Chapter 2375

Chen Yixin still made a small mistake in his judgment of the situation. The first people to flee to Dengzhou were not the ordinary people whose homes were destroyed, but the officials and officials who traveled long distances in carriages with Xinruan and their servants.

Rich man.

The resources and information possessed by these upper-class people are far better than those of ordinary people. When they realized that the place where they lived would be affected by war, they fled the war zone as quickly as possible. They took carriages and horses all the way.

That is naturally much faster than ordinary people who rely on two legs to escape.

As for which direction to flee is the safest choice, they are better informed and certainly know this better than the ordinary people - the only unit in Shandong that can reliably defeat the Qing army is not in Jinan City, but in Dengzhou

Wherever the Haihan Army in Fushan County flees, it is better to flee to Dengzhou first for safety.

This kind of understanding naturally comes from Haihan's undefeated record in the Liaodong region and the Korean battlefield in recent years. Although these battlefields are far away from Shandong, the results of the battle will still flow into the Ming Dynasty through various news channels. Those who are interested can naturally learn about the relevant information.

information.

Most people actually don't understand the true situation of Haihan's garrison in Fushan County, Dengzhou. They generally believe that this measure should be to protect Haihan's local business industry. After all, Fushan County has become well-known now, even if it is not engaged in commercial trade.

In this industry, most people have heard that the local sea trade business is in full swing, and it has the potential to become the first trading port in the north of the Ming Dynasty.

Since Haihan has business and industry in the local area, it is reasonable to station some armed forces, and it is rumored that as long as he enters Fushan County, he can be protected by Haihan. Although it is not clear where such rumors originated and whether they are true, but in

People in the war don't have that much time to wait for verification, so they must go to the local area first.

There are even some people who think that the land route is too slow, so they directly take a boat down the lower reaches of the Yellow River, cross Laizhou Bay after going out to sea, go east through the Miaodao Strait, and reach Zhifu Port directly from the sea.

Of course, those who could maneuver the ships on the Yellow River and escape from under the eyes of the Qing army during this chaotic time were definitely not ordinary people.

At this time, most of the civilians who escaped from the warring areas had just left Jinan Prefecture and were still in Qingzhou and Laizhou. Therefore, the first place in Fushan County that was crowded with foreigners was not an immigration camp that had been idle for a long time.

It's local hotels and inns, large and small.

However, because Fushan County usually has many merchants coming in and out, and similar situations also occur during peak seasons, this situation did not attract the attention of the Ma family at first. It was not until a few days later that the local demand for houses for purchase and rent suddenly surged.

That attracted attention.

"Why didn't this situation be reported earlier?" Chen Yixin was inevitably a little unhappy after hearing the news reported by Jiang Sheng: "Didn't I already say the day I came back that I should pay attention to people coming from Jinan Prefecture in the near future? They

The news it can bring us may be valuable!”

Although Jiang Sheng was an elder, he did not dare to put on airs in front of Chen Yixin, even claiming that it was due to his own oversight.

Chen Yixin didn't feel like getting angry with him, so he could only skip Jiang Sheng's mistake and ask him if he had already investigated the relevant personnel.

Jiang Sheng responded: "I took the time to ask a few people, and the situations they said were similar, so I came to report first. I have arranged for people to conduct an inventory of all hotels and inns in the county. In addition, I have also dispatched some people to the official roads and docks today.

Set up a card to conduct interrogation and registration of people entering Fushan County via land and waterways."

What Jiang Sheng said did not make Chen Yixin feel relaxed. In fact, these were the tasks he assigned to the Ma family immediately after returning to Fushan County. But now it seems that the Ma family's execution is not ideal and the work efficiency is not ideal.

There is no comparison with his own men and horses.

Of course, if professionalism is taken into consideration, the staff of the Ma family cannot compare with the army that Chen Yixin ordered to impose a ban. Even management like Jiang Sheng, who is fully aware of the seriousness of the current situation, is still unable to meet Chen Yixin's expectations in terms of execution.

level.

This kind of implementation also made Chen Yixin doubt whether the plan he made could be implemented smoothly. If the various response measures are still not implemented when the refugee wave pours into Dengzhou, the chaos that will result will not be good.

Controlled.

However, what Jiang Sheng did was not without merit. After conducting a preliminary investigation on the outsiders who had arrived in the area in recent days, he also obtained some latest news about the war situation in Jinan Prefecture.

The main force of the Qing army had already penetrated the entire Hebei province by the end of January, and had detected the movement of the Ming army assembling a large army near Dezhou. The Qing army did not choose to fight the Ming army in Dezhou, but continued to divide its troops into two groups, the west route.

