Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1647 Rising Winds and Clouds ([-])

"This snow fell well and wonderfully!" On the low wall of Kuandian County, Major Liao Degong looked at the world around him that was gradually covered by flying snow, and said with joy.

Yes, that's right, the snow fell so timely that the Qing army, which was attacking Kuandian County, had to stop and retreat to its old nest to rest.There is no way, the snow is too heavy, and if the fighting continues, not only may the supply of materials not keep up, but this person will not be able to bear it either. The Qing army was born between the white mountains and the black waters, and they will not fail to understand this truth.

As for the people on the east bank, although they are also extremely cold in this ghostly weather, they still have city walls and houses to live in, firewood and charcoal fires to keep them warm, hot soup and hot meals to enjoy, and those who are sick can be properly resettled. Life is indeed much better than that of the Qing army, and the corresponding morale is much higher.

"Sir, do you want to let the horse team go out of the city to pursue it?" A young officer in a khaki army coat climbed up to the top of the city and asked with hopeful eyes.

"Fuck!" Liao Degong slapped off the cap of the young officer, and scolded with a smile: "The tartar is also an old man, how could I give you this chance, let me be quiet, Kuandian There are not many soldiers in the county, so don’t let them all be lost in the wilderness, the defense of the city depends entirely on them.”

It is said that the Qing army has launched an offensive in Liaodong for several months, and its offensive was very fierce. At one time, the people on the east coast lost sight of one another and suffered heavy losses.However, after blocking the enemy's first three axes, the people on the east bank, who were considered to be strong in Liaodong, gradually stabilized their positions, and then relied on their solid offensive and sufficient logistics to fight back and forth with the Qing army. A kind of homeostasis.

Prince Kang Jieshu, Marshal of the Qing Army, was also very helpless about this. Dandong, Kuandian, Jiulian City, and some large grain depots (also fortresses, for example, the division headquarters of the First Division of the Liaodong New Army were located in a certain grain depot. ) is nailed to the land of Liaodong like a nail, and it will never fall down, preventing their 1-strong army from doing their best.

However, when the war lasted from autumn to winter, the originally stored grain and fodder gradually bottomed out, but the new supply was intermittent. The life of the Qing army suddenly became sad, and the offensive gradually slowed down. Great respite.In fact, Prince Kang was the main reason why the Tartars were in such a mess!

It is said that at the beginning, the Tartars were pregnant with bad water, and suddenly killed them during the autumn harvest, trying to catch the people on the east bank by surprise, and by the way, replenish the army rations on the spot because of the rations of the enemy.But their luck was bad. At that time, the main force of the First Division of the Liaodong New Army (owed to the Third Infantry Regiment) was training in the field, so they reacted immediately and assembled to beat the Qing army's forwards-a group of about two Thousands of Mongolian cavalry.

Prince Kang Jieshu is undoubtedly a cautious person. After hearing that the forward was hit head-on by the yellow-clothed thief and lost hundreds of rides, he immediately took a breath, wondering if he was out of luck this time, and the yellow-clothed thief The thieves are gathering heavy troops to come here to fight grass valley?The more suspicious Jie Shu thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong, so he ordered to slow down the marching speed, and all the ministries moved closer to each other, marching forward in a relatively safe manner, without giving the yellow-clothed thieves a chance to defeat them individually.

The Qing army's actions undoubtedly slowed down their marching speed greatly, and gave the people on the east bank a chance to grab the wheat in the field. Therefore, when they arrived at the field, the wheat field was empty, and only some stubble was left laughing and clearing. The army is timid.Moreover, the people on the east coast are also doing a relatively good job. The grain scattered in the grain depots of various towns and towns is also transferred to the counties and grain depots in Dandong, Kuandian, and Jiulian City day and night. Under the urging of the cadres and cadres, they moved back as soon as possible-although just four or five days was not enough to notify and complete the transfer of all villages, at least a considerable part of them were transferred to a safe area by the Yalu River (even Many people were transferred to North Korea), which preserved considerable vitality for these two major reclamation counties, preventing them from being plundered or slaughtered by the Qing army.

Undoubtedly, the East Coast people’s fortification and clearing operations were relatively successful—they even burned a lot of grain that was too late to be harvested or transported to the rear, leaving none of it to the Tartars—after the Qing army arrived in sequence, all It was effective, and only some grain and livestock were intercepted in some villages where it was too late to escape, but this was no different from a drop in the bucket for the Qing army with a number of more than 5000.

