Southern Ming Rebel Army

Meng Jun got up early in the morning and worked up his strength in the tent. Half an hour later, Meng Jun was sweating all over, and beads of sweat kept rolling down. At this time, Yu An came in with a bowl of porridge and a plate of buns and said, "Commander-in-chief, it's time for breakfast."

Meng Jun nodded and said casually, "Leave it there." Then he stood up, picked up the long cloth beside him and wiped the sweat off his body. Then he sat on the chair, slowly drank the porridge and ate the buns in one bite.

Meng Jun was eating breakfast while looking at the map. The route of the army had already been planned. The army would go along Kunshan, Taicang, Jiading, and then to Songjiang. At this time, the rebels were scattered outside Jiading County, while there were rebels outside Kunshan and Taicang. Kunshan City was originally occupied by the rebels.

The villagers of Kunshan elected Wang Zuocai, the former general of Langshan in the Ming Dynasty, as the commander to defend Kunshan City to the death. Zhu Jihuang, Zhou Shiyu, Tao Yan, and Chen Daren jointly raised an army. In addition, Lieutenant General Chen Hongxun, former Ming Dynasty magistrate Yang Yongyan, third-rank guerrilla general Sun Zhiyin and others also joined the rebellion. Famous figures such as Gu Yanwu and Wu Qihang were also among the ranks of the central army staff. There was even a 70-year-old former Ming Dynasty general Wang Gongyang who was also on the front line defending Kunshan. This is what is called "those who are righteous will have many helpers."

Although a large number of villagers joined the ranks of the rebel army, the gap in strength between them and the Qing army was a chasm that was difficult to cross. Finally, on the sixth day of July, the west wall of Kunshan City was breached by the Qing army, and Kunshan City was broken. A large number of rebels were killed, and only a few escaped from the city and hid in the nearby mountains and forests.

Naturally, this information did not come from Meng Bian's spy department. These days, Meng Bian has been spending money like water, which made Meng Jun doubt whether it is necessary for him to set up this spy agency. Currently, a large amount of intelligence in Jiangnan is conveyed by local gentry who are nostalgic for their homeland.

Of course, Meng Jun had more sources of information, and the effect of defeating Bai Yongfu a few days ago made the name of Meng Jun really enter the ears of the gentry in Jiangnan. Some gentry began to slowly convey some goodwill. These news were incidental. During these days, Meng Jun even received some silver notes sent by gentry to reward the troops, totaling about 30,000 taels. This made Meng Jun sigh, "No matter what time it is, there are so many rich people..."

From time to time, some irrelevant news would pass through Zhang's channel and then from Zhang Bo to Meng Jun's desk. These news became evidence for Meng Jun's analysis of the Qing army's movements.

By capturing Songjiang Prefecture and having an outlet to the sea, Meng Jun could bypass Hangzhou and contact the Ming army in Zhejiang directly, or even the Zheng family in Fujian, which is even farther away. If he thought further ahead, he could form a navy, which could enable them to advance by land and sea in the near future and cover each other, or block the Yangtze River in the far future and separate the north and the south. Of course, these ideas currently only exist in Meng Jun's mind.

There are also the nine captured cannons, which have now become Meng Jun’s favorite. However, the captured shells and gunpowder are not enough. He searched the Suzhou city market and bought a lot of gunpowder, but he had no place to buy the shells, so he had to make them himself. Fortunately, they are basically solid shells, so they are not difficult to make.

Meng Jun was not idle during the few days he stayed in Suzhou. He formed a new small force, the Meng Army Firearms Team. Meng Jun decided to attack Songjiang Prefecture and also sent this Firearms Team out to give it a try.

This musket team has only two hundred people. It's not that Meng Jun doesn't want to expand the scale, but the production capacity is limited. There are too few craftsmen who can make guns. A musket can kill the enemy if it is well made, but if it is not well made and the barrel explodes, it will kill yourself.

