In early October of the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, as soon as winter entered, the Central Plains ushered in the first snow of the year. This snowfall was exceptionally heavy, fully demonstrating the power of the Little Ice Age to people in this troubled world.

Power. It was just the first snow, and the sky and the earth were completely white. The cold wind blew through, and snowflakes the size of goose feathers were flying in all directions. The temperature dropped sharply, and it had already reached below freezing point. Several rivers north of the Huaihe River

, a thin layer of floating ice has formed.

People living in the Central Plains have long been accustomed to this life of ice and snow as soon as winter comes. After the autumn harvest, they begin to prepare for the winter.

In the territory of the Central Plains that was firmly controlled by the Qing Dynasty, the common people who were not qualified to shave their heads and wear money-laden pigtails, although they lived under the iron heel of the so-called Tatars, did not have to worry about dying of hunger and cold in the slow winter.

Although the weather is cold and dry now, and the grain yield per mu in the Central Plains is generally low, a ten-acre farm is still enough for a slightly more diligent small farmer to get enough food from the barren land.

The land rent of four liters per acre, the household payment of one piece of cotton or linen cloth, and the labor service of one man and twenty days are really much easier than in the early days when farmers worked for the landlords.

I have to say, life is good without landlords and old wealth.

So when the first snow came in the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, in the Central Plains under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, those small, but quite strong Baowu-style villages scattered everywhere were gathering together.

of vitality.

Of course, for those people who managed to survive the waves of chaos and were not forced to move away from home, although food and clothing are no longer a problem, the danger is not far away.

The flames of war are still spreading across the Central Plains. The originally dying Ming Dynasty actually regained its vitality after moving south. With signs of ZTE, it now begins its northern expedition to the Central Plains in order to regain its lost territory.

And Zhang Xianzhong, a traitor who had been plundering in all directions for many years and killing countless people, didn't know what medicine he took. He didn't want to stay in Guanzhong and be his king of Dashun. He suddenly broke into the Central Plains and occupied Luoyang City and proclaimed himself emperor.

The small farmers in the Central Plains who originally thought that the troubled times were about to come to an end, all they can do during this winter is to stay alive and cherish every day, which is to raise the barriers of their homes as much as possible and make more preparations.

Arrowheads and wooden bows were used to guard the home.

And those gentlemen who are qualified to have a money rat-tail braid are not so lucky. They can guard their own fortress and try their best to block this endless troubled world outside their homes.

Because they have braids and all of them are lords of the Qing Dynasty, they cannot be obedient citizens of the Ming Dynasty and must fight to defend the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, starting from the autumn, the old, weak, women and children of the Qing Dynasty and the Green Banner, with not much wealth, began to gather in the castle where their respective Jia La Zhangjing was located. Some Jia La that were closer to the front were even stronger towards the rear.

The transfer of the fortress.

As for the bannermen of the Qing Dynasty's Zhenglu Banner, at this time, except for a small number of people who stayed in the fortresses where Jia La or Gushan Ezhen were located, and some were transferred to important places such as Shanxi and Beiqing, the remaining large troops

They all concentrated one after another around the city of Zhengzhou where Emperor Ama of the Qing Dynasty was stationed.

Concentrated in Zhengzhou were not only more than a hundred Niu Lu from the Zhenglu Banner, numbering in the tens of thousands, but also the powerful force of the Old Eight Banners from around Beijing, and there were also more than a hundred Niu Lu, not counting the accompanying minions.

, the number of Zhengding soldiers alone is no less than thirty or forty thousand.

Nearly 90,000 elite soldiers of the Nine Banners, in this freezing and snowy winter, finally gathered around the Qing Emperor Amadorgun!

"Long live the Emperor, long live, long live, long live the Emperor"

Outside the city of Zhengzhou, on the bank of the Yellow River that had begun to freeze, cavalry and infantry formed a square formation in units of Jia La, densely covering a large area, and they all let out high cheers. Some stood on the bank of the Yellow River.

The Qing Emperor Amadorgun finally showed a satisfied smile.

