I

In the mountains between Suzi River and Hun River, the troops led by Mandahai have been reduced by more than half.

Not all of them starved to death, nor did they all fall to death.

As we walked, some people deliberately fell behind and hid in a ravine somewhere, planning to live in the mountains from now on. These people were all low-level Tatar soldiers, and their families had not yet fled together, so they were not willing to move with the Manchu nobles.

Mandahai was unable to suppress the deserters because the mountains along the way were densely forested. Not to mention missing one or two, even if hundreds or even thousands were hidden, it would be impossible to find them for a while.

Climb a mountain, walk through a ravine, and then cross another mountain... This is the Tatar's way of turning.

"ah!"

A scream was heard, and another person lost his footing and rolled down the hillside.

Tatar, who had already descended the mountain, walked over to check the situation. He found that the man had a broken arm and many bruises all over his body, so he reached out to grab the other person's food.

"Please, leave some for me..." The injured Tatar begged, turning over to protect his grain bag.

Another Tatar came over, and they robbed the food together and divided the food equally.

One after another, Tatars passed by here, but no one went to help the injured person. Occasionally, a Tatar comes over. When he sees that the soles of his shoes are worn out, he turns around and leaves without any interest.

Now that the food has not been eaten up, if we continue, it will not just be as simple as grabbing food.

"My lord, I hunted a wild boar!"

"Okay, there will be a reward, credit!"

Another Tatar officer came over and said to Mandahai: "Your Majesty, follow this ravine and go north to Mucao Ridge. Mucao Ridge is not far from the Hun River."

Mandahai shook his head: "You may encounter Nanmanzi when you walk along the Hun River. Choose the best mountain to climb in front of you and go east. I remember that there is a large ditch running east-west near the south entrance. That ditch stretches for several It's ten miles away, it's easy to pass, and there are villages along the way where you can get some food."

Mandahai's decision successfully avoided the cavalry division. If he goes all the way north and happens to run into the cavalry division, Wang Tingchen will already be galloping after him.

This guy has been hiding in the mountains, leaving the Datong cavalry completely blind, and they are not even sure where the Tatars have gone.

Three days later, more than 26,000 Tatars came to the big ditch mentioned by Mandahai.

This is the territory under the jurisdiction of Zhengbai Banner. After Dorgon's death, it was taken over by Dayu'er and returned to the rule of the Manchu Qing Emperor.

Mandahai said: "The tribesmen in the villages along the way must follow us. Those who don't want to go will be killed directly!"

At this moment, they had very little food left. The Tatar soldiers rushed into the village, saying they were ordered to take away the people of Zhengbai Banner. In fact, they made various excuses to kill people and steal food. Even if they were willing to follow them, they would be hacked to death if they were not careful.

Jianzhou Jurchens are killing and robbing their compatriots!

The cavalry division led by Wang Tingchen and the pursuing dragoons searched for traces of the enemy everywhere along the Hun River, but not even a ghost could be seen.

"Damn it, where can the Tatars go?" Wang Tingchen said depressedly.

Wang Yaochen said: "I guess he is still hiding in the mountains."

Wang Tingchen was helpless and amused at the same time: "The Tatars are afraid that most of them will starve to death if they hide like this. They must have run out of food."

Wang Tingchen said: "It is indeed disgusting. I would rather starve to death than let us find meritorious service."

Damn it if they can find it, these Tatars are just back to their old profession. In the early and middle stages of the Ming Dynasty, the Tatars could not defeat the Ming army. They also migrated through the ravines in the same way. After most of them starved to death and froze to death, they rose again after decades or hundreds of years of reproduction.

Weak strength has its own way of survival.

Take Vietnam as an example. The Yuan Dynasty attacked three times. Each time, the capital city was quickly conquered. The Vietnamese civil and military forces led the soldiers and civilians into the ravine, and the Vietnamese king took a boat to hide at sea. When the weather was hot, they came out of the mountains to fight guerrillas. The Yuan army became ill in large numbers because they could not tolerate the heat.

It was not until the Yuan Dynasty's expedition to Japan that they suffered heavy losses due to a typhoon that they gave up their fourth expedition to Vietnam.

When Zhu Di invaded Vietnam, the same was true for the Vietnamese. The civil and military ministers led soldiers and civilians into ravines, and the Vietnamese king took a boat to hide at sea. When the weather was hot, they went out to fight guerrillas again, causing a large number of Ming troops to get sick due to the intense heat.

However, even though the Ming army suffered heavy casualties, they firmly occupied the city and did not withdraw their troops, and they also sent large armies many times to quell the rebellion.

Every time the Vietnamese dig into a ravine, a large number of people will starve to death!

When Mandahai led his troops to the hometown of Wang Jiabu, they died and fled. There were only more than 10,000 people left around them. Among them, he also included the Jurchen people who were taken away along the way, otherwise he might not even be able to gather 10,000 people.

The hometown of Wang Jiabu was in Tonghua in later generations.

Wangjia tribe, Wanyan tribe, was conquered by Nurhachi very early.

There is a large village here with some grain stored in it. Mandahai, who had already begun to eat human flesh, quickly occupied the village and took away not only all the supplies, but also the people.

Next, there is no need to climb the mountain. Follow the valley and walk all the way to the northeast. You can reach Huinan County ahead.

Of course, Huinan County was a place name hundreds of years later. At this time, it was a remote place, very close to where the cavalry division attacked the city.

