Li Laiheng's Yuyuan army immediately withdrew its troops and retreated to its base in southwestern Lu, not to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army in Kaifeng.

Maybe it was because he was busy, or maybe he was deliberately holding it, Zhang Qi, Ren Qi and Liang Min and other leaders of the Yuyuan Army did not come to see Li Laiheng in person, and only sent Ye Tingxiu plenipotentiary. Since this is the case, Li Laiheng and Zhang Nai, too, saved their verbose, and asked Ye Tingxiu to bring the words to a few of them, and then led the Twist Army to continue eastward.

After leaving Kaifeng Mansion, entering the junction of Henan, Shandong and Anhui provinces, the population along the road suddenly decreased, a large number of fields were abandoned, the roads that had fallen into disrepair were damaged and bad, most of the villages and fortresses on both sides were abandoned, and occasionally encountered small bandits of Xiangma. (Anhui in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty belonged to a part of the South Zhili, there is no Anhui Province, but the territory of the South Zhili is too big, in order to facilitate the reader's understanding, the name of Anhui will also be used, and the following will not be explained separately.) ）

During the Chongzhen period, the military disasters and wars in Shandong continued, the White Lotus uprising, the Dengzhou mutiny, the Manchu Qing Dynasty invaded the customs several times, and the peasant army captured Jinan...... It has dealt a devastating blow to the originally rich Shandong, especially in the border area of the three provinces of Henan, Shandong and Anhui.

After the Manchu Qing entered the customs, the wars in the northern provinces gradually subsided, and the Xiaoice River period, which was plagued by natural disasters, also came to an end, and the northern part of the country restored production order, but in the Sanzhi area at the junction of the three provinces of Lu, Yu, and Anhui, the Manchu rule was still very weak, leaving room for the Yuyuan army to survive.

Elm is a deciduous tree commonly found in the north and grows quickly. Strong adaptability, salt and alkali resistance, dry and cold resistance. As long as it takes root, it will soon grow a large forest. On the abandoned fields, the elm forests are lush and green, and they are already close to the territory of the Yuyuan Army.

"This forest is not dense, when you go to Caozhou, you can see that the forests of dozens and hundreds of miles are connected into a piece, and there is no road in it. Outsiders will definitely not be able to get in. Monk Ludong was sullen along the way, and after seeing the elm forest, his feelings were much better, and he enthusiastically introduced: "When the Yuyuan army was the most prosperous. There are more than 100,000 people living in several forests in Caozhou and Puzhou, and the men and women are so lively that the Tartars have been defeated several times, but it is a pity that Li Huajing left Yuyuan rashly and was trapped and died in Caozhou. ”

Zhang Nai asked curiously, "There is no road in the elm forest. How do you get in and out of it yourself? ”

Monk Lu Dong smiled: "Dig the tunnel!" The tunnels we dug under the forest lead in all directions. Like a spider's web, every time the Tartars came to attack, we went around the tunnels to their backs to sneak attack, and the Tartars couldn't defend against them at all. ”

Lee Rae-hyung asked, "What do you eat?" There are 100,000 people living in the forest, where can I get so much food? ”

"Yes, the food is indeed not enough to eat, otherwise Li Huajing would not have gone to occupy Caozhou." Monk Ludong sighed: "When there are few people, it is easy to deal with, and there is always some open space in the forest where crops can be grown. Yuqian can also be hungry, but after the Yuyuan Army has gained momentum. The hungry people who don't want to shave their heads around are attached to it, and there is definitely not enough food in the forest...... Zhang Qi and Ren Qi marched into eastern Henan this time, in addition to echoing General Xiao Li, most of them were also to fight for food and money, so they were unwilling to return to the army immediately. ”

The Twist Army left the boundary of Kaifeng Mansion two days ago, and it was not fast all the way, just a normal marching speed, but the various units of the Yuyuan Army were far behind, and they were still active in the eastern part of Henan. Compared with Caozhou and Puzhou, the Henan provincial capital of Kaifeng was much wealthier, and most of the Yuyuan army was reluctant to leave immediately, but tried to attack Lanyang (now Lankao) and other county seats, only Zhang Qi had turned around and returned under Ye Tingxiu's hard persuasion.

"Liang Min and Ren Qi, they will suffer if they drag it out like this." Li Laiheng frowned and said: "We fought in Henan from west to east, in addition to Bambulshan, there are more and more Tartar soldiers behind us, I heard that Wu Jingdao also came back with five thousand green battalions, if Liang Min and Ren Qi don't leave, it will be difficult to get out if they are bitten by Bambulshan." ”

"Yes, this is the territory of the Tartars, and you can't fight with them. As the saying goes, killing a thousand enemies will cause you to lose eight hundred, and you can get support and replenishment at any time when you run out of Tartars, and we will be all over when we fight out. "Zhang Nai is Li Zicheng's righteous son, who followed him everywhere back then, and has the most experience in this kind of mobile combat. In the absence of backup and base areas, it is necessary to first ensure its own safety, and then focus on the enemy's weak links. In many cases, it is not impossible to fight, but if you are not sure of victory, you must try to avoid fighting tough battles and fighting attrition.

"Although the two generals can rest assured, Ren Qi and Liang Min are not hairy boys, and they run faster than anyone else if they are a little wrong in the limelight, and last year Li Huajing was surrounded by Tartars in Caozhou, but the two of them ran back to the elm forest early and escaped the catastrophe." Monk Ludong looked very confident.

"This time it's different! Bamburshan's subordinates are all cavalry, and they were bitten by him, and it is not easy for Ren Qi and Liang Min to get out......" Zhang Nai disagreed.

