Gaomi County is much poorer than Jiaozhou. Because this county was also ravaged by bandits a few months ago, and even just a month ago, Han Jiben's army of bandits attacked this county seat. The entire county city wall is in tatters, and the buildings in the city are also dilapidated, which is completely the appearance of the rest of the life after the catastrophe. This time, it was bombarded by artillery and gunpowder blasted by the people on the east coast, and the city wall collapsed in a large area, and it has lost its basic city defense function.

The troops of the East Coast worked hard for a long time before they entered the barracks in the city, and then the staff officers swarmed out to carry out the requirements of the infantry drill in order.

"There is no surplus food in the city, probably less than five hundred stones, and there are not many weapons and ammunition, and even only a few hundred taels of silver. According to the Qing officers who interrogated them, their garrison Li Shiyuan was supposed to take them to Qingzhou for dinner today, but it is clear that his plan was interrupted by us. ”

"According to the interrogation intelligence, the Qing State sent the main force to Jinan, and they ordered Li Shiyuan to lead the army to join them outside Qingzhou City, and it seems that they are preparing to deal with Zhao Yingyuan's troops who occupy Qingzhou."

"During the day, seven gentry and wealthy merchants sent their families to the city to help in the battle, and we have arrested all of them, please show the chief what to do."

"During the daytime battle, the advancing team killed 42 people and wounded 61 people, the artillery killed 1 person and wounded 1 person, and there were no casualties among the army infantry and the Eight Banners New Army. According to preliminary statistics, more than 700 Qing army personnel were killed, more than 500 people were captured, and the rest fled. 66 horses and mules, 17 carts, arrows, knives and guns were seized. ”

"Commander Yang of the Cavalry Brigade has returned with the cavalry that pursued the enemy, according to the statistics of the trainee staff officer of the accompanying team. They killed a total of more than 300 Qing troops, and most of the remaining prisoners fled before they had time to take prisoners. The Qing commander fled with dozens of cavalry, and it is believed that they went to Qingzhou or Jinan. Chief Yang said that the loss of war horses was quite large, and the amount of horse feed was not very sufficient, so he asked for the black beans in the official warehouse to feed the horses. ”

The professional staff officers and intern staff officers summed up all kinds of situations at a low price, and Mo Ming sat in the county government hall that was quite neat, handling these affairs with ease. Mao Desheng, Li Renjun and others were summing up the battle with the soldiers in the barracks, the leading officer of the standing team, Second Lieutenant Júnior, was also comforting the wounded and counting the battle damage, the deputy Bernini of the artillery company was organizing manpower to repair the two gun carriages damaged during the day, and Yang Mingyang, the leader of the cavalry brigade, was cooking the war horses with his subordinates. And the loyal captain of the vigilante, Kurhan, was stationed outside the city to wait for the secret sentry. In short, everyone is busy, and so should a highly specialized military.

Mo Ming didn't finish these affairs until more than ten o'clock in the evening, and then took his staff officers and adjutants to inspect the Eight Banners New Army troops that served as the city defense troops. When this qiē was over, he couldn't rest. At this time, there was still a meeting waiting for him in the county hall.

"I'm not going to go any further. The main force of the Qing army arrived in Jinan yesterday. At the moment, it looks like they may not have enough troops. So we're gathering troops, but I don't think it's going to take long. In two or three days at most, they will have gathered their army. After raising grain and grass, he went east to Qingzhou. Mao Desheng spoke eloquently at the beginning of the meeting, and expressed his views clearly, which made Li Renjun on the side immediately frown.

"I don't agree with Company Commander Mao." The young Li Renjun said, "What is the purpose of our dispatch this time? It was to support Zhao Yingyuan, to attract the attention of the Qing court, to attract more Qing troops to Shandong, and to reduce the pressure on the Shun army that was fighting in Shanxi. Therefore, the bigger the move, the better, and now we have conquered two county towns in only three days and defeated nearly 3,000 Qing troops, which I think is very good. Now we should continue to march westward, whether it is Anqiu in the northwest or Zhucheng in the southwest, we must at least lay down one, and then decide on what to do next, depending on the situation. ”

"No, that's too risky." Mo Ming directly vetoed Li Renjun's radical proposal, and then said: "We don't know at all how many people the Qing army has come now, and its troop composition, weapons and equipment, etc., are even more smeared. At this time, I think it is too risky to venture westward. Moreover, the supplies, grain, grass, and prisoners we captured in Jiaozhou and Gaomi had to be transported to the naval ships at the mouth of the Dagu River, which took several days. I have decided that in the past two days, everyone will first rest and recuperate in Gaomi County, and at most send people to the nearby townships to collect grain. The rivers and lakes near Gaomi are crisscrossed, and there are a lot of fertile fields, although they have been ravaged by bandits once, but it is not a big problem to collect a little grain and grass back, and I don't think they dare not give it to those landlords. The scouts of the security forces were all sent out to closely reconcoct the situation in the vicinity, and special personnel were also assigned to monitor all roads that could pass vehicles and troops, so that the enemy could not be seen and not known. In addition, send people to get in touch with Monk Zhai Wu, Zhao Yingyuan and others, and strive to inquire about more information. Qingzhou is only two or three days away from Gaomi horseback riding, and the news is delivered quickly. ”

After Mo Ming made the final decision, the others closed their mouths and didn't say anything more. As a result, starting from November 6, a total of 3,800 officers and soldiers from the east coast began to be stationed in Gaomi County, Laizhou Prefecture, and they sent troops to carry out armed taxation and recruit displaced people in the vicinity, while transferring supplies to the area of Jiaozhou Bay in the rear.

