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Eighteen 60-horsepower river steam cargo ships with a full load displacement of only about 120 tons slowly sailed north in the middle reaches of the Song River (Hudson River).

A kilometre in front of the flotilla, the Navy's river patrol boats were carefully performing their outpost military guard duties, led by the Mayflower, a converted river steamship, with several barges laden with supplies slowly towed behind it. The entire fleet was moving at a speed of less than 4 knots.

Even though spring has been declared on the calendar, the land of North America is still vast and snow-white. The snow along the banks is still deep, the Song River is gentle, and the trees along the river are lush and shrouded in layers of beautiful snowcoats, making it difficult to find birds and animals. Except for the sudden noise of the steamships swimming up, the surroundings were quiet, and the sight was almost all primitive.

Most of the river steamships were lined with rows of heavily armed army soldiers or dozens of Indian servants. In order to protect the body of soldiers on long-distance voyages in the cold season, they are usually able to squeeze nearly a company of transport ships, and during this trip north, the upper limit of the number of people is strictly limited, and more space is left for navigation support, such as each ship is equipped with a honeycomb coal stove for heating. From West Point to Albany, the sailing time would be more than 24 hours.

It's been half a day since we got to West Point, and now it's night, and the temperature is getting colder. The soldiers on board began to receive a ration of boiling hot water from the steamer, and began their meal with the dry fried noodles they had with them, each handing out two hard-boiled eggs, the only dish that looked classy.

The Mayflower, the largest tonnage with an 80-horsepower steam engine of the real yàn type, became the temporary flagship of the northbound fleet, on deck. A small searchlight had been turned on in advance, constantly sweeping over the fleet.

On the gun deck vacated from the Mayflower, dozens of soldiers were warming themselves with kettles full of hot water, while they were still huddled around a small honeycomb coal, while a few of them squatted in the ship's makeshift isolation bathroom.

"Qiao Yan, I'm afraid we've already walked hundreds of miles, right? It's fast! It's just that it's inconvenient to live, and it must be very cold to sleep at night. It would be nice to have a little wine. ”

Yu Shan leaned against the gun door, observing the gradually darkening scenery outside, and began to habitually "complain" again.

"Listen to the chiefs. It will be there tomorrow morning. Qiao Yan carefully licked a pinch of fried noodles in the palm of his hand into his mouth, and took a sip from the kettle, "Then we will also set up a temporary camp at the landing site." Then you can rest peacefully. ”

"Hey, did you see it, Corporal Makarov, actually holding a wooden shelf and chanting! And them, as if there is a grudge? Yu Shan leaned over to Qiao Yan's side, and secretly pointed to the squad leader who was leaning against the cabin wall not far away and was praying, as well as the other people who were obviously composed of two factions, revealing curious eyes, "You said that they wear a wooden shelf like a treasure all day long, what do you mean?" ”

"I guess it's a talisman. Didn't your mother make you an iron lock back then? Qiao Yan turned his gaze back nonchalantly and stared blankly at the ground deck, "I heard that when my mother was pregnant with me, she also planned to get me a ......."

Qiao Yan, who lost his mother at birth, suddenly fell in love.

"Qiao Shi. Scared? Take heart, and if you have any trouble in your heart, follow me and pray to God. ”

Suddenly, Makarov, who didn't know when he would finish chanting, bent over and patted Yu Shan and Qiao Yan on the shoulders. It was rare to show a terrible smile: "Of course, it can also be something you care about." ”

Looking at each other, Yu Shan and Qiao Yan were inexplicable.

"Your mother will bless you underground!" A minute later, Yu Shan seemed to finally understand Corporal Makarov's words, and actually patted his companion's shoulder with a serious face.

Sergeant Scott didn't seem to have much of an appetite, just leaning quietly against the end of the cabin, his eyes closed.

On the Mayflower was his platoon, more than half of which were veterans, and what made him a little uneasy was that there were many subtle changes in the composition of the platoon in this army reorganization. In addition to a handful of Delaware Indian soldiers, there were also Chinese soldiers who were assigned to a squad, and even a few Catholics in other squads!

A number of Catholic European soldiers in the cabin also seemed to feel a faint hostility from the time of the reorganization, and just squatted in a more remote corner, silently eating dry food.

As a Puritan, Scott had many bad memories before coming to North America, although in his original status, he could not understand how meaningful the Christian disputes were to his life, but the bloody battles and exclusions that had been constantly occurring around the family since his ancestors made Scott feel a strong discomfort almost subconsciously. This discomfort was far stronger than facing Chinese or Indian soldiers who knew nothing about God.

The cacophony of his subordinates eating and chatting in his ears and the broken Mandarin mixed with a large number of languages from all over Europe made Scott even more in a trance.

In boredom, he took out the sheepskin map that Old Man Allen gave him, and under the dim oil lamp, the yellowed lines and marks on the map gave people a strong sense of mystery.

A cold wind swept over the Song River and poured into the Mayflower's gun door, and the whistling and eerie screech caused the soldiers to scramble to close the gun door shutter. Finally, Scott tightened his grip on the map, looked around at the soldiers in the dimly lit cabin, and got up and bent over towards the soldiers in the middle of the cabin, the low deck space preventing him from fully standing upright.

"Everybody sit down. Jonah, Makarov, move the heater too. After squeezing past a few soldiers, Scott sat down in the middle of the soldiers and made a folded gesture towards his men.

After exchanging a few glances with each other, the soldiers silently gathered around, especially the Catholic soldiers, who leaned nervously against the outermost part of the crowd.

"Alright, now be quiet, whoever you have in mind is the greatest sustenance, and let's start praying. Victory belongs to China and the United States, and victory belongs to us! After Scott finished speaking, the first one lowered his head.

There was a moment of silence in the cabin, though. In the silence, there was a hint of yawning, and it was Yu Shan leaning against the corner and falling asleep.

In the captain's room of the Mayflower, He Yu and several officers were still holding a tactical mission arrangement meeting under the oil lamp.

"By noon tomorrow at the latest, we will arrive at the landing zone, where there is the trading post abandoned by the Dutch many years ago, where we set up our landing defense camp." He Yu pointed to a small dot on the map with a pencil. Looking at the second lieutenant officer of the combat engineer platoon, "The first batch of supplies is limited, Liu Chenxu." Your platoon of combat engineers will have to complete the most critical fortifications as quickly as possible, especially machine gun emplacements, watchtowers, storage areas for supplies, and radio and communication stations. ”

"I'm only less than 30 people, how much faster can I be."

Liu Chenxu, who is only 20 years old now. Cheerful personality, young with all kinds of unrealistic ideas once changed many jobs in the community, from the construction engineering team to the chemical plant, to the shipyard, the result did not settle down, and finally joined the army after the founding of the country, as a half-tone military fan became the acting second lieutenant platoon commander of the first professional engineer platoon.

"I'll arrange for the Indian Servants to help you, and it must be completed before the second shipment of supplies arrives in the fleet." He Yu didn't allow the other party to think about it, so he set the task to death. Then he turned his head to Lieutenant Deng Jian of the Second Infantry Company, "Deng Jian, your company will set off after the second batch of supplies arrives, and the target is this village to the west." A Objective. ”

With a stroke of the pencil, an arc looked from the landing site to a small dot about 10 kilometers away from Albany: "This is the closest target to us, and after reconnaissance, the population there is about 1,000 people." Equip you with a mortar and a hundred Mohicans. The target is located at the bottom of a curved river channel, surrounded on three sides by the river, intelligence shows. There is no ice in that creek, that is, if you attack from the east, they have almost no way to escape. After completing the mission, you escort the captives directly back to the landing camp. ”

"Yes, Major!" Deng Jian immediately stood up and saluted, with the demeanor of a professional soldier.

"Wu Yang, your third company is with me, our target is this village, target C, 15 kilometers north of Albany, the historical town of Troy on the west bank of the Hudson River, where there is a Mohek village of 1,500 people, we will go by boat, and after the battle, the prisoners of war will be transported back to the landing camp by boat! After a two-day rest, we continued our westward maneuver to Target B. It's the farthest afield, with large forests and swamps to traverse, and the road is very difficult to walk during the snow season. Target B has the largest population, about 2,500 people, so it is necessary to strengthen two mortars and two hundred Pecots and Delawares, and also carry pack horses and baggage convoys. He Yu used a pencil on the map again, and Lieutenant Wu Yang, the acting commander of the third company beside him, quickly stood up.

As the first officer in the army to marry a European woman, Wu Yang used to be just a clerk of an auto insurance website before the crossing, relying on a good skin and having a playboy "reputation", although he looked frivolous on the outside, he has always been very serious in his work.

"Liu Chenxu, your combat engineer platoon and Li Hao's machine gun platoon, as well as the remaining Dravaares, are responsible for guarding the landing camp, leaving a mortar for defensive firepower."

After all the plans were explained, everyone in the captain's room rubbed shoulders and was eager to try, and the officers were full of confidence.

