With 18,000 men on his way, is it possible to massively incorporate the Ming army along the way? The intelligence staff thought it was possible, but not too much.

The Ming troops on their march route had been looted by Bahana and Shi Tingzhu as early as June and July, and they had basically gone to Shanxi. Moreover, they marched extremely fast, and obviously did not stop at the local level, so the Ming troops recruited along the way in Hebei should be very few, or even none. And there were only 600 soldiers in the city of Jinan, and the defense of the city was too insufficient, so it was impossible to provide them with effective support. As for the original 3,000 soldiers of Li Shiyuan's department, there is no longer a zài at present, after being bombarded by the artillery on the east coast and slashed by the cavalry, Li Shiyuan's Qingzhou army, which fled back to Jinan one after another, is only two or three hundred people, which is only enough to help Fang Dayou defend the city, and there is nothing else to count on.

However, the above qiē is still just speculation. Although the staff officers thought that the possibility was very high, the speculation was only speculation after all, what if the Qing court transferred some of the Ming and Shun troops from and Henan? Mo Ming didn't dare to make a decision lightly, the four thousand people he had in hand could not be damaged, once he failed, he would be doomed, and it was difficult to say whether Yantai could hold it at that time. Taking 10,000 steps back, even if there is no defeat, the battle losses are too high, which is also a very cost-effective thing for the people on the east coast who lack troops and major generals, and it is even more difficult for them to replenish their soldiers than the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Therefore, it is better to be cautious in everything.

"Where did Ke Yongsheng's Jiaozhou Town Army go?" Mo Ming suddenly asked, "We ripped off his lair, why didn't he react like a dead man?" ”

According to Monk Zhai Wu, Ke Yongsheng brought more than 4,000 people to the area of Zhaoyuan and Huangxian in Dengzhou a while ago. It seems that it was to cooperate with Chen Jinzhao, the governor of Denglai appointed by the Qing State, to surrender to Dengzhou City. However, according to Yang Wei, the deputy general of the Ming State who guarded Dengzhou City, he refused to surrender, and then Chen Jin and Ke Yongsheng did not know where they went. It may still be active in the prefectures and counties along the northern coast of Dengzhou and Laizhou, but it may also be on the way to Qingzhou. Sir. Need to expand the scope of the investigation? The intelligence staff officer asked.

"There's no need to be so troublesome, just maintain the scope in the surrounding states and counties of Gaomi at present." Mo Ming waved his hand and said, "The key reconnaissance area is still near Qingzhou City, and once the Qing army brigade arrives, it must be reported immediately." ”

On November 15, the last prisoners and supplies also arrived on the naval ships on the banks of the Dagu River with the military team. Subsequently, four transport ships loaded with more than 900 prisoners of the Qing army, 700 displaced people who volunteered to follow the people on the east coast, hundreds of wounded people on the east coast, nearly 300 tons of grain, 400 head of livestock, and some silver and silk silk and other materials pulled anchor and hoisted their sails and left Jiaozhou Bay. Then follow the blowing northwest wind to the east. The two frigate gunboats were still ordered to stay where they were, and they were the last way home for the East Coast Army in case of trouble. After the transportation of materials was completed, the officers and soldiers of the three squadrons originally stationed near Jiaozhou also came to Gaomi with some of the sergeants. So far. The troops gathered in the vicinity of the east coast have reached 7,000 (not counting the navy), including nearly 4,500 soldiers, with 250 carts, 450 donkeys and mules, more than 250 horses, more than 400 pack horses, more than 900 Mongolian war horses, 20 artillery pieces of various types, and sufficient food, and the morale of the soldiers is also quite high. It is also very maneuverable. If you encounter the kind of Qing army that you encountered thousands of years ago in the field, you can basically win with fewer casualties.

And just when Mo Ming began to consider whether to pull the troops west to the Anqiu area in Qingzhou, the information of Qingzhou City came again, and the army under the command of He Yu and Li Shutai had arrived outside Qingzhou City. In the face of more and more Qing cavalry, the scouts of the security team could no longer effectively block the local battlefield, so they began to retreat. However, they also brought the latest information of the Qing army: there are a lot of cavalry! At least four thousand! The cavalry was well equipped, well trained, and had high morale and self-confidence, and seemed to be a victorious army. And the anti-Qing forces, which had always had a tough attitude towards the Qing army's appeasement, saw that the "Braided Army" was so powerful. Suddenly silent, one by one shrank in Qingzhou City. No more arrogance from the past. Judging from the last news from Monk Zhai Wu, the recent trend of thought in Qingzhou City to appease the Qing army has begun to rise again, and Zhang Wenheng has become active again in this situation.

Nima! The inertia of this history is really strong! Zhao Yingyuan, can't this guy really pass the appeasement level? But he can't be blamed, the troops he can really fight are the more than 400 cavalry that he brought at the beginning and the more than 1,000 Shun troops that were gradually gathered later, and the others are the former Ming Guard sergeants and bandits who have only recently been recruited, and their strength is very limited. And those so-called anti-Qing forces who rushed to join him were even more of a rabble, many of them had no combat experience at all, and although the number of them reached 30,000 or 40,000 at the moment, once the fight started, most of them would be miserable. Therefore, it is no wonder that Zhao Yingyuan has repeatedly been tempted to accept the appeasement of the Qing army, but the Qing army is too fast, and his strength at hand is too weak, so there is no way.

