open sea

Chapter 1387 Hope
Yermak was still working hard in the north to raise food for his subordinates. Suddenly, his subordinates from the south ran over on horseback and told him that there was no need to look for food anymore.

The city of Iscal was lost.

Shaozi died outside the city, and Ma Weitt was defeated and captured. Before dawn that day, the Ming army had already entered the city through the gap they blew up when they captured the city of Isker. Only 53 people escaped from the city.

After they joined Yermak, there were only 270 Cossacks left, and they suffered an unprecedented defeat. Now even Yermak had no choice.

Their immediate priority is not to recapture the city of Iscal, but to find a shelter that will allow them to escape the cold winter nights.

With the survivors of Isker City heading north, the Irtysh River began to freeze from the north in November, and the Cossacks' good game of driving boats on both sides of the river was no longer possible.

What's more, the person with the most boats on this land is not Yermak, but Dong Yiyuan from Isker City.

He has 120 three paddle boats, large and small, with eight oars and a single mast with a square sail, which can carry two small flags and part of the baggage; the small boat has two to four oars, which can transport half a small flag or a small flag on the river. sailing.

It can transport one thousand infantry or four hundred fully armed long live army cavalry infantry at one time.

However, Dong Yiyuan did not intend to continue chasing and suppressing the Cossacks. Winter in Siberia was coming.

Just like what he said to his subordinates in the past, people, even if they have winter clothes made by the emperor, they can't afford to compete with God.

Thousands of people were stationed in the city, and the walls were lined with artillery, and the gaps were temporarily blocked with captured wooden car walls. The ammunition was enough to fight another battle, and the water and food were sufficient to last them for six months.

What else is there to worry about?

Let Yermak take the Cossacks to survive on the ice sheet.

They captured 180 and three prisoners in two battles outside the city and inside the city, and 21 of them survived in the end.

The reason why Dong Yiyuan didn't execute the remaining captives, but spent food to feed them, was entirely to relieve the boredom of the soldiers.

Winter in Siberia is boring. The most important thing any general needs to pay attention to when stationing troops is to prevent his subordinates from being bored, or not to let them idle.

But for the Ming garrison in Isker City, they were not boring. Only after entering this city would they know what kind of group of Cossacks they were fighting against.

The former capital of the Siberian Khanate has now become an uninhabited city. Those who could escape had already fled at the beginning of the war, and those who could not escape died here.

Frozen dead bodies are scattered in the cellar and on the streets, and some even bear the marks of teeth that have been chewed on.

According to the captured Cossacks in the night attack outside the city, they have been out of food for a long time, and indeed there have been incidents of eating corpses, but when asked whether they have done such a thing, no one admits it.

Since there was no one there, naturally there was no need to worry about idle and idle soldiers harassing the people, so Dong Yiyuan could only arrange various entertainment activities for them.

In addition to the guards on duty every day, others can choose to chat with captives, sign up to participate in the first Hammon wrestling meeting in Iscal City, engage in shooting and fighting, go out to hunt and other competitions.

Experienced scouts know that walking on the snow is very dangerous, and if you don't pay attention, you will lose sight of things for several days.

Especially when using binoculars, the eyes are most likely to be stabbed.

In order to avoid this situation, they used almost all conceivable means.

The easiest way is to wrap a thin layer of cloth on the face, barely able to see the distance, but this cannot be completely prevented, it is better to use a black cloth.

But the binoculars are still needed for wrapping cloth, so I brushed a layer of resin on the lens, and accidentally damaged the binoculars.

So some bored scouts even developed their own ability to make simple telescopes and glasses out of gum this winter.

Maybe it’s because the materials are not good enough or the craftsmanship is not good enough. Anyway, the telescope made of resin can’t see clearly, and the imaging is weird, but there are pros and cons. The telescope and glasses made of this can prevent snow blindness to a certain extent. Army soldiers are very fond of it.

Snow appreciation has been added to their recreational activities.

People respect the sky, and the sky will naturally reward them.

For example, the five hundred shooting troops who traveled long distances from Moscow over the Ural Mountains to the city of Isker with their luggage along the frozen river bank were sent to the city.

On a clear winter day at the end of November, standing at the head of Iscal city, I could barely see three miles away on the west bank of the river with a resin telescope.

The 16-person hunting team sent by Iscal City a few days ago was wrapped in a thick fur cloak outside the armor, like a beast walking on snow, carrying a load across the glacier with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and sent back to the city Send the cart out.

They hunted two bears and some small animals that planed in the snow, and after crossing the glacier, they had no strength to get them to the city.

Ironically, hunting seems to be a means of increasing food, but in fact no one would choose it when the army is about to run out of food.

Dong Yiyuan allowed the soldiers to organize hunting teams out of the city because they had enough food, not insufficient food.

Because fishing, hunting, and gathering are tasks that consume a lot of physical energy, the physical energy they consume after hunting may even be greater than the replenishment of their hunting and fishing harvest.

Hungry people who are really out of food or encounter natural disasters usually choose to lie still.

Their prey can make the troops in the city kill, but the precious bear skin is damaged. The group adopted an atypical hunting method. After laying out bait, they dug a hole in the tree trunk and put the tiger squat cannon in it. Use the spare flintlock machine that has been changed from grenades to landmines to remotely control it by pulling wires.

One shot sent the bear doing somersaults on the snow.

This caused complaints from the soldiers in the city that they had to pick the pellets before eating meat, but this could not prevent the iron teeth from cracking after the stew was cooked.

However, the teeth belonged to the teeth, and Banner Army was very happy to eat two different dishes. He set up a big pot on the street and started to stew.

Not long after the hunting team returned to the city, the aroma of canned sauerkraut and stew spread throughout the entire city of Iscal, and the smoke and steam rose higher than the city walls.

The scouts on duty shouted loudly from the city: "General, there are people, there are people coming from the west!"

When Dong Yiyuan climbed to the top of the city, what caught his eyes was an army of nearly 450 people.

In fact, it is difficult for people to recognize them as soldiers from their appearance. They wear the same color standard cotton armor robes, and carry long axes and muskets. Someone is holding a flag with a double-headed eagle in front, and more People behind them use sleds to pull and drag the immobile troops and supplies to walk.

Their padded robes looked so thin in the snow, and they had few horses and dogs, but many sledges.

From their feeble march, Dong Yiyuan even guessed that they must have slaughtered the horses and dogs and ate them.

Another army with no food, it seems that the city of Iscal is their only hope.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)