After the military meeting, Zhu Hao went to the prefect's yamen to talk to Wang Yinzu in detail, seeing that he said so carefully, Wang Yinzu had nothing to say, after all, he had given the military power to others, and the troops in Xuzhou ate Zhu Hao's own food, and now it is impossible to come back even if he wants to, and the imperial court has issued an edict to the king of Qin, Zhu Hao's troops are in line with the emperor's wishes, if he wins the battle, he will also follow the light, Wang Yinzu thought about it again and again, and finally agreed to Zhu Hao's plan, and allocated 5,000 stone grain from the treasury to fund the army.

Zhu Hao rushed to Fengyang non-stop and asked Ma Shiying about the matter, but he didn't expect Ma Shiying to hesitate, Zhu Hao knew that Ma Shiying was afraid that he would suffer defeat and affect him, after all, hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers were disabled.

"Uncle Ma, I think so, at the moment Jinan City is in danger, if the Manchurian occupy Jinan, with Dolgon's ambitions and means, it is bound to go south, straight to Yanzhou, where it is not far from Xuzhou, maybe there will be a rogue army to Xuzhou, I think instead of waiting for Dolgon to attack, it is better to take the initiative to attack, control the battlefield in Shandong, resist the enemy outside the door, the north has been dilapidated, and the land of Jianghuai cannot be lost."

"Okay, that's it, I'll write you an edict at once, and if anyone asks, I'll show it to him." Ma Shiying made up his mind.

Soon the handwritten edict was written, and Ma Shiying also allocated a batch of mules and horses to him for encouragement.

After more than ten consecutive days of preparation, on the 11th day of the first month of the 12th year of Chongzhen, Zhu Hao officially sent troops north. When the people of Xuzhou heard that the general was going north to fight the enemy, they also spontaneously rushed to see him off, which made Zhu Hao very moved.

"Husband, there are no eyes for swords and guns, you must take care of your body on this expedition, sister, you must take care of your husband." Chen Xiyao's eyes were red and she admonished.

"Sister, don't worry, I will definitely take good care of my husband, and we will definitely return victorious." Liu Ru comforted her.

"Okay Xiyao, I'll be fine, you have to take care of yourself and Sister-in-law Lian at home, she is pregnant. Alas, if it weren't for Lao Luo, who relied on the old and sold the old, I would never have let him participate. ”

Luo Yunqu on the side looked at Shang Cailian's resentful eyes and scratched his head.

"Let's go!" Zhu Hao turned over and got on his horse, and with an order, the seven thousand cavalry drove to the north.

After a day's march, the army arrived at Pei County, stationed down, and news came from the front that Yanzhou Mansion had been breached, and the prefect Liu Wenchang escorted King Lu to flee south to Teng County. The thousands of households and many low-level officers who defended the city in Pei County heard that the Qing soldiers had killed and fled early, and only Hu Zhaolun, the county governor, led the remaining hundreds of old and weak people to stay in the city, and couldn't help but angrily find Du Qishan.

"You immediately dispatch manpower to arrest all the officers who escaped Qianhu and other officers for me, Lao Tzu will take these cowards first!" Zhu Hao ordered viciously.

"Yes, General!" Du Qishan was also angry, and turned around and left after giving a military salute.

The troops repaired in Pei County for one night, and early the next morning, Zhu Hao led Luo Yunqu and other 4,000 infantry, an artillery squadron, and a cavalry squadron, a total of 5,000 men and horses, to kill Benteng County.

Entering the boundary of Shandong, the scenery is obviously much worse than that of Xuzhou, although the people of Xuzhou are also very poor, but they are still stable, and there are few chaotic people. Once you cross the canal to the north, everywhere is deserted, and even the fertile fields on the side of the road are barren and overgrown with weeds. Most of the people in Lunan have fled in all directions, but there are many people who died of starvation, and the further north they go, the more broken the villages and towns become, and many villages are scattered with corpses, which seem to have been killed by people.

"Look at these dead people, don't think that this is all done by the Qing army, they haven't fought here yet, you wait and see, there will be wonderful scenes on the road." Zhu Hao coldly addressed the humanity around him.

Luo Yunqu and the others were speechless when they looked at such a tragic scene.

When the troops marched to more than ten miles away from Teng County, there was a sudden shouting and crying in front, and I saw a group of Ming army rebels wielding knives and guns chasing a group of people, and from time to time there were people who were left alone or fell down and were grabbed and hacked to death by the defeated soldiers, and then all the things on their bodies were scavenged clean along with their clothes. Younger women were even more miserable, being ravaged to death when caught.

"What are you doing stunned, sniper, snipe the abuser immediately!" Zhu Hao saw that everyone was dumbfounded, and roared.

Several snipers immediately came back to their senses, hurriedly raised their guns to aim, "bang, bang" a few gunshots, several rioters who were committing violence fell in response, and at a distance of more than 100 meters, these snipers almost easily knocked down a few people without a scope.

All the rebels and civilians were stunned when they heard the gunman, only to find that there was a large group of people of unknown origin standing not far away, who seemed to be dressed as a Ming army, but they shot at their own people for some reason, and they were at a loss for a while.

"Order the cavalry, surround this group of rebels, rescue the people, and the brigade will immediately step forward." Zhu Hao gave orders one after another.

