Dragon Sea Empire

At this time, the number of defenders of the Chinese Army in Fort Xining was still about 2200, and the fortress was completely guarded.The deputy garrison of the fortress is Zhao Yi, the head of the second regiment of the first division, who has just been promoted to lieutenant colonel. Two battalions of his regiment are stationed in Xiningbao, and the other two battalions are transferred to the northern line to fight along the Songhua River.

The supervisor of the garrison of the fortress is concurrently served by the supervisor of the second regiment of the first division. This person is Guo Yun, who is only in his early twenties but has 18 years of military experience.Guo Yun is an "orphan of the ship owner", a collateral descendant of the Guo family, the richest Chinese man in the former Balian Chinese District of Manila.When Yin Feng brought him back to Taiwan from the city of Manila, he was just three months old and was still breastfeeding in the arms of his Tagalog mother.That's right, like Wang Shuowang, who has become the guard general of the Chinese Army in southern Fujian, he is a mixed descendant of Chinese and native Tagalogs of Luzon Island.Since they grew up under the protection of Yin Feng since they were young, these orphans of the ship owner are regarded as Yin Feng's adopted sons, and they are also a group of Yin Feng's most loyal supporters.

Five small bastions were built in the east, west, south, and north of Xining Fort, each with a 36-pound bronze cannon and a wall connected to the main body of the fort. Powerful landlords in the south, funded by Chinese companies—these places were the first to be controlled by the Chinese Army, and the residents escaped from the Eight Banners Tartars thanks to the Chinese Army, so they agree with the rule of the Chinese Army.

There is also a battalion directly under the artillery brigade of the old battalion headquarters of the Chinese Army in the fortress, which controls [-] light field artillery.These [-] cannons, and the other [-] cannons, have all been pushed up to the top of the city and placed on the reinforced fort, serving as defense cannons.

The 200 Mongolian cavalrymen of the old battalion directly under the cavalry battalion of the first division are also under the jurisdiction of Zhangpan. They are the troops with the heaviest burden these days.These Mongolian cavalrymen belonged to the command of the Liaoyang Guard of the Ming Army in Liaodong. Their ancestors defected from the Horqin Mongolian tribe during the Jiajing period. The Jurchens of the land have feuds.

In Zhang Pan's hand, there were fifteen lightning-strike honeycomb guns, as well as a large number of grenades, landmines and various ammunition that he had accumulated over half a year.He kept sending people to Liaoyang and other places for help every day, and at the same time mobilized local labor to strengthen the fortress walls.

This place is only ten miles away from the lower reaches of the Liaohe River. This section of the river is where the Taizi River, Hun River, and Liao River converge, so the locals call it Sancha River.Wang Huazhen called the Sancha River a natural danger in the memorial to the court. In fact, the narrowest part of the Sancha River is less than [-] steps wide. Because it is located in a plain, the river does not see rough waves all year round. It is full of water and a reed can be navigated .

The biggest land barrier here is not the Sancha River, but the plains and swamps on both sides of the river.Looking back around the bank of the river, the wild sky is the same color, there are no mountains around, and people are like being in the sea by boat.There are muddy fields all over the banks of the Sancha River. The so-called "Liaoze" in the Tang Dynasty refers to this place.Except that the surrounding fields are frozen in winter, and pedestrians can ride through quickly, it is very inconvenient for businessmen to travel in this area at other times.

Originally, there was an important traffic road connecting the east and west banks of the Sancha River section. Every year, "thirty reed cable boats are used as a bridge to facilitate people's travel." The ice is hard in winter, and "reeds are still used to build pontoon bridges, so that the economy will not work." The imperial court appointed a person to command or officials from thousands or hundreds of households to guard the pontoon bridge.

Five years ago, the floating bridge was set ablaze by the Ming army retreating from Liaoyang and Shenyang.Since then, the land on the east bank of the Liao River has changed hands twice, and finally fell into the hands of the Chinese army.The current pontoon bridge was built by the Liaoyang branch of the Chinese company at the expense of building it. It was not only used to supply military supplies, but also to use this bridge to do business with Mongolian tribes.Later, due to inconvenient land transportation with the west bank, the Liaodong marching route was changed from Lvshunkou to Xiningbao by sea boat. Therefore, this pontoon bridge is now purely for civilian use.Now guarding the east bank of the floating bridge are more than 200 people from the Fourth Liaodong Militia Regiment, most of whom are also locals from Jinzhou.Their leader received a clear order from the guard of the Chinese Army in Haizhou: Once the Ming army came to Xining Fort, they must immediately set fire to the pontoon bridge, and the troops retreated to the east bank of the river to stand by.

On this day, until the afternoon, the river was as calm as a mirror, and only two groups of Liaodong merchants passed on the pontoon bridge. They were all small groups of merchants from Liaoyang to Xiningbao. The militiamen of the bridge felt that the day was boring.They scattered in twos and threes at the bridgehead, chatting lazily under the summer sunshine.Most of them were originally Ming army households or tenant tenants of Ming army officers. After the Houjin Eight Banners swept across Liaodong, the landlords on their heads disappeared. When the Chinese army came, they announced: The land they used to cultivate , all belong to the Chinese company and are exempted from tax for three years.At the same time, the Chinese Army stipulated that as long as you join the militia to fight for them, you can get the permanent tenancy right of your own land after five years, and you only need to pay a small amount of land rent to the Chinese company and you can pass it on to your descendants.

These militiamen have actually only held matchlock guns in their hands for only two years. Although they have been trained by non-commissioned officers sent by the Chinese Army, their military discipline and combat quality are far inferior to those of the regular Chinese Army.

Although they had also heard the news that the Ming army was about to attack, there had been no movement from the Ming army in the past three months.

They gathered behind the temporary bridgehead surrounded by wooden fences, talking and laughing, waiting for the troops to return to the barracks on the other side after dark. None of the militiamen noticed the smoke from Xiningbao ten miles away.

It wasn't until night fell that the warning rockets from Xining Fort exploded colorful and splendid fireworks, which attracted the attention of a captain of the Fourth Regiment of the Liaodong Militia.He blew his whistle urgently, rang the gong, and summoned his team members to start arranging kindling and preparing to set fire.

At this time, they felt the ground shaking under their feet.

The sun had already set below the horizon in the west, and groups of black cavalry could still be seen in the afterglow of the twilight. The shadows of these cavalry were dancing on the horizon, and the target was clearly here: the Sancha River pontoon bridge.

Li Wang, the captain of the fifth team of the fourth regiment of the Liaodong militia, exclaimed: "Cavalry! Yes, it's the cavalry of the official army!" After a while, he habitually called the Ming army the official army, and he didn't realize it.The Chief Instructor of the Militia Corps - a veteran of the Chinese Army was running from the east end of the bridge to the west bank, shouting as he ran: "Hurry up and blow up the bridge, Ming army cavalry! Cavalry raid!"

"Whoosh!--" A firework warning rocket rose into the sky on the east bank, exploding a bright ball of light.

As the fireworks exploded, the black shadows of the Ming cavalry in the west suddenly accelerated their advance.

The chief instructor of the militia regiment rushed to the west bank bridge at this time, shouting loudly: "All the brothers of the fourth regiment, retreat to the east bank quickly! Pile up all the grenades and gunpowder bags on the bridge head!"

The militiamen at the bridgehead were all in disarray just now, and some of them had already fled to the east bank desperately.

Li Wang, the captain of the fifth team, was a little panicked just now. Now that he has found the backbone, he ran to the head coach—he didn't know the new head coach yet: "Head coach, our fifth team still has landmines!"

In the darkness of twilight, the face of the head teacher could not be seen clearly, but he said decisively: "Open the cover of the mines, put the fuses on, and pile them all up at the bridgehead! How many ignition tanks are there here?"

"Fifty cans, one can for each brother in my team, today we are on duty."

"That's good. Your team is the last to leave. After getting on the bridge, they ran and sprinkled oil, covering the whole bridge with oil." As he said, the chief instructor drew out the flintlock pistol at his waist and fired a shot into the sky.

The panic-stricken militiamen fell silent, only to hear the head teacher shout in Mandarin with a Hokkien dialect: "The fifth team stays, all retreat, run forward, aim at the east bank barracks!"

When the fifth group of militiamen ran up the pontoon bridge, the arrows fired by the Ming army cavalry had already landed on the bridge head in disorder.

When the chief ancestor of the Zuojun Cavalry Battalion of the Guangning Army of the Ming Dynasty rushed to the west bank of the floating bridge of the Sancha River, it was completely dark. something.Behind him, a small group of people can be vaguely seen running fast on the pontoon bridge to the other side of the river.

Ancestor Cheng stopped his horse, raised his hand and pointed at the man with his own torch, and said sharply, "I am General Ancestor Cheng of the Guangning Army of the Ming Dynasty. Who are you? If you are a thief in the navy army, quickly kneel down and surrender!"

The man was not tall, and said quietly: "Do you want to cross the bridge?"

Zu Zucheng couldn't figure out the details of this person, so he said coldly: "Yes, we are going to cross the bridge to suppress bandits!"

"You can't make it through!" The man suddenly yelled, and decisively stuck the torch in his hand into a pile of things beside him.

Ancestor Cheng followed the light of the torch, and saw clearly the things piled up half a person's height beside the man: obviously, they were powder kegs, gunpowder bags, and black mines.

He suddenly turned pale with fright, and before he opened his mouth to say anything, the flames and thick smoke burst out suddenly, engulfing the Chinese army militia commander Xi and the Ming army cavalry battalion leader standing on the bridge, and the flames and shock waves spread in the blink of an eye. When it opened, it quickly engulfed everything within a radius of ten feet on the west bank of the pontoon bridge.A fire flashed across the pontoon bridge in the dark, and then the entire bridge body was ignited, burning very dazzlingly on the water of the Liao River at night for an hour.

The Ming army's plan to rush across the Sancha River to attack Haizhou has completely failed so far.

The chief instructor of the militia regiment who ignited the explosives and ascended to the sky with the pontoon bridge actually just came here to take office. No one in the regiment, including the brothers from the fifth team, knew his name.

After that, the Fourth Militia Regiment stayed on the east bank of the Sancha River until the end of the Battle of Xiningbao, and did not let a Ming soldier cross the river.

The Ming Dynasty's attack on Fort Xining, which had been brewing for more than half a year, finally started on this day.At this time, the land of Liaodong has begun to enter the short autumn, the day when the crops are harvested.This autumn, countless lives are destined to be harvested around Xiningbao.