The days in mid-March 1645 were considered unreasonable to the people on the east coast of Yantai Fort.

The Qing army outside the city had no choice but to do anything to them. They first tried to fill out a path in the mud area on the west side of Yantai Fort, but later they found that the artificial reservoir built by people on the east coast on the southwest side of Yantai Fort greatly hindered their actions, so they found a way to fill out the reservoir.

After creating a piece of land in the swamp area, the Qing army directly invested two thousand people to attack the west city wall at one time, but was repelled by the people on the east coast who had already been leisurely. The firepower configuration of the west city wall was only two less artillery than the front (south side). With the two squadrons of forward soldiers, the Qing army failed to capture the city for two days, but instead left more than a thousand corpses under the city.

When attacking the city wall on the west side, the Qing army also tried to make a breakthrough from the east, but they were still defeated by bombardment of artillery on the top of the city and the two armed transport ships on the sea. It was difficult for them to even stand at the city. The taste of gunfire in front and back was not something that anyone could tolerate. After trying to attack once, the Qing army retreated decisively and left hundreds of corpses.

On March 18, the head coach of the Qing army, Haoge, made a fierce attack. The Qing army launched a fierce attack from the south, west and east sides regardless of casualties. The East Coast people also transferred the last two squadrons of the forward team, but they still did not use the army as the main force and the Eight Banners New Army. The two thousand soldiers of the forward team, plus less than 200 East Coast artillery, relied on the solid city wall and scientific firepower configuration to completely defeat the large-scale offensive of the Qing army. The Qing army suffered more than 2,000 casualties throughout the day, but no results were achieved. They could not even board the city of Yantai Fort.

That night, the Qing army selected some healthy soldiers to attack at night, and were defeated, with more than a hundred corpses. At this point, the Qing army had besieged Yantai Fort for ten days, and all the means were used up. But there was no way. The morale of the entire army was depressed, and many people were looking forward to withdrawing.

On the morning of March 19, two steam engine sailboats that had been overhauled from Rishiri Island brought forward soldiers (11-14 squadrons) from four squadrons who had been trained on Rishiri Island. In the afternoon, as if they had agreed, the fleet heading to Jeju Island also returned. With them, one thousand soldiers from the 15-18 squadron of the Second Brigade of the Stand-Up Team, the 102nd Army Company, some officers and soldiers of Yantai Artillery Company, more than 700 people from the Third Battalion of the Eight Banners and 2,500 soldiers. At this point,

The East Coast army has basically gathered together. The battles include two brigades of 4,000 brigades, 4 brigades of the army (including supplementary companies), 870 brigades of the Eight Banners (including supplementary companies), more than 2,400 cavalrymen (including public security team scouts), 200 field artillery, a total of more than 8,200, of which the more powerful troops were more than 5,000. Even if the Qing army used their strength to defeat such troops, they should not be able to defeat them, and they should be more worried about the safety of their rear.

The Qing army's scout cavalry soon discovered the arrival of reinforcements on the east coast outside, and they quickly reported the information to Haoge. He heard that the yellow-clad thieves had "thousands" of reinforcements and six giant ships. Haoge also knew that the battle could no longer be fought, especially last night when Jinan reported it urgently. The Yanmanjia Cave thieves became rampant again. They attacked from the cave and attacked the local governments, facilities and personnel of the Qing Dynasty. Even some small transportation teams transporting food and grass to Dengzhou were ambushed by them and suffered heavy losses.

Tens of thousands of troops were defeated under the city, and more than 7,000 soldiers were lost in ten days. However, they were useless. The yellow-clothed sea pirates on the opposite coast were killed or injured. This has to be said to be a great failure and will have a very bad impact on his status. But now it is not the time to consider these messy things. The yellow-clothed thief has a large number of reinforcements. He will definitely not be able to break the narrow city. So, now we should consider how to deal with the aftermath.

Although it has never been clear how many soldiers the Yellow-clad Thieves Army has, everyone agrees that their number of soldiers should not be less than 10,000. Most of the total number is close to 20,000. This number makes everyone feel very difficult. Ten thousand warriors can do too many things. Haoge is sure that as long as his main force withdraws, these Yellow-clad troops will not be a problem in field defeating more than 20,000 Qing troops. Siege is even simpler. They just need to pull the cannons to the city and then they can defeat the city where the Qing army was stationed one by one. The entire Denglai Prefectures cannot stop their powerful troops. In that case, when will the situation in Shandong be truly stable?

Thinking of this, Haoge was even more upset. Could it be that the tens of thousands of troops were dragged here? Shandong is so close to the capital, and it is impossible to say that such a large number of warlike pirates are here. What is even more worrying is that in addition to sharp guns and cannons, these pirates also have at least six giant cannon ships. Think about how the small boats anchored in some ports of the Qing Dynasty in the Liaohai Sea? If they cannot resist, wouldn’t they let these pirates scatter on the sea? At that time, the thousands of miles of sea border will be warned everywhere, and there will be no peace. What should everyone do?

No one could answer Haoge's question. Li Lutai, Ke Yongsheng, Chen Jin and other Han military banner people dare not say anything, and Hetu, Emengge, Tulai and other Eight Banner generals could not say anything. As for Dong Xueli and other Green Camp generals, they were not qualified to speak. The entire Qing army was immersed in a strange atmosphere.

