The men and horses camped in Shandong fled all the way to Laizhou, and then they were supported by the men and horses led by Sun Yuanhua, who repelled the pursuing rebels. 【Read the latest chapter】
Although the rebels led by Li Jiuzheng were full of momentum, after all, it was freezing cold, windy and snowy, and the road was difficult. The infantry could not keep up with the team, and only some of the cavalry carried out the pursuit. Soon they were exhausted and unable to move. Those who pursued him to Laizhou were blocked by officers and soldiers led by Zhang Tao, so they withdrew their troops and returned.
Although the rebels were able to defeat the entire Shandong Xingying Division in this battle, they were unable to seriously injure the official army. Although the officers and soldiers suffered heavy losses in their baggage, the main elite force was basically intact. After retreating to Laizhou, they reorganized a little and set up camp under Laizhou City.
The city gates of Laizhou had been closed for a long time. Zhu Dadian, Xie Sanbin and others urged the generals and repeatedly appeased the defeated troops, and then suppressed the clamor of the defeated troops to enter the city.
After the emergency meeting of officials and gentry in the city, Magistrate Zhu and County Magistrate Hong immediately summoned Paijia in the city and ordered the rich households to provide grain and the poor households to cook. They made large quantities of multigrain pancakes and steamed buns, and hung them in baskets down to the city. The gentry in the city were "happy to donate".
The Laizhou gentry, who had already suffered heavy losses, once again "donated willingly". The last time, it was the rebels who attacked the city. The gentry wanted to save the nation. Although they were heartbroken, they still did so voluntarily. At this time, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers gathered outside the city. It was a time of new defeat. They were short of clothes and it was freezing outside. If there was no food to send, it would be unreasonable for one of them to wash Laizhou City first. Everyone was reluctant. They also had to pledge money and food.
The people in the city were often forced to do so. For a time, the city of Laizhou was abuzz with cries and cries. Sun Yuanhua, Zhu Dadian, Xie Sanbin and others supervised the generals of each battalion, and after a lot of effort, they finally suppressed the defeated army outside the city.
Zhu Dadian and others entered the city and temporarily stayed in Laizhou Mansion School, the governor's office of Sun Yuanhua. He first met with the leaders of the Shandong camp in batches. He comforted them one by one and asked the generals to restrain their troops and prepare to face the rebels. He also met with Sun Yuanhua's generals and praised them for their "loyalty to national affairs." Finally met Huang Ande.
Huang Ande was not a military attaché of the imperial court, but just a local warrior leader. It was an "honor" for Zhu Dadian to receive him this time. Naturally, Zhu Dadian not only wanted to repay him for saving his life, but also to win over the owner of the deer village.
The owner of the Deer Village is not only brave but also has the posture of an elite soldier, which is definitely not comparable to ordinary country warriors. No wonder his mere village can stand firm in Huang County. It can also help Sun Yuanhua defend Laizhou.
It seems that if we want to put down the rebels, we need to rely on the powerful power of the local gentry. Zhu Dadian casually chatted with Huang Ande. Hearing that he was from a hereditary military family in Shandong, he praised him a few words and rewarded him with fifty taels of silver.
Everything is well prepared. Zhu Dadian was sitting in the custody room, still feeling shaken - he was by no means a timid person who was afraid of death, but such a change of victory and defeat overnight, the earth-shaking changes were really unbearable. I thought that after I took office, I spent endless efforts just to urge the troops from various places to encircle and suppress the army. I finally reached the gate of Dengzhou City in order to maintain morale and discipline. He worked so hard that he almost felt exhausted. I didn't expect that such a mistake would lead to a complete defeat.
Then I thought about the tens of thousands of people outside the city, although they had settled down for the time being. However, after the new defeat, it is difficult to maintain food and salary for a while. I am afraid it will be difficult to suppress them over time, and there are many Liao people in the army. In case he was "seduced" by the rebels, Zhu Dadian couldn't sleep well or eat at the thought of this. He sighed for a while. Wandering around the room.
With the collapse of the siege of Dengzhou, the DPRK and the Central Government once again set off a new frenzy of mutual criticism. For a time, all factions made a big fuss about this matter and handed over their ammunition. Chongzhen's desk was filled with impeachment memorials.
"It's all nonsense!" He angrily threw aside the memorial that impeached Xie Sanbin and stood up. The eunuchs and maids around him raised their eyelids slightly. Seeing that he had no intention of going out, and he didn't seem to want tea, they quickly lowered their eyes and stood calmly.
I originally thought that defeating Dengzhou would only happen within the year, but I didn't expect that Zhu Dadian actually failed and allowed the rebels to burn the grain platform and break the siege in one fell swoop. The 30,000-strong army—including the Guanning battalions known as cavalry, which the imperial court spent a lot of money to maintain—were defeated at the foot of Dengzhou City and fled all the way to Laizhou.
At present, tens of thousands of troops are gathering in Laizhou, with no food, grass, or baggage, and the weather is freezing. If one of them is not handled properly, another mutiny may break out.
Chongzhen sighed heavily: Mutiny, mutiny. Over the years, the wars between officers and soldiers rarely brought him good news, but there were always mutinies. In the past, when my father was alive, although he rarely went to court, such things rarely happened; when my eldest brother was in power, everything was controlled by Wei Ni, and mutinies only happened by chance.
