Since September, the Ming army in Jiangbei has been constantly moving in the direction of Huaiyang, and after the confrontation between Jieshu and Jiangbei Ming army in early October, although a major war has not yet broken out between the two sides, the fierce scout war has begun. The Sichuan army's vaunted opposing charge had little advantage in scout encounters, and the two sides would encounter each other suddenly in a variety of terrains, and the purpose of the engagement was not to expel the other from the battlefield, but to prevent the other side from infiltrating or passing on the message.

Therefore, scout warfare is more important to rely on personal experience and the ability to pass through complex terrain, as well as the ability to fight alone and ride a horse. And Deng Ming brought the Mongolian and former imperial guards to Shandong, which made the Ming army always at a disadvantage in the scout confrontation. Fortunately, scouts are not the only source of intelligence, the officers and soldiers of Liangjiang are only Jieshu's nominal allies and deployments, and the heroes of Jiangbei also theoretically support the government, so even if Jieshu can gain the upper hand in the scout war, the entire intelligence war is still a complete defeat.

Deng Ming believes that the basis of his success is to be able to defeat strong enemies on the battlefield, which has been the case since the battle against Tan Hong, and all other means are auxiliary, and what really matters is the courage to fight to the death. However, except for Deng Ming himself, who is convinced of this, no one else sees it this way, and Deng Ming is not unaware of this. After defeating Zu Zepu in Shandong this time, when the guards congratulated Deng Ming on the victory, Deng Ming also let out a long sigh: "No one will remember my bravery on the battlefield today, and they will always talk about me dressing up as a tartar to steal the camp." ”

It was Deng Ming's guards, who fell silent when they heard this, and several officers comforted Deng Ming dryly, saying that they had always thought that Deng Ming's courage played a greater role than his tricks, but when they said these words, they had a smile on their lips, and it didn't sound like they meant it sincerely.

While enjoying this convenience, the Sichuan army and the Kuidong army discussed a lot, believing that this was due to Deng Ming's various elusive tricks - or had nothing to do with Deng Ming's bravery, while the honest Zhejiang army leader Zhang Huangyan remained silent.

At the end of October, the Min army sent back news from Shandong, and Deng Ming told his allies that he was making quite good progress in Shandong, and was reorganizing his troops to prepare to attack Weixian and then sweep Laizhou, and asked the Ming army in Jiangbei to guard against arrogance and rashness, and wait for the Qing army to stay too long before taking advantage of the victory to pursue.

"Poor Zu Zepu." After seeing Deng Ming's letter, Ren Tang commented on the battle to his colleagues: "The admiral first disguised himself as a tartar to cut off the post road, making Zu Zepu deaf and blind; Then he gave full play to his previous friendship with the Ganshan Green Battalion, and carried out a one-sided massacre on the battlefield selected by the Admiral, and the Admiral was really victorious! ”

Ren Tang said the voices of many people, but most of them were not as bold as Ren Tang. The first half of the letter is Deng Ming showing off his martial arts, and the second half is some orders, Deng Ming asked Sichuan businessmen to elect representatives to go to Shandong as soon as possible to take over the arms purchase contract to help the Qing Dynasty destroy the Ming army, in these letters, Deng Ming also recounted his own policy and the current situation in Shandong.

"Since ancient times, to dominate the world is to sharpen a quick knife, and then take it out to mix the rivers and lakes, and if you take it, you will cut it with me, and if you don't accept it, you will cut it until you obey it." Mu Tan thinks that since following Deng Ming, his vision and knowledge have also improved. Mu Tan thinks that Deng Ming is sharpening a knife, and then showing him to others - see? I can use it to cut you, and if you take it, you will pay for the silver, so that I can buy more iron and sharpen a bigger knife to come out: "The Admiral does not easily cut people, especially the poor, and the former Ganshan Green Camp cannot afford to pay for the silver, so the Admiral must find a way to help others make a fortune, and then carry the knife on it." And this time the people of Shandong have no money, and the admiral must have felt that it is better to make a few hard-earned small money in Shandong during this time, and it is better to walk around in the southeast. ”

And Deng Ming's strategy in Shandong, Mu Tan understood it as: Deng Ming sharpened a knife again, and then showed it to the gentleman in Shandong: "Oh, what a knife, right?" Buy it, or I'll sell it to your robber neighbor next door." ”

Mu Tan's understanding became the consensus of the Sichuan people on Deng Ming's trip to Shandong, and soon there were people on the road, from bankers and shippers to blacksmith agents.

