From the cutting-edge Song Hongye to the Jinlin Society in various industries, a ventilated intelligence network was formed in every eyeliner in the capital. From Dorgon's mood changes to the mobilization of the bannermen of each village, they were all presented to Zhu Cilang's desk as quickly as possible.

Although the Manchus expelled Han people in Beijing and established a closed city, the army mobilized the food and grass used and the requisitioned strong men could not keep it secret, which also allowed Zhu Cixuan and his staff to easily analyze the movements and actions of the Eastern Barbarian Army.

In August of the 17th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng issued a sign in Shaanxi to inform the world, claiming to lead a million troops to personally expel the Tartars and restore Beijing. Everyone knows that it is known that it is said that it is worth one million, and it is probably only fifty or six hundred thousand. If we only talk about combat soldiers, it would be terrible to have more than ten thousand and twenty thousand.

However, Dorgon was still stimulated and refused to give up Shanxi, who was determined to confront Li Zicheng across the river. Three decrees a day urged Bahana and Shi Tingzhu to advance westward, seize Taiyuan as soon as possible, and consolidate Shanxi.

Of course, Bahana and Shi Tingzhu discovered the abnormal movements of the Ming army, and also discovered that there was a Ming army of thousands of people in Wudi County, eyeing Cangzhou. Because of the high degree of confidentiality of the Eastern Palace Army, the harvesting operation did not reveal any news, which made them think that this Ming army was just guarding against the Manchu troops to move south, and they would never believe that they dared to take the initiative.

On the third day of August, Bahana and Shi Tingzhu finally led their troops westward, leaving only hundreds of errands who were not even considered to be slaughter soldiers in Cangzhou.

Wang Aoyong, the ambassador of Shandong, and the Minister of Works, stood at the top of the city, looking at the Manchu soldiers who were gradually moving away, with fear and worries in his heart. From this moment on, the important task of city defense in Cangzhou fell on him. Once the Ming army came, would he rely on these miscellaneous soldiers to defend? The crime of losing the territory is the crime of beheading the heads!

Unless... Wang Aoyong soon came up with a way to save his life.

...

On the sixth day of the August 19th, the day after the Donglu Army entered Shenzhou, the three thousand headquarters of the Second Guards of Xiaodonglou attacked the Qingyun, Yanshan and Nanpi counties under Cangzhou with thunder and lightning speed. Therefore, Wang Aoyong, the governor of Tongzhou in Ming Dynasty, sent people to welcome the king's army and restore Cangzhou.

Chen De's labor camp launched the city reconstruction project at night that day. Shandong administrative officials who had been prepared had entered the city overnight, counted the population from house to house, and set up household registration.

After dawn, the gates of each county are closed and martial law are entered. Anyone who dares to walk on the street without a household registration book will be charged to the hard labor camp. Only after completing the registration of the city’s household registration, family members can claim it, and they also need to be protected by the village chief and replenish their household registration.

After occupying Cangzhou, Xiao Donglou immediately led his troops westward and pursued the Eastern Captains reluctantly.

Bahana and Shi Tingzhu only learned that Cangzhou was lost on the eighth day of the lunar month. One day earlier, that is, on the seventh day of the eighth month, they had already received news from Wuqiang County: the Ming army besieged the county town, and the county magistrate opened the city without hesitation to surrender.

"Retreat?" Shi Tingzhu said to Bahana carefully.

Bahana grinded his back teeth and said, "Retreat? Are you not afraid that the Regent will chop your head and your family will be slaves?"

"Our army's retreat has been cut off." Shi Tingzhu insisted: "Cangzhou changed hands in six days, and Wu Qiang fell in seven days. This Ming army obviously wanted to surround our army and attack him! If what I expected was not bad, I'm afraid that it would have really come to the hands of the Ming army now!"

Bahana glared at Shi Tingzhu and said, "My Qing army is invincible, and the Ming army is just choosing cheap ones! Shi Tingzhu, why are you so timid after entering the pass? Could it be that you have been infected with Nikan's cowardice after entering the Han army flag?"

Shi Tingzhu was also angry and pulled the reins: "I'm suffering a loss, remember to fight! You and I have been guilty of advancing lightly. If there is any mistake this time, I'm afraid that you and my family will have to go to Xinzheku as slaves!"

Bahana was poked into the soft spot by Shi Tingzhu. He said, "This time we are not advancing lightly, but we have followed the military order of the Regent. Besides, if we don't take this path, which road will we take to Shanxi?"

Shi Tingzhu was also quite depressed. Going to Jingxing from Zhending is the closest road to Taiyuan City. If you take a detour, it would be like going back to Beijing and then heading west. In this way, you would never be able to reach Taiyuan on the day of siege.

"The Regent should have sent a large army long ago, and it is time to defend it!" Shi Tingzhu said depressedly.

