Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 88: March into the Hamda Valley

After stationing troops in Tagum for a week, they completely cleared out the surrounding indigenous villages and towns and resettled a large number of Chinese immigrants, achieving the initial goal of "emptying the cage and replacing the bird."

Zheng Guohui led his troops to continue forward, heading deeper northward, aiming for the next indigenous village gathering place, the Hamda Valley.

The Hamda Valley is about 37 kilometers away from Tagum Town and has penetrated deep into the mountains. It is a valley plain surrounded by mountains, dotted with some Tagalog indigenous villages, with a total population of about to .

This time, the troops led by Zheng Guohui to the north were much smaller. In addition to 96 elite soldiers and 80 cavalrymen, there were more than Chinese immigrants following them, driving more than mule and horse carts. These were people who had not yet been resettled.

Compared with the initial army of more than 6200 people, this team of more than 1900 people is much inferior.

Zheng Guohui rode on his horse, looking at the shrunken marching troops. There was no regret on his face, but instead he was full of joy.

Those Chinese immigrants sown along the way are all seeds, new Chinese immigrant families, which will develop into large Chinese families with more than ten people or even more in the future.

As long as they have enough to eat and enough clothes to wear, never doubt the ability of Chinese people to multiply and reproduce their families. That is an obsession deeply engraved in their bones.

As long as there is suitable soil, it will expand explosively...

Zheng Guohui was thinking
Hamda Valley is the last stop of this journey and the end point of the northward clearing and mopping-up operation. There is no road further north and no large villages where indigenous people gather.

There are vast tropical rainforests and mountains, which are in an undeveloped and original state.

The entire island of Mindanao
Only a few plain areas around the coastline are inhabited by local indigenous tribes. The inland hinterland is covered with vast forests, and the mountains and rivers originating from the mountains are all in their original state.

The Zamboanga Peninsula counts as one, the Davao Plain counts as one, and there are some scattered indigenous tribes in the Cagayan region. The larger ones have a population of several thousand, and the smaller ones have a population of a few hundred. They are not worth a special expedition.

There is still a long time to come. We can just eliminate each place we find. There is no need to rush.

After clearing the Hamda Valley, Zheng Guohui is estimated to be able to bring back less than 500 troops, most of whom will have to stay in the local area and take root there firmly.

How many troops should be left?
Should we leave three hundred or four hundred? That depends on whether the clearing of the Hamda Valley is successful and thorough.

The Tagalog indigenous tribes in these mountains are more primitive and backward than the Visayan indigenous tribes. They have absolutely no homemade guns, and not many spears or swords.

Many of them use bone arrows and bone knives. The so-called indigenous villages are just thatched huts, not even earthen houses. Most of them can be burned down.

Therefore, after the Hamda Valley is cleared, it will only take five or six villages to be established.

In this way, each village has a larger population and stronger defense, and its ability to protect itself is also better when faced with concentrated attacks from indigenous rebel forces rushing down from the mountains and forests.

In the future, when the third and fourth batches of Chinese immigrants arrive, the Chinese immigrant village will be gradually expanded until it fills the entire Hamda Valley, leaving no room for maneuver.

Unless these indigenous people go into the mountains and become savages, they will be unable to escape destruction and capture.

"Report to the General, the road ahead is rugged and difficult to travel. Mules and horse carts can no longer pass. Please give us your instructions, General." The officer below ran over to report.

Zheng Guohui looked up and forward. At this moment, they were marching in the forest. The winding goat road faced zigzag steep slopes, and it was impossible to pass through even if they were building a road.

The army set out early in the morning and it is now past 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

We are repairing and traveling all the way. We have walked less than 30 kilometers so far, and there is still some distance to go to the Hamda Valley.

After a brief moment of thought, Zheng Guohui ordered, "We will end our march here today. Set up camp right here and begin repairing the camp immediately, building it to the highest standards."

"As you command, General."

Building campsites to the highest standards was a rule passed down from Zeng Guofan. Everyone in the army was familiar with it and no one had any objections.

This highest standard of camping is semi-permanent. When the Hunan Army besieged Nanjing, this type of camp was widely built. It has common standards and is not easy to build.

Fortunately, the army carried all the necessary tools. At the command, more than 1900 people worked together to divide the territory and began to work.

The logging team took out saws and axes and cut down large trees in groups of 10. They did not cut down trees that were too thick, and basically cut down trees with a diameter below waist thickness.

It is just the right thickness to be as thick as a thigh, but a little thinner is also fine. It is mainly used to build defensive wooden fences.

The branches of these felled trees were cut off, leaving only a length of more than 4 meters. After the tops were sharpened, they were piled aside waiting to be used.

A 1-meter-deep tunnel was dug, with an unfelled tree as the base point. Logs were densely arranged between the two trees, and reinforced crossbeams were nailed on and support beams were installed to form a sturdy fence.

And so on, it only took more than an hour.

A solid fence camp with a circumference of more than 900 meters and supported by many large trees took shape at a very fast speed.

This is mainly because these soldiers and immigrants are good at setting up camps. You must know that the earliest skills of the Taiping remnants were digging tunnels and building strong camps, which caused a lot of suffering to the imperial officers and soldiers who were encircling them, and the casualties were extremely heavy.

