Among the 300 people, more than 200 were miners of the original Laizhou iron mine. What is even more surprising is that more than 20 of them turned out to be blacksmith apprentices and people with experience in blacksmithing.

In wartime, blacksmiths were also a fairly scarce resource, so it was impossible for there to be any blacksmiths among the people assigned to Wu Shigong. But even if that's the case, shouldn't those reserve blacksmiths be treated as people's husbands?

Wu Shigong didn't know that the main force of Zuihou's defense of Laizhou City had been organized by the Laizhou Mine Supervisor, and there were more than 10,000 miners and blacksmith apprentices. And when it came to recruiting people, those officials were also lazy, so they requisitioned these militiamen. This made Wu Shigong choose such a bargain.

Without saying a word, appease first, and serve white flour cakes and large pots of meat first. This enthusiastic attitude made the hearts of those people hairy. Isn't this scientific? When did such a people's soldier appear in the Ming Dynasty?

The next step is the settling-in fee. Runing Camp announced: As long as these people are willing to go to Henan, those who can strike iron will be given five taels of silver, and those who can't strike iron will be given two taels of silver. And the cost of the family's relocation was paid by Runing Camp.

And Runing Camp also promised that as long as they arrived in Henan, everyone would have a house and arrange a job to get a salary. When the standard of wages was spoken, the eyes of those people immediately widened in disbelief.

Is there such a good thing? As soon as someone took the lead, seeing that they got the silver for nothing, except for a few dozen people who were really unwilling to leave their hometowns, all the other people enthusiastically signed up.

Of course, there will be some people who have nothing to do with iron ore in this recruitment. But the Runing camp still paid the money. Anyway, the money spent is not much, even if it is a thousand gold to buy horse bones.

The effect of buying horse bones is quite good. When the secret encouragement of the Runing battalion, the recruited people quickly spread the news throughout the military camp, and even spread it to the city of Laizhou, and the blacksmiths and miners of the Laizhou iron mine were all sensational.

But this time, the recruitment of the Runing battalion was not overcharged. The people recruited must have something to do with iron. The standard of settling-in allowance is: 20 taels for blacksmiths and 10 taels for blacksmith apprentices. Miners two by two. All other conditions remain the same. And the blacksmiths and miners who wanted to go to the Runing camp tried their best, and even wanted to smuggle them into the camp of the Runing camp.

But the blacksmiths and miners, though they thought, would not let go of the mine supervisors and military attachés who controlled their comings and goings. But there is a solution to this matter, the transfer fee.

In the end, a transfer fee price was negotiated, 40 taels for blacksmiths, 20 taels for blacksmiths, and 4 taels for miners. Of course, the settling-in allowance paid by the Runing battalion to these blacksmiths and miners remained unchanged.

When the price is negotiated, the business will open immediately. In this recruitment, Wu Shigong recruited a total of twenty-one blacksmiths. One hundred and seven apprentices to blacksmiths, and more than fourteen hundred miners. This almost spent all the money that Wu Shigong had received after the Battle of Shahe.

And Liu Zeqing, the military attache of the coalition army, also deeply admired Wu Shigong's ability to make trouble wherever he went. This movement is so big that Zuihou even Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian have also gotten the news.

But although Wu Shigong's behavior of recruiting blacksmiths and miners on a large scale is a bit strange. But Gao Qiqian, who is connected to the inner court, also roughly understood Wu Shigong's reason.

Ye Zhong, the mine supervisor of Nanyang Iron Mine, asked for help and was not a secret in the inner court. Gao Qiqian also thinks. Wu Shigong recruited iron ore and miners in order to mine his own private mines after returning to Nanyang.

But Gao Qiqian is the great eunuch of the Imperial Horse Prison. It is not to deal with the ceremonial eunuch Wang Chengen and others. Nanyang Iron Mine and Laizhou Iron Mine are under the management of the celebrant supervisor. What trouble they have has nothing to do with high diving. Even Gao Qiqian has some thoughts of gloating from the sidelines.

And Gao Qiqian also secretly told Zhu Dadian this reason, and pointed out Wu Shigong's identity. After understanding, Zhu Dadian immediately had more than one thing to do. The recruitment of Wu Shigong was resigned.

After resting for nearly ten days, after the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, the Ming army set off again on August 16 in the fifth year of Chongzhen. And the Liaodong Army and the Coalition Army were once again in the vanguard.

Kong Youde's rebels also completely abandoned Pingdu. Therefore. On 17 August, more than 20 cavalry spies of the Liaodong Army conquered Pingdu without blood. Then, the Ming army's troops pointed directly at Huang County.

And the Ming army is resting. The rebels also took advantage of the Ming army's rest to build and strengthen the defenses of Huangxian. The small county town of Huangxian will definitely not be able to accommodate the 40,000 troops of the rebels. Therefore, the rebels' strategy was to rely on walls and built trenches and earthen walls for defense. Defend instead of attack and fight a decisive battle with the Ming army.

On August 18, the vanguard of the Liaodong Army reached Huangxian. They engaged in a skirmish with two thousand cavalry sent by the rebels.

