Since the Ming army entered Shandong, the local tycoons in these places have sent people to labor the army. Not only did they send food, they even sent several large carts of gunpowder. However, their support for the imperial court basically stopped there. They knew very well that

, if you completely ignore the imperial army, you may be exterminated as a typical example. But if you support the imperial court too much, if the officers and soldiers fail, they will also suffer crazy revenge from the rebels. Although their forts will effectively resist the rebels,

But in order to frighten other local tycoons, the rebels will kill the chicken to show the monkeys at any cost - therefore, the local tycoons will not easily break the tacit understanding between them, the court and the rebels.

Zhang Chengye nodded towards Fu Tianjun: "Try your best and get as much as you can."

Fu Tianjun and other staff officers pursed their lips, bowed and saluted: "As ordered, sir."

After the meeting, Zhang Chengye asked Xu Ping to stay alone: ​​"Keqin, I don't blame you for what happened this time, but if something like this happens again in the future, you might as well agree verbally and come back to me immediately. Don't be afraid of causing trouble for me."

Xu Ping lowered his head in shame and felt Zhang Chengye pat him hard on the shoulder. He heard the Mountain King from thirty years ago say: "Keqin, when I was your age, I was still robbing families and plotting.

Money kills people. At that time, there was no knife on my waist, forcing me to kill people. For a glass of wine, a tael of silver, or even a word, I could kill a whole family."

Zhang Chengye touched the white hair on his head. He remembered that the last time he killed people was when he accompanied the Marquis of Zhendong on his escape from Guangning to Lushun. In order not to expose his whereabouts, Zhang Chengye was ordered to lock the people he met in a room.

Then he set a fire... Then, I don't know when, Zhang Chengye found that he had changed. He was still killing people, but the ones he killed were bandits who slaughtered women and children, and thieves who plundered the land. The people cheered him,

Invite him to drink wine, and send him blessings and praises without hesitation.

"Later, I followed the Marquis and saved many people, many, many people... Because I changed my mind, the court forgot about my past, and everyone forgot about my past. But every time in the dead of night, I recall the crimes I committed when I was young.

Those sins you have committed will make you sweat." Zhang Chengye's voice was no longer loud, but showed an old look: "Keqin, you are still so young, don't be afraid of making mistakes, let alone give up on yourself. As the Marquis said, people are not afraid of making mistakes.

, I am afraid that once I make a mistake, it will last a lifetime, and I will not regret it after making a mistake."

…

After leaving Zhang Chengye's camp, Xu Ping went to Fu Tianjun and told him: "Use all the money saved in the camp to exchange for food."

Fu Tianjun replied with a grimace: "Sir, there are only more than a thousand taels left. I don't know if next month's military pay can be allocated on time."

"I still have some here," Xu Ping took out a small cloth bag and handed ten small gold ingots to Fu Tianjun's hand: "Take them all."

Fu Tianjun looked at the little gold in his hand, smacked his lips and said helplessly: "Now that food prices are so expensive, how many stones can this be exchanged for? Your salary is not much, so this must be all your savings. I am humble.

feel……"

"How much can we exchange for?" Xu Ping pushed Fu Tianjun's outstretched arm back, forcing him to accept the gold: "We can't rob families?"

On the 16th, the Changqing Battalion received an order to continue the attack. When he heard the news, Xu Ping was eating. After hearing the order, he continued to eat slowly, and at the same time told the surrounding officers not to panic: "It's better to delay anyway."

I won’t be in a hurry for a few days.”

The day before yesterday, Zhang Chengye showed Xu Ping and Wu Zhong the secret order from the New Army. It was not issued by the General Staff, but Zhao Manxiong directly wrote a personal letter to Zhang Chengye. There were only eight words on it: Stay calm and don't be impatient. We will talk about it when we get back.

"Sir, what does this mean?"

"I don't know, but one thing is certain. Mr. Zhao's intention is definitely what the Marquis wants, to continue suppressing the bandits."

At Xu Ping's insistence, the new army did not attack until the entire battalion of twelve guns had been dragged across the Daqing River pontoon bridge.

At noon on the 17th, Xu Ping commanded 1,300 infantry and cavalry and more than 200 artillery to arrive in Changqing County. The Ming army repeatedly bombarded the city wall with artillery, and the two small cannons of the rebels on the city also fought back desperately, but the rebels

The artillery of Changqing was obviously not comparable to the well-trained artillery of the New Army. Xu Ping used a telescope to observe the shooting effect of the artillery. Five days ago, Changqing was just an empty city, but now the rebels not only brought in two small cannons, but also

There were more than a thousand more defenders.

