I

  Chapter 697 694 [Cossack news]

  In the mountains between the Suzi River and the Hun River, the tribe led by Man Dahai has lost more than half of its staff.

  Not all starved to death, nor all fell to death.

  Walking along, someone deliberately left behind and hid in a ravine somewhere, planning to live in the mountains from now on. These people are all low-level Tazi soldiers, and their family members have not fled together, so they are not willing to transfer with the Manchu nobles.

  Man Dahai was unable to suppress deserters, because the mountains and dense forests along the way, let alone missing one or two, even if they hid hundreds or thousands, it would be impossible to find them in a short while.

  Cross a mountain, walk through a ravine, and then cross another mountain... This is the way the Tartars turn.

"what!"

   There was a scream, and someone stumbled and rolled down the hillside.

  The Tartars, who had already descended the mountain, walked over to check the situation. It was found that this person had a broken arm and many bruises all over his body, so he reached out to grab the other person's food.

   "Please, save me some..." the injured Tartar begged bitterly, turning over to protect his grain bag.

  Tartars came again, and the two robbed grain together, and divided the looted grain equally.

   One after another, the Tartars passed by here, and no one went to help the injured. Occasionally, a Tartar came over and saw that the soles of this person's shoes were worn out, so he turned away without any interest.

   Now the food has not been eaten, and if it continues, it will not only be as simple as grabbing food.

   "My lord, I caught a wild boar!"

   "Okay, there is a reward, credit!"

  Another Tartar officer came over and said to Man Dahai: "Your Majesty, follow this ravine and go north to Mucao Ridge. Mucao Ridge is not far from Hun River."

Man Dahai shook his head: "Walking along the Hun River, you may encounter Nanmanzi. Choose the best mountain in front of you, and go straight to the east. I remember that near the south entrance, there is a big ditch running from east to west. That big ditch stretches for several Ten miles, it is easy to pass, and there are villages along the way, where you can get some food."

  Man Dahai's decision successfully avoided the cavalry division. If he went all the way north and happened to collide with the cavalry division, Wang Tingchen would have galloped after him.

   This guy has been nesting in the mountains, but the Datong cavalry is completely blinded, and he is not even sure where the tartar has gone.

  Three days later, more than 26,000 Tartars came to the big ditch that Man Dahai mentioned.

   This is the territory under the jurisdiction of Zhengbai Banner. After Dorgon died, it was taken over by Da Yuer to the rule of the Qing emperor.

  Man Dahai said: "The clansmen in the villages along the way must go with them, and those who don't want to go will be killed directly!"

  At this moment, they have very little food left. The Tazi soldiers rushed into the village, saying that they were ordered to take away the people of Zhengbai Banner. In fact, they found all kinds of excuses to kill and rob food. Even if they were willing to go with them, they would be hacked to death if they were not careful.

  Jurchens in Jianzhou are killing and robbing their compatriots!

  The cavalry division led by Wang Tingchen and the dragoons who were chasing together searched for the enemy everywhere along the Hun River, but they couldn't even see a ghost.

   "Damn it, where can the Tartars go?" Wang Tingchen said depressedly.

  Wang Yaochen said: "It is estimated that he is still hiding in the mountains."

  Wang Tingchen was both helpless and amused: "The way the Tartars hide, I'm afraid most of them will starve to death. Their food should be finished."

  Wang Tingchen said: "It's really hateful. I would rather starve to death than let us find meritorious service."

  Damn it if they can find it, these Tartars are just going back to their old profession. In the early and middle periods of the Ming Dynasty, the Tartars were no match for the Ming army, and they migrated through the valleys in the same way. After starving to death and freezing to death, the Tartars rose again after dozens of hundreds of years of reproduction.

  Weak and small forces have their own way of survival.

  Taking Vietnam as an example, the Yuan Dynasty attacked three times. Every time, the capital was quickly breached. The Vietnamese civil and military leaders led the soldiers and civilians to drill the ravines, and the Vietnamese king hid in the sea by boat. When the weather was hot and they came out of the mountains to fight guerrillas, the Yuan army fell ill in large numbers because of their intolerance to the scorching heat.

   It was not until the Yuan Dynasty expedition to Japan that the typhoon caused heavy losses that it gave up the fourth conquest of Vietnam.

  When Zhu Di fought in Vietnam, the same was true for the Vietnamese. The Minister of Civil and Military Affairs led the soldiers and civilians to drill the valley, and the Vietnamese king took a boat to hide in the sea. When the weather was hot, they came out again to fight guerrillas, causing the Ming army to fall ill due to the intense heat.

   However, even though the Ming army suffered heavy casualties, they still firmly occupied the city and did not withdraw their troops, and even sent large troops to suppress the rebellion many times.

  Every time the Vietnamese drill a ravine, a large number of people will starve to death!

  When Man Dahai led his troops to the old place of Wang Jia’s tribe, he died and fled, leaving only 10,000 people around him. Among them, the Jurchen people who were coerced along the way were also included, otherwise he might not even be able to gather 10,000 people.

  The old place of Wang Jiabu is in Tonghua of later generations.

  Wang Jia's tribe, that is, Wanyan tribe, was conquered by Nurhachi very early.

  There is a big stockade here, and some grain is stored in it. Man Dahai, who had already started eating human flesh, quickly occupied the village, not only taking away all the supplies, but also taking away the people.

   Next, there is no need to climb over the mountains. Follow the valley and go all the way to the northeast, and you will reach Huinan County in front of you.

