When we set off, we brought 18,000 people. Is it possible to recruit the Ming army on a large scale along the way? The intelligence consultant believed that it was possible, but not too many.

Because the Ming army troops on their march were searched by Bahana and Shi Tingzhu once in June and July, they have basically gone to Shanxi. Moreover, they marched very quickly and obviously did not stay in the local area for more time. Therefore, there should be very few Ming army recruited along Hebei, or even none. There are only 600 soldiers in Jinan, and the city guards are not enough and they cannot provide them with effective support. As for the 3,000 soldiers originally appointed by Li Shiyuan's troops, they no longer exist. After being bombarded by cannons by the East Coast people and the cavalry killed one round, the Li Shiyuan Qingzhou army that fled back to Jinan one after another, was only two or three hundred, which was only enough to help Fang Dayou defend the city, and he could not count on anything else.

However, all of the above is still just speculation. Although the staff members think that the possibility is very high, the speculation is only speculation after all. What if the Qing court transferred some of the Ming army, which was incorporated from Kinki and Henan, and the Shun army came? Mo Ming did not dare to make a decision easily. The four thousand people on his hand were easily damaged. Once they failed, they would be doomed. It is hard to say whether Yantai could defend it at that time. Taking a step back, even if there was no failure, the losses in the war were too high. This would be very unprofitable for the East Coast people who were short of soldiers and major generals. They would be more difficult to add soldiers than the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, it would be better to be cautious in everything.

"Where did Ke Yongsheng's Jiaozhou Town Army go?" Mo Ming suddenly asked, "We lifted his lair, why did he not react like a dead person?"

"According to Monk Zhai Wu, Ke Yongsheng brought more than 4,000 people to Zhaoyuan and Huangxian areas of Dengzhou a while ago. It seemed to be in order to cooperate with the Qing Dynasty's governor Chen Jin to surrender to Dengzhou City. However, Yang Wei, the deputy general of Ming Dynasty who was guarding Dengzhou City, refused to surrender. Later, Chen Jin and Ke Yongsheng did not know where they went. Perhaps they were still in the prefectures and counties in the northern coastal areas of Dengzhou and Laizhou prefectures. But it may also be on the way to Qingzhou. Do you need to expand the scope of investigation?" asked the intelligence consultant.

"No need to be so troublesome. The scope can be maintained in the prefectures and counties around Gaomi at present." Mo Ming waved his hand and said, "The key investigation area is still close to Qingzhou City. Once the Qing army brigade is launched, it must report it immediately."

On November 15, the last batch of prisoners and supplies were also transported to the naval ships on the banks of the Dagu River with the military team. Then, more than 900 Qing prisoners, 700 refugees who volunteered to follow the East Coast to reclaim the land, hundreds of wounded people on the East Coast, nearly 300 tons of food, 400 livestock and some silver and silk materials, pulled their anchors and sails, leaving Jiaozhou Bay. Then they followed the blowing northwest wind. The two guard gunboats were still ordered to stay where they were. They were the last way back in the East Coast Army if they encountered trouble. After the transportation of the materials, they were originally stationed in Jiaozhou.

The officers and soldiers of the three nearby squadrons also brought some soldiers and husbands to Gaomi. At this point, the troops gathered by the East Coast have reached 7,000 (not counting the navy), including nearly 4,500 soldiers, including 250 large trucks, 450 donkeys and mules, more than 250 horses, more than 400 pack horses, more than 900 Mongolian war horses, twenty various types of artillery and sufficient food, and the soldiers' morale is still quite high. They are also very mobile. If they encounter the Qing army they had encountered before in the field battle, they can basically win with fewer casualties.

Just as Mo Ming began to consider whether to pull the troops westward to the Anqiu area in Qingzhou, the information from Qingzhou City came again, and the army led by Hetuo and Li Rutai had arrived outside Qingzhou City. The scouts of the public security team could no longer effectively block the local battlefield, so they began to retreat one after another. However, they also brought the latest news from the Qing army: there are many cavalry! There are at least four thousand people! The cavalry is well equipped.

The level is also very high, with high morale and self-confidence, and it seems to be an ever-winning army. The anti-Qing army, which had been tough on the Qing army's recruitment and pacification, was suddenly silent after seeing the power of the "Bianzi Army", and they all shrank into Qingzhou City one by one. They no longer had the arrogance of the past. According to the last news from Monk Zhai Wu, the thoughts of pacifying the Qing army in Qingzhou City have begun to rise again. Zhang Wenheng became active again in this situation.

Damn! This historical inertia is really strong! Could it be that Zhao Yingyuan really can't pass the level of reunification? But it's not a big deal. The troops he really can fight are the more than 400 cavalry he brought in initially and the more than a thousand Shun army that he gradually gathered later. The others are soldiers, bandits, etc. of the former Ming Guard who were recruiting recently, and their strength was very limited. And the so-called anti-Qing armed forces who came to join him were even more of a group of mobs. Many people had no combat experience at all. Although the number of people now reaches 30,000 to 40,000, it will probably be terrible once they fight. Therefore, it is no wonder that Zhao Yingyuan will be attracted to the reunification of the Qing army many times. It is because the Qing army came too fast and his strength was too weak. There is no way.

