Hearing Li Dakai complaining about the large number of people and the lack of land, Gao Hongtu just smiled: "How can there be no land? The Taiyi Mountains are very empty! If you cut down some trees on the hillside, wouldn't there be land?"
"But, it's not easy to grow food on this sloping land. The sloping land is at a high place, prone to water shortage, and the output is far less than that of the flat land." Li Dakai shook his head and said, "Now there are thirty or forty refugees who have returned to our Shandong Governor's Yamen. If it’s ten thousand, how much slope land will be cultivated?”
"Do you know anything about agriculture?" Gao Hongtu looked at Li Dakai with a smile and asked.
"Futai, although the rank of a lower official is a hereditary military position, my family is not very wealthy. They are both soldiers and farmers, so I know a little about farming."
Gao Hongtu smiled, "Then do you know about sweet potatoes?"
"A vassal?" Li Dakai was stunned, "A vassal state or a vassal king?"
"No, it's an agricultural product introduced from overseas. It's as big as a fist, has a vermilion skin, a crisp and juicy heart, is edible both raw and cooked, has a high yield, and is widely planted and resistant to infertility."
"Oh, sweet potatoes!" Li Dakai remembered, "Xiaguan has eaten them before. It tastes good when roasted."
"This kind of thing can be grown anywhere, and it is resistant to drought and barrenness, and the yield is not low." Gao Hongtu said, "When I was the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing, I planted sweet potatoes in Nanzhi and knew its benefits. So last year At the end of the year, I submitted a letter to the Ministry of Household Affairs, asking for a batch of sweet potatoes to be used as seeds and widely planted in Taiyi Mountain. Now the Ministry of Household Affairs is doing things very efficiently, and has sent tens of thousands of stones... With these sweet potatoes, we can If we can build military garrison on Mount Taiyi, I think it will last forever."
"This is great!" Li Dakai felt relieved now, "As long as there is food, three or four hundred thousand refugees can form thirty or forty thousand elite soldiers... Even if they cannot fight in the field with the Tartars, they can still defend themselves. The fortress is no longer a problem."
Gao Hongtu stroked his beard and was also proud, "More than 30,000 to 40,000 elite soldiers? There are also powerful regiment training on the ground in Jinan, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou to drive! We have these tens of thousands of elite soldiers, are we afraid that they will not obey?"
In addition, there were many refugees in Zuo Zhongji who could work in the fields, and they also obtained tens of thousands of kilo of sweet potatoes. As long as they can recruit 20,000 to 30,000 people to work in the fields, then the powerful regiment training in Denglaiqing Zhuzhou County can be used by them. As a result, the number of available troops for this officer and Zuo Zhongji alone is no less than 100,000! Even if the Tartars are elite soldiers, I and Zuo Zhongji are not afraid of them!
The only thing I'm worried about now is that there are nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses on the ground in Shandong, but there is no one to lead them, so they have to fight on their own..."
This is a bit exaggerated, but the Ming Dynasty's defense in Shandong has indeed reached the most rigorous level since Yongle.
Not only has the guard system of Denglai Qingsan Prefecture been rebuilt, but there have been as many as fourteen military guards (associations) under the jurisdiction of the Shandong General Army and the Lu Prince's Palace (Denglai Seven Guards, Qingzhou Four Guards, and Lu Prince's Three Guards). It can draw out 20,000 to 30,000 elite soldiers.
Moreover, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Shi Kefa each organized a group training group!
In addition, there are two general soldiers on the ground in Shandong, Li Shiyuan and Liu Zhiqian, and three "little general soldiers", Sun Degong, Li Chengdong, and Li Huajing. The current general soldiers on Zhu Cixi's side are a bit overused. Among the general soldiers, there are three levels: "provincial general soldier", "prefecture general soldier" and "small general soldier".
Among them, the provincial general soldier is the general military officer of a province, such as Li Ruolian's Shandong general soldier. The chief soldier of the prefecture is the chief soldier who guards the prefecture. Not every prefecture has a chief soldier, but only a few state governments have one.
The so-called small general soldier is also called the battalion general soldier. This battalion is not the battalion of the new army to overcome difficulties, but a certain battalion under the provincial general soldier and the prefectural general soldier, usually on the left, center and right. For example, the Shandong Zuoying Commander-in-Chief, the Jinan Right Camp Commander-in-Chief... are actually a miscellaneous commander-in-chief. Some people have territory, but they are not enough to form a government. Some of them had no land and were either living under someone else's roof or paid by the Ministry of War.
