January 5, 1648, light snow.

In Mengyin County, Wei Boqiu sat in the county office, smoking a cigarette rolled up in paper, listening to several East Coast officers discussing the next move. Shao Shude was too nervous, he was extremely worried that Mo Ming would lose the tens of thousands of troops, so he not only asked Li Wenchang to go to Qingzhou and Jinan with the local rotating troops to meet the main forces, but also sent Wei Boqiu, the deputy commander of the gendarmerie, to act as a supervisor, and asked him to urge Mo Ming to withdraw his troops and not delay outside.

Wei Boqiu asked himself if Mo Ming was unwilling to withdraw his troops at this time, he would have no way at all! Is it possible to deprive others of their command on the spot? He can't do such a face-tearing thing, and it's not realistic! He went this time to beat the side drum and convey his meaning, as for how to make an idea, it was still Mo Dashuai's own business.

However, Wei Boqiu estimated that this matter would not be difficult to do.

First, because Mo Dashuai himself already had the intention of withdrawing the army. Although he still wanted to try to see if there was a chance to fight the most ruthless Gaodi, it was probably time to withdraw after the Gaodi, as could be known from the message from the messenger he sent to contact him two days ago. Ding Mingwu, Xie Qian, Du Chong, and others had already retreated along the areas of Zouxian, Tengxian, and Yizhou in advance, accompanied by a large amount of loot and personnel -- basically handicraftsmen and low-level scholars.

This second, Shao Shude is Mo Ming's predecessor, and he is friendly with Peng Zhicheng, a retired veteran of the army, and others, saying that it is difficult to hear that Mo Ming can come up because they are single-handed, representing their interests, so Shao Shude's words still have a lot of weight in Mo Ming's heart. No matter what, you have to give a little face.

Therefore. After figuring out this layer. Wei Boqiu finished smoking a cigarette in a leisurely manner, and then ran outside the county office, watching a group of soldiers wearing Shunjun uniforms carrying supplies back and forth. It was Cai Huaze, the commander of the Dashun brigade, who organized them, who was intercepted on the spot by Li Wenchang when he was in Qingzhou, and the cut grain was also used as military supplies on the east coast -- Li Wenchang's thousands of troops came out in a hurry, and they brought a lot of weapons and ammunition, but not much food.

Cai Huaze's gang requisitioned and sent a master in Binzhou to cut the grain in several counties, and the soldiers and horses on hand also expanded from more than 400 to more than 800. In addition, a lot of donkeys, mules and carriages were robbed, and it was the time when the soldiers were strong and the horses were in high spirits. Unexpectedly, he was happily walking back with the supplies, but he was intercepted by Li Wenchang halfway, and then not only the materials were requisitioned, but even his subordinates were coerced to Mengyin County, where birds don't.

In fact, not only him, but also the 500 spearmen under the command of Zhou Zuoding, the third brigade of the standing team, and 1,500 soldiers were also recruited. So far, the number of infantry and cavalry under the command of artillery captain Li Wenchang has reached about 7,400, and he also has four cannons, all kinds of materials are complete, and the mobility is strong. It's not a force to be reckoned with. If the opportunity is right, their more than 7,000 people are enough to become a force that will influence the tide of battle.

"Deputy Commander Wei. You've finally shown up. Cai Huaze, who was wearing a Qing army cotton armor, saw Wei Boqiu shake out, and immediately ran over and shouted: "Mo Dashuai has promised me the grain from Binzhou, and I am in a hurry to raise food to go back to save the emergency, but who wants Li to intercept the halfway army, you have to call the shots for me." ”

"What's the noise?" Wei Boqiu said a little impatiently, "Naturally, I won't miss you a point for food, this time I levied 10,000 stone of grain for you, and I will make up for you 20,000 stone when I go back." Most of the grain in the entire Denglai Qing Three Prefectures has been cut by us, and even the grain in more than a dozen prefectures and counties in the north of Jinan Prefecture has been swept away by us. Now our army is just borrowing your food for a temporary turnover, and at the same time giving you a chance to go into battle and make a fortune, why, you are still unwilling? ”

Hearing Wei Boqiu say this, Cai Huaze suddenly relieved his heart, then shook a short hammer in his hand, and said with a smile: "Since General Li looks up to us, we have nothing to say." Guo Shuai (Guo Sheng) said before he came out that if the generals have any sends, it is incumbent on us. Isn't it just playing Tartar, I'm afraid of a ball, Lao Tzu killed two vests when he was in Jingzhou! Now it's just dealing with some traitors and two Tartars, I want to see what three heads and six arms they have, and they can withstand my copper hammer! ”

"Hehe, morale is commendable! Very good! Wei Boqiu lit Cai Huaze with a lit cigarette, and said with a smile: "Gao Di's guy didn't measure his strength, and with some combat strength under his command, he actually crossed the canal first and chased after Mo Dashuai's main force. Mo Dashuai decided to give him a hard blow and deter the Qing army. As for our task, it is to rush to the front line of Ziyang and Jining Prefecture as soon as possible, cut off the back road of Gaodi's army, and at the same time intercept Kong Xigui's troops who may be reinforced, so that Mo Dashuai's main force can rest assured to defeat Gaodi's troops and strike a blow at the arrogance of the Qing army. By the way, this Gao Di was the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan back then, and now Ren Kaigui is the chief soldier (Henan general soldier), and Dashun has a lot of grudges, and now that he has the opportunity to end this fight, Guo Sheng and Guo Shuai should be happy to see it. Okay, without further ado, you go down and organize the organization, it's about to go. ”

After sending Cai Huaze away, Wei Boqiu turned back to the county office, and at this time, Li Wenchang and others finally negotiated a charter, that is, to go north along Wenshui, bypass Mengshan Mountain, and then go back to the Ziyang area, and strive to cut off Gao Di's troops who were still scattered on both sides of the canal at this moment, and then let Mo Ming's main force eat some of the men and horses who had crossed the river led by Gao Di himself. As for what to do after eating this part of the people, I'm sorry, Mo Dashuai is also confused, now it's a step by step, and there is no plan at all.

