu and isolating the Yangtze River. After Yang En discussed with the Cao family, the Cao family and other sea merchants decided to invest 2 million taels to provide financial support to Meng Jun. This large amount of money was enough to support the military pay and food expenses of the seven towns for more than a year.

After half a year of careful rest and recuperation, the Five Garrison troops in Suzhou have fully completed the restoration of their organization. Not only that, a musket battalion using self-propelled muskets has been formed into a force of 2,000 people, consisting purely of firearms equipment. At the same time, the heavy armored army has also expanded its strength to as many as 3,000 people.

The cavalry that Meng Jun had been dreaming of was barely assembled in half a year. A cavalry of 5,000 people was considered a large and fast force in the Jiangnan area.

At this time, Meng Jun in Suzhou had gathered 50,000 garrison troops from five towns, 5,000 cavalry, 2,000 musketeers, 3,000 heavy armored troops, 5,000 service troops, 30,000 auxiliary troops, as well as Meng Jun's personal guards, scout camps, etc., a total of 100,000 people.