Chapter 19 Progress of the Northern Expedition Target Australia

Zhou Yuji and they had no major battles to fight in the north, and part of the army gathered on the edge of the North Sea (Lake Baikal) to build a base, and part of the army took the Mongol captives to build the road from Kuran (Ulaanbaatar) to the North Sea through Kyakhta. Zhou Yuji wanted to wait for the weather to be warmer before marching north. The local Mongols told them that if the weather was not warm, they would probably freeze to death on the road if they continued north, and that the horses could freeze to death if it was cold there.

Jiang Ji and the others waited until the ice at the northernmost estuary of the Heilongjiang River and Yaksa (near the Mohe River) had melted and the ice floe had drifted away, so they let the tugboat carry the provisions, and the brigade of men and horses went up the river along the Heilongjiang River. There was also a part of the army, directly to the west, to take over the Chahar and Horqin regions. Another cavalry division, led by Daur guides, headed north to Yakutsk, the base of the Russians in the Far East. Their goal is to completely eradicate the Russians there.

Because the Yaogang army solved the problem of the Russians and rescued the Daur people, and also provided them with a lot of food and daily necessities, and after a winter of getting along, the Daur people and the Yaogang army established a deep relationship, the Yaogang army was going to set off, and many young Daur people had to follow the team to set off.

Jiang Jian also needs the Daur people as guides, and the Daur people's ability to survive in the great deep forests in the north is not comparable to ordinary people. Therefore, Jiang Pai gathered the leaders of various ethnic minorities in various regions together and said to them: "Some brothers want to join our team, and we also want to absorb some outstanding young people. In the future, they will learn some culture in our team, and a lot of other knowledge. I also think that they should go out to see the world, and in the future, they will learn a lot of knowledge, and it will be helpful for them to come back to participate in the construction of their hometown! ”

Of course, the leaders were willing to let the young men of their tribe go out with such a procession, and they all said that they would send the bravest young men of their tribe to join the team. Many young people from the tribe need to compete before the winner can join the army. There are people from their own tribes participating in the team, and these tribes regard the Yaogang army as their own team.

These young people of the nation, after putting on military uniforms, are all in good spirits. The first request was to take a picture and send it home. In their house, there are always people looking at the photos. The jealous people in the tribe who were not soldiers had red eyes.

Yaogang is also very supportive of Jiang Mosa's approach, and is also ready to give appropriate subsidies and care to those families who join the army.

In fact, the number of Russians in the Far East is a few thousand, and many of them are exiled prisoners, but the Far East is so large that it will disappear as soon as it is dispersed.

The Yaogang Cavalry Division, which was advancing northward, left the north bank of the Heilongjiang River and walked north for a day, and when it was camping at night, the observation post found in the trees that fireworks had risen in the woods in front of it. The guide climbed the tree and looked at it for a while, then came down and said to the cavalry commander: "The fireworks in front of us were not burned by our people, and the fire we burned would not have emitted such a big smoke." ”

The commander of the cavalry division judged that it was Khabarov, who had returned to Yakutsk to ask for reinforcements, that he had returned with someone, and judging by the time, this guy should also come back, and the commander of the cavalry division sent several scouts to investigate.

It really made the cavalry division commander guess correctly, they met and it was really Khabarov who came back with reinforcements. After returning to Yakutsk, this Khabarov asked the Yakutsk overseer Franzbekov for reinforcements, and he promised to give him another hundred men, and he promised to conquer all the natives along the Amur River (Heilongjiang).

Franzbekov thought for a moment and sent Paichhkin with 137 fully equipped soldiers and hunters to support Khabarov. As soon as the weather warmed up, Khabarov and these men hurried to Yaksa. Khabarov wanted to see his stay in Yaksa as soon as possible, and those who came with Khabarov were already salivating by Khabarov's description of the richness of the banks of the Amur River (Heilongjiang) and wanted to fly there immediately. What they didn't expect was that Yaksa had already been taken back by the kiln gangsters, and the Cossacks who remained in Yaksa were either killed or taken prisoner. I didn't expect to meet their nemesis on the road. Unable to get any dry wood, the Cossack soldiers made a fire here to cook, and the smoke was so large that they were exposed. The Kiln Scout and the Guide quietly went over to reconnoiter and make sure they were in a good situation. They didn't even notice that death was already on them.

When the cavalry division commander heard that there were only a hundred people coming, he decided to kill the chickens with a knife because he did not want to let one go. He ordered a cavalry battalion to surround the Russian camp. Although it is spring, the temperature here is still very cold, especially at night in the mountains and forests. After the Russians had eaten and drunk enough, they left a few sentries behind, and they all hid in tents and went to sleep. The scouts of the cavalry division took advantage of the darkness of the night and easily wiped the necks of the few sentries hiding in sheltered from the wind. All that remained was to pack up the sleeping Cossacks in tents. According to the arrangement of the cavalry division commander, no one was killed, and two people were left in each tent, so that more than thirty people remained. Because they needed their help to lead the captured horses forward. Labor is worth a lot of money here.