Now the Yuyuan army is still making a lot of trouble in Yanzhou Mansion, Kong Xigui's main force has just entered Cao County, and he himself has even been stranded in Guide Mansion with the rear army, and has not yet entered Shandong, so the main force of his department has opened a distance from the Gaodi department. In addition, Tong Yangliang, the general soldier of Dengzhou in the Qing Dynasty, and Yi Yonggui, the general soldier of Linqing, who came down from the north, have just entered the front line of Liaocheng and Jinan, and they are currently exterminating the local bandits and bandits on the one hand, and waiting for the follow-up grain and grass on the other hand, and I believe that they will not go south in a short time. As for Lu Guonan, the chief soldier of Baoding, it is even further away, and he is still collecting grain, grass and military materials in Hebei -- the few supplies that the Qing army has in the north have been given priority to Tong Yangliang and Yi Yonggui who are going south. In this way, in fact, fighters have already appeared. Gao Di was so happy that he ran into this muzzle again, and at this moment he suddenly became the prey in the eyes of others.

Li Wenchang now has an infantry company, a black heavy infantry battalion, half an artillery company, two squadrons of soldiers, more than 400 Polish mercenaries, and more than 800 soldiers under Cai Huaze, totaling 2,900 soldiers, in addition to more than 4,500 soldiers and a large number of weapons and ammunition, and the strength should not be underestimated. If these forces occupy a strong terrain, it is not a problem to intercept some Qing reinforcements for some time, so that Mo Dashuai will have enough time to eat the part of the men and horses that have already crossed the river under Gaodi's department.

On 7 January, Li Wenchang's 7,000-strong troops, who marched at a rapid pace, conquered Xintai County in only two hours. Then they did not make any stops at all, but marched west at full speed, towards Ningyang County. They did not dare to delay, for although order was now in disposition in Yanzhou, and chaos was everywhere, perhaps some die-hard members of the Qing court, such as the gentry, had informed Gao Di of the whereabouts of his troops, which might make Gao Di hesitate and fear, and retreat back to Hexi, which they could not tolerate.

On January 11, the vanguard of Li Wenchang's army arrived outside Ningyang County. When Mo Dashuai's soldiers came to Qufu and Ziyang, the county commander abandoned the city and fled, and later ran back after seeing the rumors. Now that the butt is not yet hot, he suddenly heard that his subordinates were coming to report that another yellow-clothed thief had arrived, so the county commander did not hesitate to step on the donkey, and once again abandoned the city and fled.

Zhou Zuoding, who served as the striker, ordered his subordinates to rest, and began to send people to search for porcelain craftsmen inside and outside the city. The magnetic kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty can be in this Ningyang County, although it is no longer beautiful, but it has been accumulated for hundreds of years, and the number of local porcelain craftsmen is still extremely large. Zhou Zuoding had been an official in the nearby Tai'an Prefecture for a period of time, so he was naturally very aware of this, so he immediately ordered a group of people to be arrested and sent to Dengzhou.

When Zhou Zuoding's troops had just arrived in Ningyang County, Mo Dashuai's main force had already traveled to a distance of only ten miles from the county seat of Tengxian County, and was far away from a forward horse team under Gao Di. Yang Mingyang's cavalry brigade had been sent to guard Ding Mingwu and others who had not yet returned, so these Qing cavalry were extremely arrogant, and from time to time they stepped forward to harass the people on the east coast who were really in the marching army, which was annoying.

Seeing that it was not far from the county seat of Tengxian County, Mo Ming considered that tens of thousands of horses under Gao Di had crossed the river from the area of Jining Prefecture, where the canal was relatively tightly frozen (the area of Dushan Lake and Weishan Lake in the south was not frozen tightly, and it was impossible to pass a large number of people and horses) to the south, and most of them had already passed Zou County at this moment.

A few days ago, Chen Zhilong's useless guy sent some soldiers and horses to meet the enemy horse team that was chasing too closely, but he failed miserably and was beheaded more than 1,000 levels, which greatly boosted the arrogance of Gaodi's department. At this time, there is a big battle with Gaodi, and those unusable men and horses naturally can't be sent anymore, so as not to get in the way.

On January 12, just when Mo Ming was determined to meet Gao Di, Kong Xigui had led the main force to Shanxian County, and the Qing army in Jinan, in the north, had raised some grain and grass to prepare for the south, an astonishing news came: Li Hua, a native of Cao County, who had only raised the flag against the Qing Dynasty in the middle of this year, saw that the Qing court was taking care of one thing and losing the other, so he raised troops to revolt under Liu Zeqing's instructions, surrounded Caozhou, and echoed with the nearby Dongming bandits, with more than 100,000 people in an instant. After hearing the news, Kong Xigui, the general soldier of Hebei, immediately changed the direction of his march and went north to suppress Li Huajing, while a considerable part of the Qing army in Jinan was also attracted to the past, and Gao was isolated at once. (To be continued......)