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The fortress captured by Zhang Tingxun began to be built intermittently after the Datong Army captured Luzhou (Yakutsk).

Zhang Tingxun and his former boss spent more than a year building good relations with surrounding tribes. At the same time, they are still familiar with the terrain, climate and language, and they have to cut down trees to build ships. The next step is to sweep the Cossack strongholds in the rear.

According to his original intention, this year he would send dozens of people to go 1,300 miles away to find out information, and then wait until next year to choose a suitable time for the expedition.

But the headquarters issued an order that he could only send troops this year.

This was in coordination with the battle in Mobei, a battle involving hundreds of thousands of people. Zhang Tingxun had no say at all - Li Zheng was attacking Nerchinsk along the Heilongjiang River. He was afraid that the battle would take too long. The Cossack reinforcements in the north could sneak up the river and cross the mountains to attack Yaksa. Zhang Tingxun was attacking the reinforcement base that might appear.

If you want to attack, do it by surprise, so choose to attack after the snow melts. According to Khabarov, the Cossacks will allocate manpower to each tribe at this time to ask for furs, and also allocate manpower to farm and fish.

As long as they are killed suddenly, there will not be many Cossacks in the castle.

Adhering to this combat idea, he encountered Cossack bandits on the way, robbed the boat and immediately marched quickly. During the remaining hundreds of miles, they could be exposed at any time. Therefore, we couldn't send scouts to investigate first. We could only do it by boat, and it would be even harder to attack if our whereabouts were exposed.

Night attacks are also more risky. It is very likely that they will hide more than ten miles away during the day and the fleet will be discovered by enemy fishing boats.

Overall, the plan went very smoothly and there were not many Cossacks in the castle.

It's just that the battle damage data is a bit ugly. This is really the only way to storm the bastion, even if it is just the simplest bastion.

In comparison, Nerchinsk's castle is really difficult to defeat!

After the Datong Army captured Yaksa, Nerchinsk was the first to bear the brunt. The Russians put all the manpower and materials around Lake Baikal into Nerchinsk to build the city wall.

In Nerchinsk Castle, a mother castle and a daughter castle were built.

The mother castle is surrounded by water, with only narrow passages by land. The city wall is 5 meters high and 8 meters thick. There are four bastion buildings, and there are three wooden fences and trenches on the outside. Every obstacle must be forcibly broken through.

The Zibao is on the other side of the river from the Mother Castle, a river-center island, also surrounded by water.

If the warships of the Datong Army want to pass through, they will inevitably be attacked from both sides by the mother fort and the sub-fort.

If you want to go around, you have to land a few miles in advance, then go around the mountains along the river from the north, and walk more than 20 miles of winding mountain roads. After passing the mountainous area, there is a swamp area. You must first cross a tributary and launch an attack on the other side of the river from the mother castle. This is too dangerous, so we can continue to go around, cross a tributary, pass through a swamp, and then attack through the narrow land passage.

Historically, the battle between the Manchus and Tsarist Russia was not fought in Nerchinsk, but in Yaksa, which was more conducive to attack.

If the battle location were changed to Nerchinsk, the Qing army would definitely lose even more miserably. Because it is more difficult to supply here and the terrain is more complex, the generals do not even know which side to attack from.

Before departure, Wang Fuchen, who was stationed in Yaksa, said: "We and the Rakshasa ghosts have been inquiring about each other for the past two years. The Yaksa castle is strong, and the Rakshasa ghosts dare not attack. The Nerchinsk castle is getting thicker and thicker. We There was no way to get through. This time we couldn't take any tricks, we had to attack hard. This Nerchinsk defense map was drawn by a scout who ventured up the mountain. It was discovered when he left. For this map, we lost two people. . After that, the Rakshasa ghost built a beacon tower downstream, and any ship approaching twenty miles away would be discovered."

After just glancing at the map, Li Zheng felt a headache and said, "What the hell kind of terrain is this? I have been fighting for half my life, and I have never encountered it before."

Wang Fuchen said: "There are only two options. One is to abandon the ship and go around the mountains to the north, pass through two swamps, and then cross two rivers to launch an attack from the narrow land. The terrain there is very narrow, and the Rakshasa ghosts only need to set up a fire We don’t know how many lives we have to take with the guns and artillery. Another option is to forcibly remove the sub-fort, and then attack the mother fort through the sub-fort.”

Li Zheng was still so steady in fighting. He said: "The first option has too many variables, and it involves going around the enemy's rear. Not only do we have to abandon the ship, but the food route back may be cut off, and we are also easily surrounded by enemy reinforcements." . Just choose the second option and fight the Rakshasa ghost!"

