Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 797
A thick layer of ice has formed on the surface of the Okhota River.

It was snowing heavily and it was freezing cold.

Ivan, the head of Fort Okhotsk, was also completely relieved. It was impossible for the Khitan army to come here from Nuergancheng in such weather.

At the beginning, Boyarkov escaped from the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, but he drifted on the sea for more than a month before arriving in Okhotsk. Even if the Chinese ship is big, but now that the river and sea are frozen, they can only come here by sled, but that is not the case. Easy, almost impossible.

"Come, let's toast together, and wish the great monarch well-being!"

Ivan toasted, and the leaders of the various ministries who were invited in the steward's mansion, as well as the military nobles in the castle, the Cossack chiefs, and the secretary, raised their glasses one after another.

The stove was burning hot, and the room was very warm.

The Ulus (indigenous village) was invited and brought a lot of mink furs. Although this year's tax has not been paid in full, the tax collected is quite a lot, which makes Ivan very satisfied.

As a military nobleman, he came to remote Siberia, didn't he just want to make money after working so hard.After finally becoming the castle steward, what he valued was the benefits behind being a military and political officer of a castle. His main task was to collect taxes for the tsar, and as the steward, he was able to get to share rewards.

The specific hard work is handed over to the Cossacks, and they can also get a share of the tax revenue.

In order to be able to collect taxes as much as possible, Ivan, like other Siberian chiefs, has a knife in one hand and wine in one hand. The knife is a military serviceman mainly of Cossacks, and the wine is actively paying taxes and rewards.

The Cossacks would go to those Ulus who refused to actively pay taxes to arrest people, arrest the headman’s wife, daughter or children to the castle and imprison them. Punish the hostages.

And Ivan will come out to be a good person, and often reward the hostages with fish or something.For taxpayers, they will even introduce them to convert to the Orthodox Church, and even let them be baptized. After being baptized, they will be recruited as military service personnel, and their salaries will be paid directly. After each fur tax is paid, a banquet will be held to thank them.

Gong chips are staggered.

While drinking, Ivan has even silently calculated in his heart how much he can earn this year. With his means, the tax collection is very good. The fur tax of the Yakutsk Governor's Mansion is for married people aged 16 to 50. For aboriginal men aged [-] years old, ten mink furs a year, five for those who are not married, no one for those under sixteen.

But Ivan asked all the men above [-] to hand in eleven, and those under [-] to hand in five. In order to prevent some people from resisting or escaping, they were directly distributed according to the township. The counted population and payable fur are all counted together, and the headman is responsible for collecting and handing in on his behalf. If someone fails to pay, other villagers will pay for it.

He even asked the natives of Geluus to give him gifts, which was actually a disguised levy, each with a mink fur, regardless of gender.

If the payment is not complete, then take a family member to the castle as a hostage. During the hostage period, they will also help with labor, build the castle and farm, etc.

On the other hand, he, who is active in paying taxes, married them, recruited them as military service personnel, paid them salaries, and so on.

Seeing the cautious attitude of those tribal leaders, Ivan was very proud, and the manager's income was very good.

After working for a few more years, you can return to Moscow to enjoy, or get a fief in the Far East.

······
At sea, ice floes flow.

The Pioneer fleet approached Fort Okhotsk.

On board, soldiers are preparing.

The gunner examines the cannon, the musketeer examines the musket.

The tribal fighters accompanying the conscripts are also making pre-war preparations.

The Feyakas took out a bearskin and put it on the deck, then they took out a small bearskin bag, dug out the bear oil from it, smeared it on their faces, jumped left and right at the bearskin, and chanted words, and finally put the bear Put on the skin.

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty looked at these people while checking the firecracker.

"These are Fayaka bear warriors. These bears were raised by them, and then they killed themselves at the Bear Killing Festival when they were adults."

The eggless dynasty is very fierce, and the ax and firecrackers in his hand don't know how many enemies he has killed, but he has never raised a bear, let alone killed a bear. Yaka people actually raise bears, and there is a festival to kill bears.

