In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 406 Continue to expand

The weather in Haisan City in September is pretty good, but it is far less hot than in the south.

But Kuye City, which is more than a thousand miles away from Haisan City, is a little cooler than here.

In the second year of Yuan Zhen, the imperial court raised dogs in Haisan City and used new sleds. The Song army fully used sleds in this area.

At the end of the second year of Yuanzhen, the Song army set up a naval division on Kushuo Island (Kuye Island) with three battalions and 1,500 people.

Then they began to set up a stronghold fifty miles southwest of Kushuo Island. First, they built a fort, which was mainly used to store supplies.

The Song army transported supplies from the sea to Kushuo Island, and then stocked up on land.

Beginning in April of the third year of Yuanzhen, the Song army built Kuye City about 500 miles southwest of Kushuo Island after relocating 5,000 Korean households and 1,000 savage households.

At the same time, in the third year of Yuanzhen, the Song army designated the area from Kusui Island to Haisanwei, more than two thousand miles long from north to south, and three to four thousand miles wide from east to west, as owned by the Song Dynasty, and officially named it Liaodong Prefecture.

The newly built Changchun City, Haisan City, and Kuye City all belong to Liaodong Prefecture.

Huining (Harbin), Shenzhou (Shenyang), etc. belong to Liaoxi Prefecture.

Liaodong Province's envoys and governor's offices have been moved to Shenzhou.

After Zhao and Rui's calculation, the area of ​​Liaodong Prefecture covers more than two million square kilometers, which is almost the same size as the Southern Song Dynasty, and it all belongs to the Song Dynasty.

Of course, this area is now very bitter and cold, and there are basically no original residents except for the savages (Nivkhs, or Qileds) who migrated from the Baikal Mountains and Lake Baikal.

As mentioned before, these ethnic groups are closer to the Mongols. Archaeologically speaking, they cannot be considered Jurchens.

But now, and in the Ming Dynasty, they are basically counted among the wild Jurchens.

Zhao and Rui planned these places at the right time, because the Ross Principality is now in a mess.

Batu's Mongolian army swept across Rus, attacked Mo Shige, and razed Ji Pu. What's more, this place is thousands of miles away from the main area of ​​​​the Rus Principality. The Song army easily occupied the entire Liaodong Prefecture.

And after establishing a foothold, they will continue to invade westward and strive to occupy more land.

In fact, many ministers and generals in the court did not understand Zhao Yurui's approach. This place, which was called the Far East in later generations and is now called Liaodong Mansion, was full of cold and uninhabited.

The nobles in the prosperous and bustling Lin'an City don't understand.

And to be honest, with the current conditions, it is quite difficult to carry out large-scale construction here.

Haisan City is the capital of Dongzhen Kingdom. It has basic conditions. Haisan City is also relatively close to the Song Dynasty, so the Song Dynasty can easily occupy it.

The newly built Changchun City mobilized hundreds of thousands of people. From the seventh year of Baoqing to the fourth year of Yuanzhen, it has not been completely completed in almost five years, which shows how difficult it is.

Fortunately, Zhao Yurui was very strong, and the people below him were also very capable of execution. When building Kuye City, the Song army mostly used Koreans and captured savages.

Kuye City was built on the east side of the Alimen River (Ussuri River), close to the Alimen River.

It is said to be a city, but it is actually equivalent to a bastion city. The Song army planned to station two thousand Korean households, two battalions, and a thousand foot camps here, and then capture some savages from all around, totaling about 10,000 people.

The Song army first built a large bastion at each of the four corners, and then connected the bastions with city walls. If a large army came and could not defend the city wall section, they could separate the personnel to defend the four bastions.

But according to the current strength and firepower of the Song Army, no army in the Liaodong region can challenge them, so there is no such problem.

It is impossible for the Principality of Rus to gather tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in such a bitter and cold place to attack the Song army.

At this time, Kuye City was still under construction. Because there were few people, there were only 5,000 Korean households, more than 1,000 barbarians, and 1,000 Song troops, totaling more than 10,000 people, so the construction was quite slow. From Yuanzhen Three years have passed, more than a year now, and not a single bastion has been built. At present, the main focus is on building barracks for everyone.

It's freezing cold here, and it's easy to freeze without a camp and warmth. Fortunately, there are hundreds of thousands of miles of woods here, so keeping warm is no problem at all.

In late September, it was still hot in the south, but the temperature here has gradually dropped.

Early this morning, Zheng Youcai was riding a horse and leading a team of people to hunt in the nearby forest.

More than two years ago, the three brothers Li Liang, Zhou Yong, and Zheng Youcai were promoted successively because they captured a large number of savages. Li Liang was the deputy commander of the battalion, Zhou Yong was the chief of the three capitals, Zheng Youcai was the deputy chief, and the Jurchens under Li Liang were Soldier Chen Zhong was promoted to deputy corps commander.