The Datong army sent 6,000 troops and nearly 10,000 indigenous and Han people.

From the Songhua River to the Heilongjiang River Basin, young men and ships from various tribes were mobilized to accompany the army, and manpower from the ships at the inns and trading companies along the way were also mobilized.

There are more than 3,000 ships, large and small.

There are warships of the Anton navy, station express ships, merchant cargo ships, and even indigenous canoes and birch bark boats.

The fleet approached the enemy's beacon tower in a mighty manner, and the Cossacks on the observation deck were dumbfounded. He hurriedly lit the beacon smoke, then abandoned the beacon tower and fled in a small boat.

One beacon tower after another lit up the smoke, and Nerchinsk Castle quickly received the news and rang the bell to summon all the Cossacks outside the city to come back. At the same time, they sent people to the west, summoned all the troops around Lake Baikal, and rushed to rescue Nerchinsk.

Li Zheng chose to land at Jiangxinzhou downstream of Zibao. This Jiangxinzhou has an area three times that of Zibao Jiangxinzhou. Between the two river center islands, there is only a river surface of more than ten meters wide.

The first thing we did when we landed was to cut down trees. The entire Jiangxin Island was covered with forest.

It only took two days to cut down the trees and set up camp. The wood obtained by cutting down the trees was used to make siege equipment and more wooden boats that were convenient for crossing the river.

"worn out!"

Qiao Guang sat down on the ground, his arms trembling.

His family belonged to Shanxi merchants, but they had been doing business in Yangzhou for a long time and made a lot of money by selling salt. They had no time to collude with foreign enemies and collude with the Tatars. But Emperor Zhao conquered the world, and merchants from Ganxi and Huizhou became trembling. Qiao Guangyong's father was forced to go north to get a license plate for Changlu Saltworks.

A few years later, the court inspected the land again, and the Qiao family was suspected of occupying farmers' land. He was originally going to be exiled, but the local officials helped him to intercede, saying that those places were all saline-alkali land, and renting and building salt farms could actually increase farmers' income.

The imperial court specially sent a censor to investigate, and the situation was true.

It is true to occupy land, and it is also true to increase people's income. After repeated evaluations, there is no need to be exiled or even have the salt license revoked, but a large fine must be paid because this is indeed a violation.

The Qiao family suffered successive losses and had to expand its business scope.

As the eldest son of a concubine, Qiao Guangyong was sent to Heilongjiang to open a trading company. Competition is fierce in the Songhua River basin, and also in the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River. Qiao Guangyong simply took the risk and went to Hailan.

This choice really paid off.

Then, he was forcibly recruited along with his men and ships. Not to mention the trading company clerk, he even became a civilian husband.

"Master, let me rub it for you." Qiao Nian, the second shopkeeper of the trading company, came over.

Qiao Guang sat slumped on the ground: "It doesn't matter if you rub it, but if we cut down the tree for another two days, I'm afraid my life will be lost."

Several other waiters also came over to serve, so the second shopkeeper finally didn't have to do it himself.

Some beat their legs, some rubbed their shoulders, and some slapped their arms.

"Oh, oh, oh... comfortable, comfortable." Qiao Guang said with an intoxicated look on his face.

An officer suddenly came up and shouted angrily: "Are you here to relax and enjoy yourself, or are you here to be a civilian husband?"

Qiao Guangyong stood up quickly: "Master Jun, I have never done any hard work since I was a child. If I don't clear my muscles and bones, I won't be able to get up tomorrow."

The guy winked, and the second shopkeeper immediately took out the silver dollar.

The officer angrily rebuked: "Keep it safe for me. You bribe the generals on the battlefield. Do you think your life is too long?"

Qiao Guang winced with his neck, feeling a little at a loss.

Datong soldiers in the Heilongjiang Basin occasionally collected money. The sky is high and the emperor is far away, and it doesn't matter if you make money in a bitter cold place, as long as you don't make any principled mistakes. Many times, even the missionary officers turned a blind eye because the soldiers here were really tough.

But this is a battlefield, and anyone who dares to collect money will be killed.

Landing on the third day.

Qiao Guang woke up with back pain and was asked to dig trenches again.

Thousands of civilians dug forward in a Z-shape from several directions at the same time. This was to guard against the Zibao artillery on the other side.

