Southern Ming Rebel Army

Just as Meng Jun led his troops to besiege Hangzhou, the Loyalty Camp far away in Huguang also launched the siege of Jingzhou. After Du Yinxi reached an agreement with Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other former Shun army generals to jointly resist the Qing Dynasty, they decided to launch the Hubei Campaign.

Li Guo's 20,000 troops were the leader of the elite troops of the Loyalty Camp. The Loyalty Camp attacked Jingzhou fiercely. Although Zheng Siwei, the deputy general of Jingzhou, tried his best to defend it, he gradually became unable to hold on and repeatedly asked for help from the Governor of Huguang, Tong Yanghe. Tong Yanghe and the Governor of Hunan, He Mingluan, jointly wrote a letter to the court, begging the general stationed in Jiangning, Beile Leke Dehun, to send troops to rescue.

After receiving the letter of request for help from Huguang, Lekedehun led his troops by boat to the west on December 18, the second year of Shunzhi, and arrived in Wuchang on the tenth day of the first month of the third year of Shunzhi.

Lekedehun decided to send the commander of the imperial guard, Boerhui, to lead a force south to Yuezhou to meet He Tengjiao and Zhang Kuang's troops, with Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yun as the vanguard.

Lekedehun himself led the main force straight to Jingzhou for a decisive battle with the Zhongzheng Camp.

On the second day of the first lunar month in the third year of Shunzhi, He Tengjiao and Zhang Kuang arrived in Xiangyin, hoping to gather troops in Yuezhou. Zhang Xianbi stayed behind, using the excuse that the horses he had purchased had not arrived, and the other towns also waited and watched.

A few days later, Ma Jinzhong, Wang Yuncai, Lu Ding and Wang Jincai, who were stationed in Yuezhou, heard that the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Manchuria was attacking Yuezhou, and they all fled south by boat. Ma Jiaolin, the deputy general of Yuezhou, surrendered to the Qing army.

Lekedehun personally led his troops and galloped all night, arriving outside Jingzhou city on the morning of the 13th.

The Zhongzheng Camp was unaware of Lekedehun's thousand-mile surprise attack and continued to attack the city. The Qing army attacked the Zhongzheng Camp in two directions. The Zhongzheng Camp was caught off guard and was defeated and fled westward.

Jueluo Langqiu led his troops to the riverside, cut off the retreat, and seized more than a thousand ships. The Zhongzheng Battalion retreated from Jingzhou, and because there were no boats to cross, most of them were killed by the Qing army.

The next day, Lekedehun sent General Babutai of Fengguo and others to pursue the Zhongzheng Camp in Anyuan, Nanzhang, Xiangyang and other places.

The soldiers of the Loyal Camp suffered heavy losses in baggage and were forced to retreat to the Three Gorges area. The military supervisor Du Yinxi fell off his horse and broke his arm, and they retreated to Changde, Hunan.

Tian Jianxiu, Marquis of Ci, Zhang Nai, Marquis of Yi, Li You, Earl of Wuyang, and Wu Ruyi, Earl of Taiping, led more than 10,000 people to surrender to the Qing army at Yilingkou.

Maybe it was God's will, or maybe it was a joke from God. Almost at the same time, Hangzhou was conquered and Zhang Cunren fled in panic, while the Loyalty Camp was defeated. Just when Meng Jun and his generals were overjoyed, this bad news was like a blow to the head, hitting everyone hard. For a moment, everyone's mind was buzzing. What did the defeat of the Loyalty Camp mean? Wuchang was no longer threatened, and the Qing troops could withdraw their forces to besiege Jiangnan.

At this time, the world situation was such that almost all of Jiangxi fell, and Zhejiang was also captured by Bolo. The only parts of the Ming Dynasty that could be connected were Fujian, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, and Yunnan, while Sichuan was occupied by Zhang Xianzhong. The rest of the regions were scattered resistances. Looking around, the Qing court had occupied most of the world, and the situation was extremely critical.

