Late Tang

(Thanks to Mietian Zhijian and njstar for their support, thank you!)

The Qin army's landing in Vladivostok was extremely successful and smooth.

There was only a port where the Mohe cavalry of a thousand-man team was stationed, and before they could react, it was already submerged by the Qin army like a surging tide.A series of assault boats were lowered from the transport ship, like a huge school of fish rising from the tide, and rushed into the port quickly. Under the cover of the bow and arrow of the flying mine cannon, the marines skillfully followed the pre-simulated landing operation plan Landing at the pier.The Mohe thousand-man team was scattered and stationed near the port, completely caught off guard.By the time they reacted, they had already become captives under the knife of the marines.

Having captured the port, the Marines fired three green flares.

The huge fleet began to enter the port slowly, and the warships lined up along the port. The warships were filled with catapults, ballistas, and artillery carts, ready to attack the possible enemy troops at any time.

The transport ships and landing ships sailed into the port wharf under the guidance of speedboats.

The scale of the landing is unprecedented, not only more than 30 horses, but also a large number of horses, as well as food and ordnance and other materials.

The tribal coalition forces in the port and all the original Bohai people were immediately controlled by the soldiers of the Marine Corps Tiger Shark Corps who were the first to go ashore. They were driven out of barracks, shops, private houses, and prison camps. They were driven to a temporary camp by the sea, where they were all detained.

Then, the marines of the Tiger Shark Legion continued to advance non-stop, and in the evening of the same day, they had already occupied the town of Alcho, which was only guarded by a centurion.This is the necessary place between the Amur Peninsula and the northern mainland, and it is a mountain pass between the peninsula hills and the northeast hills.The status is very important, but because the Bohai people have withdrawn to Tokyo early, the main attack direction of the tribal coalition forces is also in Zhongjing and Buyeo Prefecture, and there is only one partial division in Tokyo. How many troops.On the southernmost peninsula of the Bin Mansion, they only deployed a thousand cavalry team.

March in the Central Plains is already full of mountain flowers, peaches and plums are fragrant, and April is already full of fallen flowers and flowers blooming everywhere.But here, the temperature is still below minus twenty degrees.Even the farther north you go, the colder it gets. In Shangjing on the Bohai Sea and further to the northeast, the temperature at this time reaches a low temperature of minus 40 degrees.In the northeastern part of the Bohai Sea, the end of February and the beginning of March is the season with the thickest snow accumulation in a year.

In the Central Plains, spring has already begun in March, but in the northeast of the Bohai Sea, spring does not begin until April.

The port area of ​​Vladivostok is close to the ocean, and the temperature is slightly higher. After entering March, the temperature will still be ten degrees below zero. Even in April, the temperature will still hover at a low temperature below zero.In such a season, even the two frontline battlefields, Xiande Mansion and Fuyu Mansion, had entered a period of truce several months ago, and the war has not resumed yet.The rear here is naturally even more defenseless.They never expected that the Qin army would suddenly come from the sea at this time, and they didn't land at Longhe Bay in Tokyo, but ran here directly.

After the marines took control of the town of Arjo, it meant that the entire Amur Peninsula and the islands in the rear were safe and stable.

A large number of troops began to land and swarmed into the peninsula. The 20 civilians and more than [-] land and sea troops who came with the ship began to work on the peninsula and the islands, and soon turned this place into a huge construction site.

The first to be established were barracks, warehouses, and track roads extending north along the pier.

Build barracks, build kangs, build chimneys, warehouses...

The huge fleet of [-] ships is continuously pouring soldiers, war horses, food, clothing, ordnance and other things into the port.

On the shore of the wharf, tracks and roads have been laid, but a large amount of supplies have landed, so that the folks have to continue to lay more tracks, so that the carriages can transport these supplies away from the shore as soon as possible.

For seven days in a row, the Qin army's landing has not yet been completed, but the port of Vladivostok has expanded more than ten times than before, and it seems to have become a huge armory here.Armaments as high as mountains are piled up in warehouses one after another on the peninsula. Those warehouses stretching for more than ten miles are filled with bundles of brand-new spears, bow spines, horizontal knives, feather arrows, bowstrings, and crossbows. And gunpowder and so on.

