The Huai Army's Northern Expedition Army crossed the Yellow River from Luoyang and headed north. The cities along the way, including Mengzhou, Henei (now Qinyang), Huaiqing, Weihui, Dangyuan, Junxian, Qixian, Tangyin, Huangde, Handan, etc., either surrendered or were captured by the Huai Army.

Those cities that were fighting stubbornly were vulnerable in front of the giant cannons of the Huai Army.

The Huai Army carried four giant siege cannons, four giant siege mortars, plus twelve-pound field cannons and sixty-four-pound mortars. When they encounter ordinary small county towns, one round of shells can open a hole in the city wall; when they encounter a relatively strong mansion, one round of cannons will cause cracks on the city wall. After another round of cannons, all the bricks will crack, revealing rammed earth, and then two rounds of cannons will almost collapse.

These eight giant cannons were originally prepared to attack a strong city like Beijing. They were used to bombard county and prefecture cities, which was simply a slaughter.

The Huai Army headed north and quickly conquered Zhending, which was not far from Baoding.

Li Yan and Hong Niang officially sent troops from Shandong. Before, they just raided the Qing army in Zhili, but now the Huai army has passed the final decision. Shandong military households have exploded a large number of soldiers. Li Guodong, who received the war report, felt like he was playing in the Empire era, and multiple barracks exploded at the same time. The soldiers walked out of the barracks and gathered together, and soon the team was full. This was the feeling.

Shandong military households are all new-style military households created by Li Guodong. Since Li Guodong went south, all these new-style military households have been handed over to Li Yan and Hong Niangzi. After six years of operation, Shandong has not only become a military important place with fortresses, but also a production base for grain, vegetables, pork, chickens and ducks, and aquatic products.

Dezhou, Linqing, Dongchang, Guanxian, Shenxian, Chiping and Gaotang cities were in the hands of the Qing army, but Jinan, Tai'an, Jining, Yanzhou and other major cities were all built by Li Yan and his wife. Outside the major cities, there were scattered castles of lanterns, and some small counties in central Shandong gave up. All the military and civilians moved into the castles, and there were farmland between the castles and the castles of the military households. The Qing army took six years but did not conquer Shandong. Instead, they suffered heavy losses in Shandong.

Jining is an isolated city that stands out on the Qing army's territory. However, through the lake and contact with Li Yanjun, Li Yan also formed a relatively powerful navy to control the canals and lakes in Shandong. The Weishan Lake, with a wide water area, provides rich aquatic products and nourishes the surrounding farmland.

Jiaodong Peninsula is completely the back of Li Yan. New farms are built here, as well as ports by the sea. Various grains and vegetables are transported from the ports to the south, and arms from the south are transported from these ports to various parts of Shandong.

Li Yan and Hong Niangzi launched a counterattack, and Shandong sent 100,000 troops to attack Zhili, the capital of the capital.

Although the Shandong Ming Army was not very well equipped, it fought with the Qing army for six years and was not considered a weak brigade. Although Li Yan's Shandong Ming Army mainly had old firearms such as bird guns and turtledove-legged guns, there was also a self-produced musket camp of 3,000 people, which was the elite of the Shandong Ming Army.

Li Yan's army attacked the east and west sides of the mountain, and the Qing army was vulnerable. The cities originally controlled by the Qing army surrendered one after another. Some Qing officials who refused to surrender tried to resist with a strong bastion.

However, Li Yan's Shandong Ming army was also equipped with the 64-pound mortar cannon provided by Li Guodong. The shells fired by these mortar cannons fell from the sky, and the strong brilliance was vulnerable in front of the mortar cannon. Those cities that were fighting stubbornly were soon conquered.

Then Li Yan's army attacked Dezhou and Linqing. The Qing army in these two cities only carried out symbolic resistance, so they hung out white flags and opened the city gate to surrender to the Ming army.

After Li Yan's army conquered Dezhou, it officially invaded Zhili, the capital of the capital, and advanced all the way north.

Subud, who came down from the north, had already attacked Shanhaiguan. The army was mainly cavalry, but also carried siege cannons. Both sides launched a fierce artillery battle around Shanhaiguan. On the sea, the Zheng family army also landed and launched a fierce attack on the Qing army from behind Shanhaiguan.

Zheng Sen and Subude attacked Shanhaiguan from south to north. After more than ten days of fierce fighting, the Qing army in Shanhaiguan surrendered.

Under the city of Baoding, the Huai Army's eight siege cannons, forty-eight twelve-pound field cannons and hundreds of artillery of various calibers spit out their flames one after another. In just one hour, the Huai Army consumed tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder and poured out thousands of shells of large and small.

The solid shells of direct-firing artillery and the flowering shells of curved artillery continued to fall on the Baoding city wall. The reinforced city was beaten with thick smoke, and the reinforced bricks and stones outside the city wall were smashed to pieces by solid shells. Flowering shells continued to fall on the top of the city, and the Qing army on the top of the city was unable to stand firm.

Although Xu Yanggao, the governor of the Qing Dynasty of Baoding, was born in the Han Eight Banners, such a person was even more stubborn than the Manchu Eight Banners, just like a named beast from the later generations.

