On May 23rd of the 17th year of Chongzhen, the Ming army of Qin Gongming arrived in Dezhou, Shandong.
King Ji Zhu Shuaiqin led Lu Shiyi, Zhao Jiding, Li Zanming, Cheng Xinzhen, Xie Bi, Ma Yuanluo and others as well as Dezhou squire out of the city to greet him.
From the incident on April 27th to May 23rd, Zhu Shuaiqin had trouble sleeping and eating during this month.
First of all, he was just a distant clan member, but he pretended to be King Ji, which violated the taboo of the court.
Secondly, he did not have any useful generals or troops.
Although all the hypocritical officials were captured and killed, and Huang Ming's dragon flag was planted on the city walls of Qilu, it was not easy to defend these cities.
According to Zhu Shuaiqin's knowledge, Li Zicheng retreated all the way back to Guanzhong, leaving only a part of his troops to garrison in Shanxi.
Hypocrisy and obedience are too busy to take care of themselves, so naturally they don't have the energy to enter Shandong.
The real threat comes from Donglu.
Now Shenjing is under the control of Donglu, and the entire Jifu has also submitted.
The situation in Henan is somewhat special.
Western Henan is still in the hands of Li Zicheng, and most of the other prefectures and counties are also inclined to submit to the Eastern captives.
Zhu Shuaiqin knew that the Donglu were aiming at Dingding Central Plains.
The reason why they did not march into Shandong now was not because they did not want to, but because they wanted to stabilize the rule of Jifu and Henan first.
When they free up their hands, they will definitely attack Shandong.
Although Zhu Shuaiqin tried hard to call on the gentry to recruit soldiers, he also knew that there was no difference between untrained recruits and ordinary farmers.
Donglu only needs to send a partial army of several thousand people to easily capture the entire Shandong.
Therefore, he was eagerly looking forward to the arrival of the king's division.
Ten days ago, news came from the south that Xuzhou Commander-in-Chief Gao Jie and Huai'an Commander-in-Chief Qin Gongming were ordered by the imperial court to lead 70,000 Ming troops to aid Shandong.
Until now, Zhu Shuaiqin could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Although 70,000 troops are not many, if they are concentrated in important prefectures and counties, they can barely handle it.
The Donglu were already short of troops and had to deal with Li Zicheng in the west.
It was absolutely impossible for them to send a large army to invade Shandong, at least not in the short term.
This gave the court time to train troops and resume production.
Time is the most important thing right now But it was said that Qin Gongming rode a pure black tall horse, surrounded by a group of personal guards, to the Dingbian Gate of Dezhou South Gate.
Seeing Zhu Shuaiqin and others standing outside the city to greet them, Qin Gongming nodded slightly and said, "His Royal Highness Prince Qing is interested."
After hearing this, Zhu Shuaiqin trembled suddenly as if he was struck by lightning.
Prince Qing, did he hear it right?
Even at the beginning of the uprising, in order to unite the elders of Shandong, he used the title of King Ji.
Seeing Zhu Shuaiqin's confused look, Qin Gongming explained: "Your Majesty has issued an imperial edict, allowing His Highness to inherit Qing Fan."
Zhu Shuaiqin opened his lips and wanted to say something, but he swallowed the words as soon as they reached his lips.
Unconsciously, tears filled his eyes.
The emperor’s favor is mighty, the emperor’s favor is mighty No words can express Zhu Shuaiqin's gratitude to the Holy Emperor at this moment.
It’s no wonder Zhu Shuaiqin lost his composure.
You must know that he is just a lieutenant of Fengguo in Qingfan.
Although he comes from Qingfan, he is a side branch.
If there was peace, it would be impossible for him to inherit the throne of King Qing.
But in the last years of Chongzhen's reign, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and bandits broke out everywhere.
Countless feudal lords were massacred by rogue bandits, and the Qing clan was not spared either.
Qingfan's fiefdom is in Ningxia.
In the 16th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng captured Ningxia.
The last Qing king Zhu Zhuohong and other major royal family members were arrested.
They were all taken to Shanxi for execution the following year.
Since then, all direct princes and princes of the Qing Dynasty have died out, and only distant clan members like Zhu Shuaiqin are lucky enough to survive.
According to the Ming Dynasty's management of vassals, such distant clans do not have the conditions to succeed as vassals.
