When Li Yu saw Xu Hengchen, he became angry: "Old Xu, how did you act as the head of the Titang Institute, why didn't you see your people to contact you after sending troops?" ”

"Don't blame me, I'm tired of preparing military rations, I heard that the commander arrived in Jinan, and he immediately came from Linqing to see you, forget it, I can't do the work of the Titang Institute, you can change it to someone else." Xu Hengchen shouted very aggrievedly, he is a member of the Fengzhou Council and the Central Committee of the Liberal Party, and he is still very hard-working, but he often forgets to report the military situation when he is busy with business.

"What about the military rations, where is the military rations that the Terracotta Division sent you to buy?" Li Yu continued to ask with a glare.

Xu Hengchen shouted with a crying voice: "Great Commander, quickly send troops to attack Linqing, the thieves of the Guanning army robbed us of 3,000 stone grain, and the Qing army also hit the canal, and Huai'an's grain and silver can't be transported." ”

The grain and grass and silver money carried by the Fengzhou army were not much, in fact, Fengzhou and Shanxi could not get much grain, and the military needs relied on the nearby financing - the military expenses of the troops mainly came from the issuance of cash silver bonds, and the silver taels that the merchants bought the bonds mainly came from the land of Jianghuai, and it was most convenient to pay and deliver them nearby, but the merchants could only send the silver taels to Huai'an as far as possible. Xu Hengchen undertook the heavy task of raising military supplies, and went to Huai'an early to accept the silver taels, Shandong was short of locust grain last year, he planned to buy grain near Huai'an, and then go north to Shandong through the canal, but he did not expect that the Guanning army fled to Linqing, blocked the canal and sat on the ground to make a fortune, and the first batch of military grain was robbed.

"Great commander, I heard that there are also Qing troops near Yanzhou and Jining, and the canal line is unreliable, so I have stored 3,000 stone grains in Jinan and Dezhou, and I won't be able to eat for long." Xu Hengchen said with a sad face.

"Dolgon, Yueto, you are fast enough, you have to force me to do it? Gao Qiqian, you bastard, dare to rob me of food, I can't spare you! Li Yu was a little angry, the Fengzhou army seized a lot of money from Zu Kuan, Li Chongzhen's old nest and the army that robbed Jinan, which was enough for a period of time, but Shandong was in short supply of grain, and grain had to be imported from the south, and it was fatal to jam the canal, and the Qing army and the Guanning army were just as hateful.

"Xu Hengchen, you go back to Jinan to continue to raise grain, as long as there is grain to buy, the price doesn't matter, and you transfer the affairs of the Titang Institute to Wang Fang." Du Wenhuan waved his hand for Xu Hengchen to retreat, and after pondering for a while, he said to Li Yu, "Send Ma Shiying to Jinan to find Yan Jizu to urge food, we can't fight hungry." ”

Li Yu sat down again, stared at the map and said: "Tomorrow, our army will go west to Gaotang Prefecture, let Gekuli go to the Qing army camp again, and tell Dolgon and Yue Tuo to get out of the place immediately, otherwise we will see you on the battlefield." ”

Early the next morning, the Fengzhou army pulled out the camp and marched westward, Gaotang Prefecture had surrendered to Haoge a few days ago, but Haoge's troops were thin, and he saw that the main force of the Fengzhou army rushed over, neither dared to fight nor wanted to fight, and immediately retreated west to find Dolgon, and the Fengzhou army easily recovered Gaotang, not far from the main force of the Qing army in Linqing, and the scouts on both sides began to clash.

Yan Jizu hurried over accompanied by Ma Shiying, and when he saw Li Yu, he scolded the officials and soldiers for their cowardice, and Liu Wenzhong also followed suit, and the two scolded everyone from the court's ministers to the generals and generals.

The situation in Shandong was critical, and the army ordered an emergency rescue, but the reinforcements from all walks of life fell on deaf ears - Sun Chuanting and Liu Yuliang met in Jinzhou, gathered 180,000 horses and said that their strength was insufficient, and they lay still in place; Zu Dashou of Liaoxi finally showed up, and went ashore in Dengzhou by sea boat, but he only brought more than 300 Ding, which was more like coming to see the excitement; Gao Qiqian has 40,000 strong soldiers in Guanning, but he does not leave Linqing, and he eats and drinks well; Liu Zeqing and Ni Pet are elusive, and they can't find anyone except for food. The Qing army in Shandong is like no one, the place where it passes is erosive, Yan Jizu is anxious, Ma Shiying came to come up with ideas, the situation in Shandong can only rely on the naturalized army, hurry up and pay for food, if this strong army is hungry and runs away, you can keep Jinan and Dezhou, but you definitely can't keep Yanzhou and Jining, then you have to wait for death. Yan Jizu was ruthless, leaving Song Xuezhu to continue to requisition grain and grass, and he simply ran to the camp of the naturalized army to sit in the town - even if it is a gamble, if you win, you will have military merits, and it is better to die outside if you are defeated, and you will not be stabbed by the imperial court.

