I

In the evening, several generals had dinner together, and Zhang Tingxun was also called to accompany them.

The generals on both sides of the Duhufu and Hailanpao exchanged their current situations with each other. In fact, they spent most of the time bragging.

After tugging and tugging, Hou Rusong suddenly said: "I just received the news that the armies will expand again this year."

"Expanding the army?" Wang Fuchen was quite surprised.

Hou Rusong shook his head and said: "It's expansion, not army expansion. Originally, an infantry division had 11,000 people, and now it has been expanded to 12,000 people. A cavalry division originally had 13,500 people, and now it has been expanded to 15,000 people. The personnel in this expansion are not soldiers, but various civilians. , auxiliary troops and logistics. Even those who nail horseshoes will have military positions in the future, and most of them will be included in the cavalry sequence."

Wang Fuchen suddenly realized it and said with a smile: "It should be."

Zhang Tingxun suddenly interjected: "I heard from the teachers at the military school that this year the military school will also recruit more students. Each military school recruits ten people every year. They only study the basic course for one year, and they are divided into ordnance factories and horse farms to follow the masters there. Study. As for what I will do after I finish my studies, I am not too sure about this, but I will definitely enter the logistics office. In addition, the army is really going to be expanded this year. A new cavalry division will be formed in Hetao, and many of them are Li Zicheng’s old troops. Shaanxi will also form a new cavalry division. Division, probably to deal with Xihai (Qinghai) and the Western Regions."

A general named Lu Zideng said with a smile: "It seems that the imperial court is getting richer. To expand the army like this, the annual military expenditure will definitely be indispensable."

Wang Fuchen asked: "What other inside information does Captain Zhang have?"

Zhang Tingxun said: "It's not an inside story. All the teachers and students of Nanjing Military Academy know it. One Hebei Infantry Division was transferred south to garrison in Xuzhou. One Shaanxi Infantry Division was transferred south to garrison in Hanzhong. There is also a Shanxi Infantry Division which was transferred south to Nanyang. Garrison. One of my classmates was assigned to be the sentry commander in Xuzhou."

Hou Rusong guessed: "There are too many troops piled up on the northern border, and the south seems a bit empty. This deployment of troops is to prevent chaos in the south."

Zhang Tingxun added: "The titles are also subdivided. For example, the Duke is divided into first-class Duke, second-class Duke, and third-class Duke, that is, Duke of the country, Duke of the county, and Duke of the county. Several divisions transferred to the south this year , all the division commanders were promoted to county officials, and together with the division commanders previously transferred to the south, they were recruited back to Nanjing to serve as officials in the Dudu Mansion."

The generals looked at each other in confusion. This approach was not only increasing the military power in the mainland, but also the emperor was consolidating his military power.

In fact, they overthought it. Those teachers and commanders were all Conglong heroes, and they were also a bit older. Transferring them back to the Governor's Mansion was a promotion and a blessing, and they were also promoted to a noble title. At the same time, we are also giving promotion opportunities to young generals. There are only so many division commanders, and we cannot let veterans dominate them all the time.

The Governor's Mansion in the New Dynasty of Datong was different from the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, in that they all had real power.

Just say that Gu Jianshan, the left commander of the navy, has now been promoted to county magistrate. The establishment of the Naval Military Academy was promoted by Gu Jianshan, and the official shipyard was also under his jurisdiction (the chief officer of the shipyard came from the Ministry of War, and the second assistant officer came from the Dudu Mansion). He even had the power to appoint middle and lower-level officers of the navy and navy. officer. As long as you don't engage in massive corruption and just grab some money, you can completely avoid being noticed.

The generals did not dare to discuss these matters, so Wang Fuchen quickly changed the subject: "Will Hailanpao follow the expansion plan?"

"It's not possible for now. Your place is too remote. It will take another year or two before we will send you more civilian and logistics personnel," Hou Rusong said to Zhang Tingxun again, "Let's talk about the military academy."