Many tribes in Heilongjiang worship bears, just like most tribes on the grassland worship wolves, they worship those beasts.

But worshiping bears, it is unbelievable that a bear cub should be snatched from childhood to be raised, and then killed.

On the other hand, the Hezhe people are also mobilizing before the war.

They took out fish skin coats.

The Hezhe people are fishermen and hunters. Most of them make a living by fishing. Raising dogs, making birch bark boats, fishing, and eating fish seem to be all they have. Their food, they are also good at processing fish skin into clothes and even fish skin armor.

Oroqen, Ewenki, Qileer, Hezhe, Sauron, these tribal warriors basically wear all kinds of leather clothing, deer skin, dog skin, fish skin, bear skin, and tiger skin.

The weapons used include bows and arrows, stone axes, bone knives, and bone guns. They also used homemade oil paint and mud to paint their faces in a gaudy manner.

"Fortunately, the Koryaks did not come. Those people like to bury the fish in the soil. After a period of time, when the fish becomes sour and smelly, they are boiled in water with stones and eaten. These people are separated by tens of steps. It smells weird."

After checking the equipment, the Prime Minister of the Dynasty didn't care much about the actions of those tribes.

Anyway, in the eyes of Daming, these people are barbarians. The Ming Dynasty once collectively called the tribes on the Xing'an Mountains in the north of Heilongjiang the Beishan Jurchen, or more directly divided them into the deer tribe and the dog tribe.

Basically, from the Heilongjiang River Basin to the north of the Outer Khingan Mountains, from Sakhalin Island to the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Chukchi Peninsula, those indigenous people basically keep dogs. Dogs are their good assistants, pulling sleds in winter, and even A helper when hunting.

Some tribes raise reindeer to pull carts, and some simply herd reindeer in the tundra and live on deer.

"Confirm the battle plan again!"

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty stuck the firecracker in his waist and took out the map.

A fish-skin map showing Fort Okhotsk.

"Captain, according to the information we have collected, it has been ten years since the establishment of Fort Okhotsk, and it was officially upgraded from a winter camp to a castle three years ago. It belongs to Yakutsk County and has not been upgraded to a county yet, but the center of their coastal castle and several other small coastal castles belong to him, and the surrounding tribes are also placed under his command as a tax-in-kind township.

"Okhotsk Fort has two fortresses inside and outside. The inner fort is twelve feet long and seven feet wide, and the outer fort is thirty feet long and 27 feet wide.

There are eight towers in the castle, and a wall made of logs. Outside the wall is a moat, two feet wide and four feet deep. There are six rows of wooden piles in front of the moat, and there are some thorns.

This year, an earthen wall was added, which is two feet high and two feet wide at the bottom. "

"In the castle there are the general manager's mansion, the tax office, the lead ammunition storehouse, the gunpowder storehouse, the fur storehouse, as well as the residential areas, shops, workshops, etc. Outside the city are the farmland they cultivated, and there is a wharf by the river."

"There are seven or eight iron cannons in the city, and two or three hundred firecrackers. It is winter now, and many Cossacks and hunters who are away are returning to the castle for the winter. There will be at least three hundred military personnel, hunters, craftsmen, etc. inside, and there will be About one or two hundred tribal hostages, servants, immigrant families, native wives, etc."

"Steward Ivan is a minor nobleman."

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty nodded. Although there are as many small nobles as dogs everywhere in Moscow, in Siberia, especially Yakutsk in the east, the small nobles are still a privileged class. Positions such as assistants and section chiefs are basically theirs.

"In just a few years, the castle can be built like this, and there are still 600 people. This person is really capable. No wonder he can conquer the indigenous people hundreds of miles away."

"It's a pity that he met us!"

The dynasty looked at the distant horizon, "Since the castle is so well-defended, there is no possibility of a surprise attack. Just drive under the castle, land on the besieged fort, and then bombard it."

The fleet advances.

The Cossack on the castle finally discovered the fleet. Seeing so many large ships approaching, he panicked and rang the big bell on the north tower.

The clanging of the bells was covered up a lot in the wind and snow, but the noise in the steward's mansion was still awakened.

"How to ring the alarm bell?"

He grabbed the mink coat, buttoned his hat, grabbed the firecracker and rushed to the bell tower outside, followed by the leader of the infantry Cossacks with his arquebus.

The shooting army captain grabbed his bright red army coat and put it on, and then grabbed the huge shooting army ax with a leaf and rushed out.

alarm.

The rapid bell is still beating non-stop.

"Enemy attack, sea fleet attack!"

When Ivan finally rushed to the ten-foot-high bell tower, the fleet had already rushed into the harbor.

Looking at those big ships, Ivan panicked. He counted several times but failed to count whether it was thirteen, fifteen or eighteen.

But he could clearly see that there were several cannons on each sailing ship.

The whining horn sounded, and the battle horn sounded in the fleet.

The fleet braved the wind and snow, broke through the ice floes, and arrived before the Sea of ​​Okhotsk was about to freeze completely.

"Do you want to send someone to the pier to stop them from landing?" the clerk asked in a panic.

The Cossack centurion and the captain of the shooting army didn't say a word. When they saw the fleet, they also panicked. There are so many large sailing ships, each of which must have at least a hundred people, and each ship has a company. The size of a shooting regiment is at least two to 3000 people.

Ten times their strength.

Ivan regained his composure, gritted his teeth, and said, "Hurry up and distribute ammunition to the military personnel, and just stand guard on the tower. If they approach, shoot them with a musket behind the shooting hole, and don't go out."

Ivan had served as a soldier, and Tsarist Russian law stipulated that all nobles must serve as soldiers, and those who had not served in the Imperial Guard could not be officers.

In comparison, Cossacks are at best mercenaries. Although the shooting army has been established for many years, there are tens of thousands of people, and even the most elite is the Tsarist Guard, but they are recruited by townspeople. The monarch's military staff composed of court servants also has no advantage.

Ivan, who came back to his senses, quickly made a judgment. There were many enemy ships and guns. It is not yet known whether there are many soldiers, but he should be more cautious and keep safe by occupying the fort.

He looked at the sky, the snow was still falling, and his breath turned into ice, hoping that the sky would be colder and freeze these intruders to death.

The cold is howling, and the battle flag is waving.

Hunting the red flag, the sun and the moon hang high.

On the deck of the flagship Pioneer, the armored Dynasty Prime Minister commanded the fleet to land in two places, north and south.

"First build a beachhead on the shore to prevent Rakshasa devils from burning the boat."

"The naval guns cooperated with the landing force to suppress the firepower of the castle. The marines pulled the infantry ashore, put the shield vehicle in front, and the infantry followed. Don't rush in. The tribal soldiers are on standby by the sea."

"Everyone obeys the order, take the artillery first, find an opportunity to use the shield car to cover the blaster, and put the blasting bag under the city gate."

The rest of the officers also gathered around to listen to the orders.

They also agree with the deployment of the prime minister. First use the bombardment. If the firepower on the castle can be suppressed, then use the shield car to fill up a few sections of trenches, cut down a few sections of sharp piles, and then bury the gunpowder under the city gate. , Blast the gates.

"Although this castle is not a bastion, since there are artillery and muskets guarding the city, you should be careful and don't worry."

Although the pioneering fleet is not the regular army of the Ming Dynasty, but it bears the name of the royal family, but is it a vain name?Many of them were from the imperial battalion, and many sailors from the imperial battalion were from the imperial battalion. Their military literacy was much better than the Cossacks who appeared as refugees and bandits.

Ivan is a small nobleman. In the past, nobles like them were probably equivalent to a scholar-bureaucrat or a Japanese samurai.

After all, Tsarist Russia used to be called the Principality of Moscow, and earlier it was called the Principality of Ross. It used to be the tax collector of the Golden Horde. There were dozens of principalities like him in Eastern Europe.

Later, the Principality of Moscow eliminated the surrounding principalities one by one, and even snatched a lot of land from Poland and Sweden. They also continued to maintain their noble titles for the Grand Dukes like themselves before.

Anyway, up to now, even if the grand duke is renamed the tsar, they are not qualified to be the grand duke.

The great nobles own the land and population, have their own army, and only serve the Tsar.

And they used to have many small nobles under their command, similar to the Western knights in the past. Later, during the process of the tsar's wars, he also granted land to many military personnel. They also became small nobles with land, and many big nobles The little nobles under him even broke away from them, directly loyal to the tsar, and became little lords or local military and political officials.

Of course, some small nobles lost their territories, some became bureaucrats or simple military officers, and some ran to the Far East to take risks, trying to obtain land or even make a fortune here.

Ivan's military skills are good, but his military personnel are originally composed of Cossacks, shooting troops, and even some exiled criminals, captives from enemy countries, and local recruits.

Although matchlock guns are generally equipped, and some are even equipped with flintlock muskets, they lack guns and gunpowder.

In order to be able to control the Cossacks and other troops in the Far East, the only way for a general like Ivan, or even those warlords, to control the Cossacks and other troops is to restrict their supply of gunpowder. Gunpowder is limited to castles and warlords. When they face ten times and a hundred times their natives outside, although gunpowder is the crushing advantage, if the gunpowder is limited, they can only lead and obey the warlord, otherwise the bone arrows of the natives can overthrow them just as well.

Although this method of gunpowder control is effective, it also makes the Cossacks and other military servicemen not have much ammunition in their hands, and the ammunition stored in the small castle is not much.

Of course, it is enough to deal with the natives in normal times, but it is undoubtedly not enough to face such a large fleet now.

The chancellor of the dynasty was very cautious, traveling thousands of miles north and crossing the sea for an expedition, he didn't think too much about such a fortress.

The fleet was divided into north and south sides for landing, and finally divided into two places for landing, forming four landing points. When the ship approached the shore, the two long cannons on the bow began to fire at the castle.

Eighteen clipper sailboats, 36 bow long guns fired salvos, bombarding four targets at a time, nine guns per target.

Shoot three rounds in a row, then land.

This side is landing to grab the beach, and the bow gun on the other side continues to fire fiercely.

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty doesn't care whether the castle will come out to intercept it, he will shoot first.

Facing the shells whistling overhead, the marines were the first to go ashore. When they got there, they first established a line of defense, and did not rush forward, so they took the follow-up troops ashore on the spot.

The tribal soldiers disembarked at the end, and all of them turned pale from being frightened by the thunderous artillery barrage, and some even urinated.Those sturdy tribal warriors who hunted bears and tigers could not stand the power of heaven.

The Marine Corps was preparing the shield vehicle, but the shield vehicle hadn't been finished yet. The cheers of the gunners sounded on the ship over there, and the ten-foot-high bell tower was actually blown down.

This is the landmark building of Fort Okhotz, the highest point in the city, and the clock tower can be seen from a distance, and it is also the guard post of the whole city.

But now, after being bombarded several times in a row, the wooden clock tower collapsed.

The tower was still built on the northern entrance, and as the tower collapsed, the gunners became more excited.

A big hole was smashed into the outer earth wall, and then the inner wooden fence wall was also smashed.

Among the castles in the Far East, Fort Okhotsk is already considered pretty good, but they didn't expect that it was close to the sea, and there is a small bay near the sea and river. The transportation is convenient, but it also left a defense Loophole, who would have thought that the Ming army came from the sea at once, and returned so many ships and so many guns?
Direct naval guns bombarded the castle.

There is no safe distance at all. Originally, bone arrows and bone guns are more than enough to defend against the aborigines. Standing on the ten-foot-high Bell and Drum Tower and firing the gun downwards facing the shooting holes, it is safe and lethal.

But now dozens of cannons are bombarding non-stop, and the infantry has not yet begun to disembark, and the city has collapsed.

