.In less than ten days, Yulin was cut down and large areas were cut down. Ren Qi and Zhang Qi could no longer be free. The two had to lead their troops to attack several times from Yulin, trying to disperse the green and strong men who cut down the trees. However, it was winter, and the elm trees had no leaves, only a slim tree pole. Before the thieves in Yuyuan had left the forest, they were already waiting for the Qing army, and the two sides began to fight fiercely.

Over the past year, the thieves in Yuyuan have only been used to fighting with the wind. Although the weapons in their hands were replaced, they were essentially peasants. They soon became invincible when they fought with the Qing army. They threw away their armor and fled back in a panic. The Qing army was trapped in the woods.

Since the Jiajing period, the elm forest here has been expanding, and some trees have even had a history of hundreds of years. Every year during famine, local people go to the elm forest to pick tender leaves and wrap their bark. I don’t know how many people survived by this elm forest. The elm forest has experienced countless droughts and fires, but this elm forest has always been deeply rooted in the mountains and wilderness. I didn’t expect that one day it would be cut down directly.

Although the local young and strong people were reluctant to cut down Yulin, they had to work hard to cut down trees every day under the surveillance of the Qing army, and sometimes set fire to the forest, causing thick smoke to roll in the entire Yulin. However, at this time, the elm trees only had tree poles, and the village trees themselves were tall, and the arson effect was not good, so people were still required to cut them down.

Ren Qi and Zhang Qi were so anxious that they were wandering around the nest. They no longer cared about whether the location of the nest would be exposed. They sent someone to invite He Chao who had been in contact with them respectfully. As soon as they met, Ren Qi begged He Chao with a sad face and said, "Mr. He, please hurry up and help the court, otherwise tens of thousands of rebels in Yuyuan would be destroyed by the Qing dog.

”

He Chao looked at Ren Qi with contempt, Zhang Qi and the others looked at him, and now he came to ask the court for help. What had he done? He was extremely envious of Du Xiaoshan. Xie Qian's rebel army now occupies the territory of one prefecture and four counties, and he is not at all inferior to the two princes of the Qing army. The geographical location of the Yuyuan thieves is much better than that of other places. They have received much support from the court, but they have been staying in Yuyuan. Ren Qi and Zhang Qi have no determination to fight against the Manchus at all, but they just want to be the king of the mountain.

"Ren leader and leader Zhang are not the court unwilling to rescue each other, but the distance water cannot relieve the nearby fire. Qingdog's troops are only more than 10,000, scattered within hundreds of miles, with loopholes everywhere. Why don't the two leaders lead the army to fight? It's better to stay in Yulin and wait for Qingdog to come and encircle and suppress it."

After all, the imperial court was separated from the Yuyuan thieves, and when transporting weapons, they were brought over by the trading materials with the Dashun Army. Even if the Dashun Army didn't know it at first, they knew it later. However, supporting the Shandong rebel army is also beneficial to the Dashun Army. The Dashun Army can turn a blind eye, but the Dashun Army will never let a court army pass through Henan. Although the Yulin thieves are important, He Chao will not think that the imperial court will risk fighting with the Dashun Army to rescue them.

"Catch it out." Ren Qi swallowed hard. This year, He Chao had proposed to let them fight it out several times. Although Ren Qi and Zhang Qi did not refuse, they just snatched some supplies and returned to Yulin to hide. This was naturally not the original intention of He Chao to let them fight it out. However, their actions also left He Chao speechless, but gave them an excuse to ask the court for more supplies. We fought out, but the Qing dog was too powerful, so we had to come back. If we want to gain a foothold, the court should increase support.

After a few times, He Chao gave up. Although He Chao did not refuse to give the requests from the two, he often deducted the remaining weapons. He would rather support some small rebels to some small rebels.

Now He Chao made a request. Ren Qi and Zhang Qi naturally understood He Chao's meaning. If they fought this time, they might not be able to easily retract. Even if they captured the city, Ren Qi and Zhang Qi still felt that there was no Yulin in the city. When they thought of losing Yulin, they were extremely reluctant to leave.

Zhang Qi was cowardly and plucked up the courage and said, "Mr. He, are there any other ways? If you fight out, there are more than 10,000 women and children in the forest. How should they be placed?"

"Two leaders, don't blame me for saying frankly. At that time, the court intended to help you withdraw from the young masters. However, the two leaders pushed the people to stop them. Now, these old, weak, women and children are inconvenient to march. They can only leave them in Yulin."

Ren Qi and Zhang Qi showed a hint of shame on their faces. If they agreed at that time, although they could not send out tens of thousands of old, weak, women and children, it would take more than half a year to send out most of the family members of the leader. But they were as stable as Mount Tai in Yulin at that time. How could they be willing to send their wives and daughters to the rear and control them for free?

"Those leaders think about it. Although it is dangerous for the old camp to stay in Yulin, as long as the rebels can fight out and siege the city and siege the land, Qinggou has no energy to come to Yulin. He can only chase the two leaders and run tired. In this way, the old camp in Yulin can be saved. The main force of the rebels can also have a larger space."

Ren Qi and Zhang Qi remained silent. What He Chao said was just a situation. At present, the Qing army was strong and the rebel army was weak. After the rebel army left Yulin, the Qing army was not.

