Because of Chen Jin's cooperation, Dengzhou was decided to go down without a fight and spread the word, saving Cao Bianjiao some effort, and in less than a month, Cao Bianjiao was also very satisfied with such a record, but he also knew that the Manchu Qing would not let them take Shandong so easily.

After Huang Degong captured Dongchang Mansion, he immediately continued to advance westward, captured the Daimyo's Mansion, and inserted his troops into the north of the South Canal, and the entire South Canal had returned to the hands of the Ming Dynasty, which was a major joy.

Jinan Mansion, Shandong Governor Zuo Maodi has come to take office, he himself did not expect, half a month ago, Cao Bianjiao wrote to him, let him prepare to go to the post, did not expect that he just arrived in Shandong, most of Shandong has returned to the Ming Dynasty, Zuo Maodi is also very excited, he himself is a Shandong people, and then return to his homeland, his heart is also full of mixed feelings.

"Lord Zuo, I will hand over this Shandong to you, except for a few counties in Dezhou under the rule of Shandong, the rest of the counties have returned to the hands of my Ming Dynasty, now Shandong's military and political affairs, I will ask you, I have sent a letter to the imperial court, the former Nanjing Ministry of Rites Shangshu Zhu Jizuo is the political envoy of Shandong, Gao Zhuo is the envoy of the inspection, to help you govern Shandong."

"The general rest assured, the soldiers fought bloodily, Zuo will defend it to the death, so that it will not fall into the hands of the enemy again, in addition to the political envoy and the inspection envoy, there is also the post of governor of Denglai, I don't know who the general wants to recommend?"

"I want Qi Biaojia to take this position, I don't know what Lord Zuo thinks?"

"Quite the right person!" Zuo Maodi did not object, he also heard a little about Qi Biaojia's deeds, he is a real person who can do things, now the Shandong region is the front line, and people who must do practical things can stabilize the situation, otherwise a person who will only talk about it will be misleading the country and the people, and Zuo Maodi knows this very well.

"General, Lord Zuo, I just got the news that the Manchu Qing Dynasty saw that Shandong was lost, and had transferred the eldest son of Emperor Taiji, Prince Su Haoge, to lead the army south, and 30,000 soldiers and horses have arrived in Hejian Mansion, including 10,000 soldiers from the Eight Banners and 20,000 soldiers...... Cheng Tianyi also came to Cao Bianjiao and brought this news to Cao Bianjiao.

"It's expected, but as far as I know, when Hauge entered the customs at the beginning of the year, he had been cut off because of the slander of Dolgon, and at this time Dolgon used this person regardless of his previous suspicions, it seems that he was worried that we would go north, so he sent Hauge to block the northern expedition of my army, 30,000 horses, a lot!"

30,000 horses, for the current Cao Bianjiao, is indeed a lot, originally out of Fengyang, is 100,000 troops, after the division of troops to occupy Henan, Shandong, Henan left 40,000 horses, and 10,000 left in Fengyang, Xuzhou also has soldiers and horses left, Shandong plus Huang Degong's soldiers and horses, there are more than 40,000 people, his own hands of soldiers and horses is actually less than 20,000 people.

"There is also news that Li Zicheng lost Taiyuan, and Tang Tong, who stayed in Taiyuan, only held out for four days before being broken by the Qing army, and now the Qing army has reached Linfen." Cheng Tianyi continued.

"That's easy to explain, Dolgon doesn't want to start a full-scale war with us at the moment, he knows that the Manchu Qing army is insufficient, even if he recruits a lot of northern soldiers, but he can't believe these people, he is worried that they will defect, after all, they are all my Ming soldiers, and they are coerced by the generals to surrender to the enemy, and there is a lot of helplessness, how many troops does he have in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, 30,000 troops, I am afraid that it is already the limit of Dolgon's mobilization."

"General, with all due respect, in fact, we have recovered most of the lost land in Shandong and Henan, and we can put an end to it for the time being, and we don't have to forcibly fight with the Manchu Qing Dynasty. It is better to keep the results that have been achieved first, and wait for the imperial court to recover some vitality and accumulate some money and food, and then continue the great cause of the Northern Expedition. ”

Zuo Maodi also dissuaded Cao Bianjiao from going north again, he was worried that the imperial court would be exhausted, after all, there was not much savings, Henan and Shandong also needed food and salary to restore people's livelihood, and there was no such lucrative continuation, it was not able to support, the war not only relied on troops, but also logistics, without silver, there was no sufficient logistics support, with a moment of courage to fight down, but in retrospect, the enemy counterattacked, and there was no guarantee at that time, how to insist on holding these.

Cao Bianjiao also thinks that Zuo Maodi's analysis is very reasonable, he has not thought about these problems, the soldiers and horses in various places add up to hundreds of thousands, and the annual consumption is millions of taels, as well as armaments and other matters, which also need silver, how much silver is in the Nanjing Imperial Court, Cao Bianjiao is even more aware of it, although he copied some people's homes and got some money, but this war is actually burning money, and there is no money to burn, so there is no way to support it.

"General, Lord Zuo is reasonable, it has been two months since my army set out on the expedition, and the consumption of nearly 100,000 horses has reached one million silver, and if we continue to fight, I am afraid that the imperial court will not be able to support it, so it is better to stop first, and after raising sufficient food and salary, we will go all out to take Hebei and other places, recover Yanjing, and drive the Manchu Tartars out of the customs."

"You think so, too?" Cao Bianjiao didn't expect that Cheng Tianyi persuaded him like this, it seems that everyone has deep concerns, and he has to admit that the Ming Dynasty is indeed poor, in terms of taxation, the Ming Dynasty is the lowest in all dynasties, and in terms of expenditure, the officials are also the lowest, but in the treasury of the Ming Dynasty, there is a deficit every year, and the expenditure is always much more than the income, and in the end it can only be levied, which leads to the rise of displaced people, and Cao Bianjiao does not want to fall into such a situation.

"Yes! I just don't want the general to fall short! Cheng Tian kept saying, changing his obedience to his character in the past.

"Oh well! Focus on defense, supplemented by war, don't fight with the Manchus first, recuperate, let them live a few more days! After thinking about it repeatedly, Cao Bianjiao also nodded in agreement with their intentions and stopped fighting.

"Tianyi, sort out the wars in Henan and Shandong, wait for me to write a note and report it to the imperial court, and state the reason for the temporary suspension of sword soldiers, and see what it means in the imperial court.

The resurrected Hauge also received Dolgon's royal order to defend, and the order he got was not to make the Southern Ming army take a step forward, blocking them in Shandong, and now most of their soldiers and horses are contained in the northwest battlefield, if there is a war on both sides, Dolgon does not have much confidence, Hauge is stationed in Texas, peeking at Cao Bianjiao's people, but he also noticed that Cao Bianjiao did not continue to send troops, he is actually looking forward to a fight, vent the anger in his heart, the throne of the Qing Dynasty originally belonged to himself, In the end, it fell into the hands of the little doll of Fulin, he was not convinced, this political change, he was the loser, the biggest winner was naturally Dolgon, became the regent, no emperor's name, but there is the emperor's reality, he also knows that the king is defeated, he has no chance to turn defeat into victory, he can only accept his fate, under Dolgon's instructions to come here, the battle killed Dolgon is one less hidden danger, but also can consume the Ming army's troops, drag them north, and win, this credit is not much, nothing more than some rewards, He knew very well that he could not gain much power.