Dolgon led his troops to leave Yuancheng County, the city of the Daimyo, on the morning of November 17, the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, and then passed through the frozen Wei River, passed through Nanle, Qingfeng, and Kaizhou under the rule of the Qing Dynasty (all of the above belonged to the Daimyofu), and then drove northeast along the frozen Guangji Canal, passed through Puzhou, which belonged to Dongchang Prefecture, entered Yuncheng County, Yanzhou Prefecture, and crossed the canal blockade line of the Ming army from the Liangshanji area of Yuncheng, and broke into the rear of the Ming army!

In front of Dolgon's tens of thousands of troops, the Ming army's canal defense line was like a fictitious one!

The so-called canal blockade line is indeed not easy to break through when the canal is not frozen - it takes a little time to cross the river, and the Ming army built a simple fortress every 20 miles along the canal, and put hundreds of defenders (all of them are Huang Degong's subordinates), although they could not prevent the Qing army from passing between the two fortresses, but they could light the beacon fire and send a cavalry to report to the main force of Liaocheng. At the same time, all the boats on the canal were protected, making it difficult for the Qing army to cross the river, so as to achieve the goal of delaying the Qing army.

But once the canal froze, the blockade line was useless.

The two bastions are more than 20 miles apart, and they can't see each other when visibility is poor! Moreover, the power and range of artillery in these years were limited, and for the Qing troops passing between the two fortresses, the Ming troops who held the fortress could only watch them swagger through.

Moreover, most of the prefectures and counties west of the canal blockade were under the control of the Qing Dynasty. The enclosure of the Qing Dynasty and the dictation of the field were not done in vain! The basis of the Ming Dynasty's rule in this area, the gentry and landlords, has been completely eliminated!

Whether it was the Green Flag soldiers who shaved their hair and braided their hair, or the peasants who were not qualified to shave their hair, they were now on the side of the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty to restore its rule west of the canal, and even if it occupied some cities, it could not go down to the grassroots level. Moreover, the advantage of the cavalry of the Qing army was too great, and they went back and forth on the plains on the west bank of the canal, and the Ming army did not collect at night and did not have much room for movement, so there was no way to grasp the movements of Dolgon's army.

It was not until tens of thousands of Qing troops marched to the Liangshanji area that they were discovered by the Ming army fortress on the side of the nearby canal. By the time they hurriedly lit a beacon fire and sent Tangma to Liaocheng to complain, the Qing army had already swaggered through between the two fortresses, headed east, and disappeared into the vast wilderness.

In Liaocheng's Admiral's Seven Provinces Military Gate (there is still a signboard to the outside world), it was a noisy and noisy atmosphere at this time. The dignitaries gathered here no longer had the vigor they had when they were in Liaocheng a while ago, and they all gathered in the lobby with one face for military discussions.

"There are a lot of captives, at least thirty or forty thousand! Our soldiers are not at home, east of the Taiyi mountains, where can they go? ”

"Looking at the direction of Dongyu's march, it should be heading towards Qufu! Now the east of the Taiyi mountains, that is, in Qufu City, has abundant reserves! ”

"And there are treasures under Qufu!"

"Qufu underground? Kong Lin? Haven't forgotten about this? ”

"It doesn't have to be Kong Lin, what treasure can Kong Lin have? But the Yansheng Gong has been passed down for more than sixty generations now! For more than a thousand years, how many treasures are buried underground? ”

"yes...... Why do you have to have tens of millions of taels, right? ”

Somehow, the topic of this military discussion quickly turned upside down! The "false propaganda" launched by Emperor Zhu is really a trick! The public opinion offensive over and over again has brainwashed Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and other great Confucians!

Now they all believe that Dolgon's family is a part-time fighter!

Since you want to pour a bucket, of course, you have to find a place with more big buckets to fall.

And in Shandong, there are many big fights here in Qufu. Sensei said that Kong Lin, when Confucius died, his family was not wealthy, and there would not be many good things to be buried with him.

But the descendants of Confucius can't stand it, how many ancestors have been buried in a family for more than a thousand years? And there is a need to bury, not to dig!

All dynasties and dynasties have obeyed Kong, and the state-run upside down has given their family face, and they will not dig his family's grave. The private inverted bucket did not dare to dig ......

