Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 54 Gui Zhuang and Gu Yanwu

Kunshan has almost become an empty city. Meng Jun stopped for a moment and looked at the ruined Kunshan City, sighing, "What kind of world is this? The land of fish and rice has become what it is now."

Afterwards, Meng Jun left a flag of a hundred people to garrison Kunshan. Even the county magistrate was not replaced for the time being. The army did not stop and headed towards Taicang and Jiading.

In a forest 20 miles away from Kunshan, a lookout rushed into a study and said to a man dressed in green clothes, "Sir, Kunshan City has been recaptured!"

Gui Zhuang was somewhat surprised. Since the fall of Kunshan, the rebels had suffered heavy casualties. Now he only had less than a hundred people around him, and his external contacts were almost cut off. Kunshan was recaptured at this time. Could it be that the Ming Dynasty's Lu Jianguo had launched a northern expedition? Thinking of this, Gui Zhuang hurriedly asked, "Who led the army to recapture Kunshan?"

The scout thought for a moment and said, "I don't know who they are, but there is a Meng character on the flag, a lot of people, as far as the eye can see, and cannons and cavalry."

"Who is the general with the word 'Meng' on the flag?" Gui Zhuang stroked his beard and racked his brains, but he could not think of anyone with the surname Meng who could be the commander-in-chief of the army.

After a while, Guizhuang asked the scout again to confirm whether it was the Ming army, not the Lu army or the Green Camp.

The scout said firmly, "It's definitely not the Tartar army. I saw the Ming flag raised on the top of the city wall, and those soldiers didn't have queues."

Gui Zhuang was born into a family of scholars. His great-grandfather was Gui Youguang, the deputy minister of the Nanjing Dali Temple during the Longqing period. His father, Gui Changshi, was one of the three talented scholars in Kunshan. He was good at calligraphy in the Jin and Tang dynasties, cursive script, seal script, and painting orchids and bamboos. Gui Zhuang was influenced by poetry and books since he was a child. When he was a student, he read a lot of books and wrote thousands of words. He was good at poetry, prose, and painting bamboo and rocks, especially calligraphy. His skills in cursive script were even deeper, and people at that time thought he was unparalleled. Gui Zhuang was a close friend of his fellow villager Gu Yanwu. At the age of seventeen, he joined the Fushe Society with Gu Yanwu, and later joined the Jingyin Poetry Society.

"Xuan Gong (Gui Zhuang's pen name), if this is true, it would be great. We can go straight to join the army. With the support of the people, we can still do something about world affairs," Gu Yanwu said excitedly.

"Ningren, you must be excited. You still need to confirm it again." Gui Zhuang was also very excited, but he still advised his close friend Gu Yanwu.

An army of less than a hundred people naturally could not cause much trouble. Gui Zhuang originally intended to withdraw to Zhejiang with the remaining army within a few days and join Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu. However, Gu Yanwu was somewhat opposed to it, believing that Emperor Longwu had already ascended the throne in Fujian. If Prince of Lu abdicated and returned to his fiefdom, it would be fine. If he did not abdicate, the dispute over the throne would arise again, which would inevitably deplete the strength of the Ming army. It would be better for him to stay in Nanzhili and start a rebellion when the opportunity arises. Although the two were close friends, they were still at a stalemate.

In May of the first year of Hongguang, after the Qing army entered the pass, Gu Yanwu temporarily lived in Yulianjing. He was recommended by Yang Yongyan, the magistrate of Kunshan County, to join the Southern Ming court and served as a clerk in the Ministry of War. Gu Yanwu took the Zhenjiang route to Nanjing to take up his post. Unexpectedly, Nanjing was captured by the Qing army before he arrived, and the Hongguang Emperor was captured. The Southern Ming army collapsed across the board, and the Qing army's cavalry pointed to Suzhou and Hangzhou. After the order to shave their heads was issued, anti-Qing righteous armies rose up in various parts of Jiangnan. Gu Yanwu and his close friends Guizhuang and Wu Qihang gave up their pens and joined the army, joining a righteous army led by Wang Yongzha, the chief censor.

