Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 418 Liaodong (3)

As time went by, Meng Jun's status, power, and military territory became more and more powerful. Meng Jun's ambitions also rose. He no longer wanted to restore the mountains and rivers, but to unify the world. His territory extended to the north beyond Yinshan Mountain, the west to Liusha, the east to Liaodong, and the south to the sea. To the east and south, his territory was as high as that of the Han and Tang Dynasties, but to the west and north, it was higher than that of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

When they can recuperate and settle down in the border areas in the future, Meng Jun knows that he is asking for too much and it may not be achieved. No matter what the result is or what happens to his descendants in the future, he will have a clear conscience.

In the military tent.

"Your Majesty," Gu Yanwu's voice sounded particularly solemn amid the noise, "The birth of a legitimate son is a great omen for our army. Your Majesty should immediately announce it to the world and share this happy event with the world. You should also show some favor to the people and at the same time reward the soldiers."

Meng Jun pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Mr. Gu's words make sense. Then I will send a letter to the shogunate and ask Yang En to carefully identify and allow some of the affected counties to reduce taxes as appropriate."

After he finished speaking, Meng Jun laughed again and said, "As for the rewards for the soldiers, of course they cannot be reduced. Give each of them an extra month's salary, and give the whole army extra meals tomorrow."

After the generals gradually dispersed, Meng Jun thought for a long time and finally named his son Meng Chengzhao.

Although Meng Jun is a prince, he still has only one son and one daughter. The eldest daughter is born to Zhao Yun'er. Meng Jun named her Meng Hui. Meng Jun does not have too high requirements for his daughter. He does not ask her to be outstanding, as long as she lives a happy and peaceful life.

………………

Liaodong.

Gao Jinku shook his sleeves in annoyance. Ever since he left Seoul and started the march, he was already a little tired of the daily marching.

In times of chaos, military men are indeed indispensable in controlling the world, and it is indeed glorious, but the price is that they may die at any time on the battlefield.

As for the scenes of missing meals during the march, marching with weapons in the snow in the cold winter, marching in armor in the hot summer, moving forward with difficulty in the sun and rain, and in the mud and water, etc., these scenes were not uncommon in troubled times.

However, even though life in the army was not as comfortable as living in his house in Jinling, Gao Jinku was unwilling to quit the army completely.

In this reincarnation that only occurs once every hundreds of years, how could Gao Jinku not seize this opportunity to gain a hereditary honor for himself and even his descendants.

Gao Jinku's wife and children died tragically at the hands of the Qing government. Although Gao Jinku had prepared himself mentally when he captured Lekedehun, he could not help feeling sad every time he woke up in his dreams at midnight.

But after Gao Jinku surrendered to Meng, relying on the rewards and mansion bestowed by Meng Jun, as well as his current high position in the army, he was still able to remarry easily in Jinling City. Within a year, his new wife gave birth to another son for the Gao family, which made Gao Jinku's struggle more meaningful.

In early June of the fourth year of the Yongli reign, Gao Jinku's troops arrived at the city of Yizhou in Pyeongan Province, opposite Andong.

Gao Jinku marched northward. The south was relatively better. The closer to Liaodong in the north, the more dilapidated the cities became. The poorer they were. The Bolo extorted money and food. The further north they went, the more ruthless they were. On the way, Gao Jinku smacked his lips and sighed, "No wonder the King of Korea is so enthusiastic about us. What a king he is!"

The 5,000 Joseon internal guards were led by the guard commander Shen Liu. Shen Liu's face darkened as he arrived at each city. When he arrived at Yizhou City, Shen Liu's face was as pale as the bottom of a pot.

The northernmost city of Yizhou was so poor that it made people cry. There were few pedestrians and both men and women were naked. The city was in ruins and even the city gate was gone. Deputy General Du Yonghe stared blankly at the gateless Yizhou City and shook his head, saying, "Damn, this is too poor! Why don't you repair the broken gate?"

Hu Zhan couldn't help but sigh after seeing this: "Bolo really knows how to plunder. He plundered the land three feet deep. There is no difference between Yizhou City with or without city walls."

Gao Jinku waved his hand and said loudly: "Dorgon has transferred all the troops away. There are very few soldiers outside the Great Wall. If the army goes straight to Shenyang, it will definitely create an opportunity for the king!"

On June 8, Gao Jinku led his troops across the Yangtze River. There were only 155 soldiers guarding Andong. They could not even stand on one wall, let alone guard the four walls. Gao Jinku reached the top of the city wall with one charge and easily occupied Andong City.

Gao Jinku's troops marched non-stop, heading straight for Fenghuang Hall City, which was formerly Fenghuang City. Fenghuang City had more guards, more than 500 people. Gao Jinku wanted to test the inner guards sent by Li Hao to see if they could fight and how strong they were, so Gao Jinku said to Shen Liu: "There are not many soldiers in Fenghuang City, you go and see if you can capture Fenghuang City in the afternoon."

Li Hao's inner guards really invested a lot of money, but it's a pity that although they have a good reputation, they are not as powerful in fighting. They are not as good as Gao Jinku's subordinates.

After receiving the order, Shen Liu immediately organized an attack. At first, relying on the advantage in numbers, the Inner Guards once rushed up the city wall, but it is not known whether the Eight Banners Army had a great psychological advantage over Korea.

Even though they rushed forward, they were actually driven out of the city by the defenders. Gao Jinku watched from afar and shook his head, obviously disappointed with the performance of the inner guards.

As the sun gradually set in the west, the battle between the two sides was still undecided. Gao Jinku realized that it would be difficult to capture Phoenix City in a short period of time relying solely on the Inner Guards, so he mobilized his own troops and launched a surprise attack from the other two city walls. With Gao Jinku's coordinated efforts, Phoenix City was finally captured.

Although the goal was achieved, this small battle resulted in more than 500 injuries and more than 300 deaths among the 5,000 North Korean soldiers. This was only because of Gao Jinku's intervention, otherwise the losses of this inner guard would undoubtedly have been even more serious.

………………

Just as Gao Jinku rushed into the empty Liaodong, the influence of Tsarist Russia had already reached Ningguta, Heilongjiang, far away.

Tsarist Russia established colonies such as Yaksa in the Heilongjiang area and massacred local soldiers and civilians. In fact, these reports had already been submitted to Beijing, but at this time, Dorgon was too busy to take care of himself, with wars everywhere, so he had no time to care about the small wars in the corners.

It is obvious that the rear of Liaodong is empty. In the seventh year of Shunzhi and the fourth year of Yongli, which is this year, the expansion of Tsarist Russia became increasingly rampant. The Tsarist Cossack army led by Onufry Stepanov invaded from Heilongjiang to Songhua River, burning, killing and looting along the way. There were only more than 130 troops stationed in Ningguta, and they were completely unable to resist the invasion of Cossacks.

The Qing general Haise contacted the indigenous people, gathered more than 370 soldiers, and fought against Stepanov. The Qing army lost the first battle and was defeated again in the second battle. Therefore, Haise had no choice but to stay on the defensive and urgently asked for help from Shengjing Mandahai.

But Man Dahai is in a lot of trouble now. Gao Jinku's troops have more than 15,000 people, while Man Dahai has only 4,200 soldiers gathered from Shengjing, Fushun, Liaoyang, Xiping, Guangning and other places. When Gao Jinku threatens Shengjing, Man Dahai has no time to pay attention to Haise's request for help.