Chapter 264: The Impossible Change

"Master, General Qiu Lei committed suicide at home!"

In a house in Dezhou City, a servant respectfully reported to Shandong Governor Yan Jizu that there were a few side dishes and a hot wine pot in front of Yan Jizu, and his expression and behavior were relaxed and comfortable. Just this morning, Yan Jizu was still nervous all day long, and he was already relaxed after returning home in the evening.

Hearing the report from the servant, Governor Yan Jizu reached out to pick up the food and sneered:

"Oh? This man knows shame."

The servant added in a low voice:

"Master, in the afternoon, the northern city was blocked by General Li Shen's troops. General Qiu's troops were all taken out of the city. When General Li Shen's troops dispersed, news of his own murder came from there."

When Yan Jizu heard this, his hand holding the food froze, but then he picked up a chopstick of dishes and put them in his mouth. After delivering them with wine, he opened his mouth and said slowly:

"I really can't tell that this martial artist is so cruel..."

Governor Yan Jizu pondered for a while and didn't say anything more. He just waved his hand to let the servant go down, so he naturally couldn't say anything more in front of the servant.

"It's good, so it won't be praised by the court. If Qiu Lei is punished, he will still be irresponsible behind his back. It's a big trouble. At present, a general in Shandong committed suicide in shame, and a general beheaded nearly a thousand. Lao Yan and our family have made contributions. Otherwise, how could there be such a brave and loyal man below? He died well and died well."

The military eunuch Liu Yuanbin didn't have so much concern, and directly pointed out the key to this matter with his confidant.

The next day, Yan Jizu wrote an article in a colorful way to mourn Shandong General Qiu Lei, and said this person as if he was a few loyal ministers and generals in the sky and underground. The scholars and civilians in Shandong were deeply saddened by General Qiu's suicide. Although this article flattered General Qiu Lei to the sky, it also confirmed the conclusion that this person committed suicide.

Moreover, the governor also issued an order, and Qiu Lei's subordinates who were already stationed outside the city will temporarily be under the jurisdiction of Li Meng, the general of the four prefectures.

The less than two thousand soldiers outside the city were disbanded and separated by a team of 200 people and went to the various battalions of Jiaozhou Camp to work as auxiliary soldiers and masters. They were not armed and just sat in heavy transport work every day, and there was no need to worry about anything going on.

Qiu Lei's family and hundreds of fellow villagers in Ye County were surrounded by soldiers left by Li Meng in Laizhou Prefecture and were disarmed. The soldiers were dismissed. The remaining Qiu Lei's family was placed in Chengye County, Laizhou Prefecture. Anyway, the gold, silver, money and money that Qiu Lei plundered did not touch Li Meng, which was enough for the whole family to live comfortably. The officers of Jiaozhou Camp promised them to ensure their safety, of course, there was a prerequisite, that is, not to talk nonsense.

The Qing army's large gangs maintained cautious defense and rushed northward until they passed the Three Guards of Tianjin and began to rob local populations and livestock.

The soldiers and horses everywhere in the Ming Dynasty were extremely cautious, and no one dared to "advance" or "move around". Because the Qing army's large squadrons were cut off, the government troops ordered to pursue were fifty miles away from the nearest one, and they immediately retreated if there was any slight movement in front.

Sun Chuanting, who led his army to the Northern Zhili to serve the king, was appointed as the governor of Baoding, but he still kept his troops and did not dare to pursue him. On February 17, the 12th year of Chongzhen, the Qing army came out of Qingshankou with the crowded livestock. The Ming Dynasty finally breathed a sigh of relief and the capital was safe and sound.

After confirming that the Qing army had left the customs, Shandong Governor Yan Jizu and military supervisor Liu Yuanbin did not rush to return to Jinan City. The population of Jinan City and the surrounding prefectures and counties had been plundered by the Qing army. Even if they went back, there was no way to do many things, so they simply stationed in Dezhou City, which had not been destroyed much.

Moreover, the letter exchanges between Dezhou City and the capital are extremely fast. Now it is the most important time. The message transmission and reply processing should be faster, the better.

Although the news that Li Meng, the general of the four prefectures, had already sent a fast horse to report to the capital, the heads of the Tartars as evidence were still halfway, the capital center would not give a reply for a while.

Although the Qing army was rampant in Northern Zhili and Shandong, all the soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty hesitated and remained unmoved, as soon as the Qing army left Qingshankou, the documents of military generals and civil servants flew to the court like snowflakes. The general said that he had beheaded hundreds of heads, and the man said that he had beheaded more than a thousand. If these heads were added together, the Qing army's heads would be insufficient, and the outside of the gate would have to be counted.

Of course, the officials of the Ministry of War also knew the following tricks, so they had to have some procedure for checking the head level. Many generals did not report the head level at all, and the meritorious documents were just refuted directly. These generals would not have come to the capital to deceive with the heads of ordinary people.

