Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1891 Advance into the Detachment

Daxing'an Mountains, at the turn of winter and spring.

Wei Wendu picked up a bowl of milk tea and took a sip comfortably.In the early spring when the snow has just melted, the weather in the field is still very cold. It is really a different kind of enjoyment to be able to drink hot soup or hot tea anytime and anywhere.

The tea is milk tea with sugar, which is a bit strange to the grassland customs, but the taste is not bad—of course, it is only "not bad", as the eldest grandson of Wei Aiwen, one of the early army veterans, Wei Wendu Wei Lieutenant said it was a It is no surprise that the golden spoon was born.Coupled with the extremely rich local material life, Wei Lieutenant has never lived such a hard life since he was a child.However, it was his own choice to come to the Far East for training and to build a career on the Hulunbuir Grassland, and he could not blame others, so no matter how much suffering, no matter how tired, no matter how much discomfort he had to bear, he would not be able to do things halfway!

He is now located in a small village called the south bank of the Mengkuyi River. It has a small population and is quite hidden. It was established about a year ago and is currently inhabited by Han, Mongolia, Daur and Oroqen who went south from Yaksa. There are more than [-] people of various ethnic groups, mainly relying on grazing, hunting and small-scale planting in the mountains.

It stands to reason that such a life must not be easy.Because this village is located in the depths of Daxing'an Mountains, the transportation is inconvenient, the climate is cold, and the population is sparsely populated. It doesn't even have a trading partner. It is quite hard to say.Fortunately, the Heishui District Administrative Office knows their difficulties, and sends two groups of mules and horses here a year to transport necessities including weapons and ammunition, daily necessities, medicines and woolen clothes, and even because there is no food, extra Some of the transportation capacity will also send some high-end food such as spirits, shredded tobacco, spices, cane sugar, dried fruits, canned food, biscuits, and chocolate to the officers, soldiers and herdsmen guarding here, but the quantity is relatively rare.

These two batches of mules and horse teams all started from Yaksa. One team was in late spring and the other in early summer. The scale was small, but the maintenance cost was not low. Every year, it cost a lot of financial budget of the Blackwater Pioneering Team government .After crossing the river from Yakesa, the team of mules and horses, under the leadership of the guide, followed the road opened up for many years in the Daxinganling Mountains, passing through Mohe Fort (established more than two years ago, it is not yet self-sufficient in food, but it already has complete military defense facilities. ) all the way south along the relatively flat Laocao River Valley, and finally arrived at Manguitun.

Undoubtedly, the areas that the mules and horses traveled along the way were unfamiliar areas that had never been penetrated or affected by the people on the east coast. Most of the local indigenous people were Shantars who lived in the mountains for generations. , it was Huang Taiji's favorite raw fish to catch decades ago.In other words, the Qing government had more or less influence on the local tribes living in mountainous areas. Although this influence has been greatly weakened over the years, its "mass base" is better than that of the East Bank, but It is an indisputable fact.

Therefore, the two mules and horse teams starting from Yaksa must be equipped with a certain number of elite guards each time, otherwise they may not be able to walk.And in this way, the expenditure is bound to increase sharply, which is not a small burden for the Yaksa District Administrative Office and even the Blackwater Pioneering Team government, which are already very tight on expenses.

However, who made going south to cross Heilongjiang and advance to the Hulunbeier prairie is the grand strategy set by the leader of the pioneering team, Chen Ke?Since it is the meaning of the top leader, no matter how difficult the subordinates are, they will naturally have to dispatch personnel, raise supplies, and piece together funds to share the worries of the leaders.As a result, Mohebao, which was isolated in the south of Heilongjiang, was established, and Manguitun, which was further south, was also barely established with the support of Yakesa's teeth. For this reason, Hailanpao, Jieya, and Huma Other places also supported a batch of money and goods - all of this was naturally for the purpose of crossing the barrier of the Daxing'an Mountains and entering the Hulunbuir Prairie with lush water and grass, bordering the local Mongolian forces.

