In the early morning, a large army was walking in a low-key manner on the small road between the countryside of Laizhou. There was some mist outside today, so the officers had to tightly hold the troops together. At the front were troops wearing yellow khaki uniforms, with the troops divided into five rows and walking in the middle of the road.

The weather was already a little cold, and the fields where wintering wheat should have been planted on both sides of the road were empty, and large areas of weeds were covered with weeds, which made some soldiers walking on the road feel very uncomfortable. The farmland was abandoned on a large scale, the countryside bandits were rampant, and the people fled one after another. This was the case in Shaanxi!

These soldiers wore mortar-shaped uniforms with brass buttons on the upper body, and also mortar-shaped military trousers with red trousers with slits on the lower body, white leggings on their calves, and heavy overwhelmed leather shoes on their feet. If from this point of view alone, the military appearance of this army was relatively neat and seemed to be a strong army; but if they were accompanied by the messy weapons they were holding (spears, big knives, samurai swords, harpoons, bird guns, bows and arrows) and the messy military caps on their heads (straw hats, big caps, leather hats, hats, helmets) on their heads, you will find that they were no different from those local regiments training in armed forces.

The only difference is that these people's spirit is much better than those armed groups. From their rosy faces, it can be seen that they can at least eat enough, and may also eat some meat from time to time. And they collectively shouted slogans in the officer's command every once in a while, which made people feel that their morale is much stronger than those village warriors and even the Ming army. If the Ming army, who had not even enough food to eat for a long time and had no way to talk about salary, would be defeated in a short while. In wars these days, aren't the morale just about fighting?

Following this army was a convoy of donkey carts or mule carts. These vehicles were loaded with a large number of arrows, lead, powder kegs, tents, wire mesh, bandages, disinfected alcohol, coal stoves, coal balls, kitchen utensils, dry food and other logistics supplies. The masters of a large group of soldiers were taking care of the livestock pulling the cart. A cavalry unit of about 500 people was scattered on both sides of the baggage unit, and they rode with great endurance.

The Mongolian horse slowly walked in the open and flat wheat fields on both sides of the road. From the surface, half of these people were Semen, and the other half were Ming people. They were wearing yellow military uniforms. Each of them wore a large black-brimmed cap on their heads and a slender sword hung around their waists. And the saddle bags of Semen Cavalry and Horses seemed to have a very long cavalry spear on their backs. This is rare nowadays!

Behind the convoy were twenty artillery sports cars dragged by horses, including long-barrel cannons and short-barrel howitzers, with calibers ranging from 4 pounds to 12 pounds. There were shells in the cannon cart, weighing the weight of the launching medicine bags, gun brushes, strips, weighing equipment and other equipment. About a hundred gunners sat on the last ten large carts, looking bored at the foggy field in the distance.

Behind the artillery unit were more than ten middle- and senior officers riding war horses and dressed in beautiful clothes. They seemed to be the commanders of this unit. Behind the officers were hundreds of soldiers wearing tangerine uniforms, big caps, and carrying bayonets on their shoulders. These people were powerful and their eyes were firm. There was no noise during the walk, and they looked very elite.

At the end were large groups of soldiers carrying spears. These people were tall, dark-skinned, and arranged in a very neat manner. They seemed to have been practicing formations for a long time. It is worth mentioning that the spears in their hands were very long and the spear rods were very thick. Once they were raised flat, they could almost be used as a horse. If the person who carried them was tall and strong, they would probably not be able to use such heavy weapons well.

Some landlords in the countryside of Laizhou stood on the walls of their own villages, watching the troops pass by quickly with fear, and could hardly have any idea of ​​resistance. These are yellow-clothed thieves, the pirates on the east coast! Look at the cannons they were pulling, God, these are yellow-clothed cannons that are more powerful than the red-clothed cannons! After half an hour of passing the troops outside, God knows which yellow-clothed thieves are going to fight. This time, thousands of people were probably dispatched. Is this force possible to even Laizhou City be able to capture this time?

Forget it, let's take care of yourself. Anyway, it's not my family that is unlucky. The pirates in the east coast are gone. They dared to rush around the countryside when hundreds of people were there. Now, seeing that the momentum is getting stronger and stronger, it seems that the arrival of the royal army of the Qing Dynasty cannot be solved. It's a pity that Yang Wei, the deputy general of Dengzhou City, was actually a man of the same kind as Zeng Hualong who had once recruited him. Last month, he dared to send troops to Ninghaizhou area. Unexpectedly, after being warned by the yellow thief army, he only dared to hide in the city this month and never dared to emerge.

I don’t know what the army under the command of Ke Zong Town in Jiaozhou is. I heard that the old foundation of this army can be traced back to the Tianyou Army and Tianzhu Army of the Qing Dynasty. The war is powerful, far from being comparable to the former Ming army like a beggar. It seems that only Ke Zong Town can fight the yellow-clothed pirates on the east coast. It’s a pity that Yang Wei, who is a famous city like Dengzhou, repeatedly refused to surrender Chen Jin, the governor of Denglai of the Qing Dynasty. Lord Ke is also leading his army to Qingzhou to suppress the thieves, and he may not be able to return to Laizhou in a short period of time. What a pity, it’s a pity.

