"Reinforcements! Lao Tzu needs reinforcements!"

In Jinan Mansion, Liu Zhong was furious when he looked at the battle report sent from the front line, and kept slapping the table, and the Xinglong River defense line he deployed only lasted for a few days, and was torn apart by the Ming army, and the Qing army on the defense line was crushed for thousands of miles, and a small number of resisting soldiers and horses were also defeated.

After crossing the Xinglong River, the Ming army did not repair on the spot, but followed the rout army that spread all over the mountains and fields and continued to pursue, and the rout ran into the Qing defense line deployed behind under the pursuit, so that the Qing army on this defense line also followed the people in panic.

Subsequently, the Ming army launched a fierce attack on it, and the Qing army was demoralized and retreated.

In mid-December, the Ming army, led by Zhang Huangyan, broke the defensive line formed by the Qing army one after another, and gradually approached Jinan Province, but by this time the extremely cold weather had already arrived, and under the influence of the Xiaoice period, the Yellow River froze in advance, and the land of Shandong was covered with snow.

The cold weather did not stop Zhang Huangyan's determination to attack the city of Jinan, and he shouted the slogan of celebrating the New Year in Jinan Mansion to the whole army, and led the army to continue to march eastward.

But at this moment, the army led by Hong Chengchou had already arrived on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the surface of the Yellow River, which could block the northern enemy, had also formed a layer of ice, although it had not yet reached the point where the army could pass directly, but it was enough for the Ming army to maintain a high degree of vigilance.

Although the long-awaited reinforcements finally arrived, Liu Zhong did not let go of his mind because of this, he nervously watched the pace of the Ming army approaching, in order to avoid more losses, the soldiers and horses outside the city and the rout troops were withdrawn into the city together, intending to rely on Jinan Jiancheng to defend.

Seeing that the Qing army began to shrink its forces, although Zhang Huangyan had the intention to continue the attack, Hong Chengchou's army had already arrived on the north bank of the Yellow River, and he had to consider the possibility of being attacked from front to back.

In order to prevent this from happening, he ordered the whole army to go to Wuli Mountain, south of the city, and camp on the periphery of Wuli Mountain, where many artillery pieces were erected on the top of the mountain, so that they could condescendingly look down on the surroundings of the camp and launch a fierce artillery bombardment of any invading enemy troops.

In any case, the battle was stalemate, and it was not until the end of December that the ice on the Yellow River was finally thick enough for men and horses to pass through together, and Hong Chengchou gave the order and the army crossed the Yellow River and camped outside the city of Jinan.

At this time, the ice of the Yellow River was strong enough, but the snow was also nearly a meter deep, and the Qing army could only barely cross the river, and after crossing the river, they could not launch an attack.

After the Hong army crossed the river, Zhang Huangyan immediately sent many scouts to explore the strength of the Hong army, and the scouts of the two sides continued to fight in this small place, and finally the scouts risked death to bring back a bad news - Hong Chengchou seemed to have brought all the troops he could mobilize, and the entire 60,000 troops were crossing the river in batches.

Moreover, among these 60,000 troops, there are many Manchu, Mongolian and Han banner troops who did not follow Shunzhi Beijiao.

In contrast, the strength of the Ming army in Zhang Huangyan's hands is overstretched, and the Ming army stationed in Wulishan plus the Qing army surrendered after a few battles is less than 30,000, and even if you add more than 10,000 men and horses in Su Ci's headquarters, there are only about 40,000, and Hong Chengchou will definitely be defeated.

Fortunately, winter came in time, so that even if the Qing army had an advantage, it could not take advantage of the situation to attack, Zhang Huangyan hurriedly sent people back to Nanjing to ask for help from the imperial court - as long as the imperial court could mobilize a large army to come to support and start a battle in Jinan, this may become a key battle to determine the ownership of the north.

When Zhang Huangyan's letter for help was sent back to Nanjing, the New Year had long since ended, but the city was still filled with a festive atmosphere, the streets could still smell the smell of firecrackers, and the snow on the ground was mixed with patches of red.

The people, who were still immersed in the joy of the New Year, walked down the street and looked in amazement at the knight who was galloping in the city.

A lame middle-aged man looked at the back of the rider running towards the east of the city, and then looked in the direction where he came, snorted, shook his head, and said, "The New Year has just passed, and the fight is going to start again, and I don't know when this day will be the head."

With that, he lifted his calloused hand to flick the snowflakes that had fallen on his shoulders, carried a jug of wine, and continued to stagger forward.

……

This begging

Although the military department had not worked with their nominal bosses, they also stood up to express their support at the first time, proposing to immediately mobilize troops and horses to the north to support Shandong.

Su Yan also didn't think about it, so he decided to mobilize troops and horses to the north to support, and he ordered the military department to mobilize 24,480 Cossack infantry in the garrisons of Jiangnan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces to assemble with the Russian garrison in Nanjing (6,120 people in each province, an average of one team per city), unified into the third town, under his personal command.

The establishment of the third town also includes 16 teams of 64 12-pounder infantry guns and 16 teams of 64 12-pounder infantry howitzers, which can be described as fierce firepower.

At first, the hundred officials did not react when they heard Su Yan's order to transfer troops, but after hearing that he was going to recruit in person, they immediately quarreled, and the Imperial History of the Left Capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was the first to stand up and admonish: "Your Highness, the throne is vacant at the moment, and the government affairs of the court are all dependent on your hands.

"Your Highness, there are many good generals in the imperial court, why do you want to risk your own expedition? Moreover, the troops and horses mobilized by the provinces are all recruits who have not been warned, and they are unreliable, and if the battle formation is lost, the situation is unimaginable!" Another official chimed in.

Subsequently, a number of officials came out to advise, hoping to dispel Su Yan's idea of pro-conquest, they were afraid! At present, the imperial court has finally settled down, and everything is developing in a thriving direction, if something goes wrong with Su Yan's personal risk, then the court situation will be turbulent again.

The situation is different from the past, in the past, when Emperor Yongli was still there, who cared if Su Yan personally led the troops to fight, even if he took the lead in the charge, it was only effective that those loyal to him would persuade.

But now, as Zuodu Yushi said, the imperial throne is vacant, Su Yan is the backbone of the imperial court, and he is also a quasi-candidate for the imperial throne supported by many people......

Someone here may say, eh, does Su Yan have a son from time to time? But the son of the world is less than a year old, what is the use of this infant baby, even if he is pushed out, the future will only be the life of a puppet.

Although Su Yan knew their worries, he had no choice, there were no outstanding generals in the DPRK who could take on this heavy responsibility, so he could only personally lead the army to the north, as for the problem that the DPRK had no backbone...... What is the Cabinet for? Isn't it shared for those in power?

With the ability of the three cabinet ministers, it is more than enough to handle the affairs of the DPRK and China, not to mention that the cabinet chief assistant Xu He is still his person, so he does not have to worry about the fact that the troops will be hollowed out or seize power outside.