Sichuan's current points policy has led to a large number of people becoming workers in the cities, and the proportion of workers and peasants in the population is several times or even more than ten times that of other regions, coupled with Deng Ming's painstaking collection of artisans from all over the country, so that Sichuan can already sell old arms - for example, the old armor seized from Huguang and Liangjiang in the past is intended to be disposed of, and the Green Camp arms purchased as scrap in Chongqing should also be sold for a good price in Shandong; After a few years, after the blacksmith shop in Chengdu produces more and better armor and bird guns, the equipment given by Zhang Changgeng will be phased out sooner or later.

"When the chaos in Shandong is completely big, we will pursue it when Jieshu retreats, and we will definitely be able to seize a large number of weapons that we can't use at that time, and we can also sell them to Shandong people." At the end of Deng Mingxin's letter, he also explained that the merchants in western Sichuan should have the confidence and confidence to provide more weapons, and their confidence could give better encouragement to help the Qing army destroy the Ming army and accelerate the collapse of the Qing army in Shandong, so that Jieshu might withdraw his troops more urgently, leading to a more miserable defeat, so that the Sichuan army could capture more equipment that could be sold to Shandong.

This kind of instruction is undoubtedly a virtuous circle that Admiral Deng always talks about, but Deng Ming probably forgot that he already wanted to sell some of these weapons to Zhou Peigong's Yangtze River Suppression Deng Corps, so Zhao Tianba and others also had to reply to remind Deng Ming to pay attention to the promise to leave room for it, at least to explain to the Fuqing Ming Army that they need to compete with the Yangtze River Suppression Deng Corps for the surplus equipment in the hands of the Ming Army.

While replying to Deng Ming, Zhao Tianba and the others also imitated Deng Ming's style and sent a letter to Zhou Bu's political envoy, telling him that Deng Ming had introduced a new competition mechanism. Of course, because of the friendship between Premier Deng and Deng Ming, the western Sichuan side believed that when the Yangtze River Suppression Deng Corps and the Fuqing Ming Army bid equally, the former would have the right of first refusal to purchase weapons; The same is true for instructors, because of the emergence of the new patron of the Ming Army, the instructors sent by western Sichuan may also need more lease fees and training fees.

Now the commander of the Ming army is Li Laiheng, and Gong Yan is the military advisor and coordinator of the Western Sichuan Army, because of Zhang Huangyan's fierce opposition, so Gong Yan cannot serve in the allied forces - now the coalition army is still under the banner of the Ming army, although Zhang Huangyan will not issue any more documents headed by "Li thief advocating chaos", but he does not agree to let Gong Yan, who burns the main card of the gods, have a position and dispatch.

Before Deng Ming went to Shandong, Zhao Tianba was promoted to colonel, becoming the first person to be promoted to this rank among the five lieutenant colonels in western Sichuan. Deng Ming asked Zhou Kaihuang, Ren Tang and others to discuss with Zhao Tianba more often, and when they needed to make a decision at a critical moment, they must resolutely obey Colonel Zhao's orders. If they could do this, Deng Ming promised that when he returned from Shandong, he would also promote them and Li Xinghan, who was far away in Sichuan, to colonel.

Although it is only a captain rank in the Sichuan army, no one in the Kuidong Army and the Zhejiang Army will regard Zhao Tianba and others as the captains under them, after the coordination of Gong Yan, Li Laiheng sent an order to the whole army, announcing that Zhao Tianba's order was second only to his own order, and the order of Zhou Kaihuang and others was also equivalent to the general soldiers under Li Laiheng who hung the general's seal - Li Laiheng's dozens of people were awarded the rank of general by the Yongli Imperial Court, and there were as many as five generals with the general's seal, whether it was Li Laiheng himself or other Kuidong Army generals, would not think that the strength of the general soldiers under them could be compared with the lieutenant colonel of the Sichuan army. And the major of the Sichuan Army is now also equated with the general of the Kuidong Army or the deputy general of the Zhejiang Army. In terms of strength, this kind of equivalence is actually the captain of the Sichuan Military Academy who gave face to the Kuidong Army and the Zhejiang Army.

When the coalition forces confronted the Qing Central Army and waited for a better decisive moment, the Ming army of the Qing Dynasty continued to advance in Shandong.

