The "army" led by Mo Ming marched along the post road built by the Ming government. The road conditions were not bad, they first went south, then turned east, and after traveling for half a day, they finally arrived at the first destination, the Qishan Shouyu Thousand Households Castle. Before arriving at Qishansuo, the people on the east coast also uprooted two or three chimneys along the way, which were laid along the official road to transmit important military information. It's just that today, in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, most of these chimneys only exist on paper, and many of the military households in the dungeon have fled, and there are still some old soldiers in the dungeon fort who are cultivating and guarding. And these people, unsurprisingly, became prisoners of the East Coasters.

Qishan was established in the 31st year of Hongwu, and it is a small city in the second day of the city, with a height of two zhang and two feet and a thickness of two zhang. The inner layer of the wall is rammed earth, and the outer layer is covered with bricks - a stereotyped Ming Dynasty guard city. There are more than 700 soldiers in Qishan, but after years of war, especially the battle of Tartar two months ago, the soldiers in the city of Qishan have fled. Now that the Tartars have retreated for nearly two months, some escaped sergeants have returned to the city one after another.

Since the Tartars had only retreated in March, and their return from other places had been delayed for some time, when they had taken out the grain they had hidden and prepared for this year's spring sowing on the barren land, they had already missed the harvest time. However, if you don't farm for a year, you won't have anything to eat for a year, and these guards who are nominally military households but are actually serfs are still mechanically and laboriously cultivating in a few cantonment sites outside the city. Therefore, when the army on the east coast, which was marching extremely fast, suddenly appeared in front of the west gate of Qishan Qianhusho, it saw such a rural idyllic scene.

And when they appeared, the ragged and scrawny military households were stunned for a moment. When he saw their faces clearly, he let out a loud cry. Scattered. The direction they fled to was naturally the city of Qishan Qianhu. And when they fled, they didn't forget to bring their farming tools, one of their most important possessions.

What followed was a boring game of chase, and a group of officers and soldiers of the Standing Squad preempted the wide open west gate of the Thousand Households City before them. Some officers on horseback and strong, well-trained infantrymen formed a large circle around the perimeter, surrounded the scattered military households, and then arrested them on the spot. Since Mo Ming gave the order not to kill or injure people as much as possible, it took a lot of effort to arrest them.

While the army soldiers and these soldiers were playing a game of eagles catching chickens in the field, the main force of the advance team had rushed into the city with lightning speed under the leadership of Kurhan, blocking the officials of the guard who wanted to escape on the spot. After a short and modest battle, the officers and men of the Advance Brigade captured all the officers and their families at the slight cost of wounding three.

The whole "battle" finally came to an end after two hours. The people on the east coast successfully captured the castle of Qishan Qianhusuo. and captured 298 people from the deputy thousand households (the thousand households did not know what happened to them), plus a small amount of grain and livestock. There are still dozens of old shotguns, a small amount of gunpowder and lead, and a few rusty knives and spears in the official warehouse in the city, which looks extremely cold.

"With this kind of armament, this kind of training, and this kind of morale, you can't beat the Tartars!" Mo Ming was disappointed after looking at the arsenal, and then he quickly ordered a young staff officer behind him: "These junk weapons are loaded into trucks and pulled back, and some food and tools will be pulled over by the way when we return." In addition, inform Li Yi and ask him to send 300 Korean men to come and tear down the city wall. This old-fashioned wall cannot effectively play our firepower advantage, and it is inevitable that we will not be able to invest in the enemy if we stay. It's better to dismantle and transport the materials to Zhifu Island to repair our fortress and dock. ”

The walls of Qishan Thousand Households are high and thick, and the outer layer of the wall, the city tower, and the lookout post are all built with large pieces of blue bricks. The gates and foundations were made of large strips of stone. The bricks that have been eroded by wind and rain may not be used to repair the city walls by the standards of the people on the east coast, but they are not a problem to repair the houses in the city; The large bluestones, which are extremely smooth, are more important, and are suitable for the foundations, walls, gates or towers of the fortresses.

Mo Ming gave an order, and soon, the 298 men, women, and children who were captured were under the threat of bayonets from the east coast with tears in their eyes, and even cried and demolished the city of Qishan Qianhu. They first began to demolish the buildings in the city, leaving no buildings such as yamen, arsenals, official warehouses, and private houses, and then began to demolish the watchtowers and towers on the city wall, and the most important thing was the wall and foundation. The people on the east coast gave men tools such as hammers, pickaxes, and iron drills to make it easier for them to work, and at the same time controlled women and children, so that these people could not resist the idea of resisting.

