Regarding the current fragmentation of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Qing was indifferent.

Unification?

Doesn't it cost to be unified?

The south stick doesn't dare to try to unify the cost of the north stick! It is true that the Ming army going north can drive Dolgon out of Beijing at the very least, but what about the cost? The cost of fighting, the cost of suppressing the northern gentry, the cost of relieving the hungry in the north, all of these would ruin his current good situation.

His economy remains fragile.

Or maybe his food is still tight.

Just because it was necessary to pay Li Zicheng four million stone of grain, the price of rice in Nanjing was close to double, forcing him to use the precious strategic reserve grain, but he still maintained a high level of one tael. Although the grain yield per mu in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is indeed very high, don't forget that there is also a large population here, and although the census he is conducting has not yet been completely completed, according to the latest statistical estimates, the population of Guangnan Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces combined has actually exceeded 100 million. In fact, these three core provinces are not simply based on Ding Ji, but in terms of the population covered by men, women, old and children, the average cultivated land per person is less than two acres, and these three provinces have developed all the wasteland that can be developed since the Southern Song Dynasty, and no matter how to open up the wasteland, it is 200 million mu.

Yang Qing's all hopes at this time are in Huguang.

Huguang is ripe for the world, and Changsha's paddy fields can yield seven stone valleys per mu, but now that the war in Huguang has just ended, it is difficult to meet this sentence for at least ten years.

And Fujian Yungui is the most self-sufficient.

He really didn't have much to eat.

The advantage of grain yield per mu is completely offset by the huge number of people, no matter how he tosses it, it is not worth mentioning in front of the huge population, at least until Huguang's grain output really exerts its power, he is not ready to play anything to dominate the world.

Can't afford to play!

In this era when Hangzhou is snowing in winter, Taihu Lake is frozen, and Hunan can freeze fish to death, he really can't afford it!

However......

The people of the north can't wait!

Qingshi Pass.

"It's a day to fade out of the birds!"

Chen Chun, a corporal of the first battalion of the second brigade of the ninth army of the Ming army, shouted at the mountains in front of him like crazy.

A few of his fellow eaters at the table next to him looked at him speechlessly, it was obvious that this guy was purely full, and then these unscrupulous fellows tacitly stretched out their chopsticks and quickly divided the steaming hare stewed wild mushrooms on the table. In the wooden barrel next to it is steaming brown rice, which is said that their standard of living is quite high in this era, but it is also true that the days are boring. The broken and moss-covered stone walls on either side of them are the ancient Great Wall of Qi, which is also the military dividing line between the Ming and Qing dynasties at this time. From here to the west, there are a series of dangerous passes such as Jinyang Pass, which control the mountain roads that cross the mountainous area of Luzhong, and in the south of Qingshi Pass is Laiwu, where the first battalion of the Ming army is stationed, and the brigade headquarters is stationed in Tai'an Prefecture, and the military headquarters is stationed in Dongping.

To the west of the Yimeng Mountains is a Ninth Army.

To the east of the Yimeng Mountains, with Yizhou as the core, there is also an Eighth Army.

The general support of the 10th Army in Xuzhou.

Zhengzhou still has only one Seventh Army.

The cavalry army was originally stationed in Guide, but after Li Zicheng handed over the second prefecture of Hebei, it had been moved to Qinyang, and the entire northern defense line was only these five armies, which was also the maximum amount of continuous combat that Yang Qing's logistics system could support at present.

Five armies of 100,000 people.

Except for the cavalry corps, the remaining four infantry corps were all refueled.

But there isn't much of a population in this area.

Luxi, including Caozhou, Heze and other places were completely emptied into no man's land, and as long as the Yellow River broke in the Tongwaxiang area, it immediately turned into an ocean. At the beginning, Kaifeng, which was flooded by the Yellow River, was also a no-man's land, and there was no way to grow crops in the silted sand. Although the area around Laiwu in Tai'an has not been completely emptied, there is not much left, after all, this area is not rich, except for a very few who would rather die in their hometown than go south, the others have all been moved to Huguang and even Huangzhuang in Sichuan.

Not to mention the forward outposts like them, even in Laiwu City behind, there are only a small number of civilians who have escaped from the area controlled by the Qing army.

This is a common phenomenon.

On the entire Ming army's defense line, there was an endless stream of hungry people who fled south from the Qing army's patrol.

After all, ordinary people will choose with their feet.

Not to mention the common people, even the soldiers of the Eight Banners Han Army and even the Eight Banners of Korea have escaped from hunger from time to time, as for the other three armies, they will not be arrested, and they will actually be escorted to the rear to do coolies. The vast majority of these people who fled from the north continued to the south, and a small number stayed in the army garrison as militia to do some logistics after being screened by Jinyiwei.

It's undoubtedly boring to see a few days when even women are rare.

At the moment when Chen Chun finished shouting, suddenly a gunshot rang out in the mountains and forests ahead.

The soldiers of the Ming army......

The Ming soldiers continued to eat.

Although Laiwu only has one infantry battalion of the Ming army, this battalion is also a thousand people, even if there is no pressure to carry the Qing army three or five thousand in the field, let alone defense.

"Someone has escaped!"

Chen Chun suddenly said in surprise.

The Ming soldiers continued to eat.

It's not uncommon for someone to escape.

"There's a Jiannu chasing behind!"

Chen Chun then shouted.

