Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 382 Fan Wencheng's Strategy

Under the city of Taiyuan, the camp of Bai Yintu’s troops was set up.

After arriving in Taiyuan, Baiyintu immediately sent an envoy to persuade Jiang Xuan to surrender, saying, "If you change your ways and submit to the Qing Dynasty, your previous crimes will be forgiven and you will not lose your wealth and honor. If you remain stubborn and refuse to change, you will die and your clan will be exterminated."

Jiang Xuan was Jiang Xiang's younger brother. Since ancient times, Jiang Xuan had never heard of anyone who had rebelled and was still alive and well. Jiang Xuan refused to surrender despite Bai Yintu's persuasion and was determined to defend Taiyuan City to the death.

Baiyintu felt that Taiyuan City was too tall and a strong attack was not a good idea. Then a surrendered general offered a plan to Baiyintu, saying that they could pile up earth outside the city and onto the top of the city, and then the army could swarm onto the city walls and would surely be able to capture Taiyuan City.

However, this method requires a large amount of manpower, and these people will be exposed to the attack range of the city defense equipment on the city wall, which will inevitably cause huge casualties.

Suo Hong, a general of the Baiyintu tribe, suggested plundering the villagers near Taiyuan and using their bodies to fill the wall of Taiyuan city.

Baiyintu thought what he said made sense, and then the Qing cavalry went out in all directions, abducting everyone, regardless of gender, age or status, except for five people, while the rest were 80,000 villagers.

Baiyintu dug up the soil in the eastern suburbs of Taiyuan and forced the villagers to either use sacks to carry the soil or use winnowing baskets to carry the soil. Under the coercion of the Qing army, tens of thousands of villagers became despicable tools in the siege tactics. They had no choice, and anyone who hesitated would be beheaded on the spot.

Jiang Xuan's eyes turned red when he saw this scene, but he could not hesitate. Jiang Xuan knew very well that once the city was lost, the consequences would be even more cruel.

When the Qing army drove the villagers closer to the city wall within shooting range, Jiang Xuan had no choice but to force the defenders to shoot.

Artillery fire roared, arrows rained down, and every falling shell was accompanied by heart-wrenching cries. Every time an arrow was fired, a villager would fall down under the city and be buried in the loess.

Under the city wall, corpses were everywhere and blood flowed like a river. After three days of driving the villagers away, the filling soil was nearly half the height of the city wall. No less than 40,000 villagers had fallen under the city of Taiyuan, including women, children, the elderly and the weak. In this offensive and defensive battle, they were like consumables and were consumed under the city of Taiyuan.

Baiyintu felt that it would be difficult to defeat Taiyuan City with just the remaining people, so he sent cavalry to farther places to capture villagers.

However, this action made everyone in the Three Jins region indignant. They formed volunteer armies in various places to attack the Qing cavalry that were arresting the villagers.

As a result, the number of villagers captured by the cavalry sent out by Baiyintu was decreasing day by day, while the casualties of the cavalry were increasing day by day, with dozens or even hundreds of casualties every day.

Baiyintu really couldn't stand the daily unnecessary losses. What made him even more worried was that reinforcements of the rebel army began to appear near Taiyuan. Although these people collapsed under the iron hoofs of the Eight Banners, they were quite tenacious.

………………

Beijing city.

The people in the capital were uneasy. Not long ago, the Qing Dynasty was about to unify the world, but now there was news that Zhou's army appeared in Tianjin. Even some Manchu officials and dignitaries said, "Why not negotiate a peace agreement and rule with King Zhou by dividing the river?"

The tense situation was not eased until Dorgon withdrew his troops and returned to Beijing. However, Dorgon received another piece of bad news just after returning to the capital. That is, Zhao Yongping had blown a hole in Jining City with gunpowder, leading to the fall of the city.

All the Green Camp soldiers in Jining city surrendered, except for Lu Guonan who escaped. Dorgon urgently summoned Lu Guonan to Beijing to learn in detail how the Zhou army had blown up the city. At the same time, he ordered Baiyintu to stop the siege of Taiyuan and withdraw his troops to stop Zhao Yongping's Northern Expedition.

Faced with the increasingly worse situation, Dorgon became more and more irritable, and he would punish palace maids for trivial matters at any time. Even Emperor Shunzhi was reprimanded by Dorgon several times.

