I

Russia has established four major military districts in Siberia.

First, Tobolsk. The jurisdiction is: east of the Ural Mountains and north of Kazakhstan.

Second, Tomsk. The jurisdiction is: a large area north of Xinjiang, China.

Third, Yeniseisk. The jurisdiction is: a large area north of Mongolia.

Fourth, Yakutsk has jurisdiction over: the vast area north of Heilongjiang, China.

Among the four major military governor areas, Yakutsk was eliminated, which was Luzhou under the jurisdiction of Zhang Tingxun.

Zhang Tingxun spent the past few years doing nothing but cutting down trees, building ships, and farming. Following the Lu River (Lena River) and its tributaries, we attacked to the north and northeast and uprooted Verkhoyansk and other strongholds.

Those strongholds were very fragile, with a large number of fifty or sixty Cossacks, a small number of only a dozen Cossacks, and the rest were all natives who had surrendered to Tsarist Russia. Not even a fortress was built, just wooden walls, barely enough to protect against wild beasts.

Take Verkhoyansk, for example, it’s already in the Arctic Circle.

Not to mention the Han immigrants, even the officers and soldiers of the Datong Army were unwilling to stay. Anyway, they laid down the Cossack stronghold, destroyed all the buildings and left.

Those Cossacks were cut off from contact, could not sell the stolen furs, and could not receive any supplies. The houses were destroyed by Zhang Tingxun. Even if there were people who escaped in groups, the Datong army was too lazy to pursue them for a long distance. Either they freeze to death and starve to death, or they linger on. Without gunpowder supplies, their muskets were fire sticks, and sooner or later they would be killed by the local natives.

As for the more remote Cossacks, in the absence of supplies, the Chukotka natives will teach them how to behave.

In history, Tsarist Russia launched many expeditions against the Chukotka people, but most of them ended in failure. They did not win the battle until the eve of the Opium War. The biggest victory was that after more than eight months of fighting, Tsarist Russia captured more than 40,000 reindeer.

However, the Chukotka people also developed and progressed during the war and learned iron smelting technology and the use of firearms.

The more you fight, the harder it becomes to deal with!

In the end, they had to "coexist peacefully". The Chukotka people were nominally loyal to the Tsar, but remained independent. They did not bear corvees or pay taxes. Those who voluntarily paid fur taxes had additional compensation.

Zhang Tingxun had already contacted the Chukchi people, and the two parties reached a verbal agreement.

The content of the covenant is: the Chukotka people obey the Chinese emperor and have the right to independence and self-government, and everyone fights against the Cossacks together. The Chukchi people's walrus tusks, walrus skins, antlers, deer skins, mammoth ivory and other commodities are regularly purchased by the Datong Army every year. The two parties have an equal and voluntary trade relationship.

The Chukchi people are happy to accept this kind of cooperation, because they also need ironware, cotton cloth, salt and other supplies.

The reason for the fight with the Cossacks was because the bandits were too shameless and only knew how to intimidate and plunder, and were unwilling to exchange items.

In comparison, Chinese people are so generous.

In the eyes of the Chukchi people, the officers and soldiers of the Datong Army are all cute. What’s more, this little cutie with a bad brain actually exchanged a bunch of rare and expensive items with them for souvenirs that can be found everywhere.

Hailan Pao is already bustling with activity.

Han merchants were like sharks that smelled blood. They initially traded in the capital city of Andong. With the opening of post stations along the way, merchants continued to go north, just to obtain goods more quickly, because the competition became more intense as they went south.

Today, there are eight trading posts in Hailanpao.

Half of the food and grass for the garrison along the Heilongjiang River can be obtained through commercial transportation. Merchants transported grain to the north and returned laden with furs, pearls and other goods.

Zhang Tingxun is responsible for collecting goods in Luzhou. The supply team brings supplies every year and brings the goods back to Hailanpao. These gadgets from the north of the Waixing'an Mountains soon became part of the trade, and mammoth ivory was extremely popular among merchants.

