Wu Huapu had one sleeve tucked into his belt. He bent down and dug away the snow. Under the withered grass was the soil of Liaodong, the solid land where he grew up.
Suddenly, Wu Huapu got on his horse and shouted: "Enter the city!"
In this reorganization of the Datong Army, although the Five Military Commands (Five Military Academy) were retained, the jurisdictions of each command have changed greatly, and the unit numbers have all been changed to numbers.
The 11th Division, commander Hu Dinggui, chief missionary officer Wang Yaochen.
As for the one-armed Wu Huapu, he was responsible for commanding the cavalry of the 11th Division. He also went to northern Anhui to select a few who could ride horses. They were all Liaodong men who had fled south together, and came back specifically to take care of the Manchus' home base.
The Han people had killed the officials and stood on both sides of the street to welcome the Datong army as they entered the city.
Hu Dinggui shouted loudly: "Has anyone read the book?"
A thin man rushed over, knelt down and said, "General, I have been studying for a few days."
"Don't move!"
Hu Dinggui stepped forward, took off the opponent's hat, grabbed the money rat's tail, and cut it off with a knife.
After cutting off the whip, Hu Dinggui held the hat in both hands, carefully put it on the man, and asked: "What's your name?"
The thin man looked at the money rat tail, and something seemed to be cut off in his heart. He smiled and replied, "General Qi, my name is You Jinlei."
Hu Dinggui asked: "What do you do for a living in Jinzhou?"
You Jinlei replied: "The officials of Jinzhou collected fish maws from fishermen, and they will boil the fish maw glue. After it is boiled, there will be bannermen... The Tatars came from Gaizhou, took away all the fish maw glue, and kept it.
Some grains will be counted as rations. When they come, in addition to fish bladder glue, they will also take away other military supplies."
Hu Dinggui finally understood that the Han people who stayed in Jinzhou City were dedicated to providing military supplies to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
For example, fish bladder glue is a necessity for making compound bows.
Hu Dinggui asked: "Is there a weapons manufacturing factory in Gaizhou City?"
You Jinlei nodded: "Yes, they specialize in making bows and arrows and cotton armor. However, after the Tatars moved away, they probably took away many craftsmen. The fish bladder glue collected by Gaizhou is less than before. The rations given are also getting smaller and smaller.
People will definitely starve to death after spring begins."
Hu Dinggui looked at these people and saw that there were only two or three thousand people left in the city, and all of them were sallow and thin.
Hu Dinggui had a plan in his mind and asked Meng Huai'en, a civilian officer accompanying the army, to organize the people in the city to carry food to the seaside.
When there was a shortage of manpower, local people acted as laborers carrying grain.
Secondly, we use work as relief and distribute some food to the people.
The third step was to register and compile the household registration of the people in the city while transporting grain and grass.
When they heard that people in Jinzhou would be given food rations as a peasant husband, the people in Jinzhou suddenly became excited and followed Meng Huai'en to the beach one after another.
Hu Dinggui left You Jinlei behind and asked: "How many people are left in Jinzhou's territory?"
You Jinlei shook his head: "I don't know."
Hu Dinggui asked again: "Where is the nearest Eight Banners Army stationed?"
You Jinlei said: "Gaizhou."
Hu Dinggui asked again: "How many Eight Banners troops are there in Gaizhou?"
You Jinlei shook his head again: "I don't know."
This guy doesn't know anything about it, but it's normal. They can't even afford to eat, so how can they have time to pay attention to other things?
Hu Dinggui occupied Jinzhou, settled his soldiers, and sent cavalry to explore everywhere.
A few days later, sentry riders brought back news one after another.
Except for the official road leading to Gaizhou, the rest of the roads are mostly submerged by weeds.
The wilderness was full of destroyed villages, houses and land belonging to the bannermen. Dorgon gave an order, the bannermen not only took away the serfs, but also burned all the houses.
