Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 336: Remnants of Shun Army

Du Yinxi was born in Wujin County (Changzhou, Jiangsu) in the 1601th year of Wanli ( AD). He lived in poverty since childhood. When Du Yinxi was eleven years old, both his parents died. When he was twelve years old, he lived with his father-in-law, the Chen family. His father-in-law was poor but kind-hearted, so they hired a private tutor to teach him literature.

Du Yinxi studied hard and passed the imperial examination in 1637. He later served as the prefect of Changsha. At that time, bandits rebelled and defeated government troops several times. Du Yinxi led the local soldiers to defeat the bandits and killed the leader. He then became famous as a military expert and moved the court and the public.

In the 17th year of Chongzhen, Emperor Liezong died for his country, the Qing army entered the pass, the situation changed drastically, Li Zicheng withdrew from Beijing, and later died in Jiugong Mountain. His remnants came from Sichuan and Shaanxi to Jingxiang, and stationed at the border of Lizhou, with a force of 300,000, claiming that they wanted to attack the Ming army.

Du Yinxi was in the court and cried out urgently: "The last emperor died for his country, and the country was in danger of extinction. Now that the country is newly established, we cannot suppress them. We should pacify them. If we succeed, it will be a blessing for the world. If we fail, it will be the day I die."

Afterwards, Du Yinxi volunteered to go alone on horseback, crossed the Lishui River from Wuling, and met with the generals of Shun army in the camp. Du Yinxi spoke sincerely and passionately, advocating a joint fight against the Qing army. When the generals of Shun army were hesitant, Gao came out of the camp and said to the generals: "Mr. Du is a man of heaven, you can't let him down!" The generals then joined him.

When Emperor Longwu received the news of Shun's surrender, he was extremely happy and said to his attendants: "There is hope for the revival of the world!"

Things have reached this point, it seems that everything is going in a good direction. In the former Jiangnan area, Meng Jun has risen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Most of the Qing army's attention is attracted by Meng Jun, and Du Yinxi decides to attack Jingzhou.

Du Yinxi led his army to attack Jingzhou, but failed to take it. Someone suggested that they open the floodgates to flood the city so that they could take it quickly. Yinxi said, "How can we bear to see the people drown in the water?" He did not accept this suggestion, and then the army attacked from all sides.

But just when the city of Jingzhou was on the verge of collapse, Lekedehun's troops arrived and the Zhongzheng Camp was defeated. Yinxi was shocked and angry, vomiting blood and fainting from his horse. But after waking up, he still insisted on leading the army and was determined to resist the Qing.

The Zhongzheng Camp was located in Kuidong, threatening Jingzhou. Its terrain was difficult to capture and the Qing army had been unable to capture it for a long time. Dorgon tried to persuade them to surrender, saying "the greater one will be the king, the smaller one will be the marquis", but was sternly rejected by Du Yinxi.

………………

Daning County.

Meng Hong bowed and said, "I am the envoy of King Zhou, and I pay my respects to Lord Du."

A gleam of light flashed in Du Yinxi's old and frail eyes, and he said slowly: "King Zhou is also a minister of the Ming Dynasty, not from another country, so how can you be an envoy!"

Meng Hong said: "Lord, the news in Kuidong is unclear. Now the emperor of Ming Dynasty has fled to the western border. Sun Kewang controls the court and his orders come from the Western Palace. The emperor has no real power."

"There are thousands of mountains and valleys in Kuidong, and it is difficult to transmit information. But I still know the news of the court's relocation. Your words are very inappropriate. You should know that no matter what, the emperor is still here, and the Ming Dynasty is still here." Du Yinxi said in a firm tone.

There was a moment of silence, and Yuan Zongdi, who was standing by, hurried to smooth things over, saying, "The envoy has come a long way, and he must have worked hard on the way."

Meng Hong smiled in response, and then said to Du Yinxi in a serious tone: "Lord, now my king is fighting a decisive battle with the enemy army in Huguang. The result of this battle can change the situation in the world. I am here to ask you to send troops to attack Jingzhou and cut off Baiyintu's retreat."

Du Yinxi nodded and said, "I have heard that the King of Zhou wants to fight a decisive battle in Huguang, but I don't know what specific arrangements the King of Zhou has made."

Meng Hong said: "My king invited the army of the King of Jin and the navy of the Zheng family to join forces to attack Duoduo. The two sides will hunt in Huguang. The Qing army has about 200,000 troops, and our army has more than 300,000 soldiers. My king sent me here because he hopes that the Zhongzheng Camp will leave Kuidong and besiege Jingzhou."

Du Yinxi was silent for a moment, then asked, "Has the court taken any action?"

"No, no messenger, no soldier."

Du Yinxi nodded and said to Meng Hong: "For the sake of the country, the King of Zhou's act of declaring himself king was very inappropriate, but at this time of chaos in the world, for the sake of the country and the people, I must send troops."

Meng Hong was delighted when he heard this and praised: "Your Excellency is loyal to the country. You are truly the pillar of stability for the country."

Both Meng Hong and Du Yinxi were older and looked a little tired after the long journey. After exchanging a few words of greeting, they left.

After nightfall, Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongde and Hao Yongzhong were discussing something in a house.

Hao Yongzhong looked at the two men and said, "Since we surrendered, except for the small amount of money we were given at the beginning, we haven't had a single soldier, a penny of silver, or a load of food for such a long time. Now, even the emperor has fled to Kunming."

Yuan Zongdi shook his head and said, "Sun Kewang controls the emperor, but it's not that the emperor wants to go to Kunming. As for food, it's far away and it's not easy to transport it."

Hao Yongzhong said with some disdain: "If it weren't for He Tengjiao, we wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses when we attacked Jingzhou! Marquis Ci, Marquis Yi, Wuyang, and Earl Taiping wouldn't have been forced to surrender. The Tartars were treacherous and killed people even after they surrendered. I can see clearly that the court has never believed in us."

Hearing Hao Yongzhong's words, Yuan Zongyi was also a little speechless for a moment. After a long silence, he said: "Lao Du is a good man and a loyal minister."

Hao Yongzhong sighed and said, "Yes, the elder is a loyal minister, and one of the few good people in the court, but can this loyalty be exchanged for food? Our life in this Kuidong mountain area is so hard, isn't this enough?"

At this time, Liu Tichun spoke up: "Yaoqi (Hao Yongzhong's nickname), what do you mean?"

"What I mean is to surrender to King Zhou."

Yuan Zongdi said: "King Zhou, although he is a king, he is still a vassal of the imperial court and surrendered to the court, which is not much different from what we are doing now."

Hao Yongzhong snorted and said, "Do you believe this? How did you get the title of King Zhou? You gave it to yourself. What does this have to do with the court?"

After Hao Yongzhong finished speaking, he looked at Liu Tichun and asked seriously, "Erhu (Liu Tichun's nickname), what do you think?"

Liu Tichun stood up after hearing this, put his hands behind his back, and paced back and forth, walking back and forth again and again. Hao Yongzhong, who had been waiting for him, showed an impatient look on his face, and then he said, "This is a big deal, why rush? Besides, we have never contacted King Zhou, and we don't know what kind of person he is. The Huguang War is the most important battle today, and there is no need to rush at this moment."

Hao Yongzhong patted his thigh and said, "Although I am not well educated, I know that it is better to help someone in need than to add icing on the cake. Now is the best time to invest."

Liu Tichun stopped walking and frowned after hearing this. After a while, he said to the two of them, "Then I will go see the old messenger first."

Seeing that the two were ready to make a move, Liu Tichun said, "There are many people around, so I'll go check out the situation first."