On May 23, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Ming army of Qin Gongming arrived in Dezhou, Shandong.

Zhu Shuaiqin, the king of Ji, led Lu Shiyi, Zhao Jiding, Li Zanming, Cheng Xianzhen, Xie Ma, Ma Yuanlu and other people and Dezhou squires out of the city to greet them.

From 27 April to 23 May, Zhu Shuaiqin had trouble sleeping and eating during this month.

After all, he was just a distant branch of a clan, but he pretended to be the king of Ji, which violated the taboo of the imperial court. Second, he did not have a useful general and army in his hands, although the officials of the pseudo-shun were all captured and killed, and the cities of Qilu were planted with the dragon banner of the emperor, but it was not easy to hold these cities.

As far as Zhu Shuaiqin knew, Li Zicheng retreated all the way to Guanzhong, leaving only a part of his troops in Shanxi to garrison. Pseudo-Shun is still too busy to take care of himself, so naturally he has no energy to enter Shandong.

The real threat comes from the Eastern.

Now that Shenjing is under the control of the Toyu, the entire Kisuke is also submissive. The situation in Henan is somewhat special, western Henan is still in the hands of Li Zicheng, and most of the other prefectures and counties are also biased towards surrendering to the east.

Zhu Shuaiqin knew that the Dongyu were aiming at the Central Plains of Dingding, and the reason why they did not march into Shandong now was not because they didn't want to, but because they wanted to stabilize the rule of Jifu and Henan first. When they have their hands freed, they will definitely wave Shandong.

Although Zhu Shuaiqin tried to call on the squires to recruit soldiers, he also knew that untrained recruits were no different from ordinary farmers. Dongyu only needs to send a detachment of a few thousand people, and he can easily take the whole of Shandong.

Therefore, he was looking forward to the arrival of Wang Shi, and news came from the south ten days ago, saying that Gao Jie, the general soldier of Xuzhou, and Qin Gongming, the general soldier of Huai'an, were ordered by the imperial court to lead 70,000 Ming troops to aid Shandong.

Until this time, Zhu Shuaiqin could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Although 70,000 horses is not much, it can barely cope with the concentration of garrisons in important prefectures and counties.

The eastern captives were already short of troops, and they had to deal with Li Zicheng in the west, and it was absolutely impossible to send a large army to invade Shandong, at least not in the short term. This gave the imperial court time to train and resume production.

Time is of the essence!

However, it was said that Qin Gongming rode a pure black tall horse, surrounded by a group of guards, and came to the Dingbian Gate of the South Gate of Texas. Seeing Zhu Shuaiqin and others standing outside the city to greet him, Qin Gongming bowed slightly and said, "His Royal Highness King Qing has a heart." ”

Hearing this, Zhu Shuaiqin was like being struck by lightning, and his body trembled violently.

King Qing? He heard him right, right?

Even when the incident started, in order to unite the elders of Shandong, he played the title of King Ji.

Seeing Zhu Shuaiqin's dazed face, Qin Gongming explained: "Your Majesty has issued a holy decree to allow His Highness to inherit the Qing Domain. ”

Zhu Shuaiqin's lips opened, and he wanted to say something, but he swallowed it when the words came to his lips. Before he knew it, tears had filled his eyes.

The emperor's grace is magnificent, the emperor's grace is magnificent!

At this moment, no words can express Zhu Shuaiqin's gratitude to the Son of Heaven.

It's no wonder that Zhu Shuaiqin is so out of shape.

You must know that he is just a lieutenant of Fengguo of the Qing Domain, although he is from the Qing Domain, he is a side branch. If it is a peaceful year, it is impossible for him to inherit the throne of King Qing.

But in the last years of Chongzhen, the Central Plains was swinging, and the crowd was everywhere.

Countless vassal kings were slaughtered by the rogues, and the Qing clan was not spared.

The fiefdom of the Qing clan was in Ningxia. In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng captured Ningxia, and the last Qing king, Zhu Zhuohong, and the main members of the royal family were arrested, and they were all sent to Shanxi to be executed the following year.

Since then, the princes and county kings of the Qing clan have all been extinct, and only distant clans like Zhu Shuaiqin have survived.

