The East Coast Army's "borrowing grain" operation in Fushan Prefecture went even more smoothly than expected. In fact, the gentlemen who had already suffered a loss had already received the news not long after the people from the east coast had just entered Fushan County, and except for a few elm-headed gentlemen who still stayed in the Zhuangzi to hold on, most of them immediately rolled up and fled. In fact, they didn't have much to take away, and their valuables had already been transferred to the county seat and even the state town, and the village village had just sent a nephew to manage the tenants there. Now as soon as the people from the east coast came, these sons and nephews also stepped on horses, mules and even donkeys for the first time, and slipped away.

Therefore, when the army led by Mo Ming arrived at these Zhuangzi, it was often met with such a scene: a few shivering servants hiding in the firewood room, looking in horror at the soldiers of the east bank who broke through the door; Ding Yong, a villager in the countryside, threw knives and guns all over the ground, ran home to be next to his family and resigned himself to fate; Some scoundrels in the village came over with wooden sticks and short knives and shouted that they wanted to take refuge in King Mo and were ready to fish in troubled waters, which made people stunned.

At first, everyone didn't react, but after "breaking" five or six Zhuangzi in a row, even the sluggish people felt that something was wrong. There wasn't much grain or livestock at all, and even people fled a lot! It took them four days to break down six Zhuangzi, and they seized less than 100 tons of grain and more than 30 heads of livestock. The people only caught more than 500 taels, and the gold and silver were even only a few hundred taels, but some books were fished out a lot, and it is estimated that there must be thousands of them, which makes people cry and laugh when they see it.

Just when Mo Ming and the others were hesitating about what to do next, the cavalry who went out to inquire about the news came back and reported: Guo Sheng's troops had entered Jinan five days ago. The Ming army abandoned the city and fled. After entering Jinan. Guo Sheng incorporated the Ming army and sorted out the treasury. set up a collection department to recover stolen wages from the landlords and bureaucrats; At the same time, it was announced that the land of the landlords and vassal kings would be exempted from taxation for three years, and the land of the landlords and vassal kings would be equally distributed to the people. The landlords and gentry and literati in Shandong were all in mourning, but most of these people chose to forbear and wait for the opportunity to wait for the opportunity due to the 3,000 cavalry of the 3,000 cavalry of the Shun army Guo Sheng, the 3,000 men of the Bai Bang Political Department who went south to supervise the salary, and the 1,500 cavalry of the Dong Xueli Department who was under his control to go south to Jianghuai.

After discussing with Xiao Xi and Mao Desheng, Mo Ming decided to camp in a certain captured gentry Zhuangzi, and then continue to send cavalry and local Ming people who took refuge to find out the news. At the same time, it also happened to transport the captured personnel and materials to Yantai.

Within a few days, the news came one after another, on May 22, Dashun Qingzhou defense envoy Wang Daocheng took office alone, and then Yin Feng Dajing and Tongzhi Xue Zhu also took office. At the same time, it is said that Guo Sheng also sent Yao Yingfeng and Zhao Yingyuan with more than 500 troops to escort Yin Wang Yuqi, the capital of Laizhou, to the east, as if to capture Deng and Laizhou.

Time is running out! Mo Ming, who got the news, immediately decided to lead a large army to Fushan County after the last batch of supplies at hand was transported back, and seize the county seat that was close at hand before the arrival of the officials who took over the local power in Dashun. According to some of the arrested Fushan County gentry, the old parents (county magistrate) were recruited by Zeng Futai to discuss the affairs of Dengzhou City a few days ago. He has not yet returned, and is currently temporarily held by other adjutants in the prefecture. Such an opportunity. Don't miss it!

On May 24 (April 17 of the lunar calendar), on the day when Li Zicheng's 60,000 troops broke through the military camp of Wu Sangui's 50,000 Guanning army and forced it to retreat into Guancheng, more than 1,000 troops led by Mo Ming also arrived outside Fushan County. Fushan County is a small county, and the population of the county was only about 40,000 at the end of the Ming Dynasty, so it would be good to have a few thousand residents in the city. However, due to the repeated military rebellions in Shandong in recent years, Fushan County, as an area that has suffered little poison, has a considerable number of displaced people and gentry who have come to take refuge, so the population has surged, and there are probably not more than 10,000 people in the city at present.

Fukuyama Prefecture is a small county, but the proportion of scholars and warriors in history is quite high, so it can be regarded as a place where people gather. Last year, when the Qing troops entered the army, they besieged the county seat of Fushan, which shows that the organizational ability and combat will of the officials here are above the average level. But how good are their organizational skills and morale? Can it be stronger and higher than a 12-pounder army cannon? The Tartars had few troops at the time, had already plundered, and lacked siege equipment, so they only laid siege to the county for a while, and when they found that the resistance was relatively resolute, they withdrew. However, now the people on the east coast were carrying four 12-pounder field guns dragged by horses, and they were concentrated to bombard him for a day or two, and there was no reason why Fushan County could not defeat him.

The city of Biqi Mountain in Fushan County was not much larger, and the people on the east bank sent cavalry to patrol the surrounding area, and at the same time began to lay artillery positions more than 400 meters outside the north gate, and four 12-pounder field cannons lined up at the city gate. A battalion of the New Army of the Eight Banners lined up near it as an artillery escort, removing their armor from their pack horses and helping each other to put them on in pairs. The tall Xhosa soldiers, with their helmets and armor and their bright weapons in their hands, were for a time also mighty.