Sometimes I can ride for a whole day without seeing anyone.
The place quickly became primitive and commercial and agricultural activities almost disappeared!
The sentries who returned from Jinzhou Zhongzuo Station (Lushun) reported that there were only a few hundred fishermen left there. There were ten households of Han soldiers living in the fort, who were responsible for collecting fish bladders, and they themselves had to cultivate land and fish for a living.
Immediately afterwards, the sentry knight who went to Fuzhou to investigate also came back.
The fortresses and checkpoints along the way were all abandoned, and no one could be found. We only occasionally encountered a few farmers in the wild.
After hearing the news, Wu Huapu approached Hu Dinggui: "I want to take a day off and buy some wine from the army."
"Why do you suddenly want to drink?" Hu Dinggui asked.
Wu Huapu said sadly: "I can't hold it in anymore and want to drink some wine to sleep. I'm from Liaodong and know what it's like here. Jinzhou and Fuzhou are both major counties in Liaodong, especially Jinzhou, which used to be full of business travelers. In the past, There are more merchants living in Jinzhou than in the entire city now! There are also Fuzhou, which is full of farmland, so there is no need to worry about food, but now it is deserted. What the hell has this place become?"
Hu Dinggui patted Wu Huapu on the shoulder: "I will make an exception tonight, I will drink with you!"
While they were drinking, six Datong sentries came to the outside of Fuzhou City to inquire about news.
The six people went straight to the city to observe the city's defense situation.
Suddenly the city gate opened wide, and a Han civilian official, accompanied by officials and officers, nodded and bowed out of the city to greet him.
"Are you treating us as Tatar soldiers?"
"Maybe...yeah."
"Whatever, let's fight in and talk about it later!"
"..."
Six cavalrymen accelerated towards the city gate.
The officials in Fuzhou didn't take it seriously, because the Tatar cavalry were all elite and were used to showing off their power, so they often rode like this in the city.
Although the six cavalrymen in front of them were dressed a little strangely, not like the various cavalrymen of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. But in the land of Liaodong, who else could there be other than the masters of the Eight Banners? Maybe they changed their clothes when.
The Datong cavalry rushed closer and closer, and Fuzhou officials greeted them with smiles, and finally bent down and lowered their heads.
"Qiang Qiang Qiang!"
Six waist knives were drawn out and they were aimed at the officials and hacked at them.
"Spare my life!"
The surviving officials fled in all directions, four of the six Datong cavalry rushed into the city, and the remaining two chased them outside the city.
The people in the city couldn't figure out what was going on and were so frightened that they hid one after another.
In this way, six cavalrymen who came to inquire about the news directly occupied Fuzhou City.
After some interrogation, important news was obtained: in Gaizhou City further north, there were 50 Manchurian Eight Banners and 100 Han Army Eight Banners stationed, for a total of only 150 defenders.
Don’t think it’s too little, it’s already too much!
There are only 15 cities left in the Northeast that have troops left to garrison. Even Shengjing (Shenyang), the hometown of the Tatars, only has 800 people garrisoned. Xingjing (Xinbin County), as the Longxing place of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, has only 50 people.
Gaizhou is a strategic location and must be taken seriously, so a full 150 soldiers were left behind.
"There are really only more than a hundred soldiers?" Hu Dinggui couldn't believe it.
Wang Yaochen smiled and said: "Soldiers are valuable and quick, so let's go fight by boat."
Due to the terrain, once Gaizhou is captured, it will be equivalent to controlling the Liaodong Peninsula. Only a fool will let this good opportunity pass!
And until now, the Manchu and Qing defenders in Gaizhou don’t know that Jinzhou and Fuzhou have been taken away by the Datong Army. After all, the snow has not melted and the wilderness is desolate. Who the hell wants to run around?
Hu Dinggui built hundreds of simple wooden ladders in Jinzhou and immediately set off for Gaizhou with his entire army.