Fortunately, there was an interpreter among those who remained, and the commander of the cavalry division told them through an interpreter that if they escaped, they would die if they were caught. The Cossacks all nodded and said not to run. In fact, they didn't dare to run, and in such a place, they wouldn't live long if they acted alone. Either starve to death or be eaten by wild beasts, or even be beaten to death by the mountain people who hate them.

When the cavalry division came to the front of Yakutsk, the vanguard encountered several Cossacks who came out to patrol, and had no choice but to shoot them dead, thus frustrating the original plan to attack the Yakutsk castle. I had to attack it instead.

In fact, neither the overseer Franzbekov in the Yakutsk castle nor the commander of the Kiln Cavalry Division knew the opponent very well, and both sides were not well prepared. When the cavalry division approached the Yakutsk castle, it suddenly fired a lot of shells from the castle, which startled the cavalry division. Originally, the commander of the cavalry division personally interrogated the captured Khabarov and asked him about the situation inside the castle, but Khabarov concealed that the castle was very strong and the artillery fire was very strong.

However, there were only more than 300 troops in the castle, and they all used very backward muskets that could not even compare with the muskets used in the kiln. There were a lot of guns, but the accuracy and power of the guns could not be compared to those brought by the cavalry divisions.

The cavalry division surrounded the castle and pulled Khabarov out and shot him in public.

Originally, the cavalry division commander did not want to destroy the castle, but if he did not destroy the castle and attack hard, those Cossack muskets and earth cannons would inevitably cause casualties, no way, the cavalry division had to put 120 heavy mortars on the mount, and the Yakutsk castle was knocked down with one kick, suppressed with machine guns, and covered the soldiers to rush into the castle with rifles and hand **, and quickly solved the enemy in the Yakutsk castle. More than 100 people were captured alive, including the Overseer Franzbekov. Large quantities of fur walrus ivory, walrus oil, walrus skins and other items were also seized. They also rescued several local tribal chiefs who were dying and had been kidnapped by them.

The military doctor of the cavalry division immediately gave the chiefs glucose, treated their inflamed wounds, and took sulfonamide anti-inflammatory drugs, which can be regarded as saving these people.

However, when interrogating the captured Yakutsk overseer Franz Bekov, this guy was very arrogant, claiming that he had arrived on the orders of the great Russian Tsar, which had been discovered by their great Russians and was now Russian territory. If you don't let him go, the emperor won't forgive you.

The commander of the cavalry division told him that this has been our territory for a long time, and if you come here to occupy it for a few days, you will say that it is your territory, so if we go to Moscow, will Moscow be our territory? However, the cavalry division commander didn't have time to talk nonsense to him, so he only asked him: "If you are willing to be our prisoner and participate in labor, we guarantee your life, if you don't want to, you can also say it!" ”

At this time, Franzbekov understood his situation, he knew that now he had to fight to live, otherwise everything was useless, he helplessly lowered his head and said: "I am willing to participate in labor!" But I am a nobleman, and you should give me the treatment of a nobleman. ”

The commander of the cavalry division said: "The chieftains we rescued are also nobles, and we will treat you according to the standards you have for them!" ”

"No, no, they're savages, they can't be like me!"

"In our eyes, you are savages, and you are treated the same as those chiefs. I have already told your other captives that if they do not obey our management and show signs of escape, they will be killed immediately and thrown into the woods to feed the wolves!" So are you! Do you hear me? ”

Looking at the eyes of the cavalry division commander who wanted to kill, this Russian nobleman no longer had any aristocratic stands, and hurriedly nodded yes.

After the Yakutsk Cavalry Division had taken possession, it rested for a while, and the healed chieftains were sent back to their tribes. Soon Yakutsk was lively, and the leaders of the tribes, knowing that the Kiln Gang had defeated the Cossack demons, came to Yakutsk and begged the Kiln Gang people not to go anymore and to protect them here. The cavalry division told them that they would not leave this time, not only to protect everyone here, but also to bring a large number of daily necessities soon, and also to collect the furs and other things in everyone's hands at a reasonable price. It is also necessary to organize everyone to build a big road all the way to Heilongjiang, and there will be cars here in the future.

Of course, the chiefs were delighted, especially when the kiln men gave them bottles of good wine and very good cloth, and they were even more happy. When they learned that the Kiln Gang Cavalry Division was still preparing to go north, the locals told them that they could follow the Lena River all the way down to the sea, and that they were willing to send someone to follow the Kiln Gang people.