After reaching cooperation with the Chukchi people, walrus tusks and walrus skins became new.

No one has ever seen these things, because walruses only live in the Arctic. Merchants don't know how to set prices. The one with the highest price in the first year gets it, and the second year they go crazy. Things are rare and expensive, and the price of walrus skin is even comparable to that of sable skin.

Just last year, two walrus skins were shipped to Nanjing and became a hot commodity at the auction.

The transaction price of the first one was 650 taels of silver, and the transaction price of the second one soared to 980 taels. To put it bluntly, they are fighting for wealth and fame. I have what others don’t have, but Beier has face!

Northern merchants were ecstatic. These merchants hoarded goods crazily and then squeezed out toothpaste bit by bit in southern cities.

They also made a private agreement that each trading company's total shipment of walrus skins in major cities should not exceed five pieces per year. As for walrus tusks, they are undergoing crazy hype, and the price of this thing is probably even more terrifying.

The imperial court was happy to see this happen. The more fiercely the northern goods were speculated, the more people paid attention to the north!

By the way, all the Cossack strongholds mentioned above were provided by Khabarov. This guy is a humanoid precise locator.

Due to Khabarov's many evil deeds, the Datong Army officers did not like him and wanted to find an opportunity to kill him directly. But he kept showing his role and became so obedient that everyone was reluctant to kill him. This bastard has even become a low-level officer because of his many meritorious service.

On this expedition, Khabarov was still the guide.

However, the information provided by Khabarov is already a bit outdated. The target they were about to attack was not a wooden stronghold, but a rammed earth castle—a castle built specifically to defend against the Datong Army.

Moreover, a small number of the Cossacks there were already equipped with flintlock guns.

The flintlock gun was invented very early, but it only became popular in Europe probably in the early years of Chongzhen. However, it was limited to popular flintlock pistols and was a show-off for nobles. However, the flintlock rifle had many shortcomings and was often disliked by soldiers.

By now, European flintlock rifles had been improved. Although the army has not yet changed its uniforms on a large scale, its use has become more common, and has even spread to Siberia in the past two years.

There seems to be no difference in musket technology between the East and the West.

And what about rifled guns?

It has been around in Europe for a long time, and it still belongs to the collections of aristocrats.

Zhao Han is also asking military factories to develop rifled guns, and he has two ideas. One is loaded in the breech, leaks air, and has a very short range; the other is loaded in the front, and has an extremely slow rate of fire.

Either way, there are serious flaws, and large-scale replacement is impossible.

In the end, Zhao Han went out in person and tried to make mini bombs.

It is true that Emperor Zhao was a soldier in his previous life, but he is not a military fan. Who among the serious conscripts would study Mini bombs from 200 years ago? Zhao Han has only heard of this name.

But the use of conical bullets in later generations must be reasonable, and Zhao Han followed this idea.

After nearly ten years of hard work and continuous improvement, it is finally ready for use on the battlefield.

Nowadays, a number of rifled guns have been released, but the cost of spiral rifled barrels is too high and difficult to manufacture. So far, only more than a thousand have been made, some of which were equipped by the imperial guards, and some of which were thrown into the northern area where there were few soldiers.

What Zhang Tingxun had in hand was a rifled gun with a long range, high accuracy, and a slightly slower loading speed than a smoothbore gun.

Thirty of his soldiers were equipped with rifled guns.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Still hundreds of miles away from Olekminsk, Zhang Tingxun heard gunfire from ahead.

Most likely after the snow melted, the Cossacks came out and forced the Sakha natives to hand over their furs, and used force to rob those who refused to cooperate.

Zhang Tingxun said: "If you encounter Cossack bandits along the way, you will ignore them. Move forward at full speed towards Olek, and only destroy the Cossack ships when you encounter them!"

The fleet sailed forward in a mighty manner, and soon arrived at the tribe that was plundered by the Cossacks.

