Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 384 Dawn

In the Battle of Taiyuan, Bai Yintu's troops suffered heavy losses. More than half of the 35,000 Green Camp soldiers were killed or wounded, and 4,000 of the 13,000 Eight Banners soldiers were killed or wounded. From the 60,000 troops of Bai Yintu before entering Shanxi, only less than 30,000 were left.

After conquering Taiyuan, Baiyintu originally wanted to destroy the city wall of Taiyuan, but Dorgon urgently ordered Baiyintu to return to the capital, and there was not enough time. Therefore, Baiyintu only left 5,000 Green Camp soldiers in Taiyuan, and retained some troops at Yangquan, Guguan and other passes leading into Shanxi, to be used as passages to enter Shanxi again.

Shortly after Baiyintu withdrew his troops, the counties of Taiyuan Prefecture began to pretend to obey the Qing army in Taiyuan, and the supply of food and fodder was either short in weight or stale rice. In addition, scouts of the rebel army appeared outside the city of Taiyuan.

The day after Dorgon returned to Beijing, he sent troops south to Tianjin in an attempt to expel the 3,000 Zhou troops under the city of Tianjin. However, the Zhou troops under the city of Tianjin received a secret report from the Qingluan Guard on the night that Dorgon returned to the capital, and they evacuated Tianjin overnight and retreated south by sea.

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Outside Jining City, the Zhou army camp.

Inside the central army tent, Zhao Yongping was somewhat hesitant about whether to continue the Northern Expedition. Although the army did not experience much bloody battles on its way north, the morale of the army was still high and the combat effectiveness had not been much reduced, but from a global perspective, the territories occupied by Zhao Yongping were almost all cities on both sides of the canal, and the rest of the territories were still under the rule of the Qing court.

Moreover, the army has now reached Jining, far away from the rear of Nanjing. Even though military supplies are transported by the navy, the logistics supply line is too long.

Therefore, after thinking for a long time, Zhao Yongping decided to postpone the Northern Expedition. On the one hand, he rested the army in Jining City and waited for the arrival of the Yuyuan Army. On the other hand, he sent out scouts and issued letters of surrender to persuade the counties in Shandong and even Henan to surrender.

With the great victory of capturing Xuzhou and conquering Jining, Zhao Yongping sent letters to various counties to persuade them to surrender. Wherever the messengers went, many counties surrendered. In Ziyang, Ningyang, Zouxian, Sishui, Jinxiang, Jiaxiang, Wenshang, Yanggu, Shouzhang and other counties, the county magistrates opened the city walls to surrender, the defenders surrendered voluntarily, or the county magistrates resigned and fled.

Only Qufu did not open the city walls to surrender, but it was quite courteous to Zhao Yongping's envoy. At that time, Duke Yansheng, Kong Xingxie, was the 66th generation grandson of Confucius, and was only six years old. The previous Duke Yansheng, Kong Yinzhi, had passed away the year before. The person in charge of the Duke Yansheng's Mansion at that time was Kong Xingxie's mother, Tao, who refused to meet with the envoy on the grounds of etiquette, but ordered people to treat the envoy with high standards.

Shandong Governor Lu Fengchun, on the one hand, mobilized the garrison troops from various counties in Jinan and Qingzhou prefectures to gather in Jinan, and on the other hand, asked Dorgon for help. However, in secret, he secretly sent his confidant to Jining to meet Zhao Yongping.

Lu Fengchun, a native of Liaodong, was a Ming Dynasty juren. After losing all the areas outside the Great Wall, he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. In the first year of Shunzhi's reign, he was appointed as a canjunior, and in the fourth year of Shunzhi's reign, he was appointed as the governor of Shandong.

The Han people born in Liaodong followed the Qing court in their early years and naturally gained the trust of the Qing court. If there were no unexpected changes, these people would naturally be loyal to the Qing court. However, after repeated defeats at the hands of the Zhou army, people's hearts were easily fickle.

