Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 273 Dengzhou
While the Qing army led by Yue Tuo went south to attack Jinzhou, Dengzhou Prefecture in Shandong, thousands of miles away from the capital, was also a lively scene.A total of 5000 troops from the Liu Guoneng Department and Zhang Wenyao Department of the Ming Army were ordered to arrive here one after another. In addition, more than a dozen large ships sent by the Zheng family also docked at the newly renovated pier, which made the sparsely populated Dengzhou gradually become extremely noisy.

Although the camp built by Yuan Keli, the governor of Denglai, has been abandoned for many years, most of the stone-based houses are still in good condition. However, due to long-term uninhabited and lack of popularity, the roofs of many houses collapsed and damaged.

After Wang Yingxian, the prefect of Dengzhou, received a document from the cabinet and learned that a large army would come to garrison in the near future, he immediately went to the household department to explain the situation and discuss the money and grain needed for repairing the house and docks. 5 taels of silver and [-] shi of grain were sent to Dengzhou Prefecture for their needs.Of course, Jin Yiwei and the censor of the Inspectorate also came to Dengzhou with Qian Liang.Now as long as the imperial court allocates more than [-] taels of silver to the local government, it must be under the joint supervision of Jin Yiwei and Yushi. This initiative initiated by Zhu Youjian has now become the practice of the imperial court. Raise your hands in favor, because they believe that the emperor's move was deliberately done to strengthen the authority of the court.

Wang Yingxian and other Dengzhou government officials, who thought they could gain benefits from it, were dumbfounded. In a fit of anger, they wanted to slow down their work and finish the job perfunctorily, but under the urging of Jin Yiwei and Yu Shi's cold faces, they had to pinch their noses and summon the civilians to start construction.

The first to arrive in Dengzhou was more than [-] people led by General Liu Guoneng of Yunyang.

Liu Guoneng's troops were placed in Zhushan after the battle to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong. He himself was in charge of the guerrilla general. Lai Qianzong Wang Fang and two hundred soldiers were placed in his army.

Liu Guoneng had no objection to this, he had already become a senior general of the imperial court, from now on he would serve his duty faithfully and faithfully.

The Ministry of War then issued an order to the Ministry of Liu Guoneng, asking him to suppress the remaining thieves and bandits in Yunyang and surrounding counties while training troops in the fields.

According to the instructions of the Ministry of War, the more than 2000 people under Liu Guoneng were all planted and farmed on the spot after weeding out the old, the weak, and the injured, and gave An Jiayin. In the end, there were less than 1000 people left. After following the instructions of the Ministry of War, Liu Guoneng surrendered again. [-] people were selected from among the thieves to join the team.The rest of the thieves were under strict surveillance to garrison nearby, and they would not be converted to civilian status until five years later based on their performance.

As a surrendered general, Liu Guoneng certainly wanted to perform well, and suppressing thieves became the best method.

While this combat ability brought him great rewards, it would also completely wash away his original identity.

In the battle to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Lao Huihui and others, although most of the rogues died or surrendered, many rogues escaped in the chaos, including even such giants as Laohui Huima Shouying.

After these stubborn thieves escaped by chance, very few of them found out their conscience and started a new life.After learning that the big army had left, the remnants of the bandits hiding in the mountains gathered together to occupy the mountain as kings, turning from bandits into bandits.Although these thieves did not dare to be as arrogant as before, they still often looted the farmers in nearby villages, which seriously affected the normal life of the local people.

After discovering the camp of several bandits with hundreds of people, Liu Guoneng, Wang Fang, He Sanguan, Wang Erwa and other generals divided into several teams, and led various officers and troops to attack from Zhushan, either at night or at night. It was an ambush to kill all these bandits, leaving no one alive.

With the successive destruction of several large-scale bandits, the bandits in Yunyang, Nanyang, and Ruyang were basically eliminated. Liu Guoneng sent several teams of hundreds of people to attack some small groups of bandits with dozens of people. In one year, the banditry in the heart of Henan was finally wiped out.

After successfully completing the task of suppressing the bandits, Liu Guoneng was promoted to the post of general in charge of the Yunyang branch, Wang Fang was promoted to be a guerrilla general, He Sanguan and Wang Erwa were also promoted to the ranks of Qianzong, soldiers who participated in the suppression of bandits They have also been promoted and rewarded, and the casualties and soldiers have also been compensated and resettled, which makes the whole army smile.