After leaving half (65) of the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Squadron of the Forward Team to stay behind, Mo Ming took the main force non-stop and marched towards the next target - Ninghai Prefecture. The main force of the army was still the 102nd Company of the Army, supplemented by more than 60 officers and men of the Advance Brigade and dozens of Korean masters (25 carriages, 5 of which had returned), and headed towards the city of Ninghaizhou at a speed that was neither fast nor slow. This section of the road does not look very easy to walk, and due to the collapse of local order in recent years, the road is in disrepair and dilapidated, which seriously restricts the marching speed of the people on the east coast. This is mainly due to the fact that these large four-wheeled carriages are quite difficult to navigate on potholed roads, and if it were not for the addition of a lot of lubricating oil to the axles and the installation of shock absorbing springs under the carriages, I am afraid that the vehicles would have been damaged by now.

It was only at this time that Mo Ming understood why some troops in history liked to use mules and horses to transport military supplies. For example, this is the case with the Japanese pack horse division, which is really faster than horse-drawn carts to carry goods, although it is a little less efficient, but it is still very practical in rough and difficult roads. Well, you can write this down and submit it to the military department in the future, so that they can reform it themselves.

In the evening, the troops rested on the banks of the Xin'an River. The camp of several hundred people was set up along the river, and the soldiers skillfully removed bundles of barbed wire and stakes from the wagons and set up camp. After pulling up the two barbed wires, they connected the cart end to end as an inner defense. After everything was done, they began to set up tents, boil water and cook, and the whole process was carried out in accordance with the infantry drill code, which seemed to be in order, so that the local bun supporters and the Korean masters next to them were stunned.

Immediately after dinner, the soldiers were driven into their tents, and the officers were to take them on a routine political study that consisted mainly of blacking out the countries of Europe and preaching the doctrine of superiority on the East Coast. The sentinels, having hung bells and barbs on the barbed wire, began to patrol the camp, and the wolfhounds also vigilantly pricked up their ears and ran around the camp.

Nothing happened overnight. The next day, after the rested troops successfully crossed the Xin'an River through a broken stone bridge, they were only more than ten miles away from the city of Ninghaizhou. Although Luo Tiansheng is greedy for life and afraid of death, he has been walking around outside for a long time, and he is still very competent in leading the way. Since the goal is in sight, there can be no longer delay. Mo Ming ordered to speed up the march, and soon, more than two hours later, the ruined state city of Ninghai Prefecture appeared in everyone's eyes.

On February 12 (lunar calendar), the city of Ninghai Prefecture was breached by the Tartars, and the officials of Zhizhou and Tongzhi died, and the people and property were plundered by the Tartars, and the originally prosperous city was also fatally damaged. Therefore, at this time, there were only some residents in Ninghai Prefecture who fled back sporadically. The inhabitants scattered to the countryside or other cities before the Tartars arrived, and after the Tartars retreated, they ran back one after another. But for now, most of the people who dare to run back are some low-level ordinary people, who cannot wander in the field for a long time in order to survive, especially those yeoman farmers, small landlords, handicraftsmen or small businessmen who still have some family property.

The walls were still dilapidated, and there was not even a single high-ranking official in charge of business in the city. It was only after the Tartars had retreated long ago that the old men in Dengzhou sent a staff member to take a look and inquire about the situation, and then left in a hurry, and then there was no follow-up. But no matter when the new Zhizhou appointed by the boss comes, everyone has to continue to live. Everyone silently cleaned up the dilapidated homes and inspected their small possessions.

However, their nightmare is clearly not over yet, as a force suddenly appears outside the city and shatters the newfound thirst for life for everyone here. This team, with a large number of carriages and hundreds of well-equipped soldiers, easily rushed into the city of Ninghaizhou, which had no defense, and controlled the entire city in his hands.

What happened next was the same as what happened in Chitobe in Kiyama. The scattered people on the east coast began to hunt down the residents of the city in all directions, but their mere 300 soldiers and horses were obviously unable to control a huge city, especially after they assigned dozens of soldiers to control several city gates, and their forces were even weaker, and they were obviously unable to control the situation in the city in a short time. They were busy until three o'clock in the afternoon, and after shooting and killing two groups of people who had gathered to resist the city, the people of the east coast finally took control of the undefended city and the fate of the more than 1,300 remaining residents in the city.

On May 26, 1643, not long after the Manchu army under the command of Abatai left the suburbs of Beijing with a convoy full of goods and captive people that stretched for more than 30 miles, a small army with more than 20 carts and more than 1,000 captive residents in Ninghaizhou, the capital of Dengzhou, Shandong, also embarked on the return journey.

The difference was that Abatai's army was followed by 300,000 "onlookers" of the Ming army, while the troops of the people on the east bank were only desolate. (To be continued......)