Now that Zhao Yongping is making great progress, Lu Fengchun is not so scared of him. However, he also wants to leave a way out for the sake of his family, his children, and himself.

The intention of Lu Fengchun's secret envoy in contacting Zhao Yongping was to hope that Zhao Yongping could go all the way north to the capital instead of turning east to Jinan. The army in Jinan would never leave the city. Once the Zhou army captured the capital, they would immediately raise their flags and rebel.

Zhao Yongping was quite disdainful of this. This old and sophisticated man would sit back and relax regardless of whether the Zhou army won or lost. However, this was in line with the hearts of the world, the opportunists.

Zhao Yongping's victory report was sent to Jinling almost every few days. The people in Jinling city went from cheering in the beginning to being calm now.

The common people and gentry in the city are all very optimistic about the current situation. They all say that the imperial court is no longer vulnerable and that the army can march north to recapture the old capital and conquer the world in one fell swoop.

Qian Biao was gloomy when he saw this. He found Meng Jun again and said to him, "Your Majesty, Zhao Yongping is leading the Northern Expedition and sending victories every day. It's boring for us to stay in Nanjing all the time. Why don't you lead the expedition yourself and head straight to Beijing?"

"I'll think about it, you go back first, why are you in such a hurry?"

Meng Jun was somewhat surprised at Zhao Yongping's unstoppable momentum. He knew that the Qing army would inevitably go downhill after Duoduo's defeat in Huguang. However, he never imagined that it would be so vulnerable. Many counties changed their flags one after another, and it was like a scene of the royal army marching north with food and drink.

Although there are basically no Eight Banners troops stationed in these cities, this also shows that the Zhou army is already in the north and its momentum is growing.

After sending Qian Biao away, Meng Jun summoned Gu Yanwu and asked him, "Sir, I want to go to the front line myself, but I am afraid that the rear will be in turmoil. I am really upset!"

Gu Yanwu replied: "Lin Tongzhen has more than 70,000 troops under his command. If there is any change, they can go south to Changsha. Han Tongzhen's troops are in Ganzhou to guard against Li Chengdong. If the king goes north to the south, he will be safe. If something happens, they will be able to hold out until the king returns!"

Meng Jun stayed in Nanjing. At first, he just wanted Zhao Yongping to use the Northern Expedition to force Dorgon to withdraw his troops from Datong. Now his goal has been achieved, and he was even more surprised. All the counties in the Yanzhou Prefecture surrendered. This gave Meng Jun a glimmer of hope that he could directly capture Beijing. If the two capitals were in his hands, the north might be able to be conquered by a direct order.

However, during the conversation with Yang En, Yang En frowned and remained silent.

Meng Jun saw Yang En's expression and asked, "Mu De, do you have a different opinion?"

Yang En said, "Your Majesty, I think that although the Qing court has been defeated, it has not yet reached the end of its rope. Zhao Tongzhen's troops are actually a small army. The elite troops are only the heavy armored troops, the Po Lu troops, and the Wu'an Town. The rest are organized by Gao Jinku and the surrendered troops. Liu Tichun and the other three towns are reorganized from the Zhongzheng Camp. If Your Majesty leads the expedition in person, the outcome is unpredictable!"

Meng Jun asked again, "If I lead the army in person, based on Mu De's opinion, how likely will I be to win?"

Yang En thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "Your Majesty has been through many battles, but I am just a scholar who has not been with the army for a long time. How can I know? If Your Majesty decides to lead the army in person, then I can only do my best to supply food for the front line. But what I think in my heart is that Your Majesty has the upper hand now, why not wait for the opportunity, accumulate strength, and completely pacify the north with a magnificent army and unrivaled power? Why take risks!"

After Yang En left, Meng Jun strolled alone in the mansion, the cool evening breeze blowing on his face. Yang En was thinking from the perspective of Zhao Yongping's military strength, while Meng Jun was looking at the situation in the world. The south was still calm, but the people's hearts in the north had changed. From the surrender of the counties, Meng Jun saw that the people in the north had gradually lost their fear of the Qing court.