Zhou Qingfeng waited left and right at the Kiba Station, but the Ming army in Jinzhou just didn't come. However, Xu Bing sent him the third batch of landing personnel. The 2,000 refugees joined as ordinary laborers, giving him ample human resources to make arrangements. At the same time, a letter was sent from the commander of Gaizhou, which reported the situation in Jinzhou and relayed Li Rubai's order.

"The commander of Gaizhou said that he used the excuse that the 'revolutionary army' invaded Gaizhou and was unable to support Jinzhou. At present, only Fuzhou has sent a few hundred people to Jinzhou, and most of them are old and weak. He still said that Jinzhou's troops were empty, but Li Rubai's subordinates had hundreds of capable families, which should not be taken lightly. He also said that as long as the young marshal moved to Jinzhou, he would never be embarrassed by the young marshal, and he would still be able to communicate with each other. ”

Qiao Xuenian, who came back with the ship, also relayed Xu Bing's words, "Sister Xu said that there are more and more refugees coming from the north, and the Yingkou base is under great pressure. Although shipping is convenient, the capacity has reached its limit. She asked the young marshal to take Jinzhou as soon as possible, transport people by land, and not hesitate to kill a batch. Otherwise we simply can't manage it. ”

Zhou Qingfeng could imagine the situation of the Yingkou base in the north crowded with refugees, he nodded and said: "If Li Rubai hides in the city and doesn't come out, then I can only take the initiative to beat him." ”

However, as soon as this thought arose, Gao Daniu rushed over with the news from the sentinel, "Young marshal, the men and horses of Jinzhou have been dispatched." ”

"Oh......, how many are there?"

"The Tanma reported that there were about two thousand five hundred, a dozen banners, most of them were foot soldiers, and only a small number of cavalry. The flag of the main general has the word 'Li' written on it, which should be Li Rubai, the chief military officer of Liaodong. ”

The scout was a cameo from the cavalry company, which was supplemented by a number of literate veterans of the Guards. Zhou Qingfeng provided these veterans with toy telescopes from isolated islands of time and space, although these telescopes have limited performance, they have also greatly improved the safety and reconnaissance capabilities of veterans.

"Two thousand five hundred, that's a lot." Zhou Qingfeng scratched his head a little, "When will these Ming officials and soldiers be able to gather so many people?" Doesn't it mean that Liaodong is so short of troops that it has to transfer troops from all over the country? ”

Gao Da Niu said: "Tanma reported that it would be great to have 500 soldiers among the 2,500 men. The rest are all temporary beggar farmers, pretending to be. This kind of soldier is not as good as the refugees under our command, and the refugees we bring in still know how to obey orders and have enough to eat. ”

Zhou Qingfeng had two fully manned infantry companies in his hands, with 360 people. A full cavalry company, one hundred and twenty people. A combat engineering company, two hundred people. There is still an advantage in the number of soldiers. Xu Bing was worried about his safety, and specially sent a firearms platoon from Chai Jie's female soldier company to act as a personal guard. The platoon consisted of only a dozen men, all of whom used captured arquebuses.

"When will Li Rubai's men arrive?"

"Tanma said they left early in the morning, and they will probably arrive tomorrow."

The tall cow estimated and touched it, and felt that it was only sixty miles from Jinzhou to Kiba Station. Although the movement of more than 2,000 people is certainly not fast, it should be there in two days. Zhou Qingfeng also felt that he should be lenient with the enemy, and no matter when the enemy came, he had to be prepared. So all mobilized and waited for the day.

Then ......, from noon to the afternoon of the next day, there was no figure on the official road.

Zhou Qingfeng waited in the position of Kiba Station, if it weren't for the report from Tanma every hour, he would have been unable to sit still. But in fact, Tanma told him yesterday that Li Rubai took 2,500 men and horses out of the city for ten miles and camped in Jinzhou Station.

Ten miles out of the city to camp? It's slower than a snail.

Li Rubai, why don't you put the snail shell on your back?

