With the arrival of 30,000 rebels led by Li Jiucheng and his son, 50,000 rebels have gathered outside Laizhou.

The 50,000 people need grain and grass every day, and the rebels' food and grass supply all depends on burning, killing and looting.

So Kong Youde convened the main generals of the rebel army to discuss countermeasures and redeploy the rebels.

Li Jiucheng, Li Yingyuan, Wang Bingzhong, Liu Chengzu and other rebel generals continued to besiege Laizhou City, while Kong Youde, Mao Chenglu, Chen Guangfu, and Cao Shaozhong rebel generals led 20,000 elite rebel troops to Pingdu City.

For a long time, Kong Youde has always had a wish, that is, to kill all the members of the Cui family in Pingdu City, in order to relieve his mother of the shame of remarrying the Cui family in Pingdu, so he personally led the army to Pingdu this time, preparing to kill the Cui family on the day of breaking the city.

The straight-line distance from Laizhou to Pingdu is less than 100 miles, but there are many peaks on the periphery of Daze Mountain in the middle, so the official road between the two places cannot be a straight line, and the official road from Laizhou to Pingdu should bypass the periphery of Daze Mountain, and the distance between the two places should be increased by at least 100 miles.

Kong Youde led more than 20,000 infantry cavalry, including 5,000 cavalry, 1,000 artillery battalions, and more than 14,000 foot soldiers.

It stands to reason that a small Pingdu city can be captured by only one general, and the rebel generals don't know why Kong Youde is so aggressive.

Don't you know that Kong Youde has already deliberately killed all the Cui family members and razed the entire Pingdu City to the ground to relieve the shame in his heart.

The 20,000 rebels marched 50 miles that day, and in the evening of the same day, Panshiguan camped, and the camp of 20,000 people was, of course, strictly regulated. There are many mounted sentinels, lookout posts, open sentinels, and secret sentinels around the camp gate, and the farthest sentinel cavalry is thirty miles away.

Therefore, in this era, they want to sneak up the camp quietly. It's almost impossible.

In fact, in the minds of Kong Youde and other rebel generals, Pingdu City is also like other states and counties. Unable to resist their own troops at all, it is also a military camp practice to march and camp and send sentinels to detect whether there is any danger in the surroundings.

The barracks were so heavily guarded, of course, there would be no accidents, but that night, a team of sentry spies went out to investigate and did not return all night.

The general of the sentry cavalry reported the news to Kong Youde, who felt that if a team of twenty sentry spies were attacked, at least one or two horsemen would rush to return the letter, but now there was no return, maybe this team of sentry spies found something and was pursuing. Therefore, Kong Youde didn't care, but just ordered the cavalry general to send people along the way to respond.

Kong Youde and other rebel generals did not expect that this group of sentry cavalry was now captured by the Zhenshan Battalion Hunting Division, and was wiped out after getting the information they wanted.

Early the next morning, Kong Youde ordered 20,000 rebels to pull out the camp and continue to march towards Pingdu City along the official road, Kong Youde estimated that according to yesterday's marching speed, the army would reach the periphery of Pingdu City by tomorrow evening at the latest, and the day after tomorrow it would be able to launch an attack on Pingdu City.

On the same day, they marched more than 60 miles and set up camp near Tashan, and the cavalry generals came to report it. There was no news of the sentinels who went out to investigate yesterday.

There were many villages in the vicinity, so Kong Youde blamed these innocent people for the disappearance of the sentry horse, and ordered the rebels to carry out a dehumanizing massacre, and more than a dozen nearby villages were bloodied in one night.

The next day, the rebels left Tower Hill. At this moment, a radius of more than ten miles from Tashan has become a dead land!

After noon, 20,000 rebels marched to the location of Xiaohuakou, which was only twenty miles from Pingdu City. The 20,000 rebels could reach the city of Dapingdu by evening.

Kong Youde was riding on a horse, and beside him were rebel generals such as Mao Chenglu and Chen Guangfu. Kong Youde pointed to the Xiaohuakou peak three or four miles away on the east side of the official road and said: "Although this mountain peak is not steep, it is a continuous mountain, and it is just stuck on the side of the official road in and out of Laizhou and Pingdu. The strategic location here is very important, and our army has to station some troops and horses here in case of emergency. ”

Mao Chenglu, who was riding a horse behind Kong Youde, said: "The marshal is very worried, this is indeed a key point," should send a scout horse to investigate, and then decide how many soldiers to stay, in short, you can't leave a future." ”

Kong Youde nodded and said, "Chen Guangfu will stay, give you 2,000 foot soldiers to guard this place, and the rest of the cavalry battalion and car battalion will not pause, and continue to march towards Pingdu City." ”

"The marshal can rest assured, no matter whether there are thieves entrenched in the mountain here, the general will occupy it and relieve the worries of the army."

"Okay, Ben Shuai is waiting for your good news in Pingdu City." With a wave of his whip, the horse rushed forward, Mao Chenglu and other rebel generals followed closely, and the rebels of the horseshoe rumbling brigade galloped towards Pingdu.

The footsteps of horses, chariots, and soldiers raised clouds of dust on the official road, winding all the way towards Pingdu City.

When the rebels led away from the army, Chen Guangfu waved his hand and ordered the Chinese army beside him: "First send a team of horses to explore the mountains, and after a short rest, first send a team of horses to the mountains to investigate......"

In the evening, Kong Youde's rebels arrived outside Pingdu City, Kong Youde ordered the rebels to camp in the north of Pingdu City ten miles away from the city, while it was still early, Kong Youde, Mao Chenglu, Cao Shao and other rebel generals and their subordinates approached Pingdu City to personally inspect the defense of Pingdu City.

