Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2059 Spring Banquet ([-])

308 Spring Banquet ([-])

April 1689, 5, sunny.

On the banks of the sunny Songhua River, a group of soldiers in khaki military uniforms were marching silently.The ground was a little muddy, and people slipped and fell from time to time, but they quickly got up again and continued to join the marching ranks.

Behind them are some Shandan people in various messy clothes.Some of them wore denim clothes which are more popular in the East Coast, some wore cotton coats, some wore leather robes, and some even wore thin linen clothes, reflecting their different levels of economic strength.

These people are all militiamen from the seven counties in the outer northeast. They were conscripted to participate in military operations in the North Manchuria area. There are about 2000 people in their early years, and the average number of people in a county is only 300. It is really pitiful.Of course, we are not saying that these seven counties are not doing their best. In fact, they have to set up left-behind troops in important nodes such as county towns, send patrol troops on traffic arteries, and sometimes send people to some remote places to collect taxes. It is really not easy to squeeze out 300 people.

The seven counties in the outer Northeast, in terms of area alone, may exceed 50 square kilometers, perhaps 60, but the population is too small. Counting immigrants and aborigines living in this vast area, the total is only two 10,000+ people look like.Moreover, the more than 10 people were also estimated by the people on the east coast. In fact, they can firmly control only about [-] people.The other more than [-] people have either never been controlled or cannot be firmly controlled. This is not only related to the strength of the people on the east coast, but also related to the local complex terrain and the living habits of the people-you will not be able to find them after a winter The whole tribe has gone and gone elsewhere. This is actually a very common thing, and there is no way.

Fortunately, the control power of the people on the east coast is also slowly increasing, which is mainly achieved through economic and religious aspects.In terms of economy, by setting up regular trade bazaars, trade with Shandan people scattered in a wide area, so that they are attracted by the rich variety of goods of the people on the east coast, and they move closer to the bazaar consciously or unconsciously. , and finally changed the nomadic, fishing and hunting life to farming and sedentary life.In this regard, the Daur people have done the best. Most of the people living near various trade fairs and transportation nodes live by growing rye, vegetables and some fruits, and by the way, raise some horses, cattle and sheep. With some fish and some bees, life is not bad.

People on the east bank speculate that this has something to do with the fact that the Daur people are descendants of the Khitan people.The Khitan ethnic group established the Liao Kingdom for 219 years. They have always been actively studying Han culture, making a living from agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishing. They have various jobs and have everything.Therefore, although the level of civilization of the Daur people has seriously regressed and is far inferior to that of the Khitan people hundreds of years ago, there are more or less cultural relics, so it is normal for them to perform better in agriculture.

These Khitan descendants have reason to thank the East Coast people.Historically, their population was still large in North Manchuria and the Outer Northeast, but after the continuous conquest of the Manchu Qing court (capturing people as soldiers) and the bloody massacre of Russian Cossacks, the population dropped sharply, dropping to a few points at its peak one.However, in this time and space, due to the premature intervention of the people from the east bank, the harm of the Cossacks to the Daur people is still within the controllable range. Many famous massacres have not yet occurred, and the Manchu Qing court has long lost its jurisdiction over these lands. Naturally, they will not be able to harm them even more.

Today, with the help of the East Coast government, the Daur people have started relatively frequent trade with the outside world. At the same time, many settled people have the opportunity to receive basic education, greatly improved hygiene habits, and the overall level of civilization has been greatly improved. The population It also rebounded slowly after bottoming out, which is indeed a big profit.

Today, among the more than [-] soldiers, nearly half are Daur, followed by Han, and the rest are small ethnic groups such as Ewenki, Oroqen, and Mongols.Of course, the people from the East Bank are implementing East Coast education in the entire outer Northeast and North Manchuria. They do not distinguish between ethnic groups, uniformly use Chinese names, and use Chinese. Therefore, those who walk in the army also use Chinese passwords. Everyone trains, fights, and commands together all year round. It looks fine.

The weapons carried by the two thousand militiamen are also various. Although each has a flintlock rifle, there are also many cold weapons such as knives, guns, swords and halberds, which seem to be easier to use.After all, they either undertake logistics and transportation tasks in battle, or they are fully trapped at critical moments. At this time, it is indeed more appropriate to use convenient weapons.

Those who perform well in the militia will be added to the new army, and their treatment and status have been greatly improved since then.For example, the infantry battalion in front of me from the third regiment has a large number of former militiamen, but now they are all wearing khaki cloth military uniforms and receiving four yuan and five cents of military pay, which is really quite different.

As for the Third Infantry Regiment, the only new army unit in the outer northeast region, it seems that good things have happened recently and it is about to expand.According to Commander Dengleilio's idea, this force will be expanded into three infantry regiments in principle, and the Heilongjiang Security Regiment (mainly cavalry) will be added to form a cavalry regiment, so that there will be a shelf of a division.

The designation of this newly formed division has basically been determined. It is called the Seventh Division of the New Army. , with a total of about 19 troops.In this way, there are seven divisions in the East Coast New Army of the five feudal clans in the Far East, with a total of more than 21 people, and the military capacity is very prosperous.

All the seven divisions of the New Army will cancel the prefixes in the future, such as the First Division of the Liaodong New Army, the Second Division of the Zhejiang New Army, and so on.The combat and garrison areas of all seven divisions are no longer limited to a certain area, but will be garrisoned in rotation throughout the five feudal domains of the Far East to better allocate limited military resources.

However, the supplementary system of each division has not been reformed and is still located in the original place.For example, the first division's supplementary battalion was located in Dandong, and the second division's supplementary battalion was located in Dinghai. They still recruited troops from the local area to maintain the size of the troops.In the future, the supplementary battalion of the Seventh Division will basically be determined, and it will be located in Boli County, which is nearby—well, this cannot be considered "nearby". The Seventh Division will select troops within a range of millions of square kilometers — Supplementary troops.

