Southern Ming Rebel Army

Just when Meng Jun was besieging Zhenjiang, the war was not just going on in the south of the Yangtze River. The situation was chaotic across the country, with wars taking place everywhere in the north and the south. The chaotic times had begun in the reign of Chongzhen, and it had been nearly twenty years since then, and there had been no sign of a return to peace.

In the north, after the Eight Banners entered the Pass, they used horses to enclose land. The Eight Banners descendants rode horses to enclose the land. The larger the circle the horse could run, the land inside it belonged to the bannermen.

This caused a large number of Han people to become landless, either slaves or refugees. The conflicts between the Manchus and the Han people became increasingly intense, and some of them became bandits or gathered together to become thieves, which made Hebei Province unstable.

In Shandong, the Yuyuan Army uprising had not yet subsided. The Yuyuan Army even captured Jining. Although they quickly evacuated after collecting supplies, the situation in Shandong was still tense.

In Guangdong and Guangxi, after defeating the offensive of the Yongli court, Sun Qi was conferred the title of Duke of Protectorate by the Shaowu Emperor, and was in charge of the largest army of about 40,000 people formed by the Shaowu court from all over the country.

Naturally, Meng Jun, who was far away in the south of the Yangtze River, was not comparable to him in making contributions beside the emperor. Later, Sun Qi led his army to attack Wuzhou, Guangxi. The Yongli court appointed Ding Kuichu as the commander-in-chief to fight against Sun Qi. After a chaotic battle between two weaklings, Sun Qi came from a military background and was stronger than Ding Kuichu. Ding Kuichu's troops retreated back to Wuzhou.

Upon receiving the news, Emperor Yongli fled overnight and rushed to Guilin. When the court officials were preparing to attend court in the daytime, they heard that the emperor had fled. They hurriedly packed their bags, took their families, and followed the emperor.

Afterwards, Ding Kuichu received the news of the court's evacuation, and he hastily withdrew from Wuzhou and retreated to Guilin, saying, "The emperor's guards are not enough, so I will guard your side."

After entering Wuzhou, the Protector of the Nation Gongsun Qi was very pleased with himself and said to his attendants: "Heaven has entrusted me with a great mission and I will surely be able to restore the world and bring peace and prosperity to the emperor."

Emperor Shaowu bestowed rewards on Sun Qi endlessly, as if he regarded Sun Qi as an outstanding general and a trustworthy minister of the country.

Emperor Yongli was not safe even in Guilin. After Kong Youde pacified Hunan, he coveted Guangxi. After He Tengjiao retreated from Hunan, he retreated to Quanzhou, Guangxi. Kong Youde led his army to besiege Quanzhou. He Tengjiao urgently reported to Emperor Yongli and asked for reinforcements. However, after receiving the letter for help, Emperor Yongli learned that the Qing troops had entered Guangxi. He wept and was in a state of panic all day long. He lamented, "How can there be an emperor who flees everywhere in the world?"

After sighing, Emperor Yongli, who had not been in Guilin for ten days, fled westward again. This time he fled far, all the way to Guiyang, Guizhou.

He Tengjiao had no reinforcements outside and no food and money inside. He was disheartened under the siege of Kong Youde, but he refused to surrender. He went into the government office and asked his servants to set fire to it, thus sacrificing his life for his country.

In Fujian, the rebel army of Prince Lu rose up in all directions. Although they were powerful, most of them were incompletely armed and only held countless hoes and iron forks.

Zhang Cunren, the former governor of Hangzhou, had been appointed as the governor of Fujian by Dorgon. Although the uprising of the rebels made Li Chengdong and Jin Shengheng run around, as long as the Qing troops arrived, they were almost invincible. Gradually, under Zhang Cunren's kindness and power, the gentry in Fujian gradually surrendered. After a few months, the rebel army in Fujian gradually subsided, and Li Chengdong even raided Xiamen. With the killing of Zheng Cai, King Lu fled to Nan'ao Island and surrendered to Zheng Chenggong. Fujian has gradually stabilized.

Zhang Cunren lacked a navy. Although Zhang Cunren formed a navy in Quanzhou, Putian and other places, once they were gathered, they were destroyed by Zheng Chenggong and his troops. Seeing that it was hopeless to form a navy in Fujian, Zhang Cunren focused his attention on the Shaowu court in Guangdong!

