Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 281: East Loyalty Camp

Li Wendao used the Heaven's Mandate, which made Lu Zhenfei speechless. Liu Jiyan and the others were speechless for a moment. After hesitating for a while, Liu Jiyan slowly said, "The position of the queen is extremely noble. Even if we follow the Taoist's words and draw... draw lots, we can't make it public!"

Li Wendao clapped his hands and smiled, "Good, this law will ensure that the Shen and Zhang families will have no more objections."

Seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Meng Jun immediately asked people to act according to the agreement. As everyone dispersed, Meng Jun returned to the study, sat on the chair in the study, looked at the dripping rain under the eaves, and suddenly smiled. He never thought that one day he would have to decide on the candidate of his wife by drawing lots.

The result of the lottery came out very quickly. It was God's will that Zhang Shuer had better luck. When the result came out, Zhang was naturally extremely excited. His face was radiant and energetic. Shen Tingyang was helpless when he saw this. It was God's will.

Although the candidate has been chosen, it is obviously too early for the wedding. Meng Jun rejected the shogunate's request to prepare for the wedding in advance, and strictly ordered that the upcoming Huguang Campaign be treated as a top priority.

After the queen was chosen, Meng Jun led his personal guards, heavy armored troops, and a group of military officers and officials to Jiujiang the next day. Those accompanying the army included Meng Bian, Gu Yanwu, Lu Zhenfei, Liu Jiyan, Zhang Kentang, etc.

During this march, Meng Jun led his troops up the river by boat. The Qing Dynasty's Guazhou navy was no longer able to threaten the Yangtze River. Moreover, the fleet was closely guarded by the Shen Tingyang navy, so there was no need to worry about being attacked by the Qing navy.

On the boat, Hu Zhan never left Meng Jun's side, and even Gu Yanwu sometimes couldn't squeeze in, so Gu Yanwu had a bad face towards Hu Zhan all the way. Gu Yanwu thought to himself that he must find fault with this man and publish three pages of news in the newspaper to scold him to death.

Hu Zhan looked at Meng Jun's calm expression and complimented him, "Your Majesty is indeed an extraordinary person. With a great battle imminent, Your Majesty remains calm and seems to be confident. I admire you very much."

Meng Jun just smiled when he heard this, and did not say anything. Seeing this, Hu Zhan continued, "Your Majesty, this time we have contacted Zheng and King Jin to fight the enemy army together, but there is still one army that Your Majesty seems to have forgotten."

Meng Jun was stunned when he heard this and asked, "Where is there another army?"

"Biandong Loyalty Camp"

"The Loyal Camp? The remnants of the Shun army? Weren't they defeated by the battle of Lekedehun under the city of Jingzhou? Do they still have the fighting capacity?" Meng Jun asked with some confusion.

Although Meng Jun knew some general history, he only knew that the Loyal Camp seemed to have hidden in Biandong, but in the end it probably didn't accomplish anything big. If it had accomplished anything big, Meng Jun would definitely know about it. Since he didn't know, it might have been a failure.

Hu Zhan immediately replied, "Your Majesty, these people have fought with King Chuang in many battles, so they are naturally capable of fighting. However, they are now scattered and divided into dozens of groups. However, according to my guess, their total strength is at least 70,000 to 80,000!"

Hu Zhan stood beside Meng Jun and then said, "Your Majesty, if you can contact the remnants of the Shun army and integrate the forces, you may be able to attack Jingzhou after the Qing army crosses the river."

Meng Jun nodded when he heard this and agreed with it. There was no harm in giving it a try anyway, so he immediately ordered Meng Bian to send the Qingluan Guard. After he arrived in Jiujiang, he would send Meng Hong as an envoy to Biandong to look for the commander-in-chief Du Yinxi to see if they could fight together. After most of the Qing army entered Huguang, it would also be a good idea to harass the Qing army's rear.

Meng Jun felt that he was very good at using Meng Hong. He had accomplished great things in his two missions. However, this time the contact was with the Dongshun Army, and Meng Jun didn't know whether Meng Hong's old bones could hold up.

Historically, the Biandong Loyal Camp was an anti-Qing army active in Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi and Henan provinces in the late Ming Dynasty. The Loyal Camp's Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongde, Li Laiheng and others joined forces with local anti-Qing landlords Wu Wang Guangxing, Tan Wen, Tan Yi, Tan Hong, and used Xing, Fang, Zhu, Wu and Feng as their bases. They persisted in resisting the Qing in the vast mountains and were considered the longest-lasting armed force in the Central Plains.

Only when war broke out did the various armies in Biandong take charge of military affairs. On weekdays, each army was stationed in a place, divided into 16 battalions, stationed in the mountains of eastern Sichuan and western Hubei. They trained soldiers while farming, and often sent out surprise attacks on the Qing army heading south. Although they respected the commander-in-chief Du Yinxi, he could no longer command the remaining Shun troops.

The Loyalty Camp has been deeply hurt by the Ming Dynasty and would rather fight alone than obey the court's orders. It is unknown whether Meng Hong can complete the task of contacting the Shun Army.

………………

Changshu, Qian family’s old house.

Qian Qianyi sighed deeply. Seeing this, his wife Liu Rushi scolded Qian Qianyi, "You may be old, but your heart is not. This time, it is the King of Zhou who has come to you in gratitude for your contribution in contacting Kaesong. He has to arrest you because of your bad reputation. What else are you not satisfied with?"

Qian Qianyi shook his head and said, "Madam, King Zhou is from Changshu. Since ancient times, the hometown is important. My husband's ancestral home is Changshu. It is because of this lineage that King Zhou did not blame me."

Liu Rushi made a sound of spitting and then cursed: "If I hadn't saved Liu Guquan of Qingluan Guard and written to Gu Qingmei for help, even so, the king would not be willing to appoint you as an official, but would just drive you back to your hometown. In my opinion, you should enjoy your old age at home and don't try to come out again."

"The sage said, cultivate yourself, regulate your family, govern your country, and bring peace to the world. Now that the world is not at peace, how can I sit at home and relax?"

"You surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, which is a violation of your integrity. The king does not want to use you, so don't ask for trouble."

Qian Qianyi refuted: "Nonsense, I surrendered to the Qing Dynasty out of helplessness, even though the king had shaved his head when he first started his career. I have old friends in the court and the country, whether in Beijing, Kunming, or Nanjing. I don't want to be an official, I just want peace in the world."

The two argued for a while. Liu Rushi was really unable to deal with Qian Qianyi, so she had to agree to write a letter to Gu Qingmei, asking her to help find out the king's attitude.

The letter was soon delivered to the Meng Mansion in Jinling.

Today's Meng Bian is no longer the same person he used to be. His house is not a place that ordinary people can enter and exit at will. Four Qingluan guards wearing helmets and armor are guarding the gate like door gods. They are always on high alert against outsiders. The Qian family's servants held the letter and looked at the ferocious soldiers with trembling legs. They hesitated and dared not step forward.

Seeing this, a guard shouted, "What are you doing? Leave immediately!"

The servant said in a trembling voice, "I am a servant of Master Qian Qianyi's family. I am delivering a letter to Madam Gu on behalf of Madam Liu Rushi."

After saying that, he took out the letter from his bosom, bent over and tremblingly handed it over. The guard took it, looked at it, squeezed it with his hand, and then said to his colleague beside him: "Go and report to the lady."