"Zhu Yihai personally went to Laizhou City to supervise the battle. The morale of tens of thousands of Ming troops was greatly boosted. They attacked the city day and night, bombarded the city with thousands of artillery guns, and dug tunnels and blasts. Geng Zhongming could not hold the city, so he had to lead his troops to break out at night. After a bloody battle
, Geng Zhongming led some troops to break out of the encirclement and fled into the sea. Kong Youde's general Sun Long and the rear of his troops were surrounded, but they fought to the death and the entire army was wiped out...
Laizhou City has been captured by the Ming army, and several thousand of Geng Zhongming's men broke through and entered the sea, while the remaining six to seven thousand men perished."
In Xuzhou City, General Zhengnan and Prince Duanzhong Bolo listened to the latest battle report with expressionless faces.
The Manchurian officer continued, "There is other news. At the same time that the Ming army captured Laizhou, two groups of troops attacked and captured the northwest of Laizhou, the Tiemenguan Pass at the outlet of the Daqing River in Lijin County to the east of Jinan Prefecture, and Laizhou.
To the south of Mawan are Qingdao, Huangdao, Fushan Qiansuo, Lingshanwei, Jiaozhou, Jimo and other places."
"The Ming troops currently landing in Shandong are still continuing to attack the township health stations in Denglai counties. The Changlu salt fields in Beizhi Shandong have also been attacked for a long time!"
Tu Lai frowned, "How come Geng Zhongming is so incompetent that he only held on for a few days? If he didn't hold on for help and just wanted to run away, he should be killed!"
Bolo never expected that Laizhou would be declared defeated before his troops left Xuzhou.
There are 10,000 garrison troops in Laizhou. Now it is reported that Sun Long’s 3,000 men from Kong Youde’s tribe have been completely wiped out. The 7,000 men from Geng’s tribe have also lost more than 3,000 men.”
"I have a question. Why did Geng Zhongming break out of Laizhou and go to sea? Where did he get his ship? How did he escape the Ming navy's interception? Where is he now? Who can answer my questions?"
The Ming army came from the sea and completely controlled the sea. Why did Geng Zhongming run to the sea? How did he do it? Bolo couldn't understand. Normally, even if Geng Zhongming broke through, he should have run to Jinan or even Xuzhou.
However, Geng Zhongming defended Laizhou and broke through within a few days. He also broke out to the sea. It seemed that he had succeeded?
He couldn't understand this.
"It seems, possible, maybe, that the Ming army was prepared for Geng Zhongming to break out to the west, and there were heavy troops deployed in the west. Sun Long broke out to the west, but was trapped in an ambush, and finally the entire army was annihilated.
However, Geng Zhongming's troops were divided into two groups, one heading to the northwest to break out of Cangzhou, and the other to the east to break out of Dengzhou. As a result, the nearly 3,000 troops heading to the northwest were also wiped out, but his headquarters heading east was destroyed.
Instead, it stands out.”
"So, at that time, Laizhou's troops were divided into three groups to break out of the encirclement. Geng Zhongming was attacking from the east and attacking from the west. Sun Long and other two troops attracted the main force of the Ming army for Geng Zhongming, and then he ran away to the east?"
"That's true. This Geng Zhongming is quite cunning and is suspected of betraying friendly forces. It is said that he hid many ships in Laizhou Bay in advance. He used these ships to escape to sea after the breakout, and the Ming navy did not stop him."
Bolo snorted coldly, "The ability to escape is quite strong."
Everyone was silent.
After a long while, Tu Lai asked, "What should we do now?"
Previously, Boluo was determined to reinforce Laizhou and regain Dengzhou. In order to avoid being attacked from both sides and lacking food and grass, he even ordered to voluntarily abandon the important towns in Huainan such as Huaishou, Lufeng, and retreat to Xuzhou and Yingzhou, and then divide an army to retreat to Runing.
, took the initiative to retreat hundreds of miles.
In order to reduce the number of troops, we can first reinforce Laizhou and recapture Dengzhou.
But now the soldiers and horses haven't even arrived yet to assemble, and the result is already over there.