Zeng Guofan learned this and developed it further, which in turn became the decisive weapon to control the Taiping rebels and achieve ultimate victory.

Back to topic
After establishing the basic form of the camp, Zheng Guohui's soldiers divided into four groups and began to work in an orderly manner. Some of the logistics soldiers began to build camp stoves. Once they were built, they began to boil water to provide clean water for the other soldiers. This is a very important point in the marching regulations.

Drinking raw water is not allowed, toilets and kitchens are separated, and diseases spread by mosquitoes and flies must be strictly prevented. Hygiene regulations will not be compromised at any time.

Zheng Guohui's colonial army has not suffered any major epidemics so far. This is rare in the history of the conquest of the South by previous dynasties and has proven to be effective.

The soldiers were not stupid. After tasting the sweetness, they began to strictly enforce the hygiene regulations.

The logistics and supply troops dug 12 deep pits in succession at the downwind side of the camp. Each pit was 2 meters deep. The pit mouth was surrounded by stones 50 centimeters high and the gaps were covered with soil.

Then cover it with wooden boards, leaving 4 to 5 holes on it, which is the toilet seat.

The hole is just the right size for your butt to sit on.

Each deep pit is a toilet. There are 12 deep pits in total, which means 12 toilets. They can provide space for fifty or sixty soldiers to use the toilet at the same time, solving the hygiene problem.

Sprinkle lime around the toilet according to regulations and keep it clean.

The second group of officers and soldiers was still a logging team, with a total of more than 400 people, each team consisting of 12 people, and a total of more than teams, cutting down trees outside the camp.

Regardless of the size of the trees, all of them were cut down, and all the trees, shrubs and weeds within a range of more than 120 meters in front of the camp were cleared, leaving only an open area.

The cut tree branches, shrubs and weeds were not wasted. They were all brought back and piled up inside the wooden fence to be used as firewood.

After being exposed to the sun for a few days or even a dozen days, it becomes very useful firewood that can be used for cooking and boiling water on a daily basis.

Another team of more than 500 people began digging a deep pit 20 meters away from the periphery of the camp. According to regulations, such a tunnel must be 2 meters deep and cannot be any shallower.

If a person falls in, he cannot climb out; if a wild animal falls in, he cannot climb out either.

Each soldier was assigned a task that was 2 meters long and 1 meters wide. They picked up their pickaxes and shovels and started working.

Whoever finishes the work at hand first can rest. There are no other tasks today.

If you can’t finish the work, just keep working and don’t even have to eat.

The third team consisted of about a hundred people. They also dug the soil behind the trench, but they dug very shallowly, only 50 centimeters deep.

Some sharpened wooden sticks as thick as arms were inserted into the trench at intervals of 1 to centimeters, with a total of three rows, all pointing diagonally towards the sky, less than meter behind the deep trench.

If someone tried to jump over a 1-meter-wide trench, they would just bump into the sharpened wooden sticks and get stuck in them. The same thing happened to wild animals.

The soil dug out from the deep trench was piled diagonally in front of the trench, with a slope of 45 degrees. Even if someone wanted to jump over the deep trench from here, it would be difficult to use the force.

The last team consisted of about 700 people, also divided into groups of 12, responsible for building barracks in the camp.

Since there were still many large trees that had not been felled in the camp, many construction teams used the large trees as the core, cut a gap at a height of more than 2 meters, and placed the beams in it.

The frame of the barracks was quickly built, and the roof was covered with layers of branches and leaves, and then coated with thick wet mud, and the roof was completed.

The biggest advantage of building barracks in tropical areas is that you don’t have to worry about keeping warm. The roof is the most important thing, and once the roof is built, half of the work is done.

When night falls

A camp was almost completed. The soldiers in the camp were covered in dust and breathless from exhaustion. They were driven to take a bath in a nearby river.

Only after taking a bath can you enjoy dinner filled with the aroma of broth.

A standard camp also requires watchtowers, gates, ditches, barricades, etc. If they cannot be completed in a short time, they will have to wait until tomorrow.

Zheng Guohui was very satisfied. The soldiers and immigrants under his command were all veterans, and there was no need for excessive emphasis. They could complete a camping camp of the highest standards with high quality.

He planned to leave all the mule and horse carts here, leaving 150 people behind, and the rest of the soldiers and immigrants would march forward carrying five days' rations, and collect food on the spot while sweeping the Hamda Valley.

Eat whatever is available, solving a major pain point in logistics supply.

The soldiers mainly carried ammunition and food, and used dozens of mules and horses to carry some tools, tents, iron pots and other items. After entering the Hamda Valley, they could occupy the indigenous villages as campsites.

In this way, the pressure on logistics and supplies will be greatly reduced, and there is no need to carry so much or so completely.

This camp serves as a transit base connecting the Hamda Valley and Tagum Town. In the future, it can also serve as a checkpoint, covering an area of ​​more than 10 kilometers around it and blocking the entrance and exit of the Hamda Valley.

The advantage is that it prevents the indigenous rebel forces that have fled into the tropical jungle from communicating with each other, and disperses them into isolated small forces that cannot be concentrated to deal with Chinese immigrant villages.

Over time, it will slowly be eliminated. This is the process of grinding with water.

(End of this chapter)