"The rebels are well hidden. There are only a few observation posts in the city." Xu Ping sighed repeatedly. The flag of "Dongjiang Army for Heaven" was always flying on the city gate tower, as if mocking the Ming army's incompetence. Wait for two days

After the small cannon was suppressed, Xu Ping decided not to wait any longer: "Let the infantry attack. We don't have time or enough gunpowder to completely destroy the city."

The Ming army cautiously approached the trench, and when the engineers began to fill in the ditch, Xu Ping did not see any reaction from the rebels. But when the Ming army approached the wall and began to dig the corner, with flags waving, hundreds of rebels suddenly

Appeared next to the wall and began to attack the Ming army with bows, arrows, stones and a small number of firearms. Xu Ping watched the battle, and so far, the enemy's movements had not surprised him.

The rebels' firepower did not pose much of a threat to the iron-clad Ming army. The Ming army's eight six-pound cannons kept covering fire, and the gunners behind the trenches also tilted their firepower towards the rebels.

As gravel flew from the top of the wall, Xu Ping saw with satisfaction that he had suppressed the rebels back from the wall. At this moment, a white mist suddenly rose up from a section of wall in the distance where no one had ever shown his head, and soon a dull sound was heard.

The sound of the cannon reached Xu Ping's ears, and he nodded: "Sure enough, there is a tiger squatting cannon."

After the rebels' hidden Tiger Crouching Cannon opened fire, the Ming army's artillery immediately discovered the enemy's firepower. Two of the reserved nine-pounders immediately turned around and aimed at the rebel artillery and fired. Xu Ping picked up his binoculars again to observe the enemy's situation and passed by

After the first round of test firing, the Ming army's second round of artillery was very close to the target. One shell destroyed the wall next to the rebel tiger crouch. A rebel in Xu Ping's telescope fell down clutching his chest.

However, they did not hide or escape with the artillery as Xu Ping expected. Instead, they still tried their best to charge Tiger Crouching and fired another cannon at the Ming army near the wall. Their shooting this time knocked out the two men.

The Ming army was knocked to the ground. However, the vengeful nine-pounder shells found them immediately and accurately. Xu Ping watched the rebel soldiers being knocked down by the gravel. The nine-pounder gun continued to fire, and finally a shell directly hit the Tiger Crouching Cannon.

It jumped up and rolled out of sight of the telescope.

Soon the Ming army discovered another squatting tiger cannon of the rebels. The position of this cannon was not very good. It was placed too far away. When its gunner moved the cannon towards the Ming army,

Discovered by the Ming army, under the fierce and precise firepower of the Ming army, the cannon was cleared out before it could fire.

After blowing up the city wall into a slope, the heavy armored infantry of the Ming army began to climb up the city. The pikemen took up defensive positions, and the gunmen followed up to cover, while the artillery, under the guidance of the infantry, cleared the rebels on the towers to resist fire.

.The first Ming soldier climbed up the tower, pulled down the rebel flag with force, waved it several times in the direction of Xu Ping, and then threw it down to the ground from a high altitude.

"The rebels shouldn't be able to resist stubbornly?"

Xu Ping soon got the answer. While the Ming army opened the north gate, the remaining rebels began to withdraw from the south gate. Cao Yun was excitedly waiting for the order to pursue, but Xu Ping seemed a little hesitant, which was unexpected.

Di hesitated for a moment before ordering: "Brother Cao, bring all the cavalry to pursue. If the bandit formation is scattered, you can attack. Otherwise, you must not attack without permission."

"I obey, my lord." Cao Yun couldn't wait and led a hundred cavalry to chase the enemy soldiers.

Seeing that Xu Ping had no further orders, a staff officer behind him reminded: "Sir, should you send infantry to cooperate with the cavalry?"

"Well, our current main task is to seize Changqing," Xu Ping seemed a little careless and ordered without thinking: "First, we will detach a team to search the city and make sure there are no thieves."

Soon after, Cao Yun sent someone to report on flying horses. The messenger shouted: "Your Majesty, there are more than 700 thieves. The cavalry has forced the thieves to form a formation and retreat, and they are moving very slowly. Cao Yun asked General Cao to send out infantry to pursue them.

, catch all the thieves in one go."

Xu Ping absentmindedly slapped the riding crop in his hand. After a long time, he turned to ask Zhou Dongtian: "What do you think, brother Zhou? Should we send infantry to pursue us?"

"Most of the thieves have no armor and few firearms." Zhou Dongtian wondered why Xu Ping asked himself this question. This kind of last-minute decision could be made by Xu Ping. He honestly reported: "Send four or five hundred

The infantry can probably break them up."

"Well," Xu Ping looked around thoughtfully and said to himself, "Maybe there are some thieves lying in ambush nearby, just waiting for me to disperse some of my troops."

Without waiting for Zhou Dongtian and other staff members to reply, Xu Ping said: "Order Cao to return the commander-in-chief and stop the pursuit."