Zhou Qingfeng really can't figure out what the opponent wants to do? He even suspected that the arrival of the enemy in Golden State was just a feint to attract his attention, and the real killing move came from other directions. So he sent someone to inspect the entire Lushun again.

Since there were enough refugees to serve as ordinary laborers, Zhou Qingfeng set up outposts all over Lushun, stationed beacon towers that had not been used for decades, set up observation posts all over the coast, and even sent small boats captured from the Lushun Naval Division to reconnoiter Dengzhou and Tianjin—this was the battle for the foundation of the 'revolutionary army', and there was no room for sloppiness.

Zhou Qingfeng usually doesn't care if he doesn't sleep for a few days. But this time, after staying up all night, wondering if he had fallen for some trick, his eyes were red and swollen the next day—but all the sentries reported that they had found no enemy.

Waiting for the dawn of the next day, Zhou Qingfeng climbed up to the head of the city of Kiba Station and looked at the official road to the east, expecting that the hourly wave of sentinels would bring him good news. Han Shi, the company commander of the cavalry company, rode his demon pig to personally investigate, went out early in the morning, and came back at noon and said dejectedly: "Young marshal, Li Rubai is really a turtle, and he stopped after walking for ten miles." He's camping. ”

Zhou Qingfeng looked up at the sky and thought: It's twelve o'clock at noon! What kind of camp is the sun high? If you travel ten miles a day, wouldn't you have to run a week from Jinzhou to Kiba Station?

If you take a 'triplane', you can circle the earth almost once in a week.

Zhou Qingfeng began to be suspicious again, feeling that the enemy's speed was too slow, was he falling into some kind of trap? He even wondered if the Ming army had a false shot, and instead sent people to attack the Yingkou base, which would be a small number of troops and empty defenses.

"Human-faced demon, you quickly go to Yingkou to see how our lair is doing?" Zhou Qingfeng sent out the super communication soldiers who were guarding by his side. After the evolution of the human-faced demon, the speed was much faster, and the speed was fifty kilometers per hour, and it could run back and forth in a day.

After sending out the human-faced demon, Zhou Qingfeng sat in the Kiba Post again.

When it got dark, Li Rubai really didn't come. However, the human-faced demon came back and reported that the Yingkou base was safe and sound, but Xu Bing had already followed Zhou Qingfeng's advice and expanded the scope of the investigation to thirty kilometers around Yingkou. Everyone became extremely nervous, suffering from gains and losses.

On the third day, it was another night of worry, Zhou Qingfeng couldn't stay up, and the psychological pressure was a little great. He took the chessboard to deduce the battle situation all night, and found that he always won on the chessboard. But the more he wins, the more bottomless he becomes. I always feel that the enemy must still have some means hidden but not used.

The snail-like Li Rubai continued to walk only ten miles ...... steadily, and set up camp at noon.

Zhou Qingfeng was sleepy and dozed off in the Kiba Station. He really wanted to lead the troops out directly, but looking at the fortifications that he had built with great difficulty, it would be too much of a loss not to use them. He repeatedly comforted himself......, steady, steady, you're just too nervous." This is the first battle of the 'revolutionary army' after its establishment, and we must not be reckless and reckless, still less can we take the enemy lightly.

You have the hope of the rise of this nation on your shoulders, and you can't just mess around.

Stayed up all night again, the fourth day.

Li Rubai didn't come, but he was halfway there.

Another batch of Xu Bing's reinforcements landed at Huangniwan. Even Li Shuwei came with a large number of technicians from the engineering department to support. When he arrived at Kiba Station, he was shocked when he saw Zhou Qingfeng with red eyes, and asked with concern, "What's the matter?" Was the war hard? Rest assured, it doesn't matter how it goes, we've got your back.

Xu Bing and I thought that you might not be going well in the war, so we specially organized a militia. Although the training and equipment were not good, there were two thousand people. Xu Bing used her 'revolutionary thunder' to mobilize, and her will to fight was okay, they were all bitter and bitter peasants, and they would definitely be able to fight those Ming troops to the end. ”

Seeing Zhou Qingfeng languishing, Li Shuwei's heart was in his throat. But Zhou Qingfeng reciprocated with a big yawn.

