Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 406 Prelude ([-])

Dezhou, Shandong Province in July 1644 was extremely chaotic.

First, on July 7 (the eighth day of June), Zhu Shuaiqin, the former Ming clan who had been elected by the local gentry in Dezhou as the leader and pretended to be King Ji, began to disband most of the troops on hand after exchanging letters with Wu Sangui. The imperial court sent envoys to negotiate the surrender.At the same time, he began to draw up a list of "meritorious persons" to the Qing court on the basis of personnel derived from local strength, in order to prepare for obtaining official positions for these persons.

Due to the discord with Luo Guoshi, a local tycoon in Texas, Zhu Shuaiqin's list will naturally not include Luo's name, and it may be full of slanderous remarks, and it may be intended to kill him.Especially after hearing that Zhang Youfang (an old friend of Zhu Shuaiqin) appointed by the Qing government was about to take office, Luo Guoshi, who was worried that he would be liquidated, immediately thought of killing Zhang Youfang, and asked his best friend Dezhou Warehouse Supervisor Zhang Guozhi to immediately kill Zhang Youfang. He sent people to arrest and kill Zhang Youfang, and at the same time, he himself began to spread rumors in the city that the Manchurians would massacre the city after they came.

However, it is clear that the mainstream thought in Dezhou at this time is still surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, so soon someone leaked the news that Luo Guoshi sent people to attack and kill Zhang Youfang. Zhu Shuaiqin immediately sent people to notify Zhang Youfang, and at the same time sent people to kill Zhang Guozhi, and After receiving the news, Zhang Youfang hid in the barracks of Erzhen Bahana and Shi Tingzhu in Qinggu Mountain.After arresting and killing Zhang Guozhi, student Xie Sheng and others began to spread the news that Luo Tiansheng, the younger brother of the Luo Guoshi family, was in the pirate camp on the east coast, saying that he was secretly colluding with Luo Guoshi in order to stop "My Qing Dynasty".So far, Luo Guoshi's situation in Texas has become precarious.

……

"You mean that the Qing Dynasty has sent Zhenglan Banner Gushan Erzhen Bahana, Shi Tingzhu and others to lead the army?" Mo Ming, who was sitting in the headquarters of Yantai Fort, slapped the fish-scale pine tree in Sakhalin Island with his palm. On the Eight Immortals table, he stood up in surprise and asked.

"Yes, the master has confirmed that this news is absolutely true. The Manchus have been sending troops to attack Chuangni since they sat firmly on the throne of the capital, but they suddenly withdrew their troops back to the capital a month ago. A while ago, they still Wang Aoyong, a native of Zichuan County, Jinan, who sent the new servant of the household department, to appease Shandong and Henan, has almost arrived in the Cangzhou area. With him came the army led by Na Bahana and Shi Tingzhu. The master looked at them The card discs sent by the pioneers, the two of you who wrote the letter led an army of hundreds of thousands..." A dusty middle-aged man sat on a tree stump chair near the door, and narrated the latest information to Mo Ming with a low eyebrow. .

This person is the family of Luo Guoshi, a Texas squire, and he came to inform Mo Ming of the latest military situation in Texas at the request of his master.Regarding Luo Guoshi's move, Mo Ming has always been a little confused. What is the purpose of his overtures?If it was said that he came to seek refuge with the people from the east bank, Mo Ming would not believe it at least at the moment, because the people from the east bank could not protect his property after all.Therefore, Mo Mingsi thought about it and felt that Luo Guoshi's move was probably leaving a way out for himself.Perhaps the complicated situation in Texas at this stage made him feel precarious. If the Qing court really listened to Zhu Shuaiqin and others' one-sided remarks and wanted to arrest and kill him, he might have to abandon his family and career and flee to Yantai to save his life.

As for Bahana and Shi Tingzhu mentioned in his mouth, Mo Ming has no impression.Shi Tingzhu was mentioned in the few materials provided by the local side before he came out. This person was originally a famous general, but later he was lowered to a later gold, that's all.As for Gushan Erzhen Bahana, he really didn't know anything, not even how many people he had under his command.According to the information provided by the local government, one Gushan Front should really have 25 Niulu under its jurisdiction, and it should have 7500 troops (4000 households and one Niulu); but in fact, the number of Niulu in each banner varies greatly, so this The number of troops also varies considerably.The Zhenglan Banner is under the Five Banners, and the population is just like that. If you remove those who stay in their hometowns, and those who divide their troops into Bazhou and Cangzhou, it is not bad that Bahana can bring 6000 people.Shi Tingzhu is the same, and it is estimated that the strength of the Han army flag carried is about [-].

These two departments add up to nearly 2 people, plus some coats and follow-ups who act as cannon fodder and logistics personnel, and finally its total force should exceed 2, and the equipment should be good, and there should be a lot of horses. strong sex.I just don’t know if there are any Ming troops who surrendered around them. Mo Ming tends to have them, because they pacified the “local bandits” in Changping along the way and occupied a large area of ​​Bazhou and Cangzhou. They should have recruited a lot of Ming troops along the way. , It is estimated that it is likely to be between a few thousand and [-].These people's combat effectiveness and equipment are not very good, but they are more than enough to serve as cannon fodder.

In this way, the size of this army is very large.The total number of all the troops on the east coast now is only more than 4000, of which no more than 3000 can fight and can be trusted.With such a small number of troops, it really can only be on the defensive!