It's really hard to keep up with the changes in plans.
The situation progressed even worse than he expected.
Bolo's heart is now burning with anger, but Kong Youde is dead, Sun Long is dead, Geng Zhongming is defeated and disabled, and he can't find anyone to express his anger to.
We still have to face this mess.
Staring at the map, Bolo punched down and said, "The Ming army has captured the two cities of Denglai and Denglai, so the next step will be to attack Jinan. Jinan must be defended and no more mistakes can be made."
"I can't wait for everyone to gather, so I will take some of my troops to Jinan for reinforcements."
Bolo asked Tu Lai to stay in Xuzhou and asked him to step up the deployment of troops to retreat to Xu and Ying. At the same time, he once again emphasized that Huaishou, Lufeng and other cities must be destroyed during the retreat. If the Huaihe River embankment can be demolished and the canal is blocked, don't let it go.
Before leaving, it is best to send troops to sweep the countryside and collect the summer grain and take it away. If you cannot take it away, burn it.
"We must strengthen the walls and clear the country in Huainan. Since we can't hold it, we will destroy it. Don't let the Ming army go. We can't let them easily go north. We must turn Huainan into a dead land as a buffer!"
Bolo said through gritted teeth.
Corrupting the entire Huainan, demolishing cities, destroying embankments and blocking canals, and even forcibly relocating the population, making Huainan a no-man's land. This decision means that they have completely given up on Huainan, and they will not even plan to come back within three to five years.
"Anyone who refuses to leave will be killed!"
The Tatars are really ruthless and will do anything. They massacred the city more than once or twice. Now that they are forced to do this, there are no taboos.
Taking young men from Huainan back to Huaibei, or even further back to Beizhi, Shanxi and other places, they can be used for farming and production to speed up the recovery of the north.
"It's still summer harvest, can we wait until all the grain is recovered before we withdraw?"
Although Huainan was greatly affected, some wheat was still planted, and wheat harvesting has begun in various places.
"Depending on the specific situation, the Ming army will not miss this opportunity to grab food. If it is delayed, they may not be able to leave by then."
······
Gu Yu
More than a hundred sailing ships sailed on the sea.
The sun and moon flags hung high on the mast, fluttering in the wind.
This navy is led by Navy Admiral Liu Shixun, who bears the seal of General Anyang, and is heading south from Qingdao to Haizhou.
This deployment of troops by the Ming Army's Northern Expedition on the right was very unusual. After setting out from Zhenjiang to head north, they did not take Haizhou first. Instead, they deliberately sent only a small fleet to haunt Haizhou Bay. In fact, the main force went directly to Dengzhou.
That small fleet harassed Haizhou Bay for a while, pretending to be the main force.
However, the main force secretly crossed Chencang, raided Dengzhou, and then captured Laizhou.
Liu Shixun divided his troops in Dengzhou and turned around, circled back to Jiaozhou Bay to capture Qingdao Port, put down the transport infantry, and then turned back to Haizhou.
It's only a few hundred miles from Qingdao to Haizhou, and you can get there quickly by borrowing the wind from the sea.
Liu Shixun was originally a martial arts scholar in the tenth year of Chongzhen, and he was also well versed in poetry and history.
He successively served as the garrison of Louziying Town, the governor of Shanxi Xingdu, the governor of Shanhai Left Wing, and guerrilla. In the 17th year of Chongzhen, he moved to the capital to supervise Qianshi and garrisoned in Zhoushan.
He was squeezed out by Huang Binqing and had no real power. However, after Huang Binqing was reorganized, Liu Shixun was able to come forward. After Huang Binqing was convicted of protecting his son and took away his actual position as the admiral of the Yangtze River Fleet, Liu Shixun took over the post of admiral.
In this Northern Expedition, he was incorporated into the Right Army, and now he is fighting alone.
The fleet went south and traveled along the coast, but did not land and dock. Instead, it replenished fresh water on the coastal islands. The Ming army had already established outposts on these islands and even stored some supplies.
In this way, they can rest and replenish supplies directly at sea without having to worry about problems such as being attacked by landing supplies halfway. The fleet can carry less supplies, more troops, and be in better condition.