There were several boats docked on the shore, tied to trees with ropes.

Three Cossacks were guarding the ship there, while more bandits were looting the village. Seeing the Datong army coming to kill them, the three guys immediately jumped off the boat and ran away, shouting in horror: "The Khitans are coming, the Khitans are coming!"

The soldiers of the Datong Army rowed over, squatting on the boat and aiming at the woods on the shore.

The native auxiliaries rowed birch bark boats, cut the ropes of the Cossack boats, and snatched away all the Cossack boats. There were hundreds of furs on board, probably obtained from nearby tribes, as well as marching rations for these Cossacks.

"Don't go ashore to catch up, speed up!" Zhang Tingxun ordered.

The fleet of the Datong Army quickly sailed away from this place.

Not long after, more than a dozen Cossack bandits rushed back with more than 30 indigenous servants. They looked at the cut ropes that tied the boats and the empty riverbank, and they didn't know what to do for a moment.

I won't be able to catch up when I go back to report the news. This place is hundreds of miles away from the castle.

They could only rob the birch bark boat of the Saha natives and row back slowly. Can they row back to die?

Zhang Tingxun ordered the soldiers and auxiliary soldiers to divide into two groups and take turns rowing.

Those who do not row must sleep during their shifts. Regardless of whether they can sleep or not, they must close their eyes and rest. They no longer cast nets for fishing, and they no longer even go ashore. Not to mention eating, even pooping is done on the boat.

In this way, the march was rapid.

On the way, they met another group of Cossack bandits, and they still quickly robbed the boat and left.

A few days later, we arrived in Oryok Minsk.

"You told me this was a wooden wall?" Zhang Tingxun put down his telescope, turned around and asked.

Khabarov was stunned: "It used to be a wooden wall, but I don't know when it turned into a rammed earth castle."

"Speed ​​up the landing!" Zhang Tingxun shouted.

The castle is located at the confluence of the Lu River (Lena River) and the Olekma River. The Cossacks also saw the Chinese fleet at this time and shouted frantically to enter the city to defend.

Since it was a surprise attack, the gunners in the city were not yet in place, and some were even drunk and sleeping in broad daylight.

They definitely didn't have any extra grain to make wine, but the snow had melted for more than a month, so they snatched or bought a lot of goat's milk wine from nearby natives. Except for a few that were kept for the winter, the rest of the goat's milk wine was drunk openly, for fear that someone would steal it if they drank too slowly.

When the drunken gunners were in position, the Chinese fleet had already docked, and only some of the indigenous auxiliaries in birch bark boats were still within the range of the artillery.

"Boom boom boom!"

The sound of cannons sounded, two birch bark boats were capsized by the waves, and the indigenous auxiliary soldiers swam frantically to the shore carrying the cannonballs.

Zhang Tingxun led his army to land from the north of the city. Khabarov shouted: "The coast to the west of the city is the cultivated land of Cossack bandits!"

"You don't need to remind me!" Zhang Tingxun said angrily.

More than a dozen Cossacks were overseeing the farming of hundreds of slaves. The snow has melted for a period of time, and the surface layer of frozen soil has also melted. This is a critical period for planting potatoes and other crops.

There are also some Cossacks and indigenous servants fishing in the nearby river.

Seeing the Chinese army coming, the Cossacks in the farmland ran away wildly, while the indigenous slaves froze in place and were at a loss.

As for those on the river, they had already rowed away.

Zhang Tingxun didn't care about the enemies in the west of the city, and led his soldiers to attack the city with ladders.

The rammed earth castle is very short, and given the conditions in Siberia, it would be impossible to build it higher. Under a surprise attack, it might be possible to break through in one fell swoop, otherwise we would have to slowly siege the city until winter approaches and then withdraw in despair.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Just as they approached the bastion, gunfire rang out and two Datong Army soldiers fell.

