Among these 300 civilians, more than 200 were miners from the original Laizhou Iron Mine. What is even more surprising is that more than 20 of them were blacksmith apprentices and people with experience in blacksmithing.
During wartime, blacksmiths were also a very scarce resource, so there could not be any blacksmiths among the civilian men assigned to Wu Shigong. But even if this was the case, shouldn't those reserve blacksmiths be regarded as civilian men?
Wu Shigong didn't know that the main force in the final defense of Laizhou City was organized by the Laizhou Mine Supervisor, more than 10,000 miners and blacksmith apprentices. When recruiting civilian workers, the officials were lazy and recruited these militiamen.
.This is why Wu Shigong took such an advantage.
Without saying a word, he first comforted them, and white flour cakes and a large pot of meat were served first. This enthusiastic attitude made the people's hearts tremble. Isn't this unscientific? When did such an army of people's children appear in the Ming Dynasty?
The next step is the settlement expenses. Runing Camp announced that as long as any of these civilians are willing to go to Henan, those who can blacksmith will be given five taels of silver, and those who cannot blacksmith will be given two taels of silver. In addition, the expenses for relocation of the whole family will be paid by Runing Camp.
out.
Moreover, Runingying also promised that as long as they arrived in Henan, everyone would have a house and they would also arrange jobs to get paid. After the salary standards were announced, the civilians' eyes widened in disbelief.
Is there such a good thing? As soon as someone took the lead and saw that they had received a lot of money, except for dozens of people who were really unwilling to leave their hometowns, all the other people signed up enthusiastically.
Of course, there will be some civilians who have nothing to do with the iron ore this time. But Runing camp will still pay money. Anyway, the money spent is not much, just buy horse bones for thousands of gold.
The effect of buying horse bones with a thousand gold is quite good. With the secret encouragement of the Runing camp, the civilian men recruited quickly spread the news throughout the military camp, and even passed it to Laizhou City. After that, those from the Laizhou Iron Mine
Blacksmiths and miners were sensational.
But the recruitment of Runing camp this time is not excessive. All the people recruited must have something to do with iron. The standard of settlement fee is: twenty taels for blacksmiths, ten taels for blacksmith apprentices, and 2 taels for miners. Other conditions remain unchanged.
The blacksmiths and miners who wanted to go to Runing Camp tried their best, and even wanted to sneak into the Runing Camp.
But although the blacksmiths and miners thought that the mine supervisors and military attachés who controlled their comings and goings would not let go. But there was a solution to this matter, and it was transfer fees.
Finally, a transfer fee price was negotiated, which was 40 taels for blacksmiths, 20 taels for blacksmith apprentices, and 4 taels for miners. Of course, the settling-in fee paid by Runing Camp to these blacksmiths and miners remained unchanged.
After the price was negotiated, the business was opened immediately. In this recruitment, Wu Shigong recruited a total of 21 blacksmiths, 107 blacksmith apprentices, and more than 1,400 miners. This Wu Shigong is
The money allocated after the Shahe battle was almost spent.
Liu Zeqing and other coalition military attachés were also deeply impressed by Wu Shigong's ability to cause trouble wherever he went. The news was so big that even Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian finally got the news.
But although Wu Shigong's behavior of recruiting blacksmiths and miners was a bit strange, Gao Qiqian, who had connections with the inner court, also roughly understood Wu Shigong's reasons.
The request for help by Ye Zhong, the mine supervisor of Nanyang Iron Mine, was not a secret in the inner court. Gao Qiqian also believed that Wu Shigong recruited iron ore and miners in order to exploit his own private mine after returning to Nanyang.
But Gao Qiqian is the chief eunuch of the Royal Horse Supervisor. He has no dealings with Wang Chengen, the chief eunuch of the Li Supervisor. Nanyang Iron Mine and Laizhou Iron Mine are under the control of the Li Supervisor. If they have any trouble, they have nothing to do with Gao Qiqian.
Relationship. There are even some thoughts of gloating and watching others' misfortune.
Gao Qiqian also secretly told Zhu Dadian the reason and pointed out Wu Shigong's identity. After understanding this, Zhu Dadian immediately gave up on doing more than doing less. He just let Wu Shigong's recruitment go unchecked.
After resting for nearly ten days, after the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, and on August 16th in the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Ming army set out again. The Liaodong Army and the Allied Forces were once again the vanguard.
Kong Youde's rebels also completely gave up on Pingdu. Therefore, on August 17, more than twenty cavalry spies from the Liaodong Army captured Pingdu without any blood. Then, the Ming Army's frontline pointed directly at Huang County.
The Ming army was resting and recuperating. The rebels also took advantage of the Ming army's resting time to build and strengthen the defenses of Huang County. Huang County, a small county, would definitely not be able to accommodate the rebel army of 40,000. Therefore, the rebels decided to fight
The strategy is to rely on the city walls and the trenches and earthen walls built to defend, and use defense instead of attack to fight the Ming army decisively.
