.Rgon did not mobilize many troops to go south. Although Li Zicheng ransomed T-san in the capital and fell into the hands of the Manchus, Dorgon took a big advantage, but gold and silver could not be eaten as food after all, and lost the southern grain transportation. The food in the north was always in a state of tension. Dorgon formulated the tactic of using the Han to control the Han Dynasty and wanted to train a large number of Han people to deal with the Southern Ming Dynasty. However, due to the food, after a year of training, Dorgon only trained 20,000 people.

This time, out of dissatisfaction with the attacks in various parts of Shandong, Dorgon sent 20,000 troops and appointed Hong Chengchou as commander. Dorgon gave Hong Chengchou the official title of "recruiting military affairs grand senators of Shandong and Jiangnan provinces, and granting them cheap."

From this official title, we can see Dorgon's emphasis on Hong Chengchou. Although only Shandong is in the hands of the Manchus at the moment, Dorgon still did not hide his attempt to defeat the Southern Ming and unify the South.

Although Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty at Huang Taiji's hands, Huang Taiji was very kind to him, but in fact he was not at ease with Hong Chengchou. In the end, Huang Taiji did not give Hong Chengchou any official position except for him asking Hong Chengchou at all times. He even had to be monitored when entering and leaving the house and was not allowed to leave the city at will. With Huang Taiji's great talent, it is naturally possible to see Hong Chengchou's value. The reason for this is that he wanted to suppress Hong Chengchou and then take it for himself. Unfortunately, Huang Taiji had already died before making arrangements for Hong Chengchou.

There are more than 20,000 Manchu and Mongolian coalition forces in Shandong. Dorgon Xu Hongchengchou acted cheaply. In fact, even these more than 20,000 Manchu and Mongolian coalition forces are under the jurisdiction of Hong Chengchou. Of course, Hong Chengchou would not really think that he could command the more than 20,000 Manchu and Mongolian coalition forces. However, the regent was very good, which naturally made Hong Chengchou feel grateful and swear in front of Dorgon before going to war: to pacify all the bandits in Shandong within one year.

On the official road outside Laizhou City, a team of Qing soldiers stood in the bitter cold wind. In front of them were a group of colorful musicians, holding suona, drums, flute and other musical instruments. Behind the band of musicians, there was also a large green sedan chair carried by eight people. Eight strong sedan chairmen were wearing thin clothes, constantly wiping their hands, and getting angry to make themselves warm.

On the other side of the sedan chair, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming stood straight, their personal soldiers led their horses around and looked around with vigilantly. Although the surroundings were empty, their personal soldiers still looked like they were facing a great enemy, fearing that there were special forces of the rebel army hidden in some grassland or field.

Kong Youde was obviously older. He was just over fifty years old, and his hair almost turned white. Geng Zhongming was a few years younger than Kong Youde and his face was full of wrinkles. Over the past few months, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming had failed to wipe out Xie Qian's rebels and allowed the rebels to occupy the city for a long time. They had been scolded by Dorgon for many times. Now Dorgon's patience has finally been exhausted, and they replaced the two with Hong Chengchou. When Hong Chengchou arrived, they would hand over the military power obediently and become a member of Hong Chengchou's subordinates.

.Neither of them had a good impression of Hong Chengchou. Although they were too different from Hong Chengchou's official positions during the Ming Dynasty, in the Qing Dynasty, their qualifications, contributions, and current status were not comparable to Hong Chengchou. They were dignified princes and one of the only four Han princes in the Qing Dynasty. Why did Hong Chengchou ride on them?

Unfortunately, they were not good at it. Tens of thousands of soldiers could not do anything to a thief army that was in trouble. In the past, because this thief army had been fleeing, they could only follow behind and chase it. It was reasonable to not be wiped out. However, this thief army now occupied the city in a large scale. They attacked for several months but could not capture it. Instead, they expanded the thief army several cities, which only showed that they were incompetent. Now they had to leave the camp ten miles aggrievedly and came to the official road to welcome Hong Chengchou's arrival.

The weather in Shandong was already very cold. It was snowing a few days ago, and now the water surface has frozen. These people have been waiting for half an hour and their feet are almost stiff. The two of them are all elite soldiers in the camp and can still maintain their standing posture. The sedan chairmen and the suona and drum beaters were invited by nearby people. At first, they were afraid to speak. After a long time, they couldn't help but whisper, and they were all whispers that they hadn't come yet.

There was a slight vibration on the ground. The ice slags in a small river next to it were squeaking. Everyone was shocked and said intimidatingly: "It's finally here."

Hong Chengchou rode on a horse. He felt the north wind blew on his face and felt a pain. He just looked at the army behind him. His heart was hot, as if he had returned to his previous military career.

He was a civil servant and a Jinshi, but he really started his career with military merits. In the second year of Chongzhen (1629), the peasant army king Zuogu, and Miao Mei led his troops to attack Hancheng. Yang He, the governor of Shaanxi, had no generals. In desperation, he ordered Hong Chengchou, who was still in politics, to lead his troops to fight. Hong Chengchou killed 300 enemy soldiers and lifted the siege of Hancheng. He became famous immediately. Due to this victory, Hong Chengchou was soon promoted to the governor of Yansui and became a general under Yang He.

As the governor of Shaanxi, Yang He always advocated the Shaanxi rebel army to be pacified rather than suppression. However, Hong Chengchou was contrary to Yang He's policy. Not only did he vigorously suppress the bandits, but he also tempted the surrender and then went on.