According to the Ming Dynasty's management of the clan, this kind of distant branch clan does not have the conditions to succeed the domain. If everything goes according to normal circumstances, the Qing clan will be expelled from the country. There will be no more kings in the world.

But Zhu Shuaiqin did something that changed the fate of Qing Fan.

He led the Shandong squires to rise up and recover the land of Qilu.

In Zhu Cihong's view, this is a great credit. In order to commend Zhu Shuaiqin's heroism and righteousness, Zhu Cihong specially ordered Zhu Shuaiqin to inherit the Qing domain and change the domain to Dezhou.

From the point of view of blood kinship, Zhu Shuaiqin is a distant branch, but he is also a veritable Qing clan, so there is no ethical problem with inheriting the throne. As for whether it violates the ancestral system by using side branches and distant branches to inherit the feudal system, the courtiers don't bother to care.

After all, this is the Zhu family's family affair in the final analysis, as long as His Majesty is happy.

No one would be stupid enough to quarrel with the Son of Heaven on this innocuous issue, especially after Zhu Cihong rectified the dynasty with a thunderous hand.

After Zhu Cihong issued the holy decree, he specially sent a eunuch to follow the army to deliver the decree, and instructed him to follow Qin Gongming's army to Dezhou.

Because the Ming army that came to Shandong this time was divided into two parts, Zhu Cihong had already done a good job of dividing the defense area before setting off.

Qin Gongming's department guarded Dezhou, and Gao Jie's department guarded Jinan, Dongchang, and Yanzhou.

This is also determined by the strength of the two divisions. Gao Jie's troops are numerous, there are 50,000 people, and most of them are veterans who have been fighting for many years, even if they are divided into three prefectures, they can still support it.

Qin Gongming only had 20,000 people under his command, and most of them were regimental training township soldiers in Huai'an, and the training time did not exceed one year. In this case, it is unrealistic to let Qin Gongming divide his troops again. Concentrating troops in Texas is the best option.

In addition, Zhu Cihong has another consideration, that is, Gao Jie is domineering. Although judging from the outcome of this person's original history, it was impossible for him to surrender to the Manchus, Zhu Cihong was still worried that Gao Jie would have friction with the clan Zhu Shuaiqin and his faction.

After all, Zhu Cihong had just ordered Zhu Shuaiqin to inherit the Qing Domain, and if Gao Jie showed off his might to a prince, it would indeed be an insult to the imperial power.

At this time, the state affairs are difficult, and this is by no means the time for infighting. Therefore, Zhu Cihong must consider all the circumstances carefully to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Dezhou is the northern gate of Shandong, bordering Hejian Province, and it is very likely that it will face the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

If Qin Gongming only had 20,000 regimental training township soldiers under his command, Zhu Cihong would definitely not be at ease with him guarding alone.

Fortunately, Qin Gongming still had 500 veterans of the White Pole Army under his command, as well as 1,000 soldiers of the standard battalion of the governor when Lu Zhenfei was the governor of Huai'an.

These are veterans with very strong combat effectiveness, especially the five hundred white-pole troops, who are definitely the elite of the elite.

In terms of defending the city, it is not necessary that all the soldiers are veterans, as long as there are more than a thousand veterans with them, the recruits will not panic.

The city of Texas was strong, and it was impossible for the Manchus to take it if they did not raise a large army to attack.

As long as the Ming army goes through a baptism of defending the city, these regiments will quickly grow into veterans.

Recruits can only transform when they see blood, which is what Zhu Cihong firmly believes.

Besides, Gao Jie is sitting in Jinan Mansion, if the situation is really unfavorable, it will be too late to help.

However, Zhu Cihong also instructed Qin Gongming to be careful of the use of the Manchu Dynasty, which is also his usual trick since the rebellion against the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong.

Before Qin Gongming and Gao Jie's army set off, Zhu Cihong had already issued a holy decree that Shandong must be defended. Because in his opinion, this is the most crucial point in the chess game in the world.

For the Manchu Qing Dynasty, taking Shandong could easily move south and face Jianghuai.

For Huang Ming, taking Shandong could gain strategic depth and make the Manchus a bogeyman.

Those who win Shandong win the world!

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