Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 272 Duoduo's Personal Expedition

Among all the princes in the Qing court, Prince Yu Duoduo was perhaps the most unique and independent. According to the customs of the grassland, the youngest son who has not yet separated from his family and established his own household is called the son of the stove keeper and has the right to inherit all the Khan's inheritance.

For example, in the past, most of Genghis Khan's cavalry, horses, cattle and sheep were inherited by his youngest son Tolui. As Nurhaci's youngest legitimate son, Dodo had a very high political status since childhood. He was made Heshuo Ezhen at the age of six and was listed as one of the four great beiles. In addition, he was smart since childhood and was deeply loved by Nurhaci, even spoiled, so he developed a spoiled character.

After Nurhaci's death, his biological mother Abahai was forced to commit suicide. This was a huge blow to Duoduo, who was only twelve years old. From then on, Duoduo became more cynical, behaved erratically and cruelly, and acted on impulse.

He even forcibly abducted Fan Wencheng's old wife, and only sent her back after being reprimanded by Huang Taiji. Fan Wencheng had made great contributions to the Qing court, but he was still treated like this. Duoduo was only fined 10,000 taels of silver and had part of the army cut to appease Fan Wencheng.

Duoduo's behavior not only caused headaches for Huang Taiji, but also for his own brother, the current regent Dorgon. When Dorgon saw that Duoduo was addicted to wine and sex, he ordered all the Han women in the Prince of Yu's Mansion to be killed. But within three days, Duoduo was looking for beauties everywhere again, which scared the people in the capital city into getting married, for fear that their daughters would be favored by Duoduo and then killed by Dorgon.

Although Duoduo's behavior was eccentric, his military ability should not be underestimated. Since the Qing army entered the pass, Dorgon has been regent in Beijing, and Duoduo led the White Banner and galloped across the Central Plains. Later, he swept across the south of the Yangtze River. In the second year of Shunzhi, Duoduo led his troops south, forced a crossing of the Huai River, and marched to Yangzhou. He killed Shi Kefa with great force and massacred the city of Yangzhou. His motto was "Sleeping on the lap of a beauty when drunk and massacring a city of thousands of households when awake."

When Duoduo marched into Nanjing, Nanjing opened the city gates and asked for surrender. When he entered the city, it was raining heavily. A large number of officials and generals from the Hongguang court knelt in the rain to welcome Duoduo. After Duoduo settled in Nanjing, Ming officials vied with each other to congratulate him, and dozens of invitations to his name were piled up.

The beauties in the south of the Yangtze River were all delicate and graceful, and were by no means comparable to the rough women outside the Great Wall. Duoduo enjoyed himself in the Southern Capital for several months. He was so fascinated by the women in the south of the Yangtze River that he didn't want to leave until Dorgon urged him to escort Emperor Hongguang and other royal family members back to the capital. Duoduo reluctantly led his troops back.

After Duoduo returned to Beijing, he even complained to Dorgon and was disdainful of Dorgon's hypocritical behavior. As for the young emperor on the throne, he was even more dismissive and secretly told Dorgon why not depose Fulin and replace him.

In the capital, no one dared to provoke Duoduo. Instead, Duoduo would whip anyone he displeased with, regardless of whether they were Manchu, Mongolian or Han officials.

After Dorgon decided on the decisive battle in Huguang, there was no one to lead the several armies. Baiyintu was still inexperienced, and although Bolo was stronger, he was still inferior to Hauge. Although Hauge had enough experience and achievements, Dorgon was unwilling and dared not to entrust nearly 200,000 troops to Hauge. If Hauge won and returned to Beijing with a great victory, who could stop him? How could Dorgon continue to be the regent of the emperor's father?

Therefore, when Dorgon saw that Duoduo was in better health, he talked to him in secret. When Dorgon mentioned Duoduo's health, Duoduo said confidently: "It's just a little cold, not worth mentioning!"

