Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1461 Shandong Severe Drought ([-])

Strictly speaking, the beginning of November is considered to be the beginning of winter in Liaodong, and in this scene of yellowing vegetation and chilling wind, Chongnian and Shi Kang, dressed as Koreans, were riding through the Among the withered wormwood that is as tall as a human being - Liaodong is really too desolate, and it is really not empty talk that there is no human habitation for thousands of miles.

"Your Excellency, you have seen the river. After crossing the river, you should be in the area of ​​Zhenjiang Fort and Jiulian City. The area has been surrounded by bandits in yellow, and no outsiders are allowed to approach. The bandits, horses, and troops of the yellow bandits are here They come and go there, and I don’t know what kind of scenery to get.” Shi Kang pointed to a certain undulating mountain in front of him, and said.

Shi Kang is a small bannerman in Phoenix City. His father's generation used to be the servant of the traitor Shi Tingzhu, and later he joined a green camp guerrilla in the south. As a result, the battle of Jiangxi was defeated by the bandits in Xingzi under Xingzi County. .His father, who was lucky enough to escape back, took various measures to dissipate his family's wealth, so that he was exempted from punishment, but the guerrilla could not continue, so he had to return to Liaodong to die.

Shi Kang has been in the army with his father since he was a child. He has been working hard all year round, and his body is strong. He can't get close to three or five big men. He is quite well-known among the Han Eight Banners in Phoenix City.So this time Shenyang sent people to various places to select elites, and Shi Kang was naturally selected, and then assigned to Chongnian's horse scouting team.

"Get ready to cross the river! It's inconvenient to lead the horse. Let's leave it on the bank first, and leave two people, one to guard and the other to stand guard. The others should be quicker!" The man, who had just been transferred back from the front line of the Guannei battlefield, was short, stocky, and unsmiling. When he gave an order at this moment, everyone did not dare to procrastinate, and followed the order one after another.

The weather is already relatively cold now, and the sun hangs in the sky like a dim fireball, making people feel no warmth at all.Five or six capable spies waded through a river beach tremblingly with great effort, and then walked for a long time before they felt their bodies warm up a little.

"Lord Chong, I'm probably almost there." Shi Kang looked at the surrounding scenery and said in a low voice.

Chongnian didn't speak, but his feet speeded up a lot. They walked for an unknown how long until the sun was a bit westward, and they stopped at a place that was convenient for hiding.Chongnian hid in a clump of meadows, looked at the front solemnly, and at the same time he let out a long breath, and said, "Finally got under their noses."

At this time, their location is not too far from the reclamation area of ​​the people on the east coast, but there is a small stream and a large area of ​​barren meadows.On the other side of the small stream, there were a few small shacks. I don't know what they were used for, but Chongnian tended to be one of the residences of the yellow-clothed thieves.

"Is this a shack for fishermen to rest? Or a place where shepherds live temporarily?" Shi Kang leaned over gently and asked.

"It doesn't look like that. Let's quietly climb to the top of the hill to take a closer look. It's getting late now, we have to hurry up, and when the sun goes down, we won't be able to see anything." Chongnian said, looking ahead silently.

So the two of them hid in the wormwood, one behind the other, and crept up a small hill. At this time, many things could be seen clearly!Chongnian and Shi Kang discovered that a somewhat concealed civil-engineering mixed fortification was built on a small soil bag behind the shack opposite, and four artillery pieces were clearly erected inside the fortification. Facing the flat ground on the side of the small soil bag, it is also the only place suitable for passing large-scale troops, which is obvious!

After careful observation, I found a military tent looming in the valley behind the small soil bag, which seemed to be in the style of bandits in yellow clothes. A pontoon bridge was built in the narrow part of the stream, and bandit soldiers in yellow clothes with rifles were wandering there. Dangling away—these goddamn yellow-clothed thieves, I heard that there is a new type of firecracker, this time I must find one to have a look, Chong Nian thought viciously.

Chongnian hid a flintlock pistol imported from the Netherlands in his waist, and a rifle also imported from the Netherlands in his saddle bag. Now everyone knows that the thief in yellow - oh, no, it should be called the thief in blue now - is equipped with a new type of firecracker, can shoot far and accurately, and chases meat with guns and guns. .Compared with this new type of firecracker, which can be called a murderous weapon, the two guns in Chongnian's hand are no different from fire sticks.

