Both the Ming Dynasty and the Chinese Empire were accumulating strength and preparing to give the enemy a fatal blow.

But there is one thing that everyone recognizes, that is, the Chinese Empire is on the defensive and the Ming Dynasty is on the offensive momentum.

Because the Chinese Empire was not prepared in many aspects, they occupied too many good places in the short term. It took time and troops to digest these places, not to mention drawing out elite troops to attack other places in the Ming Dynasty.

If it fails, I am afraid that the sesame seeds and melons will be lost. And there is another point, this is the richest place in the Ming Dynasty, which has been controlled and occupied by the Chinese Empire, and other places are very barren and backward.

If the Liu family father and son had a choice, they might have rested for three to five years before sending troops to attack the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty would not allow them to digest these places.

Now that the Chinese Empire has risen, and has just occupied these places, it has not yet completed the digestion of these places. Once they have completed the digestion of the places and have obtained the full support of the local government, it will be even more difficult and even impossible to retake these places.

Under such circumstances, Emperor Chongzhen could only use all his skills in a thirst-quenching manner. In the shortest time, he assembled hundreds of thousands of troops to prepare to give the enemy a fatal blow. It can be said that the entire north has become a military system and a military country. All activities revolve around military operations. In just a short period of time, the status of the warriors has been greatly improved.

The civil and military officials who had been in operation for more than two hundred years were broken to some extent because they needed these military generals to conquer the world for them. What these civil officials now showed was too scammers and had no ability to turn the tide. Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to choose this method.

However, it was quite dangerous for the Ming Dynasty to implement such a policy. Everyone saw that the unreasonable aspects of implementing such a policy were to fight for life in the short term, and this could be done, but once the war lasted for a long time, it meant that they would collapse and disband themselves.

Because their money and military pay are actually obtained through violent collection of these wealthy and powerful people. This kind of money cannot be regenerated and copied. After completing a vote, it cannot be snatched again, nor can it be snatched.

It is different in the Chinese Empire. The way they obtain wealth can be circulated and repeated, so if the two sides have a protracted war, nothing else can be said, just dragging the Ming Dynasty down.

I believe Liu Yuanqiao also understands this, so he will not rush to use troops to the Ming Dynasty, because time is beneficial to him, and the longer the delay, the better.

Daming understood that it would not benefit him if time was not with him, and delaying would only cause them to suffer a great loss.

They also understand that this year is a decisive year, and the one that determines their destiny is Shandong. If they take this place, their strategic environment will be greatly improved.

By early February, the Ming army had basically assembled, and the troops had arrived at the scheduled attack site.

The Chinese Army was busy dispatching troops. Because their canal was paralyzed, they could not quickly transport troops and supplies to the six prefectures in Shandong through the canal. This made them particularly slow in dispatching troops and supplies. Many troops that should have entered the position are still on the way or on the way, which is basically no secret.

Even the spies of the Ming army knew this easily. The Chinese army's support troops and materials were not transported to Shandong or entered various places, which greatly encouraged the Ming army. They sighed: "It depends on whether God will give us a way out."

Even if the Ming army is optimistic, they still understand that in order to fight fiercely with the Chinese army, they must first obtain the support of the time. If there is no help from the time, they will attack the opponent's place, which is the way to die.

Even though the major reinforcements of the Chinese army did not arrive at its major military towns, these military towns were originally on high alert and had a large number of cannons on their city walls.

Moreover, after entering this year, the Chinese army also realized that they expanded too quickly, especially their Shandong, which penetrated deep into the enemy and became a prominent part, and now faced the siege of the other side.

So they all quickly shrank their troops. In addition to guarding some important towns and transportation points, they basically withdrew from some remote towns and counties and concentrated in the important towns.

For example, they had already controlled Hejian Prefecture before, but now they have only occupied Hejian Prefecture City, and some other county towns have basically given up.

Because they knew that their disadvantage in numbers could only resist the enemy's attack with the advantage of territories, they contracted their troops and formed fists.

Not to mention that they went deep into Hebei, even in some places in Shandong, they basically gave up some remote towns and counties, and then concentrated their troops in several major prefectures.

The Chinese Army is now in charge of Shandong. Wang Wendong, the former aide of Liu Yuanqiao, was Wang Yuanqiao. He studied under Jingyun Gong and followed Liu Yuanqiao for a long time. He was Liu Yuanqiao's first confidant and highly valued it.

After the Chinese army headed south to Jianghuai, they handed over the important task of staying in Shandong to Wang Wendong. Although Wang Wendong was just a vain and was a staff member, he suddenly got this high position, but he was not as busy as others imagined and at a loss.

In the position of Shandong Governor, he was orderly and very stable. Wang Wendong discovered that once the Ming army attacked Shandong, their northernmost Dongchang Prefecture would be the first to be affected.

Although their troops had already attacked Hejian Prefecture and Cangzhou in Northern Zhili, they understood that these two places were hanging alone and the supply line was very long, and there would be no problem for a while. If they had to stick to it for a long time, it would be unlikely and could not be defended. So he formulated a policy of strategic contraction, scorched earth resistance, retreating step by step, luring the enemy into depth, and waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.

Of course, he also understood that even if Shandong was united, it would probably not be able to withstand the siege of the 700,000 troops of the court, so his emergency documents had already flown to Nanjing.

What made him even more trouble was that the Cao Gang, with a population of up to one million, began to rebel, publicly refused to cooperate with the official, and made trouble with the official everywhere.

Wang Wendong did not hesitate and made a quick decision and immediately began to send troops to suppress it. However, the number of the other side was too large and he adopted some kind of guerrilla policy. On the one hand, they refused to cooperate with the Chinese army, and on the other hand, they prevented others from cooperating with the Chinese army. They also destroyed the canal, allowing them to transport troops through the canal and transfer materials completely failed.

This gave Wang Wendong a headache. Although Wang Wendong had already sent troops to suppress it, the effect was not very good. The Cao Gang was a local snake entrenched on this land for hundreds of years. Their power was deeply rooted and penetrated into all aspects of the government. Even many officials were their children. Even if they were not their children, both sides could be called fellow villagers. Many people could speak and knew each other. How could he be able to let these soldiers suppress these people?

Therefore, Wang Wendong's policy of suppression was not ideal. Of course, this is related to Wang Wendong's insufficient troops. If he had not carried out a comprehensive strategic contraction now and faced the siege of the enemy's 700,000 troops, he could have drawn more troops to suppress them. Although the number of these gangs was as large as one million, it was actually just a group of mobs, and basically he could do it to sank the troops.

The problem is that at this moment, the Chinese army did not dare to withdraw all its troops to suppress the Cao Gang Rebellion, but instead mobilized a large number of troops to guard their border towns, maintain food roads, etc., which made the Cao Gang become bigger.

This situation was unexpected by Wang Wendong. As he expected, at least 100,000 troops would enter Shandong in early February, and at least more than 500,000 stones of food were stored in the granary they booked.

With troops and food, he has enough confidence to resist the enemy's invasion. Even if he can't win, he can hold back the enemy's pace.

Who knew that even one-tenth of the reserved materials and troops had not arrived yet, which made Wang Wendong a little scared. He didn't know if the above was lacking confidence and was preparing to give up Shandong, or if the Cao Gang below was really making such a fierce fight? Or was it because of the two? This made him trapped inside and outside.

Wang Wendong had Wang Wendong's idea, while the senior Chinese army had overall deployment. Wang Wendong suspected that the deployment of the senior management may not be the priority of the interests of Shandong locals. As a local in Shandong, Wang Wendong always believed that safeguarding the interests of locals should be the first priority.

But it seems that the above policy is to sacrifice Shandong! This made him very worried.

He hated the fools of Cao Gang to the core, and he was so sorry that he could not make a strong sense of steel. This group of people was really a group of fools. After helping the Liu family, they began to be arrogant and wanted to be a good official. After they failed, they dared to surrender to the Zhu Ming court and do things for the Zhu Ming court.

And they were really stupid. They worked for the court, and they sold them. They were causing trouble. The court did not send troops to respond. Instead, they watched the fun while watching them suffer heavy casualties.

What's even more stupid is that Wang Wendong said that he would not investigate these people in the past, and hoped that both sides could sit down and have a good talk. It would be better to be harmonious, and that people from Shandong do not beat people from Shandong.
Chapter completed!