Seeing such young adults in the valley, everyone gradually regained their courage.
Especially after Bao Youzhi issued flintlock rifles to most of them, these people's self-confidence grew even more.
"Master Bao, do you think the wall over there should be thicker? At least add a row of horses in front."
"Can."
Not only was Bao Youzhi thinking about how to defend, the border residents themselves would come over from time to time to give suggestions.
The brutal behavior of the Tsarist Russians rarely united them.
Jiangdong is a rare farming area in the Heilongjiang Basin. Although there are some small villages on both sides of the Heilongjiang River, most of them were established by the unassimilated Daur people.
They have less contact with the Han people and are more exclusive. Now there is no way to control those people.
Even so, except for the villages in Jiangdong, there are still some people who have escaped from the upper reaches these days.
These people ran down the river and were discovered by the investigators who stayed on the riverside. They were also placed in the valley.
Bao Youzhi wandered around the valley. Fortunately, the place was big enough, and each village still set up tents separately.
After a while, he moved to the place where Xujiatun was camping and arrived at the residence of Team Leader Xu. This was a temporarily built wooden house.
At this time, the old patriarch was scolding a young man in the house.
Bao Youzhi took a closer look and realized that this was not Xu Yuee'e, the granddaughter of the old patriarch.
When the old patriarch saw Bao Youzhi coming over, his face felt awkward.
"Oh, Mr. Bao, I made you laugh. This girl's parents left early and she was spoiled rotten by her uncles."
"I asked her to move with me, but she actually changed into men's clothes and secretly walked down. Oh, I'm so angry." Patriarch Xu sighed and said.
"Grandpa, I want to stay with you to kill Rakshasa ghosts and avenge my parents."
It turns out that Xu Yue'e's parents were killed by Tsarist Russian hunters who were crossing the border.
Many people here have grudges against the Tsarist Russians.
It's just that in the past, sporadic Russian hunters passed by and caused individual harm to these people. This time, it was the large Russian troops that came, and they brought catastrophe.
"Old Patriarch, Miss Yue'e has a clear distinction between grudges and grievances. Women do not give way to men. Now that she has stayed, it is useless to say more. Let her stay here peacefully."
Xu Yue'e took advantage of her grandfather not paying attention and secretly turned her head and cast a grateful look at Bao Youzhi.
"Mr. Xu, I'm here to discuss something with you."
"Master Bao, please speak!"
"It's like this. I don't know how long this war with the Russians will last. Everyone in this valley can basically rest on their laurels."
"So I want to pool everyone's food together and let an elder from each village take part in the management."
"By centrally distributing food in this way, we can sustain it for a longer period of time. What do you think?"
"Master Bao, this is a good suggestion. I'll go talk to them. Also, Master Bao, should we plant the land in this valley? At least we can grow some vegetables. If it takes too long, we can add more."
"That's great, Mr. Xu. I have to trouble you to come forward on this matter. We have to set a standard. We can't just divide it equally. We can create a gap based on everyone's division of labor."
With the help of these elders in the clan, Bao Youzhi really saved a lot of things. Otherwise, there are tens of thousands of people in this valley, and he really can't control them.
At this time, a group of single-masted sailboats were already sailing on the river near Xujiatun.
Seeing signs of human habitation here, the army stopped again.
Without Muravyov's orders, a group of soldiers galloped towards the villages in the distance.
"Report to the Governor, everyone has run away and the village is empty." A scout came back and reported.
"If they all ran away, where would they go?" Muravyov said to himself.
He took out the map drawn by the expedition team, which showed that this area should be a settlement area.
The total population here is close to one hundred thousand. According to their speed, it is impossible for so many people to move very far.
"Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Recinio, take 5,000 people ashore, occupy this place, look for those Qing people who escaped, and build the dock here to turn it into a material transfer station."
Muravyov ordered a noble officer. He planned to divide some of his troops here.
"Yes, Your Majesty the Governor!" Lieutenant Colonel Rescinho accepted the order happily.
He also felt that these Qing people could not run far, and the transfer of so many people would definitely leave traces.
Finding them and catching them is a great achievement.
And this place is full of developed land as far as the eye can see.
You can see that grain has been planted in some fields and green seedlings have grown.
"If there were enough serfs, we could build a large farm here now." Rescinho was born into a noble family, and of course he knew that the size of the farm was a symbol of a family's heritage.
Leaving these five thousand men behind, Muravyov led the remaining troops down the river.
Going further downstream, there will be no people on the riverside.
Muravyov did not waste any more time, but directed his men to go all the way downstream.
The target is directly at Temple Street. As long as Temple Street is captured, no one in the Amur River Basin can stop the Russian expansion.
In the Heilongjiang River Basin of the Qing Dynasty, except for Temple Street, there were no enemy troops that could threaten Russia.
Muravyov obviously regarded the army on Temple Street as the Qing army supported by Britain and France.
These armies used a large number of firearms, which was obviously different from other armies of the Qing Dynasty.
Just like Turkey, there are many armies trained with the help of Westerners. These new armies are obviously different from the old armies within the entire national system.
