If the fifteenth year of Chongzhen is a terrible year, then the sixteenth year of Chongzhen is a year of despair for the Ming Dynasty.

In April, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Guanzhong, formally fought against the Ming Dynasty, and challenged the Ming Dynasty politically and militarily, but the Ming Dynasty had no way to restrain it at all, which further weakened the authority of the Ming court, and the Qing army did not leave the Guannei, which made the Ming court only retreat in Beijing, and the government could not leave Beijing, which not only made Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's power expand, but also made the local army no longer obey the orders of the imperial court and accelerated the evolution towards warlords.

At this time, the Shun army occupied Henan and Guanzhong, and the Qing army stayed in Shandong, and the entire Ming Empire had been cut into two sections.

In October last year, the Qing army entered the Kou, broke the Great Wall and entered the pass, and then swept all the way to the north and entered Shandong. By this time, the Qing army had been in the pass for half a year, they broke Denglai to the east, Haizhou to the south, destroyed the local dock, and did not find that the Ming Dynasty was building ships on a large scale, so they led the army back to Linqing and Dongchang.

At this time, the elite of the southern officials and troops were assembled, but all the Qinwang people stopped at the front line of Xuzhou and Huai'an, and they did not even dare to step into Shandong, allowing the Qing army to ravage Shandong.

The time came in April, when the Qing army was able to defeat the prefectures and counties, and basically all of them had been defeated, and the Ming army had also failed in the Zhongzhou War, and Abatai completed the strategic goal given to him by Huang Taiji very easily.

Whether it is the plan to destroy the Ming Dynasty's navigation and attack the heart, or to contain the Ming army, the battle to control Zhongzhou has been completed. According to the plan, Abatai could already return to Guanwai at this time, but the Qing army still stayed in Shandong and had no intention of returning.

Abatai was the seventh son of an old slave, but because he was born to a side concubine, his status among his brothers was relatively low, and he was often not treated fairly in terms of meritorious deeds. Although he had distinguished himself in battle and held himself in high esteem, he was humiliated and punished many times.

Now Abatai is in his fifties, but he is still only a Baylor, and the seats at every banquet are below everyone. When he saw that these little brothers and even some of his nephews were sitting in front of him, staggering and drinking, he felt uncomfortable in his heart, and often complained, saying, "I will not go to the banquet again!" I am ashamed to go in armor when I fight, I am to go with a bow and arrows when hunting, and I feel ashamed to sit among my children when I go to a banquet. “

This time, it was Abatai who led the army alone, and he wanted to do a little bit of merit and show his brothers.

At the moment, although he has completed the task assigned by Huang Taiji, he is not satisfied with this. Although the Qing army broke a lot of cities at the entrance this time, it was not much, like Jinan was slaughtered by the Qing army before, and there was naturally no oil and water to be obtained in this break.

There are not many cities broken by the Qing army, but the Ming army in Shandong seems to have been prepared, several major cities have not been defeated, Jinan is like an outcast, the governor, the political envoy, and the envoy are not in Jinan.

At present, Shandong according to the inspection envoy and the former Henan governor Gao Mingheng according to Linqing, Shandong governor Liu Zeqing guarded Dongchang, political envoy according to Qingzhou, several wealthy big cities, are still in the hands of the Ming army.

Although Abatai has made some gains, the army of 100,000 people eats horses and chews, and the consumption is also large, and the looted materials have been consumed. If he went back like this, his merits would obviously be limited, so Abatai surrounded Linqing and attacked, and he was bound to break Linqing and plunder the people and property in the city.

Linqing is an important node on the Grand Canal, just located between Shandong and Beizhi, there are a large number of grain, cloth, ordnance transported to Beijing from the south of the Yangtze River in the city, and Linqing is developed commercially, so there are many rich people in the city, there are countless silver coins.

