The pattern of the ancient city of Linqing is very similar to that of Beijing, and it is also a "city within a city". Outside is the "earth city", with a circumference of more than 20 miles, and most of the people living in it are merchants.

In the north of the "earth city", there is still a small city, which is the "brick city". This "brick city" with four gates and a circumference of 9 miles was built to defend the granary.

"First there is Linqingcang, and then there is Linqing City", which briefly and accurately summarizes the history of Linqing's construction of warehouses and grain storage. It was in order to strengthen the security forces that the Ming Dynasty government built the Linqing brick city outside the granary.

Linqing brick city is known as "Qitou City" in history, also known as the crown hat city, this shape is due to the original granary layout. "Warehouse" is the general term, and "廒" is the warehouse for storing grain. With the house as the storage unit, every few houses are a house, and they are lined up one after another, which is magnificent. The total of the three warehouses of Linqing, Guangji and Changying has as many as 801 warehouses.

Since the dredging of the Huitong River in the Ming Dynasty, Linqing is located between the north and south of Beijing, known as "the first wharf in the world". The unique geographical location advantage of Linqing's "choking the throat of transportation" makes Linqing granary have the functions of transfer, adjustment of surplus and shortage, and payment of monthly grain.

The canal in Linqing City is full of boats like forests, sails are like shuttles, and a large number of boats come and go to make Linqing a prosperous city in the north of the Yangtze River. Because of the throughput role played by the granary, the grain trading market in Linqing is becoming more and more prosperous. The huge amount of grain bought and sold by the Linqing officials, the military and the common people made it the largest grain trading market in North China.

After the Far Eastern Army's Central Plains Campaign began, the canal fleet of the Southern Corps used the Yellow River waterway to enter the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and launched a surprise attack on important targets along the coast, especially the four major granaries of Huai'an, Jining, Linqing, and Dezhou. The landing force of the Eastern Corps also quickly occupied Tianjin at the first time and took control of the official warehouse in Tianjin.

The Ming guards guarding the banks of the canal had long been rotten from the inside out, and in the face of the fierce Far Eastern Army, they were basically crushed at the touch of a button. The Far Eastern Army easily occupied all important targets of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

After Qin Ergou led a battalion of the field division to Linqingzhou, he quickly took over the defense of various places and replaced the armed police force that had been struggling to support it for several days.

The officers and men of the armed police force, who had just joined the army for a year, all breathed a sigh of relief, after all, they were all recruits who had never experienced any battles, and the pressure on them could be imagined with 200 people guarding such an important target.

Qin Ergou asked Wang Si to take the troops to have a good rest, and he also kept patrolling various posts, for fear that something would go wrong. He and the battalion instructor came to the city wall of Linqingzhou City and overlooked the scene in Linqingzhou City from the top of the city.

The city of Linqingzhou in this era is very lively and prosperous. The wharf outside the city is also a place where merchants come and go, and the canal ships are like shuttles every day, and the wharf is also crowded with people, cars and horses.

There are 32 flower willow alleys and 72 orchestra buildings in the city of Linqingzhou, these are all gold caves, many merchants and officials on the canal from all over the country, soak in the wine pond every day, and are extremely extravagant.

But now the originally prosperous and lively Linqingzhou City is full of silence at this time, and even the lights are sparse. Since the Far Eastern Army occupied the city of Linqingzhou and many granaries, the Ming troops stationed here were scattered and fled.

The Far Eastern Army took over the city of Linqingzhou and did not take any action, but tried to maintain order in the city as much as possible. At the beginning of the battle, some of the miscellaneous ruffians in the city took advantage of the fire to loot, but they were all turned out by the Far Eastern Army from all corners of the city and killed in the streets with bayonets.

At that time, the places of execution were all in the most prosperous areas of the city, with blood all over the streets, the terrible howls of the city fox and rats, and a bloody corpse, which were hung high in various parts of the city, swaying back and forth with the spring breeze, and the scene was extremely bloody and violent.

The iron-blooded methods of the Far Eastern Army also played a great deterrent role in many well-intentioned people in the city. Whether it was the officials and gentry in the city, or the wealthy businessmen who came and went from the north to the south, they all stayed at home honestly, the door was closed, and they did not dare to make the slightest move.

The people at the bottom inside and outside the city are even more afraid, once the city is broken in this era, the fate of the people waiting for the city is often extremely miserable, the family property is looted, the women are abused by the prostitution, the old and the young are mutilated, the young and strong are requisitioned, if you encounter a brutal military general, the behavior of slaughtering the whole city is not uncommon.

As soon as the Far Eastern Army entered the city, it set off a round of iron-blooded killings inside and outside the city.

Because Linqingzhou is located in the key chong, it is the 13 provinces in the north and south, and the largest trade route wharf in Jiangbei, so the wharf in and outside the city is mixed, and all kinds of underworld forces are intertwined, which is extremely chaotic.

A large number of porters, coachmen, and boatmen who come here to beg for a living are all ruthless people. The city fox society rats and gazag ruffians are all over the city, and once there is chaos in the city, it is bound to lose control, so the Far Eastern Army is the first to clean them up.

In just two days, more than 1,000 ruffians from all walks of life who had plagued the city were killed in various streets of Linqing City. There are also thousands of miscellaneous ruffians who have been put on a heavy flail of dozens of catties and displayed on the streets.

In addition, some of the ruffians who fled in all directions also did evil everywhere, and they were also captured by the Far Eastern Army and directly cut off their heads. The Jingguan made of hundreds of heads is placed on the most prosperous wharf outside Linqingzhou.

In the face of such iron-blooded methods of the Far Eastern Army, the city of Linqing was suddenly in order, and even in broad daylight, few people went out on the streets. The shops in the streets and alleys were closed for several days, making the city and outside Linqingzhou a dead silence.

Although the methods of the Far Eastern Army were tough and ruthless, all units strictly observed military discipline, strictly forbidding stepping into civilian houses, molesting women, forcibly buying and selling, drinking alcohol, prostitution, and privateering......

As long as you dare to violate these military discipline regulations, you will be killed on the spot once they are verified.

All the troops camped in the abandoned barracks of the Ming army, and many of the troops who carried out patrols in the city slept on the streets. Even in the heavy rain, the troops remained the same, and even the soldiers who stood guard at night wore raincoats and stood in the heavy rain for the night.

Early the next morning, Qin Ergou and the instructor got up early and patrolled at various sentry posts.

"Boom...... Rumble ......"

Suddenly there was a dull sound of horses' hooves outside the city, Qin Ergou and the instructor hurriedly ran towards the city wall, and when they climbed the city wall out of breath, the officers and soldiers of the Far East Army at the head of the city had already prepared for battle.

Qin Ergou took the binoculars to observe, and there were hundreds of horsemen not far from the city rushing to the outside of Linqingzhou City. At this time, the sky was dark, and in the early morning there was another layer of mist, and the visibility was so low that it was impossible to see the situation of the horse team under the city.

Although he knew that the horse team under the city was most likely a reinforced cavalry battalion, he must not be sloppy at this time.

At this time, the communicator of the battalion headquarters rushed to the city with the radio on his back, and shouted out of breath: "Battalion commander...... The airship sent a telegram, adding ...... Reinforcements of cavalry have arrived and are currently under the city...... is waiting under the city to enter the ......" (To be continued.) )