Muravyov felt that the army in Temple Street might be the new army trained by Britain and France with the help of the Qing Dynasty.
These new armies used weapons purchased from Britain and France, and were trained by instructors sent by the British or French.
From this, Muravyov can probably judge their combat power.
As long as this battle is over, he can tear away the arrogance of the Qing people.
Several attempts by Russia to send envoys to the capital were rejected by the Qing government. Even Russian ships were not allowed to transit Shanghai.
It turns out that it was these new armies that the Qing people relied on.
Thinking of this, Muravyov gradually clarified the situation. To solve the problem, he still had to take back Nikolayevsk.
After recapturing Nikolayevsk, he turned back and headed south. At that time, the Qing emperor would have no choice but to relent.
On June 25, the fleet led by Muravyov approached the mouth of the Amur River.
The raging Amur River becomes much gentler after reaching the wide mouth area.
Here, the Russians suffered their greatest defeat in the Far East.
Russia lost the fleet it had finally built in the Far East. This fleet was the seed of Russia's double-headed eagle's struggle for hegemony in the Pacific.
Russia lost the pearl of the Far East, Nikolayevsk. This small city bearing the name of the Tsar, although it was at the end of the Amur River, was the starting point of Tsarist Russia's occupation of the Amur River.
Russia also lost the loyal minister of the Tsar, the pioneer of the Far East, and the commander of the Far East Fleet - General Pavlov.
Now all the shame placed on the great Tsarist Russia must be washed away by Muraviev.
Heilongjiang turns a big bend in the upper reaches of Temple Street. The river that originally flows from the northeast suddenly turns to the southwest.
At another hidden outpost on the ridge by the river, a sentry with a telescope was concentrating on counting the number of ships.
There was a sentry next to him, holding a charcoal pen and recording in a notebook.
Two sentries have already set off back to Temple Street to report the situation here to Temple Street.
They didn't light up the smoke because the situation was not urgent, and the people on Temple Street were basically ready to fight half a month ago.
Muravyov knew that they had been exposed and a surprise attack was impossible.
In fact, he did not prepare for a surprise attack. There was no need to use this tactic on the Qing people.
Although he has not yet faced off directly, Muravyov still has a rough estimate of the combat power of this new army.
Although they mastered basic musketry tactics, they were far less courageous than their teacher.
Such an army often collapses easily after being frustrated. Facing such an army, we must use courage to crush them.
On the Turkish battlefield, one regiment of Russian line infantry was often able to outrun tens of thousands of new Turkish troops.
When the bayonet of the flintlock rifle reached thirty meters in front of those people, they no longer had the courage to change bullets according to the drill, nor did they have the courage to fight with the Russian infantry on the bayonet.
Of course, what Muravyov is thinking now is based on his own understanding.
When he commands the soldiers to land, he will find that he should have known this army earlier.
In other words, this army has completely exceeded his level of understanding.
After finding a shoal on the shore to rest for two days and allowing the soldiers to maintain their weapons and equipment, Muravyov led the fleet to officially begin the attack on Temple Street.
In two days, Muravyov had sent people to investigate the situation around Temple Street and determined the landing site.
The conditions for landing operations in this era were actually very harsh, because there were no landing craft, no landing tanks, and if there were no docks, soldiers could only row ashore in small boats.
The infantry is very vulnerable at this time. The enemy's infantry and artillery can arbitrarily harvest the lives of the landing infantry.
In the early morning of the 27th, the Russian army began to land on a gentle beach in the upper reaches of Temple Street.
Muravyov first sent the gunboat forward to cover the landing of the infantry. There was no beachhead as imagined.
Muravyov did not even see a soul.
When the soldiers were halfway ashore, Muravyov was ready to send soldiers to advance.
At this time, a burst of smoke rose from the distant hillside, and then black dots fell from the sky, falling into the array of Russian troops that had just landed.
Don't ask why the Russians didn't spread out and push inland quickly after landing.
At this time, the mainstream was still line infantry. Line infantry naturally had to advance in formation.
All their tactical actions are based on array design.
Therefore, the first thing they did after landing must be to form an array. This is a combat habit formed over a long period of time. It cannot be corrected unless they encounter a tragic lesson.
Why Dong Shuheng only wanted these peasants and saltmen who were like a piece of blank paper when he recruited his troops? It was because he was using a brand new tactic.
These people, including the instructors, were all brought out by him. They had no combat experience, so they could completely follow the new drills and not be affected by their inherent thinking.
Dong Shuheng also knew some famous generals of this era, but he did not deliberately poach them. He believed that the talents he cultivated were the best.
In Dong Shuheng's opinion, fighting a war is like doing a calculation problem, and both soldiers and officers should be able to be mass-produced.
Even if some people are naturally calm-minded, flexible, and suitable for being commanders, they can be discovered gradually the day after tomorrow.
Just like the first batch of regiment members recruited in the Huaihai Navy, some have now become division commanders or regimental commanders, and some are still veterans. This is caused by differences in talent and hard work.
In other words, if there is an army, there will always be talents who stand out from it.