After the fire gun was made, the source of gunpowder became a big problem. Now an important task for the Suzhou government officials was to search for saltpeter all over the city.

Saltpeter is usually found in old houses, toilets, walls, and pig pens in the countryside. A layer of white frost is saltpeter, but the quantity is really limited. There are not many firearms in the Meng army now, so it can barely be maintained. However, in the future, we still have to find ways to expand the production of gunpowder.

On the parade ground, Meng Jun also inspected the power of the musket team's volley fire.

"Shoot!" The military commander gave the order, and the musketeers pulled the trigger one after another. The lit match fell, and a loud noise immediately came from the barrel. The gun body shook backwards, and a long flame spurted out of the muzzle of the musket in their hand, and a cloud of white smoke rose.

One hundred muskets fired at the same time, and the rising smoke formed a whole row of white smoke belts.

"Second platoon, forward," the military commander shouted again.

After two rounds of shooting, there was a large row of targets placed in front of them. At this moment, most of the targets had bullet holes on them. Meng Jun walked forward to take a look and nodded with satisfaction. There was only one word to describe it, that is, amazing power. Of course, this is just a drill. When they really get to the battlefield, there is no guarantee that these musketeers will panic and the reloading speed may not be half of the usual speed.

After several days of preparation, Meng Jun left Lin Shiqi and Yang En to guard Suzhou, while he took Han Xiong of Kewu Town, Huang Cheng of the Scout Battalion, former generals of Li Chengdong, Du Yonghe, Guo Hu and other generals, as well as 10,000 regular soldiers of Kewu Town, 10,000 auxiliary soldiers, 1,000 scout cavalry battalion, 200 musket teams, nine cannons, and more than a hundred baggage carts, and swore an oath to go to war outside the east city of Suzhou.

More than 20,000 soldiers were all wearing the same uniform, and the black armor made them look very impactful. Meng Jun rode on his warhorse, watching the endless stream of infantrymen marching forward in formation, and a sense of heroism arose spontaneously. Although Meng Jun could be said to have seen the army go out many times, he still felt an inexplicable impulse every time he saw it. At his command, tens of thousands of people fought hard.

Meng Jun thought silently in his heart, "This is my army, my rights, my honor, and my life."

…………

In Songjiang Prefecture, Li Chengdong was also staying in the camp outside the city. Although Li Chengdong was accompanied by only Li Yuanyin, Yan Keyi, Huang Yingjie and other generals when he fled, and had only dozens of cavalrymen, Li Chengdong massacred and looted in several places in Jiangnan. The wealth he plundered in Jiading City alone could fill 300 ships.

Li Chengdong's army was defeated. Although the elite troops who had gone with him were gone, Li Chengdong still left a group of more than a thousand men in Songjiang Prefecture before going out. After escaping back, Li Chengdong used the original one thousand men as the backbone, captured able-bodied men and refugees everywhere, and the army quickly expanded to 20,000 people. Li Chengdong was born a bandit, so of course he knew that these able-bodied men were not capable of fighting at all. Li Chengdong expanded the army to prevent the Qing court from abandoning its troops. More than ten years of military career made Li Chengdong no longer trust anyone. He could only trust the army in his hands, no matter whether this army could fight or not.

The Meng army swore an oath to go to war under the city. Naturally, this news could not be hidden from the Qing army's eyes and soon reached Li Chengdong's ears.

"You villain, you are bullying me too much." Li Chengdong was eating when he received the news. He was so angry that he slammed the bowl on the table. Li Chengdong thought aggrievedly that Meng Jun of Suzhou had Hangzhou to the south and Wuxi to the back, both of which had Qing troops stationed. At this time, Meng Jun actually dared to attack him. Is he a soft persimmon?

That's right, he is really a soft persimmon now. Li Chengdong's face turned red with suffocation. After a while, he shouted to the guards outside the tent, "Call Yuan Yin, Yan Keyi, and Huang Yingjie to me!"