Southern Ming Rebel Army

The city of Suzhou was silent late at night. In a dilapidated temple on the eastern outskirts of the city, two beggars were sleeping. At this moment, lightning streaked across the starry sky, followed by a rumbling sound. The Buddha statues in the temple seemed to be shaking. There was a loud crash, and heavy rain fell without any warning.

There were sounds of hurried footsteps coming from outside the temple, and the sound woke up an old beggar who was sleeping by the door. The old beggar squinted his eyes and took a look, only to see two people walking in from outside, one of them was carrying a load covered with cloth. After the two entered the temple, they glanced at the two beggars. The two looked at each other without speaking, walked to the corner, put down their loads and began to clean the water stains on their bodies. After cleaning, the two leaned against the wall and closed their eyes to take a nap. The old beggar watched the two out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't make any move and continued to sleep with his eyes squinted. It was obvious that they were suspicious people walking at night with a load on their shoulders, but for this beggar, these were none of his business. What he should think about was where to go to beg tomorrow.

These two people were spies of the Qing army. Since Li Chengdong's defeat, the Qing army in Jiangning had sent two waves of secret agents to investigate the military intelligence of the Suzhou rebel army. The name Meng Jun had appeared on the desk of Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiangnan, several times. When Hong Chengchou arrived in Jiangning, he summoned the civil and military officials of Jiangning and made it his top priority to defeat the Su thief Meng Jun and recapture Suzhou. Suzhou had been lost for a long time, and rebel armies had risen up in Jiangnan. Suzhou was an important tax-paying area in Jiangnan, so how could the Qing court lose it for long? After receiving the news of the loss of Suzhou, Hong Chengchou had not yet arrived in Jiangning when the order to mobilize the troops had already reached Bai Yongfu, a general under Liu Zeqing. He had 60,000 troops under his command and was temporarily stationed in Luzhou.

However, there were righteous armies everywhere in Jiangnan at that time. The army and civilians of Jiangyin had been resisting for two months. Bolo was the commander, commanding the Eight Banners and more than 100,000 Green Camp soldiers to besiege Jiangyin. Accompanying them were Nikan, Gongshun King Kong Youde, and Liu Liangzuo, a surrendered general of the Ming army. There were only more than 100,000 people in the whole city of Jiangyin, and they were all temporary recruits with very little military experience. Even so, Jiangyin was still holding on. Hong Chengchou had just arrived in Jiangning. After Li Chengdong's defeat, Hong Chengchou needed to regroup the army. Bai Yongfu's army had not yet arrived in Jiangning, which gave Meng Jun precious time to prepare.

The next morning, the sky had cleared up. Last night's heavy rain brought some coolness to Suzhou. Dozens of rebel soldiers were seen at the city gate, holding swords and watching the people queuing in and out of the city gate. Farmers from nearby villages often carried vegetables or handicrafts into the city to sell. The yamen runners and soldiers at the city gate were checking the hands of every suspicious person.

"Come here and open your hands," a soldier shouted loudly. The man who was called was a little nervous. He quickly put down the burden on his shoulders and opened his hands. The soldier looked at his palms, pulled open the clothes on his shoulders, took another look, and waved to let him go.

The two spies looked at the city gate from a distance. One of them frowned and whispered, "The inspection at the city gate is so strict. I have calluses on my hands. If they check me, I will be exposed. What should I do?"

"I don't have any calluses on my hands. Why don't I go into the city first and take a look?" said another person hesitantly.

"Then go in and take a look first. I'll wait for you at the temple in three days."

At this time, there was a commotion at the city gate, and the villagers who were queuing up to enter the city scattered in panic. The two spies took a closer look and saw that the rebel soldiers were heading out of the city like a tide, one team after another, and there seemed to be no end.

After discussing the organization with Lin Shiqi and Meng Bizhi, Meng Jun convened several consecutive meetings of middle-level officers. After several days of chaotic yet orderly reorganization of the rebel army, Meng Jun decided to organize a military formation exercise.

"Form a battle formation and quickly pass through the city gate," the generals of each flag shouted while trotting. Meng Jun decided to station the army outside the city, leaving only the necessary soldiers in the city. At the same time, he conducted a large-scale military exercise to allow the soldiers to adapt and feel the situation in advance.

After incorporating the surrendered soldiers from Li Chengdong's army and selecting more than 5,000 auxiliary troops, Meng Jun once again formed a new town called Ningwu Town, with Lin Shiqi as the commander. The town led by Meng Jun himself was renamed Changlin Town.

"They change this and that every few days. Now it's become Ningwu Town. I haven't even gotten familiar with the original team yet and I'm transferred to another place. I really don't know what those officials are thinking. Now they are talking about rehearsing something. What's the point? It's a waste of energy." Yu Youtian curled his lips and thought silently in his heart. Of course, he didn't dare to say this out loud.

"Go faster, go faster." The military discipline officer with a red cloth tied on his arm was holding a stick and maintaining the formation on the periphery. The soldiers were all wearing black uniforms, and only the sergeants and other grassroots officers wore armor.

Although most of the soldiers from the two towns did not wear armor and their marching formation was not very neat, their uniform black uniforms and the sight of them carrying swords and guns still frightened a large group of inexperienced villagers.

At noon, the sky was a little cloudy and the sunlight was a little weak. The soldiers from the two towns had arrived at the outskirts of East City. After walking for nearly two hours, Yu Youtian was soaked all over. He didn't eat anything good, but he just kept getting fat. What does being fat mean? It means that he eats well. People who don't know him will look at him with higher regard. If his family was not poor and couldn't afford the five taels of betrothal gift, matchmakers would have lined up to come to his house. Yu Youtian thought happily that he now had an income of two taels of silver every month. After three months, it would be easy for him to ask a matchmaker to find a wife for him.

Yu Youtian was thinking about good things while looking around. There were people on all sides, densely packed. Yu Youtian thought, with so many people, who could beat him? Now he was also a member of such a huge army. Yu Youtian looked back at Meng Jun on the slope not far away. He looked so tall and a good man. He gave him two taels of silver without any discount when the commander-in-chief said so. He had to listen to whoever the commander-in-chief said to fight.

There were over ten thousand people, endless, and an army of twenty thousand people gathered here. Meng Jun stood on the slope with sweat on his forehead. Lin Shiqi was also a little nervous. None of them had commanded so many troops. According to Ji Xiao's new book, he was at most a general of a thousand men. Lin Shiqi's throat was a little dry, and he looked at the huge crowd and unconsciously made a slight "ah" sound.

Only now did Meng Jun realize that holding so many meetings would be of little use. Commanding so many troops was a huge problem, but Meng Jun had to appear firm on the surface. If the general was in a panic, the people under him would be even more panicked. It would be common for them to be defeated if they accidentally encountered the enemy.

Meng Jun calmed his mind and said in a deep voice, "Beat the drums, form the battle array!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gao Yi and several other personal guards immediately shouted loudly, "Beat the drums, form the battle line." A team of messengers rode fast horses to pass the message to the captains in various positions in the battle line.

"Boom, boom, boom... boom, boom" the drums sounded, and the soldiers were shocked and felt heroic. They heard the messenger in the back row shouting "Line up, line up!"