On August 18, the vanguard Liaodong Army arrived in Huang County. They had a small battle with 2,000 cavalry sent by the rebels.
In this battle, the rebels suffered a small defeat. After that, the rebel cavalry fled towards Huang County. In fact, the small defeat of the rebels was because the rebels wanted to lure the Liaodong Army into pursuit and use fixed defenses.
Give the Liaodong Army a blow.
But the Liaodong Army was very cautious in its pursuit, because after the last battle of Shahe, the Liaodong Army had not forgotten the small losses it suffered during the pursuit. Therefore, when it saw the rebel fortifications and tried to attack without results, the Liaodong Army
He shrank back.
After all the main forces of the Liaodong Army and the Allied Forces arrived, and after several trial attacks and fire reconnaissance, the vanguard of the Ming Army basically figured out the defensive layout of the rebels. Then, the vanguard of the Ming Army faced the rebels, waiting for Ming to attack.
The arrival of the main force of the army.
On August 19, the main force of the Ming army arrived. In the afternoon of that day, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian summoned all military attachés above the garrison level for a military meeting before the start of the war.
At the beginning of the military meeting, as usual, Jin Guoqi first introduced the rebels' defense and put forward operational suggestions.
"There are about 40,000 or 50,000 rebels in Huang County this time. The fortifications they built outside Huang County are also very crude. The general estimates that Huang County can only accommodate 10,000 rebels at most, and the rest will have to be
Fight with our officers and soldiers outside the city."
"Most of the rebel artillery was set up at the head of Huang County City. Because the artillery did not fire during the trial, we don't know the range of those artillery. But the range should not be large, three or four miles at most. Because from above
From the confessions of the rebel prisoners, we learned that the rebels' long-range artillery was set up in Dengzhou City and was fixed and difficult to move. Therefore, in this Huangxian battle, the rebels are less likely to use those artillery."
"The general believes that as long as the rebels outside the city are defeated, even if the rebels still defend Huang County, the official army can use a partial force to guard the rebels in Huang County, and the main force of the official army can also bypass it.
Huang County, attack Dengzhou City directly."
"Therefore, the focus of tomorrow's battle is to defeat the rebels outside the city. However, the rebels dug two trenches and built an earth wall. Attacking with human lives will definitely cost a lot. Therefore, we must lure the rebels out.
"
"The general thought that our officers and soldiers also had many artillery, and they could use their artillery to fire repeatedly. As long as the rebels could not stand it, no matter whether they fled, retreated to the county seat, or went out to fight in the field, our officers and soldiers would occupy
Get the upper hand."
"Of course, preparations for field battles are also essential. I won't say much about this general. With the arrangements of the Governor and the Supervisor, the rebels will definitely be a piece of cake."
Jin Guoqi's words were indeed wise. He not only analyzed the situation of the rebels in a clear and logical manner, but also proposed the most suitable combat plan for the Ming army. Finally, he also praised Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian and respected their authority.
This performance does not look like that of a military commander. He is completely an old official.
Jin Guoqi's words must have been the result of collective discussions among the military attaches of the Liaodong Army. Besides, what he said did make sense. Therefore, after several other military attaches put forward some additional opinions, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian basically agreed.
Agreed to this battle plan.
Wu Shigong had been deserting during this military meeting. He repeatedly looked curiously at Wu Sangui, the Qian Commander, who broke into the military tent to attend the military meeting.
Wu Sangui is of medium height, but very strong and has a very upright appearance. But he is indeed young, and there is still a slight fuzz on his lips. Wu Shigong had also inquired a few days ago that Wu Sangui was only seventeen years old at this time.
.According to modern calculations, his actual age is only sixteen years old. Wu Sangui was also confused by Wu Shigong's repeated looks. He even couldn't help but touch his face several times, thinking that
Is there anything unclean on my face?
But at the end of the military meeting, another surprise occurred. When arranging the order of the Ming army's field troops tomorrow, Jin Guoqi said: "I beg the governor and the supervisor for your permission. Liu Shen, who will be the vanguard with me, Guan Ning Cavalry,
The general's army is also brave and good at fighting. He also cooperates well with our Guan Ning cavalry. Therefore, in tomorrow's arrangements, whether to put General Liu Shen's army behind our Guan Ning cavalry, let us have no worries and do our best for the emperor and for the emperor.
To serve the imperial court.”
"How can this be done?" Liu Zeqing immediately refused. Jin Guoqi's suggestion was completely the Liaodong Army's revenge on the coalition forces. They just wanted to prevent the coalition forces from capturing anything more in this battle.
A few days ago, the coalition military attachés, who were very excited about the capture of the Shahe Battle, were thinking of making big profits again in the Huangxian Battle. They were all clamoring for the battle to start soon.
Although Wu Shigong was not very willing to fight on the front line, he would not express any objections to disturb the interest of other military attachés. Therefore, Liu Zeqing was determined to win the coalition forces on the front line during this military meeting.
.
But before Liu Zeqing expressed any objections, another military attache joined Jin Guoqi in suppressing the coalition forces. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!
