Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 259 Supervising the Army

Zheng Chenggong was different from his father Zheng Zhilong. At this time, Zheng Chenggong was young and energetic, eager to build a great career that would go down in history. Being trapped in Taiwan was not his goal. However, now only Huguang in the south was still in the hands of the Qing court, and there was constant war in Huguang. Li Dingguo had already fought with Hauge several times.

Fujian was originally in the hands of the Qing court. After the order to shave the hair and change clothes was issued, countless people who were unwilling to surrender to the Qing fled to Xiamen. This greatly increased Zheng Chenggong's strength and provided him with sufficient manpower to expand his troops.

However, after Zhang Cunren surrendered to Meng, the number of people fleeing to Xiamen decreased sharply. It was not until Li Chengdong attacked Fujian again that people began to go to Xiamen one after another. Although Li Chengdong entered Fujian, he did not march straight in, but went north to support Jin Shenghuan. As Jin Shenghuan was defeated and captured, Jiangxi came under the rule of Zhou's army. Not only did people and gentry go to Xiamen again, but the people and gentry in Xiamen also took boats back to their hometowns.

The common people were simple and they knew they didn't need to shave their heads anymore. They didn't care too much whether they were under the rule of King Zhou or the Ming Dynasty. The gentry, on the other hand, saw that King Zhou's power was growing rapidly and the entire southeast had been under the control of Meng Jun. Between Meng Jun and the Zheng family, the gentry undoubtedly chose Meng Jun. On the one hand, the Zheng family was once a pirate, and Zheng Zhilong had once opened the borders to surrender to the Qing Dynasty and killed Emperor Longwu. On the other hand, Meng Jun obviously had greater potential, while Zheng Chenggong now only occupied Kinmen and Xiamen, and Taiwan was like a barbaric place in the eyes of these gentry. It was an unstoppable trend, and many gentry left the Zheng family.

Although Zheng Chenggong had a strong navy and an infantry of 60,000 men, his military strength was formidable. However, the gentry of Fujian left one after another, making him unclear about the local situation, which greatly reduced Zheng Chenggong's momentum.

Meng Jun originally intended to select the surrendered soldiers in Jiangxi and form two military garrisons from them, but Shen Congwen's words made Meng Jun change his mind.

Shen Congwen said to Meng Jun: "Your Majesty has ten towns under your command. When the three towns were first established, officers were transferred to each other. But until now, the generals of each town have not been rotated for a long time, and officers at all levels have not been transferred to each other. If this continues, I am afraid that the soldiers will become the generals' problems. Your Majesty should think deeply about this."

Meng Jun pondered for a long time after hearing this, then shook his head and said, "If we exchange generals and officers, the combat effectiveness of the army will surely decline. Now is the time to use our military strength. If we exchange generals at this moment, it will surely hurt the generals. We must not do this now."

Shen Congwen advised: "Your Majesty's prestige and military achievements have won the respect of all the generals. However, your subordinates are not unfounded in their concerns. Soldiers belong to the generals, and they may pretend to obey but actually disobey. Your Majesty must be on guard."

Meng Jun heard this and said slowly: "I know what you are worried about. I don't know if there is any strategy to prevent it, but I can't talk about rotation."

Shen Congwen said without hesitation: "During the Ming Dynasty, civil officials controlled the military, and most civil officials did not know how to fight. This is a big taboo. Your Majesty might as well send a military supervisor, perhaps you can prevent the disaster before it happens!"

Meng Jun said nothing more after hearing this, but just asked Shen Congwen to leave for the time being. Meng Jun naturally knew Shen Congwen's concerns. Shen Congwen also made suggestions to Meng Jun from the standpoint of the Zhou army. Perhaps there was a natural worry in it as a civil official about military men.

Meng Jun pondered for a moment, shook his head and smiled bitterly. The idea that soldiers are the work of a general has never been eliminated from ancient times to the Republic of China. Even in the later years of Yuan Shikai, even though most of the reasons were for him to become emperor, such an army that he had built from scratch with his own hands finally issued a joint telegram to oppose Yuan Shikai.

