Dorgon led his troops to leave Yuancheng County, Damingfu City, on the morning of November 17, the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty. They then passed through the frozen Wei River and headed south through Nanle, Qingfeng, and Kaizhou under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. (All the above belong to Daming Prefecture), and then drive northeast along the frozen Guangji Canal, passing through Puzhou in Dongchang Prefecture, entering Yuncheng County in Yanzhou Prefecture, and passing through the Liangshanji area in Yuncheng The Ming Army's canal blockade broke into the Ming Army's rear!
In front of Dorgon's tens of thousands of troops, the Ming army's canal defense line seemed to be in vain!
The so-called canal blockade is indeed not easy to break through when the canal is not frozen - it takes a while to cross the river, and the Ming army built a simple bastion more than 20 miles along the canal, with hundreds of defenders on it ( They were all subordinates of Huang Degong). Although they could not stop the Qing army from passing between the two bastions, they could light beacons and send cavalry to report to the main force in Liaocheng. At the same time, all the ships on the canal were protected to create difficulties for the Qing army to cross the river, thereby achieving the purpose of delaying the Qing army.
But once the canal freezes, the blockade becomes ineffective.
The two bastions are more than twenty miles apart. When visibility is poor, they cannot see each other! Moreover, the power and range of artillery these days are limited. As for the Qing army passing between the two bastions, the Ming army holding on to the fort can only watch them swagger through.
Moreover, most of the states and counties west of the canal blockade were under the control of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty’s encirclement of land and the granting of land by dictation were not in vain! The gentry and landlords, the basis of the Ming Dynasty's rule in this area, have been completely eliminated!
Whether it is the Green Flag soldiers who shaved their heads and tied them into braids, or the farmers who are not qualified to shave their heads, they are now on the side of the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty to restore its rule west of the canal. Even if it occupied some cities, it could not reach the grassroots level. Moreover, the Qing army's cavalry had a great advantage. They traveled freely on the plains on the west bank of the canal. The Ming army did not close up at night and had little room for movement, so it was impossible to grasp the movements of Dorgon's army.
It wasn't until tens of thousands of Qing troops arrived in the Liangshanji area that they were discovered by the Ming army fortress on the nearby canal. By the time they hurriedly lit the beacon fire and sent Tang Ma to report to Liaocheng, the Qing army had already swaggered through the two forts, headed east, and disappeared into the vast wilderness.
Inside the Admiral's Military Gate of the Seven Provinces in Liaocheng (which is still branded as a military gate to the outside world), there was a noisy atmosphere at this time. The officials from all walks of life who gathered here no longer had the same high spirits as when they regained Liaocheng a while ago. They all gathered in the lobby with straight faces for military discussions.
"There are many captives here, at least thirty or forty thousand! Our soldiers are not at home. To the east of the Taiyi Mountains, where can they go?"
"Looking at the direction of Donglu's march, they should be heading towards Qufu! Now there are abundant reserves in Qufu City to the east of the Taiyi Mountains!"
"And there are treasures underground in Qufu!"
"Underground in Qufu? Kong Lin? Has Donglu not forgotten this?"
"It doesn't have to be Kong Lin. What kind of treasure can Kong Lin have? But Duke Yansheng has been passed down for more than sixty generations now! How many treasures are buried under the ground for a family that has been in existence for more than a thousand years?"
"Yeah...it must be tens of millions of taels, right?"
I don’t know why, but the issue of this military discussion quickly turned into a fight! The "false propaganda" launched by Emperor Zhu is really deceiving! Great Confucian scholars such as Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maodi have been brainwashed by repeated public opinion attacks!
Now they all believe that Dorgon and his family are part-time smugglers!
Since you want to fight upside down, of course you have to find a place where there are more big buckets.
In Shandong, there were many big fights in Qufu. Forget about Confucius, his family was not rich when Confucius died, so there would not be many good things buried with him.
But the descendants of Confucius can't help but do well. How many ancestors of aristocratic families with more than a thousand years of history have been buried in glory? And some have to be buried, but none have to be dug up!
All dynasties have followed Confucius, and those who run state-owned enterprises will give their families face and will not dig their graves. Those who run private companies do not dare to dig...