However, Shandong's well-informed local celebrities knew that Jiaozhou Camp had fought with the Tartars and beheaded more than 700 Tartars, which were real and truly worthy.

The Tartars were afraid of being harmed on the ground in Shandong. With such a courageous battle in front of him, the Shandong scholars and people felt relieved. Moreover, Shandong General Qiu Lei committed suicide because of shame and was ashamed of the situation of war. The news that Li Meng, the general of the four prefectures, was recommended to be the general of Shandong. The news of Li Meng, the general of Shandong, was gradually spread. Seeing the fields of Jiaozhou Camp, the prosperous and prosperous business of Lingshan Trading, and the private salt business that everyone cannot do without, Li Erlang wanted to be the general of Shandong. Everyone was trying hard to curry favor and came to Dezhou City to congratulate their military achievements. This was just a way to communicate.

But the people who came to the door congratulate and gave gifts, and were humble. Li Meng also treated him with a smile. However, when it comes to the contributions to the Tartars war, Li Meng was unwilling to talk too much. Often, the other party was provoking the topic, but Li Meng talked about him with all his heart.

After several interactions, some people even suspected that these Tartar heads were also a good deal to kill good people. Throughout February, the governor and the military supervisor made some money, because the suspect landlords and gentry, representatives of wealthy merchants bribed them and wanted to ask about the authenticity of the heads that day.

After these people received the positive news, their evaluation of Li Meng was much higher. They had such great achievements but were not arrogant. Compared with other arrogant and domineering martial artists, a humble person like Li Meng will definitely have an unlimited future. If you have such a foundation now, how much will you return to in the future!

They didn't know Li Meng's true thoughts. Li Meng was actually ashamed and blamed himself. After the Qing army came out of the customs, the approximate losses were counted very quickly. The Qing army went deep into 1,300 miles and captured one prefecture, one prefecture, thirty counties, and two passes; killed two Ming Governors, fifty generals and officials above the garrison; captured more than 200,000 people, and the suffering and property losses suffered by the people of the Central Plains were even more numerous.

In Dezhou City, among all the prefectures and counties in Shandong, all the soldiers and villages of Jiaozhou Camp and the village who are dependent on the Jiaozhou Camp are all very energetic. With so many soldiers in the world, only Jiaozhou Camp has such victory. This is really a big increase in ambition. As members of Jiaozhou Camp, they all have a very glorious face. Not only do they think so, but even outsiders must raise their thumbs up and praise them.

Although he was arrogant and excited, Li Meng was very calm. He did not kill good and made contributions. This credit was real and there was no need to appear false. However, when there was no one in the night, Li Meng still felt deeply ashamed and blamed himself. He often thought so, if other people traveled through time and space to this era, would it be better than him?

After the battle near Qihe County, Li Meng was really like a bucket of cold water pouring down from his head. He was originally so arrogant, but he turned out that after encountering actual combat, he was like this.

After the Jiaozhou Camp gathered in Dezhou City, the governor and the military eunuch strictly ordered the Jiaozhou Camp to station in Shandong, while privately begging Li Meng not to pursue him and stayed to hug Shandong Ping'an. Sometimes Li Meng thought about whether he was using this step to station at that time. Strictly speaking, I was afraid that he would give up.

More than 10,000 Jiaozhou camp troops were fighting in Shandong, with quick and convenient supply, dense intelligence networks, and a clear eye-catching advantage. Even such a battle example was made. If you go to the northern Zhili area, which is not familiar with life, and fight on the plain that was destroyed by the Tartars, you will have some chance of winning.

Without the chance of winning, the entire army was somewhat sure to collapse. Without the more than 10,000 elite soldiers and generals from the Jiaozhou Camp, Li Meng's original status was gone. Now he is also a big landlord and rich man in Shandong. If he had not had the power of the Jiaozhou Camp, he could force Qiu Lei to hang himself. Could it be that others would not be able to force him?

But if he pursued himself, would he save more people? As Li Meng gradually became stronger, he often thought that he should not be alone, but should help the world. When he came to this era and reached this point, shouldn’t he change the coming dark end? But in the end, he did nothing and changed nothing...

In history without Li Meng, historical books record this way: "On the ninth day of the third month of the 12th year of Chongzhen, the Qing army left Qingshankou and retreated to Liaodong. In this service, the Qing army entered the pass for half a year, went deep into two thousand miles, and reached Wenshan, Yanzhou Prefecture, and captured one prefecture, three prefectures, fifty-five counties, and two passes; killed two Ming Governors, and more than a hundred generals and officers above the garrison; captured more than 460,000 people, more than 4,000 taels of gold, and more than 970,000 taels of silver."
Chapter completed!