Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 385 In person

After Zhao Yongping led his army north and Huai'an was attacked by Haoge, Meng Jun felt that although the Zhou army now had 230,000 troops, it was still insufficient to cover such a vast area and to deploy troops everywhere.

Therefore, Meng Jun decided to recruit people from Huaibei to supplement the military strength. Now under Meng Jun's command, except for the six towns reorganized from the Loyal Camp, 3,000 Mongolian cavalry and some surrendered soldiers are northern soldiers, and the rest are southern troops.

Therefore, Meng Jun ordered the shogunate to send letters to various places in Huaibei to recruit able-bodied men and initially determine the number of soldiers for the seven regiments. He also ordered the Huguang camp where Lin Shiqi was located to transfer some grassroots officers to organize the new army structure. Of these 70,000 people, Meng Jun intended to reorganize 20,000 of them into an all-firearms army like the Po Lu Army.

Just recruiting soldiers and then forming an army, as well as acquiring various military equipment and armor, is not a one-day task and requires a lot of time. The initial expenses of recruiting soldiers are not too large, so the shogunate and local governments can still afford it.

After thinking for a long time about whether to go north in person, Meng Jun decided to go to the Jining front line to observe the situation personally.

In the city of Jinling, Changlin Town, which was almost entirely Meng Jun's personal army, was left stationed in Jinling. Qian Biao and Gulbuha, with a total of 13,000 troops, followed Meng Jun north to Jining.

On Shen Tingyang's flagship, Shen Tingyang looked at Meng Jun silently.

When I first met Meng Jun, his face seemed a little different from the Meng Jun who is now in his thirties. His face looked a little tired due to lack of sufficient rest, but his eyes revealed something suppressed and indescribable, as if it was a hidden ambition, but also like a passion that was about to erupt.

Even with Shen Tingyang's experienced eyes, he could not understand Meng Jun's thoughts. The world had completely changed in his hands. The man in military uniform and full of heroic spirit in front of him was his son-in-law, but Shen Tingyang did not dare to show the slightest disrespect.

At this time, Shen Tingyang asked softly: "My king, have you made up your mind to march north first?"

Hearing this, Meng Jun turned to look at Shen Tingyang, smiled, and then said: "With the South unstable, how can we go all out to fight the Northern Expedition? If there were no worries, I would have ordered Lin Shiqi to go north from Huguang to seize Henan."

Shen Tingyang was somewhat puzzled when he heard this, and asked again: "Since the king does not want to march north, why does he need to come to Jining in person?"

Meng Jun looked at the bow of the ship, which seemed to be breaking through the water like a thorn in the thorns. He said leisurely, "I never said that I would personally lead the Northern Expedition. I went to Jining only to comfort the army."

Shen Tingyang was silent when he heard this. Meng Jun didn't go all out to the Northern Expedition, so he must be worried about Kunming. Shen Tingyang looked at Meng Jun's back with a complicated look. He knew what Meng Jun wanted now. He wanted fame. No matter if it was Li Chengdong, the Zheng family, or Kunming who took action first, once they took action, Lin Shiqi would definitely go south with all his strength without showing any mercy.

………………

After taking over the thirteen counties of Yanzhou, although these places were a bit dilapidated and could not be compared with the cities in the south of the Yangtze River, they could still contribute some food and grass, which slightly eased the logistical pressure of the shogunate.

After staying in Jining for more than half a month, Zhao Yongping stabilized the local area, recruited righteous men to join the army, and sent envoys to various parts of Shandong to persuade counties to surrender. While he was busy, Dorgon sent envoys to Jining city.

Zhao Yongping ignored the envoy. When he heard that the envoy wanted to go to Nanjing to negotiate peace and hoped that the two armies would stop fighting, Zhao Yongping sneered. He refused to even treat the envoy to a meal and drove him out of the camp.

By the time Meng Jun arrived in person and all the generals left the camp to welcome Meng Jun, the envoy had already headed south. By the time he arrived in Jinling, he would probably not be able to find Meng Jun at all.

Meng Jun personally went to the front of the army, and with him came the reward orders for the generals, officers and soldiers, some of which were promotions, some were granted titles, some were granted honors, and the lowest reward was silver.

For a moment, the entire army cheered and shouted "Long live the emperor", which echoed throughout the city of Jining. The people of Jining thought that the emperor had arrived in Jining, and many people who were curious rushed out of the city and looked towards the Zhou army camp.

After the generals left, Meng Jun sat opposite Zhao Yongping and listened to Zhao Yongping's detailed report on the current intelligence of the army.

After hearing about Lu Fengchun's secret contact, Meng Jun shook his head and said, "This person cannot be trusted!"

Zhao Yongping's evaluation of Lu Fengchun is: "This man is a double-faced man. If we attack Jinan first, he will fight to the death. But if we ignore it, the rear will be threatened!"

Meng Jun said without hesitation: "This person cannot be trusted. If we want to continue the Northern Expedition, we must not leave him behind. Since the army has already taken Yanzhou, we should first conquer Shandong and then Henan. Shanxi is no longer in the hands of the Qing court. If Shandong and Henan are lost, Shaanxi will also become an enclave, and the Qing court will be helpless!"

As for the Yuyuan Army, although Meng Jun had deep doubts about the fighting ability of these people, at least there were 60,000 to 70,000 people, which was enough to boost their momentum. Therefore, Meng Jun sent envoys to urge the leaders of the Yuyuan Army, Yang Min and Liang Sanwu, to meet in Jining as soon as possible.

When Meng Jun stopped his troops in Jining, Dorgon in Beijing looked at Bai Yintu who had returned and didn't know whether to punish him or reward him.

If Zhou's army had not yet launched the Northern Expedition, capturing Taiyuan would naturally be great news. But now Zhou's army has reached Shandong. Although Baiyintu captured Taiyuan, he only had more than 23,000 people returning to the capital. Now that they have joined forces with Dorgon's troops, the number of troops that the Qing court can mobilize in Beijing is less than 80,000.

Now, as the North and the South were attacking each other, Jining's strategic position became more prominent. Dorgon originally hoped that Hauge could contain Zhao Yongping in Xuzhou City. Once Xuzhou could not be defended, Jining City would be a place that the Qing army must defend to the death. However, what Dorgon did not expect was that Jining was actually blown up by gunpowder.

Not far to the north of Jining is the Yellow River, and not far to the south is Xuzhou, a major military town during the confrontation between the North and the South. The Qing court established its capital in Beijing, and the central city of the Zhou army in the south was Nanjing, which was also on the Grand Canal. Jining is located at the center of the north and the south, and capturing Jining also means that the Zhou army is at a huge advantage.

During the court discussion, the nobles of the Eight Banners were arguing over whether to withdraw all the troops from outside the Great Wall. Ajige firmly opposed this and said fiercely: "If all the troops from outside the Great Wall are withdrawn, once something changes, the Qing Dynasty will have no chance of turning around!"

Yue Le, a supporter of the idea, said: "Since ancient times, a newly established country in the Central Plains must have been ambitious. For example, the Ming Dynasty launched several northern expeditions to wipe out other tribes. Once Meng Jun seizes the Central Plains and wipes out the south, will Meng Jun, who controls the south and the north, sit back and watch the areas outside the Great Wall not be controlled by him?"

The sound of the quarrel was enough to shake the palace. Those who supported and opposed the transfer of troops from outside the Great Wall each held their own opinions. Dorgon remained silent until the two sides turned from verbal quarrel to physical fight. Only then did Dorgon stop everyone and dismiss the court meeting.