Chapter 1356 Ransacking the Racecourse

Although no reconnaissance was done here beforehand, because the racecourse is relatively open, you can have a clear view of this area from a slightly higher ground in the distance, so it is easy to see the scale of the buildings here, and then refer to the general cavalry

From the organization of the troops and racecourse, Harugong could infer the approximate strength of the Ming army stationed here.

Although the cavalry battalion he leads does not have many troops, its individual equipment and combat skills are at the top level among the Haihan Army. Unless it encounters an enemy with an absolute overwhelming advantage in strength, this kind of outdoor combat environment will

, they really weren’t afraid of any opponent. Therefore, even though the target was in an unfamiliar environment, Harugong decided to take action immediately and take down this secret racecourse.

The cavalry battalion left part of the pack horses and manpower responsible for the baggage in place, and the remaining combat cavalry was divided into two teams, attacking from the north and south, and outflanking them towards the racecourse.

There are no bunkers near the racecourse that can be used to cover their tracks, so not long after the Haihan Cavalry appeared, the other party had already discovered their presence. But in their haste, the other party probably did not recognize the identities of the two groups of riders.

, it wasn’t until they got close that someone recognized the person who was the Haihan cavalry from their clothes, and they rushed into the stable to pick up the horse. However, in their haste, they didn’t have time to put a saddle and bridle on the horse, and they didn’t wait for the garrison.

The local Ming army was ready, and the Haihan cavalry were already approaching.

At that moment, there were several Ming troops who were herding their horses and were preparing to come forward to resist. However, when they saw that the Haihan troops had drawn their weapons and were preparing to charge into the formation, they immediately turned around and fled to the west. The Haihan cavalry were equipped with weapons that could be easily used on horseback.

Continuous firing of muskets is something that many people know. If just a few people go to confront the Haihan cavalry, they will probably be shot down by muskets from a long distance away. If they rush over, they will just die in vain. It is better to see the situation.

If something goes wrong, retreat immediately and go back to Dengzhou City to report the news.

There were a few brave men who still charged over with sabers, but this kind of resistance was indeed in vain. When they were still thirty or forty meters away from the Haihan cavalry, they were greeted by a volley of fire, including men and horses.

They were knocked to the ground. The Haihan Cavalry is one of the very few combat units in the army that is fully equipped with seven-shot rifles, which makes their long-range firepower output very impressive. A charge-style attack launched by a sporadic few enemies like this

, basically they couldn’t even get a chance to fight against the Haihan Cavalry.

After each suffered a round of volleys, these Ming soldiers who bravely rushed towards the Haihan Cavalry were all eliminated. After witnessing the long-range firepower of the Haihan Cavalry, more than 20 soldiers in the racecourse had not had time to mount their horses.

The Mingming army soon lost the courage to continue fighting, and the Haihan soldiers on horseback shouted the slogan "surrender without killing". These soldiers did not make any more unwise moves, but put down their weapons and knelt down to surrender.

.

After controlling the inside and outside of the racecourse, Harugong led his men and prisoners to collect the bodies of the Ming soldiers who were shot. Although the two armies fought each other for their own masters, Harugong, as a soldier, still had a strong sense of responsibility.

The bravery they showed in a situation where the enemy was outnumbered maintained enough respect that these war dead should not be allowed to be exposed in the wilderness after the battle.

Due to the huge disparity in strength and Haihan's cavalry raid, the confrontation between the two sides only lasted a short time and came to an end. The cavalry battalion easily occupied the racecourse with zero casualties and captured more than 20 people who did not have time.

Ming army soldiers escaping here.

This horse racing farm is located more than 40 miles away from Dengzhou City in the north. Harugong didn't have to worry about the escaped Ming army being able to move reinforcements from Dengzhou City in a short time. He calmly got off his horse and let

The prisoner took the accounting documents of the racecourse and checked the assets here.

The most important asset of the racecourse is naturally the war horses. Although this racecourse has not been established for a long time, it has produced more than 200 horses. In the horse roster, these horses are divided into war horses for cavalry troops, and

There are two categories of pack horses used for baggage. Among them, the number of war horses is only about 80. Many of them have been marked as "leaving the field" and must have been recruited by the Dengzhou garrison.

After Harugong looked through it, he called a captured officer to him and asked him: "Are you responsible for this place?"

