The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 291
On August [-]th, Zhu Dadian, the governor of Shandong, swore an oath to the army in Changyi, and [-] soldiers and horses marched in three routes.

On the same day, Ding Yi and Xu Fuzuo also set off with troops.

On the way, Xu Fuzuo asked Ding Yi modestly, how should we fight this battle?
Ding Yi thought for a while. Although there were more and more rebel troops, most of them were surrendered troops and coerced civilians, and their combat effectiveness was not as good as before.

The officers and soldiers of this battle also have Liaodong iron cavalry to help out. The rebels will surely be defeated. As long as we stand on the way of the rebels' retreat and intercept and kill them head-on, we will surely win a complete victory and capture their heads.

Xu Fuzou heard it wonderful, Brother Ding knows how to fight.

Considering that when the rebel army retreats, they will definitely run towards Dengzhou. Ding Yi suggested that they wait for work with leisure and guard the two necessary routes, Chengguo Town and Yidao Town.

At that time, there were three roads retreating from Laizhou to Dengzhou, and one in the middle was going to Jinling Town.

But Ding Yi said, as the saying goes, if we block their retreat, the rebels will have to fight us desperately.

We came here to earn credit, why should we hurt our troops?
Wait for the officers and soldiers to catch up, and then go to fight Dengzhou together.

What Xu Fu heard was very reasonable, the two soldiers divided into two groups, one went to Chengguo Town and the other went to Yidao Town.

Ding Yi is willing to take the lead and defend the closer Chengguo Town, and Chengguo Town is close to the sea, so it is a small road. It is estimated that large groups of soldiers and horses will not go here, there is no money, and there will not be many heads.

The key is that Ding Yi fights for a while first, and the opponent will definitely flee for his life, and it will be easier to fight later.

Ding Yi, Xu Fuzuo felt more loyal.

On the afternoon of the [-]th, Ding Yi brought troops and horses and ten carts to Chengguo Town.

Kong Youde's rebel army swept across Denglai, and even in Shandong, engulfing a large number of people. The rebel army became more and more numerous. Many large villages and towns were attacked by the rebel army, and all their belongings were looted.

Cheng Guozhen was in the middle of the battlefield, and suffered even more damage. Ding Yi's soldiers and horses were stationed there, and there were hardly many living people in the town.

At this time, the rebels had received the news, and more than 7 troops were gathered from Laizhou to Shahe.

Ding Yi's soldiers and horses occupied Cheng Guo Town, and soon chose the battlefield in Cheng Guo Town.

The main road from Chengguo Town to the town is about six meters wide, and there are paddy fields on both sides. Rice and jungle were originally planted. After the rebels passed by, the rice fields were very chaotic. This year's production will definitely be greatly reduced.

Since the Dengzhou Rebellion, the local grain price has remained high, and Ding Yi is going to Japan to buy grain this time.

He arranged two divisions of soldiers and horses on both sides of the road, and ten carts were placed in the middle of the road.

Soldiers and horses stood guard on both sides.

Another ten field guns were brought along, and they chose a high ground in the distance on both sides.

On the same day, I took the whole army to stand in position, and all the ministries familiarized themselves with the places they were going to guard.

Then return to Chengguo Town.

Ding Yi sent someone to ride Xu Song's horse as a sentinel to scout for news.

The next step is to wait in Cheng Guozhen, nothing to do.

That night Ding Yi called a meeting above the General Manager.

Let me talk about the purpose of their trip first. One is to train recruits, let them see blood, kill people, and practice courage.

The second is to minimize damage, not fight to the death with the rebels, and let the officers and soldiers play the vanguard and the main force.

The third is to reap more benefits.

Ding Yi said that the rebel army burned, killed and looted everywhere, and almost all of them carried money and property on their bodies. After the war, they specially organized troops to collect money and money, and not a single corpse was spared.

After collecting them, they will be distributed uniformly.

The generals were overjoyed, which meant that there was another share of money.

In addition, in order of priority, grab artisans, war horses, armor, supplies, and weapons.

You must know that the Wuqiao Mutiny and the Dengzhou Rebellion were the largest battles involving artillery in the late Ming Dynasty and even in Chinese history.

In the field battle between the two sides in May this year, the rebels used five Hongyi cannons, the generals used more than 300 cannons, and the officers and soldiers used more than 30 cannons, but 24 of them actually exploded.

At that time in Laizhou, the government had tens of thousands of catties of nitrate and sulfur collected and stored during the Wanli period, but because the iron materials were not enough, the firepower of the government and the army was insufficient.

The prefect Zhu Wannian collected all the metals in the city in March. At most, more than 50 craftsmen were making shells every day. Sometimes because there was not enough iron, they used copper bullets, but they were still not enough.

Ding Yi ordered that guns are not allowed to be seized. First, artillery is something that the court attaches great importance to. After the war, it will definitely be cleaned up. Second, Ding Yi cannot take the artillery with him. In the follow-up plan, there will be artillery if there is no need to rush.

Therefore, Ding Yi asked to grab the craftsmen and war horses first, and then the armor. After all, Lushun needs time to make the armor, and the armor can be equipped with more troops in the future.

All the generals listened one by one, bearing in mind Lord Ding's instructions.

Ding Yi estimated that the rebels and the Ming army would fight near Shahe for a few more days. Early the next morning, he called Lu Chao, took 100 soldiers, each with a horse, and headed all the way to Zhaoyuan.

Zhaoyuan is in the northeast of Chengguo Town, about ninety miles away.

Along the way, there are dilapidated scenes everywhere, countless good fields have been damaged, villages have been burned, and the compound has been breached.

This is considered to be the center of the battle. The rebels traveled back and forth between Dengzhou and Laizhou, so they suffered the most damage.

Moreover, Kong Youde was forced to rebel because of the big family, so he hated the big family very much. Everywhere he went, he had to send troops to break into the compound of the big family and wealthy merchants.

In Denglai, there were ten rooms and nine empty rooms, which was extremely tragic.

In less than an hour, Ding Yi and his people found Linglong Town outside Zhaoyuan City.

Contrary to everyone's surprise, right now there is no one to be seen everywhere, but a large number of men and women are seen in Linglong Town.

These men and women were all in ragged clothes, starving and skinny. When they saw soldiers and horses approaching, some rushed away, and some even dared to surround them and stretched out their hands for food.

I saw a thin boy about 12 years old, coming towards them, plopped, kneeling on the ground: "Please give me some food, sir."

"Get out of the way." Lu Chao shouted loudly, but did not drive him away, and looked back at Ding Yi.

Behind the boy, there is a girl far away, who looks to be about ten years old, looking at them with horror.

Ding Yi reined in his horse, looked at him, and waved his hand, motioning for some dry food.

When they go out to march and fight, they will bring some rice and some self-made dry food, which are rice cakes, flour cakes and so on.

The boy was overjoyed, grabbed two pieces of bread, ran back to the girl, and handed them to her.

Unexpectedly, an adult man saw it in the distance and rushed towards them with a fierce look on his face.

Ding Yi touched from the back of the horse, holding the bow in his left hand and the arrow in his right.

"Whoosh" an arrow shot at the man's feet.

"Ah..." The man was startled, looked up at Ding Yi, turned around and ran away.

"Let's go." Ding Yi patted his horse and moved, leading the soldiers into Linglong Town.

(End of this chapter)