"Drive!" Wearing leather armor and carrying the command flag, the messengers kept sending the latest front-line battle reports back to Jiangnan one after another.

"The Northern Expedition army won three battles and three victories, and Shandong was recovered!"

The news of Shandong's recovery spread to Jiangnan within a day.

Suddenly, the ministers were excited, and the people of the whole city cheered, shouting Long live the Ming Dynasty and long live the emperor, which resounded throughout the south of the Yangtze River.

"The emperor is really a godsend, the Northern Expedition army is mighty, and it will recover Shandong in less than ten days, it seems that the expulsion of the Tartars and the recovery of Beijing City are in sight!" Qian Qianyi, Liu Zongzhou and other old ministers had tears in their eyes, and when they saw that scene when they were still loyal to the Ming Dynasty, they were content.

Beijing.

Compared with the cheers of Jiangnan and the excitement of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, the mood of the Manchurians was the opposite.

"In less than ten days, an army of 500,000 was defeated in such a short time! Hong Chengchou, you waste! This king has mistaken your beliefs! Dorgon roared like a wild beast.

Dolgon was furious, but the strength of the Ming army also surprised him, and from the information sent back, he learned that the city wall of Jinan City collapsed in less than an hour under the artillery fire of the Ming army.

"The Qing Dynasty is the final victor!" Dorgon roared.

Shandong was defeated so quickly, although he was caught off guard, but the Qing Dynasty had the support of countless warriors in the north, and concentrated more than 1.5 million elite soldiers of the Qing Dynasty in Cangzhou, Bazhou, Tianjin Wei in Hebei and the dark clouds in Beijing, several times more than the Ming army, Dolgon did not believe it, and he personally commanded it, and there was no chance of defeating the Ming army!

November 3 of the fourth year of Daming Zhongxing.

There was a heavy snowfall last night, and the weather is extremely cold heading into November.

The north wind is howling, and the flag is hunting.

The cold wind was indeed biting, but the faces of every soldier were full of high fighting spirit, stepping on the snow, the main force of the Northern Expedition led by Zhu Cijiao also passed through the junction of Shandong and Hebei and entered the border of Hebei.

"Where have the vanguard armies of the First Army gone?"

"Back to the emperor, the vanguard army is about to arrive in Dongguang County!"

Zhu Ci nodded, Dongguang County is located in the south of Cangzhou, about thirty miles away from here, according to intelligence, there are 50,000 Qing troops guarding there, Zhu Ci hesitated to calculate, Ji Feng and other 40,000 vanguard troops can take Dongguang County before the main force of the army arrives, and clear the obstacles to advancing Cangzhou.

Not only marched into Hebei, but also in the direction of Quanzhou, Zhu Cijiao also passed on his will.

It is not impossible to order the Fourth Army, which is in Quanzhou, with the cooperation of the navy, to set sail, land in Liaodong, penetrate directly into the Manchurian lair, open up another front, distract the attention of Dolgon and other Manchu high-level officials, and even break the fighting spirit of the Manchus.

Of course, Zhu Ci knew that the Fourth Army would definitely not be able to hide from Dolgon, after all, as a part of the Yinglong Army, there must be countless Dolgon's spies around the Fourth Army.

Zhu Ciji didn't intend to hide it from Dolgon, this was a clear plan, and he made it clear that Dolgon's Northern Expedition army of the Ming Dynasty would not only conquer from the land, from south to north, but also open up another front from the sea!

In fact, Dolgon did know that the Fourth Army of Yinglong's army in Quanzhou might attack from the sea and attack the Liaodong base camp of the Qing Dynasty.

Dolgon is known for his great talent, and since the Fourth Army cooperated with the navy in training at sea, Dolgon had such suspicions, and after the Fourth Army returned from the expedition to Taiwan and the South Seas, Dolgon was already ninety percent sure that Zhu Cicheng would do that in the future.

Therefore, Dolgon really had to spend some time on the layout of Liaodong, although he could not defeat the Fourth Army of Yinglong's army, which might land in Liaodong, but there was no problem with the Fourth Army in Liaodong for a while.

Dongguang County.

Regardless of when the news of the Fourth Army's attack from the sea would reach Dolgon's ears, Dolgon's attention was not on the sea at the moment, but on Dongguang County.

"Newspaper"

"Qiyu Regent, the 40,000 vanguard army of the Ming army has arrived at the city of Dongguang County and is preparing to attack Dongguang County." A white-flagged scout rode up to Dolgon to report.

"Probe!" Dolgon said with a blank face.

"Wow!"

Dolgon's goal was clear, he wanted to find a way to annihilate this vanguard of the Ming army at all costs in the first battle of the Ming army entering Hebei.

No, Shandong was defeated too quickly, which seriously hit the morale of the Qing army, if Dolgon wanted to win this decisive battle, he must raise the morale of the Qing army back, otherwise the combat effectiveness would decline, and it would be difficult to defeat the Ming army.

The 40,000 vanguard army of the Ming army was about thirty miles away from the main force of the Ming army behind, and even if the main force of the Ming army marched rapidly, he had an hour to do this.

Even with careful arrangement, he could buy himself two hours, and use two hours to annihilate the 40,000 vanguard army of the Ming army, and Dolgon was still somewhat sure.

"Qiqi Regent, the Eight Banners Army and others have all been arranged, and they are waiting for the order of the Regent!" Tuo Yue came to report.

"Attack!" Dorgon nodded and ordered.

This time, he secretly hit 40,000 Eight Banner Iron Cavalry, 60,000 Mongolian Iron Cavalry, 200,000 Han Banner Army, plus the 50,000 Han Banner Army already in Dongguang County, a total of 300,000 troops, 60,000 vanguard troops six times that of the Ming Army, and 200 imitation Shenwu field cannons to help. This is already the limit of what he can do without being discovered by the Ming army scouts in advance, how can he win the annihilation battle in Dongguang County that boosts the morale of the Qing Dynasty.

Under Dongguang County, Ji Feng, the commander of the First Army, was ordering his soldiers to establish a defense and preparing to attack Dongguang County to clear the way to Cangzhou for the main army.

Ji Feng didn't know that Dolgon had already set his sights on him, but even if he knew, he would definitely not be afraid, and even with his boldness, he would take the initiative to attract the Qing army here and fight for the opportunity to annihilate a part of the Qing army for the main army in the rear.

"Commander, the defense has been constructed, and the artillery camp position has also been built, ready to attack at any time!" A soldier of the Ying Long Army came to report.

"Okay, herald, shell Dongguang County!" Ji Feng said with a smile.

"Yes!" The soldier of the Ying Long Army gave a straight salute and quickly went down to give the order.

Ji Feng watched the soldier leave with a smile on his face, his self-confidence came from the strong combat effectiveness of the First Army of the Ying Long Army under his command.

It is said that the Xinyinglong Army, which has been equipped with new guns and 90 mm caliber new field artillery, has been in the Northern Expedition for so many days, although it has captured many cities, it has never really been able to show its strength!

Dolgon's careful planning may not be able to gnaw the 40,000 vanguard army such as Ji Feng.

...