In this way, several days passed, and from November 10th, news came back one after another. The latest news to come back was the scouts of the security team, and these elite Sakhalin hunters reported that they had encountered the same elite Qing scouts on the outskirts of Qingzhou City, and the two sides engaged in a brutal and bloody scout battle, causing mutual damage. However, the scouts on the east coast were well armed, each armed with several short guns, and the Sakhalin hunters, who even had to fight brown bears from time to time, were more savage, bloodthirsty, and war-resistant than the Manchu hunters who grew up in the white mountains and black waters, so in general, those Manchu hunters often had to pay two or three lives to keep a Sakhalin hunter.

The Manchus had only a few elite scouts in total, and such losses were beyond their reach. Therefore, after paying the price of more than ten lives, they chose to retreat, waiting for the army to come before making plans, and the wilderness outside Qingzhou City temporarily became a carnival place for scouts on the east coast.

The people on the east coast did get in touch with Zhao Yingyuan. Zhao Yingyuan's gang learned the news of the arrival of the Manchu army as early as the ninth day of October (November 7), and then set up a flag outside Qingzhou City, recruited soldiers, and gathered from all over the anti-Qing forces. At the same time, he also raised the proclaimed King Heng as his anti-Qing banner. It's just that the king of Heng who he supported seems to be very dissatisfied with his current situation, and the Zhu Ming clan, who had already submitted a request to Wang Aoyong to surrender in July, was afraid of being supported, and it was rumored that he "only knew how to cry, and his eyes were swollen like peaches", and he did not have the slightest atmosphere of being a master.

Monk Zhai Wu also confided in the people on the east coast about the situation over there. According to him, there are now 20,000 or 30,000 anti-Qing forces gathered in Qingzhou. Of course, most of them are people who have been coerced, and there are only a few thousand people who can really fight. However, with so many people gathered, its momentum is really quite large, not to mention that they also killed a Manchu governor and supported a Ming Dynasty vassal king. Under these circumstances, if the Manchu Qing sent to quell the rebellion, Hefu and Li Shutai, had not been exterminated in a hurry to minimize the negative impact, the situation in Shandong would probably have to take a new turn.

Zhao Yingyuan was amazed that the people on the east coast had conquered two county towns and defeated 3,000 Qing troops, especially one of which was the headquarters of Ke Yongsheng, the general town of Jiaozhou established by the Qing court, which made them how could they believe that they were chased and killed by Ke Yongsheng a while ago. However, he and the leaders of the anti-Qing armed forces who came to the alliance also believed that the people on the east coast had indeed won some battles, especially after the news of the defeat of Li Shiyuan's troops in Qingzhou and the invasion of Jinan, which confirmed this qiē, which made them strengthen their confidence in fighting the Qing army.

In history, Li Shiyuan took two or three thousand people to Qingzhou to reinforce Hexu and Li Shutai, but he had nothing to do in this time and space. With more than 200 people who entered Jinan City, he is now a phoenix with hair loss, and he has no use value. In history, when the anti-Qing army led by Zhao Yingyuan faced the 20,000 Qing troops brought by Hexuan and Li Shutai, the confidence in resistance was not enough, and Zhang Wenheng, the former prefect of Qingzhou in the Ming Dynasty who pretended to defect to Zhao Yingyuan, took the opportunity to persuade Zhao to negotiate peace with the Qing army again and accept his appeasement, and at the same time secretly contacted the Qing army, and finally killed Zhao Yingyuan, Yang Wangxiu and other anti-Qing armed leaders with the Qing army at the venue of the peace meeting, and then incorporated his subordinates, and the situation in Shandong was pacified by the Manchus.

However, in this time and space, because the people on the east coast took down the two county towns of the Qing army, defeated thousands of people, and also captured Ke Yongsheng's lair, Zhao seemed very hesitant when Zhang Wenheng persuaded Zhao Yingyuan to accept the Qing army's appeasement. After such a fuss from the people on the east coast, the big bosses and second leaders of his subordinates who came to the alliance also felt that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was nothing more than that, so they all clamored and said that they would fight first, which made Zhang Wenheng, who had been in frequent contact with the Qing army secretly, anxious.

As for the strength of the Qing army, the intelligence staff has now put together a rough outline based on scattered information. According to the officers and soldiers of the security team who fought with the scouts of the Qing army, the number of Manba Banners should not be very large, roughly between 2,000 and 4,000 people, otherwise there would not be just such a few scouts. The name and official position of the commander of the Qing army were inquired, and I heard that the leader of the troops was only a Meler Zhangjing, so the soldiers and horses under his command should not exceed 3,000, and it is estimated that there are 7,000 or 8,000 people who are clothed and served; Li Shuaitai's Han army banner soldiers may be more, so count five thousand more, and also add some servants and the like, the total number should be around eight thousand. Therefore, the number of Manchu and Han Eight Banner soldiers under the command of He Zhi and Li Shutai should be about 18,000, of which about 7,800 are soldiers. (To be continued......)