At this time, the navy stationed in Dengzhou received news that the Ming army had sneaked into Fushanwei from the south. The naval admiral Deng Gang was preparing to send the main fleet south to support.
This aroused Li Xianzhong's alert!
He did not expect that Hong Chengchou would dare to stow away without sea control.
But it was obvious that he had won the bet this time.
Because there are no ports on the southern line, there are indeed not many naval forces left.
Li Xianzhong rejected Deng Gang's proposal to send the main fleet south.
The Ming army did not have a navy. At best, it only used a bunch of sampans to smuggle people across. There was no point in sending large battleships south.
Just send small warships under 1,000 tons over.
Hong Chengchou's move was quite risky. After all, he controlled the navy and could quickly cut off his retreat. The problem was that this was already the first day ago, so why there was still no relevant battle report. It was very abnormal.
He remembered that Mao Wenlong had previously deployed to launch a comprehensive counterattack against the Ming army near Gaomi.
Hong Chengchou chose to sneak across at this time, so Mao Wenlong's second-line troops should be relatively empty.
It made him feel vaguely worried.
So he quickly found Wang Xifan.
He said: "Wang Tongzhi (Wang Xifan's position in the intelligence area is commanding Tongzhi) is there anything unusual in Dengzhou? How many soldiers and horses are there in Dengzhou City currently?"
Wang Xifan said: "Currently, Dengzhou City is guarded by 2,000 members of the White Lotus Church and 500 members of the National Guard."
"I haven't received any news yet. It's just that Laiyang County should have reported the local situation to me two hours ago. The messenger never showed up. My subordinates have already sent people to investigate the situation!"
Li Xianzhong said: "No, something must have happened in Laiyang. You quickly order all the Bailian sect members in nearby Huang County and Qixia to assemble in Dengzhou. Send an order to Lu Xiangsheng and ask him to transfer 5,000 cavalry from the northern front to Dengzhou."
Fortunately, Deng Gang's main fleet was not sent south before.
Otherwise, he might have fallen into Hong Chengchou's plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
Then Li Xianzhong ordered Deng Gang to mobilize a thousand gunmen from the Liaodong Navy warships and enter Dengzhou City.
An hour later, the 500 Bailian sect members in Huang County also withdrew to Dengzhou.
However, Qixia's men and horses remained silent.
You don't need to think about it to know that something happened to Qixia.
Sure enough, an urgent report from Mao Wenlong came not long after that Hong Chengchou's Yulin camp sneaked into Fushanwei and had captured Jimo City.
Mao Wenlong was leading his army to attack Jimo and asked himself to pay attention to the defense of Dengzhou.
Of course, there is also a detailed battle report on the defeat of the Ming army Yang Wenyue's troops in this high-density battle.
It cannot be said that there was anything wrong with Mao Wenlong's attack on Yang Wenyue in Gaomi, but Hong Chengchou cleverly seized such an opportunity.
But in the final analysis, Mao Wenlong ignored the Fushan Guards' defense. The Liaodong Navy's strong maritime superiority could easily make people relax. Hong Chengchou took advantage of this "darkness under the light".
Since Hong Chengchou came to the door himself, Li Xianzhong was not polite.
By going so far alone, he actually put himself in a desperate situation.
Once Dengzhou City cannot be captured, he will become a turtle in the urn.
Originally, Li Xianzhong was planning to fight a protracted war with the imperial court in the Denglai area to consume the Ming Dynasty's war potential and thereby bring down the Ming Dynasty.
But now that Hong Chengchou took the initiative to break the deadlock, how could he not eat the fat meat that was delivered to his door?
Soon he sent instructions to Lu Xiangsheng and Mao Wenlong, asking them to dispatch troops and horses back to Dengzhou to eat Hong Chengchou's main force.
Since the Ming army entered Dengzhou, it can be said that it has been a smooth journey.
There is no garrison in Dengzhou at all, and they only rely on the White Lotus Sect to defend the city and the local government officials to maintain local security!
So they went all the way north and easily occupied Laiyang, Qixia and other cities.
Due to Hou Yaozong's status as the leader, these White Lotus followers did not cause them too much trouble.
He Renlong said excitedly: "After taking Qixia, the passage to Dengzhou has finally been completely opened. These bandits are really bold, and they don't even leave any defenders in the hinterland of Dengzhou!"
In fact, this is what Hong Chengchou is most worried about. It has been less than two years since the pirates occupied Denglai Second Mansion.
