open sea

Chapter 1391
Yermak was very uncomfortable.

One month before and after the city of Isker in the south was captured by the Ming army, he had been leading a small fleet to attack the Khanate tribes on both sides of the lower reaches of the Irtysh River.

Although there were only a hundred or so people, they relied on small boats to move fast along the river, and as the winter season approached, the tribes were grazing and returning to the enclosure. The grasslands were used to letting go of their vigilance, so he succeeded several times and saved enough for six to seven hundred people. Food for the winter.

The limited armed forces of the Khanate could not deal with him at all. Dozens of small boats carrying Cossacks with muskets attacked on the bank. .

He is raising food for the whole tribe.

As a result, the food was raised and the soldiers were gone.

The defeated army who fled from the south said that the enemy army that captured Isker City had a lot of muskets and artillery, but Yermak didn't believe it at all.

It is not that the Siberian Khanate does not have muskets, and it is not that Kuchu Khan has never captured muskets in past battles with mutual victories, but they do not know how to use them at all.

In their hands, muskets are not weapons for killing but fire sticks. So what if there are more?
He insisted that the fall of Isker City was caused by the defenders underestimating the enemy. After the night attack troops outside the city were defeated, the defenders in the city didn't take it seriously, so that the city changed hands that night.

Therefore, Yermak decided to lead his troops to take back the city.

The Tsar's reinforcements were still behind, and he must have a decent place for the regular army to station-although he didn't like the Tsar's regular army.

He even planned to send people back to the territory of the Stroganov family in spring, and then recruit a group of Cossacks to enter Siberia.

Yermak is a proud man. He thinks that the incompetent Tsarist regular army is not worth mentioning. He is the real master of this land who drove 840 people straight into the Siberian plain, and only he can realize the interests of the empire.

He also has more than 200 old subordinates, which are enough for him to deal with any possible emergencies.

So he decided to counterattack and go back. The river was frozen, but they still had sleds, and they could approach the city as quickly as they sat on sleds.

That day was the last day of the 11th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty.

At night, the moon hangs high, and the city of Isker is close at hand. Among the Cossacks, a Tatar who is good at archery, wearing a white robe, touched the city and shot a letter of war full of Yermak's love for Kuchu Khan. to the city.

Yermak never thought that this letter would be seen by the defenders. He just wanted to find this letter and use it to insult Kuchu Khan after capturing the city without anyone noticing it.

And sent this letter to Moscow after the victory to let Tsar Ivan IV know how brave and fearless his loyal warriors were in Siberia.

But not long after that letter was sent to the top of the city, the dilapidated city of Isker, which had been scrambled several times in just one year, was full of people. red lanterns.

As the night approached, the sound of gongs, drums and suona in the city became noisy, as well as the sound of jubilation that sounded like howling ghosts and wolves.

There is weirdness everywhere.

After careful consideration, Yermak concluded that pre-war mobilization was underway in the city.

Obviously, time is waiting for me, and the attack must be carried out quickly. The mobilization of the enemy troops in the city seems to be very successful, and if there is no attack, it will be too late.

Under the leadership of Yermak, more than 200 Cossacks put on the plain cloth obtained from the lower reaches of the Irtysh River in the north as a concealed color, and slowly touched the only gap in the city wall covered with knee-deep snow.

The closer he got, the more the noise in the city hit his ears, and it even made him wonder what was going on in the city.

When he was about to approach the gap, the Cossack in front suddenly turned around and told him in a low voice that the gap was blocked by the car wall and boulders, and it was difficult for them to climb over.

Yermak regretted shooting the letter into the city.

At this moment, he doubted how many garrisons there were in the city. At least when the city belonged to the Cossacks, they didn't have enough labor to seal the gap.

People's minds are shaken. Some people raised the same objection when they attacked Iscal City last time, thinking that the enemy army in the city will definitely resist desperately. Now they only have 200 people, and it may be difficult to win.

Last time, Yermak told his subordinates a truth: everyone is a wanted criminal, and if they don’t make meritorious deeds, they won’t be pardoned, and even if they go back, they will be executed. It’s better to fight one last time, and everything can be obtained if they succeed.

At that time, they had soldiers but no food, and they advanced but never retreated.

But today is different. They have been pardoned by the tsar and have a retreat, and they also occupy a small city named Adik in the rear, storing enough food for winter.

People wanted to retreat, but Yermak didn't want to, he didn't want to be so useless, the bull who had just boasted in the letter would retreat by himself, so what happened?
That letter will be the laughing stock of the enemy.

The Cossacks were skeptical, and their long-standing prestige made people choose to obey Yermak's orders even if they believed that they should not do so.

They cleared the snow only [-] steps away from the city of Iscal, collected the gunpowder on people's bodies, gathered a piece of soil explosive enough to blow a hole in the wall of the car, and selected a few warriors, Lurk at the base of the city wall with explosives.

Time slipped away slowly in the difficult waiting.

It seems that the 'pre-war mobilization' in the city has ended, and the noisy air has quieted down, except for occasional indistinct laughing and cursing from afar.

This is a rare opportunity for Yermak.

He judged that the previous noise in the city was due to the nervousness of the enemy soldiers after seeing the letter. After mobilizing for a long time, they did not find any clues about them. Now the security in the city has tended to be relaxed. Wait a little longer, wait until they fall asleep. Best time to blast the gap.

On New Year’s Eve, the cold wind was blowing on the snowy field, and the Cossacks, who had been bestowed with warm woolen robes by the Tsar to keep out the cold, huddled together back to back, sat on the ground in the snow pit covered with plain cloth, and dozed off with their upper teeth gritted.

Even with the thickest clothes on, it was still extremely cold in the wild at night, and they had to take a sip of kumiss from time to time to get through this difficult time.

People have begun to fantasize in their minds, maybe not just fantasies or hallucinations brought about by the cold, they are looking forward to the warm houses in the city of Iskar, light a bonfire in the house, burn some hot water, soak in the lost Sensational feet.

Suddenly, maybe the leader was too cold to bear, maybe Yermak felt that the time had come, he stood up, and after a while everyone stood up, rubbing their numb legs, doing the same thing before charging. Final preparations.

The order has been issued, and the Cossack nicknamed Quick Legs has already trotted to convey information to the accomplices who planted explosives at the base of the city wall.

Suddenly, there was a shuddering sound of war drums in the city. In an instant, it seemed that hundreds of people were roaring at the same time. Before the Cossacks knew what happened, they saw bright flames suddenly bursting out from the distant city.

The four sides of the city, all the places, were suddenly bombed as bright as day, and the flames that shot up to the sky made cannon sounds in the air.

Like tens of thousands of muskets slamming on the top of the city, with huge light and breathtaking explosions, people can only see Yermak standing in the snow pit and waving his arms, but no one can hear what he is saying. what.

All but one thought: They're shooting at us, they're shooting at us from all directions!
Run!

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)