MTL - I-Chapter 1002 998【Occupy Beihai】

  Chapter 1002 998【Occupy Beihai】

  From now on, Lake Baikal is collectively referred to as the North Sea.

  The fresh water reserves of the North Sea account for 20% of the global fresh water resources, and there are 336 rivers that provide abundant water sources.

  From the perspective of ancient military, what does this mean?

   It means that as long as you occupy the North Sea, you can send troops to all directions by boat through its huge water system!

  The largest river among them is the Selenge River, which originates from Yanran Mountain, flows through the core area of ​​the Mobei Grassland, and finally flows into the North Sea. Li Dingguo's upcoming "subordinate city" is located on the estuary flat of the Selenge River.

  Beihai is not a real sea. As a lake, if you go in, you have to go out.

  The only big river that flows out of the North Sea is called the Angara River.

  It flows northward first, then turns westward, and finally merges into the Yenisei River, flowing all the way north into the Arctic Ocean.

   To be precise, this river is called the Lower Angara River.

   There is also the Upper Angara River, which is located at the northeasternmost end of the North Sea and is also the third largest river that flows into the North Sea.

  The target of Li Dingguo's attack is Upper Angarask City, at the mouth of the Upper Angara River. There are mountains on three sides, one side faces the lake, and after passing the river valley and mountain pass, there is a huge and narrow open flat land.

  It's a pity that the open land is full of forests and swamps, otherwise it is very suitable for farming.

   "Look, Kui Niu!"

  The chief mission officer under Li Dingguo suddenly pointed at the animals by the lake and yelled.

   "It's a seal, and it's available on the northeast coast. Last time I went home to visit relatives on vacation, there were seal skin sellers in Shenyang City. I heard that it's more expensive to ship to Nanjing." Li Dingguo laughed.

  Li Dingguo's wife and children live in Shenyang, and he plans to wait for the children to grow up before bringing his wife with him.

  Seals, manatees, sea badgers, sea pigs, fur seals… These animal names already existed in the Ming Dynasty. Anyway, what do the seaside animals look like, and they didn't have a name before, so add the word 海 in front of them and name them.

  In the Song Dynasty, this thing should be called a sea lion.

  The eyes of the chief mission officer brightened: "Is this a seal? I've heard of it, but I haven't seen it. There are so many seals in the North Sea, and killing them for their skins is very valuable. There must be businessmen willing to come here in the future!"

   Li Dingguo curled his lips, businessmen might be willing to come, but immigrants might have to rely on the exile of criminals.

  Last winter, they hadn't reached the North Sea yet, they were only staying in the mountain nest in the southeast. Fortunately, there were thick wool felt tents and enough cotton-padded jackets for the winter, otherwise many people would freeze to death.

  The lowest temperature was minus 36 degrees, almost freezing the mercury thermometer.

  I heard that as far away as Luzhou, the thermometer is just a decoration, and the mercury will freeze in winter.

  The ships they were on at this time were all temporarily built this year. The wood has not been dried in the shade, and it has not been brushed with tung oil. It will take craftsmen and supplies in the coming year to build a stronger warship.

  Li Zheng did not personally lead the troops, but only sent 300 infantry, with a battalion commander to help out and two Cossack captives as guides.

  The two sides demarcated administrative regions according to the water system. The places where the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang tributaries can be reached are under the jurisdiction of the Anton Governor's Office, and the farthest to the west can reach Chita. To the west of Chita is the territory of Beihai Protectorate. In the future, the Yenisei River Basin will also belong to Beihai Protectorate.

  The fleet went north along the shore of the lake, passing Ugis Barguzin on the way, and the bastion there was empty.

  In the future, troops and immigrants will also be stationed in the bastion here, because it is located at the mouth of the second largest river (Barguzin River) that flows into the North Sea.

   As long as this place is firmly occupied, the Cossack stronghold along the Barguzin River will be completely blocked from retreating. Without supplies such as gunpowder, the upstream Cossacks would be killed by the natives sooner or later.

   "Leave fifty people and food, and defend this bastion!" Li Dingguo ordered.

   Li Dingguo asked the Cossack guide sent by Li Zheng: "What's the name of this place?"

  The guide replied: "The river is called the Barguzin River, and the castle is called Ust-Barguzin."

  Li Dingguo thought the name was too awkward, so he said: "From now on, it will be called Gujin City and Gujin River."

  By the way, Upper Angarask and Upper Angara River were also renamed Yinma City and Yinma River by Li Dingguo. Take the meaning of "drinking horses in the North Sea".

There are still more than a hundred miles away from Yinma City. The Cossack guide pointed to the west and said: "From here, take a boat to the west, in Baikal...on the west bank of the North Sea, there is another stronghold called Severobaikalsk. There is also a river entering the lake. At the mouth, a bastion was built."

   "It was renamed Muyang City and Muyang River." Li Dingguo chose the name very casually.

  Su Wu shepherds sheep, this allusion can be derived from many names.

  The main city of Beihai Duhufu, "Subordinate City", comes from the respectful name "Su Subordination State" for Su Wu - Su Wu's official position is the Dian Subordination State, responsible for managing the foreign affairs of the surrounding ethnic groups.

The Cossack guide continued: "In the southwest of the North Sea, there was originally a Nizhny Angarask, which could go directly to the Yenisei River area along the Lower Angara River. But the bastion has not been repaired, and the Nizhny Angarask It was captured by the natives. Since then, the materials and population of the Yenisei Warlord District have been transported by the... Shepherd River in the north."

  Li Dingguo found it very strange, because he heard that a large area around Beihai was under the jurisdiction of the Yenisei Warlord, so he couldn't help asking: "Did you never think about taking back such an important city?"

