In early October of the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, as soon as winter began, the Central Plains ushered in the first snow of the year. This snowfall is extraordinarily large, fully showing the power of the Xiaoice period to people in this troubled world. It was only the first snow, and the sky and the earth were white. The cold wind swept by, and snowflakes the size of goose feathers fluttered and flew in all directions. The temperature has plummeted, and it has already reached below freezing, and several rivers north of the Huai River have formed a thin layer of ice floe.

The people living in the Central Plains have long been accustomed to this kind of life in the ice and snow as soon as the winter arrives, and after the autumn harvest, they begin to prepare for wintering.

In the Central Plains firmly controlled by the Qing Dynasty, the Shengdou Xiaomin, who were not qualified to shave their heads and tie money rattail pigtails, although they lived under the iron hooves of the so-called Tartars, did not have to worry about dying of hunger and cold in the slow winter.

Although the weather is cold and dry, and the grain yield per mu in the Central Plains is generally low, a mouthful of 10 acres of land is still enough for a slightly more industrious small farmer to obtain enough food from the barren land to satisfy his stomach.

The rent of one acre and four liters, the household of one horse (cotton cloth, linen) and the twenty days of labor for one ding are much looser than when the peasants carried the work for the landlords in the early days.

I have to say that the days without the old wealth of the landlord are good......

Therefore, when the first snow of the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty came, in the Central Plains under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, those scattered everywhere, small, but quite strong, fortress-style villages, everywhere was gathering vitality.

Of course, for those who survived the chaos and were not forced to leave the country, although food and clothing are no longer a problem, the danger is not far away.

The war is still spreading everywhere in the Central Plains, the original dying Ming Dynasty actually regained its vitality after moving south, with the signs of Zhongxing, and now began the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, wanting to recover the lost land.

And in the Quartet rampant robbery for many years, the countless murder of the thief Zhang Xianzhong did not know what medicine to take wrong, not good to stay in Guanzhong as his Dashun West King, but also suddenly killed into the Central Plains, and also occupied Luoyang City to claim the emperor.

The small farmers in the Central Plains, who originally thought that the troubled times were going to have a head, in this winter, all they could do was to live and cherish every day of the moment, that is, to raise the barrier of the dock fort where they lived as much as possible, and prepare more arrows and wooden bows to guard their homes.

And those old men who are qualified to keep a money rattail pigtail are not so blessed, they can guard their fortress docks, and try to keep this endless chaotic world out of their homes.

Because they have braids, and all of them are masters of the Great Qing Kingdom, they can't be the obedient people of the Ming Dynasty, and they must fight to defend the Great Qing Kingdom.

Therefore, from the autumn, the old and weak women and children of the Great Qing Dynasty Green Banner began to concentrate on the castle where their respective Jialazhangjing belonged with their small family wealth. Some of the Khala, which were closer to the front line, moved to stronger forts further behind.

At this time, in addition to a small part of the fortresses where the Jiala or Gushan Ezhen was located, and some of them were transferred to important places such as Shanxi and Beiqing, the remaining large troops were successively concentrated around the city of Zhengzhou, where the Qing Emperor Ama was stationed.

In Zhengzhou, there are not only more than 100 Niu Lu of Zhenglu and 50,000 thousands of people, but also the strong force of the Old Eight Banners from around Beijing, and more than 100 Niu Lu, not counting the accompanying clothed minions, only Zhengding soldiers, no less than 30,000 or 40,000 people.

Nearly 90,000 elite soldiers of the Nine Banners, in this frozen and snowy winter, finally gathered around the Qing Emperor Amadorgon!

......

"Long live the Emperor, long live, long live......"

Outside the city of Zhengzhou, on the banks of the Yellow River, which had begun to freeze, the cavalry and infantry formed a phalanx with Jiala as a unit were densely covered with a large area, and they let out high cheers together. Standing on the embankment of the Yellow River, the Qing Emperor Amadorgon, finally showed a satisfied smile at this time.

When Zhu Cihong was busy commanding his army to conquer cities in Shandong and Liaodong, and bluffing in western Liaoning, Dolgon was not idle.

