On May 24, 1643, Li Yi's fleet, loaded with more than 500 livestock and a large amount of forage, returned smoothly. Coming to Yantai Fortress with them were more than 700 officers and soldiers of the First Battalion of the Eight Banners, who had abandoned the county seat of Jingyi. At this point, the county town of Gyeongui, which had been occupied by the easterners for more than half a month, had been returned to the Koreans in its entirety if they ignored the thousands of people and a large number of livestock and supplies that had been taken captive.

The narrow island of Zhifu can no longer accommodate such a huge population. Therefore, the 1st Battalion of the Eight Banners had already moved forward to camp about 500 meters south of the site where the fortress was built. They erected a wooden camp with a large number of fir and birch trees brought from the port of Heishui, dug a shallow trench outside the camp, and pulled up two barbed wire fences on each side of the inner and outer trenches, all as required by the infantry drill code, meticulously and rigorously.

Luo Tiansheng dug a pit all morning, and his tired waist couldn't straighten up. Even if he was a helper in his brother Luo Guoshi's house, he was busy all day long, but God was pitiful, when did he have to do such heavy physical work? And it's been a few days! These people are really deceiving people too much, why hasn't the imperial army come to rescue us and others?

However, looking forward to the imperial army to save Luo Tiansheng was just a little thought in his mind, and he didn't have any hope. How can there be a serious army in Dengzhou Mansion now! Not to mention the Dengzhou battalion, Wendeng battalion, Jiaozhou battalion and other imperial court troops that were swept away in the Kong Youde Rebellion, and even the soldiers and horses of local guards such as Nawei Haiwei, Jinghaiwei, and Chengshanwei were scattered in the battle of Jiannu last year. Basically, there is only one shelf left.

And. Look at these men who are tall, well-trained, and disciplined. The firearms are also quite sophisticated, and it doesn't seem to be easy to match, although there are only a few hundred people, but they are far from being able to beat those guards called Huazi in the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention, they also have that kind of extremely tall building ship. Oh my God! Such a big ship! Luo Tiansheng thought of the few big ships that drove into the bay with black smoke in the morning, and he felt a sense of trembling, not only the ships were mighty, but the hundreds of black-looking Rakshasa ghost-like soldiers who came out of the cabin almost scared him out.

This... Is it still human?

Although Luo Tiansheng had also heard some legends such as Kunlun Nu, he still felt a chill from the bottom of his heart for these "black people". I wonder if they will eat children? I wonder if they will eat people's hearts? Luo Tiansheng peeked at the black soldier who was building a wooden city in the distance. There are a lot of horrible shots spinning in my head.

"Your name is Luo Tiansheng, right?" Several military men with strange Liaodong accents suddenly stood in front of Luo Tiansheng. Luo Tiansheng was only puzzled for a moment, and then quickly reacted, nodding his head in a hurry.

"Do you know how to go to Ninghai Prefecture?" A man in the lead in a dark blue "uniform" asked.

Ninghai Prefecture? These people are going to fight Ninghaizhou? Luo was born messy, of course he knew how to go to Ninghai Prefecture, and of course he knew that most of these people were going to rob Ninghai Prefecture, and he also knew that most of these people were going to lead the way. Oh my God, this... It has to be! Luo Tiansheng was about to cry, if he took this group of lustful people to loot the state city, then how would he mix in Dengzhou in the future? How to mix in Shandong? How to mix in Daming?

"The villain... Ignorance. The villain only knew that Ninghaizhou had been broken by the Tartars on February 12, and the people of Zhizhou were killed and injured. At this time, I am afraid that there is nothing to plunder. Luo Tiansheng lowered his eyebrows and said pleasantly, he was counting on getting by. However, this trick is obviously not easy to use today. As soon as his words fell, he felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen, and then the whole person flew upside down. He just wanted to struggle to get up, when he suddenly felt a sudden chill on his cheeks, and when he looked closely, he saw a sharp saber blade clinging to his cheek, and beads of sweat immediately oozed from his forehead.

"I don't know if you ask three questions, what is the use of him? Bury the fill hole and go. The man in the lead said nonchalantly. As he spoke, two Semu soldiers came up and lifted him from under his armpits, and then headed for the swampy mud beside the Dagu River.

"The villain... How does the villain know how to go to Ninghaizhou? The villain is willing to lead the way! Driven by the survival instinct, Luo Tiansheng at this moment abandoned all illusions, he struggled to kneel on the ground and kowtow, whining.

"Bang!" The hard-soled leather boot kicked him in the chest again, kicking him straight out of the body and two meters away. "Why didn't you say it just now? I really don't shed tears when I don't see the coffin! Pack up for him, and let him lead the way! Lao Tzu went to demolish the city wall of Ninghai Prefecture and came back to repair the fortress, of course, if there are still living people in the city, they will be captured together, which is also for their good. Mo Ming withdrew his foot, turned to the staff officer behind him, and commanded.