Yan Jizu felt that this gamble was right, and patted his chest and said to Li Yu: "Han Min, this official will stay in your camp, and I will plan the affairs on the ground in Shandong for you, you just have to worry about it." ”

"Lord Yan, our family is the naturalized military superintendent." Liu Wenzhong reminded that although the governor of Shandong had a common language with him, he crossed the line if he wanted to share the merits.

This dead eunuch can't be offended, Yan Jizu immediately explained: "Father-in-law Liu is worry-free, the prison army is still yours, and the official only supervises the food and salary." ”

This is about the same, Liu Wenzhong is not a stingy person, he doesn't care about sharing some benefits to others, his face turned warm and he laughed with Yan Jizu.

Linqing, the camp of the Qing army, it snowed again last night, the earth became white, ice was hung on the camp tent, and the military flag was frozen hard. This bit of snow is not a matter for the Qing army, what should be done and what to do, there are constantly people riding horses and holding knives and rushing out of the camp with great interest, and there are also people constantly escorting men and women to push carts and carry burdens into the camp, and shouting loudly how many raw mouths have been caught and how much property has been seized, but it has not attracted a few people to watch, this kind of thing does not know how many times it will happen every day, and everyone has long turned a blind eye. In contrast, the Ming army camp by the canal more than ten miles away was lifeless, and there was no shadow of a person entering and leaving for half a day.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, several braziers were steaming, Dolgon and Yue Tuo were sitting upright, and Haoge, Abatai, Dudu and other generals were sitting on both sides, staring at a guy talking nonsense - Fengzhou's envoy Ge Kuri came again, no one gave him a stool to sit on, this guy was thick-skinned, and he sat on the blanket in the middle of the big tent, guarding a brazier and roasting the fire, and began to threaten and lure again.

"I understand what I told you, hurry up and get out of the gate, we will ensure your safety, otherwise it will be ......," Ge Kuli sold a pass, looked at Haoge with a smile and said, "Haoge is smart, I heard that we are going to Gaotang Prefecture, and I ran away early, so that everyone can be friends!" ”

Hauge blushed and shouted, "Nonsense, I'm retreating, not running away." ”

"It's all the same, and we don't have a hard time for you, right?" Gecuri smiled and waved his hand, and then solemnly said to Dolgon and Yueto, "But we only give five days, within five days you can leave the customs with people and property, after five days we will definitely attack, and you will also compensate us for the loss of 500,000 taels of silver in our troops, who told you to break the contract, this is very fair!" ”

"Shameless, how much silver did you earn from my Daqing, and now you are doing blackmail, the silver is what we exchanged for blood, and we won't give one or two, Gekuri, I'll kill you hungry wolf first." Du Du couldn't bear it anymore and jumped up and pounced on Gecuri.

"Old Zhushen is not afraid of fighting, Du Du, I have already seen that you are not pleasing to the eye." Gecuri also stood up and rolled up his sleeves.

"Stop!" Yue Tuo slapped the table and drank the two of them, and after relieving a few breaths, he sneered and said: "Ge Kuli, everyone is Manchurian, I can tell you clearly, I have 100,000 soldiers in the Qing Dynasty, and it is easy to trample you under your feet, the reason why you don't fight is to take care of the relationship between the two sides, you have to understand, wanton provocation is a dead end, and the Ming court must be hoping that you will be finished." ”

Ge Curi laughed: "Don't scare people, who among us doesn't know who, 100,000 people, more than half of them are ordinary people who enter the customs to eat, there are still a few old people left in the Eight Banners, and the younger generation is far worse than their old son, it's okay for these people to scare Mingguo, I can beat the three of you with one Fengzhou soldier, or retire from the army, so as not to hurt the harmony." ”

"Brother Gcurry, don't talk too much, how about a fight between the two of us?" Dolgon, Yueto, and Haug were present, and Abatai kept his mouth shut as usual, but Ghkuri was too crazy to taunt.

