Chapter 255: Farewell

For the Ming Dynasty's official army, going to the north to Zhili was an inside battle. In fact, it can be seen from the Lu Xiangsheng incident that although it was in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, it may not be an inside line. Food and salary supplies cannot be given by just giving.

However, the Ministry of War had no war in the Northern Zhili, and the document of the Ministry of War to summon troops from all over the country, it was specifically stated that the military pay, food and fodder were all supplied by the imperial court and the local prefectures in the Northern Zhili. Although this promise was made, Li Meng was half-believing and half-doubled. He regarded the fight against the Tartars as a national war, but some people used it as a means to eliminate dissidents.

Although Jiaozhou Camp agreed to send troops, the preparation time should not be short, and supply and logistics transportation must be prepared. In the Romance Review, the storyteller easily said a tens of thousands of troops. It was extremely simple to go here and there. But even Li Meng, one of the ten thousand soldiers, would take a lot of effort to start the operation.

On December 26, the 11th year of Chongzhen, Li Meng's army set out for Zhending Prefecture, Northern Zhili. The reason why it was faster than expected was that Hejian Prefecture and Cangzhou urgently prepared a batch of military rations and supplies to deliver them, and Jingzhou also mobilized civilians to work and assist the marching.

There are police in the capital, and they are all prefectures in the northern Zhili provinces. The Hejian Prefecture also feels cold in his lips, so he is very dedicated and hard. Moreover, the money and grain allocated is a warehouse for the canal transportation. After passing the hand, a lot of oil and water will be obtained, and the prefecture and county officials are also very enthusiastic.

By the way, 20% of the money and grains in Jiaozhou camp were deducted as usual, which is a rare small share. It is considered to be a special case for the sake of the country and nation.

When the army was in action, the range of activities of the horse team was smaller than when they were stationed in Texas, but the frequency and number of round trips increased greatly, which was also to allow the army to react more quickly.

However, Jiaozhou Camp walked very slowly on the way from Jingzhou to Hengshui. The reason was that Tatar cavalry was discovered in the broken Anping County area. After Li Meng's reconnaissance cavalry traveled several times, he found that there were indeed Tartar cavalry there. He just passed there and immediately went south quickly.

This increasingly confirmed the judgment of the people above and below. The Qing army was preparing to loot in northern Zhili. Now all prefectures and counties have robbed them, leaving Guangping Prefecture and Daming Prefecture, the southernmost Guangping Prefecture.

On the first day of the first lunar month of the 12th year of Chongzhen, Jiaozhou Camp celebrated the New Year in Jizhou City. Jizhou City was already defeated by the Qing army, and the population in the city was only one-tenth, and even this one-tenth was the one-tenth of it fled to the nearby countryside when the large troops of Jiaozhou Camp came.

However, this city can be used as a fortification. At least it saves a lot of effort when camping. On the morning of the first day of the New Year, before setting off the camp, the entire army lined up in front of the camp.

Two large cars were parked on the road, with five wooden coffins on the carriage, and Jiaozhou Camp stood in front of them. Li Meng was wearing armor and military uniforms, standing next to the carriage. Although there were nearly 10,000 people in the venue, it was very quiet.

"Jiazhou Camp went to war, and these five brothers fought bravely, died gloriously, and were posthumously given to the team. The family gave them 100 acres of land. They were supported by Jiaozhou Camp for a lifetime, and the fields were passed down from generation to generation."

A personal soldier shouted loudly there. The officers and soldiers present heard every word clearly. Everyone had different emotions. Wei Li, who had been promoted to the horse team, and the cavalry who had experienced the battle on the same day were already in tears.

Li Meng took a step forward, and a man next to him followed with a wooden plate. There were three glasses of wine on the wooden plate. Li Meng picked up the wine glass, sprinkled the wine on the ground in front of the cart, and said slowly:

"The sons and men in Jiaozhou camp are all treating their sons and nephews. Every time they die, they are like cutting off their flesh in their hearts. But they are heartbroken with the Tartars. They also feel glory for you. They fight against the barbarians. They are heroes of my Jiaozhou camp. In the future, they will enjoy the incense and offer sacrifices to the Yingling Temple. I will lead the army to fight the Tartars to death and cannot send you back to their hometowns. These three glasses of wine will be considered as farewell to you."

After saying this, Li Meng took a step back, clasped his fists with his hands, bowed deeply, and the camp had become silent, with only Wei Li and his other people crying.

Suddenly, there was a shout of tsunami in the entire Jiaozhou Camp. No matter whether it was officers or soldiers, or generals or small schools, everyone was shouting:

"I wish to die for the Lord, and I wish to die for the General!!"

Everyone was shouting there sincerely, and everyone shouted loudly. Although it was cold and cold, everyone felt that the blood in their bodies seemed to be boiling, and their morale was high and in full swing.

After the worship ceremony, Li Meng took the lead in getting on the horse, and the entire army set off, heading towards Nangong County.

