During the Meng Zhong period of the 18th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, Jinan, a spring city that had once declined due to massacres by the Qing army and successive wars, once again showed some prosperity.
The revival of Jinan seems to have something to do with the Qing Dynasty's Heavenly Soldiers. This time the Qing soldiers marched along the canal. In addition to Dezhou, which was located along the canal, three prefectures and counties including Leling and Haifeng, which were intertwined with North Zhili, were occupied by the Qing army. The rest of the places are still under the control of the regiment training army of Gao Hongtu, Gao Futai, the governor of Shandong and the chief military officer of Jinan garrison!
Licheng, the prefecture of Jinan, has become a paradise far away from the war. Rich families who escaped from the states and counties in the northern part of Jinan Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, several counties in the northern part of Yanzhou Prefecture, and even the Beizhili territory of the Qing Dynasty gradually gathered in Jinan Prefecture to settle down.
After all, Jinan Fucheng is a big city, with high walls, deep ditches, and a large internal area. Because of the massacre by the Qing army, there are enough open spaces and empty houses for people to live in. In the more than a year after Gao Hongtu took office, he spared no effort to strengthen the city's defenses, stock up on food and grass, and organize team training. He looked like he was determined to stick to Jinan to the end, which gave the refugees and wealthy people gathered from all over the country a little more confidence. I have begun to settle down in Jinan, which is relatively close to home... Not all people are willing to stay away from home, especially those who still have some industries in their hometown and have no destination far away. They always want to leave home. To escape the fighting in a relatively close place so that they can return as soon as the fighting is over and start their lives over again.
On the streets of Jinan in the summer, in addition to vendors from all over the place working hard in a relatively stable place in these troubled times, there are also regiment training soldiers wearing gray cloth jackets walking around and watching the excitement with their mouths open. These soldiers were all poor lower-middle peasants from poor backgrounds. They rarely visited the county town on weekdays, that is, they just wandered around the nearby towns. Now that they have arrived in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, a prosperous place like heaven and earth, how can they not be amazed?
There are too many officials here, wearing official uniforms of crimson, cyan, and green, with various patches on their chests, riding horses or riding sedans, swaggering through the streets, and some of them are quite particular about pomp and circumstance. , shouting in front and surrounded by a large group of long-term followers and guards, so majestic.
A group of chariots and horses meandered into the Luoyuan Gate in the west of Jinan City. This group of chariots and horses attracted the attention of many people. The group leading the way was a tough cavalry team, many of them still had wounds from the battlefield on their faces, and there was a murderous look in their eyes. Different from the regiment training troops wandering around Jinan City, these cavalrymen all wore well-made cloth-covered armor, carried iron-made battle hats, and were equipped with carbines, sabers, and Kaiyuan bows. At first glance, you can tell that they are regular Ming army cavalry!
The carriage they were guarding was also very special. It was a "chariot". The carriage and wheels were reinforced, with thick wooden boards added to the carriage and a lot of iron sheets on the wheels.
The wooden windows of the car were open, and from time to time the head of a dark-faced scholar poked his head out, looking at the prosperous and lively city of Jinan.
This black-faced scholar is the Yanzhou Bingbei Qianshi, Jinyi Weinan Town Fusi Yanzhou Shi Kecheng.
Of course, Shi Kecheng's position as Jinyiwei Qianhu is confidential - as a spy, where can his identity be made public? Now that it's been made public, you're still spying like this? Therefore, only a few people knew that Shi Kecheng was a spy.
And his official trip to Jinan this time had nothing to do with spy activities. It was Shi Kefa who sent him as a soldier to discuss with Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, Zhu Yihai, and Li Ruolian how to surround and annihilate Duduo, a Tatar. ...
Yes, after the great victory in Qufu, Shi Kefa, the governor of the military gate of the seven provinces, became more energetic and prepared to continue his efforts. He joined forces with Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, Zhu Yihai, Li Ruolian, Li Huajing, Huang Degong, Gao Jie and other troops to work with the Qing Dynasty to find gold. Prince Duduo comes to a big battle!
However, as the governor of the military gate of the seven provinces, he was in name only, and his orders could not even go out of Yanzhou Prefecture, which meant that they were effective around Qufu City.