"That's not good, Brother Abatai, you are the hero of Lao Zhushen, even our Grand Commander respects you, I am not your opponent." Gkuri's face was full of laughter, he had already heard the rumors, this Abatai's relationship with the Grand Commander was not ordinary, and he couldn't be offended by the way.

"Gekuri, that's enough," Dolgon, who had been silent, finally spoke, staring at Gekuri and said coldly, "For the sake of relatives, I don't care about your nonsense, I have to kill him if I change someone, you go back and tell Erlu that my Qing soldiers have nothing to do with him, tell him to be nosy, and immediately go back to his Fengzhou nest, if he is obsessed, Shandong is his burial place." ”

"So you have to fight, Brother Abatai, please lend me an arrow," Gekuri shook his head, holding up a few arrows given by Abatai, and said loudly to Dolgon, "The defender of the Mongols, the adjudicator, Hutuktu Baturu, challenges Prince Rui of Qing!" ”

After saying this, Gkuri threw the arrow at Dolgon's feet, and Dorgon shook for a moment, and immediately shouted "This king accepts the challenge" with a cruel smile, and also threw an arrow at Grkuri's feet.

"You should challenge in the same way as Lao Zhushen, agree?" Yue Tuo added to Gekuri that according to the custom of the Zhushen tribe, no third party should participate in the challenge and battle between the tribes, and the winning side must also contain the other party's subordinates, and cannot be wiped out, which is very important for the Qing army in danger.

"Okay, let's decide the winner in a battle according to the way of Lao Zhushen, and whoever loses will get out of the pass." Garchuri nodded, turned and walked out of the tent.

Yue Tuo suddenly coughed violently, a mouthful of blood spurted out of his mouth, everyone hurriedly helped him lie on the soft couch, after a while Yue Tuo eased up, looked at Dolgon, Haorge and others beside him, and said in a low voice: "Immediately attack the Ming army in Linqing, we must drive them away, transfer the troops of Yanzhou and Jining back, and gather all the troops to fight a decisive battle with Elu." ”

That night, the Qing army launched a surprise attack on the Ming army, Gao Qiqian immediately ordered the whole army to withdraw to the west of the canal without saying a word, but did not expect the Qing army to give him a chance to breathe at all, across the canal to continue the onslaught, the Ming army was defeated like a mountain, left the Qing city and fled in all directions, the Qing army chased and fought fiercely, and the next day at noon to withdraw the troops to the east of the canal. Gao Qi absconded and fled for more than fifty or sixty miles and stopped, I couldn't figure out how the Qing army suddenly attacked him, but it didn't matter, the Guanning army had the experience of being chased and killed by the Qing army, and when the situation was urgent, they would unconsciously disperse and flee, and when they avoided the limelight, they would take the initiative to drill out, but it would take some time to regroup the troops.

Almost at the same time, the Fengzhou army was also sweeping the surrounding Ming army, Li Yu ordered that no Ming army should enter or leave within 30 miles around the Fengzhou army, as well as near the grain road from Jinan to Gaotang, so the Fengzhou army swarmed out and drove the Ming army to pieces. Ni Chong and Liu Zeqing heard that the Qing army was far away from Jinan, thinking that the rumors had passed, and they rushed to Jinan to ask for food and wages, and the government did not give it to the people, robbing property, killing the people, and forcibly abducting women into the camp. Liu Zeqing was beaten by the Fengzhou army in the Gyeonggi War in Chongzhen's three years, and he has always held a grudge, and his eyes were red when he saw the Black Eagle Banner, and he teamed up with Ni Chong to fight with force, but where could the miscellaneous soldiers they put together withstand the impact of the iron cavalry, and they were beaten to the point that the whole army was scattered and fled hundreds of miles away. The rebellious army disappeared, the local people applauded, Yan Jizu really didn't know whether to cry or laugh - Shandong Town was killed in name only by this blow.

The Fengzhou army and the Qing army each cleaned up their backyards, and the east and west met head-on, nearly 100,000 Qing troops rolled in, and the momentum was huge, Yan Jizu felt frightened, and kept complaining that Li Yu should not drive away the surrounding Ming army, so that he fell into the dilemma of fighting alone, and Liu Wenzhong simply advocated retreating, and it was not too late to fight when Sun Chuanting and Liu Yuliang's reinforcements came.

Li Yu and Du Wenhuan observed the Qing army with clairvoyance for a while, and the two discussed a few words in a low voice, Du Wenhuan said with a smile, "Since Gonggong Liu and Lord Yan feel that they can't fight, then okay, we will withdraw our troops immediately", Yan Jizu and Liu Wenzhong quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The Fengzhou army turned around and retreated eastward, Li Yu personally led the iron cavalry to cover, and the cavalry of the Qing army was at a disadvantage, and they did not dare to advance easily, but followed the Fengzhou army and slowly advanced. During the retreat, the Fengzhou Iron Cavalry also made several flank flank feints, which frightened the Qing army to immediately stop advancing and put on a very nervous posture in response, which made the Fengzhou cavalry laugh.

In the face of the Qing army's camp, the Qing army realized that this was the battlefield of the decisive battle, and also stopped advancing, and camped fifteen miles away from the Fengzhou army.

"Li Shuai, I really want to fight, but our reinforcements haven't come up yet!" Liu Wenzhong shook his head again.

"The battle against the water is the plan of the Huaiyin Marquis of the Han Dynasty, and it is not wrong to put it to death and live later, but the Donglu people are numerous and fierce, Li Shuai's plan is probably inappropriate, it is better to withdraw to Jinan and fight to the death." Yan Jizu also kindly advised.

How do I know how to fight against the water, the ice on the river is too thin, I am planning for cavalry and artillery-Li Yu looked at Yan Jizu with wide eyes, and replied after a while: "This place is very good, the terrain is flat and open and conducive to the impact of cavalry, the weather is getting warmer, in case of a big epidemic, it will be bad, I better finish the battle early and go home to farm, the ghost knows when the reinforcements will come." ”

Yan Jizu wanted to persuade a few more words, but Mo Rige came and whispered a few words to Li Yu, and Li Yu hurriedly left. Ma Shiying took Yan Jizu and Liu Wenzhong aside and whispered, Li Dashuai even beat the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and he still cares about a few little ghosts? Don't get involved.

When the Qing Kingdom came to the war letter, Li Yu hugged the envoy: "Brother Iron Spear, I haven't seen you all these years, are you okay?" Dolgon has met with me a few times, and each time he said that you stayed in Liaodong, why didn't this guy take you out? ”

"My brother has had a bad time over the years, Prince Rui thinks I'm stubborn, and he threw me at home on several expeditions, and this time I finally let me go on the expedition, but I didn't expect to see you in Shandong, okay, you look more and more magnificent, like a big man." Tears flashed in Tie Spear's eyes, and he hugged Li Yu tightly.

Iron Spear is a typical old Zhushen, clinging to the traditions in the mountains, stubbornly resisting Sinicization, and because he is brave in battle, upright, he is very influential in the white flag, and a small conservative force has been formed with him as the center, of course Dolgon wants to suppress such a person, Iron Spear has not gone out for many years to get military merits, and now he is only a second-class Lazhangjing, this time I don't know what Dolgon thinks, not only took him out on the expedition, but also sent him to Li Yu to write a war letter.

Li Yu beckoned Tie Spear to sit down, took the battle book and glanced at it, casually criticized the four words "never die", and then chatted with Tie Spear again.

"Brother, we really want to fight," Iron Spear put the war book into his arms, shook his head and sighed, "It's better not to fight, we are poor people outside the border, we just want to make peace when we enter the customs to fight Mingguo, if the two countries are reconciled with each other, we can use ginseng and skins for food and food, which madman is willing to run thousands of miles to bleed, to say a word, you really shouldn't help Mingguo." ”

Li Yu was silent for a while, and replied with a wry smile: "Brother, I can't fight if I don't fight, I understand the person of Sibeile, his heart is too big, if he continues to fight, his strength will become stronger and stronger, and in turn, he will beat me, I must force him to stop, and the people of Fengzhou also want to live a peaceful life." ”

"Forget it, I don't understand the thoughts of the big guys, anyway, I don't think it's good to fight," Iron Spear waved his hand, turned around and shouted outside the tent, two young people walked in and knelt down in front of Li Yu, Iron Spear pointed at them and said, "This is my son Wutai, that is the old Sanguitu of the Bull's Eye family, this year's disaster and famine in Liaodong, the rations of each family are not enough to eat, I will take them into the customs, you are my brother and Bull's Eye, and also their elders, let them kowtow to you a few more times, we will be a family if we don't fight in the future." ”