After Dolgon withdrew his army to the camp, the next day he ordered the whole army to retreat twenty miles and camp. This news suddenly made Liu Yan overjoyed, and the Qing army retreated in stride, which basically means that the Qing army's encirclement of Jinan has been broken.

So Liu Yan immediately entered the city to meet Lu Xiangsheng, and suggested that Lu Xiangsheng immediately report to the imperial court: the siege of Jinan has been lifted, and the Shandong troops are continuing to attack the Qing army.

At the same time, Liu Yan suggested that Lu Xiangsheng once again give orders to the Jimo battalion, Dengzhou battalion, and Wendeng battalion, and order the general of the third battalion to immediately lead his troops to participate in the next battle against the Qing army.

Lu Xiangsheng thought for a while and said: "The combat strength of the three battalions is worrying, even if they come at the order, they can't help much, but they may be attacked by the Qing army, which will ruin the current good situation." ”

Liu Yan said: "The governor can rest assured, at present, the slaves and thieves have suffered setbacks one after another, and the strategy of besieging Jinan has also failed, and the morale of the slaves and thieves is low, and the defeat has been decided!" ”

"Let the three generals lead the troops, just to strengthen the momentum of our army, and at the same time tell Dolgon and other slave chiefs: Our Ming reinforcements are coming in a steady stream. In this way, the subordinates expected that the slaves and thieves would soon withdraw their troops. ”

Lu Xiangsheng was silent for a while when he heard this, and then asked, "Liu Yan, can't you find a way to fight and hit the slave thief once?" ”

Liu Yan sighed in his heart, his new army had suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, and only then did he achieve more than 9,000 beheadings, and the actual casualties of the Qing army should be around 10,000.

But even so, the Qing army still had 80,000 or 90,000 horses, and although the Lingshan Wei New Army was strong, its shortcomings were also obvious, that is, the number of troops was too small and could not withstand the consumption of high-intensity battles.

Liu Yan was naturally unwilling to consume the Lingshan Wei New Army under the city of Jinan in a battle, so he said: "The subordinates of the governor's mind understand, but although the slaves and thieves have been injured, their forces are still there, and our army is currently more than enough to defend and not enough to attack. His subordinates also wanted to capture and kill the slave chieftain in front of him in a battle, but they couldn't do it, and it was really difficult to continue. ”

Lu Xiangsheng sighed, and then said: "In this way, the governor will send people to contact the three generals of the Jimo battalion, the Wendeng battalion, and the Dengzhou battalion. In the past few days, the slaves and thieves should not attack, and it is just right for the soldiers of the new army to rest for a while. ”

Soon, the time came to the beginning of June.

The news that 100,000 Qing troops were frustrated in Jinan Fucheng and that 10,000 or 20,000 horses were lost spread, and the various units of the Ming army stationed in the surrounding areas were deeply encouraged and were eager to try, and even some bold generals directly appeared in the places where the Qing army plundered with a small group of Ming troops and began to harass a small group of Qing soldiers and horses.

At the same time, Zhang Youxun, the general of the Jimo battalion, Lu Tingyan, the general of the Wendeng battalion, and Han Xu, the general of the Dengzhou battalion, who were stranded in Qingzhou, were all taken aback when they heard the news, and the three of them gathered in the prefect's yamen in Qingzhou City to discuss.

"This, this Liu Yan is too violent, right?"

Lu Tingyan said in disbelief, and Han Xu next to him also said: "Isn't there only tens of thousands of new troops in Liu Yan's hands? Even if you add the elite of the Supervising Battalion and the Fubiao Battalion, it is difficult to compete with the army of 100,000 slaves and thieves, how is this fought? ”

Zhang Youxun couldn't help but be proud when he saw the incredible looks of the two of them, after all, Liu Yan, the Lingshan Guard, was his subordinate, and said to the two of them: "This Liu Yan, who strictly trained the soldiers of the new army in Lingshan Guard, and trained the soldiers for the country wholeheartedly, can he achieve such a great victory, and it is not in vain for my usual teachings to him." ”

Lu Tingyan and Han Xu glanced at each other, and both of them sneered in their hearts.

However, Lu Tingyan still asked: "General Zhang, what should we do, Governor Lu has sent someone again, asking us to immediately assemble troops and horses to go to Jinan Mansion City to join the Governor Battalion, and we must not delay!" ”

Zhang Youxun thought for a moment and said, "Didn't you say that the army of slaves and thieves had retreated more than ten miles? I see that the slaves and thieves have suffered heavy losses, and this battle will not be able to continue, even if we go to Jinan Fucheng, there will be no bad fighting, it is better to listen to the order to go north, so as not to be punished by Lu Duchen. What do you two think? ”

Before Lu Tingyan could speak, Han Xu slapped his thigh and said, "Okay! I think we will go north to Jinan Fucheng, and if it drags on, the army of slaves and thieves will return north and withdraw, and then we will not be able to get the credit, and we will be blamed by Inspector Lu, and the gains outweigh the losses. ”

The three of them consulted, and on the same day they began to assemble three battalions of soldiers.

At this time, the strength of the Jimo battalion, the Wendeng battalion, and the Dengzhou battalion was not much, the Jimo battalion had more than 4,000 people, the Wendeng battalion had more than 3,000 people, and the Dengzhou battalion had more than 8,000 people.

However, these soldiers and horses are already the strongest troops that the three can bring out, after a day of rectification, the three battalions of soldiers set off from Qingzhou City, all the way north, after four days of trekking, arrived outside the city of Jinan.

Before the Jimo battalion, Wendeng battalion, and Dengzhou battalion arrived outside the city, several Ming troops had arrived outside the city, ranging from hundreds of men and horses to thousands of soldiers, plus three battalions of soldiers, and the Ming army soldiers outside Jinan had reached more than 40,000 at this time.

Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Jizu stood at the head of the city, looking at the Ming military camps in the south, west and east of the city, and they were relieved.

The Ming army outside the city, except for the Lingshanwei new army led by Liu Yan, although the combat strength of the rest of the Ming army is very worrying, but the strength is sufficient, in the face of low morale and successive defeats of the Qing army, it is still possible to follow behind Liu Yan's new army.

Yan Jizu was in a good mood at this time, and said with a smile: "Hehe, now that the reinforcements from various departments have arrived one after another, the slaves and thieves no longer intercept the reinforcements, but just nest in the camp, it can be seen that the slaves and thieves are also fierce and inward!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Now that the situation is very good, the slaves and thieves can no longer afford to lose under the blows of Liu Yan's subordinates, so after determining the direction of the next attack, they will not be easily dispatched." ”

"Then among the Israeli governors, can we gather troops and horses, take the initiative to attack once, maybe we can create another great victory!"

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Yan Jizu, who was eager to try, shook his head, and said: "The situation is good now, but the enemy and us are still evenly matched, and our army does not have the absolute advantage of taking the initiative to attack, so we must not act rashly." ”

"Alas!"

Yan Jizu said with regret: "If our army has enough advantages in this battle to annihilate the army of slaves and thieves under the city of Jinan in one fell swoop, how good it would be!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng also felt very uncomfortable in his heart, but the reality was like this, and he was unwilling to accept his fate.

At nightfall that day, Liu Yan visited Zhang Youxun, Lu Tingyan, and Han Xun, and several people were in the governor's mansion, and had a good time with Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Jizu, and then rode out of the city and returned to the new army camp outside the city. 33

At this time, the Lingshan Wei New Army camp was brightly lit, reflecting the torches on the city wall, coupled with the surrounding camps of the Ming army, the surrounding city of Jinan was like the city lights of later generations, bright and bright, so that Liu Yan had a trance-like feeling, as if he had returned to the prosperous later life.

Liu Yan turned over and dismounted, looked at the firelight around him, and felt a lot of emotion in his heart, and then looked to the south.

Although the Qing army camp was more than ten miles away from here, the camp of 70,000 or 80,000 horses was so huge, and it was also full of torches and bonfires, which were extremely obvious in the dark night, even if they were more than ten miles away, Liu Yan could see the light of the fire in the distance.

"Dolgon must have heard of the arrival of reinforcements by now."

The corners of Liu Yan's mouth rose, and he said secretly: "The morale of the army is low, the soldiers and horses of the banners are damaged, the city of Jinan can't be beaten, the strength of the Ming army is increasing, this pile of advantages, I have tried my best to cause, now I want to see, what cards do you have to play!" ”

In the big tent of the Qing army, Dolgon sneezed without warning, and then frowned, looking at Duoduo, Du Du, and Yue Tuo present.

Reinforcements from various units of the Ming army arrived outside Jinan one after another, and the strength of Lu Xiangsheng and Liu Yan continued to increase, in this case, the morale of the banners of the Qing army became more and more low, and even those Mongolian soldiers had begun to disobey orders, and there had been a matter of fighting with the Manchurian soldiers for supplies and fighting with each other.

Although such signs were forcefully suppressed by Ngtu, Ibai, and Buyandai, it is very likely that if the war drags on, there will be problems with the army, and it is not uncommon for those Mongols to disperse in a hurry when the war is unfavorable.

At this time, Duoduo sighed and said, "If I don't think well, I'll say it." ”

"Every time my Qing warriors go south, most of the horses, armor, and weapons they need to be prepared, and the elite horse armor and infantry armor must be equipped with three or four war horses, which are all silver!"

"If the warriors can't make a profit in the battle, these costs can't be recovered, and they even have to lose money, such a thing is enough to shake the national capital of my Great Qing Dynasty!"

What Duoduo said was true, at this time, the military system of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was still very backward, and part of the military equipment required by the soldiers was the equipment of the imperial court, but the horses and part of the military equipment needed to be prepared by themselves, just like the government soldiers of the Tang Dynasty.

However, the Tang Dynasty soldiers had land income, but these Tartar soldiers had nothing, only to plunder with the army in the south, and they made money if they robbed enough, and if they didn't rob enough or were defeated, they would lose money. To put it bluntly, the current Manchu Qing is actually a bandit group that uses the state as a cloak.

Du Du and Yue Tuo nodded one after another, and the generals under the two of them have come to find them in the past few days. As Liu Yan's subordinates attacked everywhere to capture prisoners, the small groups of soldiers and horses of each banner no longer went out to loot, which led to the fact that the banners had no income, and they were naturally very dissatisfied.

Ignoring Duoduo, Dorgon looked at Yue Tuo and asked, "What does the king of Keqin want?" ”

Yue Tuo said: "Now that the Ming army is strong, and a small group of soldiers and horses of our army go out to plunder, all Ming troops will flock to intercept and block it. If the main force of our army is dispatched, Liu Yan and Lu Xiangsheng will lead the elite to attack, and the plundering battle will turn into a battle again. ”

"Therefore, I suggest that our army stop here, go north to Beizhili as soon as possible, and plunder in Beizhili to make up for the losses of the banners."

Du Du on the side also said: "What the king of Keqin said is very true, retreat north quickly, it is useless to stay here for a long time, there are many dreams at night!" ”

Seeing that the three of them were intent on retreating, Dolgon sighed in his heart, the reason why he did not call those Mongolian banner lords and monks this time was to directly set the next move of the army.

So Dolgon said in a deep voice: "In this case, two days later, the army will go north to the north and be directly subordinate, and all departments must take strict precautions to prevent Liu Yan and Lu Xiangsheng's troops from following and pursuing!" ”

Some people died, but not completely......