That guy Guo Sheng was clever. After getting the weapons at the end of last month, he took three or four thousand soldiers and a huge caravan to the west and entered Henan. He should be almost at the junction of Shaanxi and Henan by now.And before he left, he even gave himself the title of general of "the three mansions of Lai and Qing with power and restraint", and sent someone to enter Qingzhou with Yang Wangxiu, the liaison officer sent by Li Zicheng, and demanded that Zhao Yingyuan, Yang Wei, Qin Shangxing, Guo Yingyuan, etc. Papai, Monk Zhai Wu and others listened to Mo Ming's restraint.

But this is just empty talk, it's surprising that those who were born as bandits and bandits can listen to Mo Ming.It's not that Mo Ming never sent someone to contact them, it's just that the information they got back was not ideal.Zhao Yingyuan, who has expanded to more than 2000 people, simply ignores them, and his tendency to be self-reliant is quite obvious.In addition, those Dashun county magistrates, brigade commanders, guards, and state shepherds who were transferred from local bandits did not ignore them like Zhao Yingyuan did. Maybe they still cared about the face of Mo Ming, the legendary "big brother on the road". Most chose to perfunctory and procrastinate.But they are still good. Mo Ming also heard from the well-informed Zhai Xiaoshan (the nephew of Monk Zhaiwu) that the bandit named Yang Wei was still hooking up with Zeng Hualong in Dengzhou City. The idea of ​​stepping on a few boats.

Damn, just relying on such a group of mobs to block Man Qing in Qingzhou?Mo Ming is very pessimistic. At present, there are still Ming army and gentry and landlord armed forces in Qingzhou city. They are not the same as these nominal Dashun army.Coupled with the territory around Dengzhou that is still controlled by "Da Ming", and the countryside of Jiaozhou that has been occupied by bandits and bandits, the land of Denglai is really chaotic.

But Mo Ming didn't care whether they were dead or alive. His only concern was training soldiers and how to feed the 5 or [-] people on hand.Those local bandits gathered together to plunder the countryside like locusts, completely disrupting the local production order in Qingzhou and Laizhou, which had already improved slightly, and artificially created countless contingents of refugees to come to Yantai, which is said to have food.In the face of these refugees who crossed the prefecture and counties, the landlords and gentry forces in Denglai generally chose to remain silent and let them go to Yantai.There is no way, the power of the people on the east coast is really strong in Denglai. No one dares to provoke this "sea bandit". We all know that the Yi people on the east coast have been collecting people, so let these mud legs go. Not seeing is pure.After Da Ming or "My Great Qing" Master Wang comes over, he will settle accounts with these pirates together.

After receiving the important information that the Qing army was approaching Shandong, Mo Ming immediately called several major officers under his command, such as Xiao Xi, Mao Desheng, Li Wenchang, Liu Zhong, Kurhan (the captain of the Yantai security team), and Liu Haiyang of the navy, to discuss the situation together. military situation.After discussing with each other, everyone felt that there is no need to work on an expedition recently, so they were active in the vicinity of Dengzhou and collected food by the way.Today is July 7th (June 20th in the lunar calendar), and the Qing army will not leave much time for everyone. Mao Desheng believes that they may advance to the front line of Qingzhou in more than a month, and then they will soon threaten the Dengzhou.Moreover, the wheat in the fields has generally been harvested at this time of year, and it is more convenient for the Qing army to collect grain on the spot, and there is a material basis to support the army's long-term operations.

Now that the understanding has been unified, Mo Ming simply followed suit.He ordered Liu Zhong's two battalions of Eight Banners warriors to go out to the two wooden stockades that had been built south of Yantai Fort, and sent troops to patrol the vast area around the farmland of the people on the east coast.In a little more than a month, the 4000 mu of sweet potatoes and corn will be harvested. If something goes wrong at this time, everyone will cry without tears.At the same time, with the cooperation of some reconnaissance cavalry, the army began to march south to Fushan County, Ninghai Prefecture, Dasongwei, Jinghaiwei, east to Wendeng County, Weihaiwei, Chengshanwei, and west to In Qixia County and Laiyang County, local landlords and gentry were carried out, which may be the last "armed taxation" of the people on the east coast.

Taxation operations have generally been much more peaceful than before.After more than a year of contact, the people on the east bank have gradually reached an unspoken understanding with these landowners and gentry in Dengzhou, that is, these local power factions will not hinder the people on the east bank from collecting refugees, and the people on the east bank will also Stop looting their property by violent means.But if you don't hit Zhuangzi, it doesn't mean that you will be let go. As the Ninghai defense envoy appointed by Dashun, it's a fart to collect some taxes from the gentry in the defense area!But the landlords, faced with this kind of taxation action that made them bleed a little, but didn't hurt their muscles and bones, they also pinched their noses and recognized it.Therefore, the Ming emperor did not collect taxes from them, but the wonderful East Coast people managed to do it in 1644!

Ninghai Prefecture and Fushan County, which have been plowed several times by people from the east coast, are naturally sparsely populated and barren, while Wendeng County, Qixia County, and Laiyang County are relatively rich, and some can be expropriated. food.Therefore, as of mid-August 1644, the people on the east bank had collected a total of nine thousand shi (about 8 tons) of rice, grain, beans and other grains from one state, four counties, and four guards near Yantai Fort. There are more than 630 bundles of fodder and 3 carts.At this time, the refugee wave caused by bandits in Qingzhou and Laizhou finally came to the vicinity of Yantai.

(End of this chapter)