The Ming army officer was obviously not a tough character, and he responded timidly: "Wei Xin, the villain, is the chief officer of this horse farm. I wonder what the general's orders are?"

"Since you are the owner of the racecourse, you should be very clear about the situation here." Harugong shook the document in his hand and said: "How many of the horses recorded in this are still in the local area, please report the number.

!”

Wei Xin responded: "General, the number of horses in this racecourse is just like the accounting records, and there is no falsehood... that is, the few horses that were ridden by the people who escaped just now are just."

"Oh? Are your accounts here so true? Why did I hear that many of the war horses here are draft horses requisitioned from the private sector?" Harugong will not be fooled by his words. The news he previously received from Xindian Town,

It made him realize that the management of this racecourse was probably not very formal. What Wei Xin said was obviously not very credible.

Wei Xin swallowed, looked at Harugong's face, and then looked at the account book in his hand, and then explained: "General, this... horse... actually..."

"Speak carefully and don't hesitate to make up stories!" Harugong scolded impatiently.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Wei Xin responded quickly: "This racecourse was set up in a hurry, and there was no way to gather enough war horses. We can only replace some of them with ordinary pack horses..."

Harugong understood when he heard this. It was obvious that the person in charge used pack horses to support the number of war horses in order to cope with the situation above. This was consistent with his previous prediction. However, such a horse farm cannot be full of pack horses.

, there should be more or less some war horses.

Harugong immediately called a platoon leader over and asked him to escort Wei Xin to the stable to help count the actual number of horses here. The value of pack horses and war horses are completely different concepts. Harugong has worked hard for so many years.

There are only a few hundred horses trained, but if he can make a fortune here, of course he won't let it go.

At present, the cavalry battalion dispatched several cavalry on the periphery to serve as patrols and warnings. The remaining troops took the time to rest in the racecourse and gradually counted out the original horses here. They could only stay here for one night at most, and they would be there tomorrow.

We must leave. Otherwise, if Dengzhou receives the alarm and sends troops, Harugong's plan to take all the horses away from here may be in vain.

Before nightfall, the cavalry, with the help of the prisoners, completed the inventory of domesticated horses at the racecourse. Among them, there were only more than 20 horses that could meet the standards of cavalry battalion war horses. This number made Harugong slightly disappointed. He originally thought that

Even if it does not reach the more than 80 horses recorded in the accounts, there should be at least half the number, but obviously the water content is too heavy, and many pack horses are simply not up to the level of war horses, and they are also registered as war horses by the racecourse.

However, nearly two hundred pack horses are not a small number. Haihan has settled in Dengzhou for a year, and the number of pack horses purchased and recruited from the local area is only about the same number. This unexpected harvest should be able to make a small difference.

Help Haihan alleviate the problem of insufficient transportation capacity.

Since Haihan landed on Zhifu Island at the end of last summer, he has been continuously searching for livestock that can be used for baggage transportation. However, the Dengzhou area has been so severely affected by the war that ordinary people cannot even guarantee their survival, so how can they care about it?

After doing this intermittently for more than a year, the number of livestock collected is still extremely limited, not even comparable to the number that can be purchased from the market in Guangzhou within a month. There is not enough transportation capacity, Haihan wants to

Carrying out large-scale construction projects and promoting trade in the occupied areas will face many difficulties.

The Dengzhou government was obviously aware of the dilemma that Haihan would face very early on, and issued extremely strict restrictions on local livestock trading in Dengzhou through government decrees, prohibiting people from selling all livestock to Haihan.

If live livestock, especially large livestock such as mules, donkeys, oxen, and horses that can be used as animal-powered transportation vehicles, are found to be sold to the Haihan people, the person involved will not only be severely punished financially, but may even be punished.

Go to jail.

Although the Dengzhou government could not defeat Haihan's army on the frontal battlefield, the local effect of this kind of government order could not be easily eliminated by Haihan. Therefore, Haihan used livestock locally for baggage transportation.

More than half of them are even transported thousands of miles from Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the south. Such a helpless solution will naturally greatly increase Haihan's local operating costs. Qian Tiandun and others have also long planned to establish a business in Fushan County.

Establishing a ranch will fundamentally solve the local livestock demand problem.