Lieutenant Wei Wendu was the first batch of people who came to Manguitun to build an advance base.The third generation of the army who originally served in the army's cavalry system--it is a bit unreliable to say that the third generation of the army is not reliable, because his father is nothing more than a promising director of the Ministry of the Army-after some operations After that, he became the captain of the so-called "Hulunbuir Advance Detachment", with a hundred soldiers under his command, and more than 500 farmers and herdsmen with complicated origins (the largest one was the Mongols who had defected, about [-] people The main job is to gain a firm foothold in this mountainous area, and then lay a solid foundation for the next step to advance to the Hulun Buir Grassland.

That is to say, in fact, the people from the east coast are far from breaking into the Hulunbuir Grassland and intersecting with the local Mongolian tribes so far.They are still "struggling" in the Daxing'anling Mountains, which stretch for thousands of miles, trying to extend their tentacles to the relatively densely populated Hulunbuir Grassland.Wei Wendu, as the leader of this advance detachment whose conditions can be described as "hard and tough", has not never complained to some upper-level bureaucrats, complaining that they often invest 10 yuan in roads and railways that are not so urgent in his opinion. , Reservoirs, locks, docks and other infrastructure, but it is difficult for their advancing detachment to raise even 5000 yuan of funds. What a difference!

But he also knows that that kind of big money will only appear in the hands of the central government. A poor frontier area under the jurisdiction of an overseas colony like theirs can raise tens of thousands of funds to support a certain action. Pretty good, who made them poor?After all, the economic foundation is the most important factor that determines everything. The Blackwater Pioneering Team has only so much income, and the resources they can mobilize are limited. However, there are so many places to spend money, and the money, food, materials and personnel that can be used for expansion , Naturally, there will not be much to go.

Therefore, to say a thousand words and ten thousand, although their "Hulun Buir Advance Detachment" is not self-responsible for its own profits and losses, it is an indisputable fact that a large part of its supplies have to be figured out by itself. How difficult is it in the sparsely populated Daxing'an Mountains!

"Detachment Captain, please have a meal." A second lieutenant staff ran up to Wei Wendu in a desperate manner, and handed over a big man full of fish.

"Hey, look at our first fish feast, what kind of food are we eating, not even a sturgeon." Although Wei Wendu said so, he still quickly put the tea bowl aside, and took the tea bowl from the second lieutenant. Big wrists and chopsticks began to feast on.The fish in the bowl is connected with the soup, with a lot of seasonings, and even some precious chili, which makes people's appetite whet their appetite.After the second lieutenant saw Wei Wendu eating, he immediately greeted him, so some officers and leaders in the shed who were a little far away also cheered and picked up the bowls in their hands, and lined up to fill the big iron pot with fish and meat. fish soup.

There are a lot of fish boiled in the big iron pot, which were caught by some Oroqen or Mongols in the army on the ice of the nearby river.Following the ancient customs of fishing and hunting, they used iron hooks to catch fish on the ice of rivers at the turn of winter and spring—in fact, they cut a hole in the ice, and then used iron hooks to catch the fish that had gathered—to catch them. The fish is called "head fish". It also means divination of a year's harvest. It was the most popular in the Liao Dynasty in the past, and has been passed down to become an important custom of the local people.

"In the past, Wang Gongchen, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials in the Song Dynasty, was sent to the Liao Kingdom. Liao Xingzong received him on the bank of the Huntong River and gave him a feast of head fish. At that time, whenever he caught a big fish, Xingzong would persuade Wang Gongchen drank wine, ate fish, and personally played the pipa for him." Wei Wendu quickly finished the fish in the bowl, put the bowl and chopsticks aside, and motioned to his subordinates to bring him another bowl, and then said: "Liao During the Tianqing period of Emperor Tianzuo, he mixed with riverside hook fish in Chunzhou and held a head fish banquet. During the banquet, the chiefs of the Jurchen tribes were ordered to perform dances, and the chiefs danced in turn (of course Aguda did not perform dances...). Now that I think about it, that is How high-spirited, all the chiefs of the Jurchen tribes within a thousand miles were present, whether they were by the river, on the plain or in the mountains, the emperor gave an order, and they all came to join in the starry night. When can our Dadong'an be there This Manchuria has achieved this level, gentlemen, please talk about it. Don’t be restrained, everyone is drinking and eating fish today, just chatting.”

