I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 406 Liaodong Peninsula
When the Ming army entered the city, the people of Jinzhou lined the streets to greet them.

Wang Zongtan looked around and shouted loudly: "Mother Dute's quietness, does anyone know the words?"

A thin young man squeezed out of the crowd and bowed quickly: "General, the common people have read for a few days, and the common people can read."

Wang Zongtan asked: "What's your name?"

The thin young man replied: "To tell you what the general said, Wu Chunsheng is a grassroots man and his ancestral home is Shandong."

Shandong people?
This man named Wu Chunsheng is actually a smart man.

Wang Zongtan nodded: "Let me ask you, how many people are there in Jinzhou City now?"

Wu Chunsheng shook his head: "I don't know, this Jinzhou City has only started to be rebuilt in the past few months, but there should not be as many soldiers as the general."

Wang Zongtan understood clearly, no wonder the Jinzhou City was so dilapidated, and there were so few Qing soldiers and civilians stationed there.

It turns out that it was an abandoned city that was rebuilt in the past few months. It seems that I have caught up with it at a good time.

Wang Zongtan asked: "What other cities are closest to here and have city walls and Tatar soldiers garrisoned?"

Wu Chunsheng replied: "Fuzhou... Well, I heard that there are also Tatar soldiers in Gaiping County, and there are more Tatar soldiers than Fuzhou."

Wang Zongtan asked again: "How much is it specifically?"

Wu Chunsheng shook his head: "I don't know."

Wang Zongtan asked again: "Do you have the population and landform maps of Fuzhou and Gaiping County?"

Wu Chunsheng shook his head again: "No."

Well, I don’t know if I ask three questions.

But this is normal. The people of Jinzhou are about to run out of food. Who cares about where there are Tatar soldiers and how many people there are.

Looking at the ragged, sallow and skinny people of Jinzhou in front of him, Wang Zongtan quickly had his thoughts.

He first found the army record officer, and then asked Wu Chunsheng to help and cooperate, turning all the people of Jinzhou into food transporters for the Ming army.

In this way, we can not only save the lives of the people with work-for-relief, but also supplement some civilian labor for the Ming army.

At the same time, we can also organize households and people in the local area.

The people of Jinzhou heard that as long as they helped the Ming army carry food, they would have enough to eat, and everyone was very enthusiastic.

Although a considerable number of these people were Manchus, not all Manchus were bad.Those ordinary and even lower-class Manchus, like the Han people, lived worse than dogs.

You can know this by referring to the Sauron Tribe. The predecessor of the Sauron Tribe was called the Savage Jurchens... Yes, that's right, they are also the Jurchen Tribe.

Moreover, as the Sauron tribe who had made great military exploits for the Manchus, the Manchurians' attitude towards them was to squeeze out the last drop of blood of the Saurons.

From the millions of people in the Sauron tribe in the late Ming Dynasty, there was no one in ten during the Qianlong period.Similarly, the Khalkha Mongols had a population of 300 million at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but less than a million at the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The Manchus were not only cruel to the Han people, but also treated their own people equally. In the late Qing Dynasty, even the Manchus in the Northeast hated the Manchu and Qing court.

Wang Zongtan captured Jinzhou, and then he gathered the refugees and provided work for relief, while at the same time he continued to send out detective cavalry.

A few days later, the scouts sent back news one after another.

For dozens of miles from Jinzhou, it is completely deserted. Not to mention towns, there is not even a single cigarette to be seen. Only occasionally, if you are lucky, you can see a few villagers and farmers. However, they always run away when they see the Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry from a distance. .

Liaodong has completely returned to its original state due to the blockade and efforts of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties for hundreds of years.Not only were most of the towns abandoned, but the human population was also almost cut off.Now, more than half of these people are Han people who fled from the customs to avoid taxes.

The scouts who explored Fuzhou and Gaiping returned one after another. Fuzhou is a state city and a large state that governs Jinzhou. Even the official roads leading to the two states started to grow weeds.

Gaiping County is a new city established by the merger of Gaizhou and Pingguo in the late Ming Dynasty. It was a commercial town that gradually emerged in the middle and late Qing Dynasty.I can’t say it’s more outrageous here, I can only say that the city outside the city is not much better than Jinzhou and Fuzhou.

Wang Zongtan was a little surprised when he received the news from the scouts: "All the fortresses and passes along the way have been abandoned. Is there really not a single Tatar soldier?"

The scout replied: "It's absolutely true. Not only is there not a single Tatar soldier, but even the official roads appear to have been abandoned for a long time."

Wang Zongtan was silent for a moment and then made a decision immediately: "After passing the order, we can pack up our troops and head north."

The Manchus and Qing Dynasties have given the opportunity. If they don't attack decisively, then the Ming army will be in vain.

……

Fuzhou.

This place is the same as Jinzhou, except that the population is slightly larger than Jinzhou, and the total number of Eight Banners soldiers stationed is only 70.

"Huh? What is that?"

"What? Let me see...it seems...a cavalry?"

"Cavalry? Are they from Shengjing?"

"..."

These Eight Banners soldiers couldn't see clearly from a distance, but even if they couldn't see clearly, they didn't have the slightest doubt whether enemy troops were coming outside the city.

After all, this is outside the Liaodong Pass. Even if there are cavalry, they will only be their own. Who would have thought that there would be Han cavalry coming from Jinzhou.The Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry kept approaching Fuzhou City. They came to explore the enemy's situation and test Fuzhou City's defense strength.

