Chapter 558 Lingbei Provocation

Author: Beicheng Erqian

Chapter 558 Lingbei Provocation

"Mom, this world of ice and snow is really freezing to death. After this change of defense, whoever wants me to come to Beishan next time, I will give him a damn first, no matter how big or small he is..."

On the second day of February, when farming had begun in the north, the north of Beishan, which was thousands of miles further north than Hetao, was still completely white.

In the vast white woods, a cursing voice also sounded.

"Stop scolding, don't attract the Rakshasa ghosts from across the river."

When a Ming soldier took off his pants to urinate, another vigilant cavalryman next to him reminded him.

"What are you afraid of? If that Rakshasa ghost dares to come, I will blow away its Tianling Cap with two shots!"

The urinating soldier screamed, but even so, he tied up his belt honestly, got on his horse, and continued to patrol with his comrades.

This is the Eastern Siberian region in the north of Beishan. Since the 10th year of the Apocalypse, the Ming Army has stationed hundreds of soldiers in this area.

In the eleventh year of the Apocalypse, the number of soldiers in this area was increased to 3,031, a whole battalion of soldiers and horses.

They were stationed east of the Lena River to guard against the Rakshasa ghosts west of the river.

In Eastern Siberia, where temperatures are below zero for seven months of the year, except for some river valleys that can be reclaimed for farming, other land is as hard as iron and is difficult to develop.

Therefore, every June, Beishan Province organizes thousands of ships to transport supplies to the local Ming army.

There are no national borders in this era, but there are still some hidden rules.

For example, the territory of Tsarist Russia and the Ming Dynasty was divided by the Lena River. The east of the river belonged to the Ming Dynasty, and the west of the river belonged to Tsarist Russia. Since the two parties came into contact in the twelfth year of the Apocalypse, no major war broke out.

Tsarist Russia was unable to advance eastward, while the Ming army had no time to advance westward.

In the twelfth year of the Apocalypse, the Ming army was gathering money, and in the thirteenth year of the Apocalypse, they were busy fighting drought again.

Since Mobei has not been captured, the Ming army's march to the west means that it has to extend its supply line to thousands of miles, which is difficult to supply with the strength of Beishan Province.

However, as the Ming army captured the Mobei region, the east side of Lake Baikal was included in the territory, and Modong Province could also rely on the Aldan River, one of the sources of the Lena River, to transport supplies to the Ming army's stone forts along the Lena River.

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The basin of the Lena River is very strange. It is very suitable for migration from west to east, but the Ming army who has mastered its source can also transport some supplies northward from the source in the mountains to the north of the Yuerhai Sea, especially the Aldan River.

part.

Following the Aldan River section, the Ming army could easily enter the middle reaches, which was dozens of feet wide, and could go west to enter another large tributary.

This tributary is called the Vilyuy River, and its source is close to the Yenisei River's tributary, the Guska River.

This is a convenient passage from the Yenisey River Basin in the Central Siberian Plateau to the Lena River Basin in Eastern Siberia. The Tsarist Russian expedition relied on it to advance eastward from here.

Compared with the Ob River and the Yenisei River, the Lena River is also very large, with a length of about 7,000 miles and a drainage area of ​​2.3 million square kilometers.

It meets the sea in the North Siberian Plain and alluvially forms one of the largest deltas in the world.

However, these were of little use to the Beihai Battalion stationed east of the Lena River. Being in the Lena River, they only felt cold, remote and lonely.

In this huge territory, only tens of thousands of people from the Lubu tribe live here. And since the Ming Dynasty incorporated this place into the territory, the people from the Lubu tribe also began to migrate one after another. No one wanted to stay in this ice and snow.

Many times, many soldiers of the Ming Dynasty complained that this place was useless because of the ice and snow.

In this regard, the generals who led the troops to defend here could only remain silent, because they felt the same way.

Apart from wood and furs, they couldn't think of anything meritorious here that would make it worthwhile for the imperial court to garrison troops.

For example, these two Ming soldiers inspected their inspection area according to the rules, and then rode back to Changshan Fort where their troops were stationed.

Changshan Fort is located in the middle of the Lena River. The number of soldiers and horses stationed by the Ming army here reached one post, that is, a total of 545 people. This is also the stone fort with the largest number of soldiers and horses of the Ming army north of Beishan.

The reason why so many soldiers and horses are stationed here is because this area is not peaceful.

"The Rakshasa ghosts in Hexi have started cooking, and there is smoke."

When a young voice sounded from the top of Changshan Fort, the handsome Wu Sangui also put down the telescope in his hand.

The biting cold wind in Eastern Siberia in February seemed to blow off people's ears. Wu Sangui felt that his cheeks were completely numb, but he felt nothing uncomfortable in his heart.

He applied for the transfer to the north of Beishan himself, and the reason was very simple, that is, he was sure that there would be no fighting in the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion for a long time.

As a general, Wu Sangui not only wants to be an ordinary general, he wants to be a knight, an earl, a marquis, or a duke!

If you want to get a title, you have to show military merit, and the only place in the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion that can still show military merit is the area north of Beishan.

Wu Sangui once saw the picture "General Map of Kunyu of the Ming Dynasty" in Sun Yingyuan's study at the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion in Laizhou.