Therefore, Shi Kefa had no choice but to send his cousin Shi Kecheng to go out and run to Jinan to contact Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, Zhu Yihai, Li Ruolian and others at the risk of being chased by the cavalry of the Qing army's Qufu camp.
The process of protruding out of Qufu was very smooth, without any surprises - because the Qufu camp of the Qing army was only a stronghold confronting Qufu City, and it was not close to Qufu City, nor did it have the ability to surround Qufu City. The most they can do is to send some cavalry around Qufu City to clean up the Ming army's Ye Bu.
Shi Kecheng, who was protected by a large group of cavalry, couldn't hurt a hair. He could only watch him go away safely.
On the way from Qufu to Jinan, Shi Kecheng saw a lot of hope for victory.
Because after leaving Qufu County and entering Taiyi Mountain, he found that the people here had been organized. They were organized by big bosses of the Shandong landlord class like Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai!
Don’t think that there is no way to organize the wealthy landlords and the poor and lower-middle peasants because they are in class opposition. In fact, before the rise of the imperial examination system, the gentry and landlord class could still organize rural soldiers, build forts, and dominate the country. Even in the Song Dynasty after the rise of the imperial examination, wealthy families with big surnames would still stick together to keep warm - because the Song Dynasty did not have the two-level honors of being a scholar or a scholar, and the number of Jinshi was too small, and there was no system like the North and South Ranking to ensure that there could be a few Jinshi in each place. , so many prefectures and counties where culture and education are not very prosperous have basically no civil servants. The wealthy families with big surnames rely on the number of people to develop and survive. Therefore, there have been many "righteous families" where people of more than ten generations are not separated from each other.
In the Ming Dynasty, the cohesion of powerful surnames declined due to the emergence of the title of Juren and Scholars. For example, in the "Nine Floors and Eighteen Counts" like the Zuo family of Laiyang, everyone has achieved fame and fame, and no one obeys anyone, so the cohesion of the family has dropped significantly.
However, the measures implemented by Zhu Cixiang a year ago to repatriate people and support the three major Shandong local leaders, including Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai, have greatly enhanced the power of Shandong's powerful landlords. At least in Tai'an, Feicheng, Changqing and Licheng (Jinan Fucheng) and other prefectures and counties in the Taiyi Mountains, there are organized training regiments and forts built in dangerous places everywhere.
This is just the beginning! If Shandong's resistance to the Qing Dynasty can continue for ten or eight years and Shandong's regiment training and army training is completed, then Gao Hongtu will become "Gao Guofan" and Zuo Maodi will become Zuo Zongtang! It’s time for the Qing Dynasty to cry. But Shi Kecheng's cousin Shi Kefa couldn't wait ten or eight years...
...
"Gaofutai, my brother thought that the Tartars had invaded Jin Prince Duduo's troops and had formed a lone army to penetrate deeply. Tens of thousands of troops marched along the canal and stopped at the foot of Qufu City. Along the way, they only occupied Wuqiao Town, Dezhou, and Wucheng. The counties, Linqing Prefecture, Tangyi County, Zhangqiu Town, Dongping Prefecture, Jining Prefecture, Ziyang County and other cities were like a thin thread, maintaining Duduo's retreat route.
And to the east of this thin line, there are the troops of Gao Futai, Zuo Tuanlian, King Lu and Li Zongrong, with a strength of no less than 100,000! To the west of the thin line, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses led by Li Zongrong (Li Huajing), Huang Zongrong, and Lu Futai.
To the south of the Tartars, there are my brother's Qufu Army, Xuzhou's Gao Family Army, and Huai'an Road Futai Soldiers and Horses. The combined number of all the tribes is not less than one hundred thousand!
Duduo only has tens of thousands of exhausted people, and he is attacked by 300,000 of us. He is clearly in danger... As long as all parties can work together, we will definitely be able to annihilate this beast! "
In Jinan City, in the lobby of the governor's office, Shi Kecheng was talking eloquently, and he was talking about what Shi Kefa had said.
Of course, Shi Kefa's analysis makes sense... At least from the map, Duduo is really going deep alone, and it seems like he is going to be surrounded and annihilated.
It's just that the last two times when the Qing army went deep into Shandong, they seemed to be alone, and they went deeper and deeper. They were not wiped out by the Ming army. Instead, they fled after being plundered.