The army broke through Wucheng from the west of Dezhou, Linqing, and reached Liaocheng where Dongchang Prefecture was located. The East Route Army captured Lingxian, Linyi, Jiyang, and reached the north bank of the Yellow River.

Although tens of thousands of Ming troops were assembled in Dezhou, the Minister of War, Yang Sichang, who was responsible for commanding the battle, was originally a peacemaker and had no intention of letting the Ming troops in Shandong fight the enemy to the death, so he did not make any plans for the Qing army to divide its troops and go south.

As a precautionary measure, when the Ming army realized that the enemy had deliberately bypassed Dezhou without attacking, the Qing army had already organized a crossing on the banks of the Yellow River.

The various prefectures and counties that were still holding a wait-and-see attitude on the south bank of the Yellow River suddenly panicked. At this time, they could no longer organize enough armed forces to prevent the Qing army from crossing the river. Most of the first batch of people who escaped from Jinan Prefecture and other places were

Hearing that the Qing army was about to cross the river to attack the city, he did not dare to stay there anymore, so he fled. Earlier, Chen Yixin received a report from Jiang Sheng in Jinzhou, saying that the Qing army had arrived near Jinan. It was during this period that

Condition.

Then in February, the Qing army crossed the river at Pingyin in the upper reaches and Jiyang in the lower reaches at the same time, forming an east-west attack on Jinan City.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the city of Jinan only had rammed earth walls. From the Hongwu period, the outer walls of the earthen city began to be covered with bricks and transformed into stronger masonry walls. In the 20th year of Wanli, the fifth year of Tianqi, and the seventh year of Chongzhen, it was changed again.

It has been expanded several times, with four city gates including Qichuan Gate, Lishan Gate, Luoyuan Gate and Huibo Gate, southeast and northwest. The city wall is more than three feet high, with a foundation as thick as five feet. It has a circumference of more than ten miles, with towers and arrow towers.

, corner towers, enemy towers, pavilions and other defensive facilities. The outer wall at the base of the city wall is made of blue square stones eight feet high, and the top is made of blue bricks.

Therefore, even if the city defenses were empty, not many people at that time thought that the Qing army could break such a strong city. Those who actually fled were almost all people from the areas around Jinan City. The leading figures in Jinan City, including King Zhu Youshu and his family, all stayed behind.

Within the city, there was no option to evacuate Jinan.

After the Qing army formed a siege on Jinan, the area has become a blind spot, and the outside world can hardly know the progress of the war. These quick-footed people who have fled to Fushan County only know that the Qing army is gathered near Jinan City, which is enough.

There were more than 100,000 people, and while attacking the city, they also allocated troops to loot the surrounding areas. As for whether Jinan City was captured or not, it is still inconclusive.

After listening to Jiang Sheng's report, Chen Yixin could roughly judge that the situation in Jinan City should be basically consistent with the original history. The city's defenses were empty and there was a lack of rescue. The soldiers and civilians in the city did not have sufficient combat capabilities. It was only a matter of time before the Qing army broke through.

According to historical records, the Qing army arrived in Jinan on Little New Year's Eve and captured Jinan City on the second day of the first lunar month. If calculated based on this time, even if the historical direction of this time and space is slightly wrong, it is almost time.

Chen Yixin knew that with Jiang Sheng's ability, he probably wouldn't be able to get more information from the upper-class people who had fled. He could only tell Jiang Sheng again to pay close attention to all the tasks he assigned and never do anything more.

There is laxity.

After Jiang Sheng left, Chen Yixin asked his personal guards to invite the leading officers of the special operations group who had just arrived at Zhifu Port. Judging from the current situation, he believed that it was difficult to effectively implement his plan with the strength of the Ma family alone, and he must

Involving the military in follow-up arrangements as soon as possible can ensure that the social order here will not become chaotic when the refugee flow arrives.

While waiting for the officers of the special operations group to report to Majiazhuang, another group of people that Chen Yixin had been waiting for the past few days also arrived.

It was Hao Wanqing and his men who came back after a long journey. Chen Yixin had been looking for Hao Wanqing from the moment he set foot in Fushan County, but he and his men did not know where they had gone.

The people left behind only knew that Hao Wanqing personally led the team out to perform important tasks. As for where he was going, it was absolutely confidential. Hao Wanqing only left a time limit when he left. If he didn't come back by a certain time, then open his personal safe to get information about the task.

situation, and it must be done in the presence of senior officials from Haihan.

