The Donglu were raging north of the Yellow River, and the entire territory of Shandong was ravaged by them. Except for Liu Zeqing who fled to Dongchang Prefecture to defend, almost all other prefectures and counties were plundered by the Qing army. Jinan escaped, and the Qing army did not spend extra energy.
Re-looting several cities that they had already raided the last time they entered the border.
The city of Xuzhou is already in turmoil, and the streets are full of wealthy gentry carrying their wealth and fleeing south. The Grand Canal, which was originally covered by cloud sails, is now crowded with four or five times more ships than before.
Due to the sharp increase in ship prices, some Xuzhou citizens even sold their sons and daughters outside the city to finance their escape south.
Fang Yizhi was greatly frightened by this scene of chaos and chaos.
He originally thought that Shi Kefa was appointed as the Chief Minister of Xuzhou Suppression, and that the Donglin Party was full of talents. It was an opportunity to revive the Ming Dynasty and turn the tide, so he left the small study room and ran to Xuzhou to join in the fun.
But he didn't expect that as soon as he arrived in Xuzhou, news came from the back that the Qing army had conquered Yanzhou.
"Secret!"
The person who called Fang Yizhi was Li Yuan, a scribe who came from Jiujiang to Xuzhou to purchase ships. Li Yuan's teacher Li Minduo was a well-known literary scholar nowadays and one of Fang Yizhi's close friends.
Li Yuan's family seems to be engaged in a business of selling medicinal materials. Fang Yizhi doesn't know much about this. He only knows that Li Yuan is very wealthy. During his stay in Xuzhou, most of his food, clothing, housing and transportation were taken care of by Li Yuan.
So I have a good impression of him.
"You're here too, Mingbo. Xuzhou is surrounded by war and chaos. If you have the connections, it would be safer to return to Jiujiang as soon as possible."
Fang Yizhidun persuaded, but Li Yuan didn't care about it. He chuckled and said: "Since Shi Gong is in charge of Xuzhou, what is there to worry about? Shi Gong is a great sage of Donglin and is well known to the world. And over the years, Donglu has also been from
Without crossing the Yellow River, the most they can do is harass in Hebei."
Li Yuan approached Fang Yizhi, grabbed his sleeve, and whispered into his ear: "Mr. Mi Zhi, there are rumors in the city that Huai soldiers have arrived near Xuzhou. Is it true or not? You are Shi Gong's
The close aides must know this first-hand information."
Fang Yizhi held Li Yuan's hand and took him to the Supervisory Office, saying as he walked:
"Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Huaiyang, is honest and capable, and Shi Gong thinks highly of him. Huai Ma Liu is as afraid of the enemy as a tiger, and now the situation in Xuzhou depends entirely on Lu Futai... Don't spread the news, Huaifu Fubiao died yesterday
We are already preparing to relieve the siege of Guide."
The two of them walked towards the Xuzhou Suppression Governor's Office. The closer they got to the Governor's Office, the more soldiers there were on the streets. After all, there were still more than 30,000 troops stationed inside and outside Xuzhou City.
It's a pity that with so many soldiers and horses, few dared to leave Xuzhou City to fight. Most of them huddled in the city, sitting still. The only one who dared to leave Xuzhou to fight was Liu Liangzuo, who was famous for his fear of enemies...
So despite the fact that there are so many soldiers and horses in Xuzhou city, the only ones with combat effectiveness are Shi Kefa and Hou Xun's supervisors of thousands, plus a battalion of 2,000 new brave guards sent by Huang Degong.
All put together, the number is less than ten thousand.
The remaining troops basically only make up the numbers, and even some troops with lax military discipline cannot even make up the numbers. They can only have the negative effect of looting places and disrupting the market.
Therefore, Chen Yongfu and Yuan Shizhong were repeatedly attacked by Li Laiheng, and Shi Kefa did nothing. He was originally a clever woman who could not make a meal without rice, and he had too few troops. Moreover, Shi Kefa's character was never the kind of heroic and decisive character, but always took care of him.
, paper as much as possible.
In order to take care of Jiang Zuo's favor, he dispersed some of his few troops to stabilize Jiangbei near Huai'an. After Hou Xun arrived in Xuzhou, he needed to leave a large number of pacesetters to guard Xuzhou. In addition, the Qing army was raging in Shandong, and Shi Kefa
They also had to divide their forces to keep an eye on the Yellow River and the Canal. Although Liu Liangzuo was actually sent to guard the Yellow River, he did not play any role in river defense at all.
In short, Shi Kefa's few troops were scattered and used everywhere. He used force everywhere but was weak everywhere. Where could he get the soldiers and horses to rescue the Guide defenders?
"Shi Gong is in dire straits, and there is nothing he can do. The current situation is really bad, even if the Prime Minister rescues him, it will be difficult to deal with it. What's more, Shi Gong and Hou Gong have different opinions and are constrained, making the situation even worse!"
Fang Yizhi couldn't help lamenting to Li Yuan that after Hou Xun arrived in Xuzhou, the already overlapping command structure of the Xuzhou Suppressor General became more complex and inefficient.
Originally, Hou Xun and Shi Kefa were both members of the Donglin family, and Hou Xun's sons Hou Fangyu and Fang Yizhi were close friends, both known as the "Four Young Masters".
Therefore, Fang Yizhi originally had high expectations for Hou Xun's arrival, believing that whether it was the standard camp brought by Hou Xun or the talents of this talented man in the world, Xuzhou's current predicament of being besieged on all sides could be reversed.
Unexpectedly, after Hou Xun arrived in Xuzhou, he concluded that Xuzhou's city defense was weak and could be attacked by intruders or Donglu at any time. Therefore, he advocated that all 30,000 troops and horses should be withdrawn into Xuzhou City, following the example of those who defended Dongchang.
Liu Zeqing ignored the fall of other prefectures and counties and just protected Xuzhou from falling.
Shi Kefa still has some ideas and backbone. Although he has limited chips, he is still colluding with people everywhere and trying to do a little bit of work and achieve results.
Under Shi Kefa's persuasion, Liu Liangzuo finally brought his troops to the vicinity of Dangshan County. Although when Tan Tai, Ao Bai and other Qing troops crossed the river, Liu Liangzuo escaped without firing a single shot, but he more or less expanded Xuzhou's defense circle.
Some.
But just because Shi Kefa persuaded Liu Liangzuo to lead troops to defend the river, Hou Xun and Shi Kefa were very unhappy. Hou Xun thought that if 30,000 soldiers and horses were to defend Xuzhou, it might not be possible to defend it. Now you, Shi Kefa, are doing everything possible to defeat Liu Liangzuo.
If you are transferred away, won't you be destroying yourself?
After hearing Fang Yizhi's sigh, Li Yuan smiled and said: "Hou Gong's idea is actually not unreasonable. Everyone knows that the 30,000 people in Xuzhou are not strong in combat. Maybe the defense of the city can still play a certain role, leaving the city wall
If you go out and fight in the wilderness, you might be able to eat them all in one day, and that’s when you’ll be at your wits’ end.”
"No more, no more, who would have thought that the situation in Huaixu would deteriorate so quickly?" Fang Yizhi shook his head repeatedly, "Fortunately, Huaifu Lugong persuaded those noble young men from Nandu who roamed the forests to bring Jiangbei to the north.
A lot of soldiers and horses have been brought in. Now, all is said and done, Shi Gong has finally assembled an army of nearly 10,000 people. If we are lucky enough to rescue Chen Yongfu, the power of the Xuzhou Suppressant General will be greatly enhanced."
Li Yuan raised his eyebrows and asked again: "There are no generals in Xuzhou City. Who will command the troops and horses heading west to rescue Germany?"
"It's probably Liu Liangzuo!"
The news that Liu Liangzuo had abandoned the south bank of the Yellow River without authorization has not yet reached Xuzhou, and the Xuzhou Suppressor General did not yet know that a Qing army of 5,000 troops had crossed the Yellow River and headed south.