It can be divided into two parts, part of the rebel army pursued and part of the family members cleared out Yu's family members. Without the main force of the rebel army, the Qing army could come in without cutting down trees. Although Yulin is hundreds of miles from north to south, if the Qing army lets go of the search, the location of the old camp will be found in less than ten days. At that time, these old, weak, women and children will have to wait for death. With the precedent of the Qing army's previous treatment of the rebel family members, these old, weak, women and children will not escape death.

He Chao stopped talking, and he could only weigh the pros and cons of Ren Qi and Zhang Qi himself. If he stayed in Yulin, everyone would wait for death and fight out. Perhaps the old camp would suffer a catastrophe, but the main force could fight a path of blood.

After half a day, Zhang Qi said, "Brother Ren, why not do this. You can lead everyone out and I will stay to protect the old camp. As long as Zhang Qi is not dead, the Qing dog will never let the aunt and sister-in-law hurt half of their hair."

The aunt and sister-in-law Zhang Qi mentioned refer to Ren Qi's mother and wife. It was not easy to stay or rush out. Ren Qi sighed and said, "Just do it."

He Chao also sighed in his heart. Ren Qi and Zhang Qi's choice is human nature, and he will not let go of anything. But this choice may be the worst choice. Ren Qi's main force is useless if he goes out less. Maybe he will be annihilated by the Qing army without capturing the city. If he goes out too much, the old camp will not be able to defend it at all.

Knowing that this choice is the worst, He Chao has no position to stop it. Otherwise, it is likely to arouse the rebels' disgust. What He Chao can do is report the situation here as soon as possible and let the people above make up their minds.

At the end of November of the first year of Hongguang, Ren Qi led 10,000 rebels back out of Yulin and attacked Dongchang Prefecture, while Zhang Qigang stayed in the old camp. Except for more than 10,000 women and children, there were only 5,000 people defending the old camp. In order to prevent the young and strong men organized by the Qing army from cutting down trees, Zhang Qi led the five thousand rebels to move day and night to fight fiercely with the Qing army outside the forest.

Although the rebel army's battle achieved some results, slowing down the Qing army's speed of cutting down trees, the rebel army paid a greater price. Every day, countless rebel army fell under the Qing sabers. The troops led by Zhang Qi decreased at an astonishing speed, just to protect their homes, and for the elderly, weak, women and children in the old camp behind them. Although the casualties were heavy, the rebel army did not retreat. Later, some women and children joined the resistance of the Qing army.

Half a month passed, and the rebels suffered more than half of their casualties, and the entire Yulin was covered with blood from the rebels. However, the Qing army was still in an orderly manner and tens of thousands of elm trees were cut down every day. Zhang Qi and others urgently hoped that Ren Qi could open up the situation so as to relieve the pressure on Yulin.

But what they didn't know was that Ren Qi's situation was worse than them. Ren Qi first attacked Dongchang Prefecture for three days and three nights but failed, but instead injured more than a thousand people. Seeing that Dongchang Prefecture was heavily guarded and could not capture it in the short term, Ren Qi understood that he had chosen the wrong city, so he had to leave Dongchang Prefecture and attack Yuncheng, which the rebels had captured twice before.

The city was just a county town and was captured twice by the rebel army. Ren Qi thought it would be a good idea this time, but he didn't know that the three days delayed in Dongchang Prefecture were three deadly days. Zhang Cunren's general had already led two thousand soldiers and horses to catch up. Zhang Cunren was still afraid that these two thousand soldiers would not be enough to defeat Ren Qi. With the relationship between the Zhang family in Liaodong, Zhang Cunren found Boluo, the leader of the Qing army stationed in Liaocheng, and seconded a thousand cavalrymen and Zhang Bang to fight together.

When Ren Qi's soldiers were attacking Yuncheng, two thousand men and one thousand Manchu soldiers attacked behind their backs. As a result, it can be imagined that Ren Qi's soldiers were suddenly defeated, and nearly 10,000 people were killed by the Qing army like chopping melons and vegetables. Ren Qi himself was captured and escorted to Liaocheng, where the general waiting for Ren Qi was a torture.

Ren Qi's troops were destroyed like this. If he had known this, it would be better to hide in Yulin and not leave. At least he could have lived longer. The news of Ren Qi's capture caused great morale to both Zhang Cunren and his subordinates. In addition, the attacks of the rebels in the forest became weaker and weaker, and the Qing army greatly accelerated the speed of deforestation of Yulin.

By the end of December of the first year of Hongguang, Zhang Qi's old camp had nowhere to hide. The two sides launched a fierce battle in the forest. Although the old camp participated in the war, no matter whether old or young, the number of people was disparate. After giving a large amount of killing and wounding the Qing army, Zhang Qi was owed and the rebels' resistance was disintegrated. More than 10,000 elderly, weak, women and children were stabbed by the Qing army and the blood dyed the entire Yulin red.

The Yuyuan bandits were wiped out by the Qing army, which was a huge blow to the various rebels in Shandong. In the past, the Yuyuan bandits and the Shandong giant bandit Xie Qian echoed each other, attracting the main force of the Shandong Qing army as much as possible, and the rest of the rebels were as strong as fish in water. Now that the Yuyuan bandits in the west have been eliminated, the Qing army's attention will definitely turn to other rebels. For a moment, the other rebels were in a panic and uneasy.

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Chapter completed!