Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 425 Muddy Waters ([-])

In order to expand his influence, after discussing with the officers in Yantai Fort, Mo Ming decided to take advantage of Zhao Yingyuan's attack in Qingzhou to stir up trouble and try to make the situation bigger.It would be even better if Qingzhou could be smashed to pieces so that the Qing army would have nothing to plunder.When the time comes, we won't be able to get supplies. What about those Qing troops?Is it taxed?The common people went to the mountains again; no taxation?What to eat then?Could it be that he copied Li Chuang and plundered Jin Gentlemen?That would be politically incorrect!

Since the dispatch of troops in late October, the troops from the East Coast, with a total of more than 10 people (excluding 4600 soldiers), marched rapidly.It took them only a week to set off from Yantai, pass through Fushan, Qixia, and Laiyang counties and enter Jimo County, Laizhou.Moreover, there was no fighting along the way, and the armed landlords in the counties were invincible, and no one dared to stop them.What's even more frustrating is that they hardly consumed any food along the way, because whenever they passed by some villages along the way, some people would send some goods such as food, fodder, pigs and sheep, and silver and silk. "Labor Army"-in fact, it is more accurate to say that it is sending the plague god, so their food has not decreased but increased, which makes Mo Ming and others secretly happy.

However, what they saw along the way also surprised everyone. They thought that Dengzhou was dilapidated enough, but now they suddenly discovered that after Zhang Daya and Zhang Qian's more than [-] bandit troops made such a disturbance in the first half of the year, this Laizhou Aoshanwei, Jimo County, Jiaozhou, Lingshanwei and other places in the prefecture are even more barren than Dengzhou.After riding a horse for an hour in the countryside, all I could see were barren farmlands that were left unattended, and the occasional farmlands planted with overwintering wheat were also concentrated next to some rural forts.There are few people living in the rural villages, but there are many bandits in the nearby mountains and forests. Maybe it is not accurate to say that they are bandits, because these bandits are also farming in the mountains by themselves, which looks very strange.

When the East Coast army arrived outside Jiaozhou City on November 11, the scouts of the security team who had been running outside sent back news again, and this news surprised Mo Ming and others.

"Zhao Yingyuan captured Yidu County." Mo Ming said with some surprise, "Monk Zhai Wu's messenger said that Zhao Yingyuan asked Wang Aoyong to surrender, and Wang Aoyong actually agreed, and then Zhao Yingyuan brought hundreds of people into the city, and he was caught by lightning. Er Zhishi took control of the whole city. Then the whole city was mobilized to find out the servants of the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Industry of the Qing Dynasty who were hiding in the homes of the gentry in the city. He presided over the recruitment of Wang Aoyong from Shandong and Henan. This Lord Wang and his entourage... Beheaded on the spot."

"It's so weird!" Mao Desheng said in disbelief.They don't know how Zhao Yingyuan captured Qingzhou City in history, and they don't even know whether Qingzhou was captured by Zhao Yingyuan. At this moment, when they first heard that Zhao Yingyuan broke through the city gate and captured Wang Aoyong, everyone felt unbelievable.Wang Aoyong was the first group of officials who surrendered to the Qing government. This person worked hard in Shandong and traveled around, almost exhausting his efforts for the Manchu Qing to appease Shandong. The Qing court even felt that this person dared to take risks and made great contributions. He was knighted, but now he fell before the "dawn". This has to be said that life has played a big joke on Wang Aoyong.

"What should we do now?" Mao Desheng asked again.

"What should we do? Follow the plan!" Mo Ming pulled out the command knife from his waist, and said solemnly: "To be honest, I have never looked down on Zhao Yingyuan's idiot, but I didn't expect him to be so courageous and Wang Aoyong so stupid, and now Qingzhou Prefecture has been conquered." , and a governor died. If the Manchus didn’t respond, it would be unreasonable. Well, we should proceed according to the plan! Wang Aoyong died, the Manchus were leaderless in Shandong, the governor Fang Dayou was too busy to take care of himself in Jinan, and the chief soldier of Jiaozhou Town Ke Yongsheng is deeply involved in the war of suppressing bandits and security, so we will help Zhao Yingyuan and capture this Jiaozhou city first. Ke Yongsheng's lair, I don't believe there is no good thing. Now, I order to attack Jiaozhou city!"

The attack on Jiaozhou City was very lackluster.This ordinary state city of Laizhou Prefecture was besieged by more than [-] people for a long time four months ago. Although the siege was broken later, the city walls have been dilapidated.Ke Yongsheng, the commander-in-chief of Jiaozhou Town appointed by the Qing court, immediately led his troops to wipe out the local bandits in Jiaozhou, including Han Jiben, Shan Zhishang from Gaomi County, Huang Zongxian from Jimo County, Saturday, and others after appeasement of some areas in Laizhou. Monk Zhai Wu, who was staying in Pingdu Prefecture, was also severely beaten. He ran all the way to Dengzhou to escape the pursuit.Ke Yongsheng's Jiaozhou town army was anxious to wipe out the bandits, so naturally they didn't do more repairs to Jiaozhou City.Therefore, at this moment, facing the city wall whose outer layer of bricks has fallen off a lot, the artillery of the people on the east coast is much easier.

