Since the Spring Festival, Yan Jizu has been very worried in Jinan.

Since the Spring Festival, there have been five troops and horses passing under the city of Jinan, two of which are composed of cavalry, each with more than 3,000 people, all wearing the plate armor of the Denglai army.

This surprised Yan Jizu, didn't the cavalry of the Denglai Army only have 4,000 people? Where did these six thousand cavalry come from? These 6,000 cavalry looked carefully, whether it was a horse or an infantry, it was worse than the Denglai cavalry that Yan Jizu often saw galloping from under the city of Jinan, but the 6,000 people were real.

Within a few days, another infantry army of nearly 6,000 men came from the west, and these infantry troops did not have many horses, but a few horses and mules to transport the baggage.

But these 6,000 people are the same as the Denglai army, holding Senhan's spears, and the pikemen are also all armored, and they are all plate armor with stronger defense than zha armor.

The plates were painted black, and when you stood on the city wall, it looked like you had seen a large black hedgehog. In addition to pikemen, there were also musketeers, and everyone was also armed with the muskets of the Denlai army.

In that infantry army, there were even 200 guns.

After another five days, another infantry army came from the city of Jinan, which looked a little different from the previous general appearance and the infantry of the Denglai army, but it should not be underestimated.

Before Yan Jizu Ansheng was born for a few days, he heard a report from his subordinates that another infantry army came. This infantry soldier rode horses, and it seemed that it was the third battalion that went to Huguang last year to assist Lu Xiangsheng in suppressing the thieves.

The infantry of the Denglai army is very elite, everyone has a horse, the soldiers ride on horseback, it is said that it can be two or three hundred miles, and the way to distinguish the cavalry and the infantry army is also very simple, and it can be seen at a glance from the equipment.

The cavalry was armed with sabers, muskets, and plate armor. The infantry had pikemen, and the musketeers were equipped with leather armor, which could tell the difference at a glance.

Where did Zhao Yan conjure up nearly 20,000 horses?

And almost all of them are elites, and the sophistication of the armor is far from being comparable to the officers and armies of other roads. As far as Yan Jizu knows, the military strength of the Denglai Army is estimated to be at least 30,000!

Before, Yan Jizu had just taken office, and he didn't know much about Zhao Yan, the chief soldier of Denglai, and only then did he realize the horror of this martial artist.

Other generals, even if they raise their families, the most Liaodong generals have only two or three thousand horses, and it is impossible to be as well-armored as this.

And Zhao Yan's troops, according to Yan Jizu's estimate, are at least 30,000.

It made Yan Jizu's mood suddenly extremely worried, since taking office, he had carefully rectified the military and political affairs in Shandong, and the officers and soldiers he saw were all regarded as discarded, they couldn't even eat, and most of the weapons were stolen and sold by military attachés.

What makes Yan Jizu even more uncomfortable is that Zhao Yan's status in Shandong is even above him as a governor, and as far as Denglai's military affairs are concerned, the officers and soldiers of Denglai's guards don't buy his account at all.

Bingbei Dao was sent to Laizhou, but no one bought it, and Haiphong Dao was sent to Dengzhou, but no one paid attention to it.

However, this martial artist is very popular, and his henchmen are everywhere in Shandong, and there are even a number of Shandong officials in the DPRK who support him, and he has won the trust of the saints.

Last time, I gave him a little color, and I wanted to tame this warrior for my own use, but I didn't expect this guy to be so unruly.

Yan Jizu, who was born in Haiden, Fujian, knows very well the strength of Zheng Zhilong, Hayden is the most rapidly developing smuggling port in the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong's activity center is in that area (Xiamen area), and there are 100,000 sailors under his hands.

But on the other hand, this guy is only tens of thousands of horses, and his tail has been cocked to the sky.

The more Yan Jizu thought about it, the more angry he became, but the worries also existed, the Denglai army fought rapidly, and in the first month of the seventh year, it took only six days to rush from Shandong to Fengyang, and it was to annihilate the thieves who invaded Zhongdu in one fell swoop.

At the same time, the firearms of the Denglai army are even sharper, as long as you investigate in Denglai, you can constantly hear the sound of artillery from outside the barracks, sometimes a hundred cannons are fired in unison, and sometimes a group of arrows are fired angrily.

The sharpness of the firearms of the Denglai army has long been spread among the officers and soldiers of all walks of life with the progress of the crackdown on the thieves, and when Zhao Yan's name is mentioned, the thieves can be described as frightened.

What are these thieves most afraid of? One is the firearms of the Denglai army, the thieves are all in a dense formation, in terms of the combat quality of the thieves, they can only rely on the dense formation to win, what kind of straggler tactics, for the thieves, it is all floating clouds. As soon as the formation was in dense formation, the firearms of the Denglai army would immediately suffer heavy casualties.

