In the sixth year of Hongxing's reign, winter came a little early in Qilu. At the end of September, both sides of the Daqing River and the Grand Canal were already covered with a layer of early winter yellow, and there was a chill between heaven and earth, which seemed to herald the day of the military expedition. arrival!
On the road from Jinan to Dezhou, dozens of "black gun mule soldiers" were surrounding Li Chengdong's adopted son Li Yuanyin, rushing back to where Shi Kefa was stationed. Get ready to participate in a grand military meeting where all Shandong generals will gather to deploy the Texas combat strategy!
Although Li Yuanyin was Li Chengdong's adopted son, after graduating from the "Kong Dai cram school", he did not return to Liaodong with his father (both father and son were in the same class), but was transferred to the "Central Army". His situation became very common after the emergence of the "Kong Dai cram school". Not only did officers of the Fanzhen Army enter the Central Army to serve in the Central Army after tutoring, there were also officers of the Central Army who were transferred to the Fanzhen Army.
The independence of the feudal army is gradually losing...
However, for Li Yuanyin, a powerful general in the vassal army, it is actually a good thing to be able to serve in the Central Army - this means that he has already won the favor of the Emperor of Heaven and has a bright future!
After joining the Central Army, he first served as the battalion commander of a "musketeer battalion" and was later promoted to the deputy general of the cavalry in the governor's offices of Shandong and Liaodong. Now he serves as the deputy general of the 20th Division of the four model new army divisions (Central Army) in Shandong, and has become a senior officer of the Ming Dynasty Model New Army.
At this moment, Li Yuanyin only felt high-spirited.
And the land that the war horse under his crotch walked on was still the world of the Qing Dynasty ten days ago. And now, they have all been defeated by the 20th Division of the Model New Army where he belongs!
Contrary to the situation during the Northern Expedition more than five years ago, the Qing army's sentry horses and light cavalry were lurking around to spy, but the Ming army's cavalry could do nothing to them. Now that the Daqing River flows northward, all the way to the ground in Beizhili, there is almost no room for the Qing cavalry to move.
The cavalry on both sides had frequent small-scale fierce battles at the end of September!
The one party in the fierce battle was, of course, the freshly minted "black gun mule soldiers". Strictly speaking, they could not be considered cavalry, but a combined unit of horseback (mules) operating in platoons (40 cavalry). There are shock cavalry, horse archers, and musketeers who dismount to fight (of course they can also fight on horseback).
Their firepower and mobility are very powerful, and their tactics are extremely flexible, and they are very good at ambushes and night attacks.
And their ability to mount a charge is not weak - when necessary, they can launch a group charge with 10 lancers as the vanguard!
What is slightly lacking is the ability to ride horses and archery, but they all have light and strong breastplates and iron helmets to protect the critical parts of the body, and are not easily injured by arrowheads.
Therefore, in the frequent cavalry battles in late September, the Qing cavalry was at a terrible disadvantage. The casualties were extremely heavy. Every day, more than a hundred cavalry were killed or captured by Ming cavalry. From time to time, a cavalry team of hundreds of people was beaten by dozens of "mule soldiers", with more than half of them killed or injured... They were no match for them at all. ah!
If you are not an opponent, you can only retreat and defend a few fortresses.
Therefore, except for a few Qing army strongholds from the north of the Daqing River to the border of Beizhili, all other places were already dominated by the Ming army. Along the way, Li Yuanyin and others saw a steady stream of Ming army convoys rushing to Dezhou City. In addition to the teams transporting military supplies and supplies, there were also Ming army infantry and artillery, one after another, heading towards Dezhou.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Governor's Office of Shandong and Liaodong, the Governor's Office of Shandong, and the Shandong Tuntian Envoy had made full preparations for the Northern Expedition in the past five years.
Jinan City on the banks of the Daqing River was built as the base camp for the Northern Expedition. Not only was the city reinforced and upgraded, but many warehouses were also built to store grain, storing a large amount of products produced in the Yanzhou Tun District (between the Canal and Taiyi Mountains). (time) food - mainly a food mixed with flour and potato starch, there is also some flour shipped from Huaibei and Xuhai. Approximately more than 20 million stones have been saved! In addition, countless supplies of fodder, cotton-padded clothes, vehicles, tents, blankets, quilts, medicines, cloth, gunpowder, muskets, armor, bacon, grease and other materials were stored, enough to support a massive Northern Expedition.
