I

Of course, the Cossack cavalry who did not return on time were bitten by the Datong cavalry!

A few days ago, the forest in the north of the middle reaches of Heilongjiang Province.

There is a small tribe here that mainly focuses on fishing and hunting. Yegor led more than a dozen Cossacks and quickly raided the villages of the indigenous tribes under the guidance of local guides.

It is said to be a village, but in fact it is just a wooden fence surrounding the settlement to protect it from wild beasts.

These Cossacks on horseback are not qualified to be called cavalry.

For example, Yegor, who led the team, was just a runaway Russian serf. He came to Siberia with the expedition team, and first went to Yakutsk (the name of this person later became the name of the place). However, Yakutsk was not only cruel to the indigenous people, but also cruel and harsh to its own people.

A few years ago, news came from further southeast that there was a large river called Amur (Heilongjiang). The lower reaches of the river were extremely rich and prosperous, not only with a large population, but also rich in sable furs, and gold and silver mines were discovered.

The Cossacks who were drinking wind and eating snow on the shores of Lake Baikal were suddenly excited and screamed.

They could not defeat the Buryat Mongols head-on and could not cross their territory to go south, so they continued to expand eastward until they reached the Pacific coast. Then, heading south, someone finally saw Heilongjiang.

Khabarov was one of the best. He not only snatched many livestock and women, but also brought back 450 pieces of sable skins at one time.

The Cossacks were in awe!

But the Daur natives were not vegetarians. When the Cossacks invaded again, the Daur people rose up to resist, and the Cossack bandits were beaten and fled in panic. Khabarov went back to bring reinforcements and artillery. He easily defeated one tribe and conquered another.

Yegor was very envious when he heard that Khabarov had his own city.

Taking advantage of Khabarov's return to trade furs, Yegor, together with several Cossacks, stole the Mongolian horses in Yakutsk, caught up with Khabarov's team and decisively surrendered.

An escaped serf from Tsarist Russia became a small Cossack leader.

His riding skills are not excellent and he cannot ride a horse and shoot arrows. Even when firing a musket, you have to dismount and stand up first, and refilling ammunition has to be done on the ground.

This kind of thing, in northern China, should be called horse bandits.

"ah!"

A Sakhalian native man had his palm pierced by the tip of a spear and rolled on the ground screaming.

Yegor said to his Daur slaves: "Tell them, five skins for one person. If you want to redeem your family, come here quickly with the skins!"

Although the Daur and Saharian people have different languages, they can still communicate with each other.

The Daur slave quickly conveyed the message, and the Saharian people cried bitterly.

The more the indigenous prisoners cried and howled, the happier Yegor smiled. He pointed at a prisoner and said: "Kill him and cut off his head. This man injured two of my men!"

The Cossack robber raised his spear and thrust it into the belly of the prisoner.

Several holes were poked in a row, but the indigenous prisoners had not yet died. The Cossacks drew their knives against their necks, grabbed the hair and cut it bit by bit, cutting off the captive's head alive.

The other prisoners were too frightened to cry.

Yegor said: "Put a few back to report the news."

The number of Cossack bandits is very small. They are not warriors. They attack sneakily if they can and run away if they can. Unless absolutely necessary, we will never fight head-on.

This time too, more than a dozen Cossack riders raided a village of more than 300 people.

They launched an attack at night, setting fire to the house with torches, and firing muskets everywhere to create chaos, causing the natives to flee in all directions. Then, capture the captives immediately, escape with the captives, and use these captives in exchange for furs.

Why not just rob the fur?

Because when the natives fled, in addition to their weapons, they subconsciously took away their furs. Especially sable fur, which can be exchanged for food and is not heavy, so you must take it with you when you escape.

At this moment, several prisoners were released and were responsible for delivering news to the village.

"Let's go too!"

Yegor did not stop, and took the remaining prisoners deeper into the forest to avoid being attacked by the natives.

Of course, two riders were left behind, leaving marks along the way. If the natives brought furs for exchange, they would follow the marks and exchange meat tickets. If the natives are in large numbers, the two riders will immediately run away, follow the markings and join together to fight.

In the indigenous villages, the situation is gloomy and gloomy.

They do have furs in their hands. They used to pay tribute to the Manchus, and the Tatars came to receive the goods every year.

The Manchus have not been here for a few years, and their lives have become better. The furs of the hunted animals were stored and transported to the Heilongjiang River to be exchanged for food with the Saharians who farmed the land.

The Saharians who farmed the land transported the furs downstream by boat and returned the goods to the Hurkha people there. The Huerha people continued to transport furs westward and returned the goods to the Mongols in Harbin and Changchun. Round after round, these furs finally fell into the hands of Han merchants in Liaoning.

Of course, if they get precious Dongzhu, the Huerha people will also take the Dongzhu and furs, venture across the Mongolian territory, and exchange them directly with Han merchants.

Now the Cossack bandits came to kidnap the people and asked them to exchange their skins for hostages.

If we lose these furs, we will not be able to exchange food with the farming tribes. I don’t know how many tribesmen will starve to death this winter.

"Change it."

The patriarch Bao Bai sighed, and his youngest son was also taken away.

Pity these Saharians, they were once powerful and wealthy. Joining forces with the Hurkha people, they were even able to resist the Manchu Tatars, and it took decades before they were completely conquered.

Their leaders were constantly killed by the Manchus.

The young and strong members of their clan were constantly kidnapped by the Manchus.

Knowledgeable shamans also died at the hands of the Manchus one after another.