Later, the imperial court built Kuye City, and Zheng Youcai took the initiative to ask for help. He was directly promoted to the head of the capital and went to Kuye City to open up wasteland.

Nowadays, there are no battles to fight in Liaodong. Either you can capture a large number of savages, find various minerals, or open up wasteland. Only under these three conditions can you be promoted.

Zheng Youcai took the initiative to open up wasteland and stayed here for more than a year. It was really hard ahead and he had to build his own house bit by bit.

At first, all tools and equipment were transported to Kuye Island by sea, and then transported here from the storage point.

Because it is more than a thousand miles from Haisan City, and the middle is full of forests, making it impossible to walk.

Later, the Song Army discovered a new route, and it was Zhao Yurui who pointed it out after receiving Song Tian's report.

From the Chakhalin Bay in the west of Kuye Island, it directly enters the Amur River from the mouth of the sea (Nikolavs area), and then all the way to the Alimen River.

Although this waterway is quite long and winding, with a length of a thousand miles, twice as long as the land route of 500 miles, it is completely on the water and is easy to transport.

The Song army came overland from the north, and there were forests all along the way.

Since the discovery of a waterway, the Song Army's supply has become much more convenient, and the construction speed has also become faster.

The problem now is that many Korean people are unwilling to open up wasteland in such a bitter cold environment. The Song army used coaxing, deception, and even coercion to get people here to help with the work.

Of course, the Song Army will also promise that after ten years of service, they will be granted Song status and can move back to western Liaoning.

As for how many people are willing to leave ten years later, that is another matter.

And the Song Army here will be rotated after five years of service.

"Plop!" At this time, someone shot an arrow and hit a reindeer.

"Okay." There were cheers from all around.

Zheng Youcai turned around and looked at his twelve-year-old son Zheng Wei with satisfaction.

His son's original name was Zheng Yuanbao. At that time, Zheng Youcai wanted his family to be rich. Later, he felt that the name did not sound good, so he changed it to Zheng Wei.

Now his wife and son are following him in the army. Zheng Wei, who is only twelve years old, is studying culture here and preparing for the imperial examination in the future. Zheng Youcai will take his son with him every time he goes hunting, and his son's riding and archery skills are also slowly improving.

There is no way, now the imperial examination also includes riding and archery, and it is a bonus item.

Today they came out and harvested a lot. They shot a lot of musk deer, roe deer, reindeer, and two wild boars, one big and one small. Unfortunately, they didn't catch the brown bear and the Amur leopard.

Although this place is bitterly cold, it is really rich in various animal resources. Seeing that Zheng Youcai has gained a lot, he immediately waved his hand: "Let's go home."

"Go home." All the soldiers shouted in unison.

When Zheng Youcai returned home with his son, he saw busy people everywhere. Not one of the four bastions in Kuye City had been built yet. Everyone was mainly building other houses.

Because there are no enemies around, they don't even have fences. The scene is very simple and chaotic.

"Zheng Youcai." Far away, Zheng Youcai heard someone calling him.

He turned his head and looked over, suddenly ecstatic: "Damn it, you are finally here."

Li Liang, Zhou Yong, and Chen Zhong came forward with smiles, and a group of elite soldiers followed behind them.

Zheng Youcai glanced out of the corner of his eye and smiled knowingly. Many of them were the savages they had captured. Luerha, Duergun, Shahaniu and others are all there.

The earliest Duergun refused to admit defeat and was killed by Shahaniu himself. Song Jun also named another savage Duergun.

After more than two years of training by the Song Army, these savages are now quite docile and will fight without risking their lives.

The brothers hugged each other tightly, and Zheng Youcai reacted quickly: "Is there any good news?"

Li Liang, Zhou Yong, and Chen Zhong took him aside and said directly: "The imperial court is going to gather troops at Huining Mansion. Do you want to go?"

"Huining Shengfu?" Zheng Youcai subconsciously felt something: "Are you preparing for war?"

"should be."

There was originally a Huining Army stationed there, and Li Liang and the others belonged to the Changchun Army. Now that the court wanted to gather troops and horses in Huining, there must be a big move.

Moreover, Huining was originally part of Liaoxi Prefecture, but now it is a separate prefecture. The imperial court will definitely expand westward.

Just like they first arrived at Haisan City in the Yuanzhen year, and later expanded northward and built Kuye City, it is the same reason that they established Liaodong Prefecture.

The higher the level of establishment, the more it represents expansion. If a new province is established, it will definitely expand further to the west and north.

Li Liang said, if you are willing to go, I will send someone to take turns. If you are not willing, forget it.

Zheng Youcai laughed and scolded: "Damn you, you came all the way here, I can't go."