After launching an attack on the 23rd, the county seat of Laizhou Prefecture was completely breached by the Fuqing Ming army before the end of the month. After taking control of the county seat, Gao Yunxuan and other heroes received a lot of supplements, and more gentry joined the Shandong Fuqing House - if he did not participate in the house, the Fuqing Ming Army would not guarantee his safety. If Deng Ming threatened to call on thieves to ransack his house if he didn't support his army, he would probably be notorious; But now it is the resolution of the Shandong Gentry Council, it is completely different, and the gentry and heroes who got on the thief ship have a sense of the same hatred: everyone goes into the water together, waits for Zhao'an together, and no one wants to be idle on the side.

In the Fuqing Chamber, Deng Ming tried his best to promote his set of "If you want to be the county order of the Qing Dynasty, you must break through the county seat of the Qing Dynasty; If you want to be the prefect of the Qing Dynasty, you must capture the capital city of the Qing Dynasty! The eldest husband stands up to the sky, even if he can't take the whole of Shandong as the governor, he has to take all of Jiaodong to get a governor to play. ”

Many gentry had to join the Fuqing House because they were declared by the House as "people who are not protected by the laws of the Qing Dynasty", and then they also had a feeling of not doing anything and not stopping.

As a result, the resolution passed by the Fuqing House became more and more intense, and on November 6, the Fuqing army surrounded the capital of Laizhou, which was occupied by the Qing army.

The general soldiers of the green battalion in the city sent people out of the city to ask for surrender, expressing their willingness to act as intermediaries to convey their sincerity to the imperial court on behalf of the Fuqing House and the Fuqing Ming Army. It was true that a few people were shaken by this, but Deng Ming immediately told them that the weight of a general soldier was not enough, and such a small position was not enough for everyone; Deng Ming further pointed out that if the genuine Qing court Laizhou prefect and Laizhou green camp were not eliminated, then the gentry of the Fuqing House would not need to expect the Qing court to use the Laizhou prefect to recruit them, and those waiting for the Qing Dynasty to destroy the Ming army could only be disbanded, not become a genuine Laizhou green camp.

The Fuqing House and the Fuqing Army felt that the views of the Ming Dynasty Baoguo Gong were extremely insightful, so they passed a resolution not to negotiate peace with the local military and political organs of the Qing court, and resolutely eliminated the Yamen and Green Camp of the Governor of the Great Chiang Rai Prefecture.

On the 7th, after blowing up the city wall, the Qing army in the city was defeated without much effort - whether it was a hero or a gentleman, they were all supporters and sponsors of the Ming army, compared with this alliance, the power of the prefect of the Great Chiang Rai Prefecture was really weak. Seeing that the city wall was broken, the officers of the green battalion, who had already been connected with the heroes or had a relationship with the gentry, defected one after another, and then were reorganized into the Ming Army to help the Qing Dynasty as they wished.

After breaking through Laizhou, the situation of Fuqing to destroy the Ming army was very good, and the gentry found that Zu Zepu had become strong and strong after losing the supervision and promotion, and there was no way except to shout for the imperial court to send reinforcements. The Fuqing House passed a new resolution in Laizhou City, stating that all the gentlemen who did not participate in the Fuqing House within the specified time would not only be declared "people who were not protected by the laws of the Qing Dynasty" but would be regarded as enemies of the great cause of "Fuqing", and the army of Fuqing and Ming Dynasty should be dispatched to exterminate these suspects of Tongdeng.

At the meeting that day, the Jin Gentry House also solicited Deng Ming's opinion and asked him about his judgment on the strength of the Qing army in Dengzhou. After receiving assurances from Deng Ming that the Dengzhou army could be defeated, the Fuqing House announced that the Dengzhou Qing army, which was surrounded in Qiqi in Qixia, was a traitor and suspected of colluding with Deng, because they did not recognize the justice and legitimacy of the Fuqing army to destroy the Ming army, and also contemptuously called the House a thief in their correspondence with the Laizhou government. At the same time that the Fuqing House decided to send troops to exterminate the Dengzhou Qing army in Tongdeng, it also announced that Yu Qi was a fellow Fuqing who was framed by villains, and one of the purposes of the Fuqing Council's trip was to solve Yu Qi and his hundreds of thousands of rebels, and welcome him to join the vigorous Fuqing cause.

On the 8th, Chen Qing Zhangzhang left the west gate of Laizhou City in cheers and was sent to Jinan by fast horse. In the recital, the Fuqing House explained their last resort to Zu Zepu, the governor of Shandong, and exposed the fake loyalty and true face of Dengzhou Green Camp. At the same time as the Song Zhang was sent away, the Fuqing Ming army drove out from the east gate and went to Dengzhou to crusade against the civil and military officials who betrayed the imperial court, and save the loyal ministers of the Qing Dynasty, Yu Qi and others.