Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 375 Killing the Envoy

After leaving Wu Zhifan to guard Xuzhou, Zhao Yongping led his troops northward along the canal to Jining.

The army was vast and powerful, with astonishing momentum. On both sides of the canal, Yi County, Teng County, Pei County, and Yutai County along the way changed their flags one after another, and rebel armies from all over the country swarmed in. Zhao Yongping reorganized these rebel armies on the spot according to their numbers, and appointed them as lieutenant generals, guerrillas and other officials. He had more than 7,000 rebels, but these rebels included both the old and the weak, and they had few armors and weapons. Many of them even used spears sharpened by wooden sticks.

The army marched northward with almost no resistance until it approached Jining, where it encountered a small amount of resistance from Qing troops in Luqiao Town, south of Jining.

The scouts captured several prisoners alive and inquired about the situation of the defenders in Jining City. However, these Qing prisoners were all low-level soldiers and had no idea about the number and deployment of the defenders in the city.

On November 19th, the Zhou army officially arrived at the southeast of Jining. Zhao Yongping ordered the army to set up camp while personally observing the city defense.

Xuzhou opened its gates and surrendered, allowing Zhao Yongping to easily capture the important city of Xuzhou. This made the Qing court feel more and more that the Han generals were untrustworthy. Therefore, in Jining City, high-ranking officials and generals gathered, but the important task of city defense was assigned by the Qing court to Lai Nao, the Meilezhang Jing who was originally stationed in Dongchang Prefecture.

In the distance, Zhao Yongping was observing the city wall with a telescope, while on the city wall, Lai Nao was also watching Zhao Yongping and his group with a telescope.

Lai Nao stared at Zhao Yongping while speaking to the Green Camp soldiers standing beside him: "The Prince Regent is about to wipe out Jiang Xiang. As long as we defend Jining and dampen the enemy's spirit, Prince Su and the Prince Regent will surely come to Jining's aid."

Standing nearby, Governor of the River Yang Fangxing, General of Yizhou Tong Yangliang, General of Linqing Yi Yonggui, and General of Baoding Lu Guonan all responded.

Zhao Yongping was looking at the tower from a distance, and said to Bai Yongfu beside him: "It seems that Jining is not as good as Xuzhou. You can see that there are gullies all over the ground below the city, and there is no flat land within the range of arrows on the city wall. The Qing army is determined to hold on."

Bai Yongfu hummed, then said: "General, the defenders in the city are bannermen, so it is impossible for them to surrender without a fight like in Xuzhou, but it would not hurt to send someone to persuade them to surrender."

When Zhao Yongping was observing Jining, Liang Min, the leader of the Yuyuan Army, sent someone to contact him. Zhao Yongping was very happy about this, because the Yuyuan Army were all native Shandong people and were familiar with the local situation.

In the first year of the Hongguang reign, the Yuyuan Army started the rebellion at almost the same time as Meng Jun. While Meng Jun was defending Suzhou, the Yuyuan Army successively conquered the four cities of Caozhou, Puzhou, Dingtao and Chengwu in a short period of time, and supported the Ming royal family, proclaimed themselves emperor in Caozhou, and changed the reign title to Tianzheng.

Proclaiming oneself emperor was something the Qing court could not tolerate. However, the main forces of the Qing army were mostly in Jiangnan, Huguang, Sichuan and other places at that time. Therefore, the Qing court mobilized troops from Hebei and Shandong provinces to besiege Caozhou. However, these Green Camp soldiers were weak, and the siege of Caozhou lasted for two months without success.

In the first year of the Yongli reign, the Yuyuan rebel army broke through Nanle in the west and attacked Damingfu in the north, threatening Beijing. At that time, many people in Damingfu, Zhili and Guidefu, Henan responded. Dorgon was afraid that the situation would escalate and get out of control, so he ordered the officers and soldiers of the three provinces to join the suppression, and also sent several people from the Eight Banners to participate in the encirclement and suppression.

Under the supervision of the Eight Banners, the Green Camp soldiers were determined to advance or die. Although the rebels fought bravely, they were ultimately outnumbered. The Qing army successively recaptured Dongming, Dingtao, Chengwu and other counties, and surrounded Caozhou in early August.

