"Boom! Boom!" Heavy iron shells hit the brick exterior wall of Yidu County, shattering a large area of ​​the wall that had already exposed the rammed earth inside... The Qing army at the top of the city was panicked, but who told them not to fight back without artillery? At this time, they could only get beaten.

"Attention!" Mao Desheng, the commander of the 104th Company, suddenly blew the whistle in his mouth, and then more than 200 musketeers in the company, raised their rifles in their hands. They were divided into two rows, front squat positions and back squat positions, and stood in the back squat positions, aiming the loaded muskets at the brigade of Qing troops rushing out from the city gate.

More than a thousand Chen Zhilong's troops stationed on the front line to block these Qing troops had already dispersed at this time, and the Qing army chased them toward the artillery positions in the rear. Fortunately, these people finally had a better memory. They fled back in the first two collapses and were fired by muskets. The tragic situation of artillery shots was still vivid in their minds, so they quickly ran to both sides of the battlefield, and only a very small number of people ran back in a panic.

"Puff! Puff!" The soldiers who blocked the earth wall of the temporary artillery position stabbed the spear in their hands, and dozens of fleeing defeated soldiers were immediately stabbed to the hearts of the cold. They fell to the ground with screams, and their shaved faces were covered with blood.

"Bang! Bang!" After the Qing army entered the range, the musketeers of the 104th Company made a full-company fire. The fierce firepower made the Qing soldiers turn over, and dozens of people fell down like this. Next was the world of 4-pound cannons. The grape bullets stuffed into the cannon barrels were fired in sequence, turning the Qing army swelling like waves in front of them into a hornet's nest.

After the muskets and artillery were fired, the soldiers extended their spears and stabbed the last few Qing troops who were lucky enough to escape the bullets to the ground. A small offensive and defensive battle aimed at fighting for artillery positions ended.

"The Qing army led by Luke Dehun was different from the Shi Tingzhu who fought Yangzhou. Maybe it attracted the lessons of the Battle of Yangzhou. They did not hide in the city and were passively beaten, but frequently took the initiative to attack our artillery positions. In the past few days, it has almost reached twenty times. Although we have not allowed them to succeed, the loss of troops is large. More than 5,000 people from Chen Zhilong's troops collapsed many times, and now only more than 3,000 people from left. Next, I think it is better to let them retreat and train and push the 3,500 people from Qin Shangxing's troops up?" Captain Zhang Xudong, the captain of the first regiment holding a telescope to observe, said to Mo Ming on the watchtower in the east coast army camp.

Mo Ming was wearing a dark blue tweed coat and a saber around his waist. At this time, he also put down his telescope and asked without answering, "How is the situation of the First Brigade now?"

"It will probably take some time to restore combat power." When it comes to the First Team, Zhang Xudong was also a little heartbroken. This unit (2,000 people) is the ace unit of the 7,500 people in the first team of the entire forward team. It was the earliest established, with the most veterans, the best equipment, and the strongest combat power. Unfortunately, I fought continuously a while ago, and every time I used it as a sharp knife, the combat losses were quite large, and the vacancies once reached as many as 600 people. Now, although the vacancies are filled by replenishing military men and surrendering soldiers, it is an indisputable fact that the combat power has declined.

"Then don't move, let the Second Battalion go up to exercise more." Mo Ming said concisely. "Although the Second Battalion has many new recruits, there are also many experienced non-commissioned officers drawn from the first and third battalions, and their combat effectiveness will not be too far away. Now is a good time to exercise. If you don't exercise now, when the Qing army in Henan, Zhili and Shandong will be in the future, there will be no chance of training for tens of thousands of people."

Zhang Xudong nodded and agreed with Mo Ming's words. After a while, he said again: "I wrote a letter from Zichuan in the morning. The scout said that Dong Xueli did not act rashly after arriving in Zichuan. He waited for two days first, and then defeated Xie Qian's troops who went out of the city to attack the Qing army's grain transport team. If Zhai Congyan had not brought 4,000 people to rescue him, Xie Qian's troops would have been there. Now the two of them retreated to Zichuan County, and they dared to send small groups of cavalry out of the city at night to attack the Qing army's grain transport team. The harassment was not as strong as before."

"Dong Xueli's old foundation is the Gansu border army, so it is certain that he has strong combat effectiveness. Among the more than 4,000 people in Xie Qian's army, there are many hungry people, and their combat effectiveness is not worth mentioning. Although Zhai Congyan's more than 4,000 people are still good at fighting, they are definitely not as resistant to warfare as before. It is normal for the two parts to defeat Dong Xueli's 3,000 people." Mo Ming took off the white gauze gloves and said while going downstairs: "But they don't have to be too afraid of Dong Xueli. In fact, I think Dong Xueli is also very slippery and will not easily consume his strength. Zibo may be stalemate in the next place, but there will be no major changes."

"I went downstairs first. I didn't sleep all night last night, so I'll make up for it first. The city wall is probably broken and unopened today. I'll probably have to wait until tomorrow morning. Well, let's have some rest today. I personally command the army to attack Qingzhou City tomorrow. I want to see what Lukede has. Can the little man on hand hold my cannon?" Mo Ming walked to the corner of the wooden ladder and reminded loudly: "You take over the command of the camp first and help me keep it tight."

Zhang Xudong saluted and expressed his understanding, then continued to raise his telescope and observed the situation on the battlefield.

In the afternoon, the Qing army dispatched hundreds of people to attack the artillery positions on the east coast, but they still returned in disgrace. At this time, more battlefield news came from the scouts of the security team.