Hard, bird!

There was no fight at all.

It is said that soldiers are fast, but Li Rubai is really a snail, and he is so slow that he is dying.

Zhou Qingfeng patted Li Shuwei on the shoulder, "It's just right that you're here, help me keep an eye on it for a while, and I'll go sleep." Wait for the enemy to come up and call me. ”

On the fifth day, Li Rubai finally got excited and walked for ten ...... a day Five miles. This has reached the periphery of Kiba Station, and you can see the walls of the post castle in the distance. Two thousand five hundred men and horses camped again, and Li Rubai took more than a dozen Jinzhou generals and Borji, who was secretly following, to investigate, and saw from a distance the fortifications that Zhou Qingfeng had painstakingly built around the Kichang Station.

Looking from the dirt slope on the periphery of Kiba Station, I saw that the outside of the post city on the opposite side was already covered with artificially excavated ravines. The amount of work required for these ravines alone is not small, and inside the ravines is a company of combat engineers. Ring fortifications were built on the two hills to the east and west of Kiba Station, each garrisoned by an infantry company. Due to the limited width of the battlefield, the east and west hills can cooperate with each other.

In addition, a large number of watchtowers have been erected on various fortifications to monitor the movement of the entire battlefield at all times. From time to time, people on the watchtower waved red and yellow flags to communicate with each other, and the information transmission was very smooth.

Although a group of Jinzhou generals didn't understand it very well, they immediately felt that the situation in front of them was complicated, this group of thieves was very powerful, and the previous estimate was only too conservative. But now the thieves are blocking the gateway of Jinzhou, and if they are not defeated and resume sea transportation, they can starve to death in Jinzhou.

Li Rubai looked around the dirt slope for a long time, and was also shocked by what he saw in front of him. The reason why he marched so slowly was because the soldiers he led this time were too bad.

The commander of Jin Zhouwei has been arrested by Li Rubai and taken out of prison, just because the whole guard can't find a few who can really fight. There are only about 100 people in the generals' families, all of whom are used to suppress the people, and they can't fight at all when they really go into battle.

The march lasted five days, and every day people fled. The soldiers waited for two meals a day, and if it weren't for these two meals, they would have run away. Moreover, it was rumored among the soldiers in the army that once the war started, they would flee immediately, and they would never give their lives to those generals. How can this kind of morale be beaten?

Li Rubai got up in the middle of the night to inspect, and even saw the military commissariat openly stealing grain and grass. There are even generals who are afraid of the enemy like tigers, and they directly hang up their seals and resign from their posts. Two thousand five hundred people are the number of people who have just left Golden State City, and I am afraid that there are not even two thousand people so far. Every day at noon, when the camp was set up, there were fewer and fewer soldiers.

In addition to the more than 300 people under his command, who are still emotionally stable, Li Rubai really can't find other subordinates who can rely on him. The internal military morale is terrible, so I can only think that a group of anti-thieves is not much stronger. As a result, seeing the camp of the 'revolutionary monarch' today, it is simply a thunderstorm. He turned his head to Borzi beside him and asked, "You fought with the Zhou thief before, and it was the same?" ”

Before? This kid hasn't been so good before.

Borzi's face was also trembling, but he gritted his teeth and shouted: "Don't worry, my lord, I will also bring more than a dozen Jurchen warriors with me this time, and I will definitely die on the battlefield, and I will not be afraid." When we fought in Shenyang, it was as easy as slaughtering cattle and sheep. No matter how strong Qingfeng is this week, what can he do? I will never be afraid of him. ”

Borzi was cheering himself up. In the Kiba Station, Li Shuwei ran to Zhou Qingfeng's house in a panic and pushed him desperately, "Hurry up, hurry up, Jiannu is coming!" ”

"What?" Zhou Qingfeng was rubbing his eyes, "Could it be that Li Rubai's killer weapon is to collude with Nurhachi?" This grandson, no wonder he is so slow. Lao Tzu is going to fight him to the death this time! ”