Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 392 It’s a New Year Again

It was New Year's Eve again, and Meng Jun suddenly realized that in all these years since he came to this era, he had spent almost every New Year in the army with the warriors.

During the festival in the military camp outside Jining City, a brave soldier said half-jokingly and half-complainingly: "My lord, I haven't celebrated the New Year with my wife for many years!"

Meng Jun laughed and said, "You didn't celebrate the festival with your wives, so I came to Jining specially to celebrate with you. Don't worry, I will make sure that everyone can celebrate the festival with their families next year!"

The soldiers of the Loyal Camp, Yuyuan Army and other camps were all a little surprised. They didn't expect that the king, who held a high position, would celebrate every festival with the soldiers.

Yang Sanwu praised Meng Jun in front of all the generals, "Your Majesty's virtue is as great as heaven and earth, and your benevolence is as great as the sea. Throughout history, there has been no king who is as close to the people as Your Majesty!"

Meng Jun waved his hands, indicating that Yang Sanwu was praising him too much.

But Yang Sanwu did not stop talking, and continued: "Your Majesty is kind to the army and cares about the men. I think that with such a wise leader, there is no need to worry about the unrest in the world and the people's livelihood. It is easy to deal with some rebellious ministers and traitors. I swear to sacrifice my life to repay the king's kindness!"

Meng Jun was delighted when he heard this, but he praised Yang Sanwu and declined, saying, "General Yang, you are praising me too much. I am just doing my duty. How dare I accept such praise?"

As the saying goes, honest advice hurts the ear, but most people in the world like to hear nice words, and few people like to be scolded every day. Meng Jun naturally knew that Yang Sanwu was praising him, but even though he knew it, he inevitably felt happy.

The generals looked at each other in bewilderment. They had never expected that among so many generals in the army, the one who was most eloquent was actually Yang Sanwu, who had just surrendered. Qian Biao cursed inwardly, "Shameless flatterer!"

Qian Biao squeezed forward with some dissatisfaction, bowed to Meng Jun, and wanted to say something, but seemed to be stuck, and he couldn't utter a word for a long time.

Meng Jun looked at Qian Biao with some doubt. Qian Biao suddenly had an idea and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty is wise and brave, indomitable, steadfast and unyielding, wise... God..."

The more Meng Jun listened, the weirder it seemed to him, so he quickly stopped Qian Biao from continuing.

But Bai Yongfu on the side burst out laughing, and Qian Biao glared at him when he heard it.

After Meng Jun and his generals continued to move forward, Qian Biao walked up to Bai Yongfu and cursed in a low voice: "Bai, what are you laughing at!"

"Oh, I suddenly remembered something funny."

"Humph, bullshit, I know you were just laughing at me!"

Bai Yongfu sighed and said, "If General Qian insists on thinking so, then I can't do anything about it." After saying that, Bai Yongfu walked away leisurely, leaving Qian Biao behind and cursing inwardly.

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It happened to be the Spring Festival, and Meng Jun took this opportunity to reorganize the Yuyuan Army and the surrendered troops in Jining City. After eliminating the weak and retaining the strong, the Yuyuan Army still had more than 52,000 young and able-bodied people. Thirteen thousand men were selected from the surrendered troops in Jining, and after selecting some young and able-bodied people to supplement each town, there were still more than 61,000 people.

At this time, the Zhou army in Jining City included Wuwei Town, Guwu Town, Zhongwu Town, Huwei Town, Yingyang Town, Pulu Army, 5,000 heavy armored soldiers, 2,000 cavalry under Huang Cheng, Wuning Town that came with Meng Jun, and 3,000 Mongolian cavalry under Gulbuha, totaling nearly 80,000 regular troops.

Fifty-two thousand soldiers of the Yuyuan Army surrendered. Meng Jun appointed Liang Min and Yang Sanwu to establish two new towns, Hushan and Hulin. The remaining 40,000 people were formed into four new towns. The middle and low-level officers were either surrendered generals, officers in the Yuyuan Army, or some were transferred from various towns. As for the candidates for the four new towns, Meng Jun promoted those who had made many military achievements in recent years.