All the soldiers put down their rice bowls as quickly as they could, and then turned their heads together, and saw a man galloping on a horse on the mountain road half a mile away. Behind him, dozens of Qing cavalry were in hot pursuit, looking at the Eight Banners Divine Army stationed in Boshan, these guys were equipped with a small number of arquebuses, although the shooting on horseback was not very accurate, they were still firing sporadically, and the muzzle of the gun sprayed gunpowder smoke was particularly striking in the green of the summer mountain forest.

Suddenly, the man fell headlong on his crotch.

The man was also very skillful, and at the moment when the horse fell, he threw himself into the grass by the roadside, rolled on the ground a few times, got up, and rushed quickly into the woods, he was obviously raised in the mountains, and the dense forests and rugged rocks could not stop him from moving forward quickly. The Qing army behind quickly separated, part of them rushed to his front along the mountain road to prepare for interception, and the other part dismounted and rushed into the mountains and forests to chase and kill, but the Qing army was not far behind him in the mountains and forests, and it was impossible to catch up with him, but the threat of riding forward to intercept was the greatest.

"Fire!"

The commander of the Ming army on the bluestone pass shouted.

Suddenly there was a gunshot from the tower, and the bullets fired by the rifled gunners lying on the railings accurately hit the cavalry at the front of the Qing army, who immediately fell from their horses.

"Let's go, kill out!"

Just as the rifled gunner was loading, the captain shouted.

All the soldiers quickly put on their cuirass and took up arms.

They are actually an infantry team, that is, a four-vehicle combination in the field, but as a forward post garrison, they will not carry combat vehicles, that is, pure infantry, but they also have their own infantry squad formation, that is, an improved version of the Mandarin Duck Formation. The captain and another soldier who hastily put on the cuirass each had a two-handed sabre, four axe-gunners behind them defended the two wings, and behind them were arquebusiers with bayonets on their waists......

Bayonets have already begun to be equipped.

That is, the casing type, these are not made by Yang Qing's arsenal, but by the private iron factory in Suzhou, using the steel filling method instead of crucible steel.

A team is actually three mandarin duck formations, and the zigzag form a small infantry formation, which is specially used for field battles without chariots, especially in this kind of mountainous and narrow terrain operations, most of the soldiers are actually fighting with the Qing army for the first time, but all the soldiers, including Chen Chun, are still full of excitement......

"The opportunity to make meritorious service has arrived!"

Chen Chun, who was holding an arquebus, shouted excitedly.

The soldiers roared as well.

They had been here from the south for a year, and they had nothing to do but hunt.

Why don't men bring Wu hooks!

How can you make meritorious contributions and get ahead without fighting?

The three mandarin duck formations quickly formed in front of the bluestone pass, and then began to move forward, and at the same time the rifled gunners above their heads finally finished loading, and then pulled the trigger for the second time. At this time, the Qing cavalry that was originally going to intercept the man also rushed straight over, at this time the distance was less than 100 meters, and the second bullet hit the war horse of the Qing cavalry in the front, because the mountain road was narrow, the war horse that fell with a sad roar suddenly crossed the mountain road, and the Qing cavalry behind had to slow down and prepare to skip. But at this time, the Ming army, which was running forward in formation, reached ten zhang away, and all the musketeers of the three mandarin duck formations came forward, and sixteen arquebuses opened fire at the same time.

Six horsemen fell under the sound of gunfire.

Immediately afterwards, all the musketeers retracted into the protection of their axe guns and reloaded as fast as they could.

Before they could finish loading their ammunition, two rounding horsemen arrived first, and rushed straight from the left and right with spears, but before the spears of the cavalry on the left could stab the captain, four axes and spears stabbed forward at the same time, and the horse stood up in terror, and the four spear heads pierced into its chest almost simultaneously. As the cavalry fell on horseback, the spear of the Qing cavalry attacking on the right stabbed one of the axe-gunners, but it was cut open by the sturdy and smooth curved cuirass, and only stabbed him in the arm. The latter was very brave and grabbed the spear shaft with his uninjured hand, and before the cavalry could recapture, the long knife of another horse swordsman fell in the air, and the Qing army was directly cut off on the horse's back.

Six Qing cavalry swarmed behind.

However, twelve axes and guns formed a triangular defensive line to block the mountain road, and it was obvious that it was extremely unwise to charge hard, and they immediately stopped ten kilometers away and took out their bows and arrows to shoot. However, before their arrows could be fired, the rifled gunner of the castle tower fired a third bullet, which was only fifty meters away, and the bullet hit accurately again.

"Keep your head down, hurry up!"

The captain shouted anxiously.

At the same time, the arrows of the Qing army fell.

Two of the five shots were hit, one hit the torso of the Ming army but was bounced off the cuirass, and the other hit an axe gunner in the arm, causing muscle penetration.

But by this time the musketeers were reloaded.

Sixteen arquebuses were raised again, and the Qing cavalry on the opposite side turned around in horror, but they fell one after another in the dense gunfire, and only one cavalry escaped the catastrophe and turned around and fled in horror. However, his war horse was injured and did not want to run again, and he didn't care about the war horse, so he dismounted and fled along the mountain road as fast as he could, but he tripped over the dead body on the ground, and he got up in the laughter of the Ming army behind him, and continued to limp and run.

A hundred meters after he had run, the muzzle of a black hole was aimed at his back......