Then, knowledge lost its inheritance, the population dwindled, and now they are bullied by Cossack bandits.

The tribesmen were silent and unwilling to hand over the furs.

A young man said: "If we hand over the furs, will the bandits let us go? Who can guarantee it? What we should do is to gather the tribesmen and protect the village. If the bandits can't get the furs, they will definitely come back!"

"They have muskets and ride horses." Bao Bai, the leader of the tribe, said.

The young man asked: "After handing over the fur, can you guarantee that the robber will let me go? Can you guarantee that the robber will not attack us again?"

Bao Bai was suddenly speechless.

As the leader of the clan, he does not have much prestige.

The previous clan leaders were all killed by the Manchus. He was a tribe leader supported by the Manchus. His only role was to collect the furs hunted by his tribe and hand them over to the Tatars who came regularly to collect tribute.

After the decline of the Tatars, the tribesmen no longer even had skins to pay, and they all stayed at home. This move was a mistake, and the Cossack robbers were not able to take advantage of it. People took their own furs and ran away, and the robbers did not even catch a hair.

At this moment, those whose relatives have been kidnapped support the clan leader’s choice. No relatives were caught, or they were hard-hearted and chose to side with the young man.

The two sides reached a stalemate, and it was difficult to make a decision for three consecutive days.

Yegor became impatient with waiting, and in a rage, he killed all the prisoners, leaving only a few young women. He said to his men: "The natives here are disobedient and should be given more lessons. Only after they are completely subdued will they obey and keep their furs and hand them over to us every year. During the last night raid, these natives did not have firearms. They There are not many people there, so we can defeat them head-on. Follow me and kill them back!"

More than a dozen Cossack cavalry set off with Daur slaves.

These Daur slaves were responsible for leading the stolen livestock. The livestock carried the looted grain and furs, and several young women were also looked after by Daur slaves.

There were still two miles away from the village. The slaves, livestock, goods, and prisoners were left behind, and the Cossack riders rushed towards the village.

They wore leather armor, had slender sabers on their waists, carried a musket on their backs, and held a spear in their hands. This was all the equipment of the Cossack cavalry.

"The robbers are coming, the robbers are coming!"

The natives on guard shouted in panic.

The young man who opposed the clan leader picked up a hunting bow and wooden spear, and summoned his clan members to defend the village. The wooden fence had been urgently repaired.

The Cossacks did not charge directly, but rode horses around the wooden fence of the village. After looking at a lightly defended area, he ran over and threw the noose. A dozen people on horseback pulled the rope and quickly dragged down a section of the wooden fence.

The young man quickly brought people to support this place, and the Cossack bandits immediately ran away and ran to another gap to drag down the wooden wall.

The indigenous boy, who had only fought with wild beasts, had no idea how to deal with this. At this moment, he was sweating profusely and was being fooled around by more than a dozen Cossack bandits.

Finally, the patriarch Bao Bai stepped forward.

Bao Bai walked up to the young man and said, "This is not how we fight. We all retreat to the innermost part of the village. We gather together and use the houses as cover. When the enemy approaches, we shoot arrows. When the enemy comes, we raise our spears. There are many of us, and they There are only a few people, so you should seize the opportunity to rush forward and fight while they are firing their guns."

"good!"

The young man immediately understood what to do and called his tribe members to retreat and gather together.

The Cossack bandits, after dragging down several wooden fences, rode into the village.

He dismounted and stood up from a distance, shooting at the villagers. Past experience shows that as long as a few shots are fired, the natives will be frightened and flee.

But the indigenous people here did not disperse. It was not because their morale was high, but because the long-range shooting was not accurate enough, and none of the indigenous villagers were even injured. The natives who have seen Tatar firearms will not be frightened by a random shot.

In desperation, Yegor ordered to reload the ammunition and rode forward to shoot.

"Each find a house to hide in!" the boy shouted.

The indigenous villagers were in a commotion, looking for houses to use as bunkers, and the Cossack bandits could only continue to approach.

Whoosh!

A sparse shower of arrows came.

More than a dozen Cossack riders were originally in a loose formation. Due to the lack of iron weapons among the natives, these hunting bows were not very powerful. They only needed to protect their vital points, and it didn't matter if they were shot in the leather armor.

The bandits simply gave up their horses and fought on foot. They quickly went around to the side of a house and opened fire.

The young man was overjoyed when he saw this, and roared: "The robbers have dismounted, their muskets have no gunpowder, come with me and rush over to kill the robbers!"

However, the group of natives who were shot at had been defeated and dispersed.

A volley of muskets actually hit only eight people, and the remaining people could just rush over and beat the Cossacks in groups. But the local indigenous people had their bones broken by the Manchus and had long lost their original bloody courage.

In other words, all the young men who could fight were captured by the Qing Dynasty and used as soldiers.

There were only eight casualties, and more than thirty people nearby collapsed immediately. As soon as they fled, the natives hiding behind other houses also fled swarm after them.

"Hunt!"

Yegor shouted excitedly, ran back and got on his horse.

More than a dozen Cossack bandits were chasing him on horseback. They held up their spears, and one spear could overthrow one of them. Nearly three hundred natives were chased like a flock of sheep.

The boy was so angry that he decided to fight the robber.

He hid behind the house and aimed his bow at a robber's throat. While he was drawing his bow, he suddenly heard the rumble of horse hooves.

Yegor also heard the sound of horse hooves, which was a sound that only hundreds of cavalry could run out of.