Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1443 Shandong Severe Drought ([-])

On the night of May 1666, 5, several "Amur River"-class inland shallow-water gunboats quietly approached the sea off Zhenjiang Fort, sending a large amount of supplies to some officers and soldiers of the Seventh Mixed Battalion who had landed here, and also took away a group of soldiers. Batch of spoils and prisoners.

The trophies are some of the food, livestock, timber, gold and silver seized by the army officers and soldiers after they broke through Zhenjiang Fortress. The so-called prisoners of war are very complicated. Among them are the Qing army prisoners, and some were "forcibly identified" by the officers and soldiers on the east bank. North Korea's prisoners of war—more precisely, a small official North Korean mission and a large number of North Korean businessmen—are now waiting to use it to blackmail the North Koreans.

It is said that since Shao Shude launched the war of aggression against Korea and defeated the Korean army in the Battle of Baoen County, the relationship between the Korean Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty has cooled down rapidly, because they found that the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia, which were once so powerful that they were desperate, could not help them. They got out of the woods, and under the threat of reality, the sticks were disgracefully thrown to the east bank.

However, a stick is a stick after all, and the ever-changing situation since the end of Ming Dynasty taught them a lot.At this time, the "two-end policy" of the Gwanghae-jun era was brought up to the court for discussion by the Korean monarchs and ministers, and they were quickly put into practice. maintain a certain degree of contact.Among these connections, trade is naturally very important. North Korea’s grain, iron materials, medicinal materials, and seafood, and Qing’s livestock, fur, paper, cloth, salt, and tea are the most common commodities in circulation here.

Zhenjiang Fort is an important part of this kind of trade.This frontier fortress, which was built in the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, became the main way for Korean merchants and envoys to go to the Qing Dynasty due to its extremely important geographical location. Therefore, this time it was raided by the people from the east coast, and many merchants were blocked. In the city, it is unlucky to become a prisoner all of a sudden.

Zhenjiang Fort, as the node of the Pinghu post road and the periphery of Jiulian City, is not without guards, and even though troops have been continuously sent northward to support Sharhuda (to resist the pressure from the people on the east coast) over the years, there are still guards in Zhenjiang Fort. Four to five hundred officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners are guarding. If you count the guards in the surrounding fortresses, there are a total of more than one thousand and hundreds of officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners in the whole area of ​​Zhenjiang Fort-Kuandian-Jiulian City. The strength should not be underestimated. .

It's a pity that they met people from the east bank, and they were the famous 1450 officers and soldiers of the seventh mixed battalion in blue.This regular army, which has undergone a full set of rigorous training and has undergone a full set of strict training, has four infantry companies (all equipped with Mini guns), a cavalry company, an artillery company, a supply company, an engineering platoon and Several reconnaissance, staff officers, and miscellaneous personnel have the ability to combine multiple arms, fierce firepower, orderly advance and retreat, advanced weapons, and high morale. Almost as soon as they landed, with the cooperation of naval naval guns, they repelled the three hundred cavalry who came to attack. The cavalry of the Qing army took advantage of the enemy's unfamiliarity with the characteristics of the Mini gun to kill a member of Niu Luzhangjing from a long distance, which greatly shocked the Qing army.

After the victory in the first battle near the landing field, all the [-]th Mixed Battalion of the Army that had landed, under the command of the acting battalion commander, Major Junior, quickly advanced towards Zhenjiang Fort.At that time, there were less than [-] guards in Zhenjiang Fort, and they were panicked and demoralized. In addition, the city wall had been in disrepair for a long time since the end of Ming Dynasty. A port city near the river,

In this battle, the people on the east bank only paid a negligible 34 casualties, and achieved a record of killing, wounding and capturing nearly 200 enemy troops. It can be called a great victory, and the Minigun (also known as 1652-Type A rifled gun).This army's "new toy" is accurate in shooting and its range is far beyond the expectations of the Qing army. The intensive firepower formed by nearly a thousand riflemen from the four companies hit the enemy so hard that they couldn't even lift their heads, so they had to get on their horses and flee. The fighting process should not be too easy.

And after seeing the key city of Zhenjiangbao so easily conquered by the people from the east bank, no matter the local residents or the Manchurian, Mongolian, and Korean businessmen who came to the exchange market, they all trembled like quails, fearing that they would never get a bad reputation. The infamous thief in yellow—okay, blue this time—slew them all.Especially those North Korean businessmen and envoys, don’t mention the embarrassment and fear, because the people on the east bank warned them more than once not to have any further dealings with the Qing Dynasty. As a result, they not only sent businessmen to trade, but also sent envoys to Beijing It was caught on the spot, this incident made a fuss...), if the people on the east bank make use of it, the North Korean monarchs and ministers are afraid that they will be overwhelmed, so all of them will be downcast.