…

In the process of attacking Qinghe, the Ming army killed more than 200 rebels, and its own side also paid the price of 17 people killed and 56 wounded. After a brief reorganization in Qinghe, Xu Ping marched eastward according to the plan, trying to

Seize a ferry or ford on the Shah River as soon as possible. However, there are many rebels here, and Xu Ping's actions were quickly discovered by the rebels. When his engineers began to try to build a pontoon bridge, hundreds of rebels appeared on the other side.

Xu Ping's men could not risk the enemy's fire to build a pontoon bridge, so they had to retreat to the west bank. Seeing that the artillery could not arrive before dark anyway, Xu Ping ordered the camp to be set up.

At noon on the 18th, after Xu Ping's artillery arrived at the shore, the rebels retreated very wisely. By the time the Changqing Battalion arrived behind Xu Ping, the engineers had already set up the pontoon bridge.

When Zhang Chengye arrived at the front line, he saw Xu Ping transporting the first cannon to the east bank of the Shah River and asked, "Are you planning to build a bridgehead on the other bank?"

"Yes, sir." Xu Ping briefly introduced the reconnaissance results of the engineers. They believed that the water flow was slow only here nearby: "After we cross the river, we can further threaten the bandits, contain their forces, and share the pressure for the main force to attack Jinan frontally. In addition,

, it can also prevent bandits from using this place to sneak across and sneak attack our army."

"Well, very good." Zhang Chengye approved Xu Ping's plan: "Has Keqin investigated the enemy situation on the other side?"

"Yes, the thieves have also noticed this place. They set up a camp on the opposite bank. Our army made a trial attack and lost dozens of people. It is not easy to fight." Xu Ping did not intend to continue deeper into the east bank, so he headed towards

Zhang Chengye explained his judgment: "After all, Ji has gathered the main force of the rebels, and the number may be tens of thousands. According to the original plan, just let the Shanlan Battalion cover our flanks and rear. Our army has missed the opportunity and is now reluctant to advance.

It’s not far, but it may cost 10% of our troops.”

"Then turn to defense." Zhang Chengye knew that Xu Ping had always been very energetic, and now that even he didn't agree with the attack, it was time to stop. Zhang Chengye ordered the entire army to adjust its formation, and Xu Ping's troops headed east with six cannons to defend.

Wu Zhong took the remaining half of the artillery to defend in the direction of Gama Mountain, while he himself sat in the middle. After completing the deployment of the Changqing Battalion, Zhang Chengye ordered a message to the Shanlan Battalion, asking them to immediately deploy the defense near Qinghe, Tongchang

Qingying formed a horn.

"Jinan, Jinan." Xu Ping counted the progress of the main force on his fingers while reinforcing the bridgeheads on both sides of the Shah River.

If the progress of the main force is normal, the commander's camp should have arrived in Qihe County, and the fire-fighting battalion is setting up a pontoon bridge on the Changqing River. The new army has eight main battalions and ninety-six artillery pieces. Xu Ping has no worries about the rebels.

Resistance. Once the construction of the canal is completed, the new army will advance toward Jinan, using absolute firepower and weapon superiority to squeeze out the rebels.

"In a few days, the bandits will be preparing to flee to Henan. The local wealthy families will completely turn to our army, and the young men brought by the bandits will also begin to flee in large numbers. By then, as long as they are pursued closely, they will be able to severely damage the bandits."

Xu Ping felt that the victory came too easily, and it could be said to be without any surprises. He believed that other generals in the battalions would have similar feelings: "In any case, facing the overwhelming advantage of the tenth battalion of new troops, the thieves and bandits have no chance at all."

It’s a chance. If our unit is like this, it can be regarded as satisfactory, and the rest of the battles will be left to the friendly forces."

On the 20th, when Xu Ping was supervising the construction of the camp, when he saw the flag of Shanlan Camp appearing in his field of vision, his surprise could no longer be described in words. Xu Ping rode his horse and waited by the roadside. When he saw the commander of Shanlan Camp, he

After raising the flag, he immediately went forward. Wei Landu, the leader of the team, was transferred from Fujian by Yang Zhiyuan and Fang Mingda. The last time he saw it was when Yang Zhiyuan ordered to promote the experience of Evergreen Camp, Wei Landu actively helped, and the two formed a friendship.

A good friendship.

After saying hello, Xu Ping immediately asked: "Brother Wei, shouldn't your battalion stick to Changqing?"

Wei Landu, who commanded the vanguard of the Shanlan Battalion, gave a wry smile and said to Xu Ping: "Brother Xu, we have just received an order from the Commander-in-Chief, asking our battalion to continue marching south toward Feicheng."

"Feicheng?" In Xu Ping's impression, it was a hundred miles away from here, and he had to cross Gama Mountain first: "Why go there?"
Chapter completed!