It was not until the sixth day of February in the fourth year of the Yongli reign that the military reorganization was nearly completed. A large number of military equipment were transported from Nanjing to Jining, and all the swords, spears, bows and arrows were in place. Only armor was insufficient for the deployment in the new town.

Regardless of whether the newly formed 60,000 garrison troops are incomplete in armor and equipment, there are now fourteen military garrisons with names in Jining City. If the 80,000 able-bodied soldiers accompanying the army are included, there are a total of 220,000 people in Jining City.

At the military meeting, all the generals showed full confidence in the next military operations. Almost most of them suggested going north to capture Dongchang Prefecture, and only a few suggested capturing Jinan first.

What Zhao Yongping meant was that most of the troops in Dongchang Prefecture were transferred to Jining, and even Linqing General Yi Yonggui was beheaded. Dongchang Prefecture was now empty and easy to seize, and it was even easier to provide logistical supplies along the canal to the north.

Opponents, on the other hand, were worried that if they captured Dongchang Prefecture, they would be able to march straight to Beijing, which would greatly irritate the Qing court. Once the Qing army moved south, Jinan Prefecture and the army of Shandong Governor Lu Fengchun would be attacked from both sides, making the battle unfavorable.

Judging from the situation in the world, Shandong has an important strategic position. If Shandong is in the hands of Meng Jun, he can advance to seize Hebei or retreat to guard the two Huai regions.

If Shandong was in the hands of the Qing court, the threat from northern Zhili would be immediately eliminated. Shandong had been plundered by the Qing army several times, and in just over ten years, Shandong had not recovered.

After thinking for a long time, Meng Jun made a decisive decision and decided to march the army into Dongpingzhou, control the waterway hub of Anping Town, and then march eastward along Dong'a, Pingyin, and Changqing to capture Jinan first.

Dongchang Prefecture was empty and could be captured by sending a small army, but Lu Fengchun in Jinan City was a thorn in his side. Although there were many troops outside Jining City, Meng Jun felt that he was still unable to rely on these people to fight his way into Beijing. It would be better to be cautious and completely capture Shandong. Moreover, Jiang Xiang's siege had been lifted, and Datong was like a nail, threatening Beijing day and night.

February 10th, the fourth year of the Yongli reign, was sunny.

Meng Jun gathered a large force on the outskirts of Jining and reviewed the soldiers. He saw swords and spears shining in the sun, the military formation was tight, and bows and arrows were ready to be fired. Meng Jun, in full military uniform and carrying a sword, raised his arms and shouted, swearing to march north with great enthusiasm.

Meng Jun led his troops to Dongping Prefecture with Gulbuha as the vanguard.

On February 12, 3,000 Mongolian cavalrymen under Gulbuha's command arrived at the city of Dongping Prefecture. The defenders in the city were already small in number, and they were all shocked to see a large group of Mongolian soldiers under the city, not flying the flag of the Qing Dynasty, but the flag of the Zhou army.

The Dongping defender had no intention of defending the city. Seeing this situation, he took the lead in surrendering to Gulbuha without waiting for Meng Jun's infantry to arrive in the rear.

Gulbuha left only ten cavalrymen in Dongping Prefecture, and the rest rushed towards Anping Town, the waterway hub.

It was not until the afternoon that a large group of Zhou troops arrived in Dongping Prefecture. Meng Jun sent 3,000 soldiers to Dongping. Seeing that the army entered the city without harassing the people, the people in the city were surprised at first and then happy, and they all welcomed the Zhou army with food and drink.

Meng Jun issued an order and issued a notice to pacify the people, strictly prohibiting looting and implementing benevolent policies. The people of Dongping praised King Zhou's benevolence, and Meng Jun was quite touched by this. The people's expectations of the army had dropped to such a low level. As long as the army entering the city did not kill people or loot, it would be a good army.

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(I swear I won’t go out next National Day. Traffic jams and urgent peeing make me almost cry⊙﹏⊙)