"Go back, since you already know that there is a stronghold of the yellow-clothed thief here, then find a way to pull him out!" Chongnian pulled Shi Kang past him, and while pulling him down the mountain, he whispered: "I reckon, The thieves in yellow may have set up dozens of such strongholds in Jiulian City, Zhenjiang, and Phoenix City. The thieves in yellow have always been sharp with guns, and we men will not compete with them here. Only then can I cause trouble for the thief in yellow. If nothing else, I will kill five of them today and ten of them tomorrow. After a long time, I will not be able to do it. The thief in yellow can still sit still. And even if the thief in yellow can sit still, they will never Can those bastards recruited from Shandong to reclaim wasteland be able to sit still? Don’t they have to flee in large numbers, then our goal will be achieved..."

Chongnian's idea is actually the strategy of the current Manchu Qing, that is, with the limited forces of the Eight Banners outside the pass, in order to deal with the yellow-clothed thieves who have extended their tentacles to the land of Liaodong, it seems that there is only one way to attack, that is, the Manchu Qing court is counting on Relying on this method of guerrilla warfare and harassment warfare, the people on the east bank were killed and exhausted, so that they gave up the idea of ​​reclamation in Liaodong, and kept the so-called "Land of Longxing" in the Qing Dynasty, although few people really value this now. piece of land.

Of course, the problem of insufficient troops outside the customs must also be taken seriously.No, Oboi, who is currently serving as the auxiliary minister, fought against all opinions in the court, and dispatched the green battalion Han army from Shanxi, Henan and other places, and dispatched cavalry riders from various tribes in Mongolia (due to the improvement of living conditions and the prosperity of commerce and trade in the past 20 years, Mongolia Rapid population growth), a total of more than [-] people, all of whom are elites who are used to fighting, were sent to various places in Liaodong, especially Shenyang, Fuzhou, Gaizhou, Jinzhou, and Tieling to strengthen local defense ——In fact, it’s not that the Qing court didn’t want to send more troops to the Northeast. In fact, the Northeast is sparsely populated and its products are limited. It really can’t support too many troops. If it dies, it can only support tens of thousands of people.

A few days after Chongnian and others completed their reconnaissance, on the night of November 11th, hundreds of riders reappeared at the place where they had reconnaissance before along a winding path among the hills, exhaling the cold air. outside the shore reclamation point, and intends to carry out harassment operations against it.The manpower dispatched included the masters from Shenyang, as well as elites such as Shi Kang and others drawn from various places, but most of them were the new generation of Eight Banners who grew up outside the customs.In other words, they don't have much experience in fighting, and their bravery and discipline are much worse than those of the older generation, and the most important thing is their lack of experience, which will directly affect their performance in battle.

According to the predetermined plan, Shi Kang will lead [-] experienced elite soldiers and bring almost double the number of new recruits to sneak into a place not far from the east bank reclamation site, and then launch a surprise attack to kill and injure people with the greatest possible force. Sabotage the colonization efforts of the East Coasters by burning houses, storehouses, armories, etc.And Chongnian sits in the rear. He will lead forty new and old riders to form a backup team. After Shi Kang's surprise attack has an effect, he will block the possible reinforcements sent by the bandits in yellow and cover Shi Kang's main commando team. Evacuate the scene.

The night was still dark, only the camp of the yellow-clothed thief not far ahead—or a small village—was lit. Chongnian and Shi Kang were a little nervous.However, the rookies who followed them were like outsiders. Although they didn’t dare to make any big noises, it was hard to avoid chattering and whispering. Occasionally, there was the sound of stomping their feet to keep warm ( If it is summer, there may be a "slapping" sound of mosquitoes...), which is extremely annoying.

Chongnian frowned and looked at these people. Since he fought in the pass, it was the first time he returned outside the pass in more than ten years. Didn't he expect the young people here to degenerate to such a degree?It is far from the order and prohibition of people like myself when they attacked the Ming Dynasty, and the arrogance of swallowing thousands of miles like a tiger. It seems that the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty are not as good as the next generation, alas!

"Quiet, quiet down, if the thief in yellow hears it, watch out for your dog's head!" Seeing that Chongnian was a little dissatisfied, Shi Kang immediately reprimanded Chongnian.

Maybe it's because he has more prestige or some other reason, in short, those new recruits gradually calmed down.But the good times didn't last long, within 15 minutes, the chirping sound rang in my ears again, and Chongnian's brows became more and more tightly wrinkled. I believe that if it weren't for the deep battlefield at this moment, the soldiers and horses of the bandits in yellow would be a mile away , he is about to violently attack and discipline these bastards!