When the 8 long-barreled cannons were pulled out and placed neatly one by one, the few Jiaozhou town troops who were already sparse at the top of the city almost knelt down.God is sorry, they were still in the Ming army a month or two ago, and they have only had a few days of full food and a few days of comfort, so why did thieves come to the door?And this thief is too arrogant, he actually has a cannon!Even if it's eight doors, is this **** still a thief?The army is not so rich!

The dilapidated city wall of Jiaozhou City could not withstand the fierce bombardment of the 12-pound long-barreled cannon, not to mention that the artillery of the people on the east bank was pulled under the city wall and fired at close range. A ten meter long collapse area was formed.In fact, this is not an exaggeration. The Qing army who besieged Taiyuan concentrated their red-clothed cannons and bombarded the northwest city gate of Taiyuan, which collapsed a city wall of more than 12 feet.In contrast, the [-]-pound cannon, which was slightly more powerful than the red cannons of the Qing army, only knocked down the city wall of several meters, which is simply a child's play.

Several scouts from the public security team galloped back and reported some information to the intelligence staff, who immediately asked Mo Ming for instructions after inquiring clearly.After listening to the report, Mo Ming began to issue orders to the combat staff, and soon, under the leadership of Yang Mingyang, more than 500 cavalrymen who had been ready for dispatch began to accelerate slowly, heading towards the west gate of Jiaozhou.After the cavalry set off, 7 volunteer soldiers from seven squadrons, which had already lined up in front of the artillery position, began to march towards the collapsed city wall under the order of the officer; more than 1750 soldiers from the two battalions of the Eight Banners New Army had already put on heavy armor. Armed with spears, they lined up on both sides of the artillery position, while soldiers from the two companies of the army surrounded the convoy on both sides. They and the Eight Banners New Army were the reserve team, and they would not attack unless it was absolutely necessary.Today's battle was originally intended to test the strength of these standing teams.

But it is clear that today's test for the standing team is too easy.The few Qing troops in Jiaozhou City opened the west gate at the moment the city wall collapsed, and then rushed out.In the beginning, their retreat was fairly orderly, at least maintaining a more or less loose formation, but after seeing hundreds of cavalry in yellow approaching with shining sabers, they immediately panicked.Some Qing soldiers with poor psychological quality fled first, and their escape immediately led others, and more people began to throw down their weapons and armor and fled to the four fields.The officers of the Qing army who were born under the Han army banner roared and shouted angrily, but their prestige was not strong enough after taking over the army for more than a month. At this time, these former Ming soldiers did not want to talk to them at all. Thousands of infantry, there are at least five or six hundred cavalry over there, how can this battle be fought?

The battle was over before it even started.The formation of nearly a thousand infantry of the Qing army crowded outside the west gate was scattered. There were neither spears to block the cavalry nor a large number of long-range infantry bows. pistol, and then circled back again.They are all veterans who have been playing horses for many years, and they have almost mastered this simple tactic after only a few days of training before going out.Hundreds of pistols caused huge damage to the dense Qing army crowd. At least 100 people fell down in this round of blows, and their weak bow and arrow counterattack only overturned a few riders.

After seeing these cavalry who circled back seem to stop in the distance to reload their pistols, they immediately collapsed. At this time, even the officers of the Han Army Banner lost the confidence to continue to resist. After all, not everyone can Endure the pain of being beaten and unable to fight back.They threw down their weapons and took off their armor. Most of them scattered and ran out of the city, while a small number retreated into the city.The Qing army fleeing outside the city was cut down one by one under the pursuit of the cavalry, especially the officers and soldiers of the Han army banner. Killing nightmare.The less than 300 people who retreated into the city encountered the officers and soldiers who had already rushed into the city. They panicked and resisted for a few rounds before being defeated, and then surrendered one after another.Thus, a battle that could not be called a battle ended like this. It took less than half an hour from the beginning of the army's dispatch to the end.

The large troops on the east bank did not enter the city until it was slightly dark.The combat staff automatically began to assign troops to control the entire city, the intelligence staff began to interrogate the prisoners, the logistics staff began to count the treasury and assign people to cook, and the liaison staff began to take the messengers around to pass orders to various units. In short, everything was in order and professional The staff officers greatly reduced the labor intensity of the chief officer, allowing them more time to consider other matters.

The logistics staff quickly reported the issues that Mo Ming was most concerned about.After their tense counting, there are about 3000 stone grains (more than 200 tons) in the treasury, which is not a small amount, but it is also a lot.Now if you want to find three or four thousand shi of grain on the ground in Shandong, you have to go to Jinan Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture and other wealthy counties to find it. It is not easy in Laizhou.But this is Ke Yongsheng's headquarters after all, and it is normal to have some food and logistics supplies.

"There are still some weapons and armor in the city, but the quality is relatively poor, which is roughly equivalent to the existing equipment of the self-propelled team. I have asked them to replace the weapons that do not fit at hand, and please show me how to deal with the rest. Inside the treasury There are also more than 5000 Liangming treasury flat silver, more than 300 various types of silk, 75 carts, more than 380 useful horses and mules, and more than [-] pigs and sheep." The logistics staff continued to report.

"The food and belongings started to be packed overnight, and they were all loaded into the cart. All the criminals in the prison were released, and people were arrested in the city... Forget it, we don't have enough food, so let's do it first." Mo Ming said.

(End of this chapter)