Sun Degong, Li Chengdong, and Li Huajing were such small general soldiers. Each had several thousand troops and divided territory in several states and counties. Every month, he can also receive a contracted military expenditure from the Ministry of War, which is fifteen thousand taels of silver.
In addition, Shi Kefa and Su Guansheng (Governor of Liaodong and Governor of Denglai) had supervisors, and Gao Hongtu had governors, both with four to five thousand people.
If you add up these scattered soldiers and horses, you will have 200,000 people!
Although there are a lot of people, the equipment and training are a little behind, and most of them are a bit like a ragtag group. What is even more difficult to keep up with is that there are so many armies without unified command!
It's not that Zhu Cixiang doesn't know the importance of unified command, but that he really doesn't have any talented people on hand who can take charge alone.
If one of Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, and Lu Xiangsheng was still alive, Zhu Cihong would have sent him to Shandong long ago.
But now he really has no one to send... Gao Hongtu, Su Guansheng, Shi Kefa, Hou Xun, Ma Shiying, Lu Zhenfei, and He Tengjiao, who led the troops in Fengjiang, are actually laymen. No matter who you send, you may end up destroying all 200,000 troops in one battle!
So Zhu Cixiang simply came and didn't have a coach, but let everyone fight on their own and defend their own position. Although this arrangement is not conducive to a decisive battle, it is conducive to delaying time. As long as one of the four Gao Hongtu, Su Guansheng, Shi Kefa and Zhu Yihai persists in Shandong, the battle in Shandong will not end.
Moreover, it is impossible for this arrangement to match Shandong's 200,000-strong army for a decisive battle with Duduo. If Duduo wants to encircle the area and mobilize reinforcements, he may have to be a little patient to lure the Ming army on the ground in Shandong to Qufu City and eliminate it.
After all, Shi Kefa, the seemingly large governor of seven provinces, could only oversee the area around Qufu County. Even if he was beaten to death by Duduo, it had nothing to do with Su Guansheng, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maodi.
However, Dorgon and Duoduo could not adapt to this situation for a while. Because they all know the past Ming Dynasty too well - Emperor Chongzhen is such a good opponent, Li Zicheng wants him to death now! Dorgon and Dodo will definitely miss him after a while...
Duduo, who had just led his army to the deserted Liaocheng area, thought that unless Shi Kefa and Kong Yinzhi abandoned the tomb of Confucius in Qufu and fled, as long as Qufu was besieged, he was afraid that there would be no Ming army coming to die in a steady stream?
In the past, when the Qing Dynasty surrounded Jinzhou, they fished out Hong Chengchou's army of hundreds of thousands! What is this ancestor’s longevity? Can it be compared with the bones of Confucius? Those stupid scholars from the Southern Dynasties must be desperate to save us!
Thinking of this, Duduo took his mind back and focused on the Liaocheng Castle in front of him.
"What is that?" Duduo took a Western monocular telescope and looked at the "City in the Lake" in Liaocheng again and again, "Why does it look like a grain bag?"
"Your Majesty, those are sandbags." He Luohui knew about the construction of the city on Juehua Island, "Nikan built a city with sandbags on Juehua Island."
"Use sandbags?" Duduo laughed, "It's conceivable. When the time comes, we use a cannon to blast it, and it will collapse immediately!"
"Isn't that right!" He Luohui said, "Your Majesty, the Zhenghuang Banner Han Army under my command is armed with cannons. Do you want to let them try it?"
"What are you trying?" Duduo smiled, "Even if we knock down the Liaocheng wall, can we still swim across and attack the city?"
"That's what the prince said," He Luohui smiled flatteringly, "but those Nikans are stupid, thinking that they can stop our Qing's heavenly soldiers with just this little water surface. When the weather gets cold and the water surface freezes, we can easily Easily break the city."
Duduo smiled: "Not until then... When we defeat the main force of the Shandong Ming Army in Qufu, will Liu Zhiqian still dare to defend the city?
By the way, is Shi Kefa still in Qufu? "
"Here," He Luohui said, "according to the spies' reports, Shi Kefa and Kong Yinzhi are both in Qufu. And these days, all the Nikans in the northwest of Yanzhou Prefecture are heading to Qufu, pointing to Shi Kefa for help... .It seems that Qufu will be crowded with Nikan people without us having to work hard to drive people away."
Duduo said with a smile: "Then send an order to Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo, asking them to advance their troops as soon as possible. The troops will arrive at Qufu City within five days!"
"twitter!"