What followed was a long and boring offensive and defensive battle. The Qing army had a great advantage in numbers, and the troops were also selected from various provinces, such as Henan rattan players, Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp, Shanxi Jinbing, Manchurian Eight Banners, etc., so they Firmly occupying the initiative on the battlefield, the people on the east bank were compressed into a series of fortresses on the right bank of the Yalu River.

But after being compressed to the extreme, the Qing army could no longer hold back, because after the people on the east bank had fewer places to defend, the density of the troops naturally increased, and it was not uncommon for the Qing army to be unable to attack—for example In November last year, more than 11 Qing troops stormed the grain depot in Dandong County, where the headquarters of the New Army's First Division was located. As a result, after nearly a thousand casualties, they failed to even climb to the top of the city, which was extremely miserable.Since then, the Qing army once gave up attacking the main strongholds guarded by the people on the east coast, and instead targeted some small food stations, intending to make more or less money.

However, after destroying all the grain stations that could be attacked and looting all the villages that could be looted, the Qing army fell into a dilemma again, that is, what should be done next?You know, there is nothing left to plunder now, and the daily consumption of [-] or [-] soldiers is not a small amount.Considering the massacre and destruction of civilian villages in their respective control areas by the people on the east bank and the Qing army before, and the local supplies are very limited, so besides eating the pre-stored food, is it possible to support themselves by hunting?This is obviously impossible!

Therefore, in desperation, the Qing army had to restart its offensive against the strongholds on the east bank again. On the one hand, it aimed to consume the ammunition and soldiers of the people on the east bank, and on the other hand, it also reduced the pressure on its own food.As for the fact that the forced siege caused heavy casualties, it seems that this is not a problem at all for the Qing Dynasty, which has abundant human resources.No, recently another [-]-strong Green Battalion army set out in the Tongzhou area, accompanied by a large number of masters and draft animals. They brought a large amount of food, grass and military supplies, and planned to come to supplement Prince Kang's army—— The cost of this long-distance replenishment of troops and materials is probably only affordable by the Qing Dynasty, and the scale must not be too large, otherwise the old events of the Sui Dynasty's conquest of Korea that triggered civil uprisings would probably happen.

This wave of offensive by the Qing army began at the end of last year (1672) and lasted until late January this year, and finally came to an abrupt end in the heavy snow.Major Liao Degong, as the de facto highest military officer in the Liaodong area, was actually relieved about this. Although he was not afraid that the Qing army could capture these strong fortresses, it is always good to avoid some casualties. After all, their strength is really strong. There is not a lot of surplus, only 1 people, more than enough for rules, but not enough for offense.

However, although he is not afraid of the Qing army at the moment, Liao Degong still has a hidden worry in his heart, that is, how long the Qing army can spend with the people on the east bank in the land of Liaodong.If they insist on not leaving until next spring when the temperature rises, then the people on the east bank will miss the farming season, and the grain harvest for a year will be in vain. It is an extremely serious threat. At that time, we cannot rely on the "North Korean cash machine" to relieve it.

"Damn it, I don't believe you can stay here." Liao Degong looked at the large group of Tartar troops in cotton armor that were slowly retreating in the field, and cursed fiercely: "Shenyang, How much food can Tieling, Kaiyuan, Liaoyang, Fuzhou, and Gaizhou counties in Liaodong and Liaoxi provide? It is enough to feed 2 to [-] Eight Banners soldiers outside the pass, let alone the extra [-] to [-]. The food and military supplies are transported on the way, and the loss is not small. I want to see how long you can hold on! Unless your pockmarked emperor is shameless and mobilizes the people in Zhili and Shanxi to carry food into Liaodong, otherwise Let's just spend it like this, I will stop farming at the worst, and go to blackmail the North Koreans to make a living, and see which of us can spend more than the other!"

After venting the gloomy weather at the head of the city, Liao Degong didn't bother to continue to blow the cold wind on it. Instead, under the escort of his entourage, he went to the health center in the city to condolences to the wounded soldiers, and he was busy until lunch time. Hastily returned to the county office.At this time, an envoy said to be from the Heishui area, accompanied by a dozen Korean soldiers, crossed the Yalu River and came to Kuandian County, and informed Liao Degong, the de facto highest military and political officer in the Liaodong area, about the situation in the Heishui area. .

