Throughout the winter, the vast land occupied by Hongmen outside the Liaodong Pass from the east of Ningyuan is unusually busy, although it is in the cold winter, but the people's enthusiasm for work is getting higher and higher.

In the past, living under the rule of the Qing people, the Han and the Korean people lived a miserable life and low status, the Koreans were better, as the Han people, although there were many civil ministers and military generals in the Qing Dynasty, but the status of the Han people at the bottom can be said to be the lowest, even inferior to the Koreans.

The Jurchens and Mongols of the Qing Dynasty took and took away their Han slaves, and even killed their subordinates or other people's Han people, and paid some cattle, horses, livestock, etc., to be safe, which shows the low status of the Han people.

After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, the Han people were gradually promoted and reused, and the status of the Han people under his rule was also improved in name, but in private, the attitude of the Jurchen Mongols towards the Han people still did not change much, which could not be changed in a moment.

Therefore, when the Hongtang army rescued these originally enslaved Han people, except for those slaves who were born outside the Guan, such as the children of the family, who had long been accustomed to their lives, the rest of the Han and Korean people were full of gratitude to the Hongtang soldiers who rescued them from the dire land.

As Han Chinese, the uniforms of the Hongtang army are obviously different from the uniforms of the Ming Dynasty, but the familiar Chinese in their mouths makes everyone naturally have a sense of intimacy with the Hongtang army, while the Koreans themselves are close to the Ming and Ming culture, and the rule of the Han people is more acceptable to them than the Jurchen barbarians.

Therefore, when settling these captured and liberated Qing slaves, Hongtang encountered almost no obstacles.

Originally in the coastal area to prevent pirates, with the help of the continuous supply of cement, stone and other materials from Hongmen, built from scratch, the round dock fort can place a village dozens of hundreds of households, plus up to three zhang of the wall, even if the Qing people counterattack back in the future, want to attack the next dock fort, the time and cost are expensive.

Moreover, the environment of concentrated living is more conducive to the management of Hongmen in the short term, and it is also convenient and plays a large role in organizing self-defense in wartime.

Each dock fort was a defensive stronghold, and then every ten miles was another dock fort, and thus it was continuously established in the vast land east of Ningjin.

Winter in the Northland comes early, but it goes very late, and while the southern lands have already bloomed in spring, the northland is still only a little warmer, and the land that has been frozen for months is gradually thawing, revealing its original dark face.

This winter has never been so lively outside the gates, the continuous flow of people from the north to the north, stopped in the coastal zone of the south, followed by the construction scene in full swing, although the cold weather made the work extremely difficult, but for the sake of life and future stability, everyone is also full of energy.

As soon as Hongmen came up, he promised these newly liberated families that each household would be given more than 15 acres of land around their villages according to the first spring of the year.

Not only the land, but also the dock fort that everyone had worked hard to build this winter, and the rooms where their family lived, each with two to three spacious and bright rooms, was far more comfortable than the cow and horse sheds where everyone once lived.

In order to allow the new people to survive the harvest season of the new grain, Hongmen should have lent a lot of rations to the people in advance, and the people only need to take time out of the farming time to build roads and water conservancy fortifications in Hongmen in the future, so that they can repay these grains.

Even the iron tools and farm tools that everyone will use next have been prepared by the people of Hongmen for these people, but the only question to worry about is whether the large-scale counteroffensive of the Qing people after the beginning of spring will delay the people's actions to open up the wasteland.

Throughout the winter, several armies of Hongtang were not idle at all, Shang Kexi, An Xianguo and other armies marched wantonly in the north of the Qing Dynasty, and all the villages and tribes that could be seen along the way were the prey in their eyes, forcing the Jurchen and Mongolian tribes in the Qing Dynasty to migrate to the more distant and difficult northwest wilderness, and the losses of cattle and horses caused in this winter were incalculable.

When the mobilization order issued by Prince Daishan and the little emperor of Shunzhi was sent to the various tribes, and then united to form an army and turned to the south to find the culprit of Hongmen, the Hongtang army seemed to be a prophet, but they could no longer be found.

As for the Dolgon army that made a detour, more than 200,000 soldiers rushed back with great hardship along the way, and countless grains and grasses were lost on the way, and the soldiers were all exhausted, and when they rushed back to Shengjing, all kinds of news came one after another.

There is relief, but more sadness and shame, countless tribes were destroyed in the invasion of the Hongtang army, including many of the tribes of the generals in the Dolgon army, which made Dolgonhai have no time to settle down, and they had to strengthen the management of the army, otherwise this team that had just returned to their hometown would fall apart.

Even so, there were still many Qing soldiers who quietly fled the barracks and went to the pastures where their tribes were once located, looking for their relatives and dependents. It's just that the results often disappoint and grieve, and when they find the land, all they can see is a ruined wall and countless bones and remains.

Dolgon, who was full of anger in his heart, wanted to return to attack the Ming army occupying Liaoyang and other Ming troops after resting for two days after returning to Shengjing, so that they could feel the ferocious killing opportunity brought by the Qing royal family, but in the end, Dolgon was forced to wait until the spring flowers bloomed before making plans.

Prince Dorgon now not only needs to suppress the anger in his heart, but also has to comfort the several banner owners who have suffered heavy losses, as well as some powerful generals and other generals, so that he will not defect to the opponents such as Hauge and Shunzhi.

All sorts of troublesome things followed, slowing down Prince Dolgon's chances of suppressing the Hongtang Ming army, and at the same time giving Shang Kexi enough time to prepare.

After the Qing army on the Ningjin front line withdrew, Wu Jie and the others were still stationed in it, for fear that the enemy would kill them a horse gun, until the Hongmen Outer Guard sent the news that the other party bypassed the Xifeng Pass and went north and returned to the Qing border, Wu Jie and their army were heavily deployed to defend the Ningjin line, but it was a bit of a waste.

Therefore, Wu Jie left 30,000 troops still stationed outside the Ningjin line, and the rest of the manpower was transferred to the Liaoyang area in the east, after all, the focus of the battle between the two sides was harvested here.

(End of chapter)