The Ming Dynasty in March was chaotic. On the first day of the new year (April 7), Li Zicheng entered Datong and killed the king; On the ninth day of the first month, Wang Chengyin, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, let the army enter the city, and Zhu Zhifeng, the governor of Xuanfu, hanged himself; On the tenth day of the first month, tens of thousands of people from Liu Fangliang, a partial division of the Shunjun South Road, entered Guangping Mansion, and Zhang Ruxing, the general soldier of the Ming Dynasty, surrendered, and the suburbs welcomed thirty miles. So far, the Myeonggi area has been opened.

Liu Fangliang's 100,000-strong army attacked the city in Henan to cut off the way for the Ming Dynasty monarchs and ministers to return south, frightening Shandong, which was close at hand, three times a day, and Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong stationed in Linqing, was afraid of Liu Fangliang's army and began to retreat south after a plunder. And along the way of its retreat to the south, it was burned and looted while enlisting in the Latin army, and the deeds were no less bad than the construction of slaves. However, this guy has artificially created a large number of refugees to pour over along the Jiaodong Canal, but when this wave of refugees is transmitted to the Denglai area, I am afraid it will be more than a month later.

At this time, with the efforts of more than 10,000 displaced people in the camp (3,000 people were sent to the thawed Heishui Port), the Yantai fortress has now begun to take shape. They used the city bricks and stones dismantled from Qishan Qianhusuo and Ninghai Prefecture to build a solid section of the city wall in the south and west, and the cityhead fort and watchtower are all available, and the stairs and stairs on the inner side of the city wall, the garrison points, and the ammunition storage room are also not falling, so it can be said that if the northern and eastern sections of the city wall that are still under intense construction are ignored, the Yantai fortress basically has the ability to resist the enemy's attack.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, the efficiency of the displaced people's work has increased considerably, and if the supply of building materials can be guaranteed, it can be predicted. The fortress as a whole will be completed in three to four months. The southern section of the wall, which has been completed, is the first line against enemy attacks. Therefore, a large number of light and heavy artillery pieces were installed. Six guns were installed on each of the two protruding turrets, spaced less than two hundred meters apart. They are an 18-pounder and a 12-pounder long-barreled heavy gun facing the front and carrying out long-range suppression; and two 8-pounder short-barreled howitzers and two 4-pounder short-barreled howitzers for anti-wound enemy troops, which were arranged on either side of the turret. In addition, above the slightly folded line between the two turrets (to reduce the area of ammunition), four additional gun emplacements were placed facing the front, one gun for each gun emplacement, two 12-pounder cannons and two 8-pounder howitzers.

Because of the special terrain of Yantai Fortress, the enemy troops coming by land could basically only attack from the south. If you attack from the west, you will have to cross a large section of the Dagu Jiahe swamp area and the artificial reservoir built by the people on the east bank. It's as hard as it gets. The eastern side of the fortress was too close to the coastline to be deployed at all, and it was also vulnerable to artillery bombardment from warships on the sea, and no commander in his right mind would choose this place to launch an attack. As for the north, in addition to the big overseas is the sand bar connecting Zhifu Island, and if you want to attack from here, you should wait until you have mastered the sea control and have a certain landing combat capability.

The walls of Yantai Fortress are about 7 meters high and 3.5 meters thick, and in some sections the thickness is even as high as more than 6 meters (here is an artillery emplacement). Although such a city is not unusual in Daming from the data point of view alone, even the Qishan City, which has been demolished into rubble by the people on the east coast, is no worse than Yantai Fortress. However, considering that the walls of this fortress are all made of large strips of stone and square bricks, and cement mortar is used as a binder, the degree of solidity is stronger than those Ming Dynasty city walls with rammed earth and bricks on the outside, I don't know how many times stronger; Plus an advanced fortress design. There were no shooting blind spots, leaving the enemy attacking each section of the wall in a dilemma. Such a fortified city, with soldiers who dare to fight and are skilled in battle, coupled with a large number of high-quality artillery, I am afraid that there are really few people in the Far East who can take it head-on.

There is no city gate on the south side of Yantai Fortress, in fact, there are only two gates in the whole fortress, that is, the east gate facing the coastline and the north gate facing Shaba. Residents enter and exit from the north gate, and soldiers generally enter and exit through the east gate. The two gates are still under construction, but today the narrow playground outside the east gate is filled with hundreds of sergeants. Mo Ming, the leader of the Heishui Pioneer Brigade and the local supreme commander, was walking past nearly 500 soldiers of the 102nd and 104th companies of the army lined up in a neat line.

Hundreds of soldiers raised their heads and stood silent, carrying 32-C flintlock rifles with long bayonets on their shoulders, their eyes following Mo Ming's figure. Today, Mo Ming reviewed the two strongest combat forces at hand on the East Gate Playground, not to satisfy any pomp, but to play. Yes, that's right, just to fight!

