As much as Yue Zhongqi and the 14th Prince's judgment, the Ming army in Cangzhou did not have the idea of ​​really conquering Shandong.

From the beginning, Lin Jianzhang made preparations. His real goal was the Thirteenth Prince of Zhili. As for the Ming army in Cangzhou, except for a new army in a regiment, the rest of the troops were ordinary army and Tianjin Marines. Although this unit had more than 10,000 people and had good combat effectiveness, there was still a lot of gap compared to the real main force of the new army.

It is best to be able to conquer Cangzhou, but it doesn't matter if it can't be. The purpose of this army is to make a big fuss to create an illusion of the Ming army attacking Shandong. Moreover, the Ming army took Qingxian in just a few days. After the troops arrived at the city of Cangzhou, they attacked Cangzhou City with artillery fire. In this way, the Qing army could not be misjudged.

Now, in the battle of Mentougou, the main forces of the Qing army in Zhili were almost all captured in one go, so the Ming army in Cangzhou also took the initiative to slow down the offensive. After the reinforcements of the 14th Prince arrived, the Qing army voluntarily withdrew back to Qingxian and continued to put pressure on Cangzhou with Qingxian as the base of advance. At the same time, the main forces of the Ming army began to move south from Beijing to harvest the fruits of victory in front of them.

In this battle, because the Ming army cleverly set up a trap, while achieving huge results, the Ming army suffered little actual losses. More importantly, the main force of the Thirteenth Prince was wiped out in one battle, which made it easy to capture the entire Zhili.

Before planning this battle, Lin Jianzhang had always been concerned about the new army's strength and uncertain battlefield factors. After all, compared with the Qing army, the new army did not have much strength. Although the Ming army was powerful, once the front line was lengthened, there were many uncertain factors in both logistics and war.

As mentioned earlier, the most powerful thing about the new army is firearms, but the new army is not omnipotent. The new army's mobility is not strong, and the firearms troops have relatively high requirements for logistics and weather. In addition, the Ming army has limited military strength, so it is impossible for the entire Zhili to distribute their advantages. Once the Thirteenth Prince engages in a fight with the Ming army, it will be difficult for the Ming army to play its advantages.

If we fight like this, the Ming army can only adopt the tactic of eroding step by step, but even if it does, it will encounter obstacles from the Qing army. Therefore, in Lin Jianzhang's view, the best way is to eliminate the main force of the Qing army in one fell swoop. As long as the Qing army's vitality is killed by the Ming army, it will be much easier to fight Zhili.

It is precisely for this reason that Lin Jianzhang decided to set up a trap after receiving Mu Zhongming's report. If this plan could be done, it would be possible to destroy the Qing army in Zhili in one fell swoop. If it didn't work, it would be okay. At worst, it would be just to continue to adopt the previous tactics. But what he never expected was that the Thirteenth Prince actually fell into the plan and plunged in without hesitation.

After this battle, the Ming army was even more imposing. After the Battle of Mentougou, the Ming army quickly moved south and reached the vicinity of Xingtai in just one month. At this time, there were only less than 10,000 Qing troops stationed in Xingtai. Faced with such a situation, the Qing army was panicked. At the first day of the first day of the New Year, the Qing army lost Xingtai and continued to retreat south to Handan.

"General, the general has an order!" Jia Cheng took down Xingtai. Jia Cheng was as famous as Zhang Zhao in the new army, and they were both powerful generals of the new army.

When Jia Cheng attacked Tianjin Wei in the north, he was Zhang Zhao's deputy, and now Jia Cheng has made great achievements. This time, the new army went south to Zhili, Jia Cheng begged many times in front of Lin Jianzhang and finally got a vanguard job, which made him very happy.

Because the Thirteenth Prince was defeated in Mentougou, the Qing army went south and did not resist well. Jia Cheng led his army almost to advance straight in and attacked Xingtai in one breath. He was even more unbearable in Xingtai, forcing the Qing army to retreat to Handan on its own initiative. Jia Cheng is now majestic and even more proud. In his opinion, if he continues to fight like this, it will not take long to attack the Yellow River.

As soon as he entered Xingtai, Jia Cheng had not had time to go to his temporary command center, Lin Jianzhang's order arrived.

After taking the order, Jia Cheng, who was still smiling a moment ago, changed his face instantly and his old face turned dark.

"General, what did the general say?" The two regiment commanders couldn't help asking.

"I didn't say anything." Jia Cheng put the order in his arms, and then said with a stern face: "What are you still doing here? After taking Xingtai, is there nothing to do? All places have been resettled? Is the situation in the city clear? There is also the troops stationed, the food, grass, gunpowder, etc., all done?"

"This...General..."

"What this one is not here, why don't you go quickly! Be careful of my marching and law!" Jia Cheng scolded the head and scolded these subordinates so much that they couldn't even speak. Then he ignored them and turned around and left.

"I said, the general has taken gunpowder? Why is it so angry suddenly?" A regiment commander asked with lingering fear as Jia Cheng left his back.