Qiao Guangyong didn't know what he was digging for. His palms were already blistered, and the ligaments in his legs were throbbing with pain. It's pity that a young man from a rich family has to do such an errand. Although he is paid a military salary on a daily basis, who the hell cares about the money.

There is no way, the population of Heilongjiang is too small, even the owner of a trading company has to be dragged into the labor force.

After a few days, the trench was dug.

Li Zheng stood at the front of a trench: "Can we really hit here? Are you right?"

The artillery surveyor stood at attention and saluted: "After repeated calculations more than ten times, there are two locations in Jiangxinzhou where we are located that can be used as artillery positions."

When the Datong Army attacked Batavia, the geometric siege method they came up with has long been extended to the entire army, but it has not yet achieved results in actual combat.

More than twenty artillery pieces were pulled out along the Z-shaped trench.

The barrel of the gun was completely hidden in the trench, with sacks filled with soil in front of it. Only half of the barrel was exposed. Even if the artillery of both sides fires at each other, the artillery of the Datong Army is relatively safe, and the sacks can buffer the kinetic energy of the flying artillery shells.

Qiao Guangyong rested against the wall of the pit, and an officer waved them over.

Many places where artillery is placed still need to be dug and repaired. Qiao Guangyong was responsible for transporting some clods of earth away, while the civilian husband who looked stronger carried the cannon and slightly adjusted its position.

The surveyor made careful calculations step by step, constantly making angle adjustments.

Qiao Guangyong looked like he couldn't understand it at all, but thought it was very powerful. This was the first time he knew that he had to do arithmetic on the battlefield.

"This cannon is ready."

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sound of the cannon came from the other side, and Qiao Guangyong shrank his neck in fright.

Fortunately, they had adapted to it, and when they were digging in the trench, artillery fire came from the opposite side. Most of the enemy's artillery shells flew over the trench. Only a few shells rolled into the trench, and one shell hit the wall of the trench.

So far, only one unlucky guy had his leg broken by a rolling shell while digging a trench.

Li was waiting for the enemy's shelling to end and said angrily: "Test the artillery!"

"boom!"

The Datong Army's artillery shells fired back. The trajectory of the artillery shells was almost parallel to the Zibao wall, and then hit the corner of the wall.

"Error, a small error." The surveyor quickly explained.

"Do you want to adjust?" the artillery battalion commander asked.

The surveyor said: "No need to adjust anymore, it has already been calculated. Some errors are normal."

Li Zheng said: "One more shot."

"boom!"

This time the cannonball flew very accurately, with a very small angle of parabola, almost passing over the bastion in front and landing on the side wall of the fortress.

The shells then bounced and rolled along the wall, hitting four Cossacks along the way. One person was killed on the spot, and the other three had their legs broken.

The lookout hand of the hot air balloon waved a flag to indicate that the cannon was successful.

Li Zheng praised: "Not bad, go and adjust the next one."

As more and more artillery shells did not bombard the city wall, but bombarded the soldiers on the city in parallel at a small angle, the Cossack officers in the fort finally felt something was wrong.

What kind of play is this?

Those Cossacks no longer dared to stand in the middle of the top of the wall, and they all huddled close to the female wall. The same goes for the Cossacks on the bastion, who collectively leaned against the parapet to take cover because occasionally shells just happened to land on the bastion.

Li Zheng looked at the enemy's castle, thinking about how to attack with a headache.

The water between the two river islands is only more than ten meters wide. It was close at hand, but it was like a natural chasm. Because trenches could not be dug across the river, the attack had to be carried out by boat. The citizens and civilians who landed were all exposed to enemy fire.

"Captain, the wind has been blowing from the southeast these days." The officer in charge of hot air balloons came over and said.

Li Zheng said: "It's not summer yet, the wind must be blowing from the southeast."

The officer said: "We are in the east, very close to the enemy fort. Raise the hot air balloon at the southern end of Jiangxin Island. As long as the rope is long enough, the hot air balloon will float over the castle. How about throwing ten thousand enemies below?"

Li Zheng thought for a while: "You can try it, but it probably won't have much effect. Moreover, it is very dangerous for you in the hot air balloon. If the enemy's shell breaks the rope, or the enemy fires a musket and shoots the hot air balloon, the soldiers in the hot air balloon will Death is certain."

"All the ropes in the army are connected into one. As long as it is high enough, it can't be hit by firecrackers," the officer said with a smile. "If the rope is broken by a cannonball, then we will be unlucky. And we may not necessarily die, and we may float away." Where to land.”

(I recommend a new book by an old author: "I go out to read the almanac every day". This is a historical text, haha.)