Southern Ming Rebel Army

After Yang En left, Meng Jun sat down on the table, feeling uncomfortable. He felt good about himself, but why did the officials of the Ming Dynasty seem to dislike him? Only a few Jinyiwei came now, and gave him an empty title of general without any treatment. They didn't even support him with weapons and equipment. Even if there was Hangzhou in between, at least they could at least bring some banknotes over.

The more he thought about it, the more depressed he became. Meng Jun casually picked up a useless piece of waste paper on the table, rolled it into a ball and threw it out of the tent. Yu An curiously looked over. Meng Jun angrily scolded, "Can't you see how dirty the floor is? Why don't you clean it up?"

After saying that, Meng Jun put his hands behind his waist and strode out. Yu An scratched his head, looking at the spotless tent with a confused look on his face. After a moment, seeing Meng Jun walking away, Yu An hurriedly followed him.

In the battle of Yangcheng Lake, more than 2,600 people were killed in Kewu Town and more than 1,000 were injured. The casualties in the town were almost 40%. The number of people has now been fully replenished, and weapons have been given priority. Only the grassroots officers are slightly insufficient. In a few days, troops will be sent to attack Songjiang Prefecture, so some officers were drawn from the other two towns to replenish the staff.

Yu Youtian said to his second brother Li beside him with some emotion, "Second brother, you are older than me. I have worked in Changlin Town, Ningwu Town, and now I am in Kewu Town. Every time I change places, I get promoted. This is fate."

Second brother Li looked at Yu Youtian with envy and some depression. Since the battle of Yangcheng Lake, it was confirmed by the captives that Yu Youtian and his squad killed Bai Songlin, Bai Yongfu's personal guard. This achievement directly made Yu Youtian from a small squad leader to a general flag, and Chang Yuanding, who cut the last blow, was also promoted to general flag. Only Second brother Li got nothing. These days he has been mumbling about the officer in charge of the achievements. It is obvious that he did not get promoted because he was not as good-looking as Chang Yuanding.

Before Yu Youtian had even gotten comfortable in his position as the general flag bearer, he was transferred from Ningwu Town to Kewu Town by a transfer order. Not in vain, he was promoted again, from a general flag bearer to a captain, from a grassroots officer to a middle-level officer. Not only did his military pay increase, he could also carry two personal soldiers with him. Seeing that Li Erdi was a little indignant, Yu Youtian waved his hand and made Li Erdi his own personal soldier. His military pay increased and he could also be equipped with armor.

During the registration, the personal soldiers of other people were all mighty and strong, except for Second Brother Li, who was thin and dark, and his armor was ill-fitting. Although other people looked at him strangely, Yu Youtian didn't care. After all, they were brothers, and that wasn't called that for nothing.

Li Erdi said to Yu Youtian enviously, "Boss Yu, your promotion speed is like a monkey soaring to the sky, do you have any tricks?"

Yu Youtian rolled his eyes at Li Erdi and said, "Burn more incense every day, and the Bodhisattva will bless you." After that, he strode towards the camp.

“Worship the Buddha, hey, boss, can you tell me which great god we are worshipping…” When Li Erdi saw Yu Youtian striding forward, he hurriedly followed him and asked.

In Suzhou city, the common people did not have too much intuitive feeling when they heard the news of the great victory. However, when they saw large numbers of Qing army heads pulled in carts and slowly passing by outside Suzhou city, as well as the Qing army's armor and flags, and a large number of prisoners, the people watching outside the city exclaimed from time to time.

The news spread throughout Suzhou City as fast as wings. Merchants who had originally closed their businesses and prepared to flee Suzhou regained their confidence and reopened for business. The streets of Suzhou gradually returned to their former prosperity.

"Shiqi, Mude, the heavy armored army must be expanded as soon as possible. I also intend to expand the army by two more towns. The personnel structure can be organized first, and the weapons and armor can be replenished slowly. Shiqi, the soldiers' training cannot be relaxed either."

The two nodded as they listened. Yang En asked in confusion, "Commander-in-chief, are you not bringing the heavy armored troops with you when you send troops to Songjiang this time?"

"No, this time more than half of the heavy armored troops were killed or wounded. They need to be replenished and reorganized, and their armor needs to be repaired. We don't need the heavy armored troops to fight Li Chengdong. I will take the artillery and scout battalion with me," Meng Jun shook his head.

After the Battle of Yangcheng Lake, Bai Yongfu still had 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry stationed in Wuxi. Meng Jun actually had no way to deal with him. After this battle, although Meng's army gained a certain amount of space and time, the overall strategic situation was still very bad. A Qing army was stationed in Hangzhou in the south, with a total number of about 40,000 people, but the weapons and equipment as well as the camp numbers of each unit are still uncertain. The Intelligence Department has sent people to infiltrate and investigate, but no news has been sent back yet.

The closest person in the north is Bai Yongfu from Wuxi. It's a tough situation, and no one dares to make the first move.

Although the Qing army surrendered a million Ming troops, there were wars everywhere and troops were being deployed everywhere. Zhang Xianzhong's Dashi Army in Sichuan had hundreds of thousands of rebel troops.

He Tengjiao of Hubei had tens of thousands of soldiers, including Wu Zong, Yao Youxing, Long Jianming, Tan Yuchun, Man Dazhuang, Huang Maogong, Fu Shangrui, Hu Yuelong, Wu Sheng, Chen Shaoyao, Xiang Dengwei, Xiang Wenming, and more than 45,000 soldiers. After Li Zicheng's death, his subordinates were divided into two parts to fight against the Qing Dynasty, led by Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun, Li Guo, and Gao Yigong. The two parts successively contacted the governor He Tengjiao and Du Yinxi, the governor of Hubei, and accepted the control of the Longwu Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, and united with the Ming Dynasty to fight against the Qing Dynasty, which made He Tengjiao's nominal military strength even greater.

So, although the situation was tense, Meng Jun felt that the Qing court would not be able to send a large army to attack him for the time being, as they posed a much greater threat than himself.

However, what Meng Jun didn't know was that he had occupied Suzhou City, which was an important town in the south of the Yangtze River. If Suzhou was unstable, Jiangning would be under threat at all times. Of course, Bai Yongfu had just been defeated and it would not be so easy for him to gather a large army again and besiege Suzhou.

"Governor, look, this is a good thing I found from a sea merchant." Meng Bian was happily presenting a treasure.

Meng Jun leaned over to take a look, and saw an exquisite gift box in Meng Bian's hand, with a silk ribbon tied around the wooden box.

Meng Jun said with some dissatisfaction, "What a fancy thing, just take it apart!"

Meng Bian hurriedly opened it and saw a long tube-like object inside. When Meng Jun saw it, his eyes lit up and he reached out to pick up the object. Isn't this a telescope?

Meng Jun walked out of the tent, picked up the telescope and looked into the distance. It was indeed a telescope. The only flaw was that what appeared in the eyes was a reflection. However, Meng Jun felt that he could overcome this flaw.

"Do you have more of this thing? Buy a few more and we can make them ourselves," Meng Jun said to Meng Bian excitedly.

Meng Bian thought for a moment, and said uncertainly, "There should be more, Master. How about I go and have a look?"

"Why are you still standing there? Go now."

…………