Zhang Tingxun thought about it carefully: "By the way, it seems that changes will also be made to military academy graduates. From now on, graduates will not be assigned positions, but will be awarded military ranks. This matter is still under discussion. Generally speaking, the best group of students will be awarded lieutenants after graduation. , and the rest will all be awarded to second lieutenant." At this point, Zhang Tingxun laughed at himself, "An outstanding graduate like me should probably be awarded to sergeant."

Wang Fuchen praised: "This reform is very good. Only military ranks are awarded, and military positions are not assigned until the troops arrive. Local generals can also be arranged more flexibly."

Hou Rusong said with a smile: "It must be His Majesty's idea, just like becoming a civil servant in the imperial examination. When a new Jinshi arrives at a place, they are generally not arranged to be chief officials. Many of them start as junior officers to accumulate experience in politics. Nowadays, military academy graduates are awarded Lieutenants and second lieutenants will most likely be sentry officers (deputy company commanders) when they arrive in the army, and they will first learn from the sentry commander how to lead troops in battle."

Zhang Tingxun also said happily: "When there are more graduates from military academies in the future, I'm afraid I will have to start from the captain (platoon leader) and team deputy."

…

Yaksa.

The fortress expert Peter Beketov came with 54 Cossacks to support this place. His task was to build a bastion in Yaksa.

Stepanov greeted Beketov warmly, gave Beketov a bear hug, patted him on the shoulder and said, "You are finally here!"

Beketov explained: "I could have come last year, but the (Mobei) Mongols were defeated by the Khitan (Chinese) army, and Buryatia completely lost the protection of the Mongols. So we opened up another project east of Lake Baikal I established a new stronghold. The new stronghold is in a place called Nerchinsk. I spent the last year building a castle there, and this year I will come here before the snow melts."

"Nerchinsk? Has the castle been built there?" Stepanov asked.

Beketov said: "Not yet, but the main body has been built. I also left them the drawings, so you don't need to bother me with the rest."

Stepanov said: "Just come. There is a place called Hailanpao downstream, where a large number of Khitan troops are stationed. The troops in my hand simply dare not go there. So I must build a castle for defense first, and then consolidate it." After here, we will look for an opportunity to sneak attack the Khitan people. As long as the Khitan army there is eliminated, the entire Amur River (Heilongjiang) basin will surrender to His Majesty the Tsar!"

Beketov was taken to eat and rest. The next day he inspected the terrain and designed the castle based on the human resources here.

A few days later, Beketov completed the drawings and explained in detail: "You are short of manpower here, so you can only build simple bastions. You have already built the square castle walls, and bastion structures should be added to the four corners." . The position of the fort needs to be changed, and then the fort should be built into a fort. In front of the earth wall and the fort, a delay wall and a trench should be built."

Stepanov said: "The amount of work is a bit large and I'm afraid it won't be completed within this year."

Beketov said: "The lag wall can be replaced by a wooden fence. First, set up two rows of wooden fences inside and outside. Pour the soil dug out from the trench and pound it tightly between the two rows of wooden fences. Inside the trench and around the trench, you can Insert sharpened wooden thorns. By the way, there is no well in the castle, so you need to dig a well quickly to prevent the long-term siege from lack of water. The well must have water pipes connected to all parts of the castle, so that you can quickly draw water in case of fire. "

"He is indeed a fortress expert!" Stepanov was very satisfied with this design.

This guy Peter Beketov was responsible for the construction of the castles in Chita, Nerchinsk, and Yaksa. He also explored Yakutsk and the surrounding areas. The first castle in the Baikal region was built by this man.

As soon as the drawings were drawn, Stepanov immediately started work.

Cossacks, Siberian hunters, and Daur slaves captured from the surrounding areas were all mobilized.

The four earthen walls of the castle have been completed long ago. What remains is to dig wells, dig trenches, build bastions and cannons, etc.

Stepanlov was the vanguard sent by the Tsar, with 150 regular troops. Although they are said to be regular troops, they are actually recruited Cossacks, but each of these 150 Cossacks is equipped with a matchlock gun. In addition, there are more than 300 Cossacks from Lake Baikal and more than 400 indigenous Siberian hunters.

