Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, was a talented man in Fujian when he was young. His biography is omitted. As long as you know, he also once expounded his views on the internal and external situation of the Ming Dynasty in a book, which boils down to one sentence: If you want to go outside, you must first settle inside! Naturally, Yan Jizu and Yang Sichang are political allies.

When the Qing army continued to achieve results in Beizhili, Yang Sichang also lost confidence in the continuous attacks. A year ago, because of successive military defeats, Yang Sichang had been demoted three levels in a row, but he still served in the cabinet and the military department.

But at this time, Yang Sichang's command was already out of order. It turned out that Yang Sichang focused Shandong's defense on Dezhou. There's nothing wrong with that choice. Because the army was subordinated to Shandong from the north, the most likely route of march was through Dezhou.

In fact, the marching routes of the ancient armies were basically fixed. Although the Qing army was mainly cavalry and could gallop around the Great Plain of North China, once a large army was assembled, it must move along the river. Otherwise, it would be very inconvenient for people and horses to get water. Therefore, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, obediently led the army to move to Dezhou. At this time, Dezhou gathered 3,000 men and horses from Yan Jizu's standard battalion and 12,000 soldiers and horses led by Qiu Lei, the general soldier of Shandong.

But with Yang Sichang's indiscriminate command, Yan Jizu was dizzy. He was transferred three times in fifty days, and Zuihou ordered him to defend Texas, and then came back again, leaving the troops exhausted, and Jinan was quite empty. To be honest, Yan Jizu is too obedient.

Of course, Yan Jizu was not unaware of the danger in Shandong. In view of the small number of troops on the front line and the long battle line, he asked for reinforcements several times, but Liu Zeqing went to Tongzhou Qinwang and Ni Chong and the generals could not stay. At this time, no one was willing to help. Jinan has thus become an undefended city.

The Qing army, under the command of Dolgon, used a feint to first divert the Runing Army and the Runing Army, and then unexpectedly crossed the river from Linqing and Dongchang (now Liaocheng) south of Dezhou into Shandong. For this action of the Qing army. The imperial court was at a loss, so it couldn't make any corresponding transfers. The generals and commanders of the Ming army stationed in various places only stuck to their own defense areas according to the orders of the Ministry of War, and never took the initiative to go out for reinforcements. It really did everyone sweep the snow in front of the door. Jinan City is so tragic.

On the first day of the first month of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the Qing army launched an attack on Jinan and conquered the first metropolis in central Shandong in only half a day. Dozens of officials, including Song Xuezhu, the imperial historian of Shandong, Zhang Bingwen, the political envoy of Shandong, and several county kings who lived in the city were killed one after another, and Zhu Youshu, the king of Germany, was captured. 130,000 inhabitants of the city were killed, and the entire city was burned and looted.

When the news reached the capital, the government and the opposition were shaken. Since Emperor Chongzhen's accession to the throne, although military defeats have continued one after another. Many large and small cities were captured by the Qing army and the peasant army, but a provincial city has never been lost. And a large number of relatives were killed, and the prince was captured, which was unprecedented bad news in the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chongzhen was shocked when he heard the news. I can't believe it. But in addition to issuing an edict to scold the ministers for their misdeeds, and even arresting and punishing them. He had no choice but to go to Taimiao to report the disaster to his ancestors. And pray to the ancestors and fathers to bless this ruined empire.

As for the commanders of the Ming army, they did not dare to fight the Qing soldiers head-on, and Liu Yuliang, the assistant minister of the inspector, also moved to Sun Chuanting's army, looking forward to the Qing army every day after looting and filling, and then returning to the nest with the class. It is also good for the Ming army to follow the Qing army to "regain lost territory".

In the capital, Yu Zilian was the only one who took the initiative to ask for war. He was also strictly ordered by the imperial court to stay in the capital. Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers were frightened by the Qing army, and they refused to let this Ruzhou army leave the capital.

After the Qing army captured Jinan, it once again divided its troops and made a mess of the entire southwest of Shandong. This time, the Qing army even looted the population. They were ready to feast on it again. But at this moment, an infectious disease stopped the atrocities of the Qing army. That infectious disease is smallpox, which has a lovely name.

At the beginning of the year, Yue Tuo, the commander of the right wing of the Qing army, contracted smallpox and died, and many other Qing soldiers also died of smallpox due to water and soil adaptation. Dolgon also felt that he had had enough to eat, so he did not want to stay in the Central Plains for a long time, and decided to withdraw his troops.

On the way back, the Qing army will rob the population, capture undefended cities, and bring all the looted people, livestock and property back to the Guanwai.

But everyone didn't know that on the twelfth day of the first month, after the Runing Army in Baoding Prefecture learned of the fall of Jinan, the whole army of more than 16,000 people had quietly moved towards the southeast under the leadership of Wu Shigong.

On the twenty-eighth day of the first month of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Shaozhuang, Hejian Mansion.

"No movement!" Zhang Ming, a spy of the Runing Army, muttered to himself.

Zhang Ming had been out to investigate for four days, and because he was about to encounter the Qing army, the Runing army had already expanded the scope of the exploration to about 150 li. However, during these days of exploration, the spies of the Runing Army still did not detect any activities of the Qing army. So Zhang Ming prepared to go around again, and if there was still no enemy, he was ready to go back to the camp to report.

