Chapter 242: Going on the road

Li Meng stood there and pondered. Juren Zhou was also planning a manuscript on the side of the book. It was nothing more than the need for the various farms to prepare for the supply of food and grass personnel. At the same time, the village protection team should also mobilize quickly to maintain order and stabilize the place.

Zhou Juren was also a literati from the right path. This kind of official document work was easy and fast, and he had the spare time to think about other things. Zhou Yang was also a capable official and had just opposed Li Meng's plan to send troops. However, once the master made a decision, he immediately made suggestions for this matter.

"General, I have to be careful about something when I go to Jinan Prefecture. After all, Jinan Prefecture is the Shandong General Officer Qiu Lei for many years. This time I went to work together. Beware that Qiu Lei has caused us a lot of trouble!"

Li Meng laughed and said:

"No matter how we do it, General Qiu must find some unhappiness for Jiaozhou Camp. But it's fine, Jiaozhou Camp has always abide by the laws of the court and will never do such arrogant things. It is impossible to provoke private fights. But if others want to create conflicts, Jiaozhou Camp will defend itself reasonably and legally, that would make sense."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Meng and Zhou Yang looked at each other and laughed at each other, and the dull atmosphere in the room was wiped out.

The Jiaozhou Battalion headquarters has 7,000 soldiers, each of which is a battalion, and is stationed separately. This time, the order was gathered for four days. Whether each battalion can act quickly or not is actually an important test of the ability of the officers leading the team, and it is also a test of the control ability of the officers leading the team before the war.

After General Li Meng issued the order, he would take his guards to inspect the battalions every day, check the preparations, and compare and assess officers at all levels.

The five hundred personal guards led by Wang Hai ranked second among the battalions, which made Wang Hai extremely ashamed. The soldiers and horses led by the generals of the Ming Dynasty were the most elite soldiers. This was not the case with Jiaozhou Camp. The personal guards often existed as a reserve squad for grassroots officers. However, people at that time were used to it, Wang Hai always felt that the personal guards led by him should be the strongest soldier in the Jiaozhou Camp and a role model for each battalion, but he did not expect that such a result.

Li Meng did not criticize Wang Hai for this, because there are differences between the personal guard camp and the troops below themselves, and it is not possible to treat them in general. It is already very good to be ranked second. Moreover, this is an informal consideration and does not explain anything. The real level of the enemy needs to be tested in wartime.

The first battalion is the battalion stationed at the Qianhu Station of Xuejia Island. The Qiancheng of the battalion said that it is very close to the Jiaozhou Camp. It is Zhang Jiang, the nephew of the old military clerk Zhang Lin.

This incident made Li Meng feel a little moved. The outstanding officers in his system, the group of old salt gangs who followed him, were Zhao Neng, Wang Hai, Chen Liu, Tang Er, and Ma Gang, who was born in Lingshan Guard. Zhang Jiang was also a military household in Lingshan Guard. Currently, there are 12 battalions in Shandong, including 12 thousand generals, and only three are more than a dozen people who started their business back then. Most of the rest are built in the Tuntian Village.

As for the remaining group of officers, most of them were recruited by Lingshan Guard later, and among them, some children from other families, such as the general flag, hundreds of households, and thousands of households, most of them received some special military training and had better family conditions.

After entering Jiaozhou Camp, these people could accept the ideas and knowledge instilled by Li Meng faster than those poor families, and adapt to the hard training in Jiaozhou Camp. Of course, the feelings were due to the feelings that these officers were more loyal to Li Meng and even had a fanatical admiration. And the dozen people who started their family got along with Li Meng at the beginning had some peer attitudes when they got along with Li Meng.

Therefore, the old brothers who were still working in the camp were all conscientious and low-key, so that they could have their current position. As for the others, they unknowingly left this system and went to the relatively less critical military farming system to build a farmhouse.

Zhang Jiang is three years older than Wang Hai, 22 years old this year. He recruited soldiers from Lingshan Guards for the first time to enter Jiaozhou Camp. At that time, the free and easy coach Zhang Lin had already started training to ride a horse salt. He knew that his nephew joined Jiaozhou Camp and had a big temper. However, this young man also had an idea, saying that what was the point of farming at home and eating grain for the rest of his life? It would be better to work hard in Jiaozhou Camp and still be able to support his family.

After all, he was born in a military family, and his uncle Zhang Lin was also a good archer and horseman. Zhang Jiang, like Ma Gang, had some basic military education. And what was strange was that although Zhang Jiang's father was already a military household who farmed peacefully, Zhang Jiang had a courageous spirit of not being afraid of death.

