Chapter 517: Letter from the Grassland

In fact, the return of Li Meng's army caught many people in the city off guard. Of course, this kind of unexpected surprise was a simple emotion, a sudden surprise.

Li Meng mobilized 60,000 soldiers from Jiaozhou camp to fight in Henan, while the Ming army mobilized more than 200,000, and the Shun army mobilized more than 300,000. A governor of the Ming Dynasty and five generals participated. Shun army invested all from the King of Rebellion to the generals below. All three parties had used their capital to guard their families.

In the Ming Dynasty, this scale of war was basically based on months, and often lasted for one year. However, it took Li Meng no more than three months from departure to returning. The battle with real swords and guns ended in just a few days, and the preparation was one day.

Li Meng's return so quickly made his family ecstatic. After all, it was the pillars of the family who were fighting outside, and it was a battle of this scale, which always made people worry and frightened.

However, returning so soon made some people feel surprised. If it ends so quickly, don’t suffer a loss outside and say that you have won it yourself.

It was not until the news of Jiaozhou Camp's victory was transmitted back from non-Shandong channels that I was sure that everyone could finally confirm that everything was in control of Li Meng.

The children grew up very quickly, and only a few months later, Li Hong and Li Wu both grew a little bit. After seeing Li Meng, they began to be timid and dared not go forward, but later they were tired of it. This was also the father-son relationship, which relieved Li Meng's fatigue from fighting outside.

As for the wives and concubines around me, I have been separated for many days, so I can’t talk about these privacy matters. There are also the garrison and resettlement of the Jinan base camp, and the return of General Zhao Neng, the former garrison of Denglai, was not considered a real stop.

On November 21, an urgent emergency report of 600 miles was heard in Henan. This was a document of victory from the commander of the Central Plains Army Chen Liu. Chen Liu personally led four regiments of the Central Reinforcement Army to defeat Nanyang, the city of Nanyang, which had little resistance. According to Chen Liu's letter, the Nanyang City defenders had only 3,000. After a little resistance, they left the city to retreat.

The military newspaper said in detail that in the prefectures and counties of Henan Prefecture and Nanyang Prefecture, all troops stationed in the Shun Army and those who were loyal to the King of Chuang took the initiative to retreat, while the remaining garrisons were either local tyrants, and they directly mutinized and turned the tables. Some troops collapsed after leaving the city.

When the army in Shandong arrived, many of them took the initiative to surrender. These surrendered and captured Shun Army soldiers were taken over by staff at all levels of the Tuntianzhuang that followed, and Tuntianzhuang was set up on the spot.

Chen Liu's military newspaper also specifically mentioned in the two counties of Yuzhou and Zhenping in Nanyang Prefecture. The Shun army of these two counties collapsed early, but these two places were occupied by two landlords who had set up a mountain village to protect themselves. They knew the news and killed them. Among them, the local tyrants in Zhenping County were named Wang Qifeng, who called themselves "King Qi". Before going up the mountain, they were a local merchant who trafficked jade, and they had always had contacts with people from the green forest on the mountain.

When the Shun Army arrived, Wang Qifeng and his men went up the mountain, and naturally formed a place with the green forest bandits who had been there. Wang Qifeng himself had a village soldier of three or four hundred,000 people, who had taken over nearly two thousand young and strong people in the village. In addition, the bandits on the mountain were also scattered or robbed, and they were fired and merged on the mountain, and they also gathered nearly five thousand soldiers, which was the first-class force in Nanyang Prefecture.

Wang Qifeng is very good at observing the scenery. When the Shun Army was powerful, they would never leave easily when they stayed on the mountain. They just went to the junction of Nanyang and Runing. The Shun Army had been busy recruiting soldiers and stabilizing the place. They had never taken much energy into taking care of these powerful armed forces on the mountain. As a result, Wang Qifeng's power continued to exist.

When the Shun Army retreated, the "King of Qi" Wang Qifeng thought that the opportunity had come, and led a large group of troops to occupy Zhenping County, and constantly plundered the civilians around to enrich his strength.

According to Li Meng's request in advance, he occupied Nanyang Prefecture City first, and then further occupied Xinye, completely forcing the Shun Army to come out in Huguang area.

But Wang Qifeng really ruined the local area. After Chen Liu occupied Nanyang Prefecture City, he directly sent a regiment with artillery.

Wang Qifeng has been on the mountain for a long time, but he doesn't know much about the situation below. He thought that Shandong soldiers were the usual Ming army. He estimated that he had more than 5,000 people, but he had no problem with eating more than 2,000 Ming soldiers. He finally occupied such a large territory, how could he vomit it out?

Everyone can understand the luck of the Ming Dynasty. It will not last a few days. Taking this opportunity to gain more territory and strength is the main business.