In addition to slowly assembling his feudal army these days, he is training the army with new tactics.

When Zhu Cihong launched the Second Northern Expedition, Dolgon's side was undergoing a military reform - this year's Tartars were the most able to learn and progress! Starting from Huang Taiji and ending with Dolgon, it has evolved from a grass-roots country that is not much stronger than the tribal alliance to a semi-bureaucratic and semi-feudal empire with relatively strict systems.

Therefore, when they encountered the "modern Ming Army" that absorbed the latest achievements of Western military science, they naturally began to make targeted improvements.

There are two directions for improvement, one is to strengthen firepower, and the other is to increase mobility.

Although the previous Qing army was known as "invincible with bows and horses", it was actually only mounted infantry and was not very mobile. Moreover, although the Qing army also attached importance to artillery and pulled the Hongyi cannon onto the field battlefield, the firepower in the field was also weak in the current era.

It's just that their opponents are weaker, so they play the effect of invincibility of heavenly soldiers.

And this kind of "invincible heavenly soldiers" is far from the strongest state that the "Nine Banners Force" can achieve!

The strongest state of the "Nine Banners Force" was, in Dolgon's vision, a combination of cavalry, mounted infantry and light field artillery.

And when the 90,000 troops of the Nine Banners of the Qing Dynasty slowly gathered in Zhengzhou, Dolgon did not rush to go out, but unhurriedly reviewed and trained this army outside Zhengzhou.

In early October, Dolgon also organized a mobile drill with the participation of 100,000 people (including clothed minions), ran around Zhengzhou twice, and ran out of the "high speed" of 75 miles a day - an army of 100,000 people, pulling 48 3-pounder bronze cannons and 48 one-pound general cannons, and carrying a large number of baggage convoys, it is really not slow to be able to travel 75 miles a day.

And after running for a few days, the army that returned to the garrison outside Zhengzhou was still full of horses, and it seemed that they could enter the battle at any time.

"Congratulations to Huang Ama, congratulations to Emperor Ama, with such elite soldiers, Huang Ama will definitely be able to win and break the ...... of the Southern Ming Dynasty"

The cheers of the warriors had not completely stopped, and Nikan, the reverent king of the county who followed Dolgon, gave a thumbs up and praised.

"Huang Ama is really like a god in using soldiers, and training soldiers is even more like a god! It's only been a few days! Just train such an invincible team in the world......"

Abatai's third son, Bolo, the king of Duanzhong County, who died of illness last year, also blew with Nikan, and his face looked very loyal, with an expression of admiration.

"With Huang Ama here, let's rule the world early in the morning and evening! The elite soldiers trained by Huang Ama are simply heavenly soldiers! ”

After Dai Shan's son Man Dahai was also unwilling, he also began to follow the sycophants of Huang Ama together...... Oh, it's not sycophancy, it's all heart-wrenching.

Dolgon listened to Nikan, Bolo, and Mandahai's heart-wrenching words, and his mood also improved, and he turned his head and said to them: "The little emperor of the Zhu family is a little more generous, and when it comes to fighting with soldiers, he is far behind...... If his new army stays on the south bank of the Huai River, I will indeed have no way to recruit them. But he didn't know how to die, so he came to the north with his own commandment. In the past, we relied on the horse army to fight in the north, and in the past, we were on horseback and rushed into battle, dismounted in hand-to-hand combat, coupled with the hard kung fu of riding and archery, we could sweep the Quartet. Now there's another horse-drawn cannon, we can play with it too! ”

"Huang Ama," Nikan, who had already played the "horse-drawn cannon", was eager to try, "Let's give this battle to the ministers...... Give the minister 10,000 strong troops, 12 Hongyi cannons, and keep them to relieve the siege of Liaocheng. ”

"Hahaha," Dolgon laughed, "our four-legged horse army needs to go to Liaocheng to relieve the siege?" It was the little emperor of the Zhu family who led him...... I don't dare to do that, I want to take Zhu Cihong's nose and beat! ”