At this moment, Zhang Ming saw a black spot from a distance, and it was obvious that it was also a spy. Zhang Ming smiled and said to himself: "I don't know which battalion of boys?" Then he trotted over to the horseman.

Reconnaissance on a solo ride is quite boring, and the loneliest thing is that there is no companion to talk to. Therefore, if they meet a companion in the field, the spies of the Runing Army will usually meet and chat a few words.

The spy on the opposite side probably had the same idea as Zhang Ming, and he also rode a horse and trotted closer to Zhang Ming.

The spies of the cavalry were all with narrow sleeves and immediately carried the necessary supplies and weapons, and in order not to attract people's ideas, the clothes worn by the spies who were scattered outside were not military uniforms. So if you don't get close, it's hard to tell friend from foe.

It wasn't until the distance was close that they could afford each other's appearances, and Zhang Ming almost didn't shout out on the horse, and the opposite side turned out to be the spies of the Qing army. And the Qing army spies on the opposite side were also shocked.

If it is other cavalry of the Ming army, the first thing to do at this time is to turn around and run, beat the horse and gallop, and the beautiful name says: Since the enemy has been discovered, the news must be transmitted back to the camp.

But the spies of the Ruzhou Army are different. When they see a lot of people on the other side, they will also run. If you see that the other party is also a person, the first task is to strangle. And the Qing army spy was also arrogant along the way, of course he would not run away, so after the initial surprise, both sides did not hesitate to urge their horses to move forward.

The Qing army spy pulled the bow on his back a few times, and finally pulled the bow off, and then immediately prepared to draw the bow and arrows. And Zhang Ming estimated the distance and felt that the time to reload the firearm might not be enough, so he simply increased the speed of his horse, held the riding spear, and rushed towards the Qing army scouts at full speed.

Seeing that the other party had already bent his bow, Zhang Ming's heart suddenly sank to the bottom. The prestige of the Tartar riding and shooting is too great, and Zhang Ming feels that he is more than lucky.

At this time, Zhang Ming's mind was blank, and his ears just kept echoing the words of the company commander and captain:

"When shooting at the enemy, don't deform your movements. Staring into the eyes of the enemy, just rush over. ”

So Zhang Ming lowered his body as low as possible, his left arm protected his front, and his right hand held the riding spear, staring closely at the chest of the Qing army spout.

The Qing army spout's movements were indeed fast, he had already finished drawing his bow and arrows, and in order to ensure the accuracy of the arrow, he had to try to get as close as possible to within forty paces. The Qing army scouts held their arms with big bows and kept them half-open, their legs tightened, and they clamped the horse's belly to let the horses move forward on their own.

"Whoosh!" The arrows flew towards Zhang Ming quickly, but Zhang Ming did not avoid it and kept his movements undeformed. I only heard the sound of "bell", and the arrow shot into Zhang Ming's left arm, and then it was bounced away.

The left arm of the cavalry of the Runing Army was equipped with a small round shield, and it was also a coincidence that the arrows of the Qing army spies were shot on this small round shield. The Qing army spy cursed in a low voice, and at the same time threw the bow directly to the ground, then pulled out a long knife at his side, and rushed directly towards this side.

After escaping death, Zhang Ming thought in his heart, at such a close distance, the Qing army spies didn't have time to wield this long knife. Besides, no matter how long the sword is, is it longer than a spear? When his spear stabbed the spy of the Qing army, his sword might not have been raised.

That is, in an instant, the two riders will be staggered. The Qing army spies saw that they couldn't avoid Zhang Ming's spear, so they wanted to jump off the horse, wanting to avoid the assassination of the spear first.

But how could Zhang Ming let go of such a chance to kill? As soon as the Qing army spy leaned back, Zhang Ming stabbed the riding spear into the lower abdomen of the Qing army spy. This is the place where the Runing Army trained to stab with a spear, which is to prevent the enemy's backward flip and vault horse from dodging. Besides, if a man dodges, the assassination from above can still hurt the horse, and the enemy's horse will be abolished anyway.

Zhang Ming only felt a vibration of his hand, and understood that he had stabbed the target, so he quickly let go of the riding spear to prevent the recoil from bouncing him off the horse. Then the two horses staggered by, and Zhang Ming, who was nervous, didn't hear the screams of the Qing army spies.

When the horses staggered, Zhang Ming hurriedly grabbed the reins and made the horse turn around, and then skillfully drew the saber behind him, and then rushed towards the Qing army spies.

But after running a few steps, Zhang Ming saw that the Qing army spy had been pierced in the abdomen by his own riding spear, and fell to the ground struggling. So Zhang Ming jumped off the horse, cautiously approached the Qing army spy, and waved his knife to give the Qing army spy a break.

It wasn't until he put the head of the Qing army spy on the empty horse that Zhang Ming breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, he realized that his underwear was all soaked. Blown by the cold wind, Zhang Ming felt comfortable, with the head of this tartar, this time it was time to jump into the small dragon gate! If you're lucky, it's possible to have a big dragon gate!

Zhang Ming didn't know that this encounter between him and the Qing army spies was the first battle between the Runing army and the Qing army. It was at this moment that the Great War broke out. (To be continued......)