Zhao Peng planned to build a bastion group along Changyi, Gaomi to Lingshanwei line. This line is the narrowest part of the Jiaodong Peninsula and the dividing line between the jurisdiction of Governor Laideng and the Shandong Governor.

With this line of defense composed of a bastion group, the Qing army can be prevented from entering the Laideng area.

To build a bastion group, the gentry in the Laideng area needs strong support.

So, during this period, a rumor spread on the land of Laiden: Hong Chengchou, the rebel of the Ming Dynasty, would soon bring the Tartars to Laiden. Because after Hong Chengchou surrendered to Jiannu, he shaved his hair and changed his clothes, shaved his head and had a rat-tail of money, so he was scolded by the upright Han people, which led to unbalanced Hong Chengchou's heart. Therefore, Hong Chengchou, who had become perverted mentally, vowed to help the Qing Dynasty take over the entire land of China, with the purpose of making all Han people shave their hair and change their clothes like him, and keep a rat-tail of money. In this way, others would not scold Hong Chengchou for forgetting his ancestors and being a dog for the Tartars. In order to force the Han people to shave their heads, Hong Chengchou also proposed to the Qing court that he would leave his head without leaving his hair, and that he would not leave his hair.

This rumor about Hong Chengchou and shaving his hair and changing his clothes spread. The gentry and people on the land of Laideng were filled with righteous indignation and expressed their determination to resolutely defend their homes and block the Qing army from their homes at all costs.

The gentry, who had been unlucky, responded to the call of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, spontaneously paid for money and formed a group training. They were just to avoid being forced to shave their hair and change their clothes, and to keep a rat-tailed braid like the Tartars. What Han gentry most cares about is that their bodies and their hair are not damaged by their parents. Hong Chengchou's shamelessness aroused the anger of the gentry all over the world.

What's even more shameless is that Hong Chengchou considered that the military expenditure was insufficient after the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, so he suggested to the captive chief Dorgon that the Eight Banners Army would take over the land, that is, wherever they rode their horses, they would rob the land, and the people on the land became their slaves. The brave and invincible Eight Banners children have become iron-core crops from then on and they can ride on the heads of the Chinese people to drink blood.

The rumors also spread to the capital. Some Han officials who were still wearing former Ming official uniforms questioned Hong Chengchou in person if there was such a thing? No matter how thick-skinned Hong Chengchou was, his true thoughts were like this. He had no face to refute it, so he had to not answer, and changed the topic and avoided the topic of shaving his hair and changing clothes.

Moreover, the Qing Dynasty court could not wash the hair and change clothes. Although Dorgon had not started to force his hair and change clothes at this time, the first thing Dorgon did after entering Beijing was to issue an order for the military and civilian officials of the capital to shave their hair and change clothes. Later, due to the strong backlash from Han officials, Li Zicheng was not destroyed, and the Southern Ming Dynasty in the south was still there, so Dorgon had to issue another edict allowing Han officials to retain the clothing styles of the former Ming Dynasty.

Hong Chengchou's concealment of refusing to answer positively proves the authenticity of this rumor.

"Dear fellow villagers!" Crown Prince Zhu Cilang stood on the stage, looking around at the gentry of Laiden standing under the stage, "Liden's self-protection group training costs a lot of money. Everyone also knows that the palace has not yet gone to Nanjing to ascend the throne, and the court has no money. I hope you will pay the money to form a group training and build a bastion."

"Please rest assured by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" A veteran gentry spoke, "It is our wish for the people of the world to share the worries and solve the problems of the court! We will naturally pay our own money to form a group training and build a bastion!"

Zhao Peng, who was standing behind Zhu Cilang, said in his heart: If I hadn't released the rumors and said that Hong Chengchou was coming to shave your heads, I'm afraid you would have been ready to surrender to the Qing Dynasty at this time, right? In fact, this rumor is not a rumor, but it would have told the things that the Qing army would do in the future in advance.

