After receiving the order from the Shandong Governor's Yamen, the coalition forces of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing set off again, heading for Qingzhou in March of the fifth year of Chongzhen. At this time, including the civilian soldiers accompanying the camp, the entire coalition army had reached 10,000
More than a thousand people.
"Brother Wu, do you think the court's recruitment will be successful this time? Are we able to fight or are we unable to fight?"
Of course, Liu Zeqing, who has the highest official rank in this coalition, should be commanded now. However, Wu Shigong unknowingly rose to the position of deputy general in the coalition.
Although in this army, there are many military attaches like Yan Dingshan who have a higher official position than Wu Shigong or are at the same level, it is also very realistic in the army. They not only want to look at the military attachés’ mutual titles, but also their military attachés.
It also depends on the strength of the military attache's subordinates.
Although the number of soldiers under Wu Shigong was small, including more than 2,000 auxiliary soldiers, the number of horses, armor and weapons in Wu Shigong's Runing camp were all top-notch.
In addition, Wu Shigong's soldiers were all strong and strong. Most of the other Ming soldiers, except for the soldiers around the generals, were skinny and bones due to long-term malnutrition. How could they be like Wu Shigong?
Those soldiers are full of muscles!
You know, if there is no accumulation of fat in a person's body, it will not be able to support long-term physical labor. It is no exaggeration to say that if Wu Shigong's soldiers and those skinny soldiers had to march for three days, they would not be able to support it at all.
Wu Shigong's soldiers were able to defeat those soldiers without fighting.
In addition, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing have a good relationship, so if anything happens now, Liu Zeqing will always discuss it with Wu Shigong.
"Will the appeasement be successful?" Wu Shigong did not directly answer Liu Zeqing's question. He directly expressed his judgment, "You have tens of thousands of strong soldiers and have won many battles. You don't want to separate one side, but just accept it.
Are the civil servants angry about recruiting people? Besides, what’s the benefit of accepting the call? Will the emperor give you a prince or a marquis? If you do that, it won’t encourage our generals to rebel and then accept the call!"
"You can't say that! If they don't accept the recruitment, do Kong Youde and the others want to become bandits? The world is so big that there is no place for them. Don't they think of a way out for themselves?"
Liu Zeqing's words reflected the common thoughts among Ming Dynasty officials at that time. Because the Ming Dynasty had been established for almost three hundred years, the ideas of the Central Empire and the Ming Zhu Family Dynasty were already deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. For them, even in the
It is better to be a slave in the Ming Dynasty than to be a king overseas. I don't dare to think about changing dynasties at all.
But Wu Shigong, who came from modern times, knew how big the world was, so he said disapprovingly: "You think there is no other place in the world except the Ming Dynasty. Do you know about the Japanese country? Fo Langji is also from the far west.
It’s a big country. You don’t understand these things anyway, so just say, even if Kong Youde and the others are defeated, as soon as they take a boat from Dengzhou, there are many places in the world where they can go and have fun.”
"Ten thousand steps back, even if Kong Youde and the others accept the imperial court's offer, what will be their fate? Let's not talk about settling accounts with the Queen. Even if there is no settlement with the Queen, then "
You have always heard the story of "Water Margin"! Then you should also know what happened to Song Jiang after he was recruited! Why don't Kong Youde and the others know about this fate? Do they want to go down this dead end? "
After listening to Wu Shigong's words, Liu Zeqing blinked for a long time, and finally sighed helplessly: "Oh——!"
"Anyway, we are making the best preparations and preparing for the worst!" Wu Shigong finally emphasized.
Even vulgar military leaders like Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing understood that the possibility of Kong Youde's rebels being recruited was very slim, so the civil servants guarding Laizhou City understood this truth even more.
When Zhang Guochen ordered the soldiers and civilians in the city and the reinforcements from all walks of life not to go out to fight without authorization, so as not to damage the government, Xu Congzhi, who knew the nature of the rebels, immediately sent someone to sneak out of the city at night, sent a memorial to Beijing, explained the battle situation, and requested
The emperor should stop appeasing and go all out to encircle and suppress the rebels.
But this bloody memorial was actually suppressed at the instruction of the chief minister Zhou Yanru. As a result, Emperor Chongzhen never saw such an important memorial.
