Southern Ming Rebel Army

Meng Jun took Meng Bian away from home and came to the streets of Changshu. There were low wooden houses on both sides of the street. The street was sparsely populated, and the occasional passers-by were in a hurry, giving the market a scene of decline.

Meng Jun walked around and felt bored. Everywhere he looked, he saw the same houses without any characteristics. Moreover, the shops seemed to be closed and lifeless. Although Changshu was not disturbed by war, the chaos in the south of the Yangtze River had obviously spread here. Meng Jun walked for about half an hour and was about to go home when he suddenly saw a group of people gathered together. Curious, he couldn't help but walk towards the crowd.

"Young Master," Meng Bian said to Meng Jun with a slightly expectant look in his eyes.

Meng Jun looked closely and saw a group of Qing soldiers and barbers beating a dying scholar to a bloody pulp. The scholar refused to have his head shaved, and the barbers, holding tiger-head knives, were about to chop at his neck, shouting, "You can either keep your head or your hair, or keep your hair or your head." Seeing this, Meng Jun shouted, "Stop!"

"How dare you! Shaving your head and keeping a braid is the imperial law. Who dares to disobey? Are you trying to rebel?" Seeing someone making trouble, a Qing soldier shouted loudly.

"How dare you! How dare you be rude to my young master!" Meng Bian saw someone dare to speak disrespectfully to Meng Jun, and immediately shouted, "You dare to speak to the adults like this with your status!"

"This..." After hearing Meng Bian's words, the Qing army was in doubt.

Lord Meng, these soldiers are blind and don't know the real purpose. I hope you can be magnanimous and forgive them this time." A bald man with a full beard said to Meng Jun with a fist.

"Captain Song... Captain Song, I... I didn't know you were Captain Qian." The soldier who stopped Meng Jun was so scared that his face turned pale and he stuttered.

"Well, never mind." Meng Jun said calmly without changing his expression.

Meng Jun stopped the barber's knife and saved the scholar's life. Of course, if he wanted to keep his hair, he had to shave it. After the scholar was knocked unconscious, he shaved his hair. The general Song saw that the scholar had shaved his hair and did not cause any more trouble. He just bowed to Meng Jun and said, "I'll take my leave." Then he left with the soldiers.

Meng Jun stared at the scholar in front of him and felt that this matter was quite tricky. The man had already fainted, and he had to rescue him. He couldn't just leave him lying on the street.

"Master, why don't you take him back to the military camp first? This place is not far from the East City Gate, and the military camp is three miles outside the East City."

"That's great." Meng Jun replied. Going to the military camp, he could see the current situation. As a thousand-man commander, the importance of the army in this chaotic world is self-evident. If he could lead a disciplined army, there would be no place in the world that he couldn't go. Thinking of this, Meng Jun couldn't help but feel excited.

Meng Bian carried the scholar on his back and walked towards the military camp, saying as he walked: "I haven't seen Bizhi for a few days. This is a good opportunity to go visit him."

"Um"

After a while... they arrived at the gate of the military camp, "Greetings, General Qian," the two gatekeepers said to Meng Jun while clasping their fists.

"Let Bizhi come to see me"

"Yes, sir," said a soldier, who ran inside to announce

"Take this scholar to my barracks"

"Yes, Master."

Arriving at Meng Jun's barracks, it was a two-story wooden house. After entering the room, Meng Bian put the scholar on a chair. At this time, a sturdy man entered the room. When he saw Meng Jun, he immediately knelt down excitedly and said, "Master, you are okay. I am glad you are okay."

"Alright, alright, hurry up and get up. Why are you kneeling when you are family?" Meng Jun saw the man kneeling down and immediately helped him up

At this time, Bizhi saw the scholar and asked, "Master, who is this..."

"Oh, this is a scholar that the young master rescued on the street. He refused to shave his head. If he had been a little later, his head would have been gone." At this time, Bi An explained from the side.

"Well, Bizhi, is there anything going on in the camp during the days I was away?"

"Master, everything is normal in the camp. However, I heard some news that they want to transfer us to Jiaxing to transport supplies. The garrison commander Wang has not yet said the details."

After a while of chatting, Meng Jun finally knew how valuable his position as a thousand-man commander was. There were a total of 720 soldiers in the camp, usually commanded by Wang Shoubei. However, Wang Shoubei usually lived in the city and rarely came to the camp. There were three battalion commanders in the camp, Meng Bizhi, Song Jianping, and Lin Shiqi. Among them, Meng Bizhi was a die-hard family member, Song Jianping was Wang Shoubei's direct descendant, and Lin Shiqi was neutral. He would listen to anyone's orders. Lin Shiqi had 60 to 70 northern defeated soldiers under his command. These defeated soldiers were quite brave and gathered under Lin Shiqi. It was indeed true that there was no party outside the party, the emperor's thoughts, and no faction within the party, and there were all kinds of strange things. The great man did not deceive me.

At this time, there was a sound nearby, and the scholar was seen groaning and slowly waking up. After the scholar woke up, he learned that he had shaved his head, but he remained silent. When asked his name, he didn't say anything, and he looked as if he was desperate. In the end, he only said this sentence:

"My body and hair are from my parents. Now that I have lost my hair ornaments, I have to let my hair down and wear my clothes on the left. I am ashamed to face my ancestors."

"Oh, you sour scholar, just cut your hair. It's better than losing your life, right?" Meng Bizhi couldn't help but retort when he heard this.

"Scholar, there is still hope as long as you are alive, but there is really no hope if you are dead," Meng Jun couldn't help but speak up to comfort him.

"Hope" When the scholar heard this, a glimmer of light appeared in his eyes. Although he remained silent, he looked much better.

Meng Jun knew that the Qing Dynasty would have the last laugh in the end. It was now the second year of Shunzhi. Meng Jun vaguely remembered that Li Zicheng died in Jiugong Mountain in Hubei this year. And Zhang Xianzhong would be shot to death by the Qing army next year. As for the Southern Ming, they ignored the Qing Dynasty's power and attacked it first because of the dispute over the throne.

Meng Jun wanted to change history, but there was a very realistic point, that is, the army and territory. He was just a small captain now and had no qualifications to lead an army independently. What's more, the three captains under him were not all of one mind. As for territory, he had none at all. A myriad of thoughts flooded Meng Jun's mind at once.

At this time, a soldier came in to inform Lin Shiqi that he was coming to see him. Meng Jun looked at this northern man seriously.

Lin Shiqi, a thin man with a dark face, was from Yulin, Shaanxi. It was said that he was born in the Guanning Iron Cavalry. He had a long face and a scar on his cheek from the brow bone to the lips, which looked very scary. Lin Shiqi came over and just exchanged a few words with Meng Jun before leaving.

As resistance against the shaving order intensified in Jiangnan, the Qing regent Dorgon decided to appoint a heavyweight figure to come to Jiangnan to pacify the situation. This figure was Hong Chengchou, the former Governor-General of Ji and Liao of the Ming Dynasty and the Prince Taibao.