But here is where the people's hearts belong, and even if there are no troops stationed, the people will not resist!
And he heard that Denglai was enforcing the laws of Liaodong!
Here the gentry paid taxes as one, and all land was taxed.
However, the corvee service in Denglai was much lighter than that in other areas of the imperial court.
This is really terrible. More than half of the Ming Dynasty's land cannot collect taxes. On the remaining small half, everyone is doing everything possible to evade taxes.
I originally thought that Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, was just a military general, but I didn't expect that Liaodong's political orders were so powerful.
It seems that he is determined to rebel!
The White Lotus Sect and the pirates, it seems that these are also the masterpieces of Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao.
It turns out that even if Jianlu is eliminated, he can still support the pirates to respect themselves!
And compared to Li Chengliang, Li Xianzhong is definitely better than his predecessor!
Li Chengliang raised the bandits in Liaodong just to gain military glory for himself; but Li Xianzhong raised the bandits in the pass. He wanted to destroy the foundation of the Ming Dynasty!
Hong Chengchou cursed angrily: "Li Xianzhong is the Duke of Liao in the Ming Dynasty, but he secretly supports the bandits and respects himself. He is really a traitor to the country!"
He Renlong also came to his senses at this time and said: "It turns out that the White Lotus Sect and the pirates are all caused by Li Xianzhong!"
Suddenly he remembered some past events and said: "Perhaps Li Xianzhong was funding more than just the White Lotus Sect and the bandits. When the general was crossing the Yellow River in Shanxi to wipe out the bandits, the fleet crossing the river was sunk by something floating in the water. !”
"Now that I think about it, how come the rogue bandits have these things? Moreover, Li Zicheng's troops are also equipped with Lumi guns. It is very likely that these rogue bandits are also funded by Li Xianzhong!"
Hong Chengchou snorted coldly and said: "It seems that Li Xianzhong has wanted to destroy our Ming Dynasty for a long time. I am determined to eliminate thieves for the country!"
"Send the order, and the whole army will march to Dengzhou quickly!"
Hong Chengchou knew that time was everything, and he must rush to Dengzhou before Li Xianzhong could react.
At this time, he did not even have any defensive troops left in Laiyang and Qixia, which he had already occupied.
If you leave too little, you won't be able to defend your retreat; if you leave too much, you won't be able to capture Dengzhou. At this time, he had already made a desperate move and led his 17,000 Yulin battalion to attack Dengzhou.
When He Renlong led the cavalry to rush outside Dengzhou City first, he found that everything was as usual here, even the city gate was wide open.
Only some White Lotus cultists were conducting routine checks at the city gate.
In the previous two places, Laiyang and Qixia, they pretended to be the Liaodong Army under Mao Wenlong and directly occupied the cities.
He Renlong felt that these White Lotus cultists were not familiar with the Liaodong Army at all, and Dengzhou City simply had more White Lotus cultists.
Since the method of pretending to be the Liaodong Army to fraudulently open the city gate has been tried many times, he cannot miss this golden opportunity.
Soon, 300 cavalrymen, led by the traitor Hou Yaozong, arrived at the gate of Dengzhou City.
This number was carefully calculated by Hong Chengchou. If there were thousands of people, no matter how stupid the White Lotus cultists were, they would not be able to let them into the city easily.
Soon the White Lotus cultists in front of the city gate blocked the way of Hou Yaozong and others.
Hou Yaozong quickly took out his military talisman, which was an identity tag customized by Li Xianzhong for a general in Liaodong, with his personal information written on it.
Hou Yaozong said: "According to the order of General Mao Wenlong, I led my troops to garrison Dengzhou."
Then he took out the forged documents that Hong Chengchou had ordered.
These White Lotus cultists don't know this, so it was easy for them to get away with it before.
But this is Dengzhou after all. The White Lotus cultist said: "Please wait a moment, sir. We can only let you into the city after we report to the Duke of Liao."
At this time, Hou Yaozong's face turned pale. How could this forged document possibly deceive Li Xianzhong?
So he slashed at the White Lotus cult member and shouted: "Brothers, follow me into the city and capture Li Xianzhong alive!"
Soon the group of them rushed into the south gate of Dengzhou.
Hou Yaozong followed Mao Wenlong to directly garrison Laizhou. He had never entered Dengzhou City at all, so he naturally didn't know that there was an Wengcheng at the south gate of Dengzhou.