The Qing army had no navy, so their journey was safe and smooth.
Liu Shixun's main mission this time was to first seize Yuzhou Island, establish a naval base, and then unite with the imperial infantry on board to seize Haizhou, thereby controlling Haizhou Bay and threatening Xuzhou and Huai'an.
The task of attacking Xu and Huai this time was Zhang Guowei, Wang Zhiren's middle army, and Liu Shixun who played a diversionary and cooperative role.
The fleet entered Haizhou Bay smoothly without encountering a Qing army ship.
The small fleet that Zhu Yihai left behind before had only a few boats, but it also had gunboats. It had an insurmountable advantage against the Qing army, which now only had a few fishing boats and merchant ships.
Liu Shixun deliberately asked the fleet to land from the back of Yuzhou to prevent the Tatars from discovering their arrival.
Yuzhou Island was now under the control of the small flotilla, and the chief officer of the flotilla was the guerrilla general Zhang Jigao who came to welcome him. Zhang Jigao was Liu Shixun's former subordinate and had once commanded his servants.
"How is the situation in Haizhou?"
After arriving on the island, Liu Shixun immediately asked Zhang Jigao.
"It's very chaotic. It's chaos. The Tatars are forcing the people to move inland. Here in Haizhou, the Tatars have issued an order requiring the people to move fifty miles inland. They have issued a sea ban. It is strictly forbidden for merchant ships to go to the sea to trade privately. They are not even allowed to fish. Violation of the ban.
Regardless of whether they are officials or civilians, they will all be executed, the ships and goods will be transferred to the officials, and all the criminals' property will be rewarded to the person who reported the crime."
"Now Haizhou is bounded by the Lian River, and the people from the east bank of the river to the sea have all moved to the west bank of the river."
"Even the two coastal cities of Haizhou and Ganyu will be destroyed and the population will be moved to Shuyang."
“Tatars crazy?”
"That's not all," Zhang Jigao sighed, "Boluo, the commander-in-chief of Xuzhou, has issued an order to fortify the walls and clear the country. The entire Qing army south of the Huaihe River will all retreat to Huaibei, and all the population of Huainan will also be forcibly relocated to Huaibei.
"
"Now Tan Tai from Huai'an has retreated to Pizhou, and the Qing army from Haizhou will also retreat to Tanzhou and Pizhou."
"Now they are grabbing people everywhere to grab grain. They want to take away the freshly harvested summer grain from the fields, forcibly move the people in Huainan, and even demolish the cities along the coast of Huainan and Huaibei, destroy canals, tear up the Yellow River embankments, etc.
,"
Liu Shixun frowned when he heard this, "Are these Tatars really crazy? Do they really want to abandon Huainan and insist on clearing the country?"
"I don't know if it's true or not, but Haizhou is really in a state of chaos now. People in villages and towns east of Lianhe are being expelled and taken away. Villages and towns are being set on fire, and wells are being filled.
Buried... We tried to stop them, but we were unable to do so. It would be great if the adults are here now and can stop their atrocities."
Liu Shixun couldn't help but sigh, these Tatars are really desperate when they are ruthless.
They directly forcibly moved the people living thirty to fifty miles along the coast to the inland, or even abandoned Huainan. They gave orders, but without any sense of reason, they burned people's houses wantonly.
Anyone who resists and refuses to move will be killed.
The rich, gentry, landlords, and landlords were forced to abandon their businesses, houses, and fields and flee to other places. The poor, dragging their children with them, were forced to flee to Jiangbei.
Many people were forced to move before they could even harvest food from the fields. There was no relief on the way north, and a large number of people died tragically on the road.
Abandon the Huai River and move to the sea,
Boluo's two orders made the entire Huainan cry. After experiencing rounds of famine and military chaos in the last years of Chongzhen, these poor people who survived were now once again facing disaster.
"How many Tatars are there in Haizhou City now, Green Camp?" Liu Shixun felt the urgency of the situation. If the Tatars were to do this, Huai Di would really become thousands of miles of no-man's land.