Shi Tao and his men, who came with the cavalry division, took out a map of the Yuan Dynasty and showed them, and after identification, they determined that the river next to Yakutsk was the Lena River.

After studying, the cavalry division decided to move along the Lena River, land and water, and continue north to the sea to the north.

Now there is a 1,800-ton steam-wood ship, which set sail to the sea in the north of Quanzhou Port, which is the Shitao survey ship and the first steamship built by Quanzhou Shipyard. The ship was completely remodeled according to Shi Tao's requirements, with a steel deck, cannons, heavy machine guns, and a lot of measuring equipment, which was the first veritable survey ship in Yaogang. They were to march along the Bering Strait to the White Ice Ocean, where they would join the northbound cavalry division at the Lena River, if possible.

However, at this time, the survey ship had just reached the southern tip of the Andong Peninsula (Kamchatka Peninsula), and it was necessary to send more than 500 men and supplies of one of their battalions to the island in small boats, and then they could enter the Liuwei Sea (Bering Sea) and head north. Since they were constantly surveying, their boat was not very fast, even though it was very powerful. Because they have to actually measure accurate charts.

The battalion on the Andong Peninsula (Kamchatka Peninsula) was first and foremost tasked with surveying the geography and personnel of the area. The map in their hands is also the map of the Yuan Dynasty, and it is also very rudimentary. Therefore, their team is also an expeditionary team, because they don't know anything about this place, and they only know from the information that there are volcanoes, white bears and other few recorded things.

Soon after passing the Yaksa, they split into two roads along the river, one along the Shilka River to the west, and the other along the Erguna River. Both roads were waterways, with tugboats carrying heavy weapons and supplies on the river, and cavalry and infantry on the shore searching and advancing. The cavalry often swept through the past in a large net in multiple ways as a company, and when they encountered the Mongols, they told them in a friendly way that this place was under the management of the kiln gang, and the unfriendly ones were killed directly. When encountering the escaped Mongol soldiers, they directly killed one of them and left them behind, because they could not carry prisoners.

In addition to building a road from Kulen (Ulaanbaatar) to Beihai along the Selenga River with his captives, Zhou Yuji also expanded the dock in Kulen, because after the civilization in May, it would be possible to take direct boat access to the North Sea (Lake Baikal), and the rivers along the coast of the North Sea (Lake Baikal) would be well connected, and it would be very practical to take advantage of this until there were no better roads and railways. Zhou Yuji also put forward a request to his family to build a large shipyard in Beihai. The family is also thinking about how to transport the marine boiler to the North Sea.

The efforts of the Mongolian Great Living Buddha have also yielded some results, and many leaders of small tribes have come to Kulun (Ulaanbaatar) to see Zhou Yuji and express their willingness to obey the leadership of the Yaogang people. All of this, Zhou Yuji would send soldiers to their tribe to implement these things.

However, Zhou Yuji knows that such an expression is likely to be their expedient measure. However, there is no way, the road from Kulun to Yaogang must be repaired, and then the telephone and telegram will be received here, so that they can be inseparable from the economy and culture of Yaogang. But it's something that needs to be done a little bit.

Now it can be determined that those Chechen Khans who escaped from the mountains fled westward with thousands of people, which is the last thing Zhou Yuji wants to see, but there is no way, Yaogang means to wait until Jiang Jiao's army advances to Kulen's side, and then study the westward advance. Zhou Yuji also wants to do a good job of the place that was knocked down as soon as possible.

However, there is intelligence that the Russians have a large base along the Yeseni River, and there is also a Russian base west of the North Sea (Lake Baikal), and Zhou Yuji is studying how to find out the situation as soon as possible so that these hidden dangers can be removed.

After introducing the situation in the north, Emperor Chongzhen Zhang Zhimu nodded and said, "Okay! We can finally push the battlefield out as we please. However, those extremely cold places north of Zhang Dongjia's house, it is useless for us to occupy them, so it is better to subdue them and not dare to attack. Otherwise, we won't gain more than we gain by occupying those places! ”

"Your Majesty, the land there is ours and ours, and we must not lose it in our hands, so I'm sorry for our ancestors, and I'm sorry for future generations. There are endless treasures underneath those places, and we must hold on to our land this time, and not an inch will be lost. Zhang Zhimu knew that a large part of the reason why China lost a lot of places was that the emperor felt that those bitter cold places were useless and not worth the effort. In the future, we will take some time to educate everyone not to be short-sighted.

"Oh! I heard that in those extremely cold places in the north, it is very difficult for people to live, and the people there can only hunt some wild animals for a living, and they can't grow crops at all. "Emperor Chongzhen still feels that those places are not worth spending too much manpower and financial resources.

