Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 457 Move to the Sea
"Zhu Yihai personally went to the city of Laizhou to supervise the battle. The morale of tens of thousands of Ming troops was greatly boosted. They stormed the city day and night, bombarded the city with thousands of artillery pieces, and dug tunnels to attack and blast the city. Geng Zhongming couldn't hold the city, so he had to lead his troops to break through at night. After a bloody battle , Geng Zhongming led some troops to break out and fled into the sea. Kong Youde's general Sun Long and his troops were surrounded, and the whole army was wiped out...
Laizhou City has been captured by the Ming army. Geng Zhongming's thousands of people broke through into the sea, and the remaining six to seven thousand people died. "

In Xuzhou city, General Zhengnan and Prince Duanzhong Boluo listened to the latest battle report with a blank expression on his face.

The Manchurian officer continued, "There is another news. When the Ming army captured Laizhou, two other troops attacked and captured the northwest of Laizhou, Tiemen Pass at the mouth of the Daqing River in Lijin County to the east of Jinan Prefecture, and Laizhou. Qingdao, Huangdao, Fushan Qiansuo, Lingshanwei, Jiaozhou, Jimo and other places in Mawan in the south."

"The Ming army that has landed in Shandong is still continuing to attack the guards of Denglai counties and townships. How long has it been since the Changlu salt farms in the north of Shandong have been attacked!"

Tulai frowned, "Why is Geng Zhongming so incompetent, he has only held on for a few days? If you don't hold on and wait for help, you just want to run, damn it!"

Bo Luo never expected that his soldiers had not left Xuzhou, but Laizhou had already been declared defeated.

There are 3000 defenders in Laizhou. Now it is reported that the 7000 men of Kong Youde's Sun Long have been wiped out, and the 3000 men of Geng's army have not been defeated. "

"This king has a doubt. Why did Geng Zhongming escape to the sea when he broke through the siege of Laizhou? Where did he get the boat? How did he escape the interception of the Ming army navy? Where did he go now? Who can answer my doubts?"

The Ming army originally came from the sea and completely occupied the command of the sea. Why did Geng Zhongming run to the sea and how did he do it?Bo Luo couldn't figure it out. Normally, even if Geng Zhongming broke through, he should go to Jinan or even Xuzhou.

But Geng Zhongming defended Laizhou and broke through within a few days, and even rushed to the sea. It seems that he succeeded?

He couldn't figure it out.

"It seems, maybe, maybe, that the Ming army had been prepared for Geng Zhongming to break out to the west, and there were heavy troops in the west. Sun Long broke out to the west, but he was caught in an ambush, and finally the whole army was wiped out.

However, Geng Zhongming's troops were divided into two groups, one was to break through in the direction of Cangzhou in the northwest, and the other was to break out in the direction of Dengzhou in the east. It stands out. "

"So, at that time, Laizhou was divided into three groups to break through, and Geng Zhongming was attacking east and west. Sun Long and other two troops attracted the main force of the Ming army for Geng Zhongming, and then he ran away to the east?"

"That's true. This Geng Zhongming is very cunning and suspected of betraying his allies. It is said that he hid a lot of ships in Laizhou Bay beforehand. After breaking out this time, he used these ships to escape to sea, and the navy of the Ming army didn't stop him."

Boluo snorted coldly, "The ability to escape is really strong."

Everyone was silent.

After a long time, Tulai asked, "What should we do now?"

Previously, Boluo made up his mind to reinforce Laizhou and regain Dengzhou. In order to avoid being attacked by the enemy and lack of food and grass, he even ordered to voluntarily abandon the important towns in Huainan, such as Huaishhou and Lufeng. , Take the initiative to retreat hundreds of miles.

It is to shrink the troops so that we can first reinforce Laizhou and take back Dengzhou.

But now the soldiers and horses have not yet come and assembled, the result has already been achieved over there.

The plan really can't keep up with the changes.

The situation has progressed worse than he expected.