When he rode his horse into the city gate, he realized something was wrong.
There was no one in the urn city, and the city gate had been closed.
Just as Hou Yaozong was about to turn his horse around and leave the city, he heard a loud noise and the thousand-jin pendant on the city gate was lowered. Now they were completely sealed in the urn city.
Then a large number of Liaodong Army figures appeared on the city.
The Rumi guns in their hands began to shoot mercilessly at the enemy troops below the city.
He Renlong outside the city saw something was wrong and quickly led his army towards the city gate.
But at this time, Wang Xifan, who was wearing a white robe decorated with golden lotus flowers, said: "Old mother Wu Sheng has given me a dream a long time ago, saying that there are thieves who will attack Dengzhou today, so why don't you die quickly! "
Then the White Lotus cultists on Dengzhou City fired fire cannons at the city. He Renlong, who arrived a step late, had no choice but to order the troops to retreat.
At this time, the Wengcheng was already filled with the smell of sulfur and blood, and the city was filled with the bodies of Yu Linying.
Wang Xifan said: "I have reported to the Duke of Liao that the traitor Hou Yaozong and the three hundred heavy armored cavalry of the Yulin camp have been killed."
Li Xianzhong said: "Hou Yaozong rebelled and surrendered to the enemy, causing the enemy troops to march in. He ordered the Liaodong Procuratorate to confiscate his property and his relatives and family members to be punished according to the law!"
"It's a pity that there are only three hundred people, so we give them an advantage!"
You don't need to guess to know that this must be He Renlong's own initiative. Hong Chengchou would never be so reckless.
It is possible to defraud a small county town with this clumsy method, but he actually wants to defraud my Dengzhou city, he really dares to think!
Then he smiled evilly and said: "Wang Tongzhi, give the White Lotus Sect's extra lotus pattern white robes to the soldiers, so that Hong Chengchou can taste the power of your White Lotus Sect!"
He Renlong knew that he was in trouble this time. Not only did he fail to win Dengzhou, but he also alerted the enemy.
They had to build siege equipment while waiting for Hong Chengchou's main force to arrive.
A few hours later, the main force led by Hong Chengchou arrived at Dengzhou City.
However, it was already dark now, and they could not attack the city. They had to order the soldiers to prepare siege equipment while guarding against sneak attacks by bandits in the city.
He Renlong quickly apologized to Hong Chengchou and said, "These are all reckless generals who wanted to take down Dengzhou City in one fell swoop, but they were discovered by these White Lotus Cult thieves!"
Hong Chengchou said: "Is there really only the White Lotus Sect in Dengzhou City?"
He Renlong said: "These White Lotus cultists are all dressed in white clothes with lotus patterns. They can't be wrong."
Although He Renlong said this, Hong Chengchou still didn't believe it. Only the White Lotus cultists guarded the city of Dengzhou.
But there is not much time left for them now.
He was not sure how long Jimo City could hold Mao Wenlong back, or whether Mao Wenlong would give up attacking Jimo City and choose to go directly north to Dengzhou.
But there should still be two or three days.
Now that there are no artillery, Hong Chengchou can only adopt the human sea tactic.
Originally, he wanted to attack from three sides together and not give these bandits any chance to breathe.
However, seeing the huge pirate navy ship cruising on the beach still made him give up this crazy idea.
After all, Zuo Liangyu's men were attacked by the bandits' naval guns six or seven miles away from the coast, and suffered heavy losses.
This also makes Dengzhou a lot less stressful.
Although the current number of defenders in Dengzhou has increased to 4,000, it is still somewhat difficult to defend three city walls.
Fortunately, they only need to guard the south gate, so the pressure on them is much less.
Wang Xifan continued to play tricks on the city, casting spells, and bewitching the old mother Wusheng!
It made the White Lotus cultists in the city feel like they had been beaten to death!
He Renlong shouted: "Governor Hong, I will make those magic stick troops look good!"
Soon thousands of Yulin battalions held their shields high and charged towards Dengzhou City.
Since the Yulin camp was a stowaway, it only had light squatting tiger guns.
However, there were Hongyi cannons on Dengzhou City, and the shells fell into the charging crowd one after another. The huge air wave directly overturned the charging Yulin Camp, causing them a lot of casualties.
Fortunately, the firing range was relatively long, so it would be fine if the Habayashi battalion rushed into the minimum firing range of the artillery.
