The days of mid-March 1645 seemed lackluster to the people on the east coast of Yantai Fort.

The Qing army outside the city had nothing to do with them, they first tried to fill in a passage in the mud area on the west side of Yantai Fort, but later they found that the artificial reservoir built by the people on the east bank on the southwest side of Yantai Fort greatly hindered their movement, so they tried to fill in this reservoir as well.

After creating a piece of land in the swamp area, the Qing army directly invested 2,000 men to attack the western city wall at one time, but was repelled by the people on the east bank who had long been in good condition. The firepower configuration of the west wall was only two less than that of the front (south side), and with two squadrons of advanced soldiers, the Qing army failed to capture it for two days, but left more than 1,000 corpses under the city.

During the attack on the western wall, the Qing army also tried to break through from the east, but they were still completely defeated by the artillery at the head of the city and the 12 heavy guns on the side of the two armed transport ships on the sea. It was difficult for them to even gain a foothold under the city, and the taste of artillery fire in front and rear was not something that anyone could bear, and after an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Qing army, the Qing army retreated decisively, leaving behind hundreds of corpses.

On March 18, the commander of the Qing army, Hauge, was ruthless, and the Qing army launched a fierce attack from the south, west, and east regardless of casualties. The East Coasters also transferred the last two squadrons of the Advance Force, but still did not use the Army and the New Army of the Eight Banners as the main force. The 2,000 soldiers of the advance team and less than 200 artillery on the east coast completely defeated the Qing army's huge offensive by relying on the strong city walls and scientific firepower configuration, and the Qing army suffered more than 2,000 casualties throughout the day. But they didn't achieve any success, and they couldn't even climb the top of Yantai Fort.

That night, the Qing army selected some healthy soldiers to sneak attack at night, and they were defeated, leaving more than 100 corpses. At this point, the Qing army had besieged Yantai Fort for ten days, and all means had been exhausted, but there was no way. Morale was low throughout the army, and many were looking forward to withdrawal.

On the morning of March 19, two steam engine sailing ships that had been overhauled from Rishiri Island brought with them the soldiers of the four squadrons (11-14 Squadrons) that had previously been trained on Rishiri Island. Afternoon. It's as if it's been discussed. The fleet that went to Jeju Island also returned, and together with them came back 1,000 soldiers of the 15-18 Squadron of the 2nd Brigade of the Advance Brigade, which had just finished the battle, some officers and men of the 102nd Company of the Army, some officers and soldiers of the Yantai Artillery Company, more than 700 people of the 3rd Battalion of the Eight Banners, and 2,500 soldiers. So far, the army on the east bank has basically gathered, with 4,000 soldiers in two brigades, 870 in four companies (including supplementary companies) of the army, more than 2,400 in the New Army of the Eight Banners (including supplementary troops), nearly 700 cavalry (including scouts of the security team), and 200 field artillery. In total, more than 8,200 people. Among them, the more combat-effective troops also exceeded 5,000 people. Such troops. The Qing army could not be defeated even if they used their strength to eat, not to mention that they should be even more worried about the safety of their rear.

The Qing scout cavalry soon spotted the arrival of reinforcements from the east coast outside, and they quickly sent the information to Hauge. I heard that these yellow-clothed thieves have come with "thousands" of reinforcements and six huge ships. Haoge also knew that this battle could not be fought anymore, especially last night when an urgent report came from Jinan, and the thieves in Yanmanjiadong were rampant again, and they attacked from the cave and attacked the local government, facilities and personnel of the Qing Dynasty in all directions. Even some small convoys carrying grain and grass to Dengzhou were ambushed by them and suffered heavy losses.

Tens of thousands of troops were under the fortification of the city, and in ten days they lost more than 7,000 soldiers, but they worked in vain. On the other side, the yellow-clothed Haikou on the east coast will not have more than 100 casualties, which has to be said to be a great failure and will have a very bad impact on his status. But now is not the time to think about these messy things, the yellow-clothed thief has a large number of reinforcements coming, and he will definitely not be able to break through this small city, so now it is time to think about how to deal with the aftermath.

Although it has never been clear how many people the yellow-clothed thief army has, it is unanimously agreed that the number of their soldiers should not be less than 10,000, and the number of the whole army is probably close to 20,000. This number made everyone feel that it was very tricky, and there was so much that 10,000 soldiers could do. Haoge was sure that as long as his main force withdrew, it would not be a problem for these yellow-clothed troops to defeat more than 20,000 Qing troops in a field battle. The siege of the city was even simpler, they only needed to pull the cannons under the city, and then they could break through the cities garrisoned by the Qing army one by one, and the entire Denglai Second Mansion did not have a strong force that could stop them. In that case, when will the situation in Shandong really stabilize?

Thinking about it like this, Hauge was even more upset. Could it be that these tens of thousands of troops are being dragged here? Shandong is so close to the Beijing Division, and it is impossible to say that there is such a large force of yellow-clothed Haikou who are good at fighting here. What's even more worrying is that in addition to the sharp guns, these yellow-clothed pirates also have at least six giant gunboats. If you can't resist it, wouldn't you let these yellow-clothed thieves crisscross the sea, and when the time comes, these thousands of miles of sea and frontier will be warned everywhere, and there will be no peace, what should everyone do?