At this time, the soldiers of the 102nd Company had already assembled in the open space with loaded guns and ammunition, and under the glance of the officers, they all subconsciously straightened their chests and stomachs, raised their chins, and looked ahead with their eyes. Two days ago, Mo Ming selected more than 100 relatively young women from the former Jingyi County officials who were demoted to slaves and the families of the rebels, and rewarded the officers and soldiers who showed courage in the previous battle. There are not only the soldiers of the Eight Banners, but also the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Squadron of the newly joined Forward, and of course, a small number of soldiers from the 102nd Company of the Army.

Seeing that the commander had really fulfilled his promise, they were suddenly demoralized, and they all expressed their willingness to follow the commander to continue to kill the enemy and make new contributions. As they prepared to raid the nearby area, they immediately cheered up and prepared to show off their skills so that the commanders could reward them with money and women.

"The villain knows that there are some gentry in Ninghai Prefecture, Fushan, and Wendeng counties near Lang Road, who have solid family backgrounds and many tenants, and they avoided it far away in last year's Jiannu Rebellion, and the losses are not too great. If the military masters attack now, they will be able to break it in one go. On the contrary, if you go to Ninghaizhou City now, it is very likely that you will not even see a ghost shadow in the city. In this case, it is better to go and plunder the rich people in the countryside, they have money and food, and the country Ding Zhuang is not very brave, killing them is like killing a chicken. Luo Tiansheng, who had abandoned all discipline, clutched his aching chest and suggested softly.

"You are a talented murderer, but you have some knowledge." Mo Ming smiled lightly, "Your proposal is very good, but forget it this time." Let's first go and demolish the cities that have just been breached by the Tartars, and move the remaining people to the Yantai fortress to cultivate the fields. I'll talk about the rest later, okay, it's not too early, let's lead the way! ”

With Mo Ming's order, the first thing to set off was thirty four-wheeled carriages assembled on the spot, each of which was towed by two horses, and the carts were full of military supplies for marching and fighting, such as: food, ammunition, drinking water, armor, tents, etc. Of course, the materials needed for the march of hundreds of people to fight the war naturally do not need 30 carts, and many of them are actually empty carts. Each cart was tended by three North Korean masters, and some logisticians such as men, gunsmiths, flag bearers, drummers, and medical officers sat on the carts. The 10 platoons of the 102nd Company of the Army, which were the main force of the campaign, and the 130 soldiers of the 3rd Squadron of the Advance Team, lined up lightly and walked on both sides of the convoy.

Mo Ming, Xiao Xi and other chief officers rode Mongolian horses traded from the savage Jurchen and walked in the middle of the team, followed by several staff officers and orderlies. Kulhan, the new leader of the 3rd Squadron of the Stand Up Team, quickly followed behind Mo Ming and the others, a bearded man who looked like a brown bear, carried a high-grade handmade saber from the East Coast that Mo Ming gave him at his waist, and a harpoon stuck diagonally on his back—that was his previous weapon.

Hailing from the bitter cold region of Oja in northern Sakhalin, Kurhan is a Kyriak who makes a living from fishing and hunting. This man is a loner on weekdays, and once met the East Coast people when he was selling bear skins in Dabo, because he was very fond of the two commodities of the East Coast people's liquor and tobacco, he simply went to the East Coast people to join the army. Later, because of his burly figure and bravery, he was inexplicably selected to become the leader of the standing team, and gave him a North Korean official lady.

The main purpose of this expedition was to obtain materials and people for the construction of the fortress. After all, everyone is idle here, so it is better to take the initiative to collect some people and building materials to come back. The Tartars had just ravaged the Dengzhou Prefecture two months earlier, and had conquered Qixia, Laiyang, Ninghai, and Wendeng counties, and later the Chengshan Acropolis in the east. The entire Dengzhou capital was in a state of turmoil, and the people, livestock, grain, gold and silver were plundered a lot, and several prefectures and counties that were breached were even more empty and dilapidated. At this time, the people of the East Coast passed, and these states and counties that had just been robbed had nothing to resist at all, and could only watch the people of the East Coast wreaking havoc.

After the departure of the expeditionary army, the construction site of Yantai Fortress was temporarily in charge of Captain Li Yi, who arrived here with his ship. In addition to urging about 1,000 Korean men here to step up their work, he also set up a porridge field next to the camp of the Eight Banners and One Battalion. Many large cauldrons were set up in the porridge field, and sweet potato porridge was boiled in the pot. Considering that the Qing army was raging in Dengzhou Mansion for more than a month, the damage caused was quite huge, and there should have been a lot of displaced people in the countryside. The homes of these displaced people have long been burned down, and most of the food has been lost in the war, so if the people on the east coast send cavalry out of Yantai to publicize it at this time, it should be able to attract many hungry homeless people to come to Yantai to eat. These people are dying of hunger, and they are grateful to Dade for being able to eat, do they still care who gave them this food? (To be continued......)