At this time, the old minister Fan Wencheng asked to see Dorgon and said, "Regent, although Meng Jun is now powerful, his general Zhao Yongping is marching north from Huai'an, and his momentum is unstoppable. Once Jining is captured, Jinan will also be under his attack. As the saying goes, he is in the limelight, but he has hidden worries. I have a plan to offer, which should be able to delay the momentum of Meng Jun!"

Dorgon frowned upon hearing this and said, "Can we only delay it? Can we not eliminate it?"

Fan Wencheng shook his head and said, "Its power is already strong and cannot be easily eliminated."

Dorgon sighed and said, "Xiandou, please tell me how to delay the situation."

Fan Wencheng said slowly: "Meng Jun now has powerful soldiers and generals, and has recruited the remnants of the Shun bandits. He also accepted Sun Kewang, a criminal ordered by Zhu Youlang. The Ming court must regard Meng Jun as the biggest threat. My strategy is, first, to send envoys to negotiate peace with Zhu Youlang. However, most of the Ming court officials are good at talking, so we may be able to negotiate peace in secret and use Zhu Youlang to contain Meng Jun. Second, we should make a big move and send an envoy to Nanjing to express our willingness to divide the north and south with Meng Jun. The Qing Dynasty will be the Northern Emperor and Meng Jun will be the Southern Emperor, and the two emperors will rule the world together!"

Dorgon was shocked and angrily slammed the table, saying: "How can there be two suns in the world? The talk of constitutional fighting is treasonous!"

When Fan Wencheng heard Dorgon accusing him of treason, he immediately knelt down and said, "Prince Regent, the envoys are going to Nanjing. We don't care whether Meng the traitor agrees or not. As long as we spread the news to the world, the Ming court will never sit idly by!"

…………

Newspapers in Beijing spread rumors that the regent wanted to negotiate peace with the King of Zhou in the south, and suggested that Meng Jun of Zhou could ascend the throne and become the emperor, while the king in the south could call himself the orphan, and the two emperors in the north and south could rule the world together.

Lu Ping looked at the newspaper and couldn't help laughing. Previously, this newspaper had been boasting about how invincible the Qing cavalry was in the world, but how come the topic suddenly changed and the invincible Qing was going to negotiate peace with the king? It was really ridiculous.

The coffin shop owner, Song Zhong, said to Lu Ping mysteriously, "Shopkeeper Lu, do you know why the Qing Dynasty wants to negotiate peace with Meng Jun?"

Lu Ping laughed: "I am just a small person selling paper and pens. How can I have as many connections as Manager Song? How can I guess such an important matter of the court?"

Song Zhong smiled complacently, moved closer, and whispered, "The imperial court has been losing in the south. Xuzhou was lost, Jining was also lost, and troops from the south appeared in Tianjin. Did you know that the capital was under martial law a few days ago?"

Lu Ping nodded quickly to show that he understood.

Song Zhong continued, "During those days, the Empress Dowager issued several decrees in the palace, mobilizing troops everywhere. In the capital, even the families of the Eight Banners went up to the city to patrol."

Lu Ping pretended to be surprised and said, "Oh my, Manager Song even knows the news in the palace, it's incredible!"

Song Zhong couldn't hide the smug smile on his face. He patted Lu Ping on the shoulder and said, "Manager Lu, we have been getting along pretty well in the past two years. I, Old Song, recognize you as my brother."

Then Song Zhong whispered in Lu Ping's ear: "Now many officials are looking for ways to the south. I am not talented, but one of my great grandfather's cousins is in Changshu. Do you know where the one in the south is from?"

Lu Ping asked: "Which one is to the south?"

"Oh, there's another one in the south, the one who's going to be the emperor soon."

Lu Ping suddenly realized: "Oh, oh, you don't know?"

Song Zhong chuckled: "That person is also from Changshu."

Lu Ping stood in awe and asked, "Could it be that Shopkeeper Song is a relative of the emperor?"

"That's not the case. However, my relative has known King Meng for many years. When King Meng was a captain, my relative served under him as a captain. He had direct access to the emperor's ears. How about my way? It's not bad, right?"

Lu Ping asked curiously: "Who is your relative?"

Song Zhong said proudly: "Song Jianping"

Lu Ping: “………………”