No one could answer Hauge's question. Li Shutai, Ke Yongsheng, Chen Jin and other people from the Han Army Banner did not dare to say anything, and the generals of the Eight Banners such as Hexuan, Emengge, and Tulai could not say why, and as for Dong Xueli and other Green Battalion generals, they were even more unqualified to speak, and the entire Qing army was immersed in a strange atmosphere.

In such a situation of hesitation and entanglement, the Qing army besieged Yantai Fort for a few more days. However, judging by the momentum of its offensive, it was basically retreated after a slight setback, and only more than 1,000 casualties were lost in three days. On the contrary, they fought several night attacks quite well, causing some casualties to the people on the east coast.

On March 22, the commander of the Qing army, Hauge, finally made up his mind and decided to stop the attack on Yantai Fort and besiege it for a long time, and began to dig a long trench and build a wall about four kilometers south of Yantai Fort. In order to implement his intention, he also sent a special letter to Jinan, asking Fang Dayou, the governor of Shandong, to ensure the supply of grain and grass in a timely manner, and at the same time, he also asked him to levy a large number of people's husbands, mules and horses in Jinan and Qingzhou to transport them to Yantai. At the same time, he also sent people to collect grain and grass in Dengzhou and Laizhou, and forcibly recruited people to build the huge wall besieging the people on the east bank. For a time, the quarries in Yantai, Ninghai Prefecture and Weihaiwei areas were overcrowded, and a large number of Eight Banners with knives and horse whips drove a large number of people to quarry and polish in these mines, and then transported them to the outside of Yantai City to build the city wall.

At first, the people on the east coast did not know what the Qing army was doing, but after seeing that they had brought a lot of stones from afar, they immediately understood what was going on. Soon, some of the elite Black Eight Banner New Army, who had not yet participated in the war, were loaded onto naval ships and then attacked the quarries held by the Qing army along the coast. The coastal area near Yantai is rich in stone resources, so most of these quarries were built on the seaside, and the people on the east coast mobilized 2,000 new troops of the Eight Banners, often in half a day, they could land somewhere, and then easily defeat the defenses of the Eight Banners and Green Battalion generals with a minimum of 100 or more people, and at the same time captured a lot of masters.

After such a successful assault, the Qing army had to abandon these mines along the Liaohai coast and concentrate instead on mining those deep inland. Even, they also followed the example of the people on the east coast, demolished all the walls of some nearby guards, prefectures and counties, and then transported materials to Yantai to build the walls besieging the people on the east coast. Of course, they are not all sabotage, and there are naturally some constructions, for example, they have issued orders to nearby states and counties, requiring them to provide a large number of bricks within a time limit, and one qiē is still for the purpose of repairing the city wall.

The city wall was being repaired at the back, and the tens of thousands of horses and nearly 40,000 foot soldiers of the Qing army in front were still in good standby, ready to prevent the people on the east coast from going out of the city to fight. However, considering the grim situation in the rear, they also sent 2,000 soldiers from Dong Xueli's department to return to Jinan Mansion on horseback a few days ago to assist the governor Fang Dayou in exterminating those noisy Manjiadong bandits, so as to stabilize the situation and make every effort to ensure the safety of the grain route of the army near Yantai.

The Qing army mobilized 20,000 masters (and there will be more in the future) to repair the city walls and dig trenches, and the people on the east bank naturally will not remain indifferent. Although the troops with their own combat effectiveness are only 3,500 people brought from the mainland and South Africa, at most 500 cavalry, and 1,000 people from the 3-6 squadron of the forward team, which is mostly veterans of the Shandan and Shun army, it is difficult for such a small force to have any chance of winning in the field against the 10,000 elite horses and 40,000 infantry of the Qing army. Not to mention that during the field formation, it may be bombarded by the Qing army's red-coated artillery, so the loss will be great, you must know that it is very difficult for the people on the east coast to replenish their troops in the Far East, if you let people kill more than ten people with one cannon, then you must not cry to death!

However, this does not mean that the people on the east coast have no way to deal with the Qing army. Chairman Mao once said, if you beat yours, I will beat mine! Since most of the Qing army in Shandong has been looted and concentrated here, doesn't it mean that other places are extremely empty? After discussing and deducing with the officers under his command, Mo Ming boldly decided to take a naval ship to lead his troops deep into the west side of Laizhou Bay and attack the empty Fuzhou County of Jinan. At this time, most of the Liaohai Sea had thawed, and the weather could no longer stop the people on the east coast.

On March 27, after leaving more than 4,000 people to stay in Yantai with Li Wenchang, the captain of the Yantai garrison, Mo Ming led two companies of the army, two battalions of the Eight Banners New Army, half of the Yantai artillery company, all the cavalry brigades, more than 3,900 soldiers of the 15-18 squadron of the Standing Force, and all the scout teams, and 2,500 soldiers, a total of 6,400 people, crossed the sea at night and suddenly appeared in the sea off the coast of Zhanhua County, Binzhou, Jinan Prefecture on March 30.

Because the sea was so tightly blocked that it was difficult to get close, it took nearly three days for the troops on the east coast to land amid the shouting of men and horses. During this period, no one in Jinan Mansion or even the whole of Shandong Province came to stop them, and there were only a few scouts who peeked from afar nearby. After the landing, the army on the east coast, which had been impatient for a long time, began to advance westward, and within one day it went straight to the city of Zhanhua, and the Qing court and county orders abandoned the city and left, and Zhanhua fell, and Jinan Mansion and even the whole of Shandong were shaken. (To be continued......)