Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 394 Secret Envoy

Kunming court.

When Meng Jun sent his troops to the Northern Expedition, the ministers in the Kunming court had mixed feelings about the Northern Expedition. They were happy that the court was no longer threatened by the Qing army under the current situation. However, they were worried that if Zhao Yongping really used his military skills like a god and recaptured Beijing, what would the court do in the future?

In the court, Ding Kuichu stood in front of all the ministers and vowed: "Although the enemy has been defeated, their strength still exists and their foundation has not been shaken. The defeat of Huguang is only a temporary loss, and it is not enough to talk about their long-term situation.

Zhao Yongping is a scholar, military strategy and martial arts are not his strengths. With this scholar's body, he is just a paper talker on the battlefield. The reason is that he is Meng Jun's confidant. If not, how can he be a general! "

Ding Kuichu meant that the court did not need to worry at all. Meng Jun had gathered a large army in Huguang, and Zhao Yongping only had a small force. How could he really launch a northern expedition? In Ding Kuichu's opinion, Zhao Yongping would definitely not be able to capture Xuzhou, and might even suffer a crushing defeat and a huge rout.

However, the news that came in one after another severely slapped Ding Kuichu in the face. The important city of Xuzhou surrendered without a fight, and the city walls of Jining were breached within a few days. People surrendered like clouds along the way, and wherever they passed, they all raised their flags to surrender. Yesterday, another urgent report came that the city of Jinan also belonged to the Zhou army.

Seeing that Meng Jun was about to seize Shandong, Emperor Yongli was often awakened from his dreams. Although Zhu Youlang had no immediate worries, he had long-term concerns. Once Meng Jun's Northern Expedition was successful and his achievements were so great that the emperor was shocked, and he could lead his troops into the clouds, not to mention the destruction of the Ming Dynasty, could he escape from being poisoned?

Now the power gap between the imperial court and Meng Jun is already very large. Regardless of whether Zheng Jia and Li Chengdong will listen to the imperial court's order, even if they want to mobilize troops in Lianyun and Guizhou, they need Li Dingguo's approval before they can implement it. In such a situation, how can they compete with Meng Jun!

As for Li Dingguo, the court officials did not have much trust in him. Once the imminent threat disappeared, Li Dingguo's identity as a western bandit would naturally be remembered by some people with ulterior motives.

Although no one in the Yongli court said it explicitly, deep down they could not help but reject Li Dingguo. Militarily, the Yongli court relied on the generals of the Western Army, but at the local level, officials from all over the country went from being respectful to the Western Army in the past to pretending to obey them.

Many generals in the Western Army reported to Li Dingguo about the changes in the situation in various places. However, Li Dingguo said bluntly: "The most important thing for the country is the emperor and the court. The world has been corrupted to this extent because of the lack of civil and military skills. As a general, you only need to follow the orders of the court and don't think about anything else!"

In Meng Jun's opinion, Li Dingguo's choice was very problematic, but in today's era, it did not seem to be a problem and was instead a very normal thing.

At this time, people generally still viewed the rebels as thieves, so even many people who came from peasant uprisings did not think their identity as rebels was glorious.

Prominent figures in the rebel army like Bai Guangen, Hui Dengxiang, and Yuan Shizhong all hoped to surrender and clear themselves when they had the chance. On the contrary, there were very few people like Li Zicheng who firmly believed in themselves and refused to surrender when everyone else did.

Sun Kewang wanted to change from a bandit to a powerful official, and from violently overthrowing the Ming court to peacefully establishing the Daxi Dynasty, while Li Dingguo really changed from a bandit to a loyal official, and fully sided with the Southern Ming monarch and his ministers.

But the most critical problem for the Kunming court now is that after Sun Kewang was defeated, the Yongli court secretly abolished the camp system that Sun Kewang had painstakingly established, which was the final blow to the West Camp.

Historically, the reason why Xiying could hold out for such a long time when all the forces failed was not because of the appeal of Emperor Yongli. What else did most of the anti-Qing forces have except their integrity? The root of Xiying's persistence was that under this camp system, Yunnan's economy recovered and grew rapidly, so it could provide a steady supply of soldiers and money and food.

The Yingzhuang system dealt a heavy blow to the interests of large landowners, while also significantly reducing the number of middlemen in the land tax process, eliminating this class that was truly the most damaging to farmers. Under this system, production in Yunnan and Guizhou was restored, and they had the strength to support hundreds of thousands of troops.

Sun Kewang went to Meng to surrender. It took only half a year for the country to go from having sufficient supplies in the past to being short of both food and money. Li Dingguo could not think of a good solution and could only repeatedly petition the court to allocate food and money.

Just as Emperor Yongli and his ministers were becoming increasingly uneasy about the future situation, the envoys sent by the Qing court finally arrived in Kunming City.

Ding Kuichu looked at the ragged man in front of him. If he hadn't taken out a series of documents representing his identity as an envoy of the Qing court, including a token, official newspaper, and letter of credence, Ding Kuichu would not have dared to believe that this man was an envoy of a country.

Qing envoy Lu Shi traveled all the way south from Beijing, exhausted. If he had not encountered robbers many times along the way, Lu Shi would not have ended up in such a miserable state.

Afterwards, Lu Shi took a bath, dressed himself, and had a full meal before asking to see Ding Kuichu again.

In the hall, Lu Shi said to Ding Kuichu: "Lord, our Great Qing entered the pass to avenge His Majesty Huaizong and to quell the chaos in the world. Now that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have surrendered, the Regent intends to withdraw from the pass. From now on, the Great Qing will guard the outside of the pass, and the Great Ming will rule the inside of the pass. We will be brother countries for generations."

Not to mention Ding Kuichu, a smart man, even a fool would not believe this. When the Qing army first entered the pass, some people might have believed this. But after killing the two emperors Hongguang and Longwu, it was clear what Dorgon was thinking.

Ding Kuichu laughed and said, "I am very pleased with what the envoy said. Since your country wants to withdraw from the interior, when will it set off?"

Lu Shi bowed again and said, "It's easy to withdraw from the Great Wall. Although the Qing and Ming dynasties have fought on the battlefield for so many years, they have also enjoyed more than a hundred years of peace and prosperity like the Song and Liao dynasties in the past. However, the regent of our dynasty is now deeply worried about Meng Jun. I heard that he claimed to be king, and he also established himself. Officials and generals are rewarded and punished by himself. If this continues, I am afraid there will be a disaster like the White Horse Posthouse!"

Ding Kuichu didn't believe that Meng Jun would do what Zhu Wen did, but he also knew clearly that once the Ming Dynasty was gone, his best outcome would probably be to retire and go home. It was impossible for him to become the prime minister of a country.

Ding Kuichu stopped playing around with the envoy and asked bluntly, "Save these official words for the court. Tell me straight, what does Dorgon want to do?"

Lu Shi bowed respectfully and responded, "Lord, Meng Jun came to Shandong in person and threatened Zhili. Jiangnan is now empty. If the Ming Dynasty can send troops to attack Jiangnan, everyone will follow. Your emperor can also return to Nanjing. To show sincerity, our dynasty is willing to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty. We will never regret it for generations. We will always be brother countries and fight against the traitors together! Clear the world!"