Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 280 Zhu Di's Prestige Shakes China
In early July, with the fall of Kunming, coupled with the earlier capture of Guiyang, the entire Yunnan-Guizhou region fell, shocking the world.

The news was like a huge stone falling onto a calm lake, creating towering waves.

The news was first received by the government.

The post stations in various places changed horses but not people, and rushed to Beijing at the fastest speed. By mid-July, Beijing already knew about the fall of Kunming.

In fact, as early as late June, Beijing already knew that a Ming army had appeared in the heart of Yunnan and Guizhou and was stirring up trouble.

Zhu Yunfeng and his group descended the mountain on the fifth day of the sixth lunar month. On the seventh day of the sixth lunar month, the local county reported to Baoqing Prefecture, and Baoqing Prefecture then reported to Changsha on the ninth day of the sixth lunar month.

Yuan Kuoyu, the governor of Changsha, divided the news into two parts: one was sent to Zhang Changgeng, the governor-general of Huguang, who was in Hubei, and the other was reported to the Qing court in the form of an official document from the post station.

The journey from Changsha to Beijing was over 1500 kilometers. Since the fighting strength of this Ming army was unknown at that time, it was not the fastest express courier service, but just an ordinary post station, and it took about twenty days to deliver the document.

At that time, Zhu Di had already conquered Yunnan.

When the news reached the Qing court, they saw that it was just a Ming army force in Hunan, numbering only a few thousand, and did not pay much attention to it.

There were so many messages like that back then.

Some of the news was true, some was false, and there were countless other reports of uprisings, both large and small.

Therefore, the Qing court considered it to be just a minor ailment and sent an official document instructing Yuan Kuoyu to handle it himself.

However, the delayed release of this information caused a significant chain reaction.

Zhu Di and his forces advanced with unstoppable momentum. The Qing army in the southwest had no time to react and was routed, with Guizhou nearly falling to the Qing.

Only then did they realize how formidable the other side was, and they immediately sent it to Beijing by express courier, sometimes as fast as 600 or 800 li.

It wasn't until early July that Beijing learned of the fall of Guizhou.

Only then did the Qing court finally begin to take it seriously.

Although the troops deployed in Guizhou were not many and were scattered throughout the province, mainly used to suppress local chieftain uprisings, they numbered only about 40,000 to 50,000.

If handled properly, colluding with the local chieftains and defeating them one by one, it is not impossible to take over Guizhou.

However, according to the urgent report, the enemy had annihilated about 30,000 Qing troops in the field and quickly captured Guiyang, demonstrating a fighting strength no less than that of an army of 200,000 to 300,000.

After all, during the 81 days of fighting in Jiangyin, 250,000 Qing troops besieged the city, which had only a little over 100,000 ordinary people. The battle lasted for 81 days, and the Qing army suffered more than 70,000 casualties. It took three princes and eighteen generals to finally capture the city.

In the Battle of Guiyang, more than 10,000 elite Qing troops defended the city. Under normal circumstances, even if an army of 100,000 were to besiege it, it would often turn into a protracted siege and it would not be possible for the city to be captured in an instant.

Therefore, the Qing court officials analyzed that the Ming army in Guizhou was very powerful and that a strong counterattack was necessary.

"I knew you couldn't trust those barbarians (a derogatory term used by the Manchus for the Han Chinese). Look at those idiots who submitted the memorial, they actually said that the enemy only numbered a few thousand. How could a few thousand people annihilate our 30,000-strong army? How could a few thousand people break through Guiyang City?"

In Beijing, inside the Hall of Preserving Harmony outside the Qianqing Gate of the Forbidden City, sat four Manchu regents: Sony, Suksaha, Ebilun, and Oboi.

Other attendants included Bahana, Jiang Hede, Marseille, and Dang Chongya, all scholars from the three academies.

At this time, Emperor Shunzhi had already passed away at the beginning of the year. Emperor Kangxi ascended the throne at the age of 8 and was unable to handle state affairs. As a result, the four regents left by Emperor Shunzhi became the highest power holders.

Their office was called the Council of State Affairs, located inside the Hall of Preserving Harmony. After the abolition of the Grand Secretariat and the restoration of the Three Courts, they basically handled all state affairs in the Hall of Preserving Harmony, and then submitted them to Emperor Kangxi for his review.

Since it was shortly after the death of Emperor Shunzhi, Aobai had not yet gained real power. As the head of the four regents and a senior official, Sony naturally represented the conservative forces of the traditional Manchu aristocracy.

Under Sony's leadership and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's supervision, the four regents worked together quite well for the first two or three years, managing the Qing Dynasty relatively smoothly.