Therefore, there are more treasures under Qufu than Tianshou Mountain (the tomb of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty)!

Now that Dongyu and the scholars are not all the way at all, they have done the same thing as "killing parents" such as enclosing land and giving fields, and Ji dictate to teach fields, so what is it to dig up the grave of the Confucius family in Qufu?

"Inspector Shi, how is the defense of Qufu City? Can it be held? ”

Gao Hongtu asked about the situation of Qufu's defense. Shi Kefa showed a little worried, he could pull out the main force of Qufu's training army this time...... But what worries him even more is Kong Yinzhi who stayed in Qufu.

As long as this Yan Shenggong doesn't run away, with Qufu Jiancheng, even if Dolgon has tens of thousands of elite soldiers of the Eight Banners, he will not dare to attack.

For the sake of the treasure in Qufu's underground, it is not worth taking one or two thousand old Eight Banners powerhouses.

"We have to follow the army of Dongyu!" Shi Kefa stroked his beard, "Don't follow too closely, follow from a distance, just fight steadily." Mr. Huang, what do you think? ”

Huang Degong's brows furrowed, he knew that Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai were very poor in their mobility ability, and they might not be able to withstand the intensive artillery bombardment.

"We must gather the soldiers and horses of the forts along the canal......," said Huang Degong, "and it is better to meet with Your Majesty again." ”

"How long will it take?" Shi Kefa shook his head again and again, "I'm afraid that Qufu will be lost!" ”

He was afraid that Kong Yinzhi would escape from Qufu...... As soon as Kong Yinzhi ran away, there was no one to guard Qufu. Such a fortress that took countless manpower and material resources to build, if the whole fell into the hands of the Qing army, then the battle of Shandong would be lost.

Qufu is not too far from the Grand Canal, and if Dolgon places thousands of old eight flags in Qufu City, it will be difficult to maintain canal traffic. Without the support of the canal supply line, it would have been impossible for the Ming army to maintain heavy troops along the canals in Dongchang and Yanzhou, let alone continue the Northern Expedition.

Moreover, Qufu, the fortress built by Shi Kefa himself, will become an insurmountable obstacle on the road of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Huang Degong pondered for a while, "Then concentrate as much as possible...... Give Xia Guan two days, and Xia Guan tried to concentrate 10 battalions. ”

Shi Kefa glanced at Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Li Shiyuan, who represented Zhu Yihai, "How about the three of us send out another 12 military vehicle battalions, 2 infantry battalions, 2 cavalry battalions and 1 artillery battalion?" ”

The four towns of Shandong are dominated by car battalions, but they are not without infantry battalions, cavalry battalions and artillery battalions. Li Chengdong, who was attached to Gao Hongtu's Tai'an Army, brought 2 infantry battalions and 2 cavalry battalions this time, with a total of 2,000 elite soldiers.

In addition, Shi Kefa's Qufu regimental training also has a field mobile artillery battalion, equipped with some three-pounder regimental guns and one-pound general guns, and the artillery has been trained in Nanjing.

Gao Hongtu counted with his fingers, "There are almost 45,000 people, and more than 50 three-pounder cannons and one-pound cannons...... Can you fight with the Toko? ”

Huang Degong shook his head: "It's still a little close, but it's okay...... You can ask Your Majesty to come and join us. His Majesty has a division and two other cavalry regiments, as well as a guard battalion, totaling more than 20,000 men.

In addition, we can attack under the banner of His Majesty, and Dolgon will not dare to take the initiative to fight a decisive battle. ”

Shi Kefa nodded: "Okay, that's it!" ”

Zhu Cihong left the banner in Liaocheng in order to bluff Dolgon, but he never expected that Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu, the "chaotic ministers and thieves", actually made their own opinions, and went out of Liaocheng under the banner of Emperor Zhu's Son of Heaven, pulling their carts (partial vans), baggage, and artillery to chase Dolgon.

But how can they catch up? They set out from Liaocheng on the third day after Dolgon passed through the canal blockade, and for Dolgon's army of fifty or sixty miles a day, it took more than one hundred and fifty miles to go out in three days.

And his target is not Qufu, but Li Chengdong's nest Tai'an Prefecture!