In late September, the Yuyuan Army, which had previously rejected the East Coast people's proposal to enter Jinan Prefecture, went south from the old village of Yuyuan, Fan County. Zhang Qi, Ren Fuxing, Liang Min, Cai Naihan, Wu Kanghua and other famous canal leaders led more than 10,000 people, totaling 70,000 to 80,000 people, heading south, heading straight to Yuncheng, Juye, and Caozhou. The Yuyuan Army passed through the prefectures and counties, and mainly looted horses and mules, property, and food, and did not focus on killing the Qing army. Those who could easily capture the prefectures and counties rushed up, and those who could not capture could go straight to the next place. Anyway, the Qing army with weak troops did not dare to go out of the city to fight. By the end of September, their vanguards had even appeared in Cao County and Shan County. The neighboring Henan Guide Prefecture also took the opportunity to respond. The Qing officials in the local prefectures and counties were shocked a day and flew to Kaifeng and Beijing like snowflakes.

Several other canal leaders of the Yuyuan Army who did not go south also made a big fuss in Dongchang Prefecture. For example, Huang Zhenshan, who was from Chaocheng County, led his troops back to his hometown. He broke the county town in one fell swoop. Then he captured and killed Qing court officials and released prison prisoners. He raised a large number of horses and horses to recruit soldiers. Zhou Kuixuan from Dongping Lake led a large number of horse teams to gallop, breaking Shouzhang, Yanggu, Yixian, Mengyin and other cities, and took a large amount of military funds stored in Yizhou Town in Yixian for himself, and was almost arrogant. I believe that after the 20,000 people from the Qing army's Yizhou Town returned from Jiangbei, they would suddenly find that their supplies, military rations, swords, guns, arrows and even military pay had been plundered. If they wanted to raise the materials needed to continue the battle, they would have to wait until the year of the Monkey Horse Month.

Song Yadan and Chen Guozao, the small leader of the Yuyuan Army in Xiajin County, also dispatched one after another, and then plundered after breaking through the county town; Wang Kuiguang led his troops to besiege Guan County, but failed to plunder the four fields; such small armed forces appeared on the land of Shandong like mushrooms after a rain, causing the Qing Dynasty officials to lose their power and panic.

In addition, the Liangshan bandit Li Qingshan also made a big fuss in Yanzhou Prefecture. Most of the gentry Zhuangzi in the four fields were broken by him, and he gained a lot. Ding Weiyue, the former head of the training camp of Shouzhang County in the Ming Dynasty, also led more than a thousand horse soldiers and tens of thousands of infantry soldiers a while ago (mostly for refugees). He "raised fires from all sides and shouted to move the ground" to attack Zhangqiu Town, the canal node, but failed. Later, he turned to join forces with the peasant army of Yang Yunshan's troops to conquer Tangyi County. He had already threatened the traffic of the canal.

Dongchang and Yanzhou are important financial resources in Shandong. If these two prefectures are corrupt, it will be a big deal. In fact, these two prefectures are now half rotten. In addition, Ding Mingwu's army, who entered the east to the north of Jinan Prefecture, broke the plains and Linyi counties. Releasing prisoners, hunting and killing officials, and holding people, has caused quite a lot of noise. Therefore, it can be said that the rear of the Shandong Qing army was completely in chaos at this time. If the east coast army attacked a few days later, Luke Dehun would definitely not be nailed here to accompany the east coast people.

And it is estimated that he no longer wants to continue playing. His ambition to gather tens of thousands of troops to force the yellow-clothed thieves to retreat were now gone with the chaos behind him, and he no longer had the courage to continue. Especially when the artillery soldiers on the east coast bombarded the city day and night, and the red-clothed cannon at his hand landed in Jinan - and the cannon could not fight in the field - could not pose a threat to the yellow-clothed thieves at all.

Although they have been very killed and defeated some of the yellow-clothed thieves in the past few days, Lukede is not stupid. The so-called yellow-clothed thieves who were killed are still wearing the Qing army's uniforms. It is obviously the recruited surrendered soldiers! The main army of the yellow-clothed thieves was not seriously injured, but the Qing army's loss exceeded 1,500 people, and their morale was quite low. If they were consumed, they might cause more changes. Therefore, I would find a way to withdraw first.

On the night of October 6, Luke Dehun personally led his 4,000 Eight Banners troops and thousands of Green Camp soldiers with horses to evacuate westward. Afterwards, Li Rutai also personally led thousands of elite troops to retreat overnight. Although the east coast army detected the movement inside and outside Qingzhou City, Captain Zhang Xudong, who was not sure what the Qing army was doing, decided to be more serious, first guard the camp, and then send people to inquire about the news.

The news came back quickly in the middle of the night: the Qing army retreated in a large scale! Zhang Xudong, who had already been suspicious, immediately woke Mo Ming up. After thinking for a while, he felt that the Qing army might have retreated, but it was hard to say whether it was a trap. After a lot of trouble, Mo Ming ordered the cavalry brigade not to go out of the camp to pursue the enemy without authorization, and then personally commanded the infantry and artillery to attack Qingzhou City. Qingzhou City contained a large amount of supplies, food and money in the Qing army. If the Qing army retreated in a fraudulent way, it would definitely come back to rescue. Therefore, attacking Qingzhou City was considered a safe and stern move at this time.

In the early morning of October 7, on the anniversary of the 17th year of Yunsheng No. 1, the surrendered Chen Zhilong's troops followed the gap opened by the artillery in the east coast to attack the city first. The Qing army in the city carried out a fierce resistance. After more than a thousand people were killed or injured, thousands of miscellaneous armed forces composed of salt, tax and township heroes dispersed and rushed out, and what was waiting for them was the pursuit of the East Coast cavalry.
Chapter completed!