Chapter 228: Established Facts

Pinghai, the capital of Dengzhou, attacked Luo Hao's 5,000 people, and on the way to Laiyang, they were defeated in the middle of the night, and the heavy grain and grass were burned by the rout, and Luo Hao died in the chaos.

The county commanders of Laiyang and Qixia counties urgently sent letters to the prefect of Dengzhou, and the governor of Shandong was in a hurry, saying that the defeated troops were scattered all over the place, and they immediately became bandits, harassing the locality.

The Ming army likes to go hand in hand, but they don't communicate with each other, and as a result, they are often defeated by the enemy separately, and they don't know how much they fight in such a confused battle outside the pass, but in a small place in Dengzhou, but it is also the same, Luo Hao led 5,000 people from Dengzhou to Laiyang County, and Da Songwei and Jing Haiwei and the soldiers and horses of the three places of Haiyang Qianhu did not know when to set off and how to arrange it.

Da Songwei, Jing Haiwei and Haiyang Qianhu have long been dilapidated and abnormal, and they are only about 3,000 people and horses when they are full of people, and they set off from camps in various places and meet at Haiyang Qianhu House.

After receiving the order, no matter which family was unwilling to set off quickly, they slowly lit up the soldiers and horses, and finished the farm work, and then began to go on the road. However, not long after the two armies of Da Songwei and Jing Haiwei left the place where they were stationed, they were intercepted by the horse team halfway.

Most of the enemies faced by Pinghai guerrilla Luo Hao were foot soldiers, but the soldiers and horses in these places were all cavalry, although the number was slightly smaller, but they were more elite.

The soldiers of Da Songwei and Jinghaiwei were killed on the way and scattered, these years for the generals must seize the troops, the lack of food and salary in the army and the prestige of the generals, so that the soldiers are not willing to stay in the army at all, and in peacetime they have to guard against the soldiers desertion, not to mention that they are broken up in this way, this scattered, not to mention the major casualties, it will be even more difficult to gather into an army.

Not to mention that when the horse team assaulted, the fastest to die was often the general who led the troops, and the Qianzong of Haiyang Qianhu was secretly happy, thinking that it was really good to use his own territory as a place of convergence, at least he didn't have to send him to death, and this Haiyang Qianhu was directly a shrunken turtle.

On February 20 of the 11th year of Chongzhen, the prefect of Dengzhou found that the troops stationed in the territory of Dengzhou Mansion had disappeared from the forces available for mobility, or they were either roaring at night or besieged by bandits.

The emergency reports from the health offices of various prefectures and counties flew in like snowflakes, and the words were quite consistent, all saying that there were a large number of bandits in the cities and villages, and they asked Shangguan to send troops to support them quickly, otherwise there would be drastic changes.

Shandong Prefecture, except for Yanzhou Mansion, the rest of the prefectures and counties are to beware of the White Lotus Sect, Maitreya Sect, Wenxiang Sect uprisings and rebellion all the year round, plus the bandits everywhere ringing horses, have become a tradition, often there are county governors, and even the prefect and military reserve officials at this level were impeached and removed from office because of this, everyone is very nervous about this, the following report, the prefect is also panicked, regardless of the face of the Shandong General Army, while sending someone to send a letter to the governor, while sending a letter to Li Meng, the general of the Laizhou Mansion, Request for assistance in guarding various parts of Dengzhou.

By the beginning of March, the soldiers and horses of Qiu Lei, the general soldier of Shandong, who were originally guarding various places in Dengzhou Mansion, were already in chaos, and the few soldiers and horses that could still be used were all cowering in Dengzhou Mansion and Huang County, and they did not dare to go out lightly, while the soldiers and horses of Li Meng, the general guarding Laizhou, still did not move in Laizhou Mansion.

Hurry up and send the letter, this passed through Laizhou Mansion and Qingzhou Mansion when there was no obstacle, Jinan Mansion, Qiu Lei of Shandong General Soldier Yamen couldn't help but have black eyes, and in a blink of an eye, he saw that his hands and feet had been cut off in Dengzhou.

Continue to send troops and horses? The combat effectiveness of the more than 8,000 people is also known, they are all killed by the main generals, the soldiers are scattered, will the rest of the faction have any good end? Moreover, the capital of the general's arrogance and domineering all depends on the army in his hands, and now there are suddenly a few thousand fewer people, which is already a loss of vitality, and if there is any less, I am afraid that it will be troublesome.

Moreover, he sent troops to pass through Laizhou and Qingzhou, and seized Li Meng's food and salary, and the other party would not give up the road so easily, and those things in Dengzhou, thinking about it, it was only possible for Li Meng to do it, although the local government and gentry said that the soldiers and horses were defeated and bandits harassed, who would believe that Li Meng was more likely to pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger, but he couldn't find a reason.

The contradiction between the two sides is already well known to passers-by in Shandong officialdom, and everyone knows that a written lawsuit has started because of the issue of military salaries, and if they say that the other party is in flames, there is a chance that they will be misunderstood.