Boluo is burning with anger now, but Kong Youde is dead, Sun Long is dead, Geng Zhongming is defeated and disabled, he can't find anyone to get angry.

Still have to face the current mess.

Staring at the map, Bo Luo punched down, "The Ming army will go down to Denglai and Denglai, and the next step is to attack Jinan. Jinan must be defended, and there must be no more mistakes."

"I can't wait for everyone to gather, I will take some people to Jinan for reinforcements now."

Boluo asked Tulai to stay in Xuzhou, and asked him to step up the deployment of troops to retreat to Xu and Ying. At the same time, he emphasized again that Huaishhou, Lufeng and other cities must be destroyed when retreating.

Before leaving, it is best to send troops to sweep the village, collect the summer grain and take it away, or burn it if it cannot be taken away.

"In Huainan, we will implement strong walls and clear the wilderness. Since we can't defend it, we should destroy it. Don't let the Ming army go, and don't let them go north easily. Let Huainan become a dead place as a buffer!"

Bolo said through gritted teeth.

Corrupting the whole of Huainan, demolishing the city, destroying dikes and blocking canals, and even forcefully relocating the population, making Huainan a no-man's land. This decision means that they completely abandon Huainan, and they don't even plan to come back within three to five years.

"Anyone who refuses to leave will be killed!"

The Tartars are really ruthless, they can do anything, they have massacred the city more than once or twice, now they are forced to do this, they have no taboos.

Taking Huainan young and strong back to Huaibei, or even further back to Beizhi, Shanxi and other places, can use them to farm for production and speed up the recovery of the north.

"It's still harvesting in summer, can we wait for the grain to be collected before withdrawing?"

Although Huainan was greatly affected, some wheat was still planted, and now wheat is being harvested everywhere.

"Depending on the specific situation, the Ming army will not let go of this opportunity to grab food. If it is delayed, it may not be able to leave at that time."

······
More than one hundred sailboats sailed on the sea.

The flag of the sun and the moon hangs high on the mast, fluttering in the wind.

This navy is led by Admiral Liu Shixun, who bears the seal of General Anyang, and is heading south from Qingdao to Haizhou.

The use of troops by the Ming Army’s Right-Road Northern Expeditionary Army was very unusual. After Zhenjiang set off to the north, they did not take Haizhou first, but deliberately sent only a small fleet to haunt Haizhou Bay. In fact, the main force went directly to Dengzhou.

The small fleet harassed around Haizhou Bay for a while, pretending to be the main force.

The main force secretly crossed Chencang, raided Dengzhou, and then took Laizhou.

Liu Shixun divided his troops in Dengzhou and turned around. After going back to Jiaozhou Bay to capture Qingdao Port, he put down the transported infantry, and then returned to Haizhou.

It is only a few hundred miles from Qingdao to Haizhou, and it can be reached quickly by borrowing the wind from the sea.

Liu Shixun was originally a martial arts scholar in Chongzhen for ten years, and he also has a good knowledge of poetry history.
He has successively served as the garrison of Louziying Town, the secretary of Shanxi Xingdu, the commander of the left wing of Shanhai, and the guerrilla.In the 17th year of Chongzhen, the capital was moved to the governor's office and stationed in Zhoushan.

He was excluded by Huang Binqing and had no real power.However, after Huang Binqing was reorganized, Liu Shixun was able to stand out. After Huang Binqing was convicted of protecting his son and took away his actual post of admiral of the Yangtze River Fleet, Liu Shixun took over the post of admiral.

This Northern Expedition was incorporated into the Right Route Army, and now it is even more independent.

The fleet went south and traveled along the coast, but instead of landing and docking, they replenished fresh water on the coastal islands. The Ming army had already established outposts on these islands, and even stored some supplies.

In this way, they can directly rest and resupply at sea without worrying about problems such as landing supplies halfway. The fleet can carry less supplies and more soldiers, and it can also be in a better condition.