At this time, Zheng Chenggong had gathered more than 30,000 of his old subordinates and nearly a thousand warships. Seeing the powerful Qing army in Fujian, Zheng Chenggong decided to retake Taiwan to accommodate the families of his soldiers.

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In Sichuan, after leaving Sichuan, the Dashi Army fought dozens of battles with Hauge and Wu Sangui, but lost more than they won.

Zhang Xianzhong suffered a series of defeats and the battle situation was very bad. The Western Army was defeated one after another. At the same time, Yang Zhan, a lieutenant general of the Ming Dynasty in the rear, took the opportunity to counterattack.

The Western Army was attacked from both sides. Yang Zhan led his troops to seize the counties in southern Sichuan and marched northward. He fought a fierce battle with the Western Army at Jiangkou in Pengshan and defeated the Western Army. Yang Zhan pressed towards Chengdu from the south. At the same time, Hauge led the Qing army to capture Hanzhong and advance into central Sichuan. The northern gate of Sichuan was already opened.

Zhang Xianzhong was furious and decided to abandon Chengdu. He led his troops out of Chengdu and headed north to meet the Qing army.

Zhang Xianzhong gathered more than 200,000 troops and stationed them in Fenghuang Mountain in Xichong. However, due to the betrayal of his subordinate Liu Jinzhong, he led the Qing army out of Hanzhong through Bayu Pass, turned westward along the Donghe Valley to the south and Xichong, and launched a surprise attack on Fenghuang Mountain where the Western Army was located.

The Qing troops arrived suddenly, and Zhang Xianzhong, who was unprepared, was caught off guard. Although the Western Army was ambushed, it was still able to hold on. However, a stray arrow came from somewhere and hit Zhang Xianzhong. The commander's life or death was unknown, and the Western Army was in a panic. It was defeated by the Qing army's surprise attack.

Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Nengqi, four adopted sons, urgently asked Zhang Xianzhong to evacuate. Before his death, Zhang Xianzhong said to his four adopted sons: "The three hundred years of Ming Dynasty's orthodoxy may not end so soon. This is also God's will. After I die, you should quickly return to the Ming Dynasty and don't be unrighteous."

Afterwards, the four of them hastily buried Zhang Xianzhong and led their troops south to surrender to Emperor Yongli.

When Emperor Yongli received the news that the Western Army decided to surrender, he burst into tears. At this time, Emperor Yongli and his ministers no longer had the scenes in history of disdain for the Western Army and saying strange things in the court. No one mentioned things like the bandits had burned down the imperial tombs, and that Zhang the thief was a treasonous person who proclaimed himself emperor, etc. Everyone in the court praised them, saying that the righteous people were loyal and devoted, or that the country was in danger and the ministers had to support the emperor.

The Yongli Emperor and his ministers were defeated by the Shaowu court, but Du Yinxi was loyal to the Shaowu Emperor and had already changed his position to the Loyal Camp of the Eastern Commander. As for Meng Jun in Jiangnan, he had a perfunctory attitude towards both courts. Among all the generals in the world, the Yongli court was already at a disadvantage in terms of military strength.

Therefore, the Yongli Emperor regarded the surrender of the Dashi Army as a life-saving straw and sent more than ten edicts of rewards and honors to the Western Camp every day.

After Zhang Xianzhong's death, his four adopted sons restored their original surnames. Sun Kewang was conferred the title of King of Jin by Emperor Yongli, Li Dingguo was conferred the title of King of Qin, Liu Wenxiu was conferred the title of King of Shu, and Ai Nengqi, who had fewer troops, was conferred the title of King of Dingbei.

The Yongli court was full of confidence, believing that with the participation of hundreds of thousands of troops and experienced rebels, it would be an easy task to defeat the Shaowu false emperor.

Sun Kewang looked with a look of surprise at the Jinyiwei who were conveying the imperial edict from time to time. The incense table for receiving the imperial edict was set up and moved away, and then set up again. It was simply placed there at the back to avoid the trouble of going back and forth.

Li Dingguo sighed, thinking that if the court had treated him so well in Gucheng in the past, his father would not have rebelled. But it has come to this today. Li Dingguo has lost count of how many times he has fought with the government troops, but now he has become a member of the government army again.

The whole country was in turmoil, but Meng Jun was the only one who had no interest in the affairs of the Ming court. His eyes were fixed on Nando. At this time, Shen Tingyang had led 5,000 naval forces and more than 200 large and small warships to the north of the Yangtze River to stop Lekedehun from returning.