Southern Ming Rebel Army

The boredom of the march is hard for ordinary people to imagine. The army walked for two days, marching all the way, eating, setting up camp, sleeping, breaking camp, marching, and repeating this cycle over and over again. The road was not easy to walk on, with potholes everywhere. They had to find water sources and have a good view where they could set up camp. In short, there were many troubles.

According to the requirements of the new book of Jixiao, the Meng army was not qualified. For example, when the official army set out, they had to wear armor, helmets and weapons, so that they could fight with ease. They were not allowed to carry them on their shoulders. But at that time, the south was hot and humid. Wearing armor was convenient for fighting, but the soldiers could not stand it. They could only put the armor on the baggage carts. Wearing dozens of kilograms of armor on their bodies would make them exhausted after walking for a day. Of course, only a small number of Meng army soldiers had armor, and the majority were still without armor.

After two days of marching, the army finally reached thirty miles outside Kunshan City. The scouts ahead could already spy on Kunshan City.

As the sun sets, the army begins to set up camp again. The most tired are the auxiliary soldiers. They have been traveling all day and now they have to set up camp. Meng Jun insists that the camp must be set up firmly no matter how troublesome it is. He has to do so even if it is troublesome. When Han Xiong was setting up camp yesterday, he came to persuade Meng Jun that the army has been traveling all day and the soldiers are very tired. Could they relax a little and not be too harsh on them?

However, Meng Jun said to Han Xiong with a serious face and a somewhat stern tone, "The lives of tens of thousands of soldiers in the three armies are all in the hands of the commander. It is better to suffer a little than to die. You know Li Chengdong has been in the army for many years, but he still failed because the camp was not secure. If we raided the camp, no matter how many soldiers Li Chengdong had, it would be useless. Thousands of troops would be defeated. I still remember that scene clearly. Marching and fighting cannot tolerate carelessness at all."

Han Xiong felt ashamed after hearing this, thinking that he had indeed not thought it through carefully. He quickly admitted his mistake to Meng Jun. After returning, he repeatedly urged the auxiliary soldiers who were setting up the camp to make it more secure.

Whenever we camp in a place unknown to the enemy, we must extinguish the fire at sunset and not burn firewood or grass, for fear that the enemy may see us from afar and attack our camp at night. We must not sound the night watch drum at night, but only pass arrows, and set watch orders according to the number of people we have. The gatekeeper must identify spies and must not open the camp gate without the order of the commander. I will not describe the other details of camping one by one.

At night, the camp was completely silent, with only the footsteps of patrolling soldiers. After a long day of traveling, the rest of the soldiers fell asleep exhausted. In Meng Jun's tent, there were only two candles, and the weak candlelight shone on everyone's faces.

"The army will arrive at Kunshan City tomorrow. Kunshan is in ruins. After the massacre by Li Chengdong, there are almost no people in the city. Even the county magistrate is an old scholar found at random. I just don't know where the remaining rebels outside the city are." Meng Jun sat on a chair, looking at the map on the table, and said slowly.

Han Xiong said worriedly, "Li Chengdong must be hiding in Songjiang Prefecture. Kunshan, Taicang and Jiading are easy to get, but the city is dilapidated and cannot provide military supplies for the army. Food and grass must be transported from Suzhou, which means the food route is a bit long."

Meng Jun nodded and said, "So we have to fight quickly and decisively. The army must arrive outside Songjiang City in half a month. The army will not stay in Kunshan, but Kunshan City must be taken down. We can't leave such a thorn in our side."

At this time, Huang Cheng held back for a long time and said, "Should Kunshan City send troops to guard it, and who will be the county magistrate?"

"Leave one team behind. As for the county magistrate, Commander Han, you have a wide network of friends. Do you know anyone in the rebel army outside Kunshan?"

Han Xiong thought for a while, then shook his head with some regret, "I don't know them. Mainly, I don't know who joined the rebel army. Besides, since the fall of Kunshan City, the remaining rebel army has fled in all directions. Maybe they are not near Kunshan City now."

"Huang Cheng, send some scouts to the nearby mountains and forests tomorrow and try your luck to see if you can find some volunteers. If not, just find someone to make do," Meng Jun said helplessly.

The next day, the army broke camp and set off. Without any accidents, there was no guard in Kunshan City. The gate was wide open. Zhang Chengsheng, as the vanguard, encountered no obstruction and the ten cavalrymen rushed to the Kunshan government office unimpeded.

There was only one scholar-magistrate in the county government office. He had a white beard and looked to be over fifty years old. He walked with a trembling gait. There was only one bailiff in the government office. His service uniform was obviously ill-fitting and seemed to be two sizes too big. He was probably less than fifteen years old and his small figure looked pale and thin.

The old man and the young man looked more like grandfather and grandson than the county magistrate and the yamen runners. The group was a little stunned when they saw their attire. Zhang Chengsheng asked uncertainly, "Old man, are you the county magistrate of Kunshan City?"

The old man looked up at Zhang Chengsheng and said, "General, there are not many people in the city. You can have anything you want. You can move anything you like. Even the plaque of this government office is fine. I hope you won't kill any more people."

Zhang Chengsheng choked and looked up at the plaque of the yamen, only to see that it was in a tattered state, with two arrow holes on it, a large corner missing, and traces of being burned by fire. He thought to himself, I'm asking if the old man is the county magistrate, why are you asking me to take this broken thing?

"Old man, we are volunteers, not Tartar soldiers. We are here to liberate Kunshan City," Zhang Chengsheng explained hurriedly.

The old county magistrate's face changed, he looked a little panicked and helpless, muttering to himself, "The fight is about to start again, when will it end?"

Zhang Chengsheng then repeated it again, asking the old man if he was the county magistrate. After getting the old man's confirmation, Zhang Chengsheng hurriedly asked his men to go back and report the news, while he carefully inquired about the county magistrate about the situation in Kunshan City.

Kunshan's urban and rural population originally numbered over 300,000, with about 5,000 households in the city. Since the rebellion in Jiangnan, some people fled the city for refuge, but there were still more than 20,000 people in the city. However, since the rebel army occupied Kunshan, Li Chengdong broke into the city, looted and killed residents, and even spared no one from the countryside. After such a disaster, Kunshan's population has plummeted. Now, there are probably less than 1,000 people in the entire city of Kunshan, and the government has basically lost its ability to govern. Even for collecting taxes, there are not enough people, not to mention knowing how many people are in the surrounding towns. It can be said that Kunshan's government organization has temporarily lost its administrative capacity.

Zhang Chengsheng was somewhat surprised and somewhat resentful. Such a city had a population of less than a thousand. Zhang Chengsheng said bitterly, "This Li Chengdong is really a bastard. He has committed so many evil things, and he will definitely not die a good death."

From the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the country's fiscal revenue became increasingly dependent on the Jiangnan region. The Qing army carried out large-scale killings and looting, seriously undermining the stability of the Jiangnan region and causing a sharp drop in tax revenue. However, there were still many wise people in the Qing court who knew that Jiangnan was an important financial center and that endless slaughter was not allowed. The cities that resisted were still slaughtered to intimidate the people, while those who surrendered were not harmed at all, in order to divide the cities in Jiangnan.