Just like what Fang Yizhi said, Shi Kefa used his old friendship with Hou Xun over the years as a guarantee and assured him that Xuzhou would not be lost and that the transferred westward marching army would be able to rescue Chen Yongfu. Only then did he try to piece together this
A rescue force.
According to Shi Kefa's plan, Liu Liangzuo could leave half of his men to monitor the Yellow River, and bring the other half to join Lu Zhenfei's Huaifu, Fubiao and other troops first, and then everyone would huddle together, march together, and advance cautiously in the direction of Guide.
If the situation is not bad, Chen Yongfu and Yuan Shizhong should also be marching east together. The two armies move east and west. After slowly converging, their military strength will be able to overtake the Chuang army. In the best case, they may be able to turn defeat into a big victory, even if they are less lucky.
, at least we can withdraw all the Guide garrison to Xuzhou.
But all this is based on the premise that the Qing army has not yet moved south.
Neither Shi Kefa nor Fang Yizhi knew that the Qing army had crossed the Yellow River at this moment. Liu Liangzuo had already fled. Even if Lu Zhenfei's Fu Biao headed west now, they might not be able to find the general Shi Kefa had planned.
After Fang Yizhi took Li Yuan to the governor's office and sat there for a while, he asked him to help collect some ships in order to prepare for the next westward rescue, or indeed for the retreat after encountering some disastrous defeat.
After Li Yuan agreed with a smile, he immediately went to the Xuzhou Suppression General's office. After he walked out of the government office, he first went to a medicinal material shop near the dock to rest. As soon as he sat down and drank a few sips of tea, there was a man dressed as a boatman.
A muscular man walked in.
"Shopkeeper, what's the situation like?"
The boatman called Li Yuan the shopkeeper, which was very rude to Li Yuan, who had a reputation as a scholar. But Li Yuan just took a sip from his tea cup and said:
"The Xuzhou Suppressor General is still the same as before, and nothing can be accomplished. This time Shi Kefa seems to have finally become ruthless, and may put together a few troops to go out, but after searching and searching, he can only find a flower horse Liu.
Coach, we don’t have to worry.”
The boatman wiped his sweat and said: "Well, the news should be sent through two routes: Kendeji and the Red Team, and sent as soon as possible... It should be sent to Bozhou."
Li Yuan pinched his chin and said: "The war situation has developed too fast recently. When the information we collected in Xuzhou is sent to the envoy, it may not be able to catch up with the current situation. However, what should be done must be done. Xuzhou suppresses this
With his incompetent appearance, he cannot pose a threat to the Chuang army. What I am worried about is the Qing army."
"Kendeji has placed a few traveling artists on Liu Liangzuo's side to get information. Liu Liangzuo is close to the Yellow River, so it should be easy for them to get first-hand information."
Li Yuan clapped his hands and finally said: "We each perform our duties and fulfill our responsibilities. In the end, the key role must be played by the commander's soldiers. The most important thing for us is to hide well. If the commander wants to attack Xuzhou in the future,
, is the best time for us to take action.”
Li Yuan was born in a family of Jiujiang merchants and had a reputation as a scholar, so he could be considered a wealthy class. However, after Li Laiheng eliminated Zuo Liangyu's regiment, his rule in northern Huguang became more solid, and he naturally had a strong influence on some idle and unambitious scholars.
Quite attractive.
What's more, the various military and political designs of Huguang Chuangjun really give people a refreshing feeling.
Li Yuan first came into contact with Kendeji, and later did business with Kendeji. He went to Chuangjun's control area in the north of Huguang several times. His horizons were opened. He was shocked by Li Laiheng and defected to Chuchuang.
As the power of the Huguang Breaking Army became more and more consolidated, the number of people like Li Yuan under Li Laiheng gradually increased, and more and more lower-class scholars became increasingly involved in the activities of the Breaking Army.
A new order is gradually emerging.
But the same is true of new challenges. Li Yuan himself didn't know that the Qing army had crossed the river, and Liu Liangzuo had long since disappeared.