1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2345
People who originally lived in Jinzhou were moved to the inland of Liaodong during the Manchu occupation to prevent them from fleeing to Daming by sea.This measure led to the decline of people's livelihood in this area, the barren fields, and the complete stagnation of social production.When the Haihan army captured Jinzhou in 1635, there was basically no decent output here, and agricultural production could only start from scratch.

Although after two or three years of hard work, Jinzhou has finally recovered a certain social production capacity, but many areas are still in a state of waste, and a considerable part of living materials, including food, still needs external supply.

After moving all the soldiers and civilians from Dongjiang Town to Jinzhou, the local population is only tens of thousands. It is not a simple task to resettle thousands of impoverished refugees in such an environment and ensure that they can survive the winter safely. simple thing.The settling measures like Daming Relief Relief Relief Relief Relief Relying on Shimibu Congee to hang their lives are obviously not suitable for the social conditions under Haihan's rule and the special environment of the Jinzhou area.

In addition to the basic needs of survival such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation, there are a lot of things in the fields of medical care, public security, education, and work that require the government to take corresponding safeguard measures. This is a great test for the government's overall planning and execution capabilities. .If there were no officials with rich operational experience like Liu Shang to take the command, coupled with the all-round guarantee based on the local garrison, it would be really difficult to settle so many homeless refugees in the short term.

The rapid inflow of a large number of people from the area under the Manchu Qing Dynasty to Jinzhou means that the strength of the two sides will ebb and flow. The increase and decrease of the population will definitely amplify the effect through the gap in productivity, and the situation in this area will be affected soon after the beginning of spring. have a real impact.

Just when the Jinzhou authorities and the Manchu Qing thought that this winter's confrontation was over, a battle suddenly broke out in the rear, only forty or fifty miles away from the Qing army's Daheishong camp.

After Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom finished the mopping operation in the Zhuanghe area, they originally planned to lead their troops back to the Datongjiang base to rest, but when they checked the supplies, they found that not even half of the combat supplies prepared for this operation were consumed. However, it still made them feel unwilling to go back home.

So the two asked the troops to withdraw from the sea to Guanglu Island in the Changshan Islands, and let the troops temporarily rest on the island for a few days. Stopped moving on.

Of course, there is another purpose of this rest, which is to wait for the weather to improve.If the snowfall continues and the snow on land is too thick, it will be difficult for the Haihan Army to carry out large-scale combat operations on the nearby coast.

The troops waited in Guanglu Island for seven days. Just when Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun were about to give up, the weather suddenly improved. Not only did the snow stop, but even a rare warm winter sun appeared.

Tom Wang and Qian Tiandun had already set their goals and formulated a plan of action in these days.The target they chose was Dengshahe Town, forty miles northeast of the Qing Army's Dongdaying.

The reason for choosing this target is that it is very close to Guanglu Island where the troops are currently hiding, and the straight-line distance is only more than 40 miles.Moreover, after sending a boat to investigate, it was found that the surface of the Dengsha River next to Dengshahe Town was not frozen, and ships could still sail in. This saved the Haihan army from having to march ten miles on the snow to reach their destination after landing on the coast. Instead, they can directly use the troop carrier to drop troops nearby.

Another reason is that the Qing army personnel captured in this operation confessed that there are many Manchus in Dengshahe Town, and many family members of the troops stationed on the front line of the Qing Army's Daheishan have settled near Dengshahe Town.In fact, this town was originally a settlement that was slowly formed after a large number of Manchus moved in in the past one or two years. Therefore, the Haihan Army did not launch an attack on the Liaodong coast before this.

Because of the external threat of the Haihan army, there were not many Manchu settlements near the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula. If they could find such a target, Wang and Qian would naturally not let it go easily.The effect of striking this kind of target is definitely much stronger than emptying out a town full of Han people, and it is very likely that valuable intelligence will be obtained from the operation.

On December [-], a convoy appeared at the mouth of the Dengsha River at dawn.After confirming the condition of the river surface, the fleet sailed into the mouth of the river and headed upstream to the town of Dengsha River.