Therefore, there are probably more treasures underground in Qufu than in Tianshou Mountain (the mausoleum of Ming Dynasty emperors)!
Nowadays, Donglu and scholars are not on the same side at all. They have done things like "killing their parents" by enclosing land and granting land to farmers, so what's the point of digging up the graves of the Confucius family in Qufu?
"Supervisor Shi, how is the defense of Qufu? Can it be defended?"
Gao Hongtu asked about Qufu's defense situation. Shi Kefa showed a little worry. He had pulled out all the main forces training in Qufu this time... but what worried him even more was Kong Yinzhi who stayed in Qufu.
As long as Yanshenggong did not run away, Dorgon would not dare to attack with the strong city of Qufu, even if he had tens of thousands of elite soldiers of the Eight Banners.
It’s not worth it to take advantage of the powerful Eight Banners army with 10,000 or 20,000 people for the treasure in the underground of Qufu.
"We have to follow the Donglu army!" Shi Kefa twirled his beard, "Don't follow too closely. Follow from a distance and just fight steadily. Huang Zongrong, what do you think?"
Huang Degong frowned. He knew that the "big chariot soldiers" such as Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai had poor maneuverability, and they might not be able to withstand intensive shelling.
"We have to gather the troops and horses from the forts along the canal..." Huang Degong said, "It's best to join forces with His Majesty again."
"How long will this take?" Shi Kefa shook his head repeatedly, "I'm afraid Qufu will be lost!"
He was afraid that Kong Yinzhi would escape from Qufu... Once Kong Yinzhi ran away, there would be no one to guard Qufu. If such a fortress, which took countless manpower and material resources to be built, fell into the hands of the Qing army, the battle of Shandong would be lost.
Qufu is not too far from the Grand Canal. If Dorgon placed thousands of old Eight Banners in Qufu city, it would be difficult to maintain canal traffic. Without the support of the canal supply line, it would have been impossible for the Ming army to maintain heavy troops along the canals of Dongchang Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture, let alone continue the Northern Expedition.
Moreover, Qufu, the fortress built by Shi Kefa himself, would become an insurmountable obstacle on the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition in the future.
Huang Degong pondered for a while, "Then let's concentrate as much as possible... Give Xiaguan two days, and Xiaguan will try to concentrate 10 battalions."
Shi Kefa glanced at Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi and Li Shiyuan who represented Zhu Yihai, "How about our three families sending out 12 more military vehicle battalions, 2 infantry battalions, 2 cavalry battalions and 1 artillery battalion?"
The four towns in Shandong are mainly car camps, but there are also infantry, cavalry and artillery battalions. Li Chengdong, the military commander of the Tai'an Army who was attached to Gao Hongtu, brought 2 infantry battalions and 2 cavalry battalions, a total of 2,000 elite soldiers.
In addition, Shi Kefa's Qufu regiment training banner also has a field mobile artillery battalion, equipped with some three-pound regimental cannon and one-pound general cannon. The artillerymen were all trained in Nanjing.
Gao Hongtu counted on his fingers, "Almost 45,000 people, and more than fifty three-pound cannons and one-pound cannons...can we fight Donglu?"
Huang Degong shook his head: "It's still a little short, but it doesn't matter... You can invite your Majesty to join us. Your Majesty has one division, two cavalry regiments, and a guard battalion, with a total of more than 20,000 people.
In addition, we can attack under the banner of His Majesty, but Dorgon will not dare to take the initiative to fight decisively. "
Shi Kefa nodded: "Okay, that's it!"
Zhu Cihong left the banner in Liaocheng to frighten Dorgon, but he never expected that Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu, these "rebellious ministers and traitors", would actually make their own decisions and leave Liaocheng under the banner of Emperor Zhu. Pulling their carts, baggage, and artillery, they went after Dorgon.
But how can they catch up? They set out from Liaocheng on the third day after Dorgon passed the canal blockade. For Dorgon's army, which was fifty or sixty miles a day, they had traveled more than one hundred and fifty miles in three days.
And his target is not Qufu, but Li Chengdong's hometown, Tai'an Prefecture!