"I thought about it, but failed," said the Cossack guide. "Master Yenisei, the warlord, sent troops to attack several times, but they were all repelled by the fierce Buryats. But the Buryats also suffered heavy losses. Over there There used to be a unified large tribe, but it was split into several small tribes. They usually fight among themselves, but every time the Cossacks are killed, they can unite to fight again. The warlord also thought about buying the internal support, but the Buryats Unwilling to cooperate."

   Li Dingguo's mouth twitched, despising the Cossacks.

  How much evil must be done, so that the Mongols who are divided and internally strife can unite with the outside world.

  Li Dingguo said: "First pull out Yinma City, and then attack Muyang City!"

  The army came to Yinma City by boat, but they were all in vain again.

   It is estimated that there are only more than 200 Cossacks in the city. They feel that they must not be able to hold on, so they all fled to Shepherd City to gather.

  Li Dingguo had to leave 50 people to guard the city, turned west, crossed the North Sea, and came to Muyang City.

  In the city, there are 368 Cossacks and more than 900 indigenous servants.

  The large area outside the city is a fertile plain formed by several rivers. If it weren't for the cold weather, this would be an excellent farming area.

   Even so, Shepherd City is also the North Sea region, the most important grain-producing area of ​​the Cossacks. Moreover, it is also suitable for grazing. It is the Cossack horse breeding base. It is true that Li Dingguo named this place Shepherd City.

  The bastion of Shepherd City was built very early, and it has been decades. Since there are no indigenous threats around it, no additions have been made.

   That is to say, the castle area is very small.

  The more than a thousand defenders in the fortress have been overwhelmed, and women, children, and slaves have all been driven out of the city. These Cossacks are really ruthless. In order to stick to the bastion, they don't even want their own wives and children, and let their family members be captured by the Datong army.

  Li Dingguo brought 2,000 infantry and 100 cavalry, but the civilian husband only brought a few hundred.

  Soldiers and civilian husbands dug pits together, and also used the hot air balloon bombing tactics sent by Li Zheng.

  The terrain here is much easier to fight than in Nerchinsk. Outside the castle is all flat land suitable for farming.

   According to the wind direction, three bastions can be bombed.

  The Cossacks in the castle had never participated in the Battle of Nerchinsk. When they saw three hot air balloons floating over, they all looked up stupidly.

   "Boom boom boom!"

   Tens of thousands of enemies exploded on the ground, killing and injuring more than 20 people in an instant.

   Li Dingguo was also surprised when he heard the situation: "Hot air balloon bombing is so effective?"

   Three more enemy bombs were dropped, and the Cossacks and servants on the three bastions fled to the nearby city wall in panic.

   Shelling begins!

  Six artillery positions aimed at the city wall and fired in parallel.

   Although due to lack of accuracy, most of the shells fell through. But as long as a shell hits the top of the city wall, it can bounce away a large number of enemies, and the enemy troops gathered on the city wall will be smashed to pieces.

  There are hot air balloons above the bastion, and they will be bombarded when they run to the city wall. The enemy troops in the city no longer know how to fight.

   On the first day of the siege, Keer bombed.

  The fuel of the hot air balloon has not been burned yet, and the enemy is smashed. It is dragged back immediately, and the fuel and the enemy are taken off again.

  At the end of the explosion, there was no enemy on the bastion, and all the enemies on the city wall squatted close to the parapet.

  The next day, every time the hot air balloon went up into the sky, there was no chance to drop the bomb. So under the cover of the artillery, the location of the launch was changed, and the position was adjusted to hit the city wall.

  In this case, Li Dingguo ordered the fleet to sail into the river.

  Swaggeringly drove past the city, not afraid of being bombarded in the castle.

  Li Dingguo planned to bomb for three days before attacking the city, but the Cossacks could not bear the pressure the next night.

   These guys already had few soldiers, and lost cities one after another. Even the warlord died in Nerchinsk. As long as your brain is not stupid, you will understand that you can't defend here, so you might as well take advantage of the night to run away.

  They ran away by boat and were discovered not far from the city.

   Li Dingguo's camp was built by the river, and all the Datong army was dispatched.

  Some of them stood guard on both sides of the river, lit torches, and shot randomly into the river. It was so dark that they didn't know how many people they hit.

  Some of them are shooting on the boat to stop these Cossacks.

  Both ships were equipped with small cannons, and the small cannons of the Datong Army kept firing blindly. The Cossacks' small cannons on board were always misfired, because they didn't light the torches, and they wanted to rush through the night, and once there was light, they would become targets.

   The fight was lively, but I couldn't see clearly.

  The next morning, after dawn, I checked the situation and saw boards and corpses floating everywhere on the river.

   There is no way to count how many enemies died and how many enemies broke through.

   In this regard, Li Dingguo pulled out all the Cossack strongholds around the North Sea. The reason why he played so easily, apart from the hot-air balloon bombing tactics, was mainly due to Li Zheng's Nerchinsk victory.

  In the Battle of Nerchinsk, the Cossacks took away the main force around Beihai, and Li Dingguo fought all the way, most of them were empty cities.

  The second wave of envoys sent by the Tsar arrived in Yenisesk in autumn.

   Coincidentally, the Cossack who broke out also brought the news here.

   Leading the mission is still the old acquaintance Baykov. It's just that most of the accompanying personnel were replaced by young nobles, who were sent by the tsar and the prime minister to learn advanced Chinese technology.

   "What? The castles and strongholds around Lake Baikal are gone!" Baykov was shocked.

   Not only is Lake Baikal lost, but the Yenisei Warlord is gone. The vast Yenisei Warlord area does not even have a chief officer.

  (end of this chapter)