As soon as Hao Wanqing returned to Fushan County, he heard the news of Chen Yixin's arrival, so he went straight to Majiazhuang to see him.

Chen Yixin actually guessed that Hao Wanqing probably went to Jinan. After all, it was such a big impact event. If the Ministry of Security was not aware of it, then Hao Wanqing, who was in charge of the intelligence work, would have been greatly derelict in his duties.

Chen Yixin hadn't seen Hao Wanqing for a long time, so when he saw Hao Wanqing walking in, he almost couldn't believe his eyes.

Hao Wanqing gained a lot of weight, grew a beard and long hair, and dressed up like a rich man in the Ming Dynasty.

"Your security department is really so short of personnel that even you, the boss, have to go into battle yourself?" Chen Yixin asked jokingly.

Hao Wanqing sat down on the chair opposite Chen Yixin, and the chair creaked under his weight. He raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and said: "I have traveled hundreds of miles without sleep to report the news, you kid

You don’t give me a cup of hot tea and you’re still making fun of me?”

Chen Yixin smiled sarcastically and quickly called his guard in, asking him to pour a cup of hot tea for Hao Wanqing and bring some refreshments.

"Minister Hao, are you really going to Jinan? You are not afraid of encountering the Qing army!" Joking aside, Chen Yixin was still a little worried about Hao Wanqing's personal safety. Although he also knew that the people in Hao Wanqing's field team were all

He is a good player, but if he encounters the Qing army on the battlefield, the manpower of the field team will definitely not be enough.

Hao Wanqing said: "We can't go to Jinan at all. I haven't even left Qingzhou, and I've just arrived near Zibo, and I've already discovered traces of Qing army activities. I originally planned to go to Zhangqiu at least, but I heard that there are mountains and plains all over the west of Zhangqiu.

Only those of the Qing army escaped from there, and no one dared to go west. The troops assembled in Denglai and Denglai states were all stationed near Qingzhou Fucheng, and they no longer dared to reinforce Jinan."

Chen Yixin frowned when he heard this and said: "So, the Qing army has already invaded Qingzhou?"

Hao Wanqing said: "The main force probably has not come to Qingzhou, but there are small groups of troops already operating in Qingzhou. It is said that traces of the Qing army have been found even near Shouguang."

"Shouguang? That's almost to Laizhou Prefecture!" Chen Yixin frowned and said: "The scope of activities of the Qing army seems to be larger than the historical records we know."

Jinan City, the main battlefield of this war, is a full 800 miles away from Fushan County. Logically speaking, the Qing army will not pose a direct threat to Fushan County, but the Shouguang mentioned by Hao Wanqing is only about 500 miles away from Fushan County. This

For the Qing cavalry, which came and went like the wind, this distance was only two or three days' journey. If the actual situation is different from the original historical facts, it is hard to say whether the Qing army's attack would stop at Jinan.

Qingzhou and Laizhou are equivalent to the buffer zone between Jinan Prefecture and Dengzhou Prefecture, but if the Qing army has entered this area, the damage that will be caused may exceed Chen Yixin's previous estimation.

Hao Wanqing said: "The Qing army's troops that entered Jinan Prefecture this time are said to be more than 100,000. Of course, just attacking Jinan City does not require so many troops, so it is a very reasonable arrangement to divide the troops and plunder everywhere. As far as I know

According to the situation, there are probably 50,000 to 60,000 refugees fleeing south from the northeastern region of Jinan Prefecture into Qingzhou. However, Qingzhou does not have enough reception capacity at all, and the government did not take timely measures to calm people's hearts, which left more

The people in Qingzhou began to panic. As soon as the Qing army showed up in Qingzhou, the local people in Qingzhou began to flee on a large scale."

Chen Yixin sighed and said: "When the war is in chaos, ordinary people have no choice but to escape if they want to survive!"

Hao Wanqing took a few sips of the hot tea that had just been served, put down the cup and continued: "In my opinion, Jinan is definitely hopeless. Let's see how many people can escape in the end! The area and population affected by this chaos may

The scale is larger than what is recorded in historical materials. You came from Liaodong for this thing, right?"

Chen Yixin nodded and said: "With so many refugees, we can save some. Otherwise, even if the Qing army retreats voluntarily, Shandong will be in chaos for several more years."

Hao Wanqing said: "Fushan County alone cannot save so many people. If this place is full, it will be overwhelming if it can accommodate 20,000 to 30,000 people."

Chen Yixin said: "I have no intention of doing this alone. The executive committee will mobilize materials and transportation capacity from various places to transport the refugees out of Zhifu Port as much as possible."
Chapter completed!