For the Army of the Republic of China, which lacked combat experience, this operation was more like a winter training camp and a hunt in the wild, because their opponent was just a Native American tribe that had just entered the Bronze Age.

Thursday, February 9, 1623. Albany region in the middle and upper reaches of the Song River.

The landing site of the expeditionary camp was a long-abandoned Dutch trading post along the Song River, a few kilometers to the south, a small river that flows into the Song River from the west.

Since arriving at the destination yesterday, it has taken almost a whole day for more than a dozen river transport ships to unload their supplies. Due to the overabundance of combat support supplies, the river convoy will not be able to transport them in one go, so tomorrow it will return to West Point and transport the next batch of supplies a few days later, which will include a pack horse convoy of Delaware.

On the basis of the Dutch trading post, a circular camp covering several tens of acres has been built on the landing site with logs and cloth bags filled with sand and gravel. The Mohican and Pecot servants, under the command of the officers, continued to collect sand, gravel and timber from all sides to build camps, while a platoon of combat sappers began to purchase several fixed defensive positions with a small amount of cement prefabrication to house the four heavy "organ" platoon machine guns.

After more than half a year of hard work, General Industries finally broke the arms manufacturing monopoly of NORINCO. Jiang Zhaolong launched his first military equipment, the Type 23A heavy platoon machine gun, and officially equipped it with the army and navy at the end of last year.

Thirty-seven barrels of 15 mm caliber form five rows inside a perforated iron holster, which looks like a honeycomb nearly hexagonal shape from the front. Behind the barrel rack, there is a complex magazine and joystick firing device. The pre-loaded magazine with 37 rounds of ammunition is aligned and snapped into the loading position of the gun carriage to complete the overall propulsion and closure of the magazine. Each barrel completes the reloading operation. Shake the grip and fire the magazine at a specific position in turn, and you can complete the shooting of 4 barrels with each revolution.

After the shooting. All you need to do is release the locking mechanism and pull out the empty magazine and replace it with a new one. Theoretically, if the number of magazines filled with bullets is sufficient. Equipped with skillful loading and unloading, that organ machine gun crew will provide at least 300 rounds of 15mm Mini rounds per minute of sustained fire.

Although General Industries' machine tools represent the most cutting-edge manufacturing and processing technology in the United States of America in this era. But historically, the original machine gun had a painful structural principle, and the weight of the whole gun was very amazing, and it had to take a two-wheeled frame to maneuver.

When deployed for battle, even if it is removed from the frame and the tall base frame of the machine gun, the total weight of the whole gun in battle is more than 300 kilograms, and it almost takes six strong soldiers to barely carry it to the position.

The tall organ machine guns stood out from the crowd of important positions around the camp, and compared to the much more low-profile mortar platoon positions, it seemed that the task of guarding the rear landing camp did not fall on mortar fire. Only four 60-mm mortars were to accompany the attacking troops.

Near noon, seeing that most of the landing materials had been transported ashore, He Yu arranged a company of infantry to begin to advance north. On the reconnaissance map drawn by the army special operations team, there was an unknown Indian tribal village in that direction, with a population of only a few hundred people. This was also confirmed by a number of reconnaissance crews sent after the landing.

In the snow-covered plains along the river, the guide walked for more than two hours with a distance of only five or six kilometers, and when the army soldiers with loaded guns and ammunition gradually surrounded the small Indian village built with rudimentary animal skins and wood, the sight of the indigenous Indians who were fishing or hunting by the Song River rushed to the small village with wooden spears in their hands.

"It doesn't seem to be a Mohok, let's ask our 'translator'."

Deng Jian looked through the binoculars for a few minutes and waved his hand. A squad of soldiers walked towards the opposite side with a Pecot guide.

"They're Nalagensai?"

In the big tent, which was the temporary headquarters, He Yu looked at the Pecot guide and Deng Jian, who knew Indian language beside him, inexplicably.

The Nalagensai, once a vassal of the Pecots, a weak tribe sandwiched between the Mohoks, Pecots, and Mohicans, have historically betrayed the Pecots in the Pecot Wars. But now, this small tribe with only five or six hundred men, women, and children left, dared to migrate to the territory of the Mohoks in winter, which sounded amazing.

"I've already asked, these Naragensai people are here for the winter temporarily, and they will continue to go south after the beginning of spring." Deng Jian put Pecot Guide out of the tent and took out a sheepskin map from his pocket, "This is the map that my company's people, Sergeant Scott got from a European in West Point. ”

"Sergeant Scott? How could he have such an ancient map. ”

Unfolding the map with a hint of suspicion, the topography on it is similar to the map of his own people, no one knows the Dutch language, but the Indian settlements marked on the map are very inaccurate.