Kurhan rushed back from the fog with several cavalrymen from Sakhalin Island. After evading the commands with the guards from afar, they were allowed to approach the central army.

"Zhai Xiaoshan came forward and contacted the people of Monk Zhai Wu. They brought less than 2,000 people to Qingzhou, and are currently in the Le'an area. Zhao Yingyuan brought thousands of people to Yidu (i.e. Qingzhou City) a few days ago, saying that because the family members of the troops were all in Qingzhou City, they took people to ask for surrender to Wang Aoyong. However, according to Monk Zhai Wu privately, Zhao Yingyuan was probably a fake surrender, and the special envoy of Li Zicheng in his army should have played a key role in this process." The intelligence staff who set out with Kurhan reported to Mo Ming, the highest commander of the operation.

"This monk Zhai Wu is interesting. You can reveal such confidential matters to us. It is really inhumane to ask Zhao Yingyuan to work with them. Sooner or later, he will be killed for being unsecret." Mo Ming briefly commented on Zhao Yingyuan, Zhai Wu and others, and then turned to Mao Desheng, the commander of the 104th Company of the Army, Li Renjun, the commander of the 105th Company, and Yang Mingyang, the captain of the newly established cavalry brigade, said: "This time our purpose is to go to Qingzhou to stir up trouble. It is best to cooperate with Zhao Yingyuan to seize Qingzhou. If you can't take it down, you will make a big noise nearby. The bigger the noise, the better the better.

.Shandong is only how far away from Beijing. Any turmoil here will make the Qing Dynasty nervous. What's more, their main forces are heading to Shanxi one after another, preparing to fight Li Zicheng. We will give them eye drops at this time and share the pressure of Li Zicheng so that they will not lose quickly. But there is also a principle, that is, not to fight tough battles or wars of attrition, and you can pinch soft persimmons. If the enemy resists resolutely, then bypass them. In short, we are supporting, not for Zhao Yingyuan, nor for Dashun, but for ourselves. The more chaotic the situation in Shandong, the better."

This was the tone set before departure, so the leaders of the soldiers naturally had no objection. Everyone had discussed it before. This time, Zhao Yingyuan attacked Qingzhou City, and the people on the east coast went to other prefectures, counties and villages in Qingzhou, collecting food and grass while attacking local forces that surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. The armed combat power and morale of the gentry in those places were very weak. In the eyes of the people on the east coast, they were really vulnerable, and even the soldiers of the forward team were not as good as those of the forward team. In fact, this was good, and it could allow the forward team to practice troops and accumulate some self-confidence through abuse of vegetables, which would be beneficial to the future improvement of combat power.

Similarly, the new cavalry were the same. This time, Mo Ming reorganized more than 350 new Polish mercenaries, and these people were basically cavalrymen. Mo Ming drew out 250 of them with rich combat experience and formed a cavalry brigade with 250 cavalry brought by Li Zhengang. The captain was Yang Mingyang, a crossing officer, and the deputy captain was respectively a Polish veteran and Pei Qin, who was transferred from the 1st brigade of the forward team.

Since the East Coast people have only successfully transferred more than ten horses from the local, horse island and South Africa's military horse farms in more than two years. These horses are currently left to be breeded in the rear to improve the breed of local Mongolian horses and Korean ponies, these cavalry can only ride Mongolian horses traded from the Shandan people. This has left the Polish cavalry, which is known for its heavy armored cavalry and has a strong impact, and has no place to use their power. Therefore, they have now changed their positions to light cavalry, mainly using sabers and pistols to fight the enemy at close range, and occasionally using cavalry spears to attack the enemy infantry formation on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, they are all veterans who have fought old wars, and their close combat skills are quite strong, and their morale is still good. Therefore, this cavalry unit is much more powerful than the infantry in those standing teams.

The situation of Li Chuang is not optimistic now. The continuous wars in Qinghai and Gansu have restrained a large part of his main force. Zhang Xianzhong in the south are also preparing for war and pointing his sword at Hanzhong, preparing to stab the old Li Juhua. The situation in western Henan and southern Henan under the control of Dashun is not very good. Under the strict order of Shi Kefa, the Southern Ming army began to attack prefectures and counties under Dashun control. The local small local troops in Dashun could not resist the enemy and began to fight and retreat. In the Shanxi battlefield where the main forces of both sides gathered, with the arrival of the Eight Banners brigades, plus the local armed forces, the Qing army, whose troops had reached more than 150,000, had formed a huge numerical advantage against Li Guo, Chen Yongfu and others. The combat power was not as good as the Eight Banners Army, and now the number was less than half of the others. In addition, they had transferred a large number of red-clothed cannons, which was not as good as that in firepower. This battle was already very dangerous.
Chapter completed!