"Your Majesty! The oil and mineral deposits in the ground over there are the wealth of our children and grandchildren, and we will leave them to future generations, no matter how much effort we expend. Zhang Zhimu said seriously, "Our industrialization process has just begun, and we will need a large amount of minerals and a large amount of oil in the future." There will come a time when things in our land run out. Therefore, when we are strong now, we should try to occupy as many resources as possible. After the threat to our north is resolved, we will soon develop westward, and the Great Gobi Desert on the other side of the Western Regions is full of oil, and oil is black gold. ”

"Don't we have oil in Yanqing? Baode is also extracting oil, and you are going to extract oil in Dongying, is there not enough oil in these places? "Emperor Chongzhen can't understand what he needs so much oil for.

"Your Majesty, at the end of this year, our automobile factory in Taiyuan will be put into operation, and it will be able to produce 100 cars a day in the initial stage, so how many cars will be produced in a year, and how much gasoline will be used for so many cars every year. In the future, the production of automobiles will continue to increase, and more oil will be needed. In the future, every family will have a car, just like the bicycle of the kiln gangster, then there will be not enough oil, besides, the use of oil, not only to produce gasoline, but also to use oil! ”

"Hmmm! Maybe what you said makes sense, but I think that after we have dealt with the Mongols in the north, it is appropriate to solve the affairs of the Western Regions, which have always been a great threat to us. I heard that Zhang Xianzhong has begun to march to Uszang, I don't know what happened? ”

"I advise them to take a steady approach, step by step, with a lot of supply points on the road, and build the road as they go. So that we can support them. Until now, they have not met decent resistance. Occasionally, there are some Us-Tibetan soldiers, who are not vulnerable at all. Zhang Zhimu said.

"Oh! In the past, Uszang was very strong, and their army was also very strong! Emperor Chongzhen was very emotional, "Hehe! No army is an opponent for you now. What about the southwest? ”

"After we gathered troops in the southwest, we launched a counteroffensive against Burma, and there was no decent battle at all, and Qin Peng and they had captured more than 20,000 Burmese. Our warships will soon go to the Western Ocean (Indian Ocean), from which we can enter the Greater Jinsha River (Irrawaddy River), which runs through the north and south of Burma, and from there we will strike from the north and south to completely solve the Burmese problem. Myanmar also has oil, rice and teak. The main thing is that we solve the problem of Myanmar and can also open a passage to the sea to the Western Ocean (Indian Ocean). ”

"I've heard you talk about the passage to the sea a few times, is this so important?" Emperor Chongzhen didn't understand this.

"Your Majesty, seventy percent of the earth we live on is covered by oceans, and only thirty percent is covered by land. If we want to trade with distant countries, we must go through the sea, and we have a few more sea outlets, and it will be easy to go out. ”

"I still don't understand, we have such a big land, what do we want, why do we have to trade with those barbarians overseas, so we have to spend our time dealing with them." Emperor Chongzhen still has the idea of locking the country.

"Your Majesty, trade is mutually beneficial, and overseas trade is even more mutually beneficial. During the Song Dynasty, our country had an annual income of tens of millions of taels of silver, most of which was customs income. However, our Ming Dynasty only has a few million yuan of income every year, half of which is the income from the salt tax, which is actually collected from the mouths of the people. This is also one of the reasons why the Ming Dynasty couldn't afford to raise soldiers in the end. If we open up trade, not only will we be able to collect more taxes and silver, but the people will also benefit. Especially now, all the products of our kiln gang and overseas trade are hot goods. In Sulu, our aluminium products can be sold for about the same price as silver products. We can sell our wide cloth for ten times the price of the homespun cloth. Overseas trade is incredible. As long as we have confidence in ourselves, we should do overseas trade all over the world. ”

Emperor Chongzhen heard Zhang Zhimu say this, that is, he listened to the right and wrong, and asked: "Li Zicheng and they have fought far to the south, should they go to the south of the sea?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhang Zhimu said, "We also want to develop to the south, and the next goal is to drive away all the barbarians in Luzon, and drive away all the barbarians in Nanyang, leaving some sincere traders." However, there is one area where we want to work on something. Where is it called Australia, it is a very vast land, and there are only a few natives. Now that the British occupy it, we are going to take it over. ”

"Huh? And such a place? How big is there? ”

"It's almost the size of our country now! It has a hot climate, a large number of forests, vast savannahs, and abundant minerals. We're going to put some effort into running there. ”

"I support you in such things. Officials are needed, just talk! There are still a lot of officials over there who don't have a place to arrange! "Emperor Chongzhen doesn't know how to support Zhang Zhimu.

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New progress in "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty": the Battle of Yashan, the defeat of the Yuan army, the counterattack of the Song army, and the landing in Fuzhou.