It wasn't until a few years later, when Sony was old and frail and Aobai gradually gained power, that Aobai's situation came about, leading to Kangxi's execution of Aobai and his assumption of personal rule.

However, they are still quite united at the moment.

Upon hearing of the emergence of such a powerful Ming army in the south, Ao Bai, who distrusted the Han people the most, immediately shouted: "If those barbarians hadn't lied about the military situation, things wouldn't have come to this. I think those southern barbarians should be killed, all of them should be killed!"

He was referring, of course, to the officials in the south who had originally surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.

After the Qing Dynasty was established, although it made good use of Manchu and Han Eight Banner scholars, there were not many people in this field. There were so many officials in the country, and many provincial, prefectural, and county-level government offices needed to be filled by former Ming Dynasty officials.

Although Yuan Kuoyu was of Han Eight Banners origin, the Prefect of Baoqing and the Magistrate of Meicheng who reported the intelligence to him were former Ming Dynasty officials who had surrendered. Therefore, Aobai believed that it must have been those officials who lied about the military situation, which led them to misjudge the enemy's strength.

"Alright, the issue now isn't assigning blame, but rather figuring out a solution."

Sony said in a deep voice, "The news that arrived a few days ago said that those people appeared in Hunan and were heading towards Guizhou. Guiyang fell in just seven or eight days, which undoubtedly shows that these people are not simple. Now a few more days have passed. If they continue to stay in Guizhou, that's fine. But if they continue to advance, given the delay in military intelligence, they may have already reached Yunnan by now."

"Wu Sangui, Zhao Tingchen, and Zhang Yong have two or three hundred thousand men. They should be able to hold out for a while."

Suksaha hesitated and said, "It's not so bad that we'll let the enemy invade Yunnan."

"What do you know."

Sony gave him a displeased look.

Suksaha shrank back.

Among the four regents, Aobai had the lowest seniority, but his status was the lowest among them.

Because Sukesaha was a member of the Plain White Banner and was formerly Dorgon's subordinate, after Dorgon's downfall, he gained favor with Emperor Shunzhi by denouncing Dorgon and attaching himself to the emperor.

Therefore, in the eyes of everyone, he was a fickle and two-faced villain, and because he had fought for Dorgon in his early years and framed loyal officials, he was naturally ostracized by everyone.

As for Ebilun, he lacked his own opinions, so among the four regents, Sony's opinion was the primary one, and Oboi's was secondary.

At this time, Sony had not yet reached the point of being old, weak, and ailing, so it could be said that Sony was in a state of absolute dominance.

Then Sony's old voice said in a low voice, "Wu Sangui has always harbored ulterior motives. If this Ming army is too powerful, and he defectes to them, Yunnan will have to change sides in an instant."

Wu Sangui was ambitious and unwilling to be subordinate to anyone. Moreover, Zhu Di would not tolerate him and would certainly not accept Wu Sangui.

However, several regents agreed with Sony's assessment.

Without it.

They do not trust Han Chinese.

Ao Bai then said, "That's right, barbarians are the least trustworthy. I think we should immediately mobilize troops and besiege the southwest."

"Well"

Sony pondered for a moment, then glanced at Ao Bai.

During this period, Emperor Shunzhi had ended the policy of princes deliberating on state affairs, and power was vested in the court and the cabinet. Although they abolished the cabinet and reinstated the three courts, in essence, the three courts were still the cabinet.

Clearly, Ao Bai wanted to lead the troops himself, which would undoubtedly be a great achievement, allowing him to take over as chief minister after Ao Bai's retirement.

However, Ao Bai and Sony had a very good relationship at this time, after all, they had helped Shunzhi fight against Dorgon together in the past. Therefore, Sony did not mind doing him a favor and said, "Okay, who is suitable to lead the troops?"

The group exchanged glances.

Ao Bai then said, "I'll go."

"Well."

Sony responded and was just about to say that he would draft a memorial to formally ask the young emperor for his approval.

Suddenly, a guard rushed in, knelt on one knee, and said, "Urgent report from the southwest."

"explain."

"Your Majesty, Governor Lin Tianqing respectfully submits this memorial. The rebels have plundered Guizhou and advanced into Yunnan. Wu Sangui is besieged in Kunming, but the rebels breached the city in half a day. I request the court to urgently dispatch troops. Your Majesty, I respectfully submit this memorial."

"what?"

The content is short, but the matter is significant.

Sony and the others were shocked and immediately asked, "Is there a detailed report?"

"Have!"