"Attack!" Chongnian ordered in a low voice, Shi Kang nodded, and then led sixty riders, rushed out from the concealed support, got on their horses, and charged towards the reclamation camp of the people from the east coast in a tragic gesture. ——According to the information collected before, the Dongan people set up dozens or hundreds of such reclamation camps (or villages) around Zhenjiang Fort and Jiulian City, and there are at most a dozen gunners in each camp , There are some more courageous regiment members after they are exhausted, but the quality of these regiment members is naturally extremely poor, and they cannot be taken seriously by the Eight Banners warriors.The only thing to worry about is that there are still some soldiers stationed in the small artillery barracks, which is somewhat troublesome, but this meeting can't be dealt with so much, so I can only bite the bullet and rush for a while.

The movement of dozens of galloping gallops was huge, not to mention that they did not intend to hide their whereabouts at all, because many people still held torches in their hands and loudly echoed their positions, so the camp of the people on the east coast was alarmed at once. up.

The two musketeers on the sentry tower at the head of the village opened fire first, but because they couldn't see clearly at night, they loaded several times in a row, but only hit one person (it might be a lucky bullet), which made people quite annoyed.Some soldiers in the camp also took action. They were armed in the barracks, and then hid behind a fence. Under the command of the officer, they fired at the rushing enemies with a volley of guns. At the same time, two or three prestigious soldiers were separated. Veterans, let them quickly organize regiments to resist, and we must not let the Tartars be overwhelmed, otherwise everything will be over!

Some haystacks were quickly ignited, causing the cattle in the cattle pen to "moo" and kept banging on the gate of the cattle pen in an attempt to escape.An officer and several members of the regiment guarding the grain depot could only hold on for a few minutes, and then they were smashed into a sieve by the arrows and muskets of the Tartars.A Tartar officer broke open the gate of the grain depot, then poured kerosene on the grain bags and ignited them. Then the raging fire lit up the entire night sky, so that it could be clearly seen from far away.

An officer from the Heilongjiang Security Regiment, who was in charge of the security work of the village, was furious when he saw this. Although there was only a week's worth of grain in the grain depot, everyone ate some yesterday and today, but you must know that Shandong is currently facing a crisis. In the severe drought that has happened once in decades, food is more expensive than ever. At this time, some of this place was burned down by the Tartar cavalry. One can imagine what kind of responsibility I have to bear!

There were two cannon fires from the artillery barracks, but they didn't achieve much. However, firing the cannons under such circumstances may have a stronger warning meaning.After all, not far from here, there is still a cavalry team composed of Shandan people, about a hundred cavalry, who just moved from Jiulian City by the Yalu River yesterday, and escorted an officer surnamed Liao by the way Patrol the villages, this meeting has not left yet, if the response is quick, they should be able to come to support.

"Rush to the tent over there! There is a large amount of military resources stored there, burn it down, and the yellow-clothed thieves are freezing in the cold, where are we going to transport the second batch? Rush!" Shi Kang, who was walking around the village, suddenly shouted. Roared, and then took the lead and rushed towards the tent with dozens of horses.

The tent stood beside the pontoon bridge, and a platoon of soldiers from the Seventh Mixed Battalion was stationed there. While guarding the pontoon bridge, they also supervised the construction of an official bridge by more than a hundred North Korean masters.After seeing the Tartars rushing to the camp before, they didn't move lightly, but their hearts were already too anxious, but they saw these Tartars rushing here without thinking, and they didn't know It's a strange thing to see something, maybe they want to seize the pontoon bridge ferry!

"Bang bang bang!" What responded to the Tartars was the sound of intensive bullet shooting. This time, due to the short distance and the relatively dense charge formation, the result was not small. After seven or eight rides down, Shi Kang was a little startled, but he couldn't turn back now.

"Don't grab the pontoon bridge, it hurts there, go and burn the tent!" Shi Kang spun his horse around and ordered loudly.

Soon, under his order, thirty or forty horsemen abandoned the pontoon bridge that had just caused them a lot of casualties, and turned to fight towards the tent, and met almost no resistance.The North Korean master who lived there was chased by them like a sheep, and soon the flames ignited everywhere, and the scene became more and more "hot", which made Lieutenant Liao Degong, who was across the river, see it clearly.

When I first came here, it started to burn, and the Tartars have given it a good start!

(End of this chapter)