Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 396 Heavy Rain

The factional struggles in the Kunming court intensified and the turmoil gradually spread to the local level. The Wu and Chu parties were already blood-thirsty, and the two parties sent hundreds of impeachment memorials to each other every day. The Yongli court was obsessed with internal strife and had no time to care about Meng Jun.

After capturing Jinan, Meng Jun decided to temporarily suspend the Northern Expedition and set up a defense line along the Yellow River. He divided his troops into three groups. He ordered Bai Yongfu to lead Guwu and the newly formed Hushan Town to advance eastward along the Yellow River and capture Yantou Town, Qidong, Qingcheng, Putai and other county towns.

Along the way, led by Zhao Yongping, Qian Biao, Li Laiheng, Gao Jinku, Yang Sanwu, and two newly formed towns totaling 60,000 people, marched south to Zhangqiu, Zouping, Changshan, Xincheng, Zibo, and Linzi, and finally arrived at Yidu, the capital of Qingzhou Prefecture.

Along the way, he ordered Liu Tichun to lead his own Zhongwu Town, Hao Yongzhong's Yingyang Town, and Huang Cheng's two thousand cavalry to advance westward and capture the towns of Yuncheng, Anxing, Dingtao, Anling and other counties on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Meng Jun led the Po Lu Army, the Heavy Armor Army, Gulbuha's Mongolian cavalry, and two newly formed towns to stay in Jinan to support all parties. After thinking for a long time, Meng Jun decided to take Shandong first and set up a defense line along the Yellow River.

The three armies officially set out on the fifth day of March in the fourth year of the Yongli reign.

Along the way, wherever the army passed, all the cities surrendered, except for the defender of Zibo City, who was stubborn and refused to surrender.

The north of Zibo City faces a river. Zhao Yongping was worried that the defenders would launch a surprise attack when crossing the river, so he went around Changshan, captured Changshan, and then built a pontoon bridge in the Changshan area.

Although Zibo is a small city, its defense is quite strong. During the Chongzhen period, the Qing army repeatedly plundered Shandong. Therefore, in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, under the leadership of the magistrate Yang Huifang, Zibo built eleven hollow towers on the city wall of Zibo, each with twenty-four gun holes, to defend against the enemy army.

After Chongzhen hanged himself and the Ming Dynasty collapsed, the Qing Dynasty entered the pass. It was thought that Zibo would no longer have the opportunity to use the city defenses that had been built with great effort. Until the Qing Dynasty forced people to shave their heads and change their clothes, Xie Qian, a native of Gaoyuan, Shandong, gathered thousands of volunteers, captured Gaoyuan County, and contacted Ding Kezhe, the leader of the Zibo volunteer army, to capture Zibo County.

It was a pity that without any reinforcements, the rebel army was repeatedly defeated under the encirclement of the Qing army until Gaoyuan was lost. The rebel army retreated to Zibo, where they suffered heavy casualties under the strong defense of Zibo city. After a long siege, the Qing army mobilized artillery to bombard the west city of Zibo. After four days of bombardment, the west city of Zibo collapsed. The rebel army was completely wiped out, and Xie Qian and Ding Kezhe died martyrs for their loyalty.

On March 18th, Zhao Yongping led his troops to besiege Zibo.

The army was setting up camp, and Zhao Yongping stopped outside Zibo City, his heart was in turmoil. He said to the generals around him with some emotion: "You know, there was a Sun Zhixie in Zibo City. He was a traitor in the past, the first to shave his head, and he was so cruel that countless heroes were killed.

Qian Biao suddenly realized, "So it was this guy who asked me to shave my head. He is so damn disgusting. I wonder if he is still alive. If he is, I will kill his whole family after we capture Zibo."

Yang Sanwu laughed and responded, "It's not General Qian's turn to kill him. The whole family of this bastard has been killed long ago. This bastard returned home in triumph, but was captured alive by General Xie who broke through Zibochuan. Do you know how Sun Zhixie died in the end?"