In fact, the North Koreans guessed right. Liang Xiangjian, who is nominally in charge of the military affairs of the three major military towns in the Far East, really wanted to make use of the problem. The reason for doing so was mainly because of the famine in Shandong.No, because of the huge number of disaster victims, Heishui, Ningbo and other places can no longer be effectively resettled, so someone below offered advice to Liang, saying that if there are more disaster victims coming, then simply go to the Zhenjiang Fort area for reclamation. , There are familiar land, people, and ports, and it is backed by the Kingdom of Korea. It is convenient to borrow (rein) and use (extort) materials, and the difficulty of opening up wasteland is greatly reduced. It should be able to accommodate tens of thousands of people.

To be honest, Liang Xiangjian is very tempted by this proposal, because he is not sure how many disaster victims will come in the future, and there is not much food left at hand, and this year there is not enough money to purchase food from the Dutch on a large scale, so he is self-reliant Land reclamation has become a must.And land reclamation obviously requires a choice. For example, it is better to have a certain foundation, and it would be better if there is material support in the early stage. This choice is actually the collective left over from Ningbo, Heishui and other places. A farm is the perfect fit.It's just that these places are almost filled up now, so it is inevitable to look for new pioneering land. Zhenjiang Fort, Jiulian City, and Kuandian are the targets they have recently selected.

It is close to the sea estuary, the transportation is convenient, there is a certain agricultural foundation, and materials can be transferred from North Korea nearby, there are cities to defend, and the land is also very fertile. More than 1000 officers and soldiers from the Seventh Mixed Battalion landed in Zhenjiang Fort.

Needless to say about the results of the battle, all the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia who can fight have gone to the pass, and those left outside the pass are either the old and weak, or those with weak combat effectiveness, and only these left behind personnel, among them, the relatively good ones in the past few years A large number of people were transferred to the Ningguta area in the north to help Sharhuda resist the encroachment of the Russians and the people on the east coast. Therefore, it is obvious how empty the defense forces around Zhenjiang Fort are.And what they encountered at this moment was the well-trained Seventh Mixed Battalion, which had been equipped with new Minie rifles, and was also at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.

After the Seventh Mixed Battalion took control of Zhenjiang Fort in late May, apart from sending some troops (mainly cavalry) out to search and drive away the remaining Qing troops at the beginning, they stayed in the city and waited for the arrival of follow-up supplies and personnel.At the same time, according to the plan decided by Liang, he handed over a severely worded diplomatic letter to two captured North Korean mission officials, asking them to take them back to Hanyang City and hand them over to Li Chaojun and his ministers for viewing. Why on earth did they collude with the Qing court in private?What is the intention?What should I do!In short, the meaning is to use this to extort a batch of money, food and livestock from the sticks again, so as to support the large number of Shandong disaster victims who will be transported later to open up wasteland here.

According to conservative estimates by Liang Xiangjian and others, if the Zhenjiang Fort area can be effectively controlled and the remnants of the Qing army in Jiulian City and Kuandian defeated, then it should not be a big problem to settle [-] to [-] Shandong disaster victims in this place to reclaim wasteland and grow potatoes. The North Koreans have a strong supply of supplies.However, this plan is not without risks. Once the tens of thousands of disaster victims arrive, they will not be able to leave in a short time. If the Qing army mobilizes a large army to attack, the people on the east coast will be in quite a lot of trouble. You know, this Sending troops to take Zhenjiang Fort in a surprise attack this time is already regarded as a violation of the ceasefire agreement by the people on the east coast. It is really hard to say how the Qing army will react, although they don't seem to attach much importance to this place.

However, since the people from the east bank dared to come to the mouth of the Yalu River, they were naturally fully prepared.The Qing army will fight when it wants to fight. We are backed by the city, we have muskets and cannons, and the transportation is cheap and convenient. How do you compare with the Qing army?Among other things, the cost of transporting materials across the entire Liaodong ground is horrifying. Otherwise, the transportation of materials for these military fortresses in the Ming Dynasty would not have been transported by boat from Dengzhou. It is really difficult to travel by land. .Therefore, even if the Qing army comes to invade, its strength will not be too many, so this will not be a big problem for the people on the east bank. The core is the seventh mixed battalion of the army, supplemented by a few miscellaneous soldiers and North Korean servants. , relying on city defense, the Qing army can be defeated or exhausted no matter what, it is very simple.