It can be said that those civil servants in the late Ming Dynasty, for the sake of their own official positions and their own parties, did not pay attention to national affairs at all. What they did was to the point of being crazy.
After sending away Zhang Guochen, who was full of promises that Kong Youde and others swore to accept the recruitment, the rebels once again made preparations to attack the city, and then with a look on their faces, they attacked Laizhou City again with murderous intent.
At this time, Zhou Yanru could no longer suppress him. Even some officials who advocated recruiting had differences of opinion with Zhou Yanru. This would at least defeat the rebels. After the siege of Laizhou City was lifted, the imperial court could recruit those rebels.
The army will pay less unnecessary benefits!
At this time, reinforcements from all over the country also gathered in Qingzhou, but because Xu Congzhi, the governor of Shandong, was besieged in Laizhou City, there was no one to coordinate and command the reinforcements, so the reinforcements came to a standstill. For this reason, the imperial court once again appointed Liu Yulie, the right minister of the Ministry of War, as the governor-general, with full authority to command all the forces.
reinforcements, and with him came the Beijing Shenji Battalion and five Hongyi cannons to fight against the rebels.
But at this time, Zhou Yanru became selfish again. The governor-general Liu Yulie was also Zhou Yanru's confidant. What's even more amazing is that Liu Yulie was also a civil servant in charge of the governor. Well, here comes someone who actively seeks peace and doesn't know how to fight.
Civilians came to command the army.
But for the cause of peace, Liu Yulie was indeed active. After he arrived in Qingzhou, he immediately gathered 8,000 troops from Shandong Commander-in-Chief Qiu Lei and 11,000 troops from other reinforcements, plus the gods he brought from the Beijing camp.
The machine camp, with a total of 26,000 soldiers, plus more than 7,000 civilians, totaling 33,000 troops, immediately headed for Laizhou City.
By the way, the Henan reinforcements dispatched together with Wu Shigong, 2,000 men and horses led by the copycat Zhao Zilongjiang guerrillas, are also in this army.
Liu Yulie was so impatient. He was not willing to wait for so many days for the coalition forces of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing to arrive and rendezvous. Because at this time, the coalition forces of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing were only three days away from the main force of the Ming army in Qingzhou City.
Liu Yulie just sent someone to give Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing such a military order, asking them to follow up. As the rear army, they should catch up with the main force of the Ming army as soon as possible.
However, although Liu Yulie's Ming army was marching at such a rapid pace, Wu Shigong and his rear army had been resting in place for more than a month. In addition, during this period of more than a month, there was enough food to feed the soldiers.
This gave the soldiers good physical strength. Therefore, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing's rear army marched much faster than the main force of the Ming army. The distance between the two armies was finally shortened to two days' journey.
On March 28, fifty miles west of Laizhou City, the main force of the Ming army encountered 22,000 rebel troops led by Kong Youde who had detached troops from Laizhou City to fight for reinforcements. At this time, Liu Yulie was still thinking about
The military force oppressed the rebels to recruit troops. Therefore, he ordered the entire army to camp and not take the initiative to attack the rebels.
But the rebels did not give Liu Yulie any face. They did not allow the Ming army to set up a solid camp and immediately deployed their troops to advance against the Ming army.
After being attacked, the Ming army had no choice but to resist on the spot. But you must know that without modern communication conditions and without capable grassroots officers commanding at all levels, it would be impossible for a commander to pass on the order to
Everyone in the tens of thousands of troops.
The two contradictory orders issued by Liu Yulie to camp and fight caused chaos in the Ming army. In the haste, the Ming army's forces were not fully deployed at all.
But the governor-general Liu Yulie did not understand these basic military principles. He thought that if he had more people, he could always defeat the rebels with fewer people. Liu Yulie seemed to feel that he was wearing a scholar's crown, shaking his goose feather fan, and
It's a counterfeit version of Zhuge Liang, with a commanding look.
However, it was close to dusk when the two armies met, and neither side was willing to engage in a night battle. Therefore, after a short battle, both armies retreated and camped on the spot.
In this day's contact battle, both sides suffered little losses. Therefore, Liu Yulie believed that the rebels' combat effectiveness was no more than this, so he became more confident in future battles.
Therefore, when the rebels marched out of camp after breakfast the next morning, Liu Yulie without fear ordered the main force of the Ming army to march out to fight.