In this battle, the rebels suffered a small defeat. After that, the cavalry of the rebels fled in the direction of Huangxian. In fact, the small defeat of the rebels this time was because the rebels wanted to lure the pursuit of the Liaodong Army and use the fixed defense to give the Liaodong Army a blow.

But the Liaodong Army pursued very cautiously, because after the last Battle of Shahe, the small losses suffered by the Liaodong Army during the pursuit have not been forgotten. Therefore, when they saw the rebel fortifications, after trying to fight to no avail, the Liaodong army retreated.

However, the main forces of the Liaodong Army and the coalition army all arrived, and after several test attacks and fire reconnaissance, the vanguard of the Ming army basically figured out the defensive arrangements of the rebels. Then, the vanguard of the Ming army confronted the rebels, waiting for the arrival of the main force of the Ming army.

On August 19, the main force of the Ming army arrived. In the afternoon of the same day, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian summoned all the military attachés above the garrison level for a pre-war military meeting.

At the beginning of the military discussion, according to the usual practice, Jin Guoqi first introduced the defense of the rebels and put forward operational proposals.

"There are about 40,000 or 50,000 traitors in Huang County this time. The fortifications they built outside Huangxian were also very rudimentary. The last general estimated that Huang County could only accommodate 10,000 rebels at most, and the rest would have to fight with our officers and troops outside the city. ”

"Most of the traitors' artillery was set up in Huangxian County, because the artillery did not shoot when the last general tried to fight, so the range of those guns was not known. However, the range should not be large, at most three or four miles. Because from the confession of the traitor's prisoner last time, it was learned that the traitor's large-range artillery was erected in Dengzhou City, and it was fixed and difficult to move. Therefore, in this Huangxian battle, it is less likely that the traitors will use those artillery. ”

"The last general thinks that in fact, as long as the traitors outside the city are defeated, even if the traitors are still defending Huang County, the official army can let a partial division take care of the traitors in Huang County, and the main force of the official army can also bypass Huang County and attack Dengzhou City directly."

"Therefore, the focus of tomorrow's battle will be to defeat the traitors outside the city. But the traitors dug two trenches and built a wall of earth. Attacking with human lives will definitely cost a lot. So, be sure to lure out the traitors. ”

"The last general thinks that our officers and soldiers also have a lot of artillery, and they can be sure to use artillery to fire repeatedly. As long as the traitors are beaten to the point that they can't stand it, whether they flee, retreat back to the county seat, or come out to fight in the field, our officers and soldiers will have the upper hand. ”

"Of course, preparation for field battles is also essential. I don't have much to say about this general, with the arrangement of the governor and the overseer, the rebels are definitely fish on the knife case. ”

Jin Guoqi's words are indeed old-fashioned. He not only analyzed the situation of the rebels as the leader, but also put forward the most suitable battle plan for the Ming army. Zuihou also wants to praise Zhu Dadian and Gao Qidive to respect their authority. This shows that he is like a military general. It's all an old oilman in officialdom.

And Jin Guoqi's words must also be the result of collective discussions among the military attaches of the Liaodong Army. Besides, what he said did make sense, so after several other military attachés put forward some supplementary opinions, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian basically agreed to this combat plan.

Wu Shigong has been deserting in this military discussion. He repeatedly looked curiously at Wu Sangui, the general manager of Qian, who had entered the Chinese military tent to participate in the military meeting.

Wu Sangui is of medium stature, but he is very strong. The appearance is also very thoughtful. But he was really young, and there were fine hairs on his lips. Wu Shigong had already inquired a few days ago, and Wu Sangui was only seventeen years old at this time. According to modern calculations, his actual age is only sixteen years old. And Wu Sangui was also a little inexplicable by Wu Shigong's repeated scrutiny. He even couldn't help touching his face a few times, thinking that there was something unclean on his face.

But when the military discussion came to Zuihou, there was another accident. When arranging the order of the field troops of the Ming army tomorrow, Jin Guoqi said: "I beg the grace of the governor and the supervisor of the army." The army of General Liu, who is the vanguard of my Guanning Iron Cavalry, is also brave and good at fighting. He also works well with our Guanning Iron Cavalry. Therefore, in tomorrow's arrangement, whether to let General Liu's army be behind my Guanning Iron Cavalry, let me wait without worries and do my best to serve the emperor and the imperial court. ”

"How can this work?" Liu Zeqing immediately refused. Jin Guoqi's suggestion is completely the revenge of the Liaodong Army against the coalition forces. They wanted to prevent the coalition forces from taking any more captures in this battle.

And a few days ago, the military attache of the coalition army, who was excited by the capture of the Battle of Shahe, thought about making a fortune again in the Battle of Huangxian. They all screamed and waited for the battle to begin soon.

Although Wu Shigong was not very willing to fight on the front line, he would not express any opposing opinions to disturb the interest of other military attachés. Therefore, Liu Zeqing was determined to win the coalition army on the front line of the battle in this military discussion.

But he didn't wait for Liu Zeqing to express any opposing opinions. Another military attache joined Jin Guoqi in suppressing the coalition forces. (To be continued......)