The lower reaches of the Dengsha River are less than one mile wide. After the fleet traveled a few miles, there were more and more ice floes on the river. For safety reasons, Gao Qiaonan ordered to land early.

The cavalry team took the lead to board the river bank through the springboard set up, and then set off quickly to the destination after the whole team.Their mission is to detect whether there are large Qing troops stationed there, and to block the town's road to the inland area in advance.

According to the information obtained before, there was no heavy army stationed in this town, so Takahashi-nan did not plan to transport big guys like artillery ashore, and only invested a battalion of musket infantry in the operation.

Before the people in the town were aware of it, the Haihan army had already arrived outside the town and formed a siege from the north, east, and south, leaving only the Dengsha River in the west as a gap.However, the river here is not completely frozen, and it is not easy to escape from the river to the west bank.

After confirming that the various ministries had arrived at the combat position, Takahashi Nan issued an attack order. The Haihan army in white cloaks slowly tightened the encirclement in the snow until they were less than a hundred feet away from the town. When they found out, they were all over the place.

However, there were no fortifications built around the town at all, so it was difficult to organize a decent defense in a hurry.Soon, twenty or thirty Qing soldiers rushed out of the town from different directions in an attempt to break through, but they were greeted by rows of merciless bullets. After only a few breaths, these Qing soldiers were all shot off their horses. None escaped.

After realizing that the outside of the town was surrounded by enemy troops, the people in the town decisively gave up their plans to break out of the siege, and prepared to rely on various buildings in the town to resist foreign enemies.However, no matter in terms of military strength, weapons and equipment, or on-the-spot command, the Haihan army was absolutely superior. After entering the town, they quickly completed the division of the town, and then divided up to encircle and suppress.

Scattered and disorderly resistance basically had no chance in front of the entire team of musketeers. Most of them had already caught the guns when they showed their weapons. For a while, there were constant gunshots in the town, and the smell of gunpowder and blood mixed together, covering the entire town. with the whole town.

Takahashi Minami's request for this operation is a quick decision, and there is no provision for shooting and killing the rebels, which means that the soldiers can decide whether to fire according to the situation.Compared with trying to subdue the opponent, it is naturally more efficient to shoot and kill.So after entering the town, the Haihan army began to shoot one-sidedly.

During the entire snow treading operation, the strength of resistance encountered by the Haihan Army in Dengshahe Town was far higher than in other places, but this was not enough to cause enough trouble for the Haihan Army, at most it was too much. It took some time and ammo.The number of people killed during the armed conflict also hit a new high since this operation.

About two hours after launching the offensive, the Haihan army basically completed the cleanup of the town, during which about [-] militants were wounded and killed.Of course, these wounded will definitely not be treated by the Haihan Army, and what awaits them is only a make-up after the battle.

During the battle, a few people tried to escape to the west through the Dengsha River, but the nearby river was not completely frozen, and there were a lot of floating ice, whether they wanted to step on the ice or swim up the unfrozen river, Neither is easy.

The Haihan army did not stop this kind of suicidal behavior at all, and let these people torment themselves.Gao Qiaonan's original intention was to let some people go out and report the matter to the Qing army in Dongdaying.This place is tens of miles away from the East Day Camp, and there is still a river across the river. When the rescuers received the news and rushed over, the Haihan army had already withdrawn after finishing their work.

Just like the information we have, it is not difficult to find out in the counting of the local people after the event that this town is indeed dominated by Manchu residents, which is exactly the opposite of the situation in the villages and towns that the Haihan Army had visited before.And the Manchus living here are indeed basically family members of the Qing army, but some captives were interrogated on the spot, and no one mentioned any special status in the local area.

Such a result also disappointed Takahashi Minami. He hoped that he could capture important figures such as generals of the Qing army or their family members here in order to obtain more valuable information, but now it seems that this is obviously just an extravagant wish. , Those who have status should not live in such a place without even fortifications.