The second fear is the relentless pursuit of the Denglai army, the thief's ability to survive is to wander, but where the thief's brigade runs, the Denglai army will chase after it.

If you want to get rid of the pursuit of the Denglai army, you can only scatter the team. But once the thieves are dispersed, it will be difficult to gather the original people.

Therefore, the thief would rather fight with King Lu Yan than touch Zhao Killing's bad head. And the officers and soldiers from all walks of life were excited, sweeping away the malaise when Li Zicheng killed Ai Wannian and Cao Wenzhao in the spring of the eighth year.

What worries Yan Jizu the most now is, what is this guy doing when he sends so many soldiers and horses back to Shandong? Now that Zhao Yan has so many soldiers and horses in Shandong, it makes people jealous to think about it, let alone rectify him.

Yan Yuyao, the eldest lady of the Yan family, saw that her father's face was not good, and she was clever and immediately contacted Zhao Yan's recent transfer of soldiers and horses.

"Why should Daddy worry, Zhao Yan mobilized so many soldiers and horses to return to Shandong, which is also good for Daddy." Yan Yuyao persuaded.

"What's the benefit, if he wants to plot a rebellion, your father will be the first to suffer." Yan Jizu said in annoyance, Yan Yuyao couldn't help but smile: "Daddy, what you said is too serious." ”

Yan Jizu couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head, even if Zhao Yan wanted to rebel, it was not in the past few years, he was saying that his performance in the past few years had always been loyal and brave, and there was no defensible reason for him to rebel.

However, the strength he has has indeed reached the point of suspicion, that is 30,000 soldiers and horses! 30,000 soldiers and horses may not seem like much, but in fact, the soldiers and horses of the Denglai army are all elite soldiers, and it is not impossible to rebel.

"Even if he wants to rebel, he will need to prepare for at least seven or eight years, or even more than ten years, and by then his father will have already taken up his position, and the responsibility will not fall on his father." Yan Yuyao said confidently.

"Then tell me, what are the benefits of so many soldiers and horses being transferred back to Shandong for my father?" Yan Jizu touched his beard and thought about it, and asked his daughter.

Yan Yuyao said with a smile: "First of all, there are many soldiers and horses in Denglai, and the territory of Shandong will definitely be pacified, and the general army of Denglai has always been the most active in suppressing bandits, and if those Wenxiang Sect and White Lotus Sect are revived, they will be able to suppress it immediately." Because Denglai needs a lot of laborers to build roads, so that he can protect his father without worry. ”

"Hmmm! Reasonable. Yan Jizu nodded thoughtfully, Zhao Yan has always been very active in suppressing bandits, not so much active in suppressing bandits, but active in arresting people.

"Moreover, Zhao Yan and his father's methods are actually the same, and he also saw the saint's distrust of the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military affairs, so he won the saint's trust." Yan Yuyao analyzed, "If we join forces with him, it will be easy to make political achievements in Shandong." ”

"It's nothing to join forces, but this son is unruly, how can he be used by me?" Yan Jizu frowned.

"Why don't you let go of your prejudices about civil and military affairs, so that it will be much easier to cooperate. I heard that the prefect of Dengzhou had a close relationship with Zhao Yan, and this year he borrowed 1 million taels of silver from Zhao Yan to repair water conservancy and roads in Dengzhou. Yan Yuyao suggested: "Zhao Yan has strong capital, if he helps, my father will definitely be able to make some achievements in Shandong." ”

"Ahem......" Yan Jizu coughed lightly twice, obviously not accepting this opinion, but just said: "I'll send some people to Dengzhou to have a look after a while." ”

"Why don't you go in person in a few days! By the way, take a trip to Denglai. Yan Yuyao said.

"Hmmm! That's fine, too! However, it's a good idea to bring more guards when you go out. Yan Jizu did not object, and asked his daughter to go to Dengzhou in person, and the feedback was the most credible.

"It's okay, I heard from the merchants that the Denglai bandits have been completely eliminated, and it should be enough to bring five or six people."

…… In the distance along the Glue River, a team of nearly 10,000 people is wielding tools and repairing roads. These laborers, dressed in uniform clothing.

The clothes on their chests had the word 'change' on them, and people knew at a glance that they were prisoners of Denglai's labor camp.

How many RTL prisoners are there in Denglai? Ordinary people don't know very well, but a few have 20,000 or 30,000, but in fact, the number of prisoners in labor reform has reached more than 40,000, nearly 50,000.

Most of these prisoners came from bandits, thieves, and criminals from Denglai, as well as the Dutch who had been defeated and captured in battle.

In the so-called troubled times, the bandits captured by the bandits in various places were all re-educated through labor for two years, and then assigned to the cantonment and reclamation.