Two companies of army soldiers formed a three-line horizontal line and then marched slowly under the city walls. In the process of advancing, they also fired several rounds of volleys of guns, and knocked down some Ming soldiers standing at the head of the city. These Ming soldiers were also brave, perhaps because the success of repelling the Tartar siege gave them confidence, and these people fought back with old-fashioned birds, bows and arrows. It's a pity that the range is too close, and the bow and arrow are weak after flying from the city to a distance of seventy or eighty meters in front of the soldiers on the east bank, and they can't cause any damage to people at all, not to mention that the people on the east bank are still wearing bright bulletproof plate armor.

As a result, these brave villagers were soon killed and wounded in the brutal confrontation. The rate of fire of the soldiers on the east bank was not covered, and the salvo of four or five hundred flintlock rifles easily destroyed any resistance at the head of the city. At the same time, the artillerymen began an intense process of charging, loading, test firing, and calibration.

Mo Ming stood in front of the formation with his saber, surrounded by a circle of intelligence staff officers, marching staff officers, combat staff officers, logistics staff officers, liaison staff officers and other miscellaneous personnel, and summarized the latest situation to him from time to time.

"The west gate was quietly opened, and out of it came about two hundred people, who, according to the patrol cavalry, were unarmed and did not look like military personnel. And these people were richly dressed, and looked like scholars, merchants, gentlemen, and their families who lived in the city. They looked ready to remain neutral in this battle and withdraw from the war zone, and the command asked if they could stop them. The liaison staff officer reported loudly.

"Don't stop them for now. Of course, if anyone coerces the peaceful inhabitants of the city to leave, they are all cut off at once. ”

"Corporal Kim Woo-gyu of the Soldier's Brigade reported that a contingent of silk merchants had fled outside the East Fortress Gate, causing traffic chaos. Corporal Arima Osawa of the 4th Squadron of the Guards went to expel the merchants, and asked the headquarters whether to requisition the silk brocade left behind by the merchants. The logistics staff also hurried to report.

"I authorize you to requisition the loot, and every item must be registered."

"Report! Sergeant Bernini's artillery is ready, will there be an artillery bombardment of the enemy gates. The combat staff officer came over and asked for instructions.

"I order, artillery bombardment of the north gate of Fushan County!" Mo Ming walked forward and said, "Stand up and prepare for battle, and once the city gate is broken, the pig assault battle will be launched." ”

"Boom! Rumble! "The 12-pounder Army field gun roared and fired blazing shells. The distance of 400 meters did not allow the long-barreled cannon shells with extremely high discharge velocity to lose much kinetic energy, and these terrifying solid iron balls roared and smashed into the iron-clad wooden door in front of them, creating a huge depression in its surface.

The artillery continued to bombard, and there was no longer a trace of human figures above the city walls on both sides of the north gate of Fushan County, and there was a strange silence on the battlefield - except for the sound of cannons.

After more than ten rounds of intermittent shelling, the already decayed north gate collapsed, and dozens of grenadiers who were holding powder kegs and preparing to blast them were shocked to find that these Ming people had not stacked stones, sandbags and other obstacles behind the gate and set up a second line of defense. This is ridiculous! Perhaps they lacked organization, or perhaps they had no experience in dealing with artillery bombardments, but the few soldiers they guarded immediately dispersed and fled into the city after seeing the gate destroyed.

Of course, the people of the East Coast will not let go of such a good opportunity! So, under the command of the officers, more than 200 Japanese samurai in leather armor from the 4th Squadron of the Standing Force shouted in unison, and then rushed over. After separating some of the men to occupy the city gates, most of them went to the official offices, government treasury, prisons and other facilities in the city in small teams to occupy them separately.

Fifteen minutes later, Mao Desheng led more than 200 officers and soldiers of the 104th Company and a battalion of the Eight Banners New Army into the city in a formation to clear out the remnants of the enemy, maintain order, and count the treasury.

Half an hour later, Mo Ming led the remaining 102 companies, artillery units and military husbands to enter Fushan County. At this time, the battle in the city had ended, the soldiers suffered few casualties, there was no casualty in the siege battle, and after entering the city, nine soldiers of the Standing Force, three soldiers of the Eight Banners and a soldier of the 104th Company of the Army were killed, and more than 20 people were injured, but fortunately, the injuries were not serious.

Keeping in mind Mo Ming's teaching that "slaughtering peaceful residents does not bring us any honor", the soldiers did not carry out mass killings in the city. After taking control of the four gates, they did nothing but restrict the residents from going out and suppress a group of hooligans who took advantage of the chaos to rob.

By evening, the results were almost counted. In addition to the nearly 9,000 residents in the city, the people on the east coast also seized about 7,000 stones (about 500 tons) of grain, which was due to the fact that the local gentry were afraid of being robbed by the people on the east coast, so they transferred all the grain to the city; In addition, there are a number of gold, silver and jewelry worth more than 50,000 yuan, more than 1,000 calligraphy and painting books, more than 2,000 silk and satin, a number of herbs, more than 400 heads of livestock, and more than 600 shotguns, bows, arrows and spears. (To be continued......)