Haisan City is more than a thousand miles away from here. With so many people like Li Liang traveling more than a thousand miles to find him, how can he refuse?

That night, Zheng Youcai entertained his brothers well, and then told his mother-in-law and son that he would be stationed on rotation and his family could move to Changchun City.

In late September, Li Liang and others brought some soldiers and horses to Changchun to gather.

The Changchun Army has two armies with 12,000 men.

But because they have to garrison Changchun, Haisan City, Kuye City, etc., this time they gathered an army of 6,000 people, plus a thousand savage troops, for a total of 7,000 people.

Li Liang and the others were reorganized in Changchun City, and the three brothers were still in the same camp.

Li Liang was promoted to battalion commander this time, Zhou Yong was deputy commander and head of the first capital, and Zheng Youcai was deputy commander and head of the second capital.

All three of them were promoted, and they were promoted before the fight. The three of them immediately knew that they would go to Huining to fight.

But Huining is Harbin in later generations. What enemies are there around?

This would also be a desolate and bitter cold place.

When the Jin Kingdom came to Beijing, Huining was relatively prosperous. After the Jin Kingdom moved its capital, it was also quite bitter and cold there.

After they gathered and reorganized in Changchun, they did not leave immediately, but began to train. At this time, soldiers and horses came from all directions one after another. Within a few days, Li Liang was called to a meeting by the commander Song Tian. It soon became known that Liaodong Dusi's Soldiers and horses are gathering in Changchun one after another. Even the soldiers and horses stationed in the four cities of Goryeo are coming.

After the meeting that day, Li Liang asked his soldiers to ask Zhou Yong to bring someone over. Then he went to a warehouse to pick up a lot of things, and then returned to the camp with this batch of things.

In the afternoon, hoo, the trumpet sounded in their camp.

More than 500 people in the camp gathered quickly.

Li Liang's battalion is quite strong, with more than 500 regular troops, and two more 200 savage troops under his control.

The people at the scene gathered quickly. After everyone had gathered, Li Liang looked around and pointed at Zhou Yong and the other leader: "You two lead the savages and continue fighting on foot."

"No." Zhou and Yong agreed and led the savage to the other side.

The thousand barbarians of the Song Army were used as heavy infantry. They rushed directly to the battlefield and fought head-on.

The remaining people in Wudu looked at Li Liang at this time.

Three-fifths of the people in these five capitals were formerly crossbowmen, and two-fifths were spearmen.

But that's changing now.

"The imperial court has made a new firearm called a flintlock gun."

"It's easier to use than crossbows and more powerful. According to the wishes of the superiors, the original crossbowmen will be converted into fusiliers." Li Liang said loudly: "But I think this thing also depends on talent, everyone. They all have to learn, and in the end, the Sandu who can fight best will be selected as fusiliers, and the rest will still be spear and shield soldiers."

Li Liang first said it briefly, and then explained it in detail again, and all the troops understood it.

The imperial court required that three-fifths of the troops be converted into fusiliers, and two-fifths remained as spear and shield soldiers.

It doesn't have to be a crossbowman turning into a fusilier. Li Liang said it depends on who is talented and who can fight well.

Then Li Liang waved his hand and pushed several carriages behind him.

"Come on, come on, take the guns, one for each person."

Everyone came forward happily, but when someone got it, they exclaimed: "What is this? It's so heavy. Is it iron or wood? It's so heavy. Is it useful?"

It turns out that what everyone got were fake guns.

This gun weighs more than eight pounds, mainly because it uses a section of cast iron in the middle and front, and the back is entirely solid wood.

"Don't make any noise, listen to the instructors." Li Liang's new camp has ten instructors sent from above.

Then the grouping started on site.

There was a group of more than fifty people, including Li Liang himself. Everyone was armed with a gun and had to learn how to do it.

The instructor stood in front of them, holding a fake gun in one hand.

He first explained the simple structure and firing principle of the flintlock gun twice.

Then ask one by one.

Some people remember it after listening to it twice, and some people can't remember it and will tell it again alone.

In the past few days, everyone learned these things, raised the gun, aimed through the crosshair, and remembered the principles and structure, various precautions, how to waterproof and windproof, how to clean the barrel, and maintain and protect it.

A few days later, each man was issued a number of other components, including a stabbing strip and fixed ammunition.

"This is called fixed ammunition. Take it and look at it. There is a line in the middle. Then pinch it and see if there is something round at the bottom?"

Everyone took one each, and first saw that about a third of the way in the middle was conditioned, and then really felt that there was a round shape at the bottom.

"The round ones are projectiles. You can pinch the middle thread with your hands and bite it with your mouth to tear it apart."

Everyone follows the instructor.

The bottom-loaded ammunition is also very finely made. The upper bite part is marked, and the ignition powder in the middle is also marked.

(End of this chapter)