After understanding this, Mo Ming discussed with his officers for a while. Mao Desheng, the commander of the 104th Company, insisted that at this time, the precious military force should not be mixed into the battle of tens of thousands of people between the two sides, but should slowly withdraw back to Jiaozhou and then board the ship to evacuate. He believed that every soldier on the east coast was precious, and it would be difficult to replenish the losses here, so he should withdraw the strong Yantai Fort. However, Lieutenant Lie Renjun, the young and radical company commander of the 105th Company, believed that they should at least go west to Anqiu area to support Zhao Yingyuan and others, at least so that they would not surrender quickly, while Mo Ming leaned towards his opinion. As for the cavalry officer Yang Mingyang, this person had no special thoughts about the next step, and he said "obey the order."

In such a situation, Mo Ming immediately made up his mind to go west to Anqiu! Although Mao Desheng expressed strong opposition, he finally accepted the order and led his troops to escort the baggage and cavalry to the first group to go on the road. Anqiu County is only more than 40 kilometers away from Gaomi, where the people on the east coast are temporarily stationed, which is only two days away; and after arriving in Anqiu County, it is only fifty kilometers away from Qingzhou City, which is so close.

On November 17, accompanied by the violent northwest, heavy snow fell from the sky. This made the people of the east coast who had been trekking all the way and felt extremely glad that the snow did not fall when they were still on the road. Anqiu County was controlled by the Qing court at this time, and the county magistrate was recruited by Wang Aoyong in July, but this was a small county, and the Qing court did not send troops to garrison.

After seeing that the weather was getting worse, the people on the east coast no longer had any traces of ink. With Mo Ming's order, the artillery brothers once again pulled out the long-barrel cannon that looked like a treasure. After blasting the old Baotiemu city gate at the East City Gate of Anqiu County, the vanguard-like soldiers easily broke through the barriers of less than 100 Ding Yong and the yamen runners in the city, and successfully captured the small county town at the slight cost of killing 3 people and injuring 9 people.

After occupying Anqiu, a small county in deep inland, the large army began to rest, but nearly 200 scouts in the scouts could not rest. Mo Ming formed them into a group, and then Kurhan went out to collect information braved the heavy snow in the sky. More than 2,000 soldiers in the military team did not rest. They were organized to use the simple materials in the city to repair the city defense, and blocked the east gate, which was bombarded by the cannons of the East Coast, with stones and sandbags.

The news that the people from the East Coast entered Anqiu County made the Qing army extremely afraid, and at the same time, the anti-Qing armed forces in Qingzhou City who received the news raised a little confidence again, and the issue of pacifying the Qing army was put down again. He Tuo, who was waiting for the gathering of various troops, was worried that this "yellow-clothed pirate" who had caused huge casualties to his elite scouts. However, he only had more than two thousand Eight Banners officers and soldiers, which were as easy as the soldiers of the East Coast Army. Therefore, after discussing with Li Lutai, he decided that Li Lutai would take his more than four thousand men.

The military flag soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, plus the surrendered Shun Army Zhang Ruxing's troops, went east to Anqiu and eliminated his flank threats. He didn't want to make a move to supplicate Qingzhou City and forced the attack on Qingzhou City. These East Coast people suddenly emerged from somewhere. Of course, if you have the chance, you would try the quality of these East Coast pirates. He led more than 2,000 elite main forces here to monitor the 30,000 to 40,000 "rebels" in Qingzhou City, and waited for the arrival of more than 4,000 Jiaozhou Town General Ke Yongsheng's troops, and was ready to support Li Lutai's troops at any time.

Li Shutai had no objection to this arrangement, so he took more than 8,000 people from his headquarters (including followers and auxiliary soldiers), and more than 2,000 people from Zhang Ruxing's army and more than 2,000 people from Zhang Ruxing's army and started to head to Anqiu County with a large amount of baggage. He was very cautious along the way for two reasons: one was the wind and snow, and the weather was bad; the other was that he couldn't figure out how many people, how many horses, and how the equipment was. This was the first time he encountered such a confused battle. The scouts of the East Coast in "cotton coats" that appeared from time to time in the wild made him gasp. He had only vaguely heard that these "yellow-clothed thieves" were powerful, and even the Eight Banners Brigade suffered a great loss under their hands, but He Tuo was very secretive about this matter, so he had never had an intuitive impression.

Now he is "impressed" because he often cannot come back after leaving for more than a day, and he has been missing more than ten of them so far, which makes him feel distressed. The addition of these elite scouts is quite difficult. They need to master extremely comprehensive knowledge and super wild survival ability. Of course, they must be more capable in combat skills. He has spent many years to train these scouts. Now he has lost so much here at once, so how can he not feel distressed?
Chapter completed!