The ways and methods of curbing military men in all dynasties were basically the same. Some dynasties might be more severe, such as the Song Dynasty, which fought according to maps, used civil officials to control military forces, and tattooed soldiers as soldiers. The status of military generals was suppressed to the lowest point. Although the threat of military rebellion was eliminated, it caused great harm to the military men, leading to the Jingkang Incident and the Yashan Disaster.

After the Battle of Tumu, the Ming Dynasty gradually formed a strategy of using civil power to control military power. This led to the fact that when the warlords in the late Ming Dynasty faced the strength of the Qing army, these armies were defeated, and there were no military men forming actual warlord regimes. Of course, this only refers to the military generals within the Ming court, but not the Shun Army, the Western Army, and the Zheng family who came from a maritime merchant family.

Compared with the armies of other periods, the army of the late Ming Dynasty was far inferior to that of the late Tang Dynasty and the warlords of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in terms of both military quality and individual qualities. The measures taken by the Ming Dynasty to prevent military rebellions were nothing more than controlling food and wages, controlling the military with civil officials, dispatching military supervisors, and having different armies monitor each other.

Meng Jun slowly stood up and wandered in the palace gardens. He was full of worries and troubled thoughts. He looked around as if he was in a beautiful scenery. There were winding paths, small bridges and flowing water. The scenery was pleasant, but Meng Jun was so worried that he had no intention of appreciating it. He put his hands on the fence and sighed, "Alas, the military supervisor!"

Things have their priorities. Although Shen Congwen's concerns were not nonsense, they were not urgent matters that needed to be dealt with immediately. The top priority was to restore production in Jiangxi as soon as possible and to deal with the surrendered Jin soldiers. Meng Jun did not stay any longer and returned to the study to write an order to Lin Shiqi.

Jin Shenghuan was captured, and his army numbered 100,000. Most of these soldiers were new recruits with no battle experience. Some were defeated soldiers, and many were forcibly conscripted by Jin Shenghuan. Their morale was low. Meng Jun ordered Lin Shiqi to let these soldiers make their own choices. Those who were willing to return to their hometowns would be given food and sent back home. Those who were willing to stay would be selected as strong men and trained in a new town. He also ordered Wang Deren, Hu Zhan, Zhang Yingwei and a group of surrendered generals to rush to Jinling to meet King Zhou and make further arrangements.

At the same time, he ordered Lin Shiqi to handle the military and political affairs of Jiangxi first, to properly deal with the surrendered troops, to restore production, and to stabilize the local area. After the officials arranged by the shogunate arrived, the government affairs would be transferred. As for the training of new towns, it would depend on the number of strong men selected and then be considered.

After finishing the letter, Meng Jun looked at the map hanging behind him. Now he has seized Nanzhili, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi. Although there is the danger of the Yangtze River, the Qing court occupies Huguang, and the natural danger is shared by both sides. However, the Qing court’s troops are divided into several places at this time, and they are short of food and grass. They are unable to advance from Huguang to the east and threaten Nanjing. Besides, Hauge and Li Dingguo fought in Huguang, and the Qing court had already exerted a lot of effort to support the battlefield in Huguang. Otherwise, how could the Qing court be so shameless as to attack vassal states and blatantly plunder wealth.

After returning to Nanjing, Meng Jun, on the one hand, strengthened the river defense and built a large navy, and on the other hand, kept a close eye on the war situation in Huguang. Meng Jun was determined to win Huguang, and the development of the war was extremely unfavorable to Li Dingguo. Meng Jun received some obscure news from some channels in Yunnan that Sun Kewang had completely cut off Li Dingguo's supply of food and grass. When Li Dingguo arrived in Yueyang and spied on Wuhan, he was gradually unable to support it. Although Hauge's people were exhausted, they still fought several battles against Li Dingguo's troops who were short of food and grass.

Li Dingguo retreated all the way from Yueyang to Changsha, rested briefly in Changsha, and then retreated from Changsha to Hengyang. Li Dingguo sent more than ten waves of messengers to Kunming to request the transfer of food and grass, but Sun Kewang refused. Li Dingguo then sent his trusted general Dou Mingwang to Kunming to meet Sun Kewang.