At the source of the Yellow River in Guandao, Xikang, there is a Huangyuan Station.
This is the twelfth station along the Xikang line. It is six hundred miles away from Chaka Salt Pond in the north and a thousand miles away from Nangqian in the south. The local population is sparsely populated, with only a thousand households within a hundred miles, and most of them make a living by herding.
In the spring of this year, Zou Feng, the former chief of the Lion Army, received the letter of appointment as the ninth-grade Yi Cheng in Nangqian and arrived here with his eleven Lion soldiers.
It is very difficult for transferred cadres like the Lion Army to work in local areas, because the support provided to them by the Marshal's Office is basically an enlarged version of the support He Renlong provided to the Liu brothers.
The day Zou Feng learned that he was going to be appointed as Yi Cheng, he was extremely happy. This is like being an official!
He was originally from the Ningxia frontier army. He didn't have any impressive resume. He picked up the sand at the base of the Great Wall and fought against the northern barbarians. He didn't make any money or make any great achievements. He followed He Huchen into the army. In Yan'an Prefecture, Liu Chengzong was poisoned by a bowl of ginger soup.
The circumstances in life were neither good nor bad. He was born into a poor family, and he was used to not having military pay. Anyway, he later followed Liu Chengzong and had a good meal, and he became quite successful by virtue of his status as a border soldier.
Anyway, everything is pretty desperate these days. I can still have some hope following Liu Chengzong. I originally thought that if I could follow the marshal and manage the team for the rest of my life, when the marshal's government pays military pay, it would be enough to start a family.
After all, although the Lion Army wants to fight back to the Central Plains, the commander-in-chief and senior generals can just think about it and forget about it.
For grassroots officers and soldiers, having enough food to eat, some pocket money, marrying an aunt and having a few children, acquiring a piece of land in the future, and having a stable income is much more practical than returning to the Central Plains to become a prince or general.
Zou Feng was very excited when he was suddenly appointed as an official.
Although I don’t know where the inn is, the name sounds like a good place.
Zou Feng had a friend named Xie Baixing, who was also a commander in the Ningxia border army who surrendered to Liu Chengzong with him. He was assigned to Kuhaiyi and was often laughed at by him. It sounded like an unlucky place.
Zou Feng called to his brothers, unloaded all the equipment, loaded it on the truck, and pushed it to the magistrate's office. From now on, we will be officials. We must pursue an official career, study more, work well for the commander, and complete the post station. In the future, If I move my butt up, Yi Cheng will definitely choose from among you.
But when he took office, Zou Feng realized that something was wrong.
He thought to himself, "I am the postmaster, why don't you give me some food for the post station?" If I can't put some farm tools away, I'll go over and reclaim the land.
But the Marshal's Mansion doesn't produce food.
Yang Dingrui, the prefect of Nangqian, