Southern Ming Rebel Army

"Hehe, you're just asking for trouble. I wanted to give you a future, but it seems I'm too kind." Bolo was lying on a chair, with several pretty women serving him. One of them put a grape to Bolo's mouth. Bolo opened his mouth and slowly rubbed the delicate hand with his hand, not caring at all that there was a stranger in front of him.

The man kneeling on the ground was the envoy sent by Bolo to persuade the enemy to surrender. At this moment, he was reporting every detail of his meeting with Meng.

"Okay, retreat." Bolo did not care too much about Meng Jun's unwillingness to surrender. He was just a local. Many elite troops had fallen in front of the Eight Banners formation. Even the White Spear Army and even Huang Taiji's central army were shaken. However, the Eight Banners soldiers continued to fight and managed to overcome this hard bone.

Bolo had never fought any tough battles since arriving in Jiangnan. Yangzhou? It was easy to capture Yangzhou, but the massacre was a bit tiring. The only thing worth mentioning was the battle of Jiangyin City this time, where some Eight Banners disciples were killed. However, such a tough guy was rare. Bolo didn't think Meng Jun was such a person. Moreover, a big city was not necessarily easy to defend. Bolo had too many surrendered people now. He even disliked that too many people consumed food quickly, so he just used them to fill the city, killing two birds with one stone. And that Bai Yongfu, a useless piece of shit, actually lost Fu Ni. This time he must be used as cannon fodder, and he would be pushed out and chopped off when all the people were dead. Bolo's mind was turning quickly, but his hands didn't stop. He looked at the pretty women in front of him, and then laughed, "Han people are not good at fighting, but these Jiangnan women are quite good, hahaha..."

"The Marshal has ordered the entire army to march south, capture Suzhou, and plunder for ten days..."

At the same time, the transfer order of the Qing army camp was also urgently sent to Bai Yongfu in Wuxi. No matter what Bai Yongfu thought now, sending troops was inevitable.

Although Bolo looked down on Meng Jun, he also went all out when he made his move. He had 20,000 elite Manchu soldiers, more than 10,000 Mongolian Eight Banners, and 20,000 Han Army Banners under his command. He also incorporated more than 40,000 surrendered Southern Ming soldiers, including his general Liu Liangzuo, Gongshun King Kong Youde, Beile Nikan, Beizi Shangshan, Zhenguo General Bai Yingtu, Zhang Jing Tulai, surrendered generals Tian Xiong and Ma Degong, and hundreds of generals and officials of all ranks. The army marched forward in a mighty manner.

As soon as Bolo's army moved, the intelligence department quickly reported the news back to Suzhou. On the wall of Suzhou, Meng's soldiers stood with spears in their hands. There were figures between every parapet, indicating a tight defense.

The trenches, chevaux de frise, and antlers scattered throughout the city of Suzhou proved that the Meng army had not been waiting idly all these days, and a large number of traps were set up outside the city.

On the steps leading to the city wall, a large number of soldiers and able-bodied men were busy carrying arrows, stones, rolling logs, kerosene and other city defense equipment to the top of the city wall. The feces in the city had begun to be collected. Suzhou was a big city with a population of nearly one million. The amount of feces produced every day was countless. The woods outside the city had long been cut down by Meng's army. The originally lush and green scenery of the south of the Yangtze River had now become grim.

On the enemy tower, the few artillery pieces of the Meng army were placed on the wall. Suzhou, a big city, had no more than a hundred artillery pieces scattered in all directions, and there were less than thirty artillery pieces on one wall. Even so, the gunners carefully checked the artillery pieces. Several houses next to the steps leading to the city had been requisitioned and were filled with large amounts of gunpowder and city defense equipment.

The soldiers on the top of the city wall were busy, and the lobby of the Meng Army Yamen in the city was also bustling with people. A large number of carpenters were making catapults, and there were dozens of them placed aside, but they looked a bit crude. Some soldiers were pulling the finished catapults to the back of the city wall.

In order to place these catapults, the houses near the back of the city wall have been demolished to make room for the catapults. The Meng army is short of artillery, and these catapults can increase long-range firepower to a certain extent.

The Propaganda Department in the city was trying hard to tell the people in the city about the brutality of the Qing soldiers, the Yangzhou massacre, the Jiangyin massacre. The city was constantly noisy, and slogans of reviving the Ming Dynasty and expelling the barbarians were heard everywhere.

Huang Liuqi, a wealthy businessman from Suzhou, was ordering his servants to bring in a large amount of fine wine and money as a reward. He offered a tael of silver and a pot of fine wine to any young and strong man who joined in defending the city. A strong man laughed and said, "I don't want money, I just haven't tasted the fine wine from your Master Huang's house."

Some wealthy families in the city had their wood and bricks removed from their homes to be used by the Meng army to defend the city.

A dozen old scholars bought a lot of snow-white cotton and quickly made dozens of silk banners, inscribed with "Resurgence of the Ming Dynasty" in vigorous and powerful handwriting. The snow-white silk banners, black ink characters, and the words "Resurgence of the Ming Dynasty" fluttering in the wind exuded a spirit of bloodiness that would never return.

At this time, Meng Jun was leading some officers to carefully inspect every city defense. The pressure of the Qing army's advance of more than 100,000 troops in recent days made him unable to sleep at night, but in front of his subordinates, Meng Jun never showed any sign of it.

From time to time, he ordered someone to inspect the city gate, or inspect the public security in the city, or build something for defending the city, or send someone out of the city to contact the rebel army, but he did not tell them one by one.

When everything was settled, Meng Jun came to the city wall. He was wearing armor, holding a sword, looking at the busy soldiers, and silently said, "What should be done has been done. There may be better choices, but it is a foregone conclusion. Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are in the hands of God."

At this moment, Meng Jun stood on the top of Suzhou City like a statue, silently watching the people in the city. Behind him were Gao Yi and Yu An. Gao Yi was strong and muscular, wearing Ming Dynasty standard heavy armor, with a thick-backed knife on his waist. He had a stern expression and was as still as a mountain. At one glance, he looked like a fierce general.

Compared to Gao Yi, Yu An seemed a little weaker, wearing light armor, holding a spear and carrying a large bow on his back. However, Yu An had a slender figure, and although he had sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, he was still handsome.

At this time, several scouts came galloping from a distance, and soon one of them quickly climbed up the city wall.

"Report to the governor, there are Qing scouts 20 miles outside the city. We will fight them and each of us will lose one person."

"Here they come..." Meng Jun muttered to himself as he watched the scout leaving.