Zhou Da led the cavalry to rush forward immediately, surrounded the rebels, everyone stared at these rebels coldly, these rebels were still somewhat knowledgeable, looking at the muzzles of the short guns in the hands of these cavalrymen, they didn't dare to move.

At this time, Zhu Hao had already led the army to come to him, turned over and dismounted, saluted the common people, and said: "Fellow villagers, Zhu Hao, the general of Xuzhou in the headquarters, the orthodox army is going north to resist the enemy, and you are safe." ”

These people were obviously frightened by the chaotic army, and when they heard that this one in front of them was also a Ming army, they couldn't help but tremble, and after a while, seeing that these soldiers had kindness on their faces, a man in the crowd boldly asked: "May I ask you are also an official army?" ”

"Yes, we are also officers and soldiers, but we are not like these chaotic soldiers, we are serious court soldiers and horses, and we will not harm the people, everyone can rest assured." Zhu Hao knew what these people were afraid of, so he comforted.

Seeing that these ordinary people were still shocked, Zhu Hao frowned a little, and ordered: "Listen to my orders, put down these scumbag weapons, and tie them up for me!" ”

Behind him, a team of wolf-like guards immediately rushed forward, disarmed this team of Ming troops, and tied them up, these chaotic soldiers bullied the people, where is the opponent of Zhu Hao's personal guards? A few who wanted to resist were immediately punched and kicked, and the rest of the people honestly stayed and didn't dare to move.

"Which of you is in the lead?"

Seeing that everyone didn't answer, Zhu Hao said coldly: "Don't speak, right?" Come on, cut down these scum who spoil women! ”

"My lord, spare my life, we are also the imperial army, spare my life." Seeing that their lives were not guaranteed, the men immediately begged for mercy.

"When my military order is child's play, drag it down and cut it." Zhu Hao waved his hand in disgust.

After a burst of howling, the guards presented a few bloody human heads, which frightened the rebels and the common people trembling.

"Hmph, don't think that I don't know if you don't speak, you are Liu Zeqing's subordinates, and you scum still dare to call yourself the imperial army! Bah, look at the iniquity you have done, do you have no parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters? What kind of hero is it to harm his own people? The face of the court has been disgraced to you! If you have the ability to fight with the tartars, that's the man with eggs! Zhu Hao scolded indignantly.

Except for a few people with a look of shame on their faces, most of them had numb expressions, and Zhu Hao sighed secretly, he was really hopeless.

"Folks, I have seen you all being harmed by these beasts, today I will help you out of this breath, now I will give you a chance, if any of your relatives is killed, I will give him a knife and avenge myself. But I'm talking ugly ahead, if you don't dare, I'll escort these people back to Xuzhou, and if you want to take revenge, you won't have a chance again, now I'll wait for you for three minutes. ”

All the common people looked at each other, they were all honest peasants, although they had suffered cruelty, but they had never thought of carrying a knife to kill someone, and they couldn't help but hesitate.

Zhu Hao did this to stimulate the blood and fighting spirit of these ordinary people, and to defend the homeland, it was necessary to let the invaders fall into the vast sea of people's war, which was the famous motto of Taizu in later generations.

"When the time comes, I repeat, if no one takes revenge, I'll take them away!"

"I'm coming!" The man who asked the question earlier stood up and said loudly.

"Very well, what's your name?" Zhu Hao was overjoyed when he saw this person standing up.

"Villain Sun Daben."

"Okay, Sun Daben, you can take revenge."

"The villain's family was killed by these brutes, and my wife is eight months pregnant, and they won't let it go! I'm going to kill you! Sun Daben picked up a waist knife, and slashed at a rebel who was kneeling on the ground with red eyes, and with a bang, a human head fell to the ground. Wiping the blood splashed on his face, Sun Daben slashed several times in a row like a mad tiger, hacking all the four rebels in front of him to death, before he lost the knife and knelt on the ground and cried.

With the leader, the rest of the people were also inspired by the hatred and blood, and one by one they picked up the knives and guns on the ground to find their enemies, and even the women carried knives and slashed indiscriminately.

In a short time, dozens of rebels were all killed. The earth was full of people kneeling and weeping.

Zhu Hao shook his head, and when their mood calmed down a little, he said: "Now that you are all homeless, I will give you some food, so go to Pei County first, there are my troops stationed there, and you can be safe." ”

"Good man", "Lord Qingtian", listening to Zhu Hao's arrangement, this group of people kowtowed to Zhu Hao one after another.

Zhu Hao helped them up, comforted them a few words, and sent a team to escort them south. Seeing that Sun Daben and a few young people did not leave, he asked.

It turned out that Sun Daben discussed with several people and wanted to join the army. Zhu Hao deliberately said: "We are about to go north to fight the enemy, aren't you afraid?" ”

"My lord, you don't need to say it, we are all people who have died once, you saved our lives, from now on, our lives are yours, even if you take a knife to drive us away, we will not leave. In the final analysis, what happened to everyone is inseparable from the Tartars, and we have nothing to worry about now, but to go to the battlefield with the adults to kill the enemy, in order to avenge the country's hatred. ”

"Good man, okay, I'll take a few of you, but my troops are strictly disciplined, and you must follow my rules if you want to follow me."

"No problem, thank you, sir!" Sun Daben and the others hurriedly agreed.