Just for war horses, draft horses, mules and horses, etc., the Qin army brought in a full 50 horses, and there were twenty war horses alone.There are also those flying thunder cannons, general cannons, ballistas, and catapults, all assembled and scattered, piled up in warehouses one after another.

For safety reasons, it is stored on Bear Island, which is across the sea from the port.Bear Island is about forty miles long and thirty miles wide, and is a natural barrier to the harbor.For the Qin army with a strong naval force, guarding the Amur Peninsula, occupying the port of Vladivostok, and hoarding food, gunpowder and other reusable materials on Bear Island, the sea about five miles wide is enough to make the tribal coalition forces sigh.

On Bear Island, the three most important supplies of the Eastern Expeditionary Force are stored, food, gunpowder, and cotton clothes.

The Eastern Expedition troops came directly across the sea, and their logistics supplies depended entirely on the batch of grain they brought with them until they could break into the Bohai Sea area occupied by the coalition forces and obtain supplies.The food and grass for tens of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of horses is becoming more and more important.For this battle, the Qin army prepared for several years, especially in the past two years, the people in the feudal clan tightened their belts to save rations, the military kept hoarding food, and produced a large amount of canned food.

In a place like Bohai, abandoning the fortress Guancheng and taking the initiative to fight the coalition forces in the field is also a great challenge for the Qin army. Therefore, firearms are very important to the Qin army.Especially for this large-scale war, it is becoming more and more important.

In addition to food and gunpowder, cotton clothes are even more important.

In Vladivostok, where the temperature is more than 20 degrees below zero, many soldiers of the Qin Army have never experienced such severe cold in their entire lives.Not to mention, the weather will be even colder after moving northward. According to information collected by the Military Intelligence Bureau, last year, the deepest snow accumulation in this area was six feet six deep, nearly seven feet deep. This snow depth means that That snow is even deeper than many people.In such a severe cold, without warm clothes, the original soldiers in the large army could not even guarantee their survival, so there was no way to fight.

Fortunately, Qin Jun had already started planting cotton in Liaodong, Liaoxi and other places many years ago. Over the years, the production of cotton has gradually increased, and there has been a lot of storage.

Cotton jacket, wool sweater, knee-length cotton coat, leather gloves plus cotton gloves, fur hat, woolen head and neck wrap, cotton trousers, cotton socks, cotton shoes, leather boots, wool blankets, cotton quilts, leather tents, Warm sleeping bags, white wine, cream, chilblain cream, mouth grease, fire matches... The defensive equipment of the Eastern Expedition soldiers was almost armed to the teeth.

In addition, Qin Jun also brought a lot of new equipment, sleds, sleds...

When teams of vanguard cavalry units were sent to all directions for armed reconnaissance, the landing of Vladivostok was still in progress.

Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the port, and almost overnight, the peninsula extending from the port to the inland suddenly appeared like mushrooms after rain, and one after another was formed of camp walls and tents piled up with ice and snow. town.Behind the ice and snow fence, the soldiers of the Eastern Expedition built igloos with ice blocks and snow towers that could accommodate about ten people according to the instruction manual, and then set up leather tents inside. They spread leather mats and woolen blankets on the ground. Then when sleeping, the whole person got into the sleeping bag and covered the outside with a quilt. In this way, most of the soldiers from the Central Plains could finally sleep peacefully at night without shaking.

At first, many Central Plains soldiers, especially those originally brought from the Jianghuai region, felt inconceivable and deeply fearful when they saw that they were asked to build houses with ice and snow and sleep directly in the ice and snow.During the daytime, they were fully armed and their teeth were still fighting with cold. Wouldn't it be cold to death to live in an ice nest at night?

No matter how the officers explain it, it is difficult for them to accept it.Fortunately, it was very easy to build an igloo. When a large igloo was built, Li Jing was the first to go in, and then called some representatives of southern soldiers to go in.Not long after, the soldiers who were standing outside shivering with cold came out, but they were blushing. It was not because of shyness, but because the igloo was very warm. They were wearing too much clothes. Sometimes, some even put blankets on their bodies, and as a result, they became hot.