"The Baoding city wall cannot be defended. Instead of letting our people stand on the top of the city and get shot in a blank space, it is better to retreat into the city and fight with Mingdog in street battles!" Xu Yanggao ordered the Qing army to abandon the city wall and retreat into the city.

Baoding Governor Shen Wenkui nodded and said, "Mr. Xu is right. I will order the entire army to retreat into the city."

Shen Wenkui was originally from Shangyu, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and later became a small official in Zunhua. During the Jisi Incident, Shen Wenkui was captured by the Later Jin army and sent to Shengjing with the looted young men and women. Because he was a scholar, Huang Taiji attached great importance to him. This person was grateful to Huang Taiji and gave advice to the Qing Dynasty. He was appointed as the governor of Baoding. In the original time and space, after he became the governor of Baoding, he was promoted to the governor of the grain transportation.

But in this time and space, where is there any canal transport? The canal south of the Yellow River is controlled by the Huai Army, and the canal in the Shandong section is almost controlled by Li Yan, so Shen Wenkui has been serving as the governor in Baoding.

Admiral Ma Wenhui said: "Two lords, Baoding is the gateway of the capital, we must defend Baoding to the end! Please rest assured, the whole army will fight against the barbarians to the death!"

The most famous green camp general under Ma Wenhui was the three ministers Tang Tong! Tang Tong was originally the general of the Ming Dynasty, and surrendered Li Zicheng first. When the rebel army attacked Tianjin, Tang Tong's subordinates were bleeding in front of Li Guodong and suffered heavy losses. Later, when the Qing Dynasty came, he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

There were no Manchus or Mongolians in Baoding City, and they were all traitors.

"Boom" After enduring the violent shelling of the whole day, the Baoding city wall finally couldn't bear it and collapsed with a bang.

"Kill!" The large group of Huai Army soldiers who had been waiting for a long time shouted loudly and rushed into Baoding City.

After the Huai Army entered the city, they found that Baoding City was completely different from the ones they had previously captured! There were no wooden houses in the city, and even the original brick and wood houses had changed a lot. The wood was gone, all of which were cement beams and frames! Moreover, the doors and windows of those houses were blocked, leaving only shooting holes! It can be said that each house was converted into a fortress!

The Huai Army, who had just rushed into the city, was subjected to fierce shooting from all directions. The Qing army hiding in the building fired at the Huai Army with bird guns and turtle dove-legged guns.

For a moment, many Huai Army in front fell down. The people behind were suppressed by the firepower of the Qing army and could not look up. They could only fight and retreat to the city gate.

"Jiannu gave up the city wall, but built fortifications in the city, stubbornly blocking our army!" Zhang Wu, who was defeated and retreated, reported the situation in the city to Zhang Shiwen.

"I didn't expect these fake Tartars to learn all the city-defense techniques we used before! These fake Tartars are really hateful, even more hateful than real slaves!" Wang Fuchen said angrily.

The Qing army's stubborn resistance caused considerable losses to the Huai army. The battle of Baoding became the battle with the largest losses in the Northern Expedition of the Huai army. All the battles in the Northern Expedition that had been fought before were not as great as those in the Baoding War.

Zhang Shiwen finally came up with a solution: "Put the baggage vehicle thickened the wooden board, push it into the city, and then attack it with a fierce turbulent oil cabinet!"

The auxiliary soldiers of the Huai Army pushed a series of thickened wooden boards into the city, using these vehicles to resist the Qing army's shooting and protect the engineers behind them forward.

The engineers pushed the vehicle carrying the turbulent oil cabinet into the city. Under the protection of the baggage vehicles, they approached the Qing army's buildings, and the nozzle aimed at the shooting holes of the Qing army's buildings.

The turret tank had been pressed by the engineers long ago. After aiming at the shooting hole, a soldier lit the fuse. When the fuse was about to be shortened into the launching medicine tube, another soldier opened the valve; at the same time, the soldiers behind pressed the handle and continued to pressurize the turret tank.

Fierce tinder oil is actually oil. Under pressure, it sprays out from the tube. When passing through the launching medicine tube, the ignited launching medicine ignites the hot tinder oil, and a shiny white fire dragon sprays it at the Qing army's fortress.

The fire dragon drilled into the fortress through the shooting hole, and the shooting holes of the entire fortress immediately spewed out a raging flame, and then the ammunition of the defenders inside was also detonated. The entire fortress immediately became a crematorium, and the Qing soldiers inside were burned to tears and howl.

The fierce turret cabinet is the original flamethrower. Originally, the fierce turret cabinet was a weapon to defend the city, but Li Guodong found that in fact, this weapon is better for attack than defense! Especially when the opponent hides in a closed space and is sprayed into the shooting hole by a fire dragon, the entire building will catch fire.

The auxiliary soldiers and engineers pushed the vehicles, and under the cover of the firepower of the flintlock spearmen and scattered soldiers, they approached the Qing army's fortresses, constantly spewing out fire dragons, burning all the Qing army that was resisting stubbornly into coke.

The good servant of the Qing Dynasty who guarded the city never expected that the Huai Army would use such a vicious fire attack strategy!

The Qing army in the city could not resist it, and gradually gave up the fortress and retreated towards the governor's office.
Chapter completed!