Zhao Yongping only knew that Sun Zhixie, who was the first to advocate shaving his head, was from Zibo, but he really didn't know how Sun Zhixie died. Not only Zhao Yongping, but also the generals didn't know much about this.

Yang Sanwu raised his lips and said with a smile: "In the second year of Longwu, the people of Gaoyuan hated the order to shave their heads. Xie Qian led thousands of volunteers and conquered Gaoyuan, Zibo, Deping and other counties. In Zibo City, they caught Sun the thief. The righteous army tied him up and paraded him through the streets. They pierced his body with needles and inserted hair, saying that they were transplanting hair for him. They also tied up seven of Sun's family members and made Sun the thief watch his descendants being beheaded. Finally, Sun the thief was executed by slow slicing and his body was left exposed in the streets."

Upon hearing this, all the generals were delighted, saying that this way of death was not too easy for the thief, but really gratified the people.

After chatting, the generals turned to the main topic and discussed how to break through Zibo City. In recent days, the general information inside Zibo City has also been passed on by the Qingluan Guards.

The magistrate of Zibo County was a native of northern Zhili, named Chen Xuanyi. He was a scholar admitted to the first imperial examination of the Qing Dynasty. He often boasted that he was a disciple of the emperor. The garrison commander was also a subordinate of Lu Fengchun, Liu Qichang. This man's grandfather and three generations had all served the Qing Dynasty, but they lacked ability. However, they were loyal to the Qing Dynasty.

There were 4,000 soldiers in Zibo City. The west city had been destroyed by artillery fire. Therefore, after the Zhou army entered Shandong, Chen Xuanyi continued to recruit corvée labor to repair the west city.

Ever since the last time they used gunpowder to blow up the city of Jining, the generals had tasted the sweetness and expressed their willingness to use gunpowder again to blow up the small city of Zibo.

However, Zhao Yongping was a little hesitant. After the replenishment of gunpowder during this period, there were 30,000 kilograms of gunpowder. If it was used in the small town of Zibo, there might not be enough gunpowder when attacking Yidu, the capital of Qingzhou.

On March 19th, it was cloudy and rainy. Seeing that the weather was bad, Zhao Yongping intensified the siege of the city while making weapons.

On the 20th, it rained.

On the 21st, it rained heavily.

Inside the Zhou army tent.

Qian Biao untied his robe in annoyance and said, "What a horrible weather, General Zhao, why don't we just storm the city? There are only 4,000 people in the city. We can definitely take it down by storming from three sides. Who knows how long this rain will last!"

Qian Biao felt a little regretful that Immortal Li did not come with the army this time. If he had come, he could have asked and found out how long the rain would stop.

Gao Jinku said with some regret: "It's raining heavily, the artillery is not very useful, and bombing the city probably won't work either. Even if we use siege equipment, the ground is full of mud. General Qian, I'm afraid it won't be easy to attack by force!"

Yang Sanwu turned his head to look at the sky, and said with a somewhat uncertain tone: "General, it should be sunny after this heavy rain. A strong attack is indeed not a good option. It is better to wait for another day or two."

Zhao Yongping listened to the generals' discussion and nodded, saying, "The road is slippery and it's not easy to climb the city. Let's wait for two more days. However, the air is humid, so be careful not to drink raw water in the army to prevent infection."

All the generals nodded. Marching regulations were the most important thing for the king when marching and camping, and no one dared to take it lightly.

On the 22nd, there was a thunderstorm.

On the 23rd, there was heavy rain.

Now even Zhao Yongping couldn't sit still. Qian Biao looked at the big raindrops outside the tent and shook his head, saying, "Damn it, which Nezha beat up the Dragon King's Third Prince again? Is the Dragon King here to take revenge? It has been raining for five days straight, it's really killing me!"

Yang Sanwu was somewhat moved when he heard this, and sighed: "The power of heaven and earth is unpredictable. From the tenth year of Chongzhen to the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Shandong suffered from drought for consecutive years. If there had been such rain at that time, I would have been willing to be sacrificed as a sacrifice!"