Yu Dacheng and Zhang Keda dispatched troops to prepare to encircle and suppress Kong Youde and put down the rebellion in one fell swoop. 【Fengyun Reading Network. However, Sun Yuanhua was a scholarly literati, and he insisted that Kong Youde's troops were all strong troops in Liaozhen, and that they would have to rely on them to fight against the Eastern Prisoners, and that if they were exterminated, the power of the state would be lost.

Besides, Kong Youde and others have been under his command since they returned to Denglai, and they have always been quite respectful to him, the governor, and they are also the most elite soldiers and horses under his command. Out of this thought, Sun Yuanhua ignored the opposition of Yu Dacheng and Zhang Keda, and strongly advocated the appeasement of Kong Youde's department.

For this reason, on the one hand, he dissuaded Yu Dacheng and asked his Lu army not to go eastward, and on the other hand, he ordered Zhang Keda not to pursue Kong Youde's rebels, and even sent a message to the Zhejiang soldiers who came from Henan to reinforce them, asking them to stay in place and not have to go to Denglai to suppress thieves.

The subjective and arbitrary Sun Yuanhua was still dreaming of appeasing Kong Youde, but this kind of stupid behavior not only won a respite for Kong Youde, so that he escaped the doom of the encirclement and suppression of the official army several times, but also made him grow rapidly, easily occupied Hebei Prefecture, and coerced tens of thousands of Hebei civilians along the way, known as 100,000 people, wantonly plundered, arrogant, and more rampant than when the incident started, and in terms of numbers, it has almost caught up with Wang Jiayin's people in the northwest, Henan and other places.

However, in terms of the quality of the soldiers, Kong Youde's core army of more than 1,000 people was the old Liao army that he followed in the Dongjiang River, and its combat effectiveness was in the forefront of the Ming army.

Therefore, once Kong Youde's rebel army became a climate, under the teaching and training of professional soldiers in his main core force, its combat effectiveness and the degree of harm to the local area were far greater than that of Wang Jiayin's people's rebellion army.

All kinds of signs show that after a lot of looting and recruiting troops, the fledgling Kong Youde can no longer be appeased by the imperial court, his ambition has swelled rapidly, as long as he wins Denglai, Kong Youde thinks that he can completely compete with the imperial court.

However, Sun Yuanhua still did not give up the illusion of appeasement, and he issued an order to the Hebei garrison without authorization behind Yu Dacheng's back, asking the garrison of Wuqiao to Dengzhou and Yizhou not to send troops to block Kong Youde, and let him return east.

Kong Youde didn't know what his psychology was, and he really returned all the way to Dengzhou. Along the way, because the prefectures and counties were ordered and the garrison was weak, they did not dare to intercept it, so they could only honestly give way to the passage for Kong Youde's department to pass.

When Kong Youde led his troops to swagger all the way to Laizhou Mansion, Jiang Taicheng, the prefect of Laizhou, who had a close relationship with Kong Youde before, closed the city gate tightly and did not let Kong Youde enter the city.

Jiang Taicheng relied on his understanding of Kong Youde and the Liao army, and firmly believed that Kong Youde would not be sincerely appeased, and he would definitely come to Denglai to surrender by fraud, and if he opened the city gate rashly, he was afraid that Laizhou would fall when he was established.

As Jiang Taicheng expected, Kong Youde was indeed coming to Laizhou, and he planned to surrender first, and it was best to seize Laizhou without much effort. When he failed to surrender by fraud, he wanted to forcibly capture Laizhou, and used Laizhou as the foundation to recruit troops and horses to develop and grow, and compete with the imperial court.

However, Laizhou City is a new city that was rebuilt in the 26th year of Wanli, the city wall is nine miles around, three zhang and five feet high, and the base is two zhang and four feet thick. Moreover, it refers to the Western method of building cities, and has forts, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack.

And as the logistics base of Liaodong, the grain, grass and weapons in Laizhou City are very sufficient, and under the strict deployment of Jiang Taicheng, the defense of Laizhou City is still orderly and heavily guarded.

The soldiers and civilians in the city relied on the fortified city to defend it, and for Kong Youde, who lacked siege equipment, if he forcibly attacked the city, then it would only be a nightmare.

Kong Youde is self-aware, although his subordinates claim to be 100,000 people, most of them are civilians who are coerced and cannot be used at all. The core of the main force is only more than 1,000 Liao soldiers, once they attack, they will inevitably suffer heavy casualties, if they are lucky enough to capture Laizhou, it is good to say, otherwise if they can't succeed, their vitality will be greatly damaged, and the army's morale will be lost, and they will not be able to succeed again.

But how can you expect to win a war by chance?

Therefore, after discussing with Li Jiucheng and Li Yingyuan's father and son, Kong Youde decided to attack Dengzhou.

Dengzhou city began to be built from the Tianshun years, three sides are built according to the mountain cliffs of the seaside, this is the important port of the sailor, in the Wanli period, it is to guard against the east neighboring Japan, open up as a military port, and there are the naval warships of the Ming Dynasty moored in the harbor. Compared to Laizhou, Dengzhou seems to be more difficult to attack.

And just last month, the king of Joseon gave the Ming 40 warships, and Sun Yuanhua received them in his capacity as the governor of Denglai, and moored them in the military port outside the city. This means that once Kong Youde attacks Dengzhou, he will be counterattacked by both land and water.

Moreover, at this time, the defenders in Dengcheng were also much stronger than Kong Youde's rabble.

There were three defenders in the city, one was 1,800 Zhejiang soldiers led by Zhang Keda, the general soldier of Dengzhou; the second is the Portuguese officer corps invited by Sun Yuanhua from Macao to teach the Ming army C to make Western firearms; The third is the Dongjiang Liao soldier who was from the same background as Kong Youde's rebels.

Therefore, whether it is from the city defense facilities or the quality of the soldiers, Dengzhou can be described as impregnable.

But even if Kong Youde's rebels went all the way to Dengzhou, everyone thought that Kong Youde was coming for Dengzhou City, not for being appeased, but Sun Yuanhua, as the governor, still did not come to his senses, he still did not give up the idea of appeasing Kong Youde, and still felt that Kong Youde was inspired by his old governor to go to Dengzhou to surrender.

Sun Yuanhua's stupid idea undoubtedly restrained his own hands and feet, so that he did not dare to let go and fight resolutely against Kong Youde's rebels. After Zhang Keda's Zhejiang soldiers went out of the city to fight and tasted some victories, Sun Yuanhua ordered a truce and prepared to appease Kong Youde again.

But Kong Youde didn't appreciate it, Zhang Keda and Zhang Tao and Mao Yufeng divided their troops to attack, he seized the opportunity to get in touch with Zhang Tao and Mao Yufeng, and said that Zhang Tao and Mao Yufeng would rebel with him.

As a result, Kong Youde successfully defeated Zhang Keda's Zhejiang soldiers, and at the same time incorporated the Liao soldiers under Zhang Tao and Mao Yufeng, and used these Liao soldiers to send a message to the Liao army in the city, asking them to respond to the uprising, so that the Liao army in the city suddenly began to show signs of instability.

Sun Yuanhua's response turned out to be to release Geng Zhongming, a general who was imprisoned, and wanted this Liao army general who was also known as the "Shandong Three Mine Disciples" with Kong Youde to suppress the Liao army in the city, and fight against his former colleague Kong Youde outside the city together with the Zhejiang soldiers and the Portuguese officer corps.

Geng Zhongming's younger brother Geng Zhongyu was recently imprisoned by Sun Yuanhua because he participated in the unpaid mutiny on Phi Dao, and Geng Zhongming was also involved.

Sun Yuanhua ignored the strong opposition of the general soldier Zhang Keda and released Geng Zhongming to lead the Liao army, expecting Geng Zhongming to suppress the Liao army in the city and join forces with the reinforcements sent by the imperial court to attack Kong Youde's rebels.

Before the imperial court reinforcements arrived, Sun Yuanhua looked at Kong Youde's department, which had already set up a tent for several miles outside the city, and could only sigh and wait for reinforcements.