He remembered the contents of the map very clearly, so he also understood that His Highness King Qi would not let the Rakshasa ghosts in the north become a new northern trouble for the Ming Dynasty.

In this case, it is natural to use troops against the Rakshasa Kingdom.

With the Apocalypse 11-type rifle, Wu Sangui was confident that he could lead a battalion of troops to defeat the Rakshasa Kingdom, so he applied to be transferred to this bitter and cold place.

It is now the second year since he was transferred, and his term is only three years.

If the King of Qi does not order an attack on the Rakshasa Kingdom within two years, his military exploits will be gone.

"If you don't fight, then I will fight myself!"

Looking at the smoke from the other side of the Lena River, Wu Sangui squinted his eyes...

"Woo-"

"Eight hundred miles from the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion, urgent!"

February 13th, the eleventh day after Wu Sangui whispered, when Zhu Youjian arrived in Xining Prefecture, Hexi Province and just got off the train.

At the same time, he also received an urgent request from the Eastern Army Governor's Office for eight hundred miles.

[On the second day of the second lunar month, the Rakshasa soldiers crossed the river to attack Jiashen. Fortunately, Tangqi bravely defeated the invading enemy. 】

[Gui begged the governor to issue an order to send troops to return the northern land to make the people of Lu tribe peaceful.]

"Is the Rakshasa Kingdom taking the initiative to harass our army?"

In the train station, Zhu Youjian murmured to himself while walking towards the carriage outside the station, and couldn't help frowning.

"What's wrong, Your Highness?"

Man Gui, who followed the team from Ningxia to Xining, asked curiously, and Zhu Youjian also showed Man Gui the military report from the Eastern Army's Governor's Office.

The two of them got into a carriage, and Zhou Sujie, escorted by Jin Yiwei, got into the carriage behind with her four little ones.

Since it is already dusk, we can only visit the people's lives tomorrow.

As Zhu Youjian and the others got on the car and sat down, more than a hundred Jinyi Guards cleared the way, and the convoy drove towards Xining City.

After getting in the car, Mangui briefly read the urgent content. Faced with such content, he couldn't help but smile:

"Does this little matter need to be rushed eight hundred miles?"

"That's for you..." Zhu Youjian teased him with a chuckle, and Man Gui also scratched his beard.

The Governor's Mansion of the Northern Army and the Governor's Mansion of the Western Army are currently the most frequent places of war. The Governor's Mansion of the Northern Army is mainly responsible for cleaning up the thieves, bandits and horse bandits entrenched between Hami and Jiayuguan, as well as some herdsmen who have surrendered and fled eastward.

Since the Heshuote tribe entered the Ming Dynasty and was accepted, and each household was given ten thousand acres of pasture, many herdsmen in the Western Regions went crazy.

Under Jinyiwei's deliberate spread, many herdsmen from the Yarkand and Turpan Khanate continued to flee eastward. To deal with them, the Ming Dynasty resettled them all in Duogan, and distributed pasture according to 10,000 acres per household.

At present, there are more than three billion acres of grassland in the Ming Dynasty. Although nearly 80% of the grassland is very fragile and far inferior to the high-quality grassland like Hulunbuir, there is still no problem in housing hundreds of thousands of herdsmen.

Therefore, the more chaotic the situation in the Western Regions, the easier it will be for the Ming Dynasty to fish in troubled waters.

As long as there are enough herdsmen fleeing to the east and the number of Mongolians in the western regions is small enough, the Ming Dynasty can obtain maximum benefits with less capital.

The Western Region currently has a population of 500,000 to 600,000, which is enough to support an army of 50,000.

Although compared to the hundreds of thousands of troops sent by the Ming Dynasty, this amount of troops was not enough, but to deal with them, it was still necessary to mobilize no less than 10,000 cavalry troops.

Zhu Youjian never thought it was difficult to recover the Western Regions, it could even be said to be very simple.

The reason why the Qing Dynasty fought so hard was mainly due to geography, climate and the strength of the Junggars.

Zhu Youjian was fully prepared for these three points.

First of all, the Western Regions have their own advantages. The reason why the Qing army found it difficult to conquer Junggar was primarily because they were relatively unfamiliar with the Western Regions and lacked familiarity with them, which limited their military capabilities.

Due to geographical restrictions, the Qing army was easily ambushed, or could not find the enemy for a long time.

The longer the military operation is delayed, the morale of the army will be exhausted and the combat effectiveness will decrease.

But Zhu Youjian doesn't have to worry about this at all, because he has already conquered the Heshuote Mongols. As long as he sends a Heshuote Mongolian to each troop to act as a guide, the Ming army will be no more familiar with the Western Regions than the native Mongolians in the Western Regions.

Difference.

As for the climate in the Western Regions, it was also a major test for the Qing army.

The Western Region, which is located inland, has a large temperature difference between day and night. The Qing army from the Central Plains did not fully adapt to this problem like the army of the Junggar Khanate.

In addition, there are many Gobis and deserts in the Western Regions, and the distribution of oases must be understood and mastered.

Once there is a shortage of water, we will face the threat of annihilation after a war.

In addition to these, what is even more terrifying is the threat of sandstorms.
To be continued...