With a total of more than 800 troops, they were almost out of food. They robbed and killed nearby natives frantically, and continued to grow food in Yaksa.

The Daur slaves here are miserable. Even if they help build the city, they can only eat porridge every day. Most of the slaves were so hungry that it was difficult to even walk, and they had to be whipped to carry earth and rocks. Every day, slaves fell to the ground and died.

After building the city for more than ten days, another Rakshasa ghost came by boat.

Dmitry Zinoviev, a nobleman of Tsarist Russia, led 50 arquebusiers and came to Yaksa in a hurry.

Stepanov, a fake nobleman, hurriedly went to greet him and knelt down directly: "Why is the general here in person? Is the three thousand army here?"

Zinoviev shook his head and said: "There are no three thousand troops. The empire has declared war on Poland and cannot send troops to Siberia. I only have 50 soldiers in hand. Have you collected the food and grass here?"

Stepanov said: "There is a Khitan army downstream, and I dare not go there to grab food."

"How many people are there in the Khitan army?" Zinoviev asked.

Stepanov said: "It's not clear, but there are at least a thousand people, and I only have more than 800 people."

Zinoviev scolded: "Cowards, more than 800 imperial warriors are enough to destroy 3,000 Khitan troops. You must gather troops immediately and follow me to the lower reaches to collect food!"

Stepanov was stunned: "The castle will not be repaired?"

"If you don't have enough food, why build a castle? If the Khitan army comes and surrounds the castle, we will all starve to death!" Zinoviev said.

Stepanov looked at Beketov, and the two looked at each other, feeling that the man in front of him was mentally retarded.

But it is understandable. How many real nobles are not idiots?

Zinoviev said: "I have been appointed by His Majesty the Tsar as the general manager of Amur (Heilongjiang). Everything here must obey my orders!"

As a result, the construction of the city was temporarily stopped. In order to save food, all the redundant slaves were killed, leaving only some for farming.

Just when the Datong army sent out a surprise attack, the Rakshasa ghost actually took the initiative to attack.

Faced with a stupid boss, Stepanov used his subjective initiative as much as possible and sent more than a dozen ships to explore the route. Once the situation was discovered, he immediately retreated.

The two sides collided more than ten miles away from Hailanpao.

Zinoviev, the aristocratic general, looked stupidly at the battleships of the Datong Army, and then at the Cossack boat he was riding in. Without any harsh words, he immediately shouted an order: "Withdraw the castle defense!"

These Cossack boats rowed so fast that the Anton Navy warships could not catch up.

Hou Rusong said depressedly: "Damn it, the raid failed."

On the Datong Army side, the Cossack leader Khabarov serves as a guide.

Khabarov was familiar with Cossack tactics. Cossacks would flee if they couldn't win, or even flee without fighting. Therefore, the plan this time was to attack by surprise and march by night to block the upper reaches to prevent the Cossacks from escaping by boat.

Now that the plan failed, it was possible that the Cossacks fled directly to Nerchinsk.

Both Stepanov and Beketov knew how to fight, and they both thought of giving up Yaksa. The former said: "Master Manager, we cannot fight head-on. The Khitan army is too strong. I suggest giving up Yaksa and retreating to the Nerchinsk area. , lengthen the enemy’s supply line, and then look for opportunities to sneak attack on the enemy!”

As a nobleman, Zinoviev was not used to the Cossack fighting style. He asked: "What if the enemy does not pursue me? What if the enemy takes the opportunity to occupy Yaksa, station and improve the castle here? By that time, We are stuck in Nerchinsk, and we will never be able to get involved in Amur (Heilongjiang) again."

This makes sense and cannot prove who is right or wrong.

One is the thinking of a regular army, which must firmly control strategic locations.

One is the mentality of a Cossack bandit: run away when in danger and come back when you have an advantage.

The noble Lord had the final say, but the Cossacks actually did not run away, and dared to hold on to the Yaksa Castle despite lack of food.

Wang Fuchen and Hou Rusong led their troops here and felt incredible when they saw the Rakshasa ghosts guarding the city.

Why doesn't the enemy run away?