At first, the other soldiers didn't believe it, but after they cut the ice and cleared the snow to build an igloo, and then eagerly entered it, they really felt that it was much warmer inside.

Especially when they surrounded the igloo with their own leather tents, the igloo became warmer.

It was minus [-] to [-] degrees outside, but it was only minus [-] or [-] degrees in the igloo. If the igloo was surrounded by leather, the temperature inside the house could even reach minus [-] degrees.Coupled with their leather pads, blankets, sleeping bags, and quilts, many soldiers had to take off their thick sweaters and cotton wool robes when they slept until midnight. Some strong soldiers who grew up in Liaodong even When I slept in the middle of the night, I took off my clothes and slept in my sleeping bag.

The less you wear, the more light you take off, the warmer and more comfortable you sleep!

After entering the northern country, many soldiers also began to get used to wiping their faces and bodies with snow.

Due to the large number of people, the military camps on the peninsula stretched for dozens of miles, and there were long queues for bathing, going to the toilet, and eating every day.

Finally, on the ninth day after landing, the Qin Army's vanguard cavalry had advanced hundreds of miles inland, sweeping away all the tribal coalition forces in this area, and even the residents of Bohai Sea in this area were brought back by the Qin Army. Like those coalition prisoners of war, they became the construction workers of the advance base of the Qin Army Vladivostok.

The Qin army needed their labor to catch them, but the most important thing was to keep them secret.

Tens of 10 people landed in Vladivostok, which is a big movement.But at this time, this place has just passed the month with the deepest snow in the year, and the temperature is still minus [-] to [-] degrees. The coalition army camp is extremely far away from this seaside place. In such weather, sometimes it is normal for there to be no communication for a month or two. of.The key is that as long as the scout cavalry of the Qin army control the surrounding area, they can be silent in a short time.

On March [-]th, the last day of March, Li Jing sat alone in his igloo.

The landing has basically been completed, and the 20 soldiers and horses of the landing force have initially adapted to the weather in the northern country. With the end of March, the temperature here is also rising, and the eastern part of the Bohai Sea has also begun to enter spring.

In this warm and cold early spring in the northern country, the coalition forces are still huddled in their caves like poisonous snakes, and have not yet begun to recover.After a while, they will be dispatched again.Now is the time to attack.Moreover, the Qin army's tens of thousands of people landed, and it was impossible to hide it from the coalition forces for too long. More importantly, although the Qin army came with 10 ships, the food that could be transported was limited after all, especially when they brought 50 ships. Thousands of horses.

This time Li Jing emptied Qin Fan's entire family property, and he swept the bottom of the warehouse clean.

Qin Fan's 20 elites have been saving for several years. This is a battle that must be won.Li Jing couldn't delay for too long, he needed to launch an attack immediately, while the morale of the Qin army was high, and before the coalition forces noticed their arrival and were unprepared, he launched this fatal blow.

Li Jing has already studied the battle plan countless times. After the successful landing, their marching route is along the Shuibin River, which is the Suifen River in later generations. The wide and thick ice surface is the flattest road to march.Along this road, they went directly northward, first took down Huazhou City in Shuibin Mansion on the bank of the Subin River, then captured Jianzhou in the west, and approached Longquan Mansion in Shangjing directly.Then their goal was not to attack Shangjing City directly, but to attack Bozhou behind Shangjing Longquan Mansion first.

Bozhou, just north of Shangjing, is the Mudanjiang of later generations.This is also an important town on the Huhan River. Occupying this place is tantamount to cutting off the allied forces of Shangjing.

It turned out that the Qin army in the Bohai Sea was composed of two lines of defense, Fuyu and Zhongjing. These two lines of defense were mainly built along the Sumoshui in the west and the Huhan River in the east. The two rivers formed an inverted horoscope, and finally headed south. Extending, gathering in the original Xijing Yalu Mansion, now the Qin Army's Andong Province.The Qin army's defense in recent years has been such a V-shaped defense, with two lines and three points, firmly blocking the attack of the coalition forces.