First of all, a large number of gentry were mobilized in the Dengzhou area. In order to save their hair and clothes, the gentry generously donated money and took out money to form a group training. Within just three days, more than 2,000 gentry gentry in Dengzhou Prefecture formed a group training of more than 100,000 people, and on average, each household of gentry gave 50 group training.

But gentry is different from gentry. Even those who have a scholar or above in the Ming Dynasty have entered the lowest threshold for gentry. Of course, ordinary scholars cannot form a group training of fifty people, and it is good to have ten people for ordinary scholars. Juren can produce more than 100 people, and Jinshi can produce hundreds of people; and some rich gentry even form a group training of more than 1,000 people!

The soldiers who practice bravery are all tenants of the gentry, and the officers who practice long-term corpses and the officers who train in the regiment are all slaves of the gentry.

Zhao Peng suggested that the regiment trained to half of the cold and hot weapons, and the cold weapons were mainly spearmen, and the hot weapons needed to be made by these gentry themselves.

Zhao Peng took it upon himself to build hot weapons. Making individual firearms such as bird guns and turtledove guns is not a problem for Zhao Peng. The craftsmen he brought could pass on the skills of building firearms to local craftsmen, and soon taught them and let them build firearms themselves.

As for artillery, Zhao Peng abandoned old artillery such as Franc and tiger squat cannons, and chose four-pound little red artillery. The cannon weight of this kind of cannon weighs 600 kilograms. The cannon mount used is still the four-wheeled wooden cannon mount of the Red Artillery cannon, rather than the two-wheeled iron cannon mount of the Western field cannon. This is because the technology is confidential. Zhao Peng did not want to fall into the hands of the Qing army because he created a new field cannon, which led to the Qing army also imitating the field cannon.

Abandoned old-fashioned artillery such as Franc, Tiger Squat Cannon, and only used a four-pound little red barbarian cannon, which greatly reduced the logistics pressure. The team training only required one shell.

The firearms used in the regiment training are mainly bird guns. Each thousand-person team is equipped with 360 bird guns, 100 turtledove guns, four small red artillery cannons, 400 spearmen, and 100 knives.

In addition to muskets and cannons, Zhao Peng also asked craftsmen to help them create thunderstorms.

Zhao Peng had no reservations about the technology of launching gunpowder and granulation of gunpowder. Zhao Peng kept it secret from them because the new gunpowder technology for loading the thunder is a killer weapon, and it was impossible for this technology to fall into the hands of the Qing army. Therefore, Zhao Peng could only let his people help them create the thunder. His people would follow him south to Nanjing soon. Therefore, Zhao Peng decided to produce the thunder in Nanjing after he arrived in Nanjing, and then transported it to Laideng by the navy fleet to the gentry.

The thunder of the sky cannot be given for free. Zhao Peng offered the gentry a thunder of one or two silver! At first, the gentry thought the price was too expensive and refused to accept it. After all, the purchasing power of the silver was still very strong back then. One or two silver was the living expenses of ordinary farmers for a year! But when Zhao Peng tried the power of the thunder of the sky, the gentry agreed and gritted their teeth to buy the thunder of the sky.

Building a bastion is not very expensive for the gentry, because the labor force is free, so the gentry organized their own tenants and long-term workers to build a bastion.

The first bastion built by Zhao Peng was a bastion group in the Changyi area. He personally led tenants and long-term workers to work hard on the construction site. As long as the first bastion is built, the gentry will be able to build the second and third bastions by themselves.

The ditches around the bastion were dug out, and the digging soil was raised, and the ground was padded into a three-foot-high soil platform. The soil platform was then pounded into solid rammed earth, and hard blue bricks were laid on the outside. Then rammed earth was piled on the soil platform, and bricks were laid outside the rammed earth to build a fortress. Some sealed fortresses were piled up with thick blue bricks, and then glutinous rice was boiled into porridge, and rice soup and soil were mixed as adhesive. The closed fortress was built in the city, and shooting holes were left on the walls.
Chapter completed!