Within three years, tens of thousands of local thieves died under Hong Chengchou. These were deceived by the official army and put down their weapons and killed them. This allowed Hong Chengchou to get the name of a butcher. Yang He became strangers to Hong Chengchou from his initial confidant.

In the sixth year of Chongzhen, Shaanxi was once again severe drought. The court recruited hungry people in the area of ​​the court to support themselves and rebelled again. Yang He was promoted to the governor of the Three Borders because of his merits. He was dismissed from office and imprisonment. Hong Chengchou, who has always been killed and prisoners, entered the sight of Chongzhen. Hong Chengchou suddenly became the governor of the Yansui, and became the governor of the Three Borders.

After that, Hong Chengchou became a firefighter of the Ming Dynasty. Wherever there were bandits, Hong Chengchou was sent to fight everywhere, and was covered with blood all the way. The greater the blood Hong Chengchou was stained, the greater the official position. It should be said that Hong Chengchou was effective in treating the encirclement and suppression of the peasant army. Gao Yingxiang, the earliest leader of the rebel army, was captured alive by Hong Chengchou and escorted to Beijing to die. The successor Zhang Xianzhong was forced to surrender. Li Zicheng finally had only eighteen cavalry left to escape into the mountains. If it weren't for the Qing army's southward approaching, Chongzhen transferred Hong Chengchou away to fight against the Qing army, and the five prefectures' prime minister Xiong Wencan changed the suppression to pacification, and implemented the wrong policies, allowing Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng to breathe. Perhaps the two largest rebels that subverted the Ming Dynasty in a few years would be really wiped out by Hong Chengchou. Even if the Ming Dynasty would still perish in the end, it could be delayed by at least several years.

In the 14th year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou had become the last pillar of the Ming Dynasty. His army was called the Hong Army, commanding the 130,000 most elite eight towns in the Ming Dynasty. Ma 40,000 fought a decisive battle with the Qing army in the Songjin area. Unfortunately, Hong Chengchou was a master of civil war and an outsider in foreign war.

In addition, Chongzhen was suspicious and kept commanding remotely, urging Hong Chengchou to fight quickly. As a result, Huang Taiji took the opportunity to cut off food. The Ming army collapsed. More than 50,000 soldiers and horses were killed by the Qing army, and only a small number of people escaped. Hong Chengchou's remaining more than 10,000 troops were besieged by Huang Taiji, with no food and grass inside and no reinforcements outside. At this time, his troops were useless even if they were called Hong army. In the end, they could only be captured by the Qing army and captured.

After several years of dormant, Hong Chengchou has finally led the army again. Hong Chengchou has also made great efforts to train these 20,000 soldiers and horses. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is his soldiers. What he wants to attack is still the rebels gathered by the people, and even his official position has not changed much. He used to be the Prince's Taibao, the title of Minister of War, and the Governor of the Five Provinces; now he is the Prince's Shaobao, and he is recruiting military affairs majors from Shandong and Jiangnan provinces. It is difficult to distinguish which one is bigger and who is smaller. The only thing that changes is his identity, from Mingchen to Qingchen.

“Hurry, blow it up.

"When Hong Chengchou saw that it was about to arrive, a personal soldier from Kong Youde hurriedly said to the band of musicians.

"Woo, woo, the loud sound of suona in the dong formation started to sound with the sound of drums, and all the waiting spirits of the Qing army suddenly cheered up.

. Hearing the sound of suona, Hong Chengchou frowned slightly and then stretched out. Hong Chengchou looked down on Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming very much. When he was in Shaanxi, Hong Chengchou often carried thousands of people and horses around him to kill ten times of the peasant army. In his hands, there were not a million or hundreds of thousands of peasant army. He really couldn't figure out the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but it took him a year to get the team of tens of thousands of peasant army.

If these two men had not surrendered early, how could they be regarded as princes? Now that they have become their own subordinates, Hong Chengchou has made up his mind. If the two dared not cooperate with the prince's identity, he would not mind establishing authority on them. Now that welcoming him like this is the two of them.

Youde, Geng Zhongming and the others urged him to go forward and see Hong Chengchou sitting on the horse. He was slightly stunned. He immediately clasped his fists and lowered his head aggrievedly: "Xiao Wang meets the imperial envoy."

"Two princes, what are you doing again? Please get up quickly."

"Sir Xie Qin Sect." Kong and Geng raised their heads. The three of them had known each other when they were in the capital. Although Hong Chengchou had the title of Prince Young Master, he could only be considered an aide in the Regent's Mansion. King Sanshun each held heavy troops and became an important force in the court. Now Shang Kexi is dead. Although Shang Zhixin inherited the title of prince, unfortunately his momentum is not as good as before. Now they have become Hong Chengchou's subordinates. It can only be said that luck is arousing.

"Sir, I have prepared a sedan chair. It is cold outside. Please ask the imperial envoy to get into the sedan chair." Kong Youdedao.

Hong Chengchou looked at Kong Youde: "No need, I am trusted by the Regent. I am here to wipe out the bandits, not to enjoy it. The two princes only need to fight bravely to kill the enemy. I will naturally report to the Regent truthfully, and there is no need to do these tricks."

After being taught this lesson by Hong Chengchou, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming both had to burst out the blue veins on their faces. They forced themselves to stop the attack and sneered in their hearts. Do you think Xie Qian is a common thief, but I want to see, how can you take advantage of the thieves in the city?

…………………………
Chapter completed!