Another regiment commander shook his head and said, "Ask me, who will I ask? God knows what's wrong with the general."

"Look, does it have anything to do with the command of the Grandmaster? The general was in a good mood just now, and his face turned dark after seeing the command."

"Hey, it's possible that you said this. Could it be that the general was so angry with us? It shouldn't be! Our army was so powerful all the way. Wasn't this battle good?"

"Who knows this? I said brother, the general is angry. Everyone should be careful. You also know the general's temper. It is not a good thing to really fall into his hands."

Everyone nodded repeatedly, then dispersed, doing whatever they should do.

Two days later, Lin Jianzhang's main force arrived fifty miles north of Xingtai. The troops had just stopped and were about to rest here for one day and enter Xingtai on the second day. Who would have thought that Jia Chengru had just set up a camp and ran from Xingtai. As soon as he entered the camp, he would see Lin Jianzhang.

"I have met the commander-in-chief!" When he heard Jia Cheng coming, Lin Jianzhang asked someone to bring him in. As soon as he entered the tent, Jia Cheng first gave a salute report, but when Lin Jianzhang looked up, he saw Jia Cheng looking reluctant on his face.

"Aren't you in Xingtai? Why did you come here to me?" Lin Jianzhang asked.

"Returning to the Grand Marshal, I learned that the Grand Marshal had approached Xingtai, so I came to visit him." Jia Cheng replied hard.

"Haha, visit?" Lin Jianzhang immediately smiled and looked at Jia Cheng up and down: "You are good at using this word, but you can still think of visiting me? By the way, since it is a visit, what local specialties have you brought?"

"Local specialties?" Jia Cheng was stunned and didn't know how to answer.

Lin Jianzhang immediately laughed and scolded, "I don't find a good one to find a reason, I can't wait to come to see me, what's wrong with me?"

Jia Cheng said angrily: "Master General, this battle is good, why did I suddenly stop? I just took Xingtai and was about to fight Handan in one go. You called to stop and delayed a few days in Xingtai. Where did you fight like this?"

"Oh, how should you fight?" Lin Jianzhang asked back, and without waiting for Jia Cheng to answer, he immediately emphasized his tone: "Continue to rush south with your idea? Take Handan and then attack Anyang? Then take down Xinxiang directly? Then cross the Yellow River to Kaifeng? Then attack Xuchang, occupy Xinyang, and rush to Hubei in one breath? Then meet with friendly troops in Hubei?"

"I..." Jia Cheng opened his mouth. To be honest, he did think so in his heart, but he was not stupid. Jia Cheng is not an ordinary Qiu Ba who can be a general in the new army. Not to mention fighting to Xinyang in one breath, it would be good to be able to fight to the Yellow River.

"What are you?" Lin Jianzhang cursed: "Do you think you are carrying the heavenly soldiers and generals? You are holding the magic weapon of the Taishang Laojun? Childish! With more than 10,000 people, do you want to go south and cross the Yellow River to the Yangtze River? Although the firearms of the new army are sharp, they use ammunition. In addition, this person wants to eat and horses eat grass. Without these things, the firearms in their hands are fire sticks, which can kill people?"

Lin Jianzhang pointed to the hanging map and said, "Look at it yourself. Our army has been fighting here for nearly a thousand miles from Beijing City. It has entered the hinterland with a thousand miles of battles. This logistics supply needs to be transported from the north, and it consumes a lot along the way. Moreover, our army is only more than 30,000 people in full. How can these more than 30,000 people control such a large area? Now your army has become a prominent unit, sandwiched between Shanxi, Henan and Shandong. Once the Qing army comes out from the three places and cut off my retreat, how do you stay?"

"I... I'm humble..." Jia Cheng had nothing to say for a moment. Lin Jianzhang clicked a few places on the map. He had already seen it clearly. The power of the new army has reached almost the limit. Although the new army can continue to attack Handan, what can we do to capture Handan? Once the Handan City is captured, not only will the new army need to control a larger area, but the pressure will be heavier than the logistics.

"There is one more thing you don't know." Lin Jianzhang sighed and said, "I just got the news not long ago that Longkodo's main force had approached Anyang, and the Qing army in Shanxi was also gathering eastward. The two units had a large number, and there were probably nearly 100,000 people."

"Master, is this news reliable?" Jia Cheng was startled and asked hurriedly.

"Of course reliable!" Lin Jianzhang glared at him and said, "Why would I give that order? I am worried that you, a kid, will be distracted and suffer a great loss. It doesn't matter if you die alone. Once you lose more than 10,000 forwards, this great situation will be gone!"

Hearing this, Jia Cheng understood completely. Looking back on his angrily feeling in his heart, he felt ashamed on his face.

Over the past month, I have indeed been distracted and I am a little unaware of the fact that the world is thick. Now that Lin Jianzhang's basin of cold water has immediately made him wake up a lot. Thinking about what Lin Jianzhang said just now and looking at the hanging map, Jia Cheng suddenly felt a little scared.
Chapter completed!