Since the beginning of spring, the bandits in the Jiaomi area have become more and more rampant, and their range of activities has expanded with the growth of their power, and they have gradually ceased to be satisfied with their activities in the southern coastal areas, and have begun to infiltrate northward. Affected by this, bandits in the countryside of Laiyang, Qixia and other places in Dengzhou swarmed, and these people gathered to coerce the homeless people wherever they went, and then tried to attack the walled forts of the rural gentry in order to plunder their property and children.

Due to their large numbers, the country gentry were powerless to exterminate them, so they could only form a village to defend themselves. And Zeng Hualong, the outnumbered governor of Denglai, was already a headache in the face of the huge Laizhou bandits at this time, and he really couldn't take care of the little thieves in Qixia and Laiyang. Therefore, this group of bandits, numbering about several thousand people, became more and more arrogant, and one of them, the leader of the surname Zhai Taishan, relied on himself to be a relative of the five monks of the neighboring Pingdu Prefecture, and began to move to Fushan, Ninghaizhou, and Wendeng after wreaking havoc on Qixia and Laiyang, and coerced the local displaced people to gain momentum.

However, he inadvertently made a fatal mistake at this time, that is, he really shouldn't have coerced the displaced people in the countryside of these states and counties, this Nima is robbing the business of the people on the east coast! When the people on the east coast learned about this situation from the refugees who had fled in, they immediately decided to send troops to destroy this "competitor" and let them know who was the real boss in Fushan County and Ninghai Prefecture.

Mo Ming turned over and rode a Lusitano horse that had been transported from the mainland, and then set off with his troops. The troops on the expedition included 480 men from two companies of the army, 250 men from one squadron of the Forward Brigade, and about 750 men with some staff officers and reconnaissance cavalry; In addition, there were 600 soldiers who fought with them, and brought more than 300 pack horses. After their departure, the fortress will be put in charge of the artillery commander Li Wenchang.

After the army set out on April 27, it sent more than a dozen cavalry on Mongolian horses to reconnoiter intelligence along the road. After discussing the information obtained from the displaced people with the intelligence staff, the marching staff began to formulate a more detailed plan for the march.

Since April 28, information has been transmitted one by one. Zhai Taishan's location is easy to find, because he has always made a lot of noise along the road, and wherever he goes, he begins to rob and coerce the homeless people everywhere, and the standard Li Chuang started his home, but at this time, he was drunk and dreaming of death in the township of Fushan County, and he didn't know that Lu Dao had been targeted by a fierce enemy. Fushan County has experienced relatively little turmoil, so the countryside is relatively rich, and Zhai Taishan came here two days ago and began to raid everywhere, and gained a lot. And the thieves and thieves under his command saw that this place was rich, so they naturally did not want to leave easily, plus the silk silk, gold and silver treasures they robbed were loaded with dozens of carts, and the number of people had exceeded 10,000 people, which was even slower. Therefore, until April 30, they were still slowly grinding in Fushan County.

Fushan County was close to Yantai, and it only took a few hours to ride fast horses, and the troops of the people on the east coast advanced lightly, and the baggage and materials were all carried on the back of pack horses, so the marching speed was extremely fast. On the 28th, they first marched south, and after learning that this gang of thieves had moved into Fushan County, they turned back to the west, and then finally embellished Zhai Taishan at night on the 30th.

The gang set up camp outside a village in the countryside, lighting up braziers and torches and other lighting facilities everywhere. They seem to have attacked the squire's Zhuangzi during the day, but they should have not succeeded, so they were tired of being disdisciplined and spent the night there. However, those strong men in the countryside in the village also seem to be rookies, and they don't dare to fight back in the face of this situation.

The whole camp was full of people, some people were scolding, some people were talking and laughing loudly, some people were crying, and there were people coming in and out everywhere, looking like a theater, or like a vegetable market, in short, it didn't look like a military camp. Of course, there were also some people patrolling outside the camp, but there were not many of them.

"Kurhan, get your men lined up and ready to fight! Company Commander Xiao, Company Commander Mao, three-line horizontal team, forward! Mo Ming looked at the brightly lit bandit camp from a distance, and then gave the order to attack.

The 250 officers and men of the detachment put on each other's armor in pairs, and then some carried rifles, some carried spears, some carried sabers, and even axes. After a little regrouping, they began to march on the right side of the infantry platoon.

After seeing the 480 infantry in a three-line horizontal formation, the combat staff officer immediately shouted loudly: "The pace is the same, I silently count the passwords, and the platoon commanders of each platoon pay attention to the formation." All of them, step forward and put the marksmanship, forward! ”

As Mo Ming drove his horse forward, hundreds of officers and soldiers followed him in silence, and there was only the rustling of footsteps and the clashing of weapons and armor in the queue, and there was not even a trace of noise. Several orderly staff members beside Mo Ming were also riding war horses, holding lamps for lighting, while closely guarding him.

Under your feet are fields of wheat, which are not rugged and difficult to navigate. Soon, they marched to within 300 meters of the bandits' camp, and the bandits there seemed to have a vague sense that something was wrong. (To be continued......)