He Renlong said: "The artillery of the Liaodong Army is much stronger than ours, especially the explosive bullets, which are extremely lethal. Our solid bullets are really incomparable to theirs."
"Fortunately, the fighting power of this group of White Lotus cultists should not be strong, and they are definitely no match for the Armored Feather Forest Battalion!"
Soon the Yulin camp rushed within a hundred steps, and the two sides began a battle of fire guns.
The firing of Rumi's gun was still quite intensive, and almost all the hundreds of Yulin battalions rushing in the front row were knocked down.
Don't underestimate these hundreds of people. These fully armed soldiers are the first to enter the camp and are usually the most elite in the entire army.
But with the changes in tactics, the traditional first-in-command may have become real cannon fodder.
In the original siege battle, although it was dangerous to attack first, their death rate was not that high due to their powerful armor.
But now is the age of firearms. Both the Liaodong Army and the Ming Army are equipped with a large number of firearms. This traditional heavy armor first attack may only be gradually withdrawn.
The more than 3,000 Yulin battalions who attacked finally reached the city after suffering nearly a thousand casualties.
Hong Chengchou had a hunch that Li Xianzhong himself was actually in Dengzhou City. He deliberately asked these "magic stick troops" to guard the city so that he could relax his vigilance.
He said: "Congratulations, Commander-in-Chief, you will lead three thousand fire guns to provide fire cover for the brothers below the city and suppress the bandits on the city."
At this time, there were only fire gunmen and White Lotus cultists transferred by the navy in the city. It should be said that they had performed well without close combat before.
However, they were still somewhat nervous when facing real hand-to-hand combat.
After all, there is a lack of real experience.
In terms of actual combat experience, Yulin Camp is indeed superior.
Although the White Lotus cultists continued to use rocks to attack the Yulin camp that had ascended the city, they suffered considerable casualties due to the interference of the opponent's fire gunners below the city.
In the end, the Yulin Guards were allowed to board the city.
Hong Chengchou and He Renlong who were under the city seemed extremely excited. It seemed that the combat power of these "magic sticks" was indeed not very good.
This is also the result that Li Xianzhong wants, to make Hong Chengchou feel that there is an opportunity in Dengzhou.
His 500 National Guard troops have not been used.
Following Li Xianzhong's order, they quickly joined the battle and quickly drove down the Yulin Guards who boarded the city.
He Renlong who was under the city was also very disappointed. He had already had the upper hand, but unexpectedly a group of White Lotus cultists with strong melee abilities came out of the city.
However, the strength of Dengzhou City was just like this, and soon they invested a new round of troops.
The two sides fought fiercely in Dengzhou City, but the number of defenders on the city was small after all. As the casualties increased, there began to be a shortage of manpower.
Although the Yulin camp under the city suffered more casualties, they did become more and more excited as they fought.
Even Hong Chengchou felt that Dengzhou was about to be captured.
He ignored that his Yulin Guards had already suffered nearly 5,000 casualties in Dengzhou City.
At this time, the Liaodong Army in the city had also killed 1,500 people.
Li Xianzhong said to Wang Xifan: "It's time for you, the ninth-grade Lotus Master of the White Lotus Sect, to use your magic!"
So Wang Xifan gave an order, and the White Lotus cultists in the city quickly lit the fuses of the thunder. As more than twenty thunder thunders exploded under the city, more than 70% of the enemy's siege ladder was destroyed, and Hundreds of Yulin Guards under the city were directly blown to death!
And the magic stick Wang Xifan started his performance again. He jumped up and down with the magic sword, and said in his mouth: "The old mother Wusheng came down to earth, and the magic thunder technique killed the evildoers!"
Yulin Wei, who was lucky enough not to die, also ran back as hard as he could as if possessed!
While running, he shouted: "These White Lotus cultists know magic!"
He Renlong hacked the deserter to death with one blow and yelled: "Whoever dares to mislead the public with evil words again will be killed without mercy!"
At this time, the sky was gradually getting darker.
Wang Xifan on the city said: "Look, Duke of Liao, beacon fires have been lit on the hillsides on both sides of the southwest. Our reinforcements have arrived!"
Li Xianzhong said: "It's almost time. Let's send the signal for Mao Wenlong and Lu Xiangsheng to attack."
A loud arrow shot out over Dengzhou.
Lu Xiangsheng and Mao Wenlong began to lead the cavalry towards Dengzhou City from two directions from the southwest!
