Zhang Qiang instructed Gao Yigong:

"Ma Deli is still at large, and the Ninth Field Brigade may not be able to encircle the enemy because of the transfer of troops, so let's do it, the third regiment of the Ninth Brigade has set off and will return immediately, and the remaining troops of the cavalry brigade will rush to support the Ninth Field Brigade, I also transferred the Fifth Cavalry Brigade before, let the Fifth Cavalry Brigade come here, you go to help the Ninth Field Brigade, I believe that this force is enough, Ma Degong can't run, your cavalry brigade is surrounding the enemy at the same time, it is to pursue the remnants of Ma Deli, and you can't let them escape."

Gao Yigong immediately said: "It's the Metropolitan Governor, I'll go and sort out the troops, the wounded will stay here, and the Metropolitan Governor will send someone to deal with it." ”

Zhang Qiang waved his hand, and the commander of the 3rd Regiment of the 9th Field Brigade and Gao Yigong of the 4th Cavalry Brigade came out of the tent together.

Zhang Qiang turned his eyes to the other side again, and said to Qin Mo, the brigade commander of the 24th Field Brigade: "Retreat more than ten miles, stay in the nearest county town, build a defensive line, and block the enemy's attack to the death, and I can't let the Lu army surpass this defensive line." ”

Qin Mo responded, and then asked: "Grand Governor, where is our fortification appropriate, it's not good if it's too close, we may not be able to deal with the enemy's surprise attack, it's too far away, we can't know the enemy's troop movements, and we can't put pressure on the enemy." ”

"Map," Zhang Qiang shouted to the guard.

The guards handed over the map, and the remaining generals in the tent all approached the map unfolded on the table to check, Zhang Qiang pointed to a place, "This is Scarlet Village, your main forces are stationed here, send a small number of soldiers and horses to the nearby Xianheng County to station, your main force is to defend the enemy from Linyi, and at the same time extend the defense line to the Zaozhuang defense line, but don't let your guard down to the east."

You still have to cooperate with the future Fifth Field Brigade to defend the enemy in the direction of Linyi and Rizhao. In the future, there will be militia brigades in the rear to take over the county towns and defense lines in your rear, and provide you with early warning, supply and transportation, and when all the enemy is driven out of Shandong Prefecture, I will send garrison battalions and garrison regiments to build up local defense forces and civil forces. Wait until I've adjusted my troops before attacking the enemy. ”

Zhang Qiang turned to the commander of a regiment sent by the 23rd Brigade and said: "Your troops are mainly responsible for the defense of Yihe County and the area connecting the 24th Field Brigade, and now you are under the command of Brigade Commander Qin Mo and guarding this section of the defense line of 200 miles. There is a long way to go, the enemy can concentrate superior forces to attack you at any time, you must hold until I send reinforcements to reinforce you, this process is about seven to twenty days, you know? ”

"Understood, Grand Duke." The commander of the 23rd Field Brigade said.

Zhang Qiang swept his side again, the 27th Field Brigade still has some troops, but now it can't send them away, there are tens of thousands of prisoners around him, relying on the 2,000 cavalry of the personal guard, and he has to take care of the prisoners and the wounded, if Hong Chengchou leads the army to attack, he may be very passive again.

The Guards Brigade has only more than 4,000 soldiers and horses, and the strength of the Guards Regiment is only more than 6,000 soldiers and horses, and these troops have to take care of these wounded and prisoners, and they have to serve as the defense of this generation.

At that time, the border between Suzhou Prefecture and Shandong Prefecture was not as wide as it is now, but it was only 400 miles that could be blocked by the current troops, and now the width of this defense line is more than 800 miles, which is not something that can be blocked by this force.

As soon as the war ended, both Hong Chengchou's Lu army and his own Huaxia army suffered heavy losses, and there was a huge shortage of troops, and no one was able to attack anymore. The good thing about the Lu army is that their defense line is not wide, only more than 450 li, and the Huaxia army has not yet captured Jining Fu, the defense line has more than 1,000 li, and when the 9th Field Brigade of Jining Fu advances to parallel to them or slightly surpasses them for more than 50 li, the Huaxia army's defense line will only be more than 620 li.

If you can take the Jade Bird Mansion then the defense line can be shortened to the point of about the same as the enemy, about more than 480 miles, but at that time Linyi Mansion is in danger of being surrounded by the Huaxia army, Zhang Qiang thought, when the time comes, Hong Chengchou will definitely send troops to attack, otherwise he can only retreat, and then the defense line will be shortened, but they have also lost the territory of Shandong Prefecture of thousands of kilometers, thinking that he will not agree, it is important to struggle.