"I heard from the head of the detachment that the emperor of Laoshizi Daliao is really powerful, and he is really good at rectifying these native tribes. I don't know what they did. I don't think it is very different from what we have done. It may even be better than It’s not as good as us!” The second lieutenant officer who gave Wei Wendu the fish just now said with a smile: “The emperor of the Liao Kingdom is only powerful in force, and with the materials supplied by the Han, he trades with the natives. To unite a large group, isolate a small group, divide and draw together, it will indeed take decades for everyone to obey the order."

"Xiao Song, what you said is on point." Wei Wendu took another bowl of fish, and while eating happily, he commented: "Those Jurchen tribes back then were actually the ancestors of these indigenous peoples living in North Manchuria today. That's all. Just like now, they were miserable at that time, ignorant, ignorant, and poor, but they were very powerful in fighting, and they were a very good source of soldiers. The Khitan ruled them, half with kindness, and half with force. It is only barely able to be driven. We should also take this path now, but it is more thorough than the Khitans, that is, we need to open schools to naturalize them, let them agree with us, and not easily rebel. Aguda can rebel under the Khitans, our Dadong Kishi does not allow people like Aguda to appear."

"That's natural, we will never allow it!" A group of rough officers promised loudly.Coincidentally at this time, some Mongolian waiters brought several large jars of precious spirits, so the atmosphere in the hut became more and more lively, and some enthusiastic people even started to shout that in a few years, they would let the "nearby thousands of miles away" The chieftains of the natives who came to Manguitun to participate in the head fish banquet", made everyone laugh and toast with them.

"Haha! Well said!" Wei Wendu took a few sips from his wine glass, then laughed and said, "We have set this goal today! Not only the bald fish feast, but also the goose feast! I heard that in the past Every spring when the river thaws, the emperor of the Liao Kingdom would bring his ministers to the river to catch geese. The courtiers beat the flat drums in their hands by the river to startle the geese, geese and ducks in the water. Animals, and then released a famous eagle named 'Haitongqing' presented by the native chiefs to catch geese and ducks."

"I, Wei, am not afraid of being told a joke. I will say something here today. I will go to the Hulunbuir Grassland to hold a head fish feast and a goose feast in the future. If there are Mongolian and Shandan tribes within thousands of miles nearby Yes, I will send troops to destroy him! Everyone is my old brother, I hope you can help me, Wei, in the future, I will be promoted and rich, and my wife and son will be no problem!" Wei Wendu picked up the wine bowl in his hand, put the bowl He drank the spirits in one gulp, and said proudly.

Unsurprisingly, his words aroused extremely enthusiastic cheers from the officers under his command.These people left Yaksa, which was relatively well-built, and came to Manguitun, a barren and dangerous forward base with nothing, and accompanied Wei Wendu to eat ice and snow, fight and kill, what was the plan?Isn't it just a bright future for the future!Therefore, what he said, Captain Wei, really spoke to everyone's heart, so it is not unusual for everyone to cheer.

Of course, from a practical point of view, the strength of their advancing detachment is still too weak, let alone fulfilling the grand strategic goal of "advance into the prairie for thousands of miles" set by someone Chen, even how to spread thousands of miles here To gain a firm foothold in the Greater Khingan Mountains and build it into a relatively reliable logistics base has already made them scratch their heads.After all, do you think there are no hostile forces in this mountain?How is this possible!

However, the development of the past few decades has also told everyone here that on the northeast land thousands of miles away, anyone who is an enemy of our Great East Bank will have no good fruit in the end.It was the same with the Manchus, and it was the same with the Russians, not to mention these so-called tribal chiefs, sooner or later they all had to come and bow down.Therefore, everyone's spirits are relatively high, and they have no doubts about the final victory. At best, they just think that the process may be delayed.

And when they really succeeded in advancing into the prairie with rich water and grass, and then infiltrated, influenced and even conquered a large part of the Mongolian tribes, then their strength would snowball and become a decisive force.From then on, they either attacked eastward and conquered the entire area under the jurisdiction of Qingnaowen City, or went westward to conquer the wider Mongolian grasslands and pastures, whichever would be much easier.

So what is really difficult is actually the early stage of this bleak operation, and the future is bright!

(End of this chapter)