"Now the wheat in the field must be properly protected, so that no one will take the opportunity to destroy it. It is not easy to find a place where there is no drought or locust plague, and it is even more difficult to harvest some food. We must be careful. The city There are two to three thousand residents in Zhenjiang Fort. Most of them are Tatars, right? Even if more than half of them are Han Chinese, they have entered the Eight Banners of Han Dynasty. If you get together, be careful of their tricks." Lu Fang, who was seconded from the Southern Pioneering Team, said to more than a dozen cadres who surrounded him.

Because it was rumored that Lu Fang, who married the daughter of the Yang family, was going to be transferred to the Heishui Pioneering Team as a "high-ranking official", so these low-level officials who either graduated from Yantai Anti-Qing Military and Political College or were veterans all bought it. The posture is still very full, after all, it is likely to be the immediate boss in the future.

The officials that Lu Fang explained at this time are all officials from above who are ready to take over the local government affairs of Zhenjiang Fort. Anyway, like most parts of the Northeast, this place is relatively sparsely populated. [-]. There are not many more officials, so more than a dozen officials are enough to manage the civil affairs in the city. The premise is that the small officials of the Qing Dynasty cooperate.

"We have limited manpower now, so we need to concentrate on doing a good job in one place, that is to say, concentrate on doing a good job in agriculture near Zhenjiang Fort, so as to ensure that the great cause of land reclamation will not be affected. Don't worry about Jiulian City and Kuandian, at most Send people to drive back the local Qing army (not so much the Qing army, but the banner people), and open up wasteland there, and may not go there for the time being, because it is not easy to take care of." Lu Fang said: "The new development In principle, the land is mainly planted with potatoes. This kind of crop has a short growth cycle and high yield. It is the end of May now, and it is a bit out of date to plant wheat, and the yield is indeed a bit low. In the next period of time , you conscript the residents of the city to the outskirts to level the wasteland, don’t worry, the army will send people to cooperate with you, and those residents dare not refuse.”

In fact, what Lu Fang said is exactly what the people on the east bank were worried about before, that is, there is only one Seventh Mixed Battalion landing at the mouth of the Yalu River, with more than 400 people in this area, sweeping the nearby Qing army (actually It's not difficult to have a Qing army with no seriousness at all, but it's pure nonsense to want to control a lot of territory.Therefore, the main task of the Seventh Mixed Battalion was to ensure the safety of the reclaimed land near Zhenjiang Fort, so as not to be raided by the Qing army and destroy the reclaimed land. In this way, the tens of thousands of refugees from Shandong who migrated here would be caught blind.So you can see that the military and political officials on the east bank are very conservative. They agreed to nest near Zhenjiang Fort to house turtles, and then asked the North Koreans for food and livestock supplies needed to open up wasteland. By the way, they asked them to send troops to assist. Guard this area.

Of course, maybe they were a little unfounded, because the population and strength of the Qing army in the Northeast were very small at this time, and the area around Zhenjiang Fort was already quite large.Liang Xiangjian even doubted at the beginning, if the Qing army in Ningguta was wiped out in the entire Northeast, would it be possible to gather 1 Banners to arm them!The conclusion is that it is estimated to be more than [-]. If the troops stationed in important cities such as Liaoyang, Shenyang, and Guangning are removed, the troops that can be deployed to attack the people on the east coast will not exceed [-] at most; if logistics and transportation are also considered, then [-] This number has to be discounted again, maybe only five thousand, then this is a bit embarrassing!

However, no matter what happens to the Qing army, the people on the east bank only need to do their own thing. The main reason for seizing the Zhenjiang Fort area this time is to divert the victims who cannot be resettled. Fort reclamation, while cutting off the connection between North Korea and the Qing Dynasty, is also what it should be.And once the people on the east bank became a climate in the border area between Qing and North Korea, the situation on the more than 200 million square kilometers of land in the inner and outer northeast would undergo tremendous changes.

In this regard, both Liang Xiangjian and Liao Xiaoyao are actually a little bit uncertain, because they are not sure, and they are not sure what the members of the Executive Committee think about their military operation to advance into the Yalu River Estuary, because this is an "illegal operation" suspicious!But for now, if you do it, you will do it. After all, this is a good place to divert the disaster victims in Shandong, isn't it?As for the possible punishment by the local government, let's talk about it later!

(End of this chapter)