"Naizi, forget it, we're guests, we can't care so much." Li Laiheng asked Monk Ludong again: "Since the Yuyuan Army is short of food, I am afraid that we will cause trouble for everyone when we go to Caozhou, but please tell Zhang Shuai and Liang Shuai that we will not stay in Caozhou for too long, and we will leave after a maximum of ten days and half a month." ”

After entering Henan, the Twist Army has been marching and fighting, first drilling in Funiu Mountain for nearly a month, and then raiding Luoyang, turning into eastern Henan, running thousands of miles to fight, and the troops urgently need to rest and recuperate, and then they can consider the next move.

"It's okay! Never mind! Monk Ludong waved his hand again and again, feeling very embarrassed: "No matter how poor the Yuyuan army is, it will never let the guests go hungry, General Xiao Li has a total of only 2,000 people, and he can't use much food for ten days and half a month, and he can always be full if he doesn't eat well." Ye Qianzhai (Ye Tingxiu Zi Qian Zhai) has been with Zhang Shuai for the past few days, and he will definitely arrange a qiē properly. Ah, with all due respect, I don't know what General Xiao Li plans to do next, is he preparing to go south to Xuzhou? ”

Monk Lu Dong served as Shi Kefa's staff and had a bit of strategic vision. After the Ming army launched the Eastern Crusade, the Jiangnan region was undoubtedly the key to the decisive victory, and if Li Laiheng's cavalry unit entered Nanzhili from the north, it would be like stabbing Tan Tai in the back, which was a great threat.

Xuzhou may not be the end. If Li Laiheng had been more courageous, he could have gone along the Qianli Plain to the north bank of the Yangtze River in one go, and attacked the Ming army in Jiangxi from the north and south, cooperating with each other to deal a heavy blow to the Qing army.

"I don't just want to go south to Xuzhou, but I also want to cut off the transportation of Tartars in Shandong, or cross the north to go to Zhili for a turn." Li Laiheng's words were half-true, and he was unwilling to reveal the next plan of action: "Where to go, it's not certain yet, but first of all, we must raise enough strength in Caozhou, and then go back to Henan to fight with Bambul." ”

"Oh? Bamburshan? Monk Ludong was stunned for a moment, and said with some hesitation: "Since General Xiao Li entered Henan, he has been reluctant to fight with Bambulshan, even if there is the help of the Yuyuan army, he still avoids Caozhou, why do you want to return to Henan......

"The master has something to say, it's okay. Do you think I ran away when I saw Bambulshan, thinking I was afraid of him? Li Laiheng nodded to the embarrassed monk and said with a smile: "Bambulshan has been recuperating in Xuchang for more than a month, but I just got out of the ravine, and I had to run away if I couldn't beat him, which made the master laugh." But it doesn't matter, when I have enough strength in Caozhou, I will go back to Henan and go around in circles with him to see whose horse is faster. He kept biting on the back of my ass and hated it, and I couldn't go anywhere without cutting off this tail......"

In early April, Li Laiheng led 2,000 cavalry to Caozhou.

Bambulshan pursued all the way, engaged the Yuyuan army near Lankao, defeated the coalition forces of Ren Qi, Liang Min, Cai Naihan and others, and the Yuyuan army Cai Naihan and Zhou Hu's troops were defeated, but Ren Qi and Liang Min arranged a retreat in advance, and immediately retreated after a small setback, crossed the Yellow River to the north, and threw off Bamburshan's pursuers.

Immediately afterwards, Wu Jingdao led 5,000 green battalion soldiers to hurry back to Kaifeng, and the Qing court also regarded the 2,000 Chu cavalry that suddenly entered Henan as a thorn in the flesh.

Yizhou General Soldier Tong Yangliang, Linqing General Soldier Yi Yonggui, Baoding General Soldier Ming Guonan, Henan General Soldier Gao Di, Hebei General Soldier Kong Xigui...... The local garrisons in these provinces were drawn in large numbers, and the Manchu Qing cobbled together more than 20,000 horses, plus the troops of Wu Jingdao and Bamburshan, ready to wipe out the Twist Army in one fell swoop, and solve the Yuyuan Army once and for all.

Although the Qing army was violent, Li Laiheng was not worried, and rested in Caozhou for a long time.

The elite troops of the Manchu Qing Dynasty are gathered in Shanxi, although the number of Qing troops encircling and suppressing Yuyuan is large, but the local garrison of the green camp is the mainstay, and it is the second-line and third-line troops after several transfers, compared with the rabble Yuyuan army, these green battalion soldiers are elite regular army, but compared with the battle-hardened army, these short-legged green battalion infantry do not pose much threat.

In contrast, Bamburshan was the most threatening, followed by Wu Jingdao's five thousand green battalion soldiers, and the mouth of the Twist Army was not big enough to eat them in one bite.

On the third day after arriving in Caozhou, Li Laiheng finally met Zhang Qi.

The various units of the Yuyuan Army are mixed, although they are all under the banner of resisting the Qing Dynasty, some of them are actually bandits. In contrast, Zhang Qi, Ren Qi and Liang Min are the strongest, have the greatest appeal, and have the most regular troops.

Zhang Qi also has the style of an ancient corporal with great respect for scholars, and asked Ye Tingxiu to serve as a military advisor to give him advice. The hooligans are not terrible, but they are afraid that the hooligans are educated, and Ye Tingxiu and others help him come up with ideas, Zhang Qishao has taken a lot of detours, and his strength has developed the fastest, and he is already the leader of the various departments of the Yuyuan Army. (To be continued......)