Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 119: Huzhou Uprising (Part )

Kong Yingju's face darkened, and he asked coldly: "Who are you? If you don't tell me the reason today, I'm afraid you will be imprisoned."

"I am just a nobody under the command of Governor Meng of Suzhou," Meng Bian said confidently.

"What... thief?" Dai Lan was horrified and stood up quickly. He wanted to draw his sword, but then he remembered that he didn't carry any weapon.

"Hurry up, someone!" Kong Yingju shouted in horror, his voice full of fear and panic. His body was shaking uncontrollably.

At the same time, the yamen runners outside the door heard Kong Yingju's shouts and wanted to rush into the room to check the situation. However, when they saw Meng Bian's guards holding sharp blades and blocking the door aggressively, their hearts tightened and their steps became hesitant.

The runners looked at each other and hesitated to move forward. They were all doing their jobs for a living, and the way they held sharp blades in their hands looked no different from desperate criminals.

For a moment, the scene was in a stalemate. The yamen runners stood there, hesitant, and finally, a brave yamen runner mustered up the courage to take a step forward. Meng Bian narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at the side without being noticed. A guard standing next to him understood and took a few steps forward like an arrow from a bow.

In an instant, a cold light flashed, and the guard swung his knife with lightning speed. The action was clean and neat, and there was only a muffled "puff" sound. The yamen runner didn't even have time to react before he was hit by the fierce knife. He fell to the ground with a scream, and his body twitched a few times before he was no longer moving.

When everyone looked closely, they saw that the wound extended from the yamen runner's chest to his waist, deep enough to see the bone. Blood was gushing out from it continuously, staining the surrounding ground red, forming a shocking pool of blood. The strong smell of blood filled the air, irritating everyone's nose and nerves.

Seeing that someone was already dead, Kong Yingju fell into a chair in shock, his hands and feet completely exhausted. The other yamen runners were pale as hell, not daring to move at all. Liu Zhangshen, on the other hand, was a little calmer, and kept winking at Dai Lan, who was born a military man. However, when Dai Lan saw the look in Liu Tongpan's eyes, he not only did not get up, but instead lowered his head and looked at the ground, not daring to move. Dai Lan comforted himself, "How can I fight without a weapon? Let's wait and see."

Meng Bian smiled and said, "Sir, please follow me into the city."

A moment later, a rebel army of about 400 people, armed with weapons, headed towards the Huzhou city gate openly and without any concealment. The guards at the gate looked at the army in surprise, and the guards on the top of the city hurriedly closed the gate, and for a while the gate was in chaos.

When Meng Bian led the rebel army to the city, the defenders on the top of the city were as if they were facing a great enemy. They stared nervously at this sudden appearance of the team. A leader of the defenders shouted: "Who are you? How dare you approach the city without permission!"

Seeing this, Meng Bian quickly dismounted, gathered closely around Kong Yingju, and walked to the bottom of the city gate. He held his head high and shouted to the defenders on the top of the city: "Hurry up and open the city gate! We are the righteous army personally summoned by the prefect, and we are here to help defend the city and strengthen the city defense to prevent the enemy army from attacking!"

Meng Bian's dagger gently poked Kong Yingju on the back, and Kong Yingju immediately straightened up, echoing Meng Bian's words, and said sternly: "I am the prefect Kong Yingju, these are the heroes I recruited, open the door quickly and let us in!"

The guards on the city wall were somewhat confused and hesitant. After a while, one of them said loudly, "The army is entering the city. Without the order from the commander, we dare not open the city gate without authorization."

After a while, Dai Lan also arrived at the foot of the city, followed by four or five people. Meng Bian threatened in a low voice: "If the city cannot be opened today, Dai Qian may not see the sun tomorrow."

Dai Lan's face turned pale, and he nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I will ask them to open the door immediately."

"Open the city gate quickly. I am Qian Zongjian Dai Lan. Li Cheng, open the gate quickly!" Dai Lan shouted loudly towards the top of the city wall, his voice a little hoarse.

Li Cheng on the top of the city wall was somewhat confused and felt that something was not right. Thinking of this, he asked tentatively: "Master Qian, are you okay?"

Dai Lan was so anxious that he was sweating coldly and yelled, "Li Cheng, what are you talking about? Hurry up and open the door. If you weren't my brother-in-law, I wouldn't let you be an official. Hurry up and open the door, right now..."

Li Cheng looked sad. Seeing that the man below was indeed his brother-in-law and the prefect was also at the foot of the city, he could only nod and say, "Open the city gate."

When Meng Bian saw the city gate open, a smile appeared on his face. Now that the city gate was opened, there was no need to prepare any back-up plan. He was already 80% sure. Tao Zhenming in the back was excited to see the city gate open. The excitement went straight to his head and he was so excited that he could hardly control himself.

As soon as he entered the city, Meng Bian immediately said: "Call all the officers to the city for a military meeting."

Li Cheng was a little confused, and Dai Lan scolded him: "Why don't you go quickly? What are you standing there for?"

Li Cheng was startled by the sudden scolding. Feeling a little aggrieved, he nodded hastily, then left quickly like a gust of wind with a few people around him, leaving behind only a series of hurried footsteps.

Meng Bian immediately arranged people to guard the city gate and issued a secret order that no one was allowed to enter or leave the city gate without his warrant. Then a group of people rushed to the prefectural government office.

After a while, more than ten officers rushed to the hall. When everyone came in, all their weapons had been removed. They saw a man sitting in the hall, who looked very unfamiliar. The captain stood aside, and even the prefect was standing beside him. Dozens of guards with knives stood on both sides of the hall. Although everyone was a little confused, they saluted Dai Lan and Kong Yingju, and smiled at Meng Bian.

Seeing everyone gathered, Meng Bian smiled and said softly: "The Tartars are lawless and have occupied the Central Plains. The people are in chaos and the land is full of corruption. Now Governor Meng has led an uprising army, conquered Suzhou, Songjiang, broke Hangzhou, and defeated Bolo. He has won every battle and is very famous. I want to do great things with you. What do you think?" Although Meng Bian's voice was soft, his words resounded like thunder in the hearts of the Green Camp officers.

There was absolute silence for a moment. No one was a fool. They thought that the prefect and the captain were definitely under control. With the captain's temperament, how could he do such a thing? However, seeing that the situation was not right, no one dared to speak out and everyone remained silent.

Meng Bian frowned and said, "What do you have to say?" Seeing that no one was talking, Meng Bian simply stood up and asked everyone one by one. Meng Bian pointed at one person and asked, "Are you willing to do something?"

The man's face turned pale, and he said tremblingly: "I am... I am... weak and sickly. I am afraid I can't accomplish such a big thing."

Meng Bian nodded and said, "Well, it's okay, it's okay." Then he winked, and two guards from the Investigation Department hurried forward to drag him away. The Green Camp officer was horrified and kept saying, "I'm fine, it's okay..."

Before he could finish his words, two guards dragged him out of the lobby. After a while, a scream was heard.

The officers in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment, and then one of them stepped forward and said loudly: "The Tartars are lawless and killing people everywhere. I want to do something big."

Then all the officers spoke up, saying they were willing to do something big. It seemed that everyone had their homeland in mind and was willing to sacrifice themselves for the country. Meng Bian smiled with satisfaction and said, "If that's the case, very good. When we recover the two capitals in the future, you will be honored and given official titles and appointed as generals, no problem."