The rebel armies conspired to recapture Suzhou first, and then take Hangzhou, Nanjing and the coastal areas. Unfortunately, the motley army was no match for the elite Eight Banners, and the rebel army was ambushed and defeated. Songjiang and Jiading also fell one after another.

Gu Yanwu sneaked back to Kunshan, and together with Yang Yongyan, Guizhuang and others, defended the city against the enemy. Within a few days, Kunshan fell, and more than 50,000 people were killed. Wu Qihang was killed in the battle, Yang Yongyan disappeared, Gu Yanwu's biological mother He's right arm was chopped off by Qing soldiers, and his two younger brothers were killed. Gu Yanwu himself was lucky enough to escape. Due to the national hatred and family feud, Gu Yanwu joined Guizhuang and gathered a group of volunteers. However, they had no food or money, and their weapons were incomplete. Some of the soldiers fled. As of today, there are only 78 people left with the two of them.

After discussing for a while, Gu Yanwu and Gui Zhuang decided to sneak into Kunshan City first to confirm before making a decision.

Meng Jun did not stop and quickly arrived at Taicang City. As for Taicang City, it was no different from Kunshan. Not a single arrow was fired. When Taicang City changed hands, Meng Jun also left a flag of soldiers to garrison the city. Of course, Meng Jun did not expect that these one hundred people could really defend the city. There were no main forces of the Qing army around. If the Qing army did not come, one flag of one hundred people would be enough.

The next day, Meng Jun's vanguard arrived outside Jiading City. Beyond Jiading was Songjiang Prefecture City. Although Jiading City had experienced two massacres at this time, the remaining troops, led by a general named Wu Zhifan from the former Hongguang Dynasty, fiercely attacked Jiading City, and the surrounding people also responded one after another. The Qing army was caught off guard and was suddenly killed and fled.

The rebels on the city wall saw dozens of cavalry scouts outside the city. The defenders felt they were facing a powerful enemy and hurriedly rang the alarm bell. For a moment, the bells in Jiading City rang loudly, and teams of defenders rushed to the top of the city wall, looking at the Meng army scouts.

Half a while later, in the north of Jiading City, Meng's army came rolling in like a flood, with flags like a forest, and artillery and cavalry all present. At first glance, Meng's army had become rich. Compared with the Eight Banners Qing Army, Meng Jun was naturally like a beggar. But compared with the rebel army of these villagers, Meng Jun looked like a prince, which made them pale in comparison.

"Yu An, ask the flag bearer to raise the Ming flag higher." Meng Jun put his hand on his forehead and looked at the defenders on the city wall. This was the only organized rebel army Meng Jun had seen in recent days, not those scattered rebel armies that were in disarray. Nowadays, there were countless bandits, defeated soldiers, rebel armies, Qing troops, Ming troops, and armed forces everywhere in Songjiang Prefecture. Along the way, the most encountered by Meng's army were defeated soldiers. Most of the defeated soldiers saw the Meng army under the flag of the Ming army, and they took the initiative to come forward to join the army. Meng Jun naturally accepted all of them and accepted them all.

The rebels on the city wall also saw the Ming flag. There was a commotion on the top of the city wall, and soldiers shouted excitedly from time to time, "The imperial reinforcements are coming!"

Wu Zhifan looked outside the city with a worried look on his face. He was a little excited but also a little suspicious, fearing that this was a trick of the Eastern Tartars. Thinking of this, Wu Zhifan called his personal guard beside him, who was also his nephew Wu Jinwen, "Jinwen, go and see for yourself whether it is our government troops or a trick of the Eastern Tartars."

Although Wu Jinwen was only eighteen years old, he said firmly, "General, if there is a trick, I will warn you at the risk of my life." After saying that, he turned around and was about to walk down the city wall.

Wu Zhifan stretched out his hand and said, "Jinwen... be careful." If it was the Ming army, Wu Jinwen would naturally not be in any danger, but if it was the Qing army in disguise, his nephew would surely be dead.

Wu Jinwen looked back at his uncle, didn't say anything, just nodded heavily.