Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 736 "Snatch" Operation

Pei Qin rode on a sturdy Turkmen horse, surrounded by a group of old brothers, and carefully inspected the defensive facilities outside the Xijin Military Station.The West Army Station is located between Cordoba and Santa Fe, near San Francisco, Argentina. It is not small in scale. At this time, it has already stored mountains of cans, medicines, food, wine, ammunition, guns and other ordnance. Enough for a force of 6000 to continue fighting for three or four months.In order to build this military depot and transport so many materials here at the same time, it took them almost three or four months.

The road from Córdoba to Santa Fe is a pain in the ass!There are forests, swamps, and barren meadows everywhere, almost a piece of virgin land (in fact, it is similar), with no roads, no inhabitants, and no place to do supplies.In other words, this vast plain has almost become the best barrier for the Spanish remnants and defeated generals in Cordoba.Without such a vast no-man's land, Cordoba may have been completely taken away by the people on the east coast.

From Santa Fe to West Military Station, and then from West Military Station to Córdoba, there are scattered damaged vehicles abandoned by the Spaniards, people or livestock that died on the way, and combat baggage that were discarded as cumbersome. The carcasses of people or pack animals in the wilderness have been devoured by jackals to the point of disrepute; the overturned carts spilled a lot of wheat on the grass, and under the nourishment of rain and sunshine, many grains of wheat have taken root in the grass and grown. Green wheat seedlings came out; siege equipment, artillery mounts, wooden barrels, etc. can be seen everywhere, covered with moss or fungus, and occasionally a mouse hides in it and pokes its head, which is very desolate.

People on the east bank who had seen this scene all shook their heads and sighed, how panicked the Spaniards were when they retreated from here!At the same time, they also sighed, if there was a railway here at that time, if the people on the east coast could transport a large amount of war supplies to the front line in time, maybe these retreating Spanish troops would not be able to escape.But this is destined to be only a beautiful fantasy. People on the east coast have neither railways nor the funds and time to build railways, so they can only honestly spend a few months here to build a solid forward military depot, stockpile supplies, and then set off again to attack the enemy westward.

After rotating a group of troops, two months ago, the army commanded by Major Jiang Zhiqing had already crossed the West Army Station, and then headed towards the Spanish town of Córdoba under the leadership of the cavalry.Even among the lower ranks of sergeants, the news of peace talks with the Kingdom of Spain is no secret now.Everyone has no special feelings about this, just feel a little regretful, Nima, everyone hasn't earned enough, why did the higher-ups suddenly negotiate peace with the Spaniards?How can this be!How can this be!

Therefore, driven by this kind of psychology, the nearly [-] officers and soldiers of Jiang Zhiqing's detachment felt a sense of urgency that no one could wait.They carried forward the spirit of enduring hardships and standing hard work, searched and attacked all the way forward, defeated several small-scale Spanish troops lagging behind the East Coast Army, and then arrived outside the city of Cordoba.

Pei Qin, who stayed at the rear, was not very clear about the current battle situation there, but from the mouths of the wounded soldiers returning from the front line, they could know that the attack by the army on the east bank was not very smooth.The main reason is that it is difficult to transport ammunition and materials. After each attack, there must be a long interval to wait for logistics transportation. However, the Spaniards are fighting on the inside at this time, with sufficient supplies, plus the morale bonus of guarding their homes, so People on the east coast are making slow progress.So far, only some enemy strongholds outside the city of Cordoba have been cleared, and at the same time, they have to face possible enemy reinforcements on the flanks, and they have fought very hard.

At the beginning of this month (January 1649), 1 officers and soldiers from the newly formed Xiayihe County Militia Brigade and Qingdao County Militia Brigade arrived at the Xijin Military Station.After a little resupply, these young men with high morale sang military songs and headed west all the way. They will rotate the other two county militia brigades that have been fighting on the front line for a long time, so that they can go home as soon as possible to clean up the fields Don't miss the farming season.

To be honest, Pei Qin was very envious of those well-dressed young soldiers with high morale. They were able to follow the vulture's flag, water their own flowers of honor with the blood of the enemy, and at the same time, work hard for their own pockets.But the hundreds of officers and soldiers who stayed at the military station were miserable. They could only squat in this desolate place all day cutting grass and firewood, taking care of the wounded, sorting out supplies, and arresting barbarians. The attacks by the Guaranís going south in the region are really depressing enough.