The guard then presented Zhao Tingchen's official document. Compared to Lin Tianqing's brief document, Zhao Tingchen's was much more detailed, providing a simple explanation of the situation of Zhu Di's army.

Then it goes on to say that after the Battle of Kunming, Wu Sangui's army was defeated and fled to Yuanmou in Wuding. After that, he gathered up the defeated soldiers. Of the more than 200,000 troops, only about 100,000 remained.

Tens of thousands were killed by the Ming army, tens of thousands fled, and the remaining defeated troops followed Wu Sangui northward to Dongchuan. They are now heading towards Zhaotong, preparing to go to Sichuan to join forces with the Sichuan Governor-General Li Guoying.

Zhao Tingchen explained the situation and offered advice.

First, the current situation in the southwest is very unfavorable for the Qing Dynasty. The enemy's capture of Yunnan and Guizhou is very beneficial to the morale of the anti-Qing forces. We hope that the court will immediately send a large number of troops to support and suppress the uprising.

Secondly, Wu Sangui suffered heavy losses after his defeat and now urgently needs various military supplies, including food, armor, bows and crossbows, horses, and artillery. He hopes that the court can transport the supplies as soon as possible.

Finally, there was a report from Wu Sangui himself.

In the story, he shifted all the blame to Yuan Kuoyu, the governor of Pianyuan, who had already died in battle, and Bian Sanyuan, the governor of Guizhou, saying that they had lied about the military situation, making him mistakenly believe that the Ming army was small and weak.

Even so, he mobilized a large force to fight a decisive battle with the enemy in Kunming. However, the Ming army's firepower was superior, and he was no match for them, resulting in defeat.

The memorial mentioned that the Ming army's firearms were excessively powerful, capable of hitting people from more than ten miles away. He suspected that they had the support of Western barbarians and hoped that the court would expel the barbarians from places like Macau.

In any case, they must shirk all responsibility, otherwise Wu Sangui will also be in deep trouble.

Sony and his colleagues were furious upon seeing this.

Ao Bai angrily said, "That damned barbarian dog, he has no shame in saying that it has nothing to do with him after losing the battle. When I go to the southwest this time, I will definitely cut off his head."

"Do not impulse."

Seeing his fury, Sony said, "Although Wu Sangui has been defeated, he still has more than 100,000 troops under his command. If we deal with him arbitrarily, it could easily cause a mutiny. It is better to appease him."

"Humph."

Ao Bai snorted coldly. He was well aware of this, so he didn't continue to hold a grudge.

Sony said in a deep voice, “Gentlemen, this battle in the southwest is a matter of national importance. If we lose, the country will be in turmoil. We must work together without any disagreement. Aobai, we will immediately submit a memorial to His Majesty. Once His Majesty agrees, you can mobilize our Qing Dynasty’s elite troops and send them to the southwest immediately.”

"it is good!"

Ao Bai nodded.

The Battle of Kunming did not actually damage the Qing Dynasty's foundation.

The loss was mainly due to Wu Sangui's troops, and had little to do with his Eight Banners soldiers and Green Standard Army.

Therefore, the Qing dynasty still had a large number of troops at this time.

Besides the troops defending against Zheng Chenggong in the southeast, there were also large numbers of Qing troops in the heartland of the Qing Dynasty, such as Beijing, Henan, Shandong, Hebei, and Shaanxi.

If all resources were mobilized, by the eighteenth year of the Shunzhi reign, after more than ten years of development, the Qing Dynasty was able to mobilize nearly a million troops.

This included approximately 200,000 Manchu Eight Banners troops plus Mongol and Han Eight Banners troops, about 600,000 Green Standard Army troops, and more than 100,000 troops under Wu Sangui.

However, it's impossible for them to mobilize all their forces.

In addition to guarding the borders, there are constant uprisings and rebellions in the hinterland, which also need to be suppressed.

Therefore, the actual number of troops that could be mobilized was only two or three hundred thousand.

At that moment, the four regents jointly decided that Ao Bai would lead 40,000 troops from the Eight Banners, plus 200,000 troops from the Beijing Garrison, a total of 240,000 men, to march in a grand procession to the southwest.

Time slowly passed until the latter half of July.

Because the agreed-upon date with the modern side was August 1st for the telegram to be sent, Zhu Di in Yunnan was at this time sending people to recover various parts of Yunnan.

Li Dingguo was sending people to make contact with Zhu Di, while Bai Wenxuan was heading to Burma.

The news reached the imperial court in the middle of the month, but like a stone thrown into a calm lake, the ripples quickly spread throughout the Qing Dynasty.

Linmen Village in Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province, which is now the Sanmen Bay area of ​​Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province, is a place with many islands and mountains.