While Zhu Cixiang was busy commanding his troops to capture cities and territories in Shandong and Liaodong, and bluffing in western Liaoning, Dorgon was not idle either.

In addition to slowly gathering his feudal army these days, he has also been training the army with new tactics.

When Zhu Cixiang launched the Second Northern Expedition, Dorgon was undergoing a military reform. This generation of Tatars was the most capable of learning and progressing! Starting from Huang Taiji and ending with Dorgon

, it has evolved from a start-up country that is not much stronger than the tribal alliance to a semi-bureaucratic and semi-feudal empire with relatively strict systems.

So when they encountered the "modern Ming Army" that absorbed the latest achievements in Western military science, they naturally began to make targeted improvements.

There are two directions for improvement, one is to enhance firepower, and the other is to enhance mobility.

Although the previous Qing army was said to be "invincible with bows and horses," it was actually only mounted infantry and was not very mobile. Moreover, although the Qing army also attached great importance to artillery and even brought Hongyi artillery to the field battlefield, the firepower in the field battle was

It is also considered weak in this era.

It's just that their opponents are weaker, so they have the invincible effect.

And this kind of "invincibility" is far from the strongest state that the "Nine Flags" can achieve!

The strongest state of the "Nine Flags", in Dorgon's vision, is a combination of cavalry, mounted infantry and light field artillery.

When the 90,000 troops of the Nine Banners of the Qing Dynasty slowly gathered in Zhengzhou, Dorgon did not rush to go to war, but took his time to review and train the army outside Zhengzhou City.

In early October, Dorgon also organized a mobile drill involving 100,000 people (including coated slaves). They ran twice around Zhengzhou and ran a "high-speed" army of 100,000 people that traveled 75 miles a day.

, pulling 48 3-pound bronze cannons and 48 one-pound general cannons, as well as a large convoy of baggage, being able to travel 75 miles a day is not too slow.

Moreover, after running for several days, the army that returned to its garrison outside Zhengzhou City was still full of troops and seemed ready to go into battle at any time.

"Congratulations to the Emperor's Arma, congratulations to the Emperor's Arma. With such elite soldiers, the Emperor's Arma will definitely be able to win the battle and defeat the Southern Ming Dynasty."

Before the cheers of the soldiers completely stopped, Nikan, the king of Jingjin County who was following Dorgon, raised his thumbs up and started praising him.

"Huang Ama is really like a god in using his troops, and he is even more like a god in training his troops! It has only been a few days! He has trained such an invincible force in the world."

Abatai's third son, Duanzhong County Prince Bolo, who died of illness last year, also started playing with Nikan, with a look of admiration on his very loyal face.

"With Huang Ama here, we can dominate the world from morning to night! The elite soldiers trained by Huang Ama are simply heavenly soldiers!"

Daishan's eldest son, Mandahai, was not to be outdone, and started to flatter Emperor Ama as well. It was not flattery, it was just words that spoke from the bottom of one's heart.

After listening to the heartfelt words of Nikan, Boluo and Mandahai, Dorgon felt much better. He turned to the three of them and said, "The little emperor of the Zhu family is rich in capital. When it comes to using troops to fight, he is not good at it."

If his new army of overcoming difficulties stayed on the south bank of the Huaihe River, I would indeed have no way of attacking them. But he didn't know how to die, so he personally marched to the north. The battle in the north relied on the cavalry army. In the past, we mounted our horses.

By charging into the formation, dismounting and fighting hand-to-hand, plus the hard work of riding and shooting, we can conquer all directions. Now that we have a horse-drawn cannon, we can still do it!"

"Huang Ama," Nikan, who has already played "horse-drawn cannon", is eager to try, "I will give you this first battle. I will give you a strong force of 10,000 and twelve small red barbarian cannons. If you keep them, you can break the siege of Liaocheng."

"Hahaha," Dorgon laughed and said, "our four-legged horse army needs to go to Liaocheng to rescue the siege? That is to ask the little emperor of the Zhu family to lead him away. I don't dare to do that. I want to lead Zhu Cixiang by the nose and beat him!"
Chapter completed!