Southern Ming Rebel Army

At four o'clock in the morning, the city of Jiangning was still pitch black and silent. Only the occasional sound of clappers could be heard. It was the sound of night patrol officers holding lanterns.

The huge city of Jiangning was pitch black, like a giant beast lurking here. Although Jiangning had not been disturbed by the war, the chaos in various parts of Jiangnan still irritated the nerves of this city all the time. Recently, the number of refugees in the city had obviously increased. Although Jiangnan was a prosperous place, the people had also become somewhat impoverished. Some of the markets in the city were filled with refugees huddled on both sides of the streets.

At this time, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds came from afar, and several cavalrymen on their war horses galloped towards the city gate.

"Quick, lower the basket and pull the people up." After nightfall, the city gates were not allowed to be opened. The soldiers guarding the city lowered the basket and pulled the messenger up. After checking all the documents, they let the leader into the city, and the rest were left outside the city gates to watch the horses.

The messenger clasped his fists towards the soldiers guarding the city, then hurriedly ran towards the Governor's Mansion.

The soldiers guarding the city couldn't help but talk about it when they saw him walking away.

"It's so late, is there another rebellion?"

"Who knows, maybe it's Jiangyin, or maybe it's Suzhou"

"We have been fighting for two months in Jiangyin City. Even with an army of over 100,000 surrounding them, they still haven't taken it. These people are really tough."

"Do you think we should stock up on some rice? If the price of rice goes up, we won't be able to afford our military pay."

Upon hearing this, the garrison officer guarding the city shouted to the cavalrymen watching their horses below the city, "Brother, what's the matter? If it's convenient, just say no. If it's not convenient, forget it."

The cavalryman sitting on the ground looked up and said, "Suzhou City fought a battle, neither won nor lost, and I don't know anything else."

The people on the city walls were confused. What did this mean? They didn't win or lose, but they were fighting...

In the Governor's Office in Jiangning, Hong Chengchou sat on a desk with a memorial to Beijing on it. "When the royal army marched eastward, the people in the places they passed welcomed them with wine and food. The counties and towns in the southeast were at peace for a while. It was as if they were unaware of the great upheaval. Since the order to shave the hair was issued, people's hearts have been shaken and have been in turmoil. Therefore, the loyal ministers of the previous dynasty and the treacherous people near and far who have always harbored different ideas have taken advantage of it and have been in turmoil..."

Hong Chengchou thought for a moment and wrote two sentences at the end of the memorial: "The rebels cannot be pacified without appeasement, and the rebels cannot be truly appeased without true suppression." Then he closed the memorial, sealed it with sealing wax, and put it in a wooden box.

At this time, a personal soldier whispered outside the door, "Governor, there is news from Suzhou."

"Bring it in!" a majestic voice came from the door.

The personal soldier pushed open the door, lowered his head, handed over the document, and then immediately turned around and walked out.

Hong Chengchou tore off the wax seal, took out the document, and put it down after a moment.

"Alas," Hong Chengchou rubbed his forehead with his hand as he was overwhelmed by the complexity of things. He was old, already 53 years old this year. As the ancients said, one knows the destiny at the age of 50. Many years of military career had made him increasingly lack of energy.

"With wars everywhere, there can be no peace. Let's appease them," Hong Chengchou murmured.

……

After receiving the confirmed news that Bai Yongfu had withdrawn his troops, Meng Jun also retreated to the Suzhou camp to rest and reorganize the troops. After the battle, many weapons were damaged, so they had to be repaired before they could be used again. After repelling the Qing army, Meng Jun was already thinking about the next move.

Meng Jun spent most of the day looking at the map, and Songjiang Prefecture was the only soft persimmon now. Li Chengdong had fled back to Songjiang Prefecture after the last defeat, and now his troops were empty, so it should be easy to take over Songjiang Prefecture.

At this time, Yu An opened the tent, walked in and said, "Yang Changshi is here."

Hearing this, Meng Jun looked away from the map and said, "Let the Chief Secretary come in. Also, if Chief Secretary Yang comes to see us in the future, we don't need to inform him. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Governor," Yu An responded quickly.

After a while, Yang En came in and said with a bitter face, "Governor, there is almost no money in the account."

Meng Jun was stunned and asked hurriedly, "How come you ran out of money so quickly? How much money do you have in your account now?"

Yang En took out the account book and was about to hand it to Meng Jun, but Meng Jun waved his hand and said, "Just tell me."

After hearing this, Yang En closed the account book and said, "Governor, there are only 210,000 taels left in the account. This money is only enough to sustain the army for two months."

Meng Jun was a little bit unbelievable, and after a while he said, "So fast, more than three hundred thousand taels were spent in more than a month???"

Yang En smiled bitterly and said, "Grand Commander, the weapons manufacturing, we need to make guns and cannons, and there are also military pay, rewards for this battle, pensions, and the Investigation Department, we have already received 40,000 taels in succession."

"How much summer tax can be collected?"

"The two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty can collect about 30 million shi of silver per year. The tax in Suzhou alone is more than 200 shi, which is equivalent to 1.5 million taels of silver. Last year, the tax in Suzhou was 980,000 taels of silver, but that was for the entire Suzhou prefecture. Our army now only occupies the city of Suzhou. It is estimated that we can collect at most 300,000 taels of silver. This amount of money is not enough to support the 50,000 people now," Yang En bowed to Meng Jun.

"Mu De, what do you think about us raising funds in Suzhou city?" Meng Jun suddenly had an idea and thought of a good idea.

"This is probably not easy. Even if we donate, I'm afraid it won't be much," Yang En said hesitantly.

Meng Jun scratched his head and pondered for a moment. Suddenly he thought of something and asked Yang En, "Is the Propaganda Department in charge of Wu Tai, the counselor?"

Yang En nodded and said "Yes"

Meng Jun then shouted outside the tent, "Yu An, tell Wu to come see me quickly."

The three of them then discussed for a long time in the camp. Yang and Wu were a little skeptical about the effectiveness, but they decided to give it a try.

The next day, a high platform was built in Suzhou City, where soldiers of the Meng army narrated how brutal the Tartars were and the bloody battle between the Meng army and the Qing army at Yangcheng Lake. They focused on the typical deeds of the Meng army soldiers in the war, and raised funds from the people of Suzhou for the dead and wounded soldiers. Many of these soldiers were local people of Suzhou, and the people of Suzhou empathized with them, and many people responded and donated enthusiastically.

At this moment, a woman suddenly squeezed in from the crowd and said in a cuckoo-like voice, "I want to donate."

When everyone took a closer look, they found that it was the top prostitute in Tian Shang Ren Jian in Suzhou city. She was holding a box filled with banknotes and jewelry. This made the onlookers sigh. If a prostitute donated so much, how could so many men put aside their pride and not donate? Moreover, Suzhou has always been the richest area in the Ming Dynasty. The scene became lively in an instant.

Meng Jun stood on a tall building in the distance and looked down. He couldn't help but burst into tears and said happily, "Good, good, the people of Suzhou are so nice."