In the impression of Kong Youde and others, at this time, the defense soldiers at the head of Pingdu City should be the people who were temporarily driven to the head of the city, and the head of the city should be in chaos.

However, seeing that the head of the city of Pingdu is a strict group, the various flags at the head of the city are in order, the guards can be faintly seen on the city wall coming and going, constantly carrying all kinds of materials to the city, and there are rows of soldiers waiting for the city at the mouth of the city wall.

Seeing the tense and orderly preparations for the battle at the head of Pingdu City, Kong Youde and other rebel generals were all shocked, looking at the posture of Pingdu City, it seemed that they had been prepared for the arrival of their army, and this posture seemed to be even more difficult to deal with than Laizhou City.

Kong Youde and others rode their horses around Pingdu City, and found that the four gates of Pingdu City were tightly closed, the suspension bridge was hung high, and the whole city was filled with a tense and orderly atmosphere.

Kong Youde was secretly suspicious, and couldn't help but ask Mao Chenglu on his side: "Where did the soldiers come from to defend the city in Pingdu City, could it be the imperial court reinforcements?" ”

Mao Chenglu shook his head and frowned: "The imperial court reinforcements are not gathered so quickly, and they will not shrink into the city to defend, I think these city defenders are like the generals under the generals of Pingdu City." ”

Cao Shaozhong interjected: "Marshal, could it be the soldiers and horses guarding the flood camp in Pingdu Prefecture?" This person's name is Feng Jian, he was born as a thief in Dazeshan, and it is normal for him to have some soldiers and horses. ”

Kong Youde's eyes jumped slightly, and he said viciously: "I think Bacheng is a ghost caused by the garrison of the Pingdu Prefecture Flood Battalion, this kid really can't underestimate him, I heard Wang Hui say that all the warships in the Dengzhou Naval Division Battalion were transferred by him, but I don't know where they were transferred." ”

Mao Chenglu said: "It turns out that the Dengzhou Navy Division's warship was taken away by this person, so it's just right, when our army breaks through Pingdu City to capture this person, and forces the Dengzhou warship to find out, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone!" ”

Kong Youde shook his head, pointed to the south of Pingdu City, and said: "Things are not so simple, I just checked the other party's military camp on the bank of the Jiaolai River, and found that it was empty, and there were no ships in the Jiaolai River, so it is not difficult to see the other party's determination to protect Pingdu City. Don't think about the Dengzhou Navy Division's warship! ”

Saying that, he shouted viciously: "Hmph, no matter how tightly defended this Pingdu City is, this commander will also swear to raze this Pingdu City to the ground!" ”

As long as the interests of the rebels are not harmed, Mao Chenglu, Cao Shao and others will naturally not object, and they will follow on the side and let Kong Youde roar.

After inspecting Pingdu City and its surrounding defenses, Kong Youde and the others felt that this Pingdu City must not be taken lightly, Kong Youde's face became gloomy, and he took the lead in galloping towards the camp.

Behind him, Mao Chenglu, Cao Shao and other generals also felt that there was no light-hearted joke on this Pingdu City, and everyone was silent and rode their horses to follow Kong Youde and galloped towards the camp.

……

At this time, there was also a solemn atmosphere in the meeting hall of the Pingdu City Garrison Mansion, and Liaohai Haiphong Dao Chen stroked his long beard when he heard it, and said to Feng Jian anxiously: "Kong Youde's 20,000 rebels are coming, and we only have 3,000 soldiers guarding the city, which is a bit hanging!" ”

"Lord Chen is extremely worried, and Xia Guan is also worried about this!" Fang Zengwei shook his head as he spoke, "I knew that Kong Youde's 20,000 rebels were coming, so I should have selected some of the fleeing people to participate in the defense. ”

Zhao Shougang, Fan Li, and Huang Jinjiang, who were standing behind Feng Jian, couldn't say anything, but they each looked at Fang Zengwei with some disdain.

Feng Jian looked the same as usual, and said with a smile at Chen Suowen: "Twenty thousand rebels are flocking here, and it is normal for my father-in-law to be worried. Perhaps the rebels will fight more fiercely with us, but Pingdu City will never fall into the hands of the rebels. ”

Chen Suowen's face improved slightly, and he said to Feng Jian: "I know that many arrangements have been made to deal with the rebels, and I also believe that you and the generals who defend the city can defend Pingdu City, although Lord Fang and I cannot go to the city to participate in the attack and defense, but we will provide you with everything you need in the rear, and only by being sincere and united can we repel Kong Youde's rebellion." ”

Fang Zengwei was still not at ease, and sighed: "As long as these rebels retreat and don't come to harm the local people in Pingdu, this Kong Youde rebels are very cruel, try not to anger them." Hey, I hope Kong Youde's rebels can retreat in the face of difficulties! ”

Feng Jian stood up and bowed slightly to his father-in-law, nodded to Fang Zengwei and said: "Kong Youde led the rebels to Pingdu Scourge Township, for this reason this official has been fully prepared to meet the enemy, I promise that he will regret it for the rest of his life, Pingdu City is the place where he and his rebels are buried." ”

Feng Jian then said to Zhao Shougang and Fan Li: "The rebels set up their camp ten miles outside the Cheng'en Gate, which does not mean that the other party will attack from one direction of the north gate alone, you must always be vigilant against the other party and dispatch superior forces against the enemy at any time." ”

Zhao Shougang nodded and said, "From the information sent back by Shen Xiaoshan, I know that Kong Youde's rebel soldiers carry an artillery battalion, with more than 50 Western cannons and more than 200 Franc machine guns. According to Xilao, these more than ten Western artillery pieces were built when they were in Dengzhou, and their power is the same as that of the Western cannons installed at the head of our city, and their subordinates are worried that the opponent's artillery fire will cause damage to the city wall. ”！！ (To be continued......)