  Of course, Huinan County was a place name hundreds of years later. At this time, it was a remote place, very close to the place where the cavalry division attacked the city.

  There is no longer the territory of the Jianzhou Jurchen, and there is no psychological burden to kill and rob food. Man Dahai plans to move all the way to Ningguta, which is the ancestral land of Aixinjueluo. When he arrived at Ninggu Tower, the weather must have been cold, and it was impossible for the Datong Army to chase him.

  Huinan territory was quickly ravaged by Tartars, and there were sporadic Huifa Jurchens who fled to Meihei River Estuary to ask for help.

   "Leave 3,000 people to defend the city, and the rest will pursue, and the Tartars will be ahead!"

  Wang Tingchen was still wandering along the Hun River, and it was several days later that he received news about the Tartars. He sent messengers to gather the cavalry who were scouting along the way, and pursued towards the Huinan area as quickly as possible.

  However, the Tartars began to drill the valley again, and quickly turned to the normal mountain road.

  Man Dahai escaped successfully!

   When the luggage was burned, including the old and weak, women and children, there were 60,000 Tartars around him. When he completely got rid of the pursuit of the Datong Army, there were only more than 12,000 people left around him, many of whom were coerced in the middle of the journey, and basically lived on cannibalism for the last part of the journey.

  It has started to snow in the northeast, and Wang Tingchen stands still on his horse. In fact, his lungs are about to explode.

  Suddenly, two sleds appeared in the light snow, pulled by hounds and rushed towards.

  Wang Tingchen waved his right arm, and immediately cavalry rushed up and surrounded the two sledges.

   "Crackling..."

  The natives on the sled spoke some incomprehensible words.

  Wang Tingchen asked all the local guides accompanying the army to come over to check what happened, and finally found that two of them could understand.

  A guide said: "General, these are the Jurchens of the East China Sea from the Huerha tribe. They usually live by the Songhua River, and they presented Dongzhu to His Majesty the Emperor in Nanjing several years ago."

  Wang Tingchen nodded and said: "I know the Huerha tribe. They came all the way from the northeast and exchanged Dongzhu in Kaiyuan for grain and cotton cloth."

  In the entire Northeast, only Kaiyuan allows trade and mutual trade.

  However, all transactions are under the control of the army, mainly using food, cloth, salt and other items to control the ethnic minorities in the north and northeast of the Liao Great Wall. The Huerha tribe is too far away, and every time they come to trade very few items, they only provide Dongzhu and fur for the Datong army.

  Wang Tingchen said: "Ask them, it's already snowing, why do they come to trade items?"

After communicating with the Huerha people for a while, the guide said: "General, they are here to ask for help. A group of cannibal robbers came from Beishan (outer Xing'an Mountains). The robbers came by boat with firecrackers and robbed Grain, gold and silver are used to force the Donghai Jurchen to donate their furs. Those robbers are man-eating demons, and they will kill people and eat meat when there is no food."

  The courtier Wang fell into confusion for a moment, because he didn't know that there were Cossack robbers from Tsarist Russia in the north.

  The guide said: "The Feiyaka people in the northeast have been robbed by these robbers for more than three months."

  Fiyaka, also known as Feiyaka, lives in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang and Sakhalin Island.

  The Feiyaka people belonged to the Chinese until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Until the signing of the Aihui Treaty, 600,000 square kilometers of land was ceded to Tsarist Russia by the Qing Dynasty. The Feiyaka people in China have since become the Nivkh people in Russia.

  Historically, the Cossacks plundered the Northeast this time, but they didn’t want to leave. Because they found the mouth of the sea along the Heilongjiang River, and wanted to build a port castle at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River. The entire lower reaches of Heilongjiang were turned into Cossack looting areas, and it was not until several years later that the Eight Banners Army and the Korean Army jointly defeated them.

  Nowadays, the Tartars are too busy to take care of themselves, so of course they will not fight the Cossacks. In this case, the Datong Army must be dispatched.

  This time it was not as simple as robbery. The discovery of the Heilongjiang estuary made the Tsarist Russian government go crazy with excitement. Stepanov, who led the army to plunder Heilongjiang, was praised in Tsarist Russia as a hero who opened up new sea routes.

  The Tsarist Russian government is discussing a plan to send troops, intending to build forty ships each year in the next two years, and at the same time prepare to build wood for 60 ships. These are inland river wooden boats, used to transport troops and supplies. Tsarist Russia wants to send 3,000 troops to completely conquer the Heilongjiang River Basin.

  In another time and space, because Tsarist Russia's annexation of Ukraine triggered a fierce conflict with Poland, and the relationship with Ottoman and Sweden deteriorated, the plan for an expedition of 3,000 troops to Heilongjiang was abandoned.

  At the same time, Tsarist Russia sent the Cossack leader who rewarded Stepanlov to control the Cossack forces in the Heilongjiang River Basin. The two Cossack leaders broke out in internal strife, which greatly weakened the Cossacks' combat effectiveness, and it was only then that the Eight Banners Army and the Korean soldiers seized the opportunity.

  Wang Tingchen said to the guide: "Tell this man that it is already snowing, and it is impossible to send troops at this time. We will wait until the snow melts in the spring."

  Songhua River and Heilongjiang are too far away, and Wang Tingchen has no choice but to go back and ask his superiors for instructions.

  In fact, he didn't take it seriously. It's just a group of robbers. Why mobilize them? If the bandits don't want to leave, just send hundreds of cavalry to wipe them out.

   After all, the Huerha tribe had offered Dongzhu to the emperor, so it should be right to help fight the robbers.

  (end of this chapter)