The Qing army had no navy, and their trip was safe and smooth.

Liu Shixun's main task this time is to take Yuzhou Island first, establish a naval base, and then unite with the imperial infantry on board to capture Haizhou, thereby controlling Haizhou Bay, and then threatening Xuzhou and Huai'an.

The task of attacking Xu and Huai this time was Zhang Guowei and Wang Zhiren's central army, and Liu Shixun and the others played a supporting role.

The fleet has been entering Haizhou Bay smoothly without encountering a single Qing army ship.

The small fleet that Zhu Yihai left before had few ships, but it also had gunboats. It had an insurmountable advantage against the Qing army, which only had fishing boats and merchant ships left.

Liu Shixun deliberately let the fleet land from the back of Yuzhou, so that the Tatars would not notice their arrival.

Yuzhou Island was under the control of that small fleet at this time, and the chief officer of the small fleet was the guerrilla general Zhang Jigao who came to welcome him. Zhang Jigao was originally Liu Shixun's former army and had once led his servants.

"How is the situation in Haizhou?"

After going to the island, Liu Shixun immediately asked Zhang Jigao.

"It's chaotic, it's chaotic, the Tartars are forcing the people to move inland. On Haizhou, the Tartars ordered the people to move fifty miles inland, and issued a sea ban. It is strictly forbidden for merchant ships to enter the sea for trade without permission, and even fishing is not allowed. Violation of the ban Regardless of officials or civilians, they will all be executed, and the ships and goods will be taken to the officials, and all the property of the prisoner will be rewarded to the person who informs.”

"Now Haizhou is bounded by the Lian River, and the people from the east bank of the river to the sea have all migrated to the west bank of the river."

"Even the two seaside cities of Haizhou and Ganyu will be destroyed, and the population will be moved to Shuyang."

"Has the Tartar gone mad?"

"It's more than that," Zhang Jigao sighed, "Xuzhou's captive commander Bo Luo has issued an order to fortify the wall and clear the country. The entire Qing army south of the Huaihe River will all retreat to Huaibei, and all the population of Huainan will also be forced to move to Huaibei. "

"Now Tan Tai in Huai'an has retreated to Pizhou, and the Qing army in Haizhou will also retreat to Tanzhou and Pizhou."

"Now they are grabbing food everywhere, taking away the freshly harvested summer grain in the fields, forcing the people in Huainan to leave, and even demolishing the coastal cities of Huainan and Huaibei, destroying canals, tearing down the embankment of the Yellow River, etc. ,"

Liu Shixun frowned when he heard this, "Are these Tartars really crazy? They really want to take the initiative to abandon Huainan and fortify the wall to clear the country?"

"I don't know if it's true, but Haizhou is indeed in a state of chaos now. The people in the villages and towns east of the Lian River are being expelled and taken away. The villages and towns have been set on fire and the wells have been filled. Buried... We want to stop them, but we can't do what we want, now that the adults are here, we can stop their atrocities."

Liu Shixun also couldn't help sighing, these Tartars are really desperate when they become ruthless.

Directly relocate the people thirty or fifty miles along the coast to the inland, and even directly abandon Huainan. They ordered them to burn the houses of the people wantonly without reason.

Anyone who resists and refuses to move will be killed.

The gentry, landlords, and rich people were forced to abandon their businesses and farmland, and flee to other places, and the poor were forced to flee to Jiangbei with their children and daughters.

Many people were forced to relocate before they could even harvest the food in the fields. They were hungry and had no food on the way to the north, and a large number of people died tragically on the way.

Abandon the Huai River and move to the sea,
Boluo's two orders made the whole of Huainan cry. After experiencing rounds of famine and military chaos in the last years of Chongzhen, these poor people who survived were once again faced with annihilation.

"How many Tartars are there in the city of Haizhou now, Green Camp?" Liu Shixun felt the urgency of the situation, if the Tartars were to act like this, the Huai land would really become a deserted land for thousands of miles.

(End of this chapter)