When the Cossacks used firecrackers to attack the natives with bone arrows, they were triumphant, but they did not expect that their fortress was now bombarded by dozens of cannons from the Ming army fleet.

The Cossacks also wanted to wait for the enemy to come down from the city before launching a counterattack, but they failed to fire a single shot, and even their gunners were blown away.

Ivan looked at the big gap that had collapsed in front of him, his face was ashamed and his face was ashamed.

"Surrender, raise the white flag to surrender!" Ivan shouted desperately, they couldn't defend such an offensive at all.

seaside.

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty still did not order the marines to attack.

"Continue to bombard, bombard for a while, blast out a few more gaps, spend more shells, and reduce casualties, it is a good deal!"

The gunners practiced the naval guns skillfully, firing one round after another.

The marines did not stop, and prepared all the shield vehicles. The artillery of the marines over there has also built an artillery position on the shore with sandbags, and set up the battalion artillery weighing several hundred kilograms. Also began to aim and shoot, joining the bombardment team.

The outer earth wall and the inner wooden wall were constantly collapsing, a white flag was raised above the city, and many Raksha people fled from the city against the artillery fire in the east.

"Stop those who run away, and don't let one escape,"

"Marines, attack the city!"

The marines pushed the shield cart and rushed towards the castle with the shield under the still fierce artillery fire. Soon they reached the trench. Someone lifted the ladder and quickly assembled it into a trench ladder.

Chong Chong.

No one can stop it.

The artillery also began to extend into the city, and the Prime Minister of the Dynasty did not stop the bombardment. He didn't care about the bottles and cans in the castle or the flowers, plants, cats and dogs.

He only needs to ensure that the casualties of the soldiers are minimal.

On the north city wall full of gaps, a red flag was planted, and the sun and moon were more eye-catching in the wind and snow.

"Enter the city!"

Wang Chaoxiang wanted to enter the city with two muskets in hand, but was stopped by his own soldiers, so he could only wave his guns and shout.

When Ivan yelled to surrender, the morale of the Okhotsk army collapsed, and the tribal leaders who came to the banquet in the city took the opportunity to run to the prison, opened the cells of the tribal hostages, and broke their chains. It was the soldiers of the Chinese emperor, so they touched sticks and stones and started killing devils in the castle to respond, and some people were setting fire.

The castle was in chaos, the Cossacks and the hunters fled separately, and no one wanted to stay here anymore.

Some Cossacks didn't even forget to run away to grab one.

The Ming army entered the castle smoothly all the way.

When they bumped into the fleeing Raksha devils head-on, they unceremoniously fired a burst of guns, and the bang bang bang guns shot the devils in front of them to the ground at close range.

A few lucky guys also picked up their matchlock guns, but the second platoon of the Marine Corps fired again, knocking them over.

When the dynasty met more and more marines rushed into the city, they ordered the tribal soldiers to enter the city.

Those bear-skin warriors, fish-skin warriors, tiger-skin warriors, and spike warriors who had been standing on the beach in a daze after getting off the boat were all in a daze.

Some of them have experienced many battles, and there are even warriors who participated in Sauron's war against Houjin back then, and it's not like they haven't seen firecrackers and artillery, but have they ever seen such a scene?

At that time, there were not many musketeers in Houjin, and there were not many cannons, even small ones.

Now dozens of cannons from the Ming army fired in unison, and the Ming army's musketeers lined up their guns. How could the castle, which was so tall in their eyes, be turned into scum?
They didn't even see the Arimei army fall.

The battle is over?

When the interpreter shouted the order to attack again, they finally came to their senses.

A Feyaka man in a bear's skin took up his fist and slammed his chest hard, raised his head to the sky and screamed, and then rushed towards the castle with a big stick.

The Hezhe warrior in fish skin even brought his two dogs to charge together.

It was only when they rushed into the castle that the battle was over.

Since the establishment of the winter camp stronghold in the Raksha Kingdom, and then upgraded to a castle, Okhotsk Fortress, which took ten years to build, was captured almost without firing a gun!

(End of this chapter)