It was no longer the Jurchen territory of Jianzhou, and there was no psychological burden for killing people and grabbing food. Mandahai planned to move all the way to Ninggu Pagoda, which was the ancestral land of Aixinjueluo. By the time he arrived at Ninggu Pagoda, the weather must have been cold and it would be impossible for the Datong Army to pursue him.

The territory of Huinan was soon ravaged by the Tatars, and sporadic Jurchens from the Huifa tribe continued to flee to the mouth of the Meihei River to ask for help.

"Leave three thousand men to defend the city, and chase the rest. The Tatars are right in front!"

Wang Tingchen was still wandering along the Hun River. It took several days before he received news about the Tatars. He sent messengers, gathered the cavalry who were exploring along the way, and pursued the Huinan area as quickly as possible.

However, the Tatars began to drill into the ravine again and quickly turned to the normal mountain road.

Mandahai's escape was successful!

When the baggage was burned, there were 60,000 Tatars around him, including the old, weak, women and children. When he completely escaped the pursuit of the Datong Army, there were only more than 12,000 people left with him, many of whom were kidnapped on the way, and they basically lived on cannibalism during the last stretch of the journey.

It has started to snow in the Northeast. Wang Tingchen stood still on his horse, but his lungs were almost bursting with anger.

Suddenly, two sleds appeared in the light snow, pulled by hounds and running quickly.

Wang Tingchen waved his right arm, and the cavalry immediately rushed up and surrounded the two sleds.

"Jiliguala..."

The natives on the sleigh were talking incomprehensible words.

Wang Tingchen asked all the local guides accompanying the army to come over to check what was going on, and finally found that two of them could understand.

A guide said: "General, these are the East China Sea Jurchens of the Hurha tribe. They usually live by the Songhua River. They presented Dongzhu to His Majesty the Emperor of Nanjing several years ago."

Wang Tingchen nodded and said: "I know the Hurha tribe. They came all the way from the northeast and exchanged Dongzhu for grain and cotton cloth in Kaiyuan."

In the entire Northeast, only Kaiyuan is allowed to trade with each other.

However, all transactions were under the control of the army, which mainly used food, cloth, salt and other items to control the ethnic minorities north and northeast of the Liao Great Wall. The Hurha tribe is too far away, and every time they come to trade there are very few items. They only provide Dongzhu and furs to the Datong Army.

Wang Tingchen said: "Ask them, it's already snowing, why do they still come to trade items?"

After a while of exchanges with the Hurha people, the guide said: "General, they are here to ask for help. There is a group of cannibal robbers coming from Beishan (Outer Xing'an Mountains). The robbers came with firecrackers and boats to rob For food and gold and silver, they forced the Jurchens from the East China Sea to donate their furs. Those bandits are all man-eating demons, and they killed people and ate meat when they ran out of food."

Wang Tingchen was instantly confused because he didn't know that there were Cossack bandits from Tsarist Russia in the north.

The guide added: "The Feyaka people further northeast have been robbed by these bandits for more than three months."

Feiyaka, also called Feiyaka, lives in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang and Sakhalin Island.

The Feyaka people, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, were all Chinese. Until the Treaty of Aihun was signed, 600,000 square kilometers of land were ceded to Tsarist Russia by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The Feyaka people of China have since become the Nivkh people of Russia.

Historically, the Cossacks who raided the Northeast this time actually refused to leave. Because they discovered the outlet to the sea along the Heilongjiang River and wanted to build a port castle at the outlet of the Heilongjiang River. The entire lower reaches of Heilongjiang became a Cossack raiding area. It was not until several years later that the Eight Banners Army and the Korean Army jointly defeated them.

Now, the Tatars have too much time to take care of themselves, and of course they will not fight the Cossacks. This situation requires the Datong Army to take action.

This time it was not as simple as robbery. The discovery of Heilongjiang's seaport made the Tsarist Russian government crazy with excitement. Stepanov, who led the army to plunder Heilongjiang, was praised in Tsarist Russia as a hero who opened up new shipping routes.

The Tsarist Russian government is discussing a troop dispatch plan, intending to build forty ships per year in the next two years, and at the same time preparing wood for the construction of sixty ships. These are inland river wooden boats used to transport troops and supplies. Tsarist Russia wanted to send 3,000 troops to completely conquer the Heilongjiang Basin.

In another time and space, because Tsarist Russia annexed Ukraine, which triggered a fierce conflict with Poland, and also worsened relations with the Ottomans and Sweden, the plan for an expedition of three thousand troops to Heilongjiang was abandoned.

At the same time, the Cossack leader sent by Tsarist Russia to reward Stepanlov wanted to control the Cossack forces in the Heilongjiang Basin. Internal strife broke out between the two Cossack leaders, which greatly weakened the Cossacks' combat effectiveness. Only then did the Eight Banners Army and Korean soldiers seize the opportunity.

Wang Tingchen said to the guide: "Tell this man that it has already snowed and it is impossible to send troops at this time. We will wait until the snow melts in spring."

Songhua River and Heilongjiang were too far away, and Wang Tingchen could not make the decision. He had to go back and ask his superiors for instructions.

In fact, he didn't take it seriously. It was just a group of bandits. Why did they mobilize the army? If the bandits refuse to leave, just send hundreds of cavalry to kill them.

After all, the Hu'erha tribe had presented dongzhu to the emperor, so it was appropriate for them to help fight the bandits.