The Haihan army captured about 600 people in this town, about three-fifths of whom were Manchurians.Of course, Gao Qiaonan would not let these people go, and ordered them to be escorted downstream to board the ship.After clearing the town, the Haihan army lit a fire inside and outside the town, and burned all the houses here.

When all the Haihan army boarded the ship and evacuated to the sea, they could still see thick black smoke billowing from ten miles away.This is not the first time that the Haihan army has taken such destructive measures. In fact, for all the villages and towns captured during the snow treading operation, the Haihan army did the same when they evacuated, burning all the houses.If the Manchus still want to restore these settlements in the coming year, they can only tear down all the ruins and rebuild them. This will definitely be a big trouble for the Manchus, who are seriously short of manpower.

Gao Qiaonan believes that there is another reason why the boss chose this place to attack. This place is very close to the Qing army camp. Since the Haihan army can attack Dengshahe Town, it is naturally possible to launch an attack on the Qing army camp at any time.This can create more pressure on the Qing army, so that the opponent cannot live in peace this winter.

However, Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun were still not very satisfied with the results of this operation. There was no organized Qing army firearms unit in Jinzhou.They believe that this is because the pressure exerted by the false attack in the direction of Jinzhou is still not enough, and they have not been able to force the Qing army to resort to their most powerful means-such as the weapon update results brought about by the advanced military technology from the Japanese Hirado Domain .

The military has been worried that Hirado’s ordnance technology will flow into the Manchu Qing, so that the Manchu Qing can mass-produce standard weapons such as muskets and artillery in Liaodong, so as to train firearms troops that can truly pose a threat to the Haihan Army.But judging from the current situation, it seems that there is still a lack of corresponding evidence to prove such speculation.

Of course, there is another possibility, that is, the Qing Dynasty deployed the army equipped with new weapons to another front to deal with the already inferior Ming army.The weapons sold by the Hirado clan to the Manchu Qing have obviously surpassed the Ming army in terms of combat performance. If they are installed in large quantities in the army, it is very likely that they will have a dimensionality reduction effect on the Ming army during the battle, just like It was the same when the Haihan army fought against the Qing army on the Korean battlefield.

If it is the latter case, it will be much easier for Haihan, and it may even prompt Daming to ask Haihan for military purchases, and then it will be a real big deal.

As calculated by the Haihan Army, when Azig received the news of the attack on Dengshahe Town in Dongdaying, it was already in the afternoon of the day.Hearing that the Haihan army had landed in this area in a large scale, Azig did not dare to rush to send troops to the local area for support. The cavalry rushed to the rescue, or they would fall into the trap of the opponent again.

It was already that night when the Qing army confirmed that the Haihan army had withdrawn and burned all the buildings in Dengshahe Town before leaving.At this time, the fleet of the Haihan Army has been divided into two groups. The fleet carrying the special operations group is on its way back to the Datongjiang base, and the other fleet is sending the captured personnel here to the port of Dalian Bay.

Azig, who was having dinner, was so angry that he threw his bowl on the spot after receiving the final confirmation. The attack on Dengshahe Town was not just a provocation to the Qing army. It is a family member of the Qing army. If this news spreads in the army, it is bound to greatly affect morale.

Moreover, the Haihan army landed and attacked so close to Dongdaying. This is comparable to the Haihan army lurking near Dongdaying and attacking the Qing army's musketeers last winter.

The Haihan army repeatedly carried out attacks on the Liaodong coast through the mode of projecting troops from the sea to the land, and they succeeded almost every time. This has become a major chronic disease that the Qing army cannot avoid and cannot solve.The Qing army currently does not have warships and surface troops to prevent the Haihan army from approaching the coast of Liaodong, nor can it deploy enough troops on the hundreds of miles of coastline to resist the attack of the Haihan army. Now it seems that even the settlements The effect of moving inland has become very limited.

Although there are hundreds of miles of thousands of mountains between the Liaodong coast and the Manchu power center, these small actions of the Haihan army will not threaten the rule of the Manchu Dynasty, and it is not even a bone injury. This kind of continuous trouble will indeed make Man Qing very uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)