Bahana gritted his teeth and said, "It should have sent troops south long ago to wipe out that Nikan first! Humph, I will never forget the flying tiger flag! When I encounter this man in the future, I must kill them all!"

Shi Tingzhu frowned and said, "We either turn north now and walk into Zijing Pass to Jin. Or we will take a gamble to see if it has not fallen."

"What are you waiting for? I will lead the army first, you can chase me quickly!" Bahana said hurriedly.

The Eight Banners Han Army was a heavy firearm unit of the Manchus. Not only was it equipped with a large number of bird guns, it also brought a Shenwei General cannon, as well as ten other styles of small red barbarian cannons.

The Shenwei General's cannon is a specialty of Jinzhou, which is the most advanced iron-body copper-core cannon in the world today. This cannon was equipped with Liao Town in the first year of Chongzhen. After the Manchus occupied Jinzhou in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, they obtained this cannon casting technology.

The Shenwei General's cannon weighs 3,800 kilograms, 5 kilograms of medicine, 10 kilograms of iron, and is equipped with a cannon truck. With such a heavy weight, it is easy to imagine how slow the speed of traveling on the unbuilt dirt road. Bahana had long been impatient to bring these cannons on the road, but because these cannons were powerful weapons, the Manchus didn't know how to attack the city without the cannon, so they had to bring them with them.

Shi Tingzhu was very dissatisfied with Bahana's behavior of abandoning his teammates and said, "Even if you rushed to Taiyuan City, what's the use of not having artillery? Moreover, since Nikan has occupied Wu Qiang, who knows that he will not follow him to attack? If you lose the Divine Power Cannon, will you and I pay for it with your life?"

Bahana thought it made sense, so he had to urge him: "Then recruit more civilians and rush to Zhending as soon as possible!"

Shi Tingzhu nodded in agreement.

In fact, the Qing army had tied all the strong men they could collect along the way to the army and took on labor. For them, these Nikans were consumables, so there was no need to worry about their life or death. If they were exhausted and starved, they would change to another batch without considering logistical pressure.

If such behavior was in the Ming army, it would definitely be regarded as "tyrannical" by the censors, but it was natural in the Qing army. As long as it was not ordered to massacre or set fire to the city, this level could be considered "uninvasive".

From a strategic perspective, the Qing army did this, which resulted in the subsequent Ming army that had no civil servant replacement and had no way to collect grain, so it could only be adjusted from the south, which objectively delayed the speed of Xiaodonglou's marching.

While Shi Tingzhu and Bahana were accelerating the marching speed, the 1000th headquarters of the Third Guard Battalion of Tanning's headquarters, led by Qian Zong Huixian, entered Zhending Prefecture and launched defense. In just half a year, Zhending Prefecture welcomed the Shun Army and the Qing Army. Now the Ming officers and soldiers are here again, and the signs of "Welcome the King's Army" have lost their new colors.

Zhu Cilang and Xiao Mo also moved to the Lianguandian of Shulu County on the same day and closed the gate of the Eastern Resident Army and Nantu.

This day was the eighth day of the eighth month. The four soldiers successfully completed their respective dispatch without any accidents. Although they strictly implemented the plan and had sufficient intelligence support, such division of troops was still a miracle in an era without radio.

"Report!" Tangma rushed into the first battalion and went straight to the central army's tent: "The Fire Equipment Department commander Xiao Tugeng came on order to ask for an audience."

Zhu Cilang was quite surprised and said to Xiao Mo: "I really let him catch up!" He turned around and said, "Come in."

At a moment, Xiao Tugeng, who was exhausted and frivolous, stood in front of Zhu Cilang, saluted the East Palace, and said loudly: "The low-level Xiao Tugeng came to report! Thirty new cast iron-body copper-core cannons arrived smoothly."

"Not bad, very energetic." Zhu Cixuan looked at the old friend of the East Palace and smiled: "How is the performance of the new cannon?"

Xiao Tugeng swept away his fatigue and smiled brightly: "The new gun regulations are just like one seven guns. You can fire a catty of more guns, and you can break the target wall at a distance of two hundred feet. Oh, the new gun uses the internal cooling method mentioned by His Highness to cool the inner core first, which can indeed effectively enhance the performance of the gun."

Zhu Cixuan knew that this internal cooling method was not as simple as adding water-cooled pipes in a mold. The water flow rate was slow and the best effect could not be achieved. Too fast would cause the inner wall of the barrel to rupture. A large number of fixed-speed experiments must be used to find the best water-cooled speed. In this era without thermometers and velocity meters, it is conceivable how much effort and cost it would take to do such an experiment.

Zhu Cilang patted Xiao Tugeng with satisfaction, and was about to praise him, but there was another Tang Malai newspaper outside: "Your Highness, you are in urgent need of reporting!"

ps:
Chapter completed!