Now, Li Jing circled from the sea to the upper right corner of the V, but immediately connected Suzhou on the Fuyu Sumo water defense line, Zhongjing on the Huhan River defense line, and Bozhou behind their target Shangjing to form a triangle , Plan to encircle the right-hand army of the coalition forces in Shangjing in this triangular formation.

The route for the tribal allied forces to attack the Bohai Sea is actually very clear. They went down the Songhua River from the Heilongjiang River in later generations, and then divided into two groups. All the way entered the Sumoshui and went south to attack the northwest of the Bohai Sea. One part entered the Huhan River and went down to attack the northeast of the Bohai Sea. department.Sumoshui is also known as the Second Songhua River in modern times, and it flows westward. It is the south source of the Songhua River and also the source.And the Huhan River is Mudanjiang.The coalition forces invaded the Bohai Sea along these major rivers, Heilongjiang, Nenjiang, Songjiang, Xiliu Songhua, and Mudanjiang.

Khitan and Shiwei entered the Songhua River from the Nen River, and Mohe entered the Songhua River from the Wulong River.

Then, after the tribe and the coalition forces of various ministries occupied the northern area of ​​Bohai Sea, they were divided into two armies, the left and the right.On the right, the Songhua River enters the Mudanjiang River Basin and goes south, attacking the defense line of Zhongjing Xiande Mansion.

If Li Jing can successfully occupy Bozhou on the banks of the Mudanjiang River, he will have copied the back route of the coalition forces on the right. Moreover, if he can regain Shangjing, this will be a huge blow to the Allied forces on the Bohai Sea battlefield that has lasted for several years. It is good news to inspire the army.

However, there is a straight line distance of [-] miles from Vladivostok to Bozhou, and the actual distance is at least [-] miles.This distance is very far, and along the way, the coalition forces occupy the controlled area, and they have to cross states and counties and fight all the way there.

Li Jing was alone in meditation, smoking non-stop, and the room was filled with smoke.

The saying that distance is the best defense makes sense.After crossing a thousand miles of enemy territory, Li Jing was very worried that the coalition forces would have already made preparations before they reached Bozhou.In this way, it will be very difficult to capture Bozhou and surround the right army of the coalition army.

Maybe he should wait for a few more days. According to the records of previous years and the predictions of Tianguan and Onmyoji, the next days will be continuous fine weather, and the temperature in this area will continue to rise. In another half a month, the temperature will It may be much warmer than it is now, which is conducive to marching and fighting.

At sunset, Li Jing finally walked out of the igloo where no one was allowed to approach and disturb her.The senior generals accompanying the army had already stood in two rows and waited for a long time, they were all waiting for his decision.

Li Jing didn't show any expression, and walked directly into the biggest igloo, and all the generals filed in.

There is no prologue, and everyone understands that it is time to make a decision.

Li Jing and the generals repeatedly discussed many details for a long time. Finally, Li Jing made a formal decision and set off immediately at dawn the next day.Zhang Zimiansheng, head of the legion, led the 4 permanent victorious army as the front army, and Guo Chongtao, the head of the legion, led half of the cavalry corps as the left army, including eight armies with a total of 4 horses.Lin Wei, Duke of Wei, led the other half of the Iron Cavalry Legion as the Right Army, which also consisted of eight armies with [-] horses.

Li Jing personally led the Sixth Army of the Guards as the Central Army, and Wang Zhong, the Duke of Baoguo, as the deputy commander. He led the 6 Jin Jiasheng Army, the [-] Silver Spears, and the [-] Guards. As well as [-] pro-Xunyi, [-] special service troops, and [-] internal servants, a total of [-] people.

Li Cunxiao, head of the army, led the Black Banner Army as the rear army, including six armies with 3 horses.

Five routes of soldiers and horses, with a total force of 20.

A total of 3 naval officers, soldiers and marines stayed on the peninsula, and 3 civilians. The first batch of [-] set off with the army to deliver food, grass and equipment, and the rest followed later.

After completing the arrangement, Li Jing sat down, took out a cigar, lit it, and took a deep breath.The smoke with the aroma of tea and medicine lingers in the mouth, and then it is exhaled and scattered in the air.Li Jing took out his pocket watch and opened the cover. Under the crystal mirror, the pointer was pointing to seven o'clock in the evening! (To be continued.)