On November 18, 20,000 Qing troops heading south from Beijing, after advancing east from Jinan, they successively collected three counties of Zhangqiu, Zouping and Xincheng, and finally entered the boundary of Qingzhou.

The wind is cold in winter and the climate is severe. The north wind blows on the face, as if the flesh is cut by a knife.

In November, the land in Shandong was already snow-white, and the ground was covered with snow, ponds, rivers and streams that were covered with snow on the ground, and all were frozen.

In a snowy world, a soldier came in a winding place.

The soldiers shrank their necks, held weapons, and walked down their heads and vomited mist. The team was moving extremely slowly, stretching for miles.

At this time, a team of cavalry galloped past the infantry, and rode onto a snow-covered hill, then tied the reins of the horse and looked ahead.

Jueluo Bahana raised his whip and looked ahead alertly, and asked in a hot air, "Where is that?"

In front of the army marching in the wilderness, a undulating forest appeared. A green camp general wearing a cotton robe and iron armor appeared. He looked up and spit out white mist, "It's the remnant of Mount Lu, and after passing it, it's Qingzhou City!"

Jueluo Bahana heard the words and showed an excitement on his face, "Send the army to speed up and go to Qingzhou to spend the night!"

After the Qing army set out from Jinan, they were attacked by rebels along the way, especially after they got out of the camp at night, they were almost uneasy every night. Only by entering the city could they sleep soundly.

The military order was passed, and the Qing soldiers raised their speed and trotted forward. There was silence in the surrounding wilderness and hills, without a cold bird or a wild beast's roar.

On the hills on both sides of the official road, a large number of rebels were hiding in the snow, staring at the jogging and running Qing army.

Xie Qian suddenly roared, "Shoot the arrow and kill me!"

A "bang" sounded.

The Qing army vanguard running on the road immediately looked around in horror. At this moment, countless figures emerged from the snow on both sides. The soldiers of Gaoyuan army released their bowstrings one after another. Countless sharp arrows hit their heads like storms. The arrows fell rapidly, and the Qing army, who were shocked and unsure, were immediately shot down.

In an instant, arrows shot through the Qing army's armor, and a shrill howling rose into the sky.

Jueluo Bahana was furious when he saw this, "Zhengbai Banner rushed forward and killed all the bandits!"

The Qing soldiers on the official road waved their swords and blocked the arrows shooting. A team of Qing cavalry rushed out directly, and the horse's hooves splashed with snow and rushed towards the hills.

"The Qing army is here to kill you! Retreat quickly!" Xie Qian immediately shouted when he saw the Eight Banners soldiers rushing over.

The rebels on both sides hurriedly set off their bows and arrows, fired muskets, and ran back all over the mountains. When the Qing cavalry rushed up the high slope, the rebels had already penetrated into the hills.

Yue Le tightened the reins of the horse, and saw the rebels running into the woods, and was furious and shouted angrily, "Chasing me!"

The Qing cavalry roared and rushed into the woods, and after a while, several "bang bang" sounds came from the forest, and balls of gunfire were raised. A burst of Qing army's howling and neighing from horses came from the forest.

~~~~~~~

On the southern line, Mandahai made rapid progress since Rizhao.

In Jueluo Bahana, Yue Le was attacked by the rebel army. Before he could enter the city of Qingzhou, Mandahai had already collected Jiaonan, Jiaoxian, Gaomi, Jimo and other places, and rushed all the way to the hinterland of Laizhou.

At this time, Laizhou Pingdu, several rebel corpses were hung on the horse-rejecting pile in front of the city gate. The city gate was open, and a Ming army flag was thrown from the top of the city gate and landed in front of the city gate.

Mandahai rode a war horse, stepped on the flag, and entered the county town. Behind him, Qing troops entered the city one after another.

"Belle is unstoppable all the way, and this time he will definitely be able to wipe out the pirates!" Sun Zhixie said with a smile on his face.

Mandahai's face looked much better and said in a deep voice, "The pirate is cunning! Zhao Zamao is as slippery as a loach. If he doesn't chop his dog's head with his own hands, Ben Beile dares not be happy too early!"

As Daishan's son, Mandahai was originally quite confident, but in recent times, he was unsure. He was not sure of it and was afraid that he would be happy and would have lost something if he was happy.

After saying that, Mandahai pulled the reins, "The north of Pingdu is Ye County. There is the only way for Zhao Zamao to retreat from Qingzhou to Dengzhou. He must occupy Ye County so that Benbeile can rest assured."

On November 18, after Mandahai captured Pingdu, he only took a short rest as usual, leaving a group of people to defend the city, and led a large army to continue advancing north.

The best harbor in Shandong is in Dengzhou. Most of the Ming army warships were moored in Dengzhou for winter. Mandahai intends to cut off Zhao Ming's way back to Dengzhou, and annihilated Zhao Ming in Qingzhou Prefecture with Jueluo Bahana.

At this time, the army of Mandahai was stepping on the snow, wailing white air, and advancing quickly against the Zhanglu River.

The 30,000 Qing troops who came out of Yangzhou left a group in Huai'an, and another group in Haizhou, Rizhao and other places. They marched along the way and divided their troops to guard and regain the city. A small half of the people were already left in the city along the way.

At this time, there were only more than 15,000 people left by Mandahai, but the Qing army was full of morale.

After all, collecting cities along the way is equivalent to winning consecutive battles, and Mandahai keeps reporting victory to Beijing to save the lost face.

At this time, the Zhanglu River Valley was densely filled with Qing troops wearing armor, with military flags dancing in the cold wind, and the cavalry galloping in the wilderness, with great power.

Under the banner of Daqi, Mandahai was on the war horse, and Sun Zhixie was introducing the terrain ahead to him.

Sun Zhixie is from Shandong and is very familiar with the terrain of Shandong. Dorgon sent him here, and in addition to sending an order, he also asked him to provide staff to Mandahai.

"Of course, twenty miles ahead is Daze Mountain. The army can go around from the western foothills and attack Ye County!" Sun Zhixue said with the map.

Mandahai said in a deep voice: "Ye County is the capital of Laizhou. Zhao Zamao should keep his troops prepared and order the front army to be vigilant!"

"Report!" As soon as he finished speaking, a horse rushed towards the team.

Seeing this, Mandahai frowned slightly and pulled the horse to the side of the road. The cavalry ran in front of him, flew out of the horse, rushed forward quickly, and knelt on one knee: "Master, at the foot of Daze Mountain, twenty miles ahead, there are a large number of thieves deployed a formation, intending to block our army's way!"

Just as he said that Zhao Zamao must be prepared, the enemy who blocked appeared.

"How many thieves are there?" Mandahai asked.

The scout clasped his fists and reported, "Reported to the master, there are nearly 10,000 bandits. Except for one well-equipped and seemed to be a pirate, most of the rest are Shandong bandits."

"Get the map!" Mandahai ordered, and turned over and dismounted. Sun Zhixie handed over the map, and all the generals dismounted and squatted on the ground to check.

Mandahai looked at it for a while, pointed his finger on the map, and suddenly said, "The bandit army is not in Ye County, but goes forward to Daze Mountain. He must have known that Benbeile is heading north and is worried that the army will cut off Zhao Zamao's retreat, so he comes to stop him."
Chapter completed!