However, before they could reach the foot of Fuzhou City, they saw the city gate suddenly open, and several Eight Banners soldiers quickly ran out from inside and lined up on both sides of the gate.

"what's going on?"

"I don't know! But no matter what, the city gates are open. Brothers, let's go straight in."

"Kill! Kill the Tatars!"

A full 50-man Ming army scout cavalry howled and quickly took out their sabers, without even taking the muskets behind them, and headed straight for the gate of Fuzhou City.

Although there were 70 Eight Banners soldiers stationed in Fuzhou City, these Eight Banners soldiers were not cavalry, but all infantry. The real cavalry and horse troops had long been taken away by Yinhu when he entered the pass.

Because of this, these Fuzhou Eight Banners soldiers mistakenly thought that the Ming army's scout cavalry were all cavalry masters from Shengjing.

After all, they are all local soldiers in Liaodong, but they have never seen a serious Ming army, so naturally they cannot recognize the strangeness in the Ming army's uniforms.

It wasn't until the Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry came closer that someone finally realized something was wrong.

Why did these cavalry have no intention of stopping, and why did they all take out their sabers?

"No, it's an enemy attack..."

"Pfft!"

A big head flew into the sky, and blood sprayed directly on the Eight Banners soldiers in the rear.

Before the unlucky Eight Banners soldier, who was stained red by the blood of his companions, had time to react, another sword slashed at him.

"Pfft!"

"Ah! Help!"

"It's Han soldiers, Han soldiers are coming to kill us!"

The 50-man Ming Army reconnaissance cavalry rushed into the pile of Eight Banners soldiers at the city gate, almost like chopping melons and vegetables. They even chopped with their horses and knives, and killed all the Eight Banners soldiers at the city gate in a short time.

The Ming army's main force was still several miles away, and Fuzhou City had been easily captured by the vanguard reconnaissance cavalry.

By interrogating the captured Fuzhou officials and the few Eight Banners soldiers left alive, the Ming army quickly learned that although there were Eight Banners troops stationed in Gaiping County and Xiongyue City farther north, there were only 250 troops stationed in Gaiping County and more in Xiongyue City. There were only 50 garrison troops, and the total number of Eight Banners soldiers in the two cities was only 300.

This is not because the Manchus are arrogant and arrogant, but because they really cannot afford to support them. The entire Liaodong has only a small population.

Moreover, they never imagined that the Ming army would take advantage of them to enter the pass and suddenly lead [-] elite soldiers, half of whom were cavalry, to raid their lair.

Wang Zongtan frowned and asked, "There are really only 300 Tatars in Gaiping County and Xiongyue City?"

The scout reported: "Not only that, the combined population of Gaiping and Xiongyue is only [-]."

Gaiping and Xiongyue are strategically important cities and were also the former commercial centers of the Liaodong Peninsula.The Manchu Qing actually only had 300 soldiers left, and even the total population was less than 2.

The soldiers were very fast, so Wang Zongtan did not hesitate any longer. In order to hurry up, he directly led his troops to take a boat from Yangguan Fort, and then went all the way to Xiong Yue and Gaiping to fight.

Gaiping and Xiongyue are important towns in Liaodong. Even though they are now very desolate, as long as the Ming army can quickly capture these two areas, they can control the towns of Fenghuang City, Xiuyan, and Lushunkou, thereby effectively controlling the entire Liaodong Peninsula.

A total of [-] Ming troops took boats and arrived at Xiongyue City and Gaiping County in just two days. In order to speed up the process, Wang Zongtan even chose to divide his troops. He personally led one to attack Gaiping County and the rest to attack Xiongyue City.

When the [-] Ming army was divided into two groups and landed on Tu'er Island and Lianyun Island respectively, the cavalry was sent out to clear the surrounding areas as usual, while the land division quickly marched into the two cities with artillery.

This is a total of [-] Ming troops. No matter how divided they are, the two groups will definitely exceed a thousand people.

Let alone one thousand against fifty, even if one thousand against two hundred and fifty, there is no suspense at all.

Moreover, even in such a sure-win battle, the Ming army still fought very cautiously, with infantry and artillery coordinated and heavy armored infantry in front.

"Boom boom boom!"

It was just a round of artillery bombardment, but Gaiping City clearly still had a few artillery pieces left.

Although the range was definitely not as good as the Ming army's artillery, the Eight Banners gunners at the top of the city didn't even fire a single shot, and they instantly felt guilty for not fighting.

The Ming army didn't waste much effort. They carried improvised wooden ladders made by temporary felling to climb up and seize the city, and Gaiping County was easily captured.

In contrast, Xiong Yuecheng on the other side resisted more tenaciously.At least it withstood a round of artillery fire from the Ming army, although it only lasted a few minutes.

The disparity in strength is so great that 50 defenders are using hammers to defend the city!
Just by spreading it on the city wall, even the defense line is not enough.

In less than half a day, the two cities of Gaiping and Xiongyue were captured by the Ming army without any effort. The Ming army suffered almost no casualties.

What really caused casualties to the Ming army was the bitter cold climate in Liaodong, and many war horses became sick due to long-distance boat rides.

Jinzhou, Fuzhou, Xiongyue, Gaiping, and the entire west coastline of the Liaodong Peninsula were all captured by the Ming army. Some mountainous areas on the east coastline almost did not need to be attacked, and could be settled with just a message.

　Tired at work

　　
　
(End of this chapter)