However, when he saw the rebel camp suddenly launch dozens of two-wheeled vehicles-loaded artillery and aim the guns at the head of Dengzhou City, he was immediately shocked and cried bitterly, because those gunners were the new firearms army that he had personally trained and was ready to turn the tide when the Liao situation was critical!

In the evening of this day, Mo Li led his army to the boundary of the Shang River, and came to an abandoned village, but there was no living person, but there was no bloodstain on the corpse, it seems that the people here have already heard the news because of the rebellion and looting of Kong Youde. This area is all plains, there are no other towns, and seeing that it is getting late, Mo Li ordered to camp on the spot.

Because the department is full of cavalry and has strong mobility, and Zu Dacheng's department is cavalry, infantry, and car battalion soldiers, and the team is nearly 7,000 people, and the marching speed is relatively slow, so Mo Li led his department to expedite the march after greeting Zu Dacheng, and at this time it has opened a distance of dozens of miles with Zu Dacheng's department.

Zu Dacheng is naturally happy to let him play as a striker, and it is best to meet the rebels in a big battle, so that Mo Li will be good for himself regardless of victory or defeat.

If Mo Li wins the battle, he will definitely have merit if he wins the battle, and this battle report has to be reported to the court by his own hands, how to write the war report is his own business.

If he is defeated, it is even better, he can take the opportunity to weaken his power and prestige, and at the same time, he can justifiably suppress and punish him and avenge his brother.

Mo Li had just ordered the brothers to set up camp, when suddenly a group of cavalry came in front of him, numbering about a dozen people, and the cavalry immediately looked very frightened.

The sentinel cavalry hurriedly stopped them and brought them over, but the cavalry was wearing the military uniforms and armor of the Ming Dynasty, which was nothing more than the standard equipment of the Beijing camp.

The two leaders, one is the general banner of the Beijing camp, and the other is the eunuch in the palace, I saw the two of them dismount and come to Mo Li, but the general flag of the Beijing camp on the left has been seen, named Gao Fu, I saw him clasp his fists and salute: "Humble Gao Fu see General Mo!" ”

Mo Li returned the salute and said, "You two don't have to be polite, I don't know if the two of you came in a panic, what happened?" ”

The eunuch's attitude was not as humble and polite as Gao Fu, I saw him panting, caressing his chest and saying, "You are General Moshen?" Our family is Cui Dabao of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and Gao Gong is just going to order me to find you. ”

"Looking for me?"

Cui Dabao coughed twice, and said in his throat: "General Mo, Kong Youde's rebels have a large number of elite troops in Putai to intercept the official army, and the officers and soldiers of our department were caught off guard, and they fought with the rebels in a hurry for a whole day, and the soldiers suffered great losses. ”

"How far is Binzhou from here?" Moli asked. It has been more than a year since he came to this era, and he has not been to Shandong, and he is not familiar with the terrain here.

"About sixty miles." Seeing Cui Dabao looking at him, Gao Fu, the general banner of the Beijing camp, hurriedly said.

Sixty miles, at the speed of Moli's cavalry, if you march at full speed, you can reach it in half a day.

Mo Li nodded, and then asked, "By the way, how many ambushes does the rebels have in Putaibu?" How is the equipment? ”

"This ......" Gao Fu hesitated for a moment, thought for a while and said: "When we fought with the rebels, because of the haste of the change, it is not too clear how many men and horses the rebels have, but in terms of scale, there are at least more than 10,000 people!" However, after a day of bloody fighting with the rebels, we have also captured at least two or three thousand rebels! After all, the rebels should have at least seven or eight thousand men by now! ”

"Where's the equipment?"

"This ......" Gao Fu was about to answer, but Cui Dabao's face sank, and he said impatiently: "General Moshen, are you afraid of the rebels?" Tell you, Binzhou is in danger now, and Gonggong Gao ordered all the reinforcements to go to Binzhou immediately after receiving the order! Otherwise, if something goes wrong with Father-in-law Gao, can you afford this responsibility?! ”

Hemp eggs! Even if he is high and dive, he doesn't dare to talk to Lao Tzu like this, where did you get the courage of a little eunuch?