He was well-versed in combat skills, had military experience, and dared to take the lead. He attacked the Peng family in Guchengji, attacked the horse bandits in Xiazhuang in Gaomi, pacified the thieves in Dongchang Prefecture, and sneaked into Liu Zeqing in Yanzhou. He participated in all battles, and had military achievements. He had such skills and qualifications, so he naturally got promoted step by step. Now he is already the Qianzong of the following battalion.

There are many officers who have experienced this. They are the backbone groups of Jiaozhou Camp and are fanatical supporters of Li Meng. Because they can achieve their current situation is entirely due to the strategies and training methods taught by Li Meng. Their wealth today is completely due to Li Meng's gift.

On October 19, the 19th year of Chongzhen, 6,000 troops from the Jiaozhou Camp Headquarters were launched. Dengzhou Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture were empty for a while, but the two prefectures were stable and had nothing to do, because the guards of the village camp in the military farm were enough to shock the illegal people, and the thieves and bandits were already in peace because of Li Meng's request.

Because there are many powerful people who are attached to Jiaozhou camp along the way, and the military farms are distributed everywhere, and there are people who assist in replenishing supplies on the marching road. They can travel inside and be wary of camping at any time, so the speed of traveling is fast.

Leading an army to fight, life and death is common. Li Meng has been a general for many years, so he naturally saw through this. However, when he left, he felt a little heavy in his heart. Yan Ruoran forced himself to calm down and told Li Meng some attention to safety. He also wished the army success. But who could see Yan Ruoran's red eyes? He had cried.

As for Mu Yunyao, he didn't dare to meet Li Meng. Guo Dong's wife reported that Mu Yunyao had cried in her room and prayed for Li Meng in front of Guanyin statue every day. Gu Hengbo and Liu Rushi were relatively normal, but they were also worried, but they were still calm.

The backbone of the soldiers in Jiaozhou camp are the military households of the two garrisons Lingshan and Aoshan. This time, these military families were of course reluctant and sad.

If there are deserters, behead him immediately. This is the death order issued by Li Meng and officers at all levels. He was also worried that this reluctance to leave would affect morale. The situation was much more optimistic than Li Meng expected. Although he was worried, these military households also understood that taking General Li's full amount of money and food, because General Li lived a better life, he should have fought for General Li's life, otherwise he would be a ungrateful person.

Before they knew it, these Ming military households replaced the court in their hearts with "General Li".

On the second day of November, Li Meng's troops met with one thousand soldiers of Zhao Neng.

The marching speed was very fast and the team remained unchaotic. The Jiaozhou camp did not think there was anything special about this. However, in the eyes of the powerful clans along the road, and in the eyes of the officials passing by the prefectures and counties, such a mighty and majestic army was really respectable and terrifying.

Invisibly, Jiaozhou Camp held a demonstration along the way. Seeing Jiaozhou Camp's military power, all the locals were intimidated. All the villagers and fellow villagers from all over the country took a pot of slurry and rewarded them along the way.

This march made the gentry and wealthy tribes who were just looking at the scenery and saw the true strength of the Jiaozhou Camp. They were originally loyal and even more devoted, and those who had other ideas became loyal. In addition, the young and strong people in the area saw such a majesty. The rumors that the soldiers of the Jiaozhou Camp could have enough food were verified. Moreover, the military discipline of the Jiaozhou Camp was excellent, and the soldiers all had a spirit that other troops did not have. In today's chaotic times, such an army is indeed very desirable.

On the eighth day of November, Li Meng's troops met with Ma Gang's two thousand soldiers. At the same time, Shandong Governor Yan Jizu sent an envoy to send a message, ordering the army not to enter Jinan and rush to Dezhou to set up defenses.

When Li Meng received this news during the march, he thought it was Shandong general Qiu Lei who was making trouble and asked him to go to the border to support him, while Qiu Lei lived in the capital of Jinan. However, the next day, Hou Shan and Huang Ping's spies sent back the news, saying that this decision was the idea of ​​Yang Sichang, the Minister of War.

Yang Sichang, a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and Minister of War, believed that if the Qing army entered Shandong, it would inevitably enter from Dezhou, so he sent an envoy to send a message to Shandong Governor Yan Jizu, asking him to mobilize most of Shandong troops to strengthen defense in Dezhou and avoid being penetrated by the Qing army.

Yang Sichang is now the most favored minister of Emperor Chongzhen. His orders were almost the same as the emperor's will. Shandong Governor Yan Jizu naturally did not dare to go against it. Yang Sichang was not a famous character for his magnanimity.

But the army was outside, and the communication methods at this time were clear and clear in the capital hundreds of miles apart. Yang Sichang couldn't do it.

But since the army has set out, it must follow the above orders, otherwise the nature of this action will change from official business to unstoppable action.
Chapter completed!