Meng Jun and other generals gathered in the Governor's Mansion in Hangzhou. Although the blood was still wet in the hall, no one had time to care about it and no one paid any attention to it.

Gu Yanwu said with grief and anger, "The affairs of the world are destroyed in an instant."

Yang En was also somewhat incredulous and said, "General He, who commands hundreds of thousands of troops and has a strong military force, how could he be defeated so miserably?"

The rest of the generals were silent, but everyone's face looked grim. Meng Jun knew that his army's capture of Hangzhou could only be considered a small tactical victory, but the defeat in Huguang was a strategic failure.

After a pause, Meng Jun said, "Now that General He's army has been defeated in Yuezhou, if Leke Dehun returns to Jiangning and joins Bolo, how can we resist? The only plan now is to defeat Bolo first."

Bai Yongfu pondered for a moment and said, "Bolo's troops are mostly cavalry. If they don't fight and insist on waiting for Lekedehun to return, we are all infantry, how can we force them to fight?"

Meng Jun said solemnly, "We have no choice but to gamble. I bet that Bolo will not be willing to admit defeat. If Lekedehun returns, he will defeat the Loyal Camp and lift the siege of Jingzhou. His contribution will be great. Although Bolo has seized Zhejiang, he lost Suzhou and Hangzhou. He will definitely want to avenge his humiliation. Of course, man proposes, God disposes. At this point in national affairs, we have no choice but to gamble."

"Alas, our army has never fought against large-scale cavalry in a field battle. I am very worried about the battle." Han Xiong sighed and then said.

"We have nearly three thousand cavalrymen. The wagons built in Suzhou are still piled up in the camp outside the city. We might as well modify some of them so that we can pull artillery on the wagons. When Bolo comes to bombard them, the wagons can also be used as city walls to prevent the cavalry from disrupting our lines," Du Yonghe said after thinking for a while.

Xiao Mingzuo said unhappily, "The artillery we pulled here weighs a thousand pounds. What kind of vehicle can pull it, let alone fire it?"

"I'm not talking about pulling the heavy artillery. I'm talking about the small cannons on the four walls of Hangzhou, the tiger crouching cannons, the large raised guns, etc." Du Yonghe said with a roll of his eyes.

Qian Biao also suggested at this time, "Why don't we go attack Shaoxing? The city defense of Shaoxing is probably not as strong as Hangzhou. Zhang Cunren has fled there, so why don't we chase him and attack him?" After saying this, Qian Biao felt more and more that what he said made sense, and then looked at everyone with anticipation.

It turned out that no one supported him, and then he turned to look at Meng Jun. Meng Jun sighed helplessly and said, "To attack Shaoxing, we need to cross the river. Since ancient times, it has always been dangerous for a large army to cross a river. Not to mention being attacked halfway across the river, it is a battle with one's back to the river. If you are not careful, the whole army will be wiped out. Throughout the dynasties, only Han Xin, the Marquis of Huaiyin, has accomplished this feat. The rest will die if they try to imitate him."

"Oh," Qian Biao propped up his chin with his hand, feeling somewhat lonely, and thought to himself, "Am I really the dumbest person here?"

…………

While the generals of Meng's army were still discussing, Li Chengdong's adopted son Li Yuanyin secretly left Li Chengdong's army. Li Yuanyin was followed by only two guards, Ma San and Liu Zhi. Both of them were Li Yuanyin's confidants who had followed him through thick and thin for many years.

Ma San asked, "Major General, where are you going? Hangzhou?"

Li Yuanyin pondered for a moment and then said, "Hangzhou is a remote place and will not be of much benefit to the overall situation. I have made up my mind and will go to Fujian to follow the emperor."

Li Yuanyin then turned his horse and drove straight towards Fuzhou. However, what Li Yuanyin did not know was that Zheng Zhilong had already been in secret contact with the Qing court, and the news of Huguang's defeat was more like a bargaining chip, overwhelmed Zheng Zhilong's balance of power.