Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 208 Migration

The former Governor's Office in Nanjing.

As the core figure of the Meng family military group, Meng Jun was stationed in Nanjing and maintained close contact with Suzhou, Hangzhou and Zhejiang. Every day, there was an endless stream of ships traveling between Nanjing and Jiangsu and Zhejiang via the Yangtze River and land. There were material transfers, military intelligence reports, and all kinds of commercial exchanges, which were as dense as clouds.

Just a few days after the capture of Nanjing, news of the collapse of the Shaowu regime in Guangdong reached Nanjing, and then more and more news came, almost none of which was good.

First it was Guangdong. After Li Chengdong was defeated in Shaowu, countless local officials defected to him, and with almost no effort, the situation in Guangdong changed drastically. Although there were still some counties and towns where righteous citizens rose up, they were unable to change the overall situation.

In Guangxi, three forces are intertwined. Kong Youde has already led his troops into Guangxi and occupied Guilin, an important city in northern Guangxi. The largest military force of the Shaowu court, Sun Qi's troops, has about 40,000 people. Sun Qi is stationed in Wuzhou City in eastern Guangxi, while the Yongli court still occupies most of Guangxi.

As for Sun Qi, he was a little panicked at this time. His main force was stationed in Wuzhou. When he was about to march to Nanning, he received the news that Guangzhou was occupied by the Qing army, the emperor died for his country, and the court was destroyed.

Sun Qi now has only two choices: one is to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, and the other is to surrender to Yongli. However, Sun Qi does not want to choose either of these two options. As for surrendering to Yongli, Sun Qi had pursued Yongli and his ministers so eagerly before, and Yongli and his ministers must hate him to the core. Given the cruelty of the Ming Dynasty's party struggles, Sun Qi did not think he would have a good ending.

As for surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, although Sun Qi was a warrior, he did not want to shave his head deep in his heart. He really could not accept leaving such an ugly braid on his head. However, at this moment, he was in a desperate situation, surrounded by enemies and with no way out, he could only choose between two paths.

Sun Qi was hesitant, so he asked the generals in the army for their opinions. Unexpectedly, most of the generals said that they should surrender to the Qing court. Only two people disagreed and insisted on continuing to fight the Qing army to the end.

Faced with such a situation, Sun Qi, after careful consideration, finally decided to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Although he was somewhat unwilling, he understood that this might be the only way to save himself and the army.

However, Sun Qi did not get angry or execute these two people because of their opposition. He chose to let them go and let them go to the Yongli regime on their own.

With Sun Qi's surrender, the Qing army's military strength in Guangxi had surpassed that of the Yongli Dynasty. Kong Youde joined forces with Sun Qi's troops, and the army gathered and marched towards Nanning, an important city in Guangxi.

The Yongli Dynasty also responded tit for tat, requesting to transfer Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo's Western Army to rush to Nanning. After thinking for a moment, Sun Kewang felt that the situation was critical, so he agreed to the order of Yongli and his ministers and led his army to the border of Guizhou and Guangxi. Guangxi was shrouded in war clouds and a war was about to break out.

…………

Suzhou, inside the Governor's Mansion.

Yang En has been smiling happily these days. The army captured Jiangning and annihilated the newly-appointed Prince Lekedehun of the Qing court in one fell swoop. The only regret he had was that he was not around when the Grand Commander became king.

"Hahahaha" Yang En put down the documents and laughed happily.

Ma Quan, the councilor of the Metropolitan Governor's Office, saw this and asked flatteringly, "Why is Lord Yang so happy?"

"I just received a letter from the king, ordering all officials of the Governor's Office to move to Jinling." Yang En said happily.

Ma Quan was not so happy when he heard this. Most of the officials in the Governor's Office were from Suzhou and other places, and they had been settled in Suzhou. However, Ma Quan also knew that if the king conquered Nanjing, Nanjing would definitely be the center. Thinking of this, Ma Quan asked hesitantly, "Sir, for this migration, should each department send personnel there first, and then move all of them after everything is ready?"

"Well, the king just ordered me to prepare for the relocation. I will be responsible for all the specific matters." Yang En nodded and said.

Yang En took a sip of water and continued, "The adjutants of the various departments of the Governor's Office will follow me to Nanjing in the first group, and the rest will go in batches. The Counselor's Office must formulate a detailed plan as soon as possible and submit it to me for review."

"Yes, sir," Ma Quan said respectfully.

The next day, the government decree was issued and all departments had begun preliminary preparations for the relocation. In the secretarial room, clerks were carefully sorting and organizing the piles of documents and putting them into special wooden boxes.

In every corner of Suzhou City, the families of officials at all levels of the Governor's Office were also moving. Women were busy packing clothes and furniture, while children were curiously watching everything.

As time went by, every corner of the Governor's Mansion was filled with the atmosphere of relocation. Boxes and crates were sealed one by one, and carriages arrived one after another. Everything was ready, and they could set off as soon as the order was given.

And in Changshu.

Inside the Meng Mansion.

As the saying goes, three women make a drama, but now there are far more than three women in the Meng Mansion. There are already sixty-two women staying together every day. In order to accommodate these women of gentry and wealthy businessmen, Yang En personally ordered the expansion of the Meng Mansion.

However, the expansion of the Meng Residence also requires time planning to ensure that it can meet the living needs of so many women. There must be enough bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and other facilities. This is also a huge project, and all the materials have only just been barely gathered.

Those women now basically live in one room in groups of three or four, and these women did not come here alone. Each of them brought three maids with her. If it were not for Yang En's strict rule, I'm afraid each of them would have more than three maids accompanying her.

Just when they were preparing to expand the mansion, a letter from Meng Jun arrived at the Meng Mansion. It was a family letter asking the old lady to go to Jinling.

The old lady sighed helplessly and said to the maid Huan'er beside her: "These women, who say they are here to serve me, an old woman, are all spoiled and have never had to do housework. They chatter all day long, making it difficult for me to recite the Buddhist scriptures."

"Madam, it must be because the young master has become the king, so they are here," Huan'er said with a pout.

"Well, over these days, look at these girls, which one is smarter and which one is more well-behaved." The old lady suddenly became interested and asked.

At this point, Huan'er said excitedly: "Shen Zhilan, the daughter of the Shen family, is the prettiest, with very fair skin. There is also Feng Biluo, who is very talented in literature and writes beautifully, but she is a little thin. He Xiangning is the quietest and should be the most well-behaved. There is also Li Yu'e, who has a heroic spirit, but she always likes to order others around. She should be the second prettiest." Huan'er reported in detail, and then added: "The others are also very pretty. Anyway, they all look like ladies from wealthy families. You can tell at a glance that they are not here to be maids."

"Well, there is not enough space for so many people to live here, and it will be troublesome to build another one. Let the servants prepare it and we can just move." The old lady thought for a while and said, anyway, she will go to Jinling first and come back if she can't get used to it.