Zhu Cihong immediately sent the information sent by the Military Intelligence Department of the Inner Factory to Shandong, and ordered the generals in Shandong to prepare for the battle.

In addition to Qin Gongming's troops stationed in Dezhou, Gao Jie led tens of thousands of elite soldiers to arrive in Qingzhou. The battalions of the Shence Army, which were once stationed in Denglai, also raised troops to the north and stationed on the front line of Leling and Haifeng.

It can be said that the entire northern part of Shandong was operated by the Ming army like an iron bucket, and even a fly could not fly in.

said that the camps of the Shence Army, they were originally dispatched by Zhang Kentang, the governor of Denglai. However, because the Denglai Naval Division was not yet large-scale and could not give the Qing army a blow from the sea, they still chose to reinforce Leling and Haifeng to ensure that the Qing army had no chance.

Among them, the Tianqi Battalion under the command of Chen Liu, the Yongwu Battalion under the command of Shen Fu were stationed in Leling, and the Xuanwu Battalion and the Xiaoguo Battalion were stationed in Haifeng.

Liu Sanshui, as a soldier of the Xuanwu Battalion, naturally followed the army to Haifeng to garrison. In his opinion, SITC is certainly not a big city, but some basic facilities are complete.

It is natural for a soldier to fight, not to mention that he is still fighting a Tartar.

The robes did not complain, and Liu Sanshui naturally did not have it.

The high-level generals of the Xuanwu battalion have changed greatly, and the current battalion is always a general named Han Qu. Don't look at this General Han is only in his thirties, but he is proficient in the art of war, and he is also very experienced in arranging troops.

Moreover, he and Sun Annian, the battalion commander of the Xiaoguo Battalion, also served as the Son of Heaven's close attendants together, and it was perfectly suitable for the two of them to cooperate to defend Haifeng City.

There are more than a dozen fortresses ten miles outside the city of Haifeng, and the fortresses are connected by trenches.

This is the first line of defense of Haifeng City, and it must be strictly guarded.

After some discussion, Han Qu and Sun Annian decided to send nearly half of their troops to garrison this line.

The Xuanwu battalion is an infantry battalion, but the Xiaoguo battalion is an artillery battalion. The combination of infantry and artillery is the main tactic that the Holy Son has always emphasized.

It was not an easy task to move the heavy eight-pounder and twelve-pounder guns into the fortress.

It took a lot of effort for Sun Annian to command the soldiers to complete this task.

Although the Holy Lord and the Ministry of War highly respected the fortress, after all, everyone had never been here before, and there was still some drumming in their hearts.

Fortunately, their nervousness did not last long before it disappeared completely.

Because the saint led the battalions to personally come to Shandong to command the battle.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Taizu and Chengzu not to mention, even Yingzong and Wuzong also had the experience of driving a personal expedition.

It was only after the expansion of civilian power that in order to limit the power of the emperor, especially the military power, the scholars and doctors used various reasons to prevent the emperor from personally conscripting.

This is naturally said in the past during the Taiping period.

After all, some small frictions at the local border do not need to be solved by the Son of Heaven himself. The so-called son of a daughter can't sit down.

The civil officials said, "Emperor, as long as you rule the world, you will be stable."

But the truth is quite the opposite.

The emperor lost his military power and became a puppet, a symbol and symbol sitting in the Forbidden City.

said that Emperor Chongzhen killed his ministers like slaughtering dogs, but he couldn't get out of Beijing like a government decree. In particular, local warlords, such as Liaozhen Zu Dashou, etc., were even more contrary to the yang and yin of the imperial court.

In the final analysis, there was a problem with the imperial court's system.

And since the current saint ascended the throne, he has eliminated traitors and trained new troops, and he has been thriving.

Those despicable villains with bad intentions were eradicated by the Son of Heaven one by one, and the warlords with evil intentions were also killed one by one.

In this case, the personal prestige of the Son of Heaven reached its peak.

Of course, when Zhu Cihong proposed to drive the expedition in person, there was also an uproar between the government and the opposition.

Most of the ministers, including the big and small Jiuqing and the Kedaoyan officials, raised objections. The reason for them to dissuade the Son of Heaven is still the same old-fashioned thing, what His Majesty is the Ninety-Five Supreme, one person is responsible for the safety of all the people in the world, and he cannot be in danger.

It may be okay to fool Chongzhen with this kind of talk, but it is impossible to fool Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Cihong immediately said at the court meeting that the great battle between Donglu and Daming in Shandong would determine the offensive and defensive situation of the two sides in the next few years, and there was no room for mistakes.

If Daming loses Shandong, it will fall into a very passive situation, and can only be beaten passively.

This is what Zhu Cihong does not want to see.

In other words, if Da Ming finally died, then Zhu Cihong had no other choice but to learn from Chongzhen as soon as he died.

So this battle must not be lost.

The Son of Heaven himself conquered Shandong in person, which would not bring much change to the immediate combat strength of the Ming army in Shandong, but it could greatly boost the morale of the army.

After all, in this era, in the minds of ordinary people, the Son of Heaven is a saint and a god.

In particular, the Shence Army was founded from the beginning as the pro-army of the Son of Heaven. In their minds, the Son of Heaven is definitely an existence that cannot be looked up to.

If the Son of Heaven really drove the expedition in person and came to Shandong to command the battle, all the soldiers of the Ming army would inevitably fight bravely to kill the enemy to repay the king.

Zhu Cihong is not ready to compromise in this matter.

He arranged for Lu Zhenfei to sing and harmonize with him in the court.

As a result, opposition has been silenced a lot.

Coupled with the absolute prestige that Zhu Cihong has accumulated since he ascended the throne for one year, he was able to promulgate the holy decree strongly.

Those big and small Jiuqing and Kedao officials can also understand that the Son of Heaven is insisting on driving the expedition in person.

Even the secretary of the military department agreed, and it was never a good thing to go against the Son of Heaven at this time.

The result is likely to be a court rod, and it will not affect the final result.

That being the case, it is better to choose obedience.

The Son of Heaven's personal expedition is definitely a sensational event in the world.

According to the old system of the ancestors, the direct relatives and guards and the Beijing camp must be accompanied by the king.

And now the system of the guard house exists in name only, and the Jingying camp has also been abolished. The escort became the Divine Army.

In addition to the Shence Army stationed in Shandong and Huguang, there were 15 battalions and nearly 30,000 people left behind in Nanjing.

The Son of Heaven transferred all these 30,000 people to accompany them on the expedition.

And the deputy commander of this army is the commander Zhao Xin (the commander is Zhu Cihong).

Because they did not carry too much baggage, this army left Nanjing and went all the way north, and it did not take long to reach Shandong.

The Son of Heaven moved to Jinan Mansion and stationed in the city. The Shence army of more than 30,000 people besieged the city of Jinan.

After Gao Jie, Qin Gongming and other generals got the news, they rushed to Jinan Mansion as soon as possible. Zhu Cihong met them in the temporary palace, said some words of encouragement, and promised that as long as the Shandong battle was won, he would give the whole army a rich reward.

A group of generals knelt down on the ground and shouted to His Majesty for wisdom, and the atmosphere was very warm.

For Zhu Cihong, the royal drive is a decision made after thinking about it again and again, and it is not that he does not understand the danger of this trip. But since you have to face it sooner or later, it's better to face it off earlier.

This battle is related to the fortunes of the Ming Dynasty and must be won!

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