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If everything develops according to normal conditions, Qingfan will be eliminated from the country.
There will be no more King Qing in the world.
But Zhu Shuaiqin did something that changed Qingfan's fate.
He led the Shandong gentry to revolt and regain the land of Qilu.
In Zhu Cixiang's opinion, this is a great achievement.
In order to commend Zhu Shuaiqin for his bravery and righteousness, Zhu Cixiang specially ordered Zhu Shuaiqin to inherit the Qing vassal and change the vassal territory to Dezhou.
Judging from the blood relationship, Zhu Shuaiqin is a distant branch, but he is also a veritable Qingfan clan, so there are no general ethical issues in inheriting the throne.
As for whether using distant branches to succeed the vassal system violated the ancestral system, the court officials did not bother to care.
After all, this is the Zhu family's family matter, as long as His Majesty is happy.
No one would be stupid enough to have a big quarrel with the Holy Emperor on this insignificant issue, especially after Zhu Cihong used thunderous tactics to rectify Chao Gang.
After Zhu Cihong issued the imperial edict, he sent a eunuch to accompany the army to deliver the edict, and told him to follow Qin Gongming's army to Dezhou.
Because the Ming army that went to Shandong this time was divided into two parts, Zhu Cixiang had already divided the defense areas before departure.
Qin Gongming's troops guarded Dezhou, and Gao Jie's troops guarded Jinan, Dongchang, and Yanzhou.
This is also determined by the strength of the two armies.
Gao Jie's tribe has a large number, 50,000 of them, most of them veterans who have been fighting for many years.
Even if they are divided into three prefectures, they can still support them.
Qin Gongming had only 20,000 men under his command, most of whom were Huai'an's regiment-trained rural soldiers.
The training period did not exceed one year.
In this case, it is unrealistic for Qin Gongming to divide his troops again.
Concentrating troops to garrison Texas is the best choice.
In addition, Zhu Cixiang also had another consideration, that is, Gao Jie was domineering.
Although judging from the outcome of this man's original history, it was impossible for him to surrender to the Manchus, Zhu Cixiang was still worried that Gao Jie would have friction with the clan Zhu Shuaiqin's faction.
After all, Zhu Cihong had just appointed Zhu Shuaiqin to succeed Qing Fan.
If Gao Jie showed off his power to a prince, it would indeed be an insult to the imperial power.
The current national situation is difficult and it is by no means the time for internal strife.
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang must consider all situations carefully to ensure that nothing goes wrong.
Dezhou is the northern gate of Shandong and borders Hejian Prefecture.
It is very likely to face the Manchu Qing Dynasty directly.
If Qin Gongming only had 20,000 regiment-trained rural soldiers under his command, Zhu Cixiang would definitely not trust him to guard it alone.
Fortunately, Qin Gongming still had 500 veterans of the Baigan Army under his command, as well as a thousand soldiers from the governor's standard battalion when Lu Zhenfei was governor of Huai'an.
These are veterans with strong combat effectiveness, especially the five hundred white-pole troops, who are definitely the best among the best.
In terms of defending the city, it is not necessary for all the soldiers to be veterans.
As long as there are more than a thousand veterans with them, the new soldiers will not panic.
The city of Dezhou was so strong that it would have been impossible for the Qing Dynasty to capture it without an invading army.
As long as the Ming army undergoes the baptism of a city defense battle, these regiment-trained rural soldiers will quickly grow into veterans.
Zhu Cixiang firmly believes that recruits can only transform after seeing blood.
Moreover, Gao Jie is based in Jinan Prefecture.
If the situation is really unfavorable, it will be too late to rush for help.
However, Zhu Cihong also told Qin Gongming to be careful when using the Qing Dynasty.
This was also his usual tactic since the Liaodong rebellion against the Ming Dynasty.
Before the troops of Qin Gongming and Gao Jie set off, Zhu Cixiang had already issued an imperial edict that Shandong must be defended.
Because in his opinion, this is the most critical point in the world of chess.
For the Manchu Qing, if they captured Shandong, they could easily send their troops south and face the Jianghuai River.
For Huang Ming, taking Shandong would gain strategic depth and allow the Qing Dynasty to use a war weapon.
Whoever wins Shandong wins the world :