After landing at the seaside, they pushed the artillery and carried the simple ladder and headed straight for Gaizhou City.
Due to taking a boat all the way and walking in the snow to find out the news, Wu Huapu only had more than 2,300 horses left under his command, and dozens of them were sick and abandoned in Jinzhou. He took these cavalry and immediately circled to the north to cut off the escape of the enemy troops in the city.
route.
Thousands of soldiers, including artillery, attacked the city garrisoned by 150 people.
What suspense can there be?
The people in the city were so frightened that they all hid, and the Eight Banners soldiers did not dare to force the people to defend the city, fearing that they would all turn against them.
The defenders didn't even prepare supplies to defend the city, and relied entirely on shooting with bows and arrows.
After only a moment of attacking the city, Datong troops climbed up the city wall, formed a formation and fought with the Eight Banners soldiers on the city.
Moreover, 50 Manchu Eight Banners were fighting vigorously, but 100 Han Eight Banners had fled.
The real elites have been taken away by Dorgon long ago. How many of the ones left can fight?
"Leave no one behind!"
Seeing the Eight Banners of the Han army fleeing from the city, Wu Huapu rushed over with his cavalry. He hated the Tatars and the traitors, so it would be best to kill them all.
More than 2,300 cavalrymen chased and killed 100 Han Army Eight Banners infantrymen.
"Spare my life, I am Han Chinese!"
An officer knelt down directly. Wu Huapu held the horse's belly between his legs. His only arm no longer pulled the reins, and he drew his sword and slashed at the Eight Banners officer of the Han Army.
Blood splatters.
Wu Huapu laughed loudly: "Come on, come on, this life is worth it!"
Hu Dinggui, who had already arrived at the city, shouted: "Don't kill them all, leave a few alive for interrogation!"
There were more than ten Manchurian Eight Banners left. Seeing that they could not escape, they simply gathered together and launched a charge.
"Array up!"
"Bang bang bang bang!"
The fire gun soldiers took advantage of the melee soldiers to attack the city, lit the match rope, loaded the ammunition, and climbed up the city wall.
Seeing the enemy charging, Hu Dinggui was too lazy to fight and let the gun soldiers shoot directly.
This battle was outrageous. The original plan was to rebuild Dongjiang Town on Pi Island.
After learning about the situation in the Northeast, they instead occupied Jinzhou as a military base. Unexpectedly, six cavalrymen captured Fuzhou and now captured the important military town of Gaizhou.
Except for the mountainous areas, the entire Liaodong Peninsula is controlled by the Datong Army.
But in this vast area, the three cities plus the wild villages have a total population of less than 100,000.
After some interrogation, the military situation was quickly learned.
Haizhou and Liaoyang both had garrison troops, the number of which was similar to that of Gaizhou.
The population around Shenyang is the largest, many Manchus have not migrated, and there are still a large number of domestic slaves and serfs.
"Do we still want to fight?" Wang Yaochen asked.
Hu Dinggui gritted his teeth: "Go straight to Shenyang and overthrow the Tatars' lair!"
"How to transport food and grass?" Wang Yaochen asked.
The previous three cities were all on the seaside, but now they have to go deep into the hinterland.
Hu Dinggui said: "The snow has almost melted, and the people of the three cities have been recruited as food transporters. Soldiers are very fast, so don't bring artillery. We will capture Haizhou first, then Liaoyang, and finally Shenyang."
Hu Dinggui then ordered Wu Huapu: "The cavalry goes first and bypasses Haizhou. According to the prisoners' confessions, after passing Haizhou, there will be more farmers outside the city. If there is no food, they will grab it all the way. The cavalry will kill the Tatars when they see them. Shenyang and Liaoyang
The local population is reserved specifically to provide soldiers for the Eight Banners of Manchuria. The more people are killed in those places, the fewer Manchu soldiers will be outside the customs."
"Okay, this military order is exactly what I want!" Wu Huapu was overjoyed.