Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 488 The Bandit Leader Escapes

The Qing army retreated outside the Great Wall. Although they plundered a large amount of supplies from inside the Great Wall, they were unable to obtain any extra supplies to aid the Mongolian tribes. The Khorchin tribe of Eastern Mongolia was already deeply bound to the upper echelons of the Qing court, so they could still receive some supplies from time to time.

As for the tribes south of the desert, they could only rely on themselves because they could not get any benefits from the Qing court, and the influence of the Qing court was gradually declining. Therefore, many tribes south of the desert, in name, still submitted to the Qing court, but in fact, they secretly traded with the Qian country caravan.

In order to collect intelligence on the grassland, Meng Jun also encouraged merchants to go out and asked the Qingluan Guard to prepare some personnel to follow each caravan, spy on the garrison intelligence, draw maps, bribe spies, and so on.

When the new dynasty was just established, no garrison in the border towns dared to let strategic materials flow into Mongolia and the Qing court. The main commodities were iron pots, tea, cotton cloth, and silk cloth.

These commodities were all in short supply. Tea was a necessity for all Mongolian tribes. Iron pots and cotton cloth could also be exchanged for horses, cattle and sheep.

During the Ming Dynasty, the export of iron was prohibited. As a result, Mongolia's strength gradually weakened, and even products such as iron pots could not be produced on the grassland.

As for the export of iron pots, Meng Jun held a limited supportive attitude, that is, to limit the quantity. As the saying goes, if you want to take, you must first give. If you want to cut off the arm of the Qing court, but continue to do the same as before, how can you gain the trust of the grassland tribes?

After occupying Beijing, Meng Jun thought of the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants who had made great contributions to the Qing government. However, when Meng Jun sent people to search and confiscate, those big merchants who had relied on selling supplies and intelligence to help the enemy fled Shanxi with their gold and silver when the Qing government withdrew from the interior.

However, the fate of these people will not be good either. Once they reach the outside of the Great Wall, they will be like children holding gold in a busy market. Although the disaster has not yet arrived, the blessing has already gone away.

………………

Under the city of Liuzhou.

Wu Sangui had lost his temper. His army had been attacking Liuzhou City for five days, but it remained motionless. Wu Sangui's mood had fallen to the bottom. Every day, his subordinates launched wave after wave of attacks, but still failed to break through the city.

Was it Wu Sangui who was trying to preserve his strength and pretend not to contribute? As for the vanguard sent by Lin Shiqi, Wang Fugui believed that Wu Sangui did contribute in the two days after his arrival.

Wu Sangui's face has not been in a good state these days. There are more than 2,000 wounded soldiers and more than 3,000 killed in action. With such heavy casualties, it would have been fine if they had just captured Liuzhou. However, the military force in Liuzhou City still seems to be sufficient.

It was not until two days after Wang Fugui's troops arrived at the city of Liuzhou that the Qingluan Guards secretly reported that there were Li Chengdong's confidants, Wu Wenxian and 17,000 defenders in Liuzhou City, and that the families of the generals were under Li Chengdong's control. He issued a strict order that anyone who surrendered would have their family members beheaded. No one thought that Li Chengdong's threat was a joke.

Wang Fugui comforted Wu Sangui for a rare moment, saying, "Marquis Pingxi, victory and defeat are common in the military, don't take it too seriously. I, Wang, will tell Marshal Lin that you did your best."

Wu Sangui felt a little aggrieved when he heard this, and thought to himself, do I need you to speak for me? Lin Shiqi is nothing, he can believe it or not.

But Wu Sangui also heard good intentions from Wang Fugui's tone. After a while, he said sullenly, "Thank you very much, General Wang."

"Hey, this is what I should do!" Wang Fugui waved his hand, indicating that you're welcome.

Wu Sangui glanced at Wang Fugui and asked, "General Wang is your majesty's favorite general. Do you have any strategy to break the city?"