However, after the two sides started a war, this could not even be called a battle. Wang Qifeng was swaying in front of the formation, and the three-pound field artillery of the three-point regiment was set up and aimed at it.

First, the target was conspicuous, and second, the luck of the cannon this time was better. Wang Qifeng was fat and was directly killed in front of the formation.

Even though Wang Qifeng's confidants wanted to gather people and immediately forward, they completely disintegrated after the second round of artillery attacks. Then they were descending and running. People in the mountains and fields had never seen such powerful weapons.

Although it delayed the attack on Xinye, the destruction of the largest group of rural brave men in Nanyang Prefecture also made those around who could not see the situation clearly recognize the interests. The ground became much quieter, and no one had any bad intentions to attack the officials who were busy farming and surrendered.

According to Chen Liu's letter, Xinye was already an empty city. It seems that the Shun Army was about to shrink all its power, use Huguang as the hinterland and Xiangyang as the front line to build defense. The collapse of hundreds of thousands of troops has made the armed forces in the hands of the Shun Army very embarrassed.

The horse army led by Tang Er was training and fighting. Henan Prefecture and Ruzhou had almost been cleared out, and garrisoned troops were set up in Tongguan and Shanzhou to defend against possible enemies from Shaanxi and Shanxi. However, the Ming army in Shaanxi and Shanxi was even more nervous, and their defense was more complete than that of Jiaozhou Camp.

Currently, the only place in Henan where the remnants of Shun Army are active is the southern part of Zhenyang County and Xincai County of Runing Prefecture. Most of them are mountainous areas with complex terrain. The Shun Army, which is unwilling to fail, hid in the mountainous areas and fought guerrillas. It has no strength to reach there yet, so it can only temporarily maintain the peace of Runing Prefecture north of Xincai and Zhenyang.

This area is in charge of the deputy general Gaoke who is ready to go in Xuzhou. The troops he led came over, so it should be no big problem to calm down.

This time the military newspaper can also be said to be a document to report victory, but Chen Liu also made a request in the letter, hoping to expand the army of about 15,000 more in Henan, because although the horse army is elite, it will definitely not grow in Henan and will be transferred one day. At that time, the Central Plains Army may also be responsible for the strategy of Shaanxi and several other places, and the troops are too small to deal with it.

After reading this expedited military newspaper, Li Meng was relieved of the situation in Henan. Regarding the increase in troops, Li Meng had to wait for the annual report of Kaifeng, Guide, Henan, and several prefectures in the Yellow River. Although Henan is a major province, it has also been destroyed to an amazing level in previous wars. It is necessary to see how far it has recovered so that it can be done within its ability.

After November 25, the whole city of Jinan began to be busy with the New Year. The Spring Festival of the Duke of Qi's Mansion was not just a family banquet, but also many ritual and etiquette things, such as those who could come to the banquet, qualified civil servants and military generals in Shandong, and tyrants in great merchants and gentry. This is a big event.

Yan Ruoran led several of the housekeepers in the family to be busy, while Mu Yunyao, Gu and Liu were criticized by Li Meng in private. The investigation department missed such a big thing in Linqingzhou from under his nose. What is the purpose of such an organization? Otherwise, it would be put outside for Huang Ping and Hou Shan and others to do it. The girl would just take good care of the family, so why should she take care of such a heavy business?

But Mu Yunyao didn't know why, and insisted on refusing to let go. Since there was a mistake in the inspection department, it would be self-inspection and repair step by step.

The reason is also very simple. Li Meng needed intelligence cooperation from all aspects and also took into account the movements of the other forces. Most of the intelligence forces, both open and secret, were sent out. In Shandong, there were armed salt and village guards suppressing each other, thinking that they would be safe. Who would have thought that they would be able to take advantage of the cult? It really made people feel helpless.

Li Meng also felt awkward. He was obviously his wife, but he also had the identity of his subordinates. He was confused about public affairs and private affairs, and it was inconvenient. But he still had to keep a little more at ease in his own hands.

On November 27th, Li Meng inspected several military camps outside the city according to the rules and came to the inner study room. Sun Chuanting and a group of civil servants were all dealing with the important tasks of the Jiaozhou camp here. Many things needed to be handled by Li Meng. Instead of sending them to the main hall, it would be better to go there by yourself and know the first-hand situation and communicate with Sun Chuanting.

Li Meng entered the inner study room, and all the civil servants stood up. Li Meng waved his hand and asked them to be busy. He leaned against the inner room and separated a small space with a screen. Sun Chuanting, wearing an iron mask, sat there to handle the government affairs of the document. Seeing Li Meng coming, Sun Chuanting supported the iron face on his face. Now this was his habitual action. The two of them exchanged greetings. Sun Chuanting picked up a document placed on the table and said with a smile:
Chapter completed!