"Give it up, grab it! When will I be allowed to go west!" The complaints of sons and soldiers came from my ears. These officers and soldiers from the Shun army traveled all over the world, went to Xiangyang, fought against Kaifeng, fought against Xi'an, Having been to Beijing and seeing countless battles in his life, he has long been a lifeless veteran.They are not very interested in fighting tough battles, but they are quite interested in looting the enemy's wealthy towns when their own side is clearly superior. Therefore, they have always been worried about their inability to "get rich" by going west this time.Especially since most of them are now married—thanks to the imperial court, each of them has married that white-skinned Greek aunt—the heavy burden of the family makes them more interested in grabbing more money. Wealth is full of longing, so they are very dissatisfied with their superiors' arrangements for them to stay in the military depot, and they have been complaining in private.

"I'm not a teacher of the imperial court's economic system. I'm raised by my stepmother. If something good happens, it's not my turn to wait." The troops brought by Pei Qin and Wang Jiazhong came from complicated sources. Fighters, there are also local bandits and bandits who were recruited in Shandong, and there are even strong Korean men who were forcibly drawn on Jeju Island. Therefore, their combat effectiveness is quite suspicious, and it is understandable that they are not regarded as regular troops on weekdays.However, their treatment, to be honest, was still much better than Jiang Zhiqing's few Gaucho herdsmen, Kelandi volunteers, and Tatar mercenaries. It seemed that these people should be the ones who should really complain.

"It's also because the few battles in Kecheng (Corrientes) were too useless a while ago, otherwise, why would the court despise us so much. In the first three battles in Kecheng, our troops were almost completely defeated. Lieutenant General Li died in battle, Chen Guerrilla dead, no less than [-] officers and soldiers were killed or wounded. If Shangfeng hadn’t sent some advisers to guide our troops to fight, I think the situation would be unimaginable. At this time, everyone, stop talking such fucking nonsense. You, Wang Mazi, were so frightened and procrastinated The military judge didn't see it, but my old grandson saw it clearly, with your virtue, can your superiors be assured to let you go to the front to fight?" A resolute man glanced sideways and complained loudly Someone said disdainfully.

Perhaps his words were too hurtful, and Wang Mazi, who was born as a bandit, blushed immediately and refuted. There was a moment of turmoil, and Pei Qin couldn't help but yelled loudly before everyone calmed down.

"It's all a bunch of bastards!" Pei Qin beat the quarrelsome people with a horsewhip several times, and then managed to suppress his anger: "The previous battle may be over by now, and you are still here Get angry. If you have the skills, why don’t you go out twice more to catch some Guarani believers and bring them back? What the Yamen of the General Railway Bureau said, you will be rewarded with five yuan for catching a native, and you will get 5000 yuan if you catch a thousand! It’s a good thing to get rich in the west It's not our turn, should we miss this opportunity to make a fortune? A bunch of idiots!"

Everyone was so trained by Pei Qin that they didn't dare to say anything. They followed Pei Qin silently and continued to inspect the military facilities outside the city.From time to time there will be small groups of Guarani believers sneaking over to carry out sneak attacks, so be careful not to wait.If the tens of thousands of military resources accumulated here are destroyed, then of course they will die and go to prison. I am afraid that the thousands of troops on the front line will be dragged down by them and the whole army will collapse. They cannot bear this responsibility.

After inspecting the outposts, Pei Qin returned to the command room inside the military depot, still thinking about how to squeeze out limited troops to arrest some natives so as to generate some income for everyone.Nowadays, various infrastructure projects in the country are in the ascendant, especially the General Administration of Railways, which has a severe shortage of people. It has asked the Ministry of the Army to promise them a reward of five yuan for a native slave, and cash transactions. Everyone is very excited.

However, there are also some practical difficulties.One is that everyone's job is to guard the military depot to ensure the continuous supply of supplies for the front-line combat troops. Therefore, they can only take out about 200 people at most in one dispatch, and the remaining about 300 people must stay at the military depot for protection. There may be unexpected factors; the second is that almost all the natives who should be arrested in the vicinity have been arrested, and they have to travel a long way to search in places they are not familiar with. is a big challenge.Therefore, looking at it comprehensively, it is actually not that easy to catch the natives. Don’t look at the hundreds of thousands of Krandi people in La Plata, but they are scattered in such a wide area. It’s really hard to find them for a while. .

Pei Qin shook his head, put the matter behind him for the time being, then carefully took out a pinch of shredded tobacco from his pocket, put it in his pipe and lit it.And just as he was puffing away comfortably, his adjutant ran in from outside in a hurry and brought him the latest news about the front line: "On January 1, the Army's 16th Army led by Captain Anda Fifteen The company took the lead in breaking through the interception of the Spaniards and entered the urban area of ​​Cordoba. Encouraged by Captain Anda, the rest of our army launched a fierce attack across the board and entered the city one after another the next day. Cordoba was about to fall. ' also came to an end..."

"It's so fast!" Pei Qin was taken aback when he heard the news, and then quickly realized: The war may be coming to an end soon!

(End of this chapter)