On the New Year's Day of the first year of Qiongyuan, after participating in the military parade of the founding ceremony, Pegasus Town immediately left the customs from Juyong Pass and escorted the reinforcements and supplies of grain and grass to the two cities of Ningyuan and Zhenyuan in Liaodong.

Because of the surprise of this operation, there was no enemy on this road, but the extreme cold and snow in the north caused a large number of camels and horses to die, and also caused a considerable number of soldiers to suffer frostbite.

And when he returned, Pegasus Town brought back nearly 10,000 fleeing Liaodong soldiers and civilians. This made the two cities of Ningyuan and Zhenyuan basically eliminate the threat of internal rebellion, so that Yu Ji and others in Liaodong could concentrate all their military forces to guard against the attack of the Qing army.

This escort operation also greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Zhenyuan and Ningyuan. This convinced them that Wu Shigong would never abandon them. It also gave the military and civilians of the two cities the courage to persevere.

But it was also this escort operation that immediately made the Manchu side vigilant, and they would also mobilize a large army to uproot the two cities of Ningyuan and Zhenyuan as soon as possible.

At this point, the battle of two cities and one pass around Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan and Zhenyuan officially kicked off. And this great battle, which concentrated the main forces of the Qing army and the Daping army, ran through the entire first year of Qiongyuan.

In order to win the battle, the Daping army transferred most of the elites. Moreover, in terms of troop replenishment, grain and grass supply, ordnance supply, etc., it was completely inclined to this front, and even did not hesitate to sacrifice the logistics supply of several other Daping armies.

Let's not mention this big battle. Because what made Wu Shigong and others completely fall through the glasses was that there was almost no support for the other Daping Army, and the troops were insufficient. first let the main force of the Dashun Army in Shanxi collapse, and then annihilated the Great Western Army in Sichuan, and even Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the two great heroes, were also awarded the heads one after another.

And this one was an unexpected victory. It completely gave Wu Shigong and others a great surprise. Unexpectedly, after reaching the end of the day, even Nanming quickly collapsed. Everyone did not expect that the enemy forces on the main battlefield had not yet been resolved, but the enemy forces on the secondary battlefield had been destroyed one after another. It's really a surprise everywhere in life!

Later, let's talk about the Nanming battlefield!

When Wu Shigong ascended the throne on New Year's Day of the first year of Qiongyuan, the security on the territory he controlled could be said to be quite chaotic. Bandits are rampant in the territory. The whole of Beizhili, Shanxi, Shandong, and most of Henan and Huguang, except for some important cities, the countryside is simply anarchy. There are many small bandits. There are several bandits with great strength, and they even dare to attack the county seat, and they are not afraid of the majesty of the Daping court and the iron fist of the Daping army, and they really regard the nickname of "Wu Butcher" as if they are the wind on their ears.

However, there are many reasons for this. Among them: the Dashun army and the Qing army ravaged the entire central and northern parts of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, the original Ming grassroots government was destroyed and paralyzed; Successive wars affected farming. caused famine in the north-central region; A large number of routs scattered to the people, and the grass fell into the grass; some resistance forces organized by the gentry loyal to the former Ming Dynasty; Cults run rampant; The army that surrendered to the Great Ping Dynasty had corrupted military discipline and acted like bandits on weekdays; The rise of the Runing Army was too fast, and many non-Henan officials and gentry did not know the prestige of Wu Shigong; There are great doubts about whether the Dahei Dynasty can continue.

Therefore, at this time, the Daping army, they were fighting at the same time as the Dashun, Daxi, Southern Ming and Qing armies, and they had to suppress bandits and law and order internally. There is a feeling of fighting the world alone.

In this dilemma, the Daping Dynasty could only adopt the method of gradual purge. Because the discipline of the ragtag army that surrendered was too poor. To let them suppress bandits is to force the people to become bandits. So the Daping Dynasty adopted the method of organizing and training one and then releasing one, so there were not many troops invested in suppressing bandits at the beginning.

However, with the promulgation of the "Amnesty Order" and the "Recruitment Order", coupled with the establishment of the official system of the Daping Dynasty, Wu Shigong allocated a part of the disaster relief silver grain, and the situation of bandits and bandits was quickly controlled.

In May and June of the first year of Qiongyuan, after the news that the Western Army exterminated Dashun and Daxi, and successively killed Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the bandits in many areas suddenly disappeared. Many of the bandits hid their weapons and hid among the people, and their banners died down, making people feel as if they were coming down from the gods.

Subsequently, the "Ban on Waste" and other three laws were strictly enforced, and a large number of Tuntian Zhuangzi were established in the central and northern regions, and all the displaced people were resettled and managed, and even in the Tuntian Zhuangzi, nearly one million village guards were gradually organized. Under such circumstances, the internal security of the Daping Dynasty was finally basically stabilized.

But in such a situation, there is one area where there are still bandits, and that area is Shandong.

In all dynasties, Shandong has always been the "hardest hit area" of rebellion. In the Song Dynasty, there were Shuibo Liangshan, the Jin Dynasty against Jin, the Yuan Dynasty against Yuan, and the Ming Dynasty against Ming.

This is because the rulers of previous dynasties did squeeze Shandong too harshly, such as the Ming Dynasty implemented horse politics in Shandong. There is also the White Lotus Sect and its variants, cults, which are rampant. Even today, there are still phone numbers to be asked for.

Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, local peasant rebellions in Shandong Province have continued, and the rule of the Ming Dynasty government has actually been very unstable. After the Qing army entered Shandong, many local people began to resist with arms. After the Qing army withdrew, these armed peasants fought against the officials and gentry. Many areas were effectively controlled by these rebel forces.

At this time, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, and Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong, were anxious to submit to the Daping Dynasty, and they had no intention of governing the place. After they entered Beijing and returned to the Daping Dynasty, the local government in Shandong was in a state of leaderlessness.

However, what is even more puzzling is that the Nanming Hongguang government and the opposition are busy with the turmoil of "succession to reunification" and have no time to take over the Shandong region, so the banditry here also has a tendency to become more and more intense. Moreover, the forces in it are mixed and fighting with each other, temporarily forming a state of power vacuum.

Around the New Year of the first year of Qiongyuan, Guanxian County, which was close to Beizhili, escaped in Dashun County, and there were thieves Pei Shouzheng, Ma Ruiheng, Liu Tongxiang and other bees; Zeng Hualong, the former Ming Dynasty set up in Dengzhou, also controlled part of the troops and entrenched in the locality;

In the first month, Zhang Daya, Zhang Qianchu, Han Jiben of the Lingshan Wei Righteous Army, Gaomi County Righteous Army Shan Zhixian, Zhang Yu and other troops besieged Jiaozhou;

In February, Xiong Zhengen and other commanders (15,000 men and horses in one town) repelled the thief army and relieved the siege of Jiaozhou. Li Haoxian, a local tyrant in Changyi County, led the crowd to surrender to Zeng Hualong, and Zhang Daya and Zhang Qianchu were captured and killed. However, after Zeng Hualong learned that the Daping army had occupied Gyeonggi, he abandoned the defensive area and fled south with Guo Wenxiang, the governor of Jiaozhou. The Jiaodong region is in a state of anarchy. The Dahei Army took over the area with ease in late February. (To be continued......)