Fortunately, the enemy was not prepared. Some went out to plunder, some went out to farm and fish, and not many stayed in the castle. Moreover, in the panic, the castle defenders were not yet fully in place.

This is a very short-lived opportunity. If you miss it, the expedition will definitely return in vain.

Rushing from the river bank to the bastion, there were wooden fences and trenches in between. From the bastion in the south, artillery fire also rang out. One of the artillery shells killed and injured two Datong troops and five indigenous auxiliary soldiers.

The wooden fence is two-layered, and the middle is filled with soil, so it cannot collapse at all.

Zhang Tingxun led people to build a ladder and climbed over, then stood on the wooden fence, took the ladder from behind and crossed the trench.

By the time they rushed to the bottom of the bastion, the Datong Army and the indigenous auxiliary troops had suffered heavy casualties.

Zhang Tingxun was completely furious. He only had a few dozen soldiers in total and needed a supply team to get a hundred. His heart was bleeding every time a soldier died.

"Boohoo!"

This was the Cossacks' native servants shooting arrows. An arrow hit Zhang Tingxun's chest and was blocked by the cotton armor.

The Cossacks in the castle were only two meters away from Zhang Tingxun and were reloading their ammunition in a panic. Because his hands were shaking so much, he failed to penetrate the barrel of the gun several times. Seeing that Zhang Tingxun had climbed up, he quickly slashed down with his knife.

Zhang Tingxun held down the ladder with one hand, slashed with the knife with the other hand, deflected the enemy's weapon, and then suddenly pounced on him.

The bastion here is not only simple, but also has no roof, which is similar to an ordinary city wall.

"boom!"

On the other side of the fortress, an unknown warrior actually threw an enemy of ten thousand people at him.

Zhang Tingxun, who had just climbed up the fortress and was about to fight in a bloody battle, heard a loud noise. All the enemies at the explosion site fell, leaving only a few standing on Zhang Tingxun's side.

More and more Datong troops and indigenous auxiliary troops boarded the bastion, and the ensuing battle was almost all a confrontation with cold weapons.

Post-war statistics showed that among one hundred Datong troops, 24 were killed, 26 were slightly injured, and 7 were seriously injured. Of the two hundred indigenous auxiliaries, 35 were killed, 19 were lightly wounded, and 13 were seriously wounded.

The casualty rate was extremely high.

And their enemies are pitifully small in number.

Counting the gunners, there were only 45 Cossacks in the castle, most of whom did not have muskets, and there were only 18 real Cossack musketeers. There are 52 indigenous servants, all using earthen bows.

The remaining Cossacks and indigenous servants did not return to the city at all.

Zhang Tingxun was so angry that his lungs exploded. Only 18 Cossack musketeers, plus a few artillery pieces, actually caused more than half of his casualties. It was a sudden attack!

This kind of bastion is really disgusting!

It has to be said that the Saha indigenous soldiers who followed Zhang Tingxun in the battle performed extremely bravely today. They either came from the rule of Zhang Tingxun or from the tribes with the best relations. They also had a deep hatred for the Cossacks, and they were all fearless in fighting.

Looking at the corpses of his soldiers, Zhang Tingxun felt no joy of victory. In the first battle of his life that he personally commanded, the casualty rate exceeded 50%.

As for the Saha indigenous soldiers who died in battle, Zhang Tingxun decided to reward their families generously.

"General Manager, do you still want to pursue me?" the adjutant asked.

Zhang Tingxun shook his head: "No need. The battleships guard the mouth of the river, prohibiting any ships from coming and going, and block all the Cossacks in the east. I will starve them to death!"

As for the Cossacks outside the city, they all fled westward the moment the Datong army attacked the bastion. There is another Cossack stronghold hundreds of miles to the west. If we pursue it now, we will definitely not be able to catch it.

Zhang Tingxun, who had a low level of education, stood on the blood-stained city wall, looked at the vast forest and sighed: "One general succeeded... thousands of bones withered."