After assigning the task, Zhang Qiang did not leave immediately, and waited for a week later, the personal guard regiment arrived, and the cavalry of the cavalry brigade and the 28th field brigade with the wounded were all returned to the original unit.

During this period of time, Duolong has not moved, he is still gathering the rout, and he is still trying to stabilize the defensive line, with the 26th Field Brigade and the 23rd Field Brigade, plus the defense of the militia brigade, that side can be said to be as stable as Mount Tai.

The strength of this side is also being strengthened, and two militia brigades were transferred from Guangzhou Prefecture and Jiangxi Prefecture, accompanied by Su Zhiqing of Guangxi Prefecture, and the establishment of the troops led by him was the 29th Field Brigade, which was a super B-class field brigade with a strength of about 20,000 troops composed of the original Nanming Army, the Sixth Field Brigade, the Marine Corps of the Southeast Water Division, and a garrison battalion in Guangzhou Prefecture.

Now Zhang Qiang has enough troops, although the establishment of this field brigade is overstaffed, it is really good to make up for the shortcomings of the lack of troops on the defense line, and after meeting with Zhang Qiang, this super field brigade whose combat effectiveness can only be compared with the D-level field brigade was deployed to the county town of Yihe to the seaside of the county town of Jade Bird, the fifth field brigade has taken the county town of Jade Bird a day ago, shortening the defense line of Zhang Qiang's Huaxia army by a hundred miles, and now they only need to defend more than five hundred miles.

The regiment of the 23rd Field Brigade was quickly transferred back to the defense area of the 23rd Field Brigade and was reorganized.

With their arrival there are also the troops of the punishment battalion, these are not here to fight, they are some overseers, cell heads, craftsmen, fierce gods and evil, after their arrival, they quickly began to screen prisoners, this battle with Hong Chengchou Lu army, the capture of Lu army alone captured more than 70,000, this does not include the previous several battles captured by the Qing army prisoners who have been sent to Henan Prefecture, and later captured those loyal men of the Qing Dynasty on these territories, as well as in Ningyang County only a few days as a soldier of the Lu army to defend the city of 30,000 young farmers, and the young and strong captives among the people who were coerced by Ma Bao and Kong Yousex, these captives have participated in the battle with them, and they are also the people who have just been in the Lu army for a few days, and in these waiting days, they have also arrested many landlords and gentry's families, generals, ruffians, and gangsters, all of whom are people who resist the rule of the Huaxia army.

Now there are 200,000 of these captives alone, 130,000 are here, 30,000 are in Ningyang County, and 30,000 are in the Fifth Field Brigade.

So six punishment camps were built, divided into various places, and each punishment camp had more than 60,000 prisoners, and a total of 30,000 people came to the punishment camp this time to manage these prisoners.

The militia brigade transferred from all over had a unit to assist them in managing these punishment camps, and soon the punishment battalions were divided into prisoner camps and hard labor camps, and the real Lu soldiers and generals were screened out, and the people of the Lu army who had just been in the army for a few days were divided into another battalion, "Transformation Battalion," they had to use their hands to help build more camps, transport food, and at the same time put the people's livelihood, geographical environment, and population of these places they knew, hidden loyalty to the Qing Dynasty and loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, Nanming, and horse bandits, and a series of other information that is unfavorable to the rule of the Huaxia Army will be explained clearly, and the professional punishment camp instructors will let them speak.

If they do not get the approval of the instructors within three months, then they will soon be thrown into the prisoner camp, and if they get the population, it will be a group of forced civilians, and after three months they will be able to return to their hometowns, and the Huaxia Army will give them food and travel expenses, and send militia units to escort them back to their hometowns.

The efficiency of the punishment battalion is very high-speed, in less than half a month, by the time the Second Guards Brigade was transferred, 80,000 of these civilians had already been screened, and at the same time, there were some Lu soldiers who had not been in the Lu army for a long time and were natives of Shandong Prefecture were screened out, and these people were placed in the reform camp and treated differently, and the attitude of the Huaxia Army towards them was no longer the attitude towards the enemy.

Treating the enemy is starving to death, dying of thirst, and killing at will, which will not seem excessive, and the treatment of the people is kind and pleasant, shouting the cold and asking for warmth, which really makes some uninformed people grateful for a long time, and honestly contributes to the reform camp, and builds 18 reform camps, 18 prisoner camps, and 21 hard labor camps in half a month.