In Linmen Village, 41-year-old Zhang Huangyan sat in his house with a melancholy expression.

The Manchus had already occupied almost all of China, and now there were very few forces resisting them. Apart from Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan, there were only a few forces such as Zheng Chenggong and the Thirteen Families of Kuidong.

Zhang Huangyan raised several thousand volunteers and waged guerrilla warfare against the Qing army along the Zhejiang coast. Although he had the support of his hometown elders, his strength was ultimately weak and he was in dire straits.

At this moment, filled with grief and indignation, he wanted to write a letter to Zheng Chenggong.

Since Zheng Chenggong's northern expedition to Nanjing failed, he had focused his attention on Taiwan and had not launched any further military campaigns to the north. Therefore, Zhang Huangyan hoped that Zheng Chenggong would change his mind and continue the cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty.

But halfway through writing, tears were already streaming down my face without my realizing it.

With the Qing dynasty ruling the country, the forces resisting the Qing were like a drop in the ocean, utterly unable to contend with them. Their ambitions remained unfulfilled, and how could they not suffer in silence and torment?

Zhang Huangyan was in a state of utter confusion and ultimately collapsed in despair.

Just then, Yang Guanyu, Zhang Huangyan's confidant, rushed in, beaming with joy, and said, "Master Zhang, Master Zhang, great news, great news!"

"Oh?"

Zhang Huangyan looked up, heard his voice, quickly composed himself, and then asked, "What's the cause of your joy?"

Yang Guanyu said with great enthusiasm, "A righteous army set out from Hunan and successively captured Tongren, Guiyang, and Anshun in Guizhou. They then conquered Qujing and recently broke through Kunming, causing Wu Sangui's hundreds of thousands of troops to be routed. Now they have raised the banner of punishing the traitors in Yunnan!"

"what?"

Zhang Huangyan was shocked and asked, "Is the news true?"

"true!"

Yang Guanyu nodded repeatedly and said, "Now the whole of Jiangnan is talking about this. The Tartar governors of Yuan and Guizhou are all dead. Wu Sangui, the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou Zhao Tingchen, and the Governor of Yunnan Lin Tianqing have fled to Sichuan. I heard that there are many righteous people in Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi who are preparing to go to Yunnan to join them."

"Great, great."

Zhang Huangyan was so excited that his eyes even welled up with tears of joy.

He stood up from his chair, paced back and forth, and then immediately said, "Quickly, we must notify the Prince of Yanping immediately. We must coordinate with the southwest. Oh, and we must also find a way to notify the thirteen families in eastern Sichuan."

For the cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Huangyan traveled extensively, visiting Sichuan, Zhejiang, Yunnan and other places, hoping to persuade all the anti-Qing forces to unite. However, he ultimately failed because everyone was separated by the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty in different places.

Now that the rebel army has occupied Yunnan and Guizhou, it means they can easily move east to take over Guangdong and Guangxi, and north to Sichuan, thus connecting with the Thirteen Families of Kuidong and Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan by sea and land.

If everyone works together, there is always a chance that the Ming Dynasty will be restored.

"Yes!"

Yang Guanyu immediately went to make arrangements.

Because Zhang Huangyan was from Ningbo, Zhejiang, and had a high reputation in his hometown, the people there all supported him.

He would be informed of any movements made by the Qing army.

When the Qing army suffered a crushing defeat in Yunnan, the news reached Jiangnan, and the people of his hometown were the first to tell him this good news.

Zhang Huangyan had spies in Ningbo, so he immediately arranged for people to pose as traveling merchants and peddlers to make contacts in various places.

What he didn't know was that news of Wu Sangui's crushing defeat had spread far and wide, not only in official circles but also among the common people, like a megaphone.

Aside from those who were unaware because Zheng Chenggong was currently attacking the Dutch in Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong's son Zheng Jing in Xiamen, and the thirteen families of Kuidong in eastern Sichuan, including Li Laiheng, Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi, and Hao Yaoqi, were already aware of it.

The world was shocked. For those Manchu lackeys who were loyal to the Qing Dynasty, this was a powerful slap in the face, a severe blow to their willingness to be loyal dogs and slaughter Han people for foreign powers.

For the remaining anti-Qing forces and the people who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, this was a shot in the arm, greatly boosting their confidence and shaking the Manchu rule.

Under these circumstances, many righteous people from the common people rushed to Yunnan. Anti-Qing forces in various places also communicated with each other and fought together against the Manchus.

The Qing court was thrown into turmoil, and Zhu Di's power shook the entire nation.

(End of this chapter)