Those bandit leaders are regarded as dangerous elements, and they have to be reformed through labor for at least five years, and some even have to be reformed through labor for more than ten years, and the backbone of the thieves is regarded as dangerous elements, and five or six years of labor reform is the least, as for those captured bandit leaders, there are relatively few, and they are generally cut down directly and sent to Beijing to report their merits, or they are sent to Beijing to be chopped alive.

The sweeping king is one of the typical cases of being chopped alive, and I heard that he was slashed more than 3,000 times before he died in Beijing. Han Sheng, the sky-turning monkey, is the luckiest one.

At the same time, there are also some criminals in Denglai, and most of these criminals have committed some trivial things, such as stealing chickens and dogs, and they have also been arrested and sent to labor reform.

Generally speaking, the period of re-education through labor for this kind of minor crime is only six months to two years, and if the crimes of robbery, murder, and forcible annihilation are committed, they will even be subject to re-education through labor for life.

These criminals who behave extremely badly will have tattoos on their faces so that they will not escape. Generally, they are not executed, they are all caught to work.

At this time, one or two carriages were coming from the official road in the distance, and when they passed by these prisoners, the curtain on the carriage was gently opened, and a beautiful shadow flashed inside.

Behind this carriage, there were ten inspection soldiers on horseback to escort it, which couldn't help but attract the attention of passing merchants, who was so pompous? Even the salt of the inspection team had to be escorted.

The woman in the carriage was Yan Yuyao, the daughter of Yan Jizu, after entering Laizhou, she was immediately interrogated by the inspection team, and the inspection team learned that it was the daughter of the governor, for fear that she would have an accident in Denglai, so she hurriedly divided half of the people to escort all the way.

Seeing that the groups of labor prisoners were in full swing of construction, Yan Yuyao was very interested in stopping the carriage, then stepped off the carriage and looked at it on the construction site.

The supervisor on the construction site did not stop him when he saw the soldiers of the inspection team behind Yan Yuyao.

On the construction site, Yan Yuyao immediately saw an overseer who was whipping a white man, who was whipped and screamed, and then quickly picked up the shovel and shoveled the sand and gravel hard. What surprised her even more was that there were two or three thousand white people on the construction site.

"Captain Shi, who are these people?" Yan Yuyao asked Shi Jun, the leader of the inspection team.

"These are the Hongyi people caught at sea." Shi Jun explained.

"Hongyi? How did you catch so much? Yan Yuyao's surprise was even worse, Yan Yuyao, whose hometown was in Hayden, naturally knew more about the situation at sea, the Hongyi people were a tyrant on the southeast coast, and even Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to provoke them to easily provoke trouble.

"If they dare to attack Qingdao, they are naturally killing themselves." Shi Jun said with a natural expression, not feeling anything wrong at all.

As an army officer, he didn't know much about the situation at sea, and he didn't feel anything remarkable about the Hongyi people.

Yan Yuyao sighed, looked around the construction site, and then returned to the carriage and continued on the road.

When she arrived at the boundary of Huang County, Yan Yuyao saw a different scene from before, only to see that some soldiers and horses could be seen frequently moving on the road from time to time.

Some were camping, some were marching, and it looked like they were training. At this time, a cavalry squad of more than 50 people took over Shi Jun's escort mission.

These fifty cavalrymen were not as good at talking as Shi Jun, and wherever there were troops, Yan Yuyao had no chance to get close.

However, she still saw a hint of something unusual from these clues, as if Denglai's soldiers and horses were preparing something.

What are they going to do? This made Yan Yuyao puzzled.

There was no way to investigate Denglai's military situation, Yan Yuyao had to wander around other unrestricted places, and since entering the boundary of Huang County, all she saw was a thriving scene.

Almost all the cultivated land was planted with crops, and no wasteland was seen. Yan Yuyao also made a special trip to several tundi, and found that the tundi was training young and strong everywhere.

These young and strong men are not chaotic and act as one. Yan Yuyao was even teaching women to use muskets at a tun chief.

…… Since the beginning of spring, Denglai's preparations have been intensive.

The personnel of the new barracks have been expanded to more than 30,000 people, and the front-line troops have been reorganized once again.

Zhao Yong's first infantry battalion was named Dengzhou Battalion, Wang Wenyue's second battalion was named Laizhou Battalion, and the third battalion that returned to Shandong from Huguang was named Qingzhou Battalion.

The first cavalry battalion was named the Forward Battalion, the second cavalry battalion was named the Wind Battalion, and a cavalry artillery battalion and an engineer battalion were formed.

The infantry battalion was reorganized, originally only 600 musketeers per battalion, but after the reorganization, it was expanded to 3,000 people, with 1,500 pikemen, 600 artillery men, and 200 75mm howitzers. In order to reduce the logistical pressure, the longbowmen were converted into musketeers, and the number of rocketeers was increased to 100, and there were 1,000 auxiliaries (engineers, miscellaneous soldiers, baggage soldiers). The size of an infantry battalion reached about 7,000 people.