Even Hong Chengchou was stunned by the scene in front of him. How could the Liaodong Army arrive so quickly? After attacking the city for a day, the Yulin Guards were already exhausted.
He Renlong was unambiguous at this time and quickly led thousands of cavalry to meet them.
Unfortunately, most of the heavy armored cavalry he relied on had suffered casualties before attacking the city, and the remaining few hundred people could not resist the Liaodong Army at all.
Especially the five thousand "assault battalion" led by Mao Wenlong, which was the elite cavalry formed by Li Xianzhong when he was the commander-in-chief of Kaiyuan.
They conquered Mongolia and fought in Jianzhou. The veteran border army battalions trained on the battlefield were not comparable to the Yulin camp who killed a few bandits.
As soon as the two cavalry collided, they were immediately at odds, and soon He Renlong's formation was torn apart by Mao Wenlong.
While He Renlong was entangled with Mao Wenlong, Lu Xiangsheng also took the opportunity to kill from the flank.
Even though Lu Xiangsheng was a Wen Jinshi, he was extremely powerful. The sword he wielded during practice weighed 136 kilograms.
The large knife in his hand was not light at this time, weighing more than 40 kilograms.
With one powerful strike, He Renlong was directly killed off his horse.
He Renlong is the backbone of this Yulin camp. Their morale was not high at first. Seeing their leader beheaded by the formation, they collapsed even more. Soon they fled.
At this time, there were cavalry from the Liaodong Army on both sides of the southwest and Dengzhou City's gunfire in the north. They could only flee eastward.
But after running for a long time, they stopped because there was a vast sea to the east.
The sea is not scary. The scary thing is the huge ship parked on the sea.
With the roar of artillery, dozens of shells fell directly into the dense crowd, causing hundreds of casualties in an instant.
At this time, Li Xianzhong also arrived here under the cover of a group of guards.
He ignored Hong Chengchou and just said to the soldiers of Yulin Camp: "I am Li Xianzhong, Duke of Liao. As long as you lay down your weapons and surrender, I can guarantee your life safety!"
After Li Xianzhong finished speaking, the officers and soldiers of the Liaodong Army shouted in unison: "Disarm and not kill!"
At this time, there were only 8,000 remnants left in Yulin Camp, and soon they made a choice for Hong Chengchou!
In fact, Jimo had not yet been captured by the Liaodong Army at this time. After Mao Wenlong discovered that Hong Chengchou was heading north, he quickly led his army to pursue him.
Zhao Lijiao was left behind to continue to lead his army to besiege Jimo City.
Otherwise, he would be much further away than Lu Xiangsheng, and it would be impossible for both parties to arrive in Dengzhou at the same time.
In fact, Li Xianzhong knew that Hong Chengchou would not surrender so easily.
Regardless of history, he finally surrendered to the Tatars, but it took less than half a year.
Literary people always need some steps.
Li Xianzhong said: "Governor Hong, do you think it is still necessary for the Yulin Camp in Jimo City to resist?"
Hong Chengchou remained silent!
Li Xianzhong said: "I can use He Renlong's corpse and the Hongyi cannon to open the gates of Jimo. I just want to kill less evil!"
"Whether Governor Hong wants to go to Jimo himself to persuade you to surrender, or whether I will tie you to the city to persuade you to surrender, it is your choice!"
In desperation, Hong Chengchou had to open the gate of Jimo.
With the surrender of Jimo, half of the 30,000 Yulin battalion commanded by He Renlong were killed and half surrendered.
Even if these people surrender, they cannot be used immediately.
However, they already know their identities, and it is impossible to return them to their hometown.
Li Xianzhong decided to escort them back to Liaodong and undergo labor reform first.
After all, they are his compatriots, and it is impossible for him to abuse them like he did to the Koreans, but it is not too much to let them work to earn back their own rations.
It is still difficult for these people to completely return to their hearts now. When they truly understand Liaodong, they will change.
This is a ready-made army, and Li Xianzhong will naturally not give up on them.
As for Hong Chengchou, he was not in a hurry to persuade him to surrender. He could let him visit various places first and gain insights.
Soon Li Xianzhong asked Zheng Zhilong to release the news of annihilating 30,000 Yulin Guards and killing Hong Chengchou and He Renlong.
After hearing the news, Zuo Liangyu quickly gave up Wei County, which he had finally captured, and withdrew to Qingzhou Prefecture.
The other Ming armies also retreated across the board!
When Chongzhen heard the news, he fainted!
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(End of chapter)