Abatai has gradually withdrawn the Qing troops in various places, and after breaking the Linqing and plundering it, he will retreat outside the pass. Tens of thousands of Qing troops were stationed in the wilderness east of Linqing City, and the military camp stretched for more than ten miles, with a huge momentum, while Linqing City was like a lonely boat in a storm.

At the head of the city, Gao Mingheng looked at the Qing army camp outside the city, compared with a few days ago, it seemed that there were more military tents, indicating that the Qing army's men and horses were assembling in Linqing.

Linqing has been besieged for half a year, the Qing army gradually increased, but the Ming reinforcements did not appear, Li Zhentai asked the imperial court for help, but the imperial court's reply was to let them fight in the city, no support.

This reply was expected by Gao Mingyu, but without reinforcements, how long would they be able to hold on? Gao Mingheng stood at the head of the city, looking at the Qing army camp outside the city, which made him feel very heavy.

At night, the sky is covered with dark clouds, obscuring the stars and moon, and the darkness of the night covers the land. The city of Linqing was brightly lit, and every few steps, there were soldiers with torches.

Wang Yan had been trapped in Linqing for half a year, and he initially only helped the officers and soldiers with some logistical matters, but as the defenders were consumed, he also picked up a bow and arrows, knives and guns two months earlier.

At this time, he and his servant Ah Chen, together with many people, carried the rolling wood and stones to the city overnight, so as to defend against the enemy during the day.

Wang Weidong, the chief flag officer, pointed to the wall and said, "Prince Wang, just put it here." ”

Together with Ah Chen, Wang Yan struggled to lift a log to the edge of the city wall, slowly put it down, then straightened up, wiped the sweat with his sleeve, and was about to move a few more times, but a dark shadow suddenly appeared under the city wall.

Li Ponu, who was standing by the wall and was vigilantly watching the movement under the city, immediately noticed the abnormality, hurriedly pulled out a torch, and dropped the city wall.

The torch spun in a circle, drew a trajectory, fell to the ground, and illuminated a circle, Wang Yan looked down, couldn't help but take a step back, under the illumination of the bright light, the figure of the Qing army under the city had nowhere to hide, and it was immediately exposed.

"Enemy attack!" Li Ponu suddenly turned his head and roared angrily.

The busy officials, soldiers, and people in the city were all shocked, hurriedly dropped the rolling stones and sasswoods, picked up their weapons and rushed to the wall.

"Quick, defend!" Wang Weidong shouted while lighting the torch, throwing down the city wall, and throwing hundreds of torches at one time under the entire section of Linqing City, like a fire meteor, flying down the city and illuminating an area.

The Qing army, who was about to steal from the city, saw that their whereabouts were exposed, exhaled a few words, and immediately launched a strong attack.

Li Ponu immediately opened his bow and arrow, and the arrow was aimed at a black shadow in front of him, and he shot out with a "bang", shooting directly into the black shadow's chest.

"Seven!" Wang Weidong on the side couldn't help but admire when he saw him shoot this arrow, but then his face changed, and the black shadow that was shot continued to rush towards Qianqian like no one else.

Li Ponu saw it and hurriedly shot another arrow, shooting the black shadow again, but still did not stop the black shadow, Wang Weidong finally saw the black shadow clearly by throwing the torch down the city, only to see that these were bloated, it should have been a few layers of armor, and the arrow was inserted in the body, just like no one, he suddenly had a numb scalp, turned his head and shouted, "It's not good, it's the Tartar's Bayala, it's the white armor soldier, hurry up and get on the firearm!" Take the oil ~"

As soon as he finished speaking, a rain of arrows shot from under the city, and an arrow shot into the shoulder socket, knocking him to the ground.

"Ah~" A miserable hiss sounded beside him, Wang Yan set his eyes on the fallen Wang Weidong, he watched the blood gushing out of Wang Weidong's shoulder socket in a daze, hesitated slightly, then quickly stepped up and pressed Wang Weidong's body, and said urgently: "Don't move~"