The cavalry battalion also began to expand, each battalion again expanded by 2,000 men, and the number of cavalry in each battalion reached 4,000, and the cavalry artillery battalion was a newly established mobile artillery unit with a surname of 1,000 personnel, equipped with 200 artillery pieces, and four horses per person. Equipped with so many horses, the main thing was to pull artillery with ammunition.

The engineer battalion numbered 1,500 people, mostly selected from among the miners.

The five battalions of the Dengzhou Battalion, the Laizhou Battalion, the Cavalry Artillery Battalion, the Pioneer Battalion, and the Hurricane Battalion were organized into the regimental-level military formation of the 'Denglai Regiment', with a total of 25,000 personnel.

The reorganization of the Denglai Army was very intense, and after the Spring Festival, a large-scale recruitment was immediately announced, and the original 10,000 reserve troops in the new barracks were suddenly tightened, and they had to start recruiting young and strong people from various cantonments.

Fortunately, most of the troops in this expansion were musketeers and cavalry, and cavalry has always been the focus of training in the new barracks, and there were originally 5,000 cavalry in the new barracks being trained.

Although the number of musketeers is insufficient, there are many musketeers in each cantonment, and the training of musketeers recruited from cantonment is very simple.

In all aspects of loading, shooting, and retreating, these young men have been trained many times, and some of them are not much worse than those veterans in terms of rate of fire.

At the same time, the musketeers are not too strict with the physical fitness requirements, as long as they can ride horses, they can enter the rapid march, and in the training of the tundi, physical fitness is also one of the items that are often trained, plus when the young and strong participate in the training, they can also get some pork to eat from time to time, plus they are better than the child, and they are also supplementing the intake of eggs and milk meat.

With adequate protein intake, combined with working in the fields and regular training, many young and strong bodies have a kind of imposing momentum.

After the troop supply was in place, all of them were directly incorporated into the combat battalion, and the new barracks recruited another 3,000 people to meet the requirements of the navy.

In addition, in February, an infantry battalion and a cavalry battalion drawn from Yingzhou and Handan had already arrived at Denglai, and Zhao Yan immediately formed the Liaodong Army.

The Liaodong Army consisted of two cavalry battalions of 3,000 men, plus two infantry battalions of 6,000 men, and a Denglai artillery battalion of 2,000 men.

The total number of troops reached 20,000.

The battalions are also seizing the time to train so that they can train these recruits as soon as possible. The generals of the various ministries are much more concerned about training than before, almost to the point of perversion.

Even ordinary recruits can feel a tense atmosphere in the army, as if they are sharpening their guns in battle, and even cultural classes have stopped.

From marching, reconnaissance, forced marching, camping, fighting, pursuit, cleaning the battlefield, etc., all are practiced, and a regimental exercise is conducted every 15 days, Zhao Yan often participates in training with the soldiers, and presides over the regimental exercise every 15 days.

When the soldiers saw the chief soldier training with them, they could only suppress their complaints and grit their teeth and insist.

Although it is a little bitter, the treatment has also improved a lot, there is enough meat every day, there is stewed chicken every day, and some herbs to replenish energy are also put in.

In order to deal with the entry of Jiannu in June, Zhao Yan can be said to have made a bloody investment, sharpening his knife and sharpening his knife to give the Manchu Qing a ruthless knife, so he expanded the scale of the front-line troops.

The composition of the Denglai Regiment is all mobile surname troops. In the war with the Manchu Qing Dynasty to attack the city and seize the land, the second-line troops were sufficient, but in order to fight with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it was necessary to have sufficient speed.

Therefore, the artillery battalion, which was mainly used to attack the fortifications, was not incorporated into the Denglai Regiment, and the cannon of the artillery battalion was twice as heavy as the grenade brand, which could only be played in the Liaodong battlefield and had little effect in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

In order to prepare for the war, the horses in the Zhangjiakou horse market suddenly became in demand. The horse market in Zhangjiakou can be said to be the main source of horses in Denglai.

Zhangjiakou was one of the most active areas of Jin merchants, trading with the Manchus to the east, Mongolia to the west, and some Jin merchants even to Mobei to trade.

Since the firm bought nearly 5,000 qualified war horses from the Jin merchants in Zhangjiakou, more than 30,000 horses were purchased for transportation.

After horses began to be in short supply, the Jin merchants began to focus on buying horses from the Manchus and Mongolia, and the Manchus did not control the horse trade very strictly, and they could not control the noble leaders of the Mongolian tribes.

This year, Denglai's budget for the purchase of horses increased, which stabbed the horse trade in Zhangjiakou, and many Mongolian nobles drove horses to Zhangjiakou to trade with the trading houses. The Jin merchants collected Roman horses everywhere in the grassland and Liaodong, and then rushed to Zhangjiakou.

(To be continued)