Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 485 Stalemate and Breakthrough ([-])

On June 1645, 6, Yantai Port. The 2 ships on the east coast are floating on the sea outside the port. Due to the small size of the pier, only 16 ships can berth at the same time. Therefore, the 8 ships have to come one by one if they want to finish unloading.

The first ones to board the pier were of course the army brothers led by Mo Ming.When more than 6000 of them (including 2500 military men) returned to Yantai Port after an absence of more than two months, all of them were very excited.Li Wenchang, the garrison commander of Yantai Fort, came to the pier to greet Mo Ming in person, and some middle and senior military officers came with him.

"Captain Mo, you're finally back. It's like looking at everyone from Yantai Fort up and down." Li Wenchang said a little nastyly as soon as he came up, which made Mo Ming feel goosebumps for no reason.

Mo Ming threw the general knife and gloves into Li Wenchang's arms, then took off his military cap, glanced sideways at him, and said, "What's wrong? Did Hauge get scared?"

"He's not capable of that yet." Li Wenchang sneered, and then explained: "After you left, Haoge sent troops to try to attack twice. Later, seeing that our army was tightly defended and there was no advantage to take advantage of, he retreated. Yes. At present, their main job is to build a city here, preparing to besiege us for a long time, making Yantai Fort lose its influence on land, and at the same time cut off our ability to obtain people and supplies."

"He can carry it quite well." Mo Ming said with some surprise, "Forty thousand pacers plus tens of thousands of masters, and a large number of pack animals, the materials consumed are not a small amount. He has not persisted until now." This Fang Dayou is really good at running out of food. Hehe, Denglai and other places are probably already three feet high."

"Tens of thousands of people here will definitely not be able to support them. In fact, we have been observing the Qing army camp with binoculars from the lighthouse these days. They should have withdrawn some of their troops and returned. According to the observations from the observation post, The Qing army probably withdrew 5000 cavalry and [-] infantry. At present, the number of Qing troops here is about [-], including [-] cavalry. It is not clear whether Hauge himself is still here, because very early on we I haven’t seen the prince’s banner anymore.” Li Wenchang reported to Mo Ming the changes in his old opponents over the past few days.

"5000 people..." Mo Ming rubbed his chin with his right hand, and shook his head after thinking for a while: "The number of soldiers we can safely bring into battle is only 5000, and the Qing army still has 5000 soldiers." The cavalry, a semi-finished brick wall with a certain defensive capability, and a certain number of artillery, we may not be able to prevail in a fight. And even if we can prevail, the loss of troops should not be small. If the number of casualties is 500 If there are more than one man, then it is a great failure for us, and the local troops are not abundant, do you think they will send troops over? It will be very difficult!"

"That is to be more cautious." Li Wenchang echoed, and then he began to complain: "But it is also very depressing to be trapped here. The immigration line has been cut off, the source of information has been cut off, and there is no way to go out to collect food. This fortress , is abolished, and the goal of the Qing army has also been achieved!"

"Don't just see our difficulties, the Qing army is also suffering." Mo Ming said as he walked towards the city, "Mobilized tens of thousands of masters to repair the city wall, and there were tens of thousands of pack animals transported back and forth. Twenty to thirty thousand soldiers can't be supported by the current situation in Denglai Second Mansion, even Qingzhou Mansion is added. Unless Fang Dayou disregards the lives of the common people and takes away their last bit of rations, otherwise he will have to go to those Landlords are always begging for money. Landlords are always good at giving up money. At this time, the Manqing will tear off the veil of warmth that he has always pretended to be towards the landlord and gentry class, and turn to forcefully expropriate money and food with a knife in hand. Haha, anyway, it’s a good thing for us.”

While talking, the two walked to the gate of the North City of Yantai Fort. Outside the gate of the North City, the soldiers of the four squadrons who came forward were doing exercises.Mo Ming shook hands with all the commanders above the squad leader, and then encouraged them to work hard, and then it was their turn to follow him to the sea to fight.

There are also many residents working on the sand dam outside the northern city. They picked up a lot of silt from the swamp mud in the west, greatly improved the soil quality of the sand dam here, and then planted vegetables on it to supply the entire city. Required for the daily consumption of the fortress.Today, there are not many residents left in Yantaibao after the last transportation season. As of the beginning of June, there are still 6 people in the resettlement area on Zhifu Island outside the northern city of Yantaibao, and there are still 8000 people on Kongtong Island. There are more than three thousand people.The reason why there are so few people is that after the return of the immigrant transport fleet in April, a large number of people were pulled from Yantai to the Heishui area for reclamation, because potatoes and spring wheat will be planted in May.