In such a situation, if you send troops over, wouldn't it be deep into the tiger's den and provoke the tiger who pretends to be a pig, the general soldier of Shandong is really angry, and his mother-in-law is crying in the back house all day long, saying that his brother-in-law Luo Hao can't die so unexplained, he must find out, but he can't do it yet, he has to go to the lawsuit, Liu Fulai, the eunuch of Nanjing Town, is the backstage of the other party, and his own relationship is afraid that he can't take advantage of it.

Thinking of the end, Qiu Lei, the chief soldier of Shandong, almost vomited blood and came to the conclusion that he could only give up the territory of Dengzhou, pinching his nose and admitting this loss, fortunately, Jinan Mansion is still rich, and now he can only guard this territory, and it can only be so, the general of Shandong can only manage one government, and the sphere of influence of the generals who guard one place is almost four, which is really putting the cart before the horse.

In mid-March, under the call of the "ardent heart" and "enthusiasm and eagerness" of the Dengzhou fathers and elders, the yamen at all levels in Shandong were as good as the stream, and ordered the generals to guard the Laizhou Mansion to assist in the defense of the Dengzhou Mansion.

After this order, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, still got some benefits from the salt merchants, anyway, when Liu Zeqing showed signs of rebellion that day, he also ordered Li Meng, the general of the staff to guard Laizhou, to go to the guard, and this order was also familiar. Thinking about such an urgent matter, the governor Yamen was reluctant to mobilize the soldiers and horses of the chief soldier Qiu Lei, the reason was that the person was abnormally domineering, and the expedition and garrison were often bargaining, how could Li Meng be so respectful and obedient, and how much money was paid for the tribute.

Although the power of Li Meng, the general who guarded the Laizhou Mansion, was getting bigger and bigger, he couldn't stand being obedient and sensible, and the territory was bigger, and there were many suspicious places in Dengzhou, but the officials and gentry were all talking, and so many people were talking together, even if it was not true.

What is the basis of the rule of the Ming Dynasty, it is these gentry landlords, most of the civil officials are born in these local fame with land and wealth, the imperial dynasties, the yamen institutions are at most set up to the county, there is no agency representing the imperial court below the county, in fact, the people who exercise the ruling power are these gentry and landlords.

Li Meng increased the income of these gentry and landlords through private salt, made these gentry landlords feel awe through a strong army and fair practices, and made these gentry landlords and himself have a vital interest through the children of the gentry to join the army.

In fact, the Jiaozhou battalion already controlled the gentry of Qingzhou, Laizhou, and Dengzhou, and with the influence of these gentry and landlords, the local officials had to be obedient, otherwise, they would not be able to do anything.

The matter of the garrison is also simple, it is nothing more than Zhao Neng, the capital of Pingdu Prefecture, who led his soldiers and horses into Laiyang, and the landlords and gentry in Laiyang County and the surrounding areas are dealing with the people of the Jiaozhou battalion every day, and they are already familiar and can no longer be familiar. Everything went smoothly.

The Jiaozhou battalion began to recruit soldiers again, but the effect of this recruitment was not too satisfactory, although the standard was lowered, there were very few people who could be recruited, and what made people laugh was that there were few people who were recruited, and there were several categories of people who almost met the standards.

The first is the backbone of the Shandong Xiangma bandits, the second is the rout of the Dengzhou army, and the third is the children of the Haoqiang family in various places, especially the children of the Haoqiang family, which is almost strikingly similar, that is, the scoundrels and ruffians who do not learn well, are notorious and lawless in the local area.

The previous batch of Haoqiang children existed as the nature of protons, but when these children went home during the holidays, the elders of the family were surprised to find that the children had made great progress, not to mention the rules of doing things, and there was a little more calm, of course, after returning home, the young people with strong blood always had to fight, these young people who had stayed in the Jiaozhou camp first tolerated and reasoned, and then really started to move, which was more powerful than before.

This makes their elders very happy, the child behaves like this, it is the appearance of doing great things, this Jiaozhou camp is really a bit of a doorway, and the training is good!

As a result, in this second recruitment, the landlords and squires in many places in Shandong, and even the officials who went home to Zhishi, sent their children over, hoping that the Jiaozhou battalion would take care of the children for them.

After Li Meng knew about this phenomenon, he was quite emotional, when he was a soldier in modern times, the local recruiters often recruited some young people who were misbehaving, and they all said that the army was a melting pot and a big school, and the children would be sensible after a few years in the army, these people made Li Meng very annoyed when he brought new soldiers, and he didn't expect that the ancient and modern times were quite similar, but for him now, this is also a good thing.

The closer the Jiaozhou battalion and the local gentry are combined, the stronger and stronger the Jiaozhou battalion can provide a better and better environment, but the deeper the foundation in Shandong, the farther away the relocation is seen.