Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 422 Pincer Attack

In the early morning, the crisp bird singing outside the window woke up Meng Jun from his deep sleep. Over the years, Meng Jun has developed a good biological clock and will wake up on time at dawn no matter how late he goes to bed.

Since capturing Shandong, Meng Jun gathered his troops in the Jinan area. At this time, the Zhou army had Guwu Town, Zhongwu Town, Wuning Town, Huwei Town, Yingyang Town, Pulu Army, Hushan, Hulin, 5,000 heavy armored soldiers, Huang Cheng's 1,200 cavalry, Gulbuha's 3,000 Mongolian cavalry, and four newly formed towns, with a total army of 132,000 people.

Since so many troops were not stationed together, Meng Jun set up four large camps and often organized competitions for the soldiers. Meng Jun personally formulated the rules for a new type of Cuju (similar to football, but the kind that is held in the hands and rushed around).

On this day, there was a competition for senior generals from the entire army. As the drums sounded, the stadium suddenly became lively. The two teams of generals, wearing uniforms of different colors, one black and one red, held the ball and started a fierce competition.

Every time they crashed into the opponent's goal, deafening cheers from the soldiers outside the field would be heard.

This kind of game where the testosterone is about to overflow, makes Meng Jun very excited to watch. When the team was first formed, Meng Jun even went on the field to play a game himself. However, all the generals tried to avoid him, and the obstruction was too fake. After playing for a while, Meng Jun felt bored. What's the point of playing such an unfair game? So he just stayed on the stage and watched the generals compete.

Life in the military camp has always been very boring. The competitions in recent days have reduced the tense atmosphere and boosted the morale of the army. It can not only relieve the psychological pressure of long-term preparation for war, but also enrich the life in the military camp, and enhance physical fitness and team spirit. It is simply killing two birds with one stone.

The game was still going on. The person controlling the ball on the field was Qian Biao, who was holding the ball in his arms. In front of him were Guo Hu, Gulbuha, Liang Min, and Hao Yongzhong. These four people were like shields, blocking the opposite side for Qian Biao and trying to give Qian Biao a chance to score.

Bai Yongfu on the opposite side said anxiously: "Hurry up and block it, don't let Qian Hanzi score!"

Qian Biao cursed: "You are the fool!"

…………

During these days in Jinan City, Meng Jun conducted military training for the entire army, rallying the people's hearts and rectifying military discipline, especially for the newly established Yuyuan Army and the surrendered military towns.

The combat effectiveness of an army depends not only on weapons, but also on the cohesion of people's hearts and strict discipline. Therefore, he attached great importance to the rectification of military discipline, requiring generals at all levels to strictly abide by military regulations and never tolerate violators, no matter who they are.

Meng Jun was in Jinan, closely observing the actions of various forces in the south, while waiting for Dorgon's move. If Dorgon was as steady as an old dog and remained motionless even when there was an emergency outside the Great Wall, then he would prepare to find a way to pacify the south.

In fact, Meng Jun was also a little confused. Why were there no moves from the southern parties? It seemed as if he was nothing. He was fighting vigorously in Shandong, but the Yongli court did not even make any move to hinder him.

As for the news coming from Kunming, the Yongli court was still in internal strife. Ding Kuichu stepped down and the new prime minister was Huang Shijun, the leader of the Wu party. He stepped up his offensive and focused on attacking the Chu party, determined to drive the remaining Chu party out of the court in one fell swoop.

The Prime Minister Huang Shijun did not show any intention of attacking Meng Jun. Instead, he sent an envoy to Shandong to comfort the troops.

As for those who could threaten Meng Jun in the south, such as Li Dingguo, he was still pinned down in the Kunming court and had little use for his military power. Li Chengdong in Guangdong and Guangxi heard that the army had already entered Thang Long Prefecture and was causing chaos in Annan. Li Chengdong was already preparing to increase his military strength and send troops to Annan.

After taking control of Fujian, Zheng Chenggong's strength increased greatly. After the threat from the Qing court was eliminated, Zheng Chenggong even tried to attack the Spanish colony of Luzon. The Zheng family wanted to dominate the South China Sea trade route. For a time, the South China Sea was filled with warships fighting.

Wu Sangui in Shaanxi had already entered Hanzhong at this time and was clearing out some Qing troops who were unwilling to surrender, and the campaign was nearing its end.

Wu Sangui accepted Fang Guangchen's advice and sent secret envoys to contact Li Guoying, Wang Zuntan, Hui Yingzhao and others. The Qing court was now in decline. Li Guoying and Wang Zuntan were both former subordinates of Zuo Liangyu. They saw that the Qing court was getting worse day by day, Shaanxi and Hanzhong were both lost, and Sichuan had become an enclave.

Li Guoying thought hard for a long time and felt that the Qing Dynasty might not be able to survive. As for surrendering Liu Wenxiu, this was not even in the minds of Li Guoying and Wang Zuntan.

Liu Wenxiu was born in Xiying, Li Guoying and Wang Zuntan were old subordinates of Zuo Liangyu. At that time, Zuo Liangyu and Zhang Xianzhong had a deep hatred for each other. Even if we don’t mention these old things, half a year ago, Li Guoying and others had just defeated Liu Wenxiu’s army in Baoning. With new and old grudges, Li Guoying felt that if he surrendered to Xiying, his fate might not be good.

Surrendering to Wu Sangui can only be said to be the best choice for Li Guoying and others in the helpless situation. Therefore, Li Guoying hinted to the Dingxi General Li Guohan. As a result, Li Guohan hated Wu Sangui so much that he even threatened to withdraw from Sichuan and enter Hanzhong to fight Wu Sangui to the death.

Therefore, at the end of May, Li Guoying, Hui Yingzhao, Wang Zuntan and others attacked and killed the Dingxi general, Gushan Ezhen Li Guohan, who was unwilling to surrender to Wu, at a banquet, and then carried out a large-scale purge of the Eight Banners soldiers in the army and surrendered to Wu.

This news made Meng Jun slightly alert. Although Shaanxi and Sichuan were now in ruins, these places had geographical advantages and were easy to defend but difficult to attack.

It was not until the news came that Dorgon sent 50,000 troops to rush to the aid of the outside of the Great Wall that Meng Jun felt something was wrong. However, he still ordered the entire army to prepare for war, and the entire army of more than 132,000 people moved to Dezhou.

Afterwards, Meng Jun sent another 25,000 troops to garrison in Liaocheng, Andong, Dongping, Jining and other cities along the canal to protect the safety of the rear supply route.

At the same time, he sent a messenger to Datong to ask Jiang Xiang to threaten Beijing.

Since Datong rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, Jiang Xiang's cousin Jiang Rang died in battle under Guangling City, and his younger brother Jiang Xuan died in battle in Taiyuan City. These news made Jiang Xiang extremely painful.

Jiang Xiang felt that the Qing army was too powerful, so he did not dare to attack rashly. Jiang Xiang reinforced the city of Datong, reorganized the army, and prayed in his heart that King Zhou would come to his aid as soon as possible.

However, as Zhou's army marched northward with great momentum, every time news of victory came, the closer the Zhou army got to Shanxi, the happier Jiang Xiang became. After Meng Jun took over Shandong, Jiang Xiang replaced all the Ming army flags with Zhou army flags in Datong City, and in all his letters to Meng Jun, he referred to himself as a subject.

After receiving the order from Meng Jun, Jiang Xiang quickly assembled a large army and brought together the rebel forces from all over the country. He concentrated heavy troops in Datong, claiming that there were 100,000 rebel troops. He conducted frequent drills, marched out of Datong, and made an aggressive offensive posture to threaten Beijing.