Although it is a good title to be assigned the post of general officer, Liu Guoneng is not satisfied.But now that the thieves in the Ming Dynasty have basically been wiped out, it is very difficult to make further contributions and rewards. Unless they go outside the customs to fight Jian slaves, as long as they don't die by then, their official positions will definitely be promoted.But I heard that Jiannu was extremely fierce, not to mention a motley army like myself, even Lu Duchen's regular army might not be able to defeat them, unless all the elite officers and soldiers were wiped out, or it would be impossible for him to turn.

Just when Liu Guoneng was secretly sighing, the dispatch document of the Ministry of War was suddenly sent from the capital to Zhushan. When he learned that his troops would find an opportunity to land in Liaodong and go straight to the lair of building slaves, Liu Guoneng was filled with mixed feelings. After the food and grass, he led his troops out of camp and headed eastward all the way.

After arriving in Dengzhou in mid-June and settling in the newly renovated barracks, Liu Guoneng and Wang Fang learned the strategy of the entire Liao campaign from the officials of the Ministry of War who stayed in Dengzhou.

Dengzhou used to have a very powerful navy, but since the bandits broke out, all the money and materials from the imperial court were used on the officers and soldiers who suppressed the thieves, and the Denglai Navy gradually declined due to lack of funds.At most, there were more than a hundred ships of various sizes, and now there are only a dozen or so ships left, and they are still old and look like they can sink into the water; Officials and soldiers either fled or secretly reclaimed wasteland and became farmers. Some with broad vision and good news sailed southward on broken ships and recommended themselves to become sailors on the merchant ships of Jiangnan merchants.

Although the navy has been abandoned, the pier is still there.Although it is dilapidated, as long as there is money, it will soon return to its old appearance.

After Liu Guoneng's department performed in the barracks for several days, the wharf was also repaired. More than [-] large ships from Zheng's fleet docked in the open sea successively sailed into the harbor and docked at the wharf. Thousands of people hired by the Dengzhou government were on the wharf.

The officials of the Ministry of War and the Terengganu Prefecture stepped forward and showed the documents to the people sent by the Zheng family. After confirming that they were correct, the officials of the Terengganu Prefecture began to greet the civilians to prepare to unload the supplies on the ship.

In fact, it is not a material, the boats are grain, more than [-] boats are filled with rice purchased by the Zheng family from Siam, Champa, etc., and more than [-] large blessing boats with [-] materials are fully transported. More than [-] stone rice.

These unloaded ships will stay in Dengzhou to help officers and soldiers preparing to cross the sea to familiarize themselves with the sea conditions and water properties.

In addition to supplying food for Liu Guoneng and Zhang Wenyao, the rest of this batch of grain will be sealed and stored in warehouses for urgent government disaster relief.

After nearly 3000 people under Liu Guoneng boarded the ship to adapt to the sea conditions for more than a month, Zhang Wenyao, who was far away in Xi'an, led 3000 people on a long journey of nearly [-] miles. After more than two months, they arrived in Dengzhou Prefecture in mid-July.

Although both Zhang Wenyao and Liu Guoneng started from the rebellion in Shaanxi, Liu Guoneng, Luo Rucai and others left Shaanxi early and wandered around. At the same time, after the two met, they sighed with each other.

Because they were stationed in the same camp and their special identities, Zhang Wenyao and Liu Guoneng soon became acquainted.However, the two tried their best to avoid mentioning the past and Gao Yingxiang and other old people during their conversations. It is best not to bring up such taboo topics in private.

"Old Liu, I always feel that the errand assigned to us by the imperial court this time has the intention of killing people with a knife. I'm afraid it will not be so easy to cross the sea to end Jiannu's lair, but I heard that Jiannu is not easy to deal with. If they are well-prepared, Our thousands of people are not enough to give Jiannu a gap in his teeth!"

The scorching sun shines brightly on the land. July is the hottest time in the Shandong Peninsula. The inland areas are already cool sooner or later, but the peninsula, which has been cool for most of the summer, is starting to heat up.

A thick willow tree in the camp blocked the direct sunlight, and the breeze brought a touch of refreshment.

Topless Zhang Wenyao sat on a bench under the shade of a tree, with one foot on the ground and the other on the stool, gulped down the cold boiled water in his hand from the rough clay bowl, and wiped the water stains from the corners of his mouth , put the water bowl on the stool, and said to Liu Guoneng who was sitting on a chair a few steps away in a daze.

(End of this chapter)