The firearms and artillery of all seven divisions were produced in Dabo and Heishui counties of Sakhalin Island. Some of the ammunition was also produced here, and some came from the Yangmadao military factory in Dengzhou.Military uniforms, ammunition bags, leather boots, armed belts, water bottles, etc. are entrusted to local processing and production. The factories are mainly concentrated in Denglai and Ningbo, with some of the latter.

In principle, the school for training military officers will also be unified in Vladivostok, the capital of the Manchurian and Mongolian pioneers, that is, the Vladivostok Army Academy, which is under construction, to train officers above the rank of lieutenant.The training of non-commissioned officers is still left to the military schools of each division to figure out their own methods, but the Vladivostok Army Academy will regularly send instructors to guide them in order to improve their teaching standards.

It can be seen from this that the people on the east bank have relatively strong control over the new army.Ordnance production is controlled in their own hands, military education is controlled in their own hands, military salaries are also paid in a centralized manner, and personnel promotion, appointment and dismissal are in the hands of senior officers from the local area, which greatly avoids the intervention of local forces. This makes this army a powerful armed force in the hands of the government and a very useful tool for suppression.

The troops of more than 2000 people continued to move forward.In addition to the occasional neighing of the horses, there was only the collision of various equipment on the silent soldiers.They are not far from Harbin Fort at this time, some military outposts have appeared on both sides of the road, and the messengers have also contacted the scouts sent by Harbin, who are already slaughtering pigs and sheep, ready to entertain their team Reinforcements came from afar.

Of course, the number of reinforcements from all over the world has actually been quite a lot recently. In addition to their army, many people from various ministries living in the North Manchuria area have also come, and they have begun to gather in Harbin Fort and Model Fort.These are all close, and those far away are still on the way, but generally speaking, they will definitely arrive in late June, and then send troops with the army on the east bank to sweep eastward.

Oh, by the way, this time the troops from the east coast were actually divided into three groups strictly speaking.One of the roads started from Model Fort. The scale was small, with more than 1000 people, sweeping the narrow and long areas along the Songhua River and Wusuli River.If necessary, they will cross the Wusuli River and carry out further raids eastward. Anyway, there are settlements set up by people from the east bank, which can provide some supplies.

The second route is actually the main force, with a total of more than 6000 people, all the way to the direction of Ningguta, to eliminate the remaining local Qing army and its vassal tribes.This was commanded by Army Major Wei Wendu himself, gathered elite soldiers and strong generals, twenty cannons alone, and a large number of cavalry, with the intention of completely swallowing this area.

This time, the people from the east bank not only surpassed the Qing army in terms of weapons, equipment and tactics, but also had a great advantage in numbers. This is actually rare in the armed conflict between the East and the Qing in Manchuria. A dramatic change in the balance of power between the two countries in Manchuria—especially Northern Manchuria.The people on the east bank set up a series of settlements along the river, and then based on this, they started farming and recruiting various tribes and armed forces. Now they have achieved a small success.In contrast to the Qing army, not only the number of garrison troops has been reduced repeatedly, but the status of Ninggu Pagoda is also undecided. It is naturally not a matter of development.So far, they have only been forced by the situation. They have transferred a lot of Han troops from the pass to South Manchuria to guard against the people on the east coast. At the same time, they have acquiesced to those Shandong people who smuggled into the Liaodong Peninsula for reclamation. , Strengthen their local strength, sorry, it is not possible yet, whoever dares to propose this in the short term will bear great political risks, it is not a joke.

This is the case in South Manchuria, and it will only be worse in North Manchuria.Therefore, you can see now that the people from the east coast who devoted themselves to immigration and farming can easily mobilize nearly 8000 troops from two groups to carry out expeditions, while the Qing army knew that it relied on a few local soldiers of less than [-] Eight Banners soldiers for defense. The gap is simply too great.

The third team of the East Coast people came from the direction of Vladivostok.It is expected that a battalion of the 2000rd Infantry Regiment will be dispatched along this route, together with a number of subjugated wild Jurchen tribal soldiers. A total of [-] people will be sent along the Ussuri River to the north, and then turn west to meet the troops sent from Harbin. Two flanking attacks defeated the Qing army in Ningguta and its surrounding areas.After that, they will turn to the east again, sweeping the vast area between the Ussuri River and the sea, which they seldom set foot in before, that is, the Primorsky Krai of later Russia, and conquer as many native tribes here as possible, and take the opportunity A number of settlements were established, officials were dispatched, and the ruling system was formally established.

Three groups of troops, almost 1 people, undoubtedly broke the historical record of the scale of troops used by the people of the East Bank in North Manchuria.The last time there were more than 30 troops in North Manchuria was when the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia fought against the Russian Cossacks more than 2 years ago.Going forward, it was still during Huang Taiji's period that he mobilized a large army twice to conquer the Saurons, and captured the wild Jurchens to enrich his troops. The two times were about [-] to [-] people.

Therefore, the people from the east bank mobilized tens of thousands of horses to conquer Ningguta and the Binhai area this time. In the eyes of the various ministries in the northern Manchuria area, it is really a mighty army, and it is impossible to look directly at it.Many tribes would probably not have too many resistance ideas, and they would be incorporated by the east coast army that came over, and then they would send troops. The scale of the troops would expand like a snowball until all the resistance forces were completely crushed.

On June 1689, 6, when all the troops were almost assembled, Major Wei Wendu held a banquet for the leaders of the various ministries by the Songhua River, and swore to set off.And ten days before them, the soldiers and horses from Vladivostok had already quietly gone north.

(End of this chapter)