Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 378 Chaos ([-])

Daming in March of Jiashen was chaotic.On the first day of the lunar new year (April 4th), Li Zicheng entered Datong and killed the king; on the ninth day of the new year, when he arrived at Xuanfu, Wang Chengyin, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu government, let the Shun army enter the city, and Zhu Zhifeng, the governor of the Xuanfu government, hanged himself to death; Tens of thousands of people entered Guangping Mansion, and Zhang Ruxing, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, surrendered to the suburbs for thirty miles.So far, the Mingjifu area has opened up.

Liu Fangliang's [-] troops attacked the city in Henan, in order to cut off the way of the Ming Dynasty's monarchs and ministers to return to the south. Shandong, which was close at hand, was shocked three times a day. Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong stationed in Linqing, was afraid of Liu Fangliang's army. After plundering, it began to withdraw southward.And along the way to the south, he burned, killed, looted and enlisted in the army at the same time.However, this guy's desperate struggle along the Shandong Canal has artificially created a large group of refugees rushing to Jiaodong, but it may be more than a month before this wave of refugees reaches the Denglai area.

At this time, the Yantai Fortress has begun to take shape thanks to the efforts of more than 3000 refugees in the camp ([-] people were sent to the frozen Heishui Port).They used the city bricks and stones removed from Qishan Qianhusuo and Ninghai Prefecture to build a section of the city wall on the south and west sides that was impenetrable. There is no storage room. It can be said that if the northern and eastern sections of the city wall that are still under construction are ignored, the Yantai Fortress basically has the ability to resist the enemy's attack.

Now that the weather has gradually warmed up, the working efficiency of the refugees has also greatly increased. If sufficient supply of building materials can be ensured, it is foreseeable that the whole fortress will be completed within three to four months.The completed southern section of the city wall is the first line facing enemy attacks, so a large number of light and heavy artillery have been installed.Six cannons are installed on the two protruding turrets with an interval of less than 200 meters. They are an 18-pound and a 12-pound long-barreled heavy gun facing the front for long-range suppression; Two 8-pound short-barreled howitzers and two 4-pound short-barreled howitzers are arranged on both sides of the gun tower.In addition, above the part of the city wall with a slightly broken line (to reduce the nesting area) between the two gun towers, there are four additional artillery positions facing the front, and each artillery position is equipped with a cannon. Two 12-pounder cannons and two 8-pounder howitzers.

Because of the special terrain of the Yantai Fortress, the enemy troops coming on land can basically only attack from the south.If you attack from the west, you will have to cross a large section of the Dagu Jiahe swamp area and the artificial reservoir built by the people on the east bank, which is as difficult as climbing the sky.However, the east side of the fortress is too close to the coastline, and the troops cannot be deployed at all, and it is also easily bombarded by warships on the sea. Any commander with a normal mind would not choose this place as the starting point of the attack.As for the north, besides the sea, there is the sand bar connecting Zhifu Island. If you want to attack from here, you have to wait until you have mastered the sea and have a certain landing combat capability.

The city wall of Yantai Fortress is about 7 meters high and 3.5 meters thick, and the thickness of some sections is even as high as 6 meters or more (here is the artillery emplacement).Although such a city is not unusual in Daming from the data point of view, and even the Qishan city that has been torn into rubble by the people on the east coast is no worse than Yantai Fortress, but considering that the walls of this fortress are all made of large The stone strips and square bricks are built with cement mortar as the adhesive, which is many times stronger than the Ming Dynasty city walls with rammed earth and bricks on the inside; coupled with the advanced bastion design, there is no dead angle for shooting , so that the enemy attacking each section of the city wall is in the dilemma of being attacked by the enemy.Such a fortified city, coupled with brave and skilled soldiers, and a large number of high-quality artillery, I am afraid that no one in the Far East can take it head-on.

There is no city gate on the south side of the Yantai Fortress. In fact, there are only two gates in the whole fortress, that is, the east gate facing the coastline and the north gate facing the sand bar.Residents go in and out through the north city gate, and soldiers generally go in and out through the east city gate.These two city gates are still under intensive construction, but the narrow playground outside the east city gate today is filled with hundreds of soldiers.Mo Ming, the leader of the Blackwater Pioneering Team and the supreme local commander, is walking in front of nearly 102 soldiers of the 104nd Company and [-]th Company of the Army who are lined up neatly. Hold it in front of your forehead and salute the officers and soldiers.

Hundreds of soldiers raised their heads high and their chests upright, silently, carrying 32-C flintlock rifles with long bayonets on their shoulders, and their eyes followed Mo Ming's figure.Today, Mo Ming was reviewing the two strongest teams at the East Gate playground, not for the sake of ostentation, but for the battle.Yes, that's right, just to play!