Soon in less than a month and a half, 12,000 people were sent back to their hometowns, and the militia went back with them, took the initiative to help, rebuilt the houses and courtyards destroyed by the war, carried water, and swept the floor, just like a son treats his parents, and quickly resolved a trace of resentment and resentment against the Huaxia Army, and treated the Huaxia Army loyally, at this time the Huaxia Army can be regarded as gaining a firm foothold in Shandong Prefecture.

The power of example is endless, and when some of the people who were originally local, and the people from the vicinity came back to bring food, water, and help the camps, more people were moved, pardoned, and 25,000 people were released, and by this time they had built fifteen camps for the army to be stationed by the militia and the new Guards brigade.

In just two months, more than 80,000 people left 55,000 people, and the rest of them left one after another month, and the reform camp quickly emptied, was accepted by the militia troops, and became the camp of the militia troops, and the militia troops also absorbed about 10,000 people and local soldiers with innocent Lu military net worth to join the militia troops, and used these camps to train them, and their first task was to join the Qing army and the guards of the soldiers and generals of the Lu army in the prisoner camps and the hard labor camps.

In three months, in fact, some soldiers of the Lu Army were converted, and soon like those civilians who participated in the militia, they were sent to the reform battalion for preliminary training, and about half a month later, they were assigned to the 23rd Field Brigade, the 26th Field Brigade, Jinan Prefecture, Jade Bird Mansion and other places to fill the vacancies in the strength of the four militia brigades that were originally transferred to Shandong Prefecture because of the heavy losses caused by the battle, and the elite and ordinary troops of the original militia brigade continued to train them, of course, the militia brigade, the guard brigade and the field brigade, the vacancies in the strength of garrison regiments and garrison battalions need to be replenished from elite militia units and new battalions in the rear, not from ordinary militia.

These militias will henceforth be reserve personnel of the local reserve forces, which will only be able to maintain local law and order.

As time went by, Zhang Qiang felt that there were too many militia brigades, in addition to the four militia brigades that were transferred before, and later transferred five militia brigades, and formed a militia brigade, ten militia brigades were crowded in Shandong Prefecture, it was really not a thing, these militia brigades almost evacuated the militia brigades of all nearby states, which was not good for the security of nearby states, so he transferred two militia brigades back to Henan Prefecture, one militia brigade returned to Huguangzhou, and one militia brigade returned to Hubei Prefecture, There is also a militia brigade that has been directly transferred to Southeast Asia to support where it goes.

Of the remaining five militia brigades, four were placed in the center of the two defense lines in the north and south to maintain local law and order, and one was placed in the rear of the Fifth Field Brigade as a mobile brigade to attack Geng Quanli and deploy.

Su Zhiqing was relieved of his post as the brigade commander of the 29th Field Brigade, and was sent to Jinan Prefecture in the name of the commander of the Shandong Prefecture garrison to command these five militia brigades, and the 29th Field Brigade was split into two parts, one part of which was 10,000 troops, and it was still the number of the 29th Field Brigade, which was transferred to Geng Quanli's Fifth Field Brigade, and part of it was divided into four garrison battalions, each with 2,300 troops, and was placed in the garrison of the four central prefectures and counties, and at the same time directly commanded and mobilized the militia brigade and became the superior leader of the militia brigade, and Su Zhiqing commanded the garrison battalion.

Just when Zhang stressed the dispatch of troops, in fact, Fan Rong's Ninth Field Brigade had already conquered Jining Mansion, and successfully captured Ma Degong, Ma Deli, and resumed the operation of Jining Mansion, he and all his troops had been rebuilt during this time, and the cavalry dismantled from Su Zhiqing's 29th Field Brigade formed a new Fourth Cavalry Brigade to conquer the Zaozhuang defense line.

The Ninth Field Brigade was stationed in Zaozhuang, and the Fourth Cavalry Brigade was stationed in Jining Prefecture, while restoring the structure, while drawing elite cavalry from other garrison regiments, and when the cavalry of his cavalry brigade was full again, while training, while running in the soldiers, at the same time helping the punishment battalion from time to time to hunt down some deserters, and assisting the militia brigade when the militia brigade cleared up local bandits.

At this time, the troops in Zhang Qiang's hands were actually very rich.

The Fifth Field Brigade has regained its strength and combat effectiveness, and the elite garrison regiments drawn from the rear have been supplemented into the Fifth Field Brigade, with the assistance of the 29th Field Brigade and a militia brigade.

After the transfer of the Second Guards Brigade, Zhang Qiang merged the First Guards Brigade, and after the merger of the First Guards Brigade and the Second Guards Brigade, it became a Guards Division with 16,000 troops.

That's enough for him to launch a campaign.

(End of chapter)