Liu Zhigan wanted to lead his troops to pursue him, but was stopped by Malin. They sent people to report the situation to Liu Zeqing. Liu Zeqing did not dare to be careless and ordered the two to join forces and continue to move forward, but the speed of the march could not help but slowed down a lot.

During this process, the official cavalry continued to appear, either attacking the front, attacking the army, or attacking the rear. Every time they came quickly and then left quickly, and the disturbed rebels were in peace. Moreover, most of the scouts sent by Liu Zeqing were killed by the superior official cavalry and became deaf and blind.

Liu Zeqing frowned when he heard the constant rewards, knowing that the government army was prepared for their evacuation. He no longer thought about evacuation quickly, but gathered the army as much as possible and slowly retreated westward to prevent the government army from attacking. But he did not tell Mei Yingyuan, the rear of the palace, about his situation.

When Mei Yingyuan received Liu Zeqing's order, he cursed in his heart. When he was sent away, he called his deputy general, "Tell your brothers, immediately reorganize the troops and prepare to evacuate."

The deputy general expressed his confusion and said, "General, didn't General Liu say he had to wait for an hour?"

Mei Yingyuan snorted coldly and said, "Wait for an hour, we will be eaten by Zhou Xian. Nearly 100,000 troops will be evacuated. Do you really think we can completely hide the official army? The reason why they did not launch an attack was just waiting for an opportunity. If we are separated from the brigade, we will be completely eaten by the official army. With Liu Zeqing's indifference, once the army is lost, what else do you think we can have in him?"

The deputy general nodded, "I understand, I'll go now." But after walking a few steps, he turned around again, "General, I have something to say, I don't know if I can say it."

Mei Yingyuan said: "In front of me, what else can you say?"

The deputy general nodded and asked, "Since the general knows that Liu Zeqing is flirting by nature, why do he still have to serve him? At that time, Liu Zeqing led a large army to attack Jinan, and we had no choice but to surrender. If we surrender to the official army at this time, it would be considered as a meritorious service! The court would not blame us seriously."

Mei Yingyuan shook his head and said, "Do you think Liu Zeqing is a fool? In order to control us, he had moved all the families of the guerrilla generals to Linqing. We can surrender, but what should our families do? Besides, even if we are willing to surrender, the government may not let us go. Don't forget how Jinan fell and how Qiu Zude died. We are all sinners. Moreover, after all, Zhou Xian only has more than 20,000 troops in Shandong, and he may not be able to defeat Liu Zeqing. Good birds choose trees to live in. At least in the moment, Liu Zeqing's chances of winning are still greater. Let's stay like this first! Let's talk about the situation later."

The deputy general nodded and turned around and left.

In fact, there were some things that Mei Yingyuan did not say to his deputy general. The reason why he chose to surrender to Liu Zeqing was not because he thought that Liu Zeqing was a good tree, but because he did not have any hope for the future of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, when Liu Zeqing's army arrived, he immediately chose to take Shandong Governor Qiu Zude to surrender, because he did not want to put himself in danger. Even if it was not Liu Zeqing at that time, but others, he would still surrender when his strength was insufficient.

Thinking of this, Mei Yingyuan spitted on the ground and made a secret decision. This time, as long as he could safely withdraw from Jinan, he would find an opportunity to escape from Liu Zeqing. The Ming Dynasty could not go back. Li Zicheng was a good choice, but unfortunately they only reconciled with Liu Zeqing after seizing Jining. Otherwise, defecting to him would be a good choice.

Zhou Xian stood at a high place, holding a telescope in his hand to look at the rebel camp to the west. Behind him, nearly 20,000 troops were ready to go. It was pitch black and although there was moonlight, everything in the distance was blurred.

The sound of horse hooves came from a distance, and it was the scout who returned. He turned over and dismounted, knelt on one knee, and said loudly to Zhou Xian: "Report to the commander-in-chief, the last rebel army has withdrawn from their camp."

Zhou Xian glanced at the generals in front of him and shouted loudly: "I have been confronting us for nearly a month. Liu Zeqing is about to escape now. Once he is allowed to escape back to Jinan and rely on the strong city, he will get a breather. If we attack the city, our losses will be far beyond our imagination. At that time, I may be you, or any of us. But no matter who is unfortunately dying for the country, the death will be our robes and our brothers. In order not to have such a scene in the future, we will continue to pursue tonight until all the enemy troops in front of us are defeated. In order to capture Liu Zeqing alive and completely quell the rebellion in Shandong. Do you have confidence in this?"

The troops responded loudly, "Capture Liu Zeqing alive and quell the rebellion in Shandong."

Zhou Xian nodded, "Bai Zhu, I will give you eight thousand people, and set off now. Follow the troops of the rebels and defeat any rebels you see. Li Kai, you lead three thousand-man elite troops. When encountering the rebels, don't attack, go around and rush to the city of Jinan as fast as possible. Three red rockets take off the air, which is the agreed signal. At that time, Ding Keze will cause trouble in the city and cooperate with you. The remaining soldiers, except for two thousand people, will follow me, and the other seven thousand-man teams will take the thousand-man team as the highest general and attack forward. No matter what measures you take, tomorrow at noon, you must all arrive at Licheng in the northeast and south of Jinan City to gather, and I will wait for you there. First, those who arrive will remember a great merit and advance to the garrison; those who are not delayed will remember a great demerit and allow them to make meritorious. Do you hear my order clearly?"

The soldier shouted loudly: "Clear."

Zhou Xian continued: "In this battle, don't take prisoners, don't count the number of beheaders, but only count the number of enemies. As long as you can defeat the enemy in front of you, you will have the merits. Those who can kill Liu Zeqing will be promoted to two levels and rewarded 10,000 taels of silver. Those who have won the main generals of the rebels will be promoted to one level and rewarded 1,000 taels of silver. Those who have made meritorious achievements during this period will also be rewarded. Tonight is the time for you to make meritorious contributions, and I hope all of you will live up to such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Now, the whole army is set in motion, let us take down Jinan Prefecture in one fell swoop."

The whole army cheered and responded loudly.

Li Kai moved forward, "Second Young Master, then I'll leave first."

Zhou Xian nodded, "Be careful of everything."

Bai Hu ordered the army to go first, and he turned back to Zhou Xian, "Mr. Zhou, you will disperse the entire army like this. Once Liu Zeqing sees the situation clearly and leads troops to fight back, it will be difficult for us to gather enough troops to defend against the enemy. Have you really considered these?"
Chapter completed!