In such a situation of hesitation, entanglement and worrying about gains and losses, the Qing army besieged Yantai Fort for several days. However, seeing that their offensive momentum was weak, they basically retreated with a slight setback. In three days, only more than a thousand casualties were killed or killed. On the contrary, their night attacks were quite vivid, causing certain casualties to the people on the east coast.

On March 22, the commander of the Qing army, Haoge, finally made up his mind to stop attacking Yantai Fort and instead siege for a long time, and began to dig long moats and build a city wall about four kilometers south of Yantai Fort. In order to implement his intention, he also wrote to Jinan, asking Shandong Governor Fang Dayou to ensure the supply of food and grass in time. At the same time, he also asked him to recruit a large number of civilians, mules and horses in the two prefectures of Jinan and Qingzhou to transport them to Yantai. At the same time, he also sent people to collect food and grass in Dengzhou and Laizhou areas and forced civilians to build a huge city wall that besieged the people on the east coast. For a time, the quarrying mines in Yantai, Ninghaizhou and Weihaiwei areas were overcrowded, and a large number of civilians were coated with Eight Banners holding swords and horse whips to drive a large number of civilians to quarre, polish, and then transport them outside Yantai City to build a city wall.

The people of the East Coast didn't know what the Qing army was doing at first, but when they saw that they had transported a lot of stones from afar, they immediately understood the whole story. Soon, some elite Black Eight Banner New Army, who had not participated in the war, were loaded on naval ships, and then attacked the quarries controlled by the Qing army along the coast. The coast near Yantai was rich in stone resources, so most of these quarries were built on the beach. The people of the East Coast mobilized 2,000 Eight Banner New Army, and often landed somewhere in half a day, and then easily defeated the Eight Banners Coats and Green Camp generals, who had at least a hundred people and hundreds of people, and also captured many masters.

After several successful attacks, the Qing army had to give up these mines along the Liaohai Sea coast and focus on mining those mines deep inland. Even, they learned from the East Coast people, demolished all the walls of some nearby garrisons and prefectures and counties, and then transported supplies to Yantai to build the walls that besieged the East Coast people. Of course, they did not destroy them all, and there were naturally constructions. For example, they ordered nearby prefectures and counties to provide them with a large amount of bricks within a specified period, and everything was to build the city walls.

Behind the city wall was repairing, the Qing army's tens of thousands of horses and nearly 40,000 infantrymen in the front were still on guard against the people on the east coast to go out of the city to fight. However, considering the severe situation in the rear, they also sent two thousand soldiers from Dong Xueyi's Ministry of Rites to return to Jinan Prefecture a few days ago to assist the Governor Fang Dayou to eliminate the thugs of Manjiadong, to stabilize the situation and make every effort to ensure the safety of the food routes of the army near Yantai.

The Qing army mobilized 20,000 Masters (more will be available in the future) to repair the city walls and dig trenches, so the people on the east coast would naturally not be indifferent. Although their combat-capable troops only brought 3,500 people from the local area and South Africa, at most 500 cavalry, and 1,000 squadrons of the 3-6 squadrons, mostly Shandan and Shun Army veterans, it is difficult for the troops to have any chance of winning in the field facing the Qing army's 10,000 elite cavalry and 40,000 infantry. Not to mention that when a field formation was arranged, they might be bombarded by the Qing army's red-clothed cannons, which would be a great loss. You must know that it is very difficult for the people on the east coast to replenish their troops in the Far East. If someone kills more than ten people in one shot, they will not cry to death!

However, this does not mean that the East Coast people have no way to deal with the Qing army. Chairman Mao once said, "You attack you, I attack mine!" Since most of the Shandong Qing army has been plundered and concentrated here, then don't it mean that other places are extremely empty? After discussing and deducing with the officers under his command, Mo Ming boldly decided to take a naval ship to lead the army deep into the west side of Laizhou Bay to attack the empty defense of Jinan Prefectures and counties. At this time, most of the Liaohai Sea had thawed, and the weather could no longer stop the East Coast people.

On March 27, after leaving Yantai garrison captain Li Wenchang, led more than 4,000 people to stay in Yantai, Mo Ming led two companies of the Army, two battalions of the Eight Banners New Army, half of the Yantai Artillery Company, all the cavalry brigades, the 15-18 squadron of the Standing Team, all the scouts teams, more than 3,900 soldiers, and 2,500 soldiers, a total of 6,400 people crossed the sea at night to fight. On March 30, they suddenly appeared outside the sea of ​​Zhanhua County, Binzhou, Jinan Prefecture.

Because the near-shore silt is severe and difficult to get close, the east coast troops took nearly three days to land in amid the neighing sound of horses. During this period, no one from Jinan Prefecture, which was empty in defense, and even the entire Shandong, came to stop them, and there were only some scouts who were peeping from afar. After the landing, the army of the east coast, which had been impatient, began to advance westward, and within one day they rushed to the city of Zhanhua. The Qing Dynasty county magistrate abandoned the city and left, Zhanhua fell, and Jinan Prefecture and the entire Shandong were shocked.
Chapter completed!