"This..." Wang Fugui thought for a moment and said, "To be honest, the key to breaking a city is to know yourself and the enemy. Wu Wenxian is Li Chengdong's confidant, and the defenders are controlled by Li Chengdong. If we attack by force, the cost will be huge. It is better to besiege the city until the food supply is cut off. Li Chengdong only has a few places anyway, so we should besiege Liuzhou first and see who can outlast the other."

After listening to Wang Fugui's nonsense, Wu Sangui nodded and praised: "Good plan! General Wang is indeed worthy of being your Majesty's favorite general!"

Although Wang Fugui was talking nonsense, Wu Sangui really had no other choice now. As for the method of blowing up the city, the local soldiers who had made many outstanding achievements were still under the command of Zhao Yongping in Guanzhong. By the time the local soldiers arrived, Wu Sangui would have already surrounded Liuzhou.

Bombing a city is a technical job that not just anyone can do. If the tunnel is not dug well, the tunnel will collapse. If the position is not calculated accurately, the city wall may not be blown up but the open space outside the city instead. Even if the position is accurate and the tunnel does not collapse, if the gunpowder is not piled well, the city wall may not be blown down.

On the third day after Wang Fugui arrived, Lin Shiqi led his troops to Liuzhou. As the number one military figure in the Qian Dynasty and the commander-in-chief of the southern expedition appointed by the emperor, although Wu Sangui despised this man in his heart, he still went forward to pay his respects.

Lin Shiqi was not polite to his former superior and asked, "Marquis Pingxi is so famous, why did he stop his troops in the small city of Liuzhou?"

Wu Sangui said, "Reporting to the commander, there are 17,000 soldiers defending Liuzhou, and I only have 30,000 men. The enemy has a strong defense. I have been attacking for five days, and nearly 20% of my troops have been killed or wounded. The soldiers have done their best."

Lin Shiqi nodded, indicating that he accepted Wu Sangui's explanation. In fact, Lin Shiqi had already obtained the details of Wu Sangui's battle under the city of Liuzhou. Lin Shiqi saw that Wu Sangui was unwilling to surrender, so he led a large army and took the opportunity to give Wu Sangui a warning.

The army, with more than 100,000 men, was approaching the city. Wu Wenxian in the city went from being full of confidence to being nervous. However, Wu Wenxian was also smart. On the day Lin Shiqi arrived, after the Qian army set up camp, he led the remaining 15,000 men in Liuzhou to escape from the city that night.

Upon hearing the news, Wu Sangui's subordinate Sun Wenhuan led his cavalry in pursuit at night. However, after a short while, many horses stumbled in the darkness, so Sun Wenhuan had to stop the pursuit.

However, Wu Wenxian was not in a much better situation. After daybreak, Wu Wenxian's troops had already scattered. But Wu Wenxian did not dare to stop. He could only reorganize them roughly and then continued to flee southward.

It was not until Wu Wenxian fled to Nanning that he counted his troops and found that more than 4,000 of them had escaped. Although Wu Wenxian was angry, he did not dare to stay in Nanning and wait for the defeated soldiers to gather. Instead, he fled to Zhongzhou Prefecture on the border where Li Chengdong was.

Li Chengdong did not care about the fact that Wu Wenxian led more than 10,000 people to escape from Liuzhou. Wu Wenxian's mission had been basically completed. He blocked Meng Jun's troops for more than ten days and bought himself more time to retreat.

So, after gathering Wu Wenxian's troops, Li Chengdong led his men towards Annan. At the border, Li Chengdong looked back to the north, and then headed south without any reluctance.

Although Yongli still exists in the world today, he has fled to Burma. Li Chengdong also led most of his troops to retreat to Annan. Among the traditional Han provinces, only the Zheng family remains. At this time, Meng Jun's envoy also came to Quanzhou.

(Thanks to the great master for recognizing the formation ^O^, I have been wandering for half my life and have never met a wise master. I hope you will not abandon me………………)