Among them, the number of refugees in the Dabo area has increased to more than 7000. They will carry out spring sowing on that black land.They live in the wooden houses left by the older generation of immigrants, use the tools and crops left by the older generation of residents, cultivate the farmland left by the older generation of residents, and wait for the arrival of early winter.At that time, it will be their turn to board the ship for the New World.In addition, the planting of spring wheat on Rishiri Island is about half a month earlier than that on Dabo, because the temperature here rises faster in spring, and there are currently [-] refugees living on the island.Based on such statistics, the number of refugees currently in the hands of the East Bank in the Far East is only [-], and this is counting the nearly [-] newly recruited from the counties that were conquered along the way. Volunteer land reclamation personnel, otherwise there will be fewer.

Compared with the population, there are currently about 3200 tons of various grains stored in warehouses in Yantai, Rishiri, and Heishui.There are wheat, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, black beans, fish and shrimp, and frozen meat. If you count the calories, it must be more than the heat that 3200 tons of wheat can produce. After all, the calories that those sea fish and meat can produce far exceed food.These stored grains can basically guarantee that everyone in Yantai, Heishui and other places can eat for three months, but this has to take into account the large amount of grain that will be consumed in spring sowing, so three months is definitely not enough.However, in the middle and late next month, the salmon fishing season will come again. This year, there will be more fishing boats on the east coast than last year, and the number will reach 7-8, which will greatly increase the catch.Therefore, in this season, people on the east coast should not be short of food.

Therefore, it is important to quickly recruit more people.Now is the time to race against time. Who knows what the situation will be like in the next moment. Next, a new group of people will continue to attack. If there are not enough volunteers to reclaim the wasteland, some coercive means must be used to pull people.For those carpenters, blacksmiths, doctors and other skilled people, they will not talk nonsense to them, and they will be taken away by force.

Adhering to such a purpose, Mo Ming waited for everyone to go ashore, and immediately announced that they would be given three days off.Three days later, the 15-18 squadrons of the standing team will go to the city to change defenses, replacing those 3-6 squadrons that have been stationed in Yantai Fort for a long time.Next, these troops who stayed at Yantai Fort before will go out to sea rounds to continue to exercise the combat capabilities of all troops.

As for the troops to fight this time, it is initially determined to be the 102nd Company of the Army, about 400 people from the Supplementary Company, more than 1550 people from the First and Third Battalions of the Eight Banners New Army, 3 people from the 10rd to 2000th Squadrons of the Standing Team, all 200 people from the Yantai Artillery Company, cavalry There are 500 people in the brigade, 150 scouts in the security team, 3000 soldiers in the military team, and a total force of 7800, including 4800 soldiers.At that time, except for the two gunboats staying in Yantai Port, the remaining ten large ships and four 150-ton medium-sized fishing boats will all be dispatched, and the focus of the attack will still be Shandong and North Zhili provinces.Because Liaodong was sparsely populated and supplies were not easy, Mo Ming decisively gave up. Perhaps only after they had achieved great results in other places, he would lead an army to land in Liaodong out of some bad taste to show off.

The location of the attack is still the northern part of Jinan Prefecture between the Qing Army in Yantai and the Qing Army in Tianjin, and the coastal prefectures and counties in the east of Hejian Prefecture.I don't know if the Qing army has sent more troops to this side after suffering a loss last time. If not, it will inevitably suffer another humiliation.Mo Ming's plan is to stay active in the coastal areas of Hejian Prefecture and Jinan Prefecture for a period of time. After attracting a large number of main forces of the Qing army to come over, they will pat their asses on board and leave. With the unparalleled mobility of the fleet, they will raid other places across the sea. , Let the Qing army lose sight of the other, and it is impossible to defend against it, completely disrupting the situation in the north and shaking the ruling foundation of the Qing court.

Mo Ming is a straightforward person, he doesn't want to be bored in Yantai Fort and stare at the Qing army on the opposite side.In order to completely isolate Yantai Fort, the Qing army has started to build a large number of artillery towers in the south. The artillery towers are connected by two earth walls or brick walls. There is no end to death.They intend to rely on these strong fortifications and artillery to form a tit-for-tat stalemate with the people on the east coast of Yantai Fort.

Mo Ming felt a little helpless about the actions of the Qing army.Since Yantai was besieged, it was not convenient for the scouts of the scout team to go out to collect intelligence.From time to time, some anti-Qing armed forces in Shandong secretly sent people over to contact and exchange information. People on the east coast are more depressed.This is really a bit like when the French army commanded by Richelieu besieged the Huguenot Protestants in La Rochelle, they built 18 forts in one breath outside the port of La Rochelle, sealed off the port, and completely turned it into a city. enclosed area.Although Hauge is not French, it does not mean that he is not wise, so it is easy to understand that he built this series of gun towers and city walls to besiege Yantai Fort.

On the night of June 1645, 6, the army on the east coast that had boarded the ship sat quietly in the cabin, and then 5 large and small ships quietly pulled anchor under the guidance of two lighthouses on Zhifu Island and Kongtong Island, and left Yantai Port. Heading towards Bohai Bay.

(End of this chapter)