Since the beginning of spring, the bandits in the Jiaomi area have become more rampant, and their scope of activities has expanded as their power has grown. They have gradually become no longer satisfied with operating in the southern coastal area, and have begun to infiltrate north.Affected by it, rural bandits sprang up in Laiyang, Qixia and other places in Dengzhou. These people gathered together to coerce the refugees wherever they went, and then tried to attack the strongholds of the gentry in the countryside to plunder their property and children.

Due to their large number, the rural gentry were unable to exterminate them, so they could only defend themselves.And Zeng Hualong, the governor of Denglai with a small army and few generals, already has a headache in the face of the large-scale banditry in Laizhou at this time, and he really can't take care of the small bandits in Qixia and Laiyang.Therefore, this group of bandits, numbering in the thousands, became more and more arrogant. One of them, whose surname was Zhai, was called Zhai Taishan. Afterwards, they began to move to Fushan, Ninghai Prefecture, and Wendeng, and coerced local refugees to strengthen their momentum.

However, he made a fatal mistake unintentionally at this time, that is, he really shouldn't coerce refugees in the countryside of these states and counties. This damn is stealing the business of the people on the east coast!When the people on the east coast learned about this situation from the refugees who came, they immediately decided to send troops to eliminate this "competitor" and let them know who is the real boss in Fushan County and Ninghai Prefecture.

Mo Ming turned over and rode on a Lusitano horse transported from the mainland, and then set off with the troops.The troops on the expedition included 480 soldiers from two companies of the Army, 250 soldiers from a squadron of the Standing Force, plus some staff officers and scout cavalry, about 750 people; in addition, there were 600 soldiers who cooperated with them in combat, and brought more than 300 pack horses .After they leave, the fort will be in charge of the artillery commander Li Wenchang.

After the army set off on April 4, it dispatched more than a dozen cavalrymen on Mongolian horses to start scouting information along the road.After discussing the information obtained from the refugees with the intelligence staff, the marching staff began to formulate a more detailed march plan.

Since April 4, information has been sent back one by one.Zhai Taishan's position is easy to find, because he has always made a lot of noise along the road. Wherever he goes, he starts to rob and coerce refugees. Drunk and dreaming, he didn't know that he was being targeted by a fierce enemy.Fushan County has experienced relatively little turmoil, so the countryside is relatively rich. After Zhai Taishan arrived here two days ago, he began to let the bandits copy everywhere, and gained a lot.Seeing the wealth here, the big and small thieves under him naturally didn't want to leave easily. In addition, the silk, satin, gold and silver treasures they robbed were filled with dozens of carts, and the number of them had already exceeded Ten thousand people, the speed is even slower.Therefore, until April 28, they were still slowly dawdling in Fushan County.

Fushan County is very close to Yantai, and it only takes a few hours to ride a fast horse. The troops of the people from the east coast marched lightly, and all the supplies were carried on the backs of the pack horses, so the marching speed was extremely fast.They first marched south on the 28th, turned back west after learning that the bandits had entered Fushan County, and finally joined Zhai Taishan at night on the 30th.

The group pitched their camp outside a village in the countryside, and lit braziers and torches everywhere.They seemed to have attacked this squire's village during the day, but they probably failed, so they stayed here overnight when they were tired of being undisciplined.However, those rural young men in the village seemed to be rookies, and they didn't dare to fight back in the face of this situation.

The entire camp was full of voices, some were yelling, some were talking and laughing loudly, some were crying, and there were people coming in and out everywhere, it looked like a theater, or a vegetable market, but not like a military camp.Of course, there were also some people on patrol outside the camp, but not many.

"Kulhan, let your people line up and put on their armor, ready to fight! Company Commander Xiao, Company Commander Mao, three-row line, move forward!" Mo Ming looked at the brightly lit bandit camp from a distance, and then gave the order Sortie order.

The 250 officers and soldiers of the stand-up team put on armor two by two, and then some were holding infantry bows, some were holding long guns, some were carrying sabers, and some were even holding axes. In short, there were all kinds of weapons, depending on their own preferences.After a little reorganization, they marched on the right side of the infantry formation.

After seeing the 480 infantry lined up in three horizontal lines, the combat staff immediately shouted loudly: "The steps are consistent, count the passwords silently, and the platoon leaders pay attention to the formation. All of them are there. Step forward and fire your guns. go ahead!"

After Mo Ming drove his horse forward for a while, hundreds of officers and soldiers followed him silently. There were only rustling footsteps, the clash of weapons and armor in the queue, and there was not even a single noise in the queue. .Several servants around Mo Ming also rode war horses, while holding up lighting lamps, they guarded him closely.

There are patches of wheat fields under your feet, which are not rough and difficult to walk.Soon, they marched to within 300 meters of the bandits' camp, and the bandits over there seemed to have vaguely noticed something was wrong.

(End of this chapter)