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, Li Huajing, the leader of the Yuyuan Army, and others tied up and handed over the Ming royal family members they supported, hoping to exchange them for the withdrawal of the Qing army.

This foolish idea was impossible to realize. Li Huajing was detained by the Qing army and then taken to Beijing. Under such circumstances, the rebels in Caozhou City still held the city walls until the Qing army attacked the city with red cannons transported from Beijing. After six days of bombardment, the city fell and the Qing army killed all the rebels.

At this point, the Yuyuan Army suffered heavy losses, and the rest fled to the dangerous areas of Shanzuo, between the mountains, forests and jungles. At this time, the leaders of the Yuyuan Army were Liang Min and Yang Sanwu, and their army still had 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers and civilians. These people were scattered in vast areas such as western Shandong, southern Shandong, and northern Jiangsu, affecting the areas of Zhili, Shandong, Henan, and Jiangsu.

In the Zhou army tent, the envoy Liang Sanbao bowed to Zhao Yongping and said, "I, Liang Sanbao, greet the general!"

Zhao Yongping hurriedly helped him up and said, "Please stand up quickly, righteous man."

"Thank you Marshal"

"The envoy is here to help me?"

Liang Sanbao said excitedly: "Replying to the Marshal, that's right. My general has been looking forward to the royal army's northern expedition. Now I heard that the Marshal's troops have arrived in Jining, and I am ready to gather soldiers and generals together with the royal army to drive out the Tartars!"

Zhao Yongping smiled and said, "I am following the king's order to march north to the Central Plains to recover our lost territory. I welcome heroes from all sides to join me in this cause. I just don't know when General Liang will arrive in Jining?"

Liang Sanbao hesitated for a moment, then replied uncertainly: "The rebels are scattered all over the place, and it will take a long time for them to gather together. However, within two months, 20,000 to 30,000 people should be able to arrive in Jining."

Zhao Yongping was disappointed when he heard this and said, "Speed is of the essence in war. Two months is too long. I'm afraid our army can't wait for General Liang's troops."

Liang Sanbao immediately said, "General, I will go back immediately and ask my general to make the decision."

Zhao Yongping nodded, and ordered his personal guard Xu Mi to lead a team to follow Liang Sanbao back to Yuyuan.

After Liang Sanbao left, Zhao Yongping shook his head helplessly. It would take two months before the rebels arrived. The vegetables would be cold. How could the army have time to stay in Jining for such a long time?

Zhao Yongping then convened a military meeting to discuss strategies for capturing Jining.

Seeing the easy capture of Xuzhou and the surrender of soldiers along the way, the generals thought that Jining City might also surrender without a fight, and they all said that they could send people to persuade them to surrender first.

Zhao Yongping also thought it was worth a try, and then he wrote a letter by hand, in which he covered everything from the general situation in the world, the comparison of the strength of the two armies, to the treatment after surrender. Zhao Yongping wrote three pages in a fluent manner, and sent a person with good looks and good eloquence from among the military clerks to Jining City.

As the saying goes, when two armies are fighting, envoys will not be killed. Even if the city refuses to surrender, Zhao Yongping believes that the envoy's life should not be in danger. There are hundreds of thousands of people, so what's the point in killing a scholar who is not even capable of tying a chicken?

What Zhao Yongping did not expect was that less than a quarter of an hour after the envoy arrived at the city wall, he heard a cry from afar outside the city. After a while, the personal guards came rushing to report that the envoy had been killed in the city and his head was hung on the city wall.

Zhao Yongping was furious. He deployed his troops, surrounded the city on three sides and left one side open. He also ordered the army to build weapons immediately and decided to attack Jining by force.

The third year of the Yongli reign, November 21st, early morning.

When dawn shone on Jining City, the rumbling smoke from artillery fire completely enveloped the city.

The humiliation of the Qing general killing the envoy filled the Zhou army with righteous indignation. The Zhou army built siege equipment all night long and made dozens of cowhide tents. These cowhide tents were covered with two layers of cowhide and two layers of cotton cloth on the top, with beams and pillars underneath and wheels at the bottom to protect the city from arrows and bricks and stones thrown at it.

Under the cover of dozens of cowhide tents, teams of Zhou troops gathered at the base of the wall, climbed up the ladders in waves, and charged towards the city walls.