In addition to various materials that can be stored for a long time, the Shandong governor's office began to hire laborers on a large scale in the name of digging canals and renovating official roads starting in the late autumn.
Under the auspices of Zheng Zhilong, who was probably the best Minister of Household Affairs in the history of the Ming Dynasty, within the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, the two reforms of "sharing grains into acres" and "officials and gentry receiving grain from one body" would offend an unknown number of people. Already done.
Moreover, one of the items of "sharing the din into the acres" is not only "sharing the dins", but also sharing the corvee into the acres.
Therefore, the Ming government can no longer recruit servants outside the war zone. It can only hire servants with white silver and yellow copper coins. Along with the servants, there are many mules, horses and carts.
During this war, money is really flowing like water!
But now the Ming Dynasty is not only rich, but also better at spending money - money is not spent randomly, but every penny spent must have a penny effect.
It hasn't been long since the war started. Alongside the official road from Jinan to the north to Dezhou, you can already see civilian officials expanding and strengthening new roads.
On every river blocking the way of the army, pontoons being built and bridgehead fortresses stacked with sandbags can also be seen.
Every 50 miles or so, a large construction site has been launched - this is the construction of a grain station fortress!
It is more than 200 miles from Jinan to Dezhou. Starting from the north bank of the Daqing River, a "grain station fortress" must be built every 50 miles, which is a fortress used for "relay transfer".
In addition to the hired Shandong civilians who came from the Ming Dynasty, farmers from Jibei Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty were also forcibly recruited and became part of the Ming Dynasty's war machine.
Of course, the money and rations that should be given will also be given at the same price as the hired servants in the Ming Dynasty.
But they were all forcibly recruited... After all, the people in the war zone are different from the people in the rear. According to the laws currently implemented in the Ming Dynasty, military law must be enforced in any war zone, and both soldiers and civilians must obey orders!
In addition, the people in these "Qing-occupied areas" must now express their position!
Shi Kefa's Chinese army has now moved to Pingyuan County, which is only more than 60 miles away from Dezhou City.
When Li Yuanyin arrived, Shi Kefa had just inspected a grain city construction site south of Pingyuan County and returned to his home army under the protection of his staff and soldiers.
There are already many officers from various ministries who have arrived one after another waiting at the gate of the Central Army to be received by the Governor!
Governor Shi, who has been leading troops since the 17th year of Chongzhen, finally feels a little like a great military strategist - he is actually a great military strategist. With his current experience in leading troops and the knowledge he has mastered, With Chinese and Western battle examples and tactics, if one could travel back to Chongzhen for fourteen years, he could replace Hong Chengchou in the Battle of Songjin, and he would definitely be better than Hong Chengchou!
Regarding the upcoming Battle of Texas, the military strategist Shi Da is also confident. Whether it is storming a fortress or encircling a point for reinforcements, he is sure of victory.
Even if the Brave King Duduo commits suicide himself, Shi Kefa is not afraid, and even looks forward to it!
Li Yuanyin was the first senior general to return from the former enemy who was received by Shi Kefa before the official military meeting began, because his 20th Division was the vanguard of the entire army. It had advanced to the outside of Dezhou City the night before and had a fight with the Qing army. A series of forward battles resulted in the removal of seven or eight Qing army strongholds and forts outside Dezhou City.
"Commander," Li Yuanyin said to Shi Kefa, "Although Dezhou is in the north, it is a water city sandwiched between the canal and the Yujin River. Moreover, Dezhou itself has been transformed into a fortress, and it is still on the canal and Yujin River. Several forts were built along the coast. In addition, there is a long trench in the northeast of Texas, connecting the canal and Yujin River."
Shi Kefa laughed when he heard this: "This Fan Wencheng is quite interesting. Didn't he dig the long trench for us to besiege the city?"
