In Jinan Fuzhong, the clerks who retreated from Shandong were nervously carrying various materials and documents. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Han Jinxin's news was very well-informed, and the court meeting on the morning of 25 July decided to transfer Guan Ning's army to attack Li Zhi, and Han Jinxin's men got the news in the afternoon and quickly reported to Tianjin. Therefore, Li Zhi took action before the mobilization of the Guanning army and began to prepare countermeasures.

The Guanning Army is known as the strongest army in the world, and Li Zhi knew that this army was not weak when he looked at Zu Dashou's soldiers and horses. 70,000 people attacked, and Li Zhi did not dare to underestimate it. Although Li Zhi estimated that the 25,000 Tiger Ben army could basically defeat the Guanning army, the military situation was too dangerous, and Li Zhi finally decided to gather all his forces to meet the battle.

He recruited all the soldiers and horses stationed in Shandong and Osaka to Tianjin, and prepared to gather 30,000 tiger troops to meet the battle. As a result, all the 10,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Shandong were withdrawn, and there was no longer Li Zhi's armed force in Shandong.

The Shandong gentry had a lot of influence over the 30,000 local battalion soldiers, and Shandong was adjacent to Nanzhili, which was the base camp of the gentry, and the situation of the Ming army there was unknown. After the withdrawal of the Tiger Ben army, the gentry may be able to mobilize troops and horses from neighboring provinces to attack Li Zhi's men. In order to prevent the gentry in Shandong from taking advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos, Li Zhi withdrew all the men and horses from all lines.

The tax collectors, judges, and policemen all returned to Tianjin temporarily. Tens of thousands of people moved at the same time, and the workload was quite large.

The most troublesome are those documents. In the past few years since Li Zhi entered Shandong, various departments have accumulated a large number of documents and files. These things are not usually used, but they should not be thrown away. Li Zhi recruited horse-drawn carts and ox carts from all over the country, and transported carts and carts of documents to Tianjin.

Fortunately, the movements of the Guan Ning army were not fast, and the order arrived outside the gate for ten days, and the Guan Ning army had not yet moved. It would take at least 20 days to march from Guanwai to Tianjin, and Li Zhi had enough time to organize a retreat. He took time to come to Shandong to inspect the situation of the large-scale relocation of Shandong institutions.

Li Zhi was on the city gate of Jinan Mansion, looking at the ox carts and carriages driving out of the city gate one by one, and was silent.

The people in the city were a little reluctant to see Li Zhi retreating. Although the newspapers repeatedly advertised that the retreat was a temporary move, the citizens of Jinan were suspicious that Li Zhi would not be able to return if he left. When the people in the neighborhood heard that the Guanning army was going to attack the Huben army, they all felt that this was the imperial court's crusade against Li Zhi, and felt that Li Zhi was more than lucky.

Since Li was implanted in Shandong, he has levied commercial taxes on the merchants in Shandong, and the income of the citizens has been lost. But on the other hand, Li Zhi provided disaster relief to the citizens for the whole year last year, saving the people of Shandong, including the citizens of Shandong. So these citizens are still grateful to Li Zhi.

Some of the moving carts and horses got stuck in the potholed slate on the road, and citizens on both sides of the street came out to help with the carts. The townspeople shouted their trumpets and worked hard with the drivers to push one cart after another out of the pothole.

Li Zhi was looking at the citizens who were helping him at the city gate, but he saw thousands of peasants suddenly walking on the road outside the city.

The peasants walked outside the city gates, stopped, and stood together. The peasants seemed to have consciously wanted to behave more disciplined, standing together with their heads held high. They had scythes and hoes in their hands, and some of them had got short knives from nowhere and held them in their hands.

The three older villagers walked out of the crowd, walked into the city gate, climbed up the Jinan City Tower, and saluted Li Zhizuo.

Li Zhi picked up the three village elders and asked curiously, "Three village elders, what are so many of you doing in Fucheng?" ”

A gray-haired villager in the middle took a step forward and said loudly: "The Duke of Jin Guo is above, how can I not repay the great kindness of the Duke of Jin, and so on?" ”

The old man looked to be fifty or sixty years old, but his voice was like that of a bell. He said loudly: "If it weren't for the disaster relief in Shandong last year, would we have survived to this year's harvest?" If it weren't for the Tianfu of Jinguo Gongjunping Shandong, would we be able to eat enough? The Duke of Jin has great kindness to us small people, and we can't help but repay it. ”

"We listened to the newspaper and knew that the gentry had mobilized the Guanning army to attack the Duke of Jinguo. We know that this war was not the original intention of the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven is now sick in bed, and the people who command the Guanning army are all gentry in the court! ”

"The gentry ate our flesh and sucked our blood, and tortured us until we couldn't eat. Jinguo has made the court public to protect the property of the small people, and the construction tax bureau has leveled the fields, so that we can eat white rice without worrying about being targeted at home. Now that the Duke of Jin Guo is being attacked by the gentry, we must stand up and contribute to the Duke of Jinguo! ”

"What is the difference between a man and an animal if he does not repay it?"

"Don't worry, more than 1,000 peasant men from our Xiaobeizhuang will go into the city to defend the city for the Duke of Jinguo. No matter how many soldiers and horses the gentry mobilize, we will defend this Jinan city for the Duke of Jinguo. ”

Li Zhi's eyes lit up when he heard the old man's words.

Li implanted in Shandong for a year and did countless good deeds, and now these people are grateful for Li Zhi's kindness, and the people's hearts are available!

The old man said loudly: "Jin Guogong, it's not the old man I boasted, which farmer near Jinan Mansion doesn't miss the great kindness of Jin Guogong?" The Shandong of Jinguogong is not only Jinguogong's alone, but also our farmers! As long as the Duke of Jin Guo gives an order, not to mention 10,000 people in Jinan Mansion, even 50,000 peasants can gather immediately. As long as the Duke of Jin Guo equips us with some spears and knives, we will fight with the rebellious gentry and old men! ”

Li Zhi looked at Li Laosi beside him and smiled.

Li Laosi arched his hand and said: "Boss, I think what this old man said is very desirable. Now that our army has withdrawn from Shandong, if the gentry come from Nanzhili to counterattack, the peasants who have equalized the fields are at risk of being bullied by the gentry. In particular, those tenant farmers who donated their land to the gentry bargained with the gentry in order to reduce the land rent, and it can be said that there was a great conflict with the gentry. If the leader of these people did not go into the city to take refuge, he would not have been killed by the gentry who counterattacked. ”

"Now that the peasants support the Jinguo Gong so much, we can organize the militia and hold the six prefectures. The local military discipline in Shandong and Nanzhili was chaotic and slack, and there was no combat effectiveness at all. As long as the militia is united, there is no problem in withstanding these local troops for a few months. ”

"We've captured countless swords and spears over the years, and they're being issued to the militia."

When the three villagers heard Li Laosi's words, they knelt down in front of Li Zhi and said loudly: "The Duke of Jinguo is very kind, how can the people of Shandong not report it?" We must defend the city for the Duke of Jinguo and ensure that Shandong is always in the hands of the Duke of Jinguo. ”