After understanding this, Mo Ming discussed with his officers for a while, and Mao Desheng, the commander of the 104th Company, insisted that at this time, the precious military strength should not be mixed into the battle between the two sides on the scale of tens of thousands of people, but should slowly withdraw to Jiaozhou, and then board the ship to evacuate. He believed that every soldier on the east bank was precious, and that it would be difficult to replenish the losses here, so he should withdraw to the fortified Yantai Fort and hold it. However, Lieutenant Li Renjun, the young and radical company commander of the 105th Company, thought that they should at least go west to the Anqiu area, and it would be good to support Zhao Yingyuan and the others, at least so that they would not surrender quickly, while Mo Ming was inclined to his opinion. As for Yang Mingyang, a cavalry officer, he had no special idea of what to do next, and he said that he would "obey orders."

In such a situation, Mo Ming immediately made up his mind to go west to Anqiu! Although Mao Desheng expressed strong opposition, he finally accepted the order, and led his troops to escort the baggage and cavalry on the road in the first batch. Anqiu County is only more than 40 kilometers away from Gaomi, where the people on the east coast are temporarily stationed, that is, two days away; After arriving in Anqiu County, it is only 50 kilometers away from Qingzhou City, which can be said to be close at hand.

On November 17, with a fierce northwest, the sky was covered with goose feather snow. This made the people of the East Coast who had made the trek a great deal of relief – glad that the snow hadn't fallen while they were still on the road. Anqiu County was in the hands of the Qing court at this time, and the county order was appeased by Wang Aoyong in July, but this is a small county, and the Qing court did not send troops to garrison it.

After seeing that the weather had gradually become worse, the people on the east coast no longer inked, with Mo Ming's order, the artillery brothers once again pulled out the long-barreled cannon that was regarded as a treasure, and after breaking the old iron-clad wooden city gate at the east gate of Anqiu County, the soldiers of the vanguard easily broke through the barrier of less than 100 Ding Yong and the servants in the city, and captured this small county town at a slight cost of 3 dead and 9 wounded.

After occupying Anqiu, a small county town deep inland, the large army began to rest, but the scout team of nearly 200 scouts could not rest, Mo Ming organized them, and then Kurhan took them out to collect intelligence in the heavy snow. The more than 2,000 soldiers of the military team did not rest, they were organized to use the rudimentary materials in the city to hastily repair the city defenses, and blocked the east gate with stones and sandbags that had been bombarded by the cannons on the east bank.

The news of the entry of the people from the east bank into Anqiu County made the Qing army extremely jealous, and at the same time, it also made the anti-Qing forces in Qingzhou City who got the news once again raise a trace of confidence, and the issue of appeasing the Qing army was once again shelved. He was waiting for the peace of the soldiers and horses from all walks of life, and he could not rest assured that this "yellow-clothed pirate" who had caused huge casualties to his elite scouts had caused huge casualties, but he only had more than 2,000 officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners on hand, and he could not be damaged as lightly as the soldiers of the army on the east coast. Therefore, after discussing with Li Shutai, it was decided that Li Shutai would take his more than 4,000 Han army banner soldiers and accompanying auxiliaries, plus more than 2,000 people from Zhang Ruxing's division of the Shun army who had surrendered, and march east to Anqiu to clear his flank threat - he didn't want to suddenly come out of nowhere when he couldn't force an attack on Qingzhou City, of course, if he had the opportunity, it would be better to try the quality of these East Coast pirates. And he led more than 2,000 elite main forces here to monitor the 30,000 or 40,000 "anti-thieves" in Qingzhou City, and by the way, he waited for the arrival of more than 4,000 people from Ke Yongsheng's department, the general soldier of Jiaozhou Town, and was ready to support Li Shuotai's troops at any time.

Li Shutai had no objection to this arrangement, so he took more than 8,000 people from his headquarters (including followers and auxiliaries) and more than 2,000 people from Zhang Ruxing's department to start marching to Anqiu County with a large amount of baggage. He was very cautious along the way for two reasons: first, the wind and snow and the weather was bad; The second is that he couldn't figure out how many people, horses, and equipment there were in this gang of East Coast pirates, and it was the first time he had encountered such a confused battle. And the East Coast Haikou scouts wearing "cotton coats" that popped up in the field from time to time made him gasp, he had only vaguely heard that these "yellow thieves" scouts were powerful, and even the Eight Banners had suffered a big loss under them, but he was secretive about this matter, so he never had an intuitive impression.

Now he is "impressed", because since he set off for more than a day, the scouts he sent out often do not come back, and more than ten have disappeared so far, which makes him feel distressed. The replenishment of these elite scouts is quite difficult, they need to master extremely comprehensive knowledge and super survival ability in the wild, and of course, the combat skills must be excellent, and he has spent many years training these scouts. Now that he has lost so much here at once, how can he not feel distressed.

After seeing that the scouts had lost so severely, Li Shutai, who had fought a veteran battle, once again ordered his troops to slow down their march. Sometimes, when he encountered a dangerous and suspicious road section, he even asked his troops to form a battle formation, and then carefully searched before continuing to move forward. In mid-to-late November, the weather in Shandong was freezing and the wind and snow were blowing, and the soldiers complained about it, and their morale was extremely low. (To be continued......)