He has only been on the throne for more than five years, but mutinies, floods, droughts, and famines have continued. Is it because he is not virtuous enough? Or what's even more terrifying: Ming's energy is about to run out?
When he thought of this, he couldn't help being frightened, and secretly cursed himself for thinking so wildly.
Most of the grain transferred to Qingzhou has been lost, and it must be reorganized - this alone makes him heartbroken. Although the grain is tight, there is still a lot of inventory in the official warehouses in Tongzhou and Jiangnan, but the high transshipment costs are It always shocked him.
I remembered that not long ago, Zhu Dadian reported the floods in Shandong Province. From the inland to the seaside, all states and counties were hit by floods. Zhangqiu, Xincheng, Qixia, Jinxiang and other places suffered frequent floods, and asked him to exempt them from taxes and provide relief. The people who are rescuing the camp in Shandong not only cannot count on the food from Shandong Province, but also have to allocate extra food to help the people...
Thinking about how the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance looked like he was complaining, he became increasingly restless.
There is a shortage of money, soldiers, food, and capable personnel - although there are many officials, few can do things. Chongzhen originally planned to dismiss Sun Yuanhua from his post and reduce his status once he regained Dengzhou. However, in the current situation, if Sun Yuanhua is really driven away, the situation in Denglai may become increasingly difficult to deal with. Gaoqi's potential secret notes mentioned that this time The defeat of Dengzhou relied entirely on Sun Yuanhua's support to prevent the entire army from being annihilated. Even Zhu Dadian was rescued by Sun Yuanhua's subordinates.
The memorials of Zhu Dadian and Xie Sanbin also mentioned Sun Yuanhua's support. It seems that Sun Yuanhua is a person who can do things honestly.
"However, this old man is really hateful!" Chongzhen thought, if he hadn't mishandled it at the beginning, why would Dengzhou be so corrupt!
When I think of this, I can't help but hate Zhu Dadian even more for "letting me down". If it weren't for his incompetence, how could he be so tolerant of Sun Yuanhua!
In the imperial court, there were several memorials to impeach Zhu Dadian for "corruption" and Sun Yuanhua for "colluding with the Liao people". All of them were very clear-cut, and they wanted to follow his wishes. He wanted to issue a decree to have them dismissed from their posts and brought to the capital for strict punishment. Trial, but the current situation is really not suitable for changing coaches on the spot.
The current plan is to transport food and wages to Laizhou as soon as possible to support the army in case something changes. Thinking of this, he steeled himself and returned to the imperial case.
Although the rebels won a great victory and captured countless baggage. However, after the excitement after the victory passed, Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde and others found that their strategic situation had not changed much - although the siege of the army was broken for a while, the main force of the army still existed, and their own side was just hanging on. .
Several people were thinking, now they can either take advantage of the remaining power of the victory, high morale of their own side, new defeat of the officers and soldiers and lack of food, and gather the whole army to attack. If the officers and soldiers can be severely damaged, the attitude of the court may be softened; or they can sail out to sea and escape. Dongjiang.
Although the former is somewhat certain, this place is hundreds of miles away from Laizhou. It is freezing and snowy outside. We are short of food and don't have many winter clothes. If we trek all the way to Laizhou City to fight, we will suffer from cold, hunger and fatigue along the way. We will lose a lot of troops, even if we barely reach the city. I'm afraid it will be difficult to fight with the officers and soldiers.
The latter was fleeing for their lives, and they were very sure - they had hundreds of ships from the original Denglai Navy and the Tianjin Navy that had been captured, as well as a group of ships from Dongjiang Town that had defected. Although it is not possible to take away all the troops, it is still possible to transport away the main generals and most of the direct lineage troops.
As long as you can leave Dengzhou smoothly, there are many islands in the Bohai Bay. Finding a place to stay is not difficult. It can also echo the old Dongjiang tribe scattered on various islands in the Bohai Sea. The rare thing is that once you go to sea and drift on the sea, you have no way to raise food and wages. Without food and wages, this lone army will sooner or later collapse without a fight.
At that time, there will be no way to survive except to surrender to the Tartars.
But this choice was difficult for them to accept. Most of them defected to Dongjiang because they could not bear the oppression of the Manchus and had strong resistance to the Tatars. You must not take this road until you are at the end of your rope.
"No, if it doesn't work out, let's go to North Korea!" Li Jiucheng said, "The Li Dynasty is weak and its armament is not strong. Let's go to North Korea to occupy a piece of land and gather together in Dongjiang Paoze. Maybe we can create a new situation!"
"That's all." Although Kong Youde agreed, he disagreed with Li Jiucheng's idea - although the Li Dynasty was weak, it was still a country. He also deployed heavy troops. After he went to sea, he could no longer hold back the troops. Although most of the troops on the Dongjiang Islands had conflicts with Huang Long, the current commander-in-chief, they had also fought each other more than once, and the conflicts were sharp and complicated. Not necessarily everyone will listen to their own orders.
We can only rely on the direct troops in our hands to fight head-on, one less person will die, and the imperial court will definitely join forces with North Korea to suppress...
However, a large area of the Bohai Sea is frozen in winter. If you are not careful after going out to sea, the fleet will get stuck in the ice, so they can only continue to hold on in Dengzhou, at least until early spring, when the ice melts.