The idea of ​​giving land has been planned for a long time. It was originally intended to raise land in Huguang and attract Shandong soldiers to go. In the end, because Huguang is uneasy, the eunuch Liu Fulai temporarily stopped moving his official position. However, this plan has some benefits, that is, a good way to stabilize the morale of the soldiers and enhance the cohesion of the soldiers.

Preaching and indoctrination education are certainly a means, but people of this era, especially soldiers recruited from peasants and military families, have indeed had the intention to die effectively, but if they use actual interests to motivate and encircle them, the effect will definitely be greatly strengthened.

There is no shortage of land. Li Meng is already a landlord in Shandong second only to Confucius's mansion. The farm farm is an example of the land that is placed in front of everyone. These fields belong to Li Meng's private property. The so-called land granting means giving the right to use the land to the soldiers' families. It only collects 10% or half a share of the harvest, and the rest belongs to the people who were granted the land.

This is equivalent to that every soldier and officer who obtained the land on Li Meng's side is a second landlord. Their land ownership is closely related to Li Meng. Only when Li Meng fails to fall and becomes more prosperous and rich, will their land ownership become more and more secure, and will continue to be full of food and clothing from generation to generation, and may even become rich due to the accumulation of military merits. However, if the collective Li Meng and Jiaozhou Camp are dumped, the land and abundant life they obtain will disappear.

You should know what kind of desire does civilians and soldiers from military families have for this hundred acres of land? Isn’t it just that they will live a better life and go from farming to land? The rewards from these sacrificed soldiers mean that the policy is about to begin to be implemented.

The soldiers all have this awareness in their hearts. Fighting for the Jiaozhou Camp is in exchange for a wealthy life for themselves and their families, fighting to the death, making their wealthy life better, fighting to the death, defending this group, defending Li Meng, and allowing their improved life to last for a long time, rather than a flash in the pan.

Li Meng's precepts before the camp were very effective in encouraging morale, but no one noticed that Li Meng only mentioned Jiaozhou Camp everywhere, but only said that he was the general, but did not mention the Ming Dynasty or the imperial court at all.

However, after leaving Jizhou, there was a problem with the grain supply. He set up a camp in Nangong County and got a military newspaper to explore the horse, saying that the Qing army had signs of stopping between Qinghe and Wei County, which was probably similar to Li Meng's judgment. Li Meng was preparing to summon the generals to discuss the next step of the action, but the quarantine officer came over and reported that "the grain and forage can only last for another two days."

It’s not that the logistics supply of Jiaozhou Camp could not keep up, but that it was about to pursue the enemy. Li Meng deliberately accelerated the marching, and the logistics supply from Dezhou gradually could not catch up.

After thinking about it, Li Meng was immediately angry and scolded:

"I'm confused. Is it necessary to go to the road of transporting supplies in Jinan Prefecture? The junction of Shandong and Beizhili is not this place. Isn't it the same when Yanzhou Prefecture comes to Linqing on Dongchang Prefecture?"

The quarconian was scolded by Li Meng so hard that his forehead was sweating. However, he knew that Li Meng was just talking about the matter, so he calmly replied:

"General, this requires a change of path. The warehouses along the way, the allocation of grain, and the convening of chariots and horses cannot be completed in one or two days. Our military supplies are also planning, and we can change the route in almost three days. Please take care of it."

Li Meng sighed and said slowly:

"This is also impossible. Does the prefecture in Northern Zhili have no money and grain allocation? Didn't there be a lot of money and grain when he was in Hejian Prefecture?"

Speaking of this, the qualifier sighed and said with a wry smile:

"The prefectures and counties on Zhending Prefecture are all broken by the Tartars, and everyone is scattered, and there is no way to talk about food and salary. If you go to Ningjin County to raise funds, local officials will deduct 70%. After calculation, it is not enough for us to spend our own carriages and horses back and forth."

"Isn't these bastards indirectly helping the Tartars?"

Li Meng shouted angrily, and the quarantine officer was full of dissatisfaction, but losing his temper was useless. Li Meng then sighed weakly and said:

"You go down first, and the grain channel changes are carried out quickly. It's enough for the camp these days."

The military officer bowed and turned around and was about to go down. As soon as he walked to the door of the military tent, he heard Li Meng behind him screaming:

"From Linqing to Northern Zhili, from Northern Zhili to Linqing, the Tatar army might have the same plan. They don't have to go to Shandong from Dezhou, but they can also be in Linqing, guards!! Guards!! Summon generals from various battalions to come here, it's all!"

I vaguely heard someone running towards the tent outside, shouting loudly, "General, I have an urgent report..."

In January of the 12th year of Chongzhen, the Qing army suddenly broke into Linqing from Guangping Prefecture, Zhili, and rushed into Shandong, and rushed straight to Jinan City, Shandong was in a hurry...
Chapter completed!