Dorgon tried to persuade him to stop drinking and sex, but Duoduo just laughed and said, "Brother, why worry? Although I have a minor illness, my mind is clear. Besides, this battle is an important decisive battle for our dynasty, so how can I be greedy for wine?"

Although Dorgon was worried, at this time, no one could compare to Doduo. If Doduo did not go to the war, he would probably have to lead the war himself. But Dorgon was also worried about leaving the capital. The little emperor was growing up, and Dorgon also realized that Fulin was deeply dissatisfied with his behavior of occupying his mother. If he left the capital, he was afraid that there would be trouble in the rear.

In early November, the Qing court officially issued an edict, appointing Duoduo as the commander-in-chief and Bolo as the deputy, and mobilized 6,000 people from the Eight Banners of Mongolia and more than 5,600 people from the Bordered White Banner of the Eight Banners of Manchu to move south. The Bordered White Banner also had more than 10,000 bondservants, and ordered the mobilization of 7,000 Han troops. The entire army, with a total of nearly 30,000 people, marched south in a mighty force.

The army was once again withdrawn to the south, and there were only a few of the Eight Banners of the Qing army left in the north. Except for a small number of soldiers from the Plain White Banner, Plain Red Banner, Plain Blue Banner and the other five banners in the capital, most of them gathered in the Huguang battlefield.

When the army marched south, Duoduo was on his warhorse, and he loved to wear red all over his body. Red was his favorite color, for no other reason than that this color represented flamboyance, arrogance, and personality. When Duoduo entered Nanjing, a kowtowed scholar wrote a poem praising him: "He was no more than 30 years old, wearing red clothes and black boots, riding a saddle horse with a sword, with a graceful demeanor and a magnificent appearance."

Regarding Meng Jun, who is now gaining fame in Jiangnan and calling himself the King of Nandu, Duoduo sneered at Bolo and said, "There are no heroes in this era, so this bastard has become famous. When the king was in Jiangning, this man shaved his head and surrendered. As soon as the king returned to Beijing, this bastard dared to rebel."

Bolo was embarrassed when he heard this. After a long while, he said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, Meng Jun is quite strategic, and his troops are very brave in fighting."

Duoduo looked back at Bolo with a look of disdain, and asked in a mocking tone, "Oh, is it possible that Meng Jun is familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and can use military tactics as well as Zhuge Kongming?"

"Not really. He is quite conservative in battle formations. It's just his vision, or luck. Yes, Your Majesty, I am not making excuses for myself. On the battlefield, the army was defeated. As the commander, I have no choice but to take responsibility."

Bolo looked at Duoduo and saw that he was looking forward, hesitating slightly, and then continued: "But looking at Meng Jun's rise to power, this man started his army with the Changshu baggage camp, with only a few hundred soldiers, not an elite group. With such a small number of soldiers, according to most people's thinking, how could he dare to attack the big city of Suzhou? Whether it was his strategy or luck, he captured Suzhou City, which gave him the capital to start his career. Later, he attacked Li Chengdong at night, defeated Bai Yongfu, and defended Suzhou until..."

At this point, Bolo paused, but gritted his teeth and continued, "Until Qiantang River, he defeated our Eight Banners, took Zhejiang, and conquered Nandu. Now he has Fujian, killed Jin Shenghuan and controlled Jiangxi. His power is too great to be controlled. Your Majesty, based on Meng Jun's current territory, he can never be easily destroyed in one or two battles like he was in the Ming court in the past!"

After listening to Bolo's long speech, Duoduo sneered, "Hahaha, Bolo, you think too highly of this man. That's right, you were defeated by Meng Jun. If you don't praise him more, wouldn't it make you look useless? Hahaha!"

Then Duoduo turned around and saw that Bolo's face was red with shame and anger. He snorted coldly and said, "I want to see if Meng Jun is really a supernatural being who scared the Eight Banners warriors into praising him so much!"