The envoy's report surprised Liao Degong, because he didn't expect the Manchus to be so fashionable this time, and they actually played a coordinated attack with the Russians, which is really impressive.The envoy mentioned that after receiving the envoy from the east bank, the local government of Hamgyong Province in North Korea immediately sent escorts to Busan County.At present, the envoys who have arrived in Busan have probably gone to Jiaozhou Port by boat, and it is believed that the news will be delivered to Yantai in the near future.

Liao Degong deeply sympathized with the effort to deliver news in the Heishui area, because it is very difficult for them in Liaodong to get in touch with Denglai now, and they must also go through North Korea. The reason is that a large area of ​​​​the Liaohai Sea has been frozen and ships cannot navigate.

The messenger also mentioned another thing, that is, the Blackwater area is currently preparing for a counterattack against the Russians, but there are some shortages of soldiers and supplies, especially the former.Therefore, Commander Liu Jianguo Liu also sent envoys to Sakhalin Island via the Strait of Tartar, hoping to obtain some supplies and soldiers from there. You must know that people on the east coast of this island have been operating for many years, and the only factories in the Far East San Francisco are also distributed there. The family property is still very rich, and the number of people is relatively large.

Liao Degong was a little envious after hearing this.Because he also knows that the narrowest point between the outer northeast mainland and Sakhalin Island is only seven kilometers. If the sea is frozen through, it is still possible to use heavy sleds to transport materials and personnel. This is not something that has never happened in the past. .He even vaguely remembered that the last time a war broke out between Sweden and Denmark, the Baltic Sea was frozen, and the King of Sweden and his invincible army successfully attacked Denmark through the frozen Sond Strait—of course, the king was lucky that time, he Because he was a bit stuffy after riding the sled for a long time, he decided to go down for a walk. As a result, not long after he left his luxury sleigh, the ice suddenly cracked, and the sled and hundreds of cavalry guarding the king all fell into the freezing cold However, the king himself survived the disaster, and then continued to cross the strait and invaded the Kingdom of Denmark. His luck was also quite good.

"If the Blackwater area wants to fight back against the Russians, it can only recruit troops from the five counties of Sakhalin Island. However, these counties have been operating for a long time, have a large population, and have strong economic strength. If they squeeze some hard, they can also make up Two or three thousand troops and supplies to support them.” Liao Degong had fought in the Heishui area for many years, so he was very clear about the local situation, so he offered advice: “The island’s Nanku, Picheng, and Dabo three There are a large number of Oroqen, Ewenki, and Ainu people in the counties, and their combat effectiveness is not bad. The three counties can draw more than [-] people. Given their population base, this is not a heavy military service. In addition, Heishui, The second county of Dabo can also send [-] to [-] Han soldiers, which will basically not affect production. If these troops are organized and put into the Heilongjiang River Basin, a lot of things can be done. And if you can wait until next year If the Sea of ​​Okhotsk thaws in May, then maybe we can get another thousand or two thousand reinforcements from Wei Boqiu's Ezoji Island, and we can even ask the Matsumae Domain if they would like to lend us the new army of the Hakodate Group. Hehe, this There are still a lot of potential troops, so you don’t have to worry at all. The Russians will be able to jump around for a while. The longer it takes, the worse it will be for them. We piled up supplies and manpower and piled them to death. Those Cossacks With what to compare with us?"

"But when it comes to borrowing troops, I have to think of a way in the Liaodong theater." Later, this Liao Degong brought the topic to his own one-acre three-point land, only to hear him say: "I have already given the land to Liaodong in Yantai. The commander-in-chief sent a letter, asking him to send someone to urge the North Korean monarchs and ministers in Hanyang City to send over the sergeants of the Imperial Battalion Office that they withdrew last year. Well, at least 5000 people, [-] is the best! Although these people are not very good It can fight, but it is still possible to strengthen the momentum as an auxiliary force and defend the city. In this way, we can gather the troops scattered in each fortress, and then concentrate our troops to give the Qing army a ruthless attack, so that they can improve their memory. Alas, I just don't know when this will be done, it's freezing cold, and the efficiency of delivering the news is too low."

(End of this chapter)