The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 778
The main task of the Daming navy stationed in Phi Island for the past six months has been to attack the Liaodong fishing boats going out to sea.

Although there are only ten "small boats" of more than [-] tons in Phi Island, and twenty or thirty smaller boats, sentry boats, etc., plus some North Korean navy, it is still a piece of cake to deal with Jianlu who has no navy at all.

With the continuous raids by the naval infantry, almost no Jianlu lived in the Liaodong coastal area. The navy went deep into the waters of the Yalu River and Liaohe River to prevent Jianlu from catching freshwater fish.

After this series of "severe blows", Liaodong fishery production has been reduced by [-]%.

Many people at the bottom of Jianlu depended on fishing and hunting for their livelihood. As a result, the rations were obviously insufficient, which greatly restricted Hauge's strategy of waiting for change.

……

In the second year of Hanxing, the ninth day of February.

In the east of Mongolia, in the lower reaches of the Xilamulun River, in the territory of Aru Horqin Banner of Zhaowuda League.

Dozens of dilapidated yurts were scattered on the grassland within a range of more than ten miles. Except for some fur and dried meat, there was almost nothing of value in the tents.

However, on the banks of the Xilamulun River, under the watchful eyes of Mongolian herders, thousands of cattle and sheep are rummaging through the grass roots and dead leaves under the melting snow.

Behind a hill a few miles away, a small young man in Mongolian costume was in high spirits, speaking Shandong dialect: "Brother, there are three or four thousand cattle and sheep, which are very fat. There are only a hundred people nearby. The guards have bows and arrows, but no armor."

The leader was none other than Zhao Gongwei, a slave rescued from Liaodong Sanatun by the Daming Navy Expeditionary Force.

After he was freed, he led more than a thousand people of Daming who had been captured by Jian captives and raised their flags to become a rebel army. He originally planned to go all the way west, across thousands of miles of grassland, and return to Guannei from Datong.

It's just that they were unlucky. They encountered Jianlu and Mongolian soldiers several times, and fled everywhere. There are less than 600 people left.

Zhao Gongwei's eyes lit up when he heard the words, "If we seize these cattle and sheep, it will be enough for us to persist until Chahar. It is said that King Chahar has surrendered to the imperial court, so he will not embarrass us."

All the rebels suffered in the desert for more than half a year, and when they heard that they were expected to return home, they were all overjoyed, and they all said: "Brother, let's do it while the Tartars are unprepared."

"Yes, but only a hundred Tartars, and they are easily captured."

"Brother, we only have seven or eight days of rations left. I don't know when we will see something edible next time."

"Brother, don't hesitate..."

However, Zhao Gongwei was cautious. He first divided up dozens of people to guard the surrounding areas, and then ordered the deputy general of the rebel army to lead 200 people to go around to the east to encircle them.

Although he had previous experience as a soldier, the rebel army was obviously lacking in training. They barely formed a semicircle and rushed towards the herd of livestock in a mess.

The [-] rebels on the other side also surrounded them at the same time.Although the hundred Tartar herdsmen were surprised, they also seemed quite calm. They quickly formed a wedge formation with their backs against the Xilamulun River, and began to counterattack with bows and arrows.

The rebel army received a lot of firearms from Zheng Chenggong, but they had no ammunition for a long time outside the Great Wall, and they had already become scrap iron. Now they are still using bows and arrows to fight.

The Tartars huddled behind the cattle and sheep and kept shooting arrows.The rebel army was separated by a large number of livestock, and they could only shoot arrows at the enemy, but their archery skills were really average, and they didn't gain the upper hand for a long time.

Zhao Gongwei became a little anxious, and drew out his saber to call his subordinates to form an formation, ready to forcefully rush through the cattle and sheep and fight the Tartars in close combat.

At this moment, I suddenly heard the sound of bull horns whimpering behind me, and then a rebel soldier who was guarding the outside came galloping on horseback.

He was covered in blood, with a few arrows sticking out of his back, and he only had time to shout, "There's an ambush!" He slumped and fell off his horse.

Zhao Gongwei was shocked, and was about to order the soldiers of the rebel army to gather for defense, when he saw a large number of cavalry appearing on the horizon, in a neat formation, rushing towards this side aggressively.

"Brother, how about this?"

"Damn, where did so many Tartars come from?"

When the Mongolian cavalry rushed to the front, the leader laughed triumphantly, "You smart dogs are causing trouble everywhere in Horqin. I have been chasing you for more than three months, and today I finally caught you!"

He pointed forward with his saber, "Give it to me! No one will be left behind!"

Zhao Gongwei looked at the thousands of cavalry who surrounded him, his eyelids jumped a few times.

At the beginning of forming the rebel army, he overestimated his own strength and faced the regular Mongolian army head-on. He was defeated by an enemy with twice as many people, and more than 300 people died.

"I'm afraid it's dangerous today..." He let out a foul breath, waved his hands and shouted, "Brothers, fight!"

When he rushed out with dozens of volunteers around him, he saw no one else following him. Looking back, he saw that the volunteers seemed to be frightened by the momentum of the Mongolian cavalry, and they retreated one after another.

He gritted his teeth, stared at the Tartar officer, and prepared to go up and exchange his life for another. If he could kill this man, maybe the brothers still had a chance.

But he was still forty or fifty steps away from the target when he heard four sharp piercing sounds.The next moment, three feathered arrows shot at his shoulders and abdomen, and the mount was also hit by five or six arrows, and fell to the ground with a neigh.

Lying on the cold grass, Zhao Gongwei looked at the enemy cavalry getting closer and closer, and couldn't help feeling regretful in his heart. Shouldn't he have brought these brothers out of Liaodong, and let them all die here...

Just when he couldn't bear to look any more and was about to close his eyes, more than a dozen deafening roars suddenly came from the south, and the Mongolian cavalry who were rushing madly stopped immediately.

"Cannon?" Zhao Gongwei's heart skipped a beat, but he couldn't see anything because he fell to the ground.

Immediately, the cannon fire resumed, with a very short interval.The Mongolian soldiers seemed to be extremely flustered, turning their horses around one after another under the order of the officer.

Only then did Zhao Gongwei vaguely see the fragments of the bombarded corpses scattered all over the ground on the south side of the enemy formation.

The sound of cannons continued.After a while, the Mongolian cavalry barely completed the U-turn and began to kill in the direction of the sound of the artillery.

Several volunteers ran up quickly and helped Zhao Gongwei up, "Brother, have you been hit by an arrow?!"

"Brother, how are you?"

Suddenly there was another crackling sound like popping beans, obviously a large number of firecrackers were firing in volley, and the screams of Mongolian soldiers immediately rang out everywhere.

Zhao Gongwei struggled to look into the distance, and saw gunpowder smoke filled the air. He didn't know who was rescuing the rebels. He could only see the enemy cavalry laying down like cutting leeks.

However, those who attacked them were clearly prepared. Two black human walls appeared on the east and west sides, firmly blocking the way of the Tartars.

Those human walls seemed thin, but even if the Mongolian cavalry rushed up desperately, they all fell down twenty steps away from the human wall, which showed the ferocity of the human wall's firepower.

Half an hour later, when the dust settled, more than half of the Mongolian cavalrymen were shot dead, and the rest circled around several times but could not find a way out, so they had to dismount and beg for surrender.

More than a dozen soldiers in black and armed with guns surrounded Zhao Gongwei, staring and shouting a Mongolian word.

The short Shandong man beside Zhao Gongwei said in horror: "Who are you?"

The black-clothed soldiers looked at each other, and changed the official language of Daming, "The Third Battalion of the Daming Field Army. Are you Han?"

(End of this chapter)