Southern Ming Rebel Army

"Young Master, I have just started preparing, and we don't even have any spies yet," Meng Bian said with a bitter face. Meng Bian, who was pulled back from outside the city by Gao Yi, looked as if he found it difficult to do so after hearing Meng Jun's request.

"I will ask Huang Cheng's scout team to go out and investigate. You should also send people over. The main purpose of the scouts is to see if the Qing army has entered or left the city. There are a few things you need to do when you send people over. First, you need to send people into the city to find out who is leading the troops, second, whether they are carrying artillery, third, whether there are any rebel forces in the mountains and forests along the way, and fourth, the conditions of the roads, bridges and paddy fields along the way must be recorded."

Meng Bian was a little confused after hearing this. Most people could not meet these requirements. How could they investigate after entering Nanjing without knowing anything? The other points could not be achieved through simple investigation.

Seeing that Meng Bian seemed to be at a loss, Meng Jun sighed and said, "Go find Zhang Bo and ask him to introduce some ways to Nanjing. Send spies to infiltrate first. It's best to set up a base in Nanjing. Everything is difficult at the beginning, so take your time."

Looking at Meng Bian's leaving figure, Meng Jun touched his furrowed brows. It was really too difficult. The intelligence was insufficient and he didn't even know which direction the Qing army would attack from. After sitting in a chair and looking at the map of Jiangnan and thinking for a moment, Meng Jun's eyes looked towards Songjiang Prefecture.

Just as Meng Jun was concentrating on looking at the map, Gao Yi walked in and said, "General, Han Yingguan's cavalry has arrived in Suzhou City. It is said that Han Yingguan's men are ten miles away from Suzhou City."

"Let's go and take a look," Meng Jun said immediately after he came to his senses after being interrupted.

In a pavilion five miles away from the east city of Suzhou, Meng Jun sat on a chair, Gao Yi stood beside him, and more than fifty guards stood solemnly by their side. Cicadas chirped constantly on the willow trees around them. The August sun was extremely scorching, and everyone was sweating profusely from the sun.

Meng Jun stood up and looked at some black spots in the distance. Gradually, the black spots became bigger and bigger. The leader was Han Xiong. Han Xiong had been away from Suzhou City for only more than half a month. He took away a thousand battalions. When he came back, the number of troops had nearly tripled. Meng Jun estimated that there were about three thousand people. Although there were many troops, their armor and weapons were not complete. When he looked closely, some of them were even carrying kitchen knives and wooden sticks.

"Grand Commander..." Han Xiong was a little excited when he saw Meng Jun. He jumped off his horse from a distance and walked towards him in two steps. The moment Meng Jun saw Han Xiong dismount from his horse, he also hurried to meet him.

As soon as he saw Meng Jun, Han Xiong immediately knelt on one knee and said loudly, "The great commander-in-chief is so powerful. He defeated Li Chengdong in the battle of Suzhou City. The whole world is paying attention to him. It has greatly boosted the morale of the people in Jiangnan."

Meng Jun helped Han Xiong up almost the moment he knelt down. Meng Jun patted Han Xiong on the shoulder and laughed, "Li Chengdong is incompetent in managing his army. A night attack defeated Li Chengdong's army. Brother Han can form another town after you come back. We'll talk about it in detail when we get back home. Come on, I've already prepared a welcome party for you in the lobby."

At night, after settling the rebel army led by Han Xiong, everyone came to the lobby. After taking over Suzhou City for so long, this was the first time Meng Jun held a banquet. The wine and food were hosted by the restaurant in the city. There were not too many delicacies on the banquet, and some overly luxurious dishes were directly rejected by Meng Jun.

"Hurry up, Xiao Li, check if the chicken soup is boiling. These Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs are almost cooked. Xiao Wang, get the chef ready to cook squirrel fish. Check the salted duck to see if it's cooked enough..."

Gao Yi and several personal guards stayed in the kitchen and watched the cooks busy at work. The aroma emanating from the kitchen made one of them drool.

"Yu An, wipe your saliva quickly. You are so ignorant. Aren't you ashamed?" Gao Yi scolded one of them in frustration.

"It smells so good, I can't help it." Yu An swallowed his saliva

"Military officers, please make way." Gao Yi quickly moved aside and leaned against the wall to let the kitchen helpers pass. This banquet brought together most of the military and political leaders in Suzhou. If someone poisoned them, they would be in trouble. Therefore, Gao Yi could not afford to be careless and it was never too careful.

"Grand Commander, let me introduce you. This is my close friend Zhao Yongping. When the Qing court issued the order to shave his head, Yongping sold his family property to help the country, and used up all his wealth to gather people to raise an army." Han Xiong took Zhao Yongping's hand and introduced him to Meng Jun.

Meng Jun stood up and said, "General Zhao is a hero, and those who oppose the Qing Dynasty are all my fellow men."

"Grand Commander Miao Zan, the Grand Commander conquered Suzhou in one battle, and defeated Li Chengdong in another battle. He gathered tens of thousands of soldiers, trained soldiers, and built weapons. The commander-in-chief's talent is a hundred times better than mine. I don't deserve the title of commander-in-chief and hero." Zhao Yongping's face flushed a little. When Meng Jun called him a general, Zhao Yongping was so excited that he could not calm down. He gave up his pen to join the army, abandoned his family and career, just to emulate his ancestors, drive out the Tartars, and restore the country.

The dishes at the banquet were gradually served, and everyone raised their glasses to toast Meng Jun. Meng Jun accepted all the toasts, and after a round, Meng Jun's face turned pale.

After three rounds of drinking, everyone's faces flushed. Meng Jun looked at the people in the audience: Lin Shiqi, Han Xiong, Meng Bizhi, Meng Bian, Zhu Tu, Zhao Yongping, Huang Cheng, Qian Biao, Zhang Shun, Wang Defu, Yang En, Yang Can, Wu Tai, Zhang Bo, and some middle-level military officers. There were crowds of people in the hall, drinking and chatting happily. It was a lively scene.

"Master Zhu, you are too slow in making the armor. At this rate, my town won't be complete in ten years," said Lin Shiqi, hugging Zhu Tu while holding a wine glass.

Zhu Tu shook his head and said, "This iron armor is definitely not distributed to the entire army. I have started to produce cotton armor in large quantities now. I believe that the entire army will be able to equip it with cotton armor soon." After saying that, Zhu Tu patted his chest, and he didn't realize that his beard was wet with wine.

Yang En sat beside Meng Jun and said softly to him, "Governor, after the defeat of Li Chengdong's army, your reputation in the court will surely increase. Should we send someone to Zhejiang to meet with Prince Lu as the regent?"

Meng Jun glanced at Yang En and said with a hint of drunkenness, "Why do you need me to go? Just wait and see. Before long, Zhejiang and Fujian will have to send people to see me."

Meng Jun stood up after he finished speaking, raised his glass, and waited until everyone's attention was focused before he spoke, "Today's banquet is to welcome Officer Han, and secondly, everyone has been very busy these days. Please drink this glass to the full."

Everyone raised their glasses in response. After everyone finished drinking, Meng Jun said, "We have defeated Li Chengdong. The Eastern Tartars will never sit idly by and watch us occupy Suzhou. We cannot let our guard down. All the towns and camps must train their soldiers non-stop. Only by training hard can we win the battle. Let's drink to victory."

"Drink to win, drink to win..." The lobby was in a mess late at night. After a banquet, everyone was sent back by Meng Jun's personal guards, and Meng Jun had fallen asleep on the bed without knowing when.

The next morning, Meng Jun drank millet porridge while covering his head. He didn't expect that the alcohol would have such a strong aftereffect. His head was still buzzing even on the second day. He must not drink so much next time, Meng Jun secretly warned himself.