Several large villages are no longer on He Yu's own map, but there are several Indian villages in the southwest of the southern river of his landing camp, and the farthest one of them is marked with a large village of thousands of people!

As for the current village of the Nalagensa, there is no zài on the parchment map at all.

"How can there be such a big error? It's not the same thing as what we've spotted now. ”

He Yu frowned, folded the sheepskin map, and threw it on the table.

"It's been a long time, but according to Sergeant Scott, the man who gave him the map had been to Albany several times and was in the fur business with the locals, so it was clear that the contents of this map were not drawn all at once."

Deng Jian thought about it for a while, and still put forward his opinion very cautiously: "Why don't we send someone to cross the small river in the south and go to the southwest to have a look?" In terms of distance, most of them are distributed more than 30 kilometers away, but the terrain is relatively complex, with hills and primeval forests. ”

Obviously, the Army's special operations squadron did not conduct an in-depth survey of the hundreds of kilometers south of the river due to seasonal time constraints. The river that flows into the Song River from the west to the east naturally creates a security barrier on the map, and the other side of the river is not part of the future battlefield offensive area.

"Okay, you can arrange it. Since the Naragensa were vassals of the Pecots, they could not be regarded as enemies, but they could not be left here, and anyway, the fleet was to return to West Point to load the next batch of supplies, so they were all transported to the iron mines there and settled. ”

"Also, call Sergeant Scott in the evening, I have a few questions for him." He Yu was very satisfied with the serious attitude of this officer who had been trained by himself, and while looking at his watch, he gave the latest instructions.

Later in the evening, under the threat of the Pecot guide Fox and Huwei, a company of Chinese Army soldiers watched on the Naragensa, who had learned that they could be given strong security and had no courage to resist, all the men, women, and children of the village began to move and were put on the transport ship. They will serve as a new Indian vassal tribe as a source of hired labor near the Iron Ore Mines in West Point to settle the stagnant Iron Ore Mine production.

At night, there were several large bonfires in the camp, oil lamps were lit in the tents of the temporary headquarters, and a group of officers were firing. Sergeant Scott also attended the meeting and received everyone's attention.

"Major, I think there must have been a massive migration of Mohoks here, and the distribution of the population here has changed a lot, and at least two-thirds of the Mohoks are not in our reconnaissance range. And from the Nalagensai people, they arrived before last summer, and they were hardly bothered by the nearby Mohoks. Scott cautiously pointed to the parchment map that Old Man Allen had given him, "But my personal judgment is that the Mohoks will not give up this land that has long been theirs. ”

"I won't give up, so where did they go......" He Yu finally figured out why he felt the faint uneasiness after getting the information from the army's special operations squadron before, "Have the people who went to the southwest on the other side of the river to reconnoiter come back?" ”

"Not yet, I'm going to go tomorrow. And the range is too large, it is necessary to reconnoiter all in place, it is estimated that it will take at least more than a month to go back and forth, the terrain there is very complicated, the climate is also very harsh, and even the Pecot guides do not know anything about it. Deng Jian shook his head helplessly.

"As far as I know, the Indians of the North have a tradition of changing their settlements, and this map is too old ten years ago." He Yu glanced at Scott, who was standing across the table with a calm face, "Sergeant Scott, I'm glad you can attach importance to our northern operation this time, now we are in a very harsh environment, there are many recruits, I hope you can fully mobilize the morale of the soldiers." ”

"Yes, Major!" With a military salute, Scott turned and exited the temporary headquarters.

"Do you need to step up reconnaissance? Perhaps Sergeant Scott was right. Deng Jian looked at the back of the distant sergeant outside the gap in the tent and asked softly.

"It is enough to check a few recent coordinates, and if the Mohoks have not been found, it means that their settlement has changed as a whole. My guess is that most of the Mohoks here have migrated farther west to the Mohok Valley for the winter. We don't have a lot of time, the more delayed, the greater the material consumption, the higher the possibility of exposure, just follow the established plan! ”

He Yu put away the map and walked out of the tent that served as the temporary headquarters.

In the darkness of the night, it was snowing again, several large bonfires fought stubbornly in the cold snow, and more windproof oil lamps hung around the camp, and under the light of the lights, hundreds of army soldiers and Indian servants were stepping up the construction of fortifications everywhere. To the south of the camp, a makeshift prisoner of war camp enclosed only by log fences is taking shape.

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