If Harugong can bring these pack horses back to the occupied area, it will undoubtedly be a great achievement. At least it will be more meaningful than killing the same number of Ming troops. However, in this way, Dengzhou will definitely have obtained it in the evening.

With the news of the attack on the racecourse, we can determine the approximate location of Harugong's team. His original plan to go to Dengzhou City to show off his force now seems to be impossible. It is necessary to belt these packhorses

When we go back, the cavalry battalion can only retreat with us.

Although they failed to reach the gates of Dengzhou City, Harugong was still in a good mood and asked the soldiers to slaughter a few goats raised in the horse farm and perform a tooth sacrifice collectively after nightfall.

As soon as it got dark the next day, Harugong ordered the cavalry battalion to set off and slowly headed east with more than 200 horses, pigs, cattle, sheep and other livestock collected from the racecourse. He was also worried that the Dengzhou garrison would drive all night

Come, take advantage of the early morning to launch a counterattack, so I set out early to try to avoid a head-on encounter with the opponent.

However, what Harugong didn't expect was that Dengzhou did send a warning message to the soldiers who escaped from the racecourse before nightfall yesterday. However, after Liao Jie got the news, he hesitated for a long time, not sure whether to pay attention or not.

A rescue force was dispatched to the racecourse. He was worried that Haihan deliberately let people go back to Dengzhou to report the news, and then set up an ambush at the racecourse, waiting for the rescue force to come and fall into the trap.

If you send few troops, they may be eaten directly by the Haihan people. But if you send more troops, it will probably take another day or two just to prepare to leave. Such a long time is enough for the Haihan people to retreat to their occupied area.

, and Liao Jie didn't think that the Haihan people would just wait there for the Ming army to appear.

As for the assets of the racecourse, Liao Jie actually has no luck anymore. He knows how urgent the Haihan people's need for livestock is, so how can he let go of the horses in this racecourse. It would be his own position in the Haihan people.

Go up, and definitely want to loot the racecourse before leaving.

Liao Jie was not entirely worried about the losses caused by the hijacking of these horses. After all, he had also made nearly ten thousand taels of silver from the process of setting up a racecourse. What he was worried about was that after the horses were taken back by the Haihan people, what would happen to them?

Various local construction projects may advance faster, which will definitely not be conducive to Ming Dynasty's recovery of lost territory in the long run.

So after such hesitation, Liao Jie did not send reinforcements to the racecourse before dark. Instead, he waited until the next morning to order a battalion of soldiers, both on foot and on horseback, led by General Guo Xingning and rushed to the racecourse.

.However, when this group of troops set off from Dengzhou City, Harugong's cavalry battalion had already left the racecourse and headed east. When they groped their way to the racecourse, they naturally had no choice but to miss.

But as soon as the outpost of Guo Xingning's team arrived near the racecourse, Dengzhou sent fast horses again, claiming that there was an urgent military situation, and they were told to turn back immediately. So before Guo Xingning's troops entered the racecourse, they turned around and headed back. And those who arrived at the racecourse

The outpost cavalry only found more than 20 Ming soldiers trapped in the kitchen. As for the rest of the horse farm, almost everything had been moved. In addition to more than 200 horses, all of them were taken away, including the saddles and bridles.

Horse whips and various weapons were not spared, and even the prepared winter fodder was hauled away on large trucks. The entire horse farm was moved overnight by the Haihan people, leaving only an empty shelf. Guo Xingning's

Even if the troops came, it would be meaningless.

Guo Xingning led his team back to Dengzhou City, only to find out that the reason why Liao Jie had told him to come back was because he had received news that Haihan had begun to gather troops in Fushan County, and it seemed that he was going to do a big job before winter.

Although he didn't know where Haihan's goal was, out of careful consideration, Liao Jie must first protect Dengzhou City from any trouble. He was increasingly worried that the incident at the racecourse was a trap deliberately set by the Haihan people, so he hurriedly

Order Guo Xingning's troops to retract to avoid being ambushed outside.

Although he had expected it, the news about the racecourse brought back by Guo Xingning still made Liao Jie so angry that he dropped his tea cup. This was the first time this year that the Haihan people had so blatantly gone deep into the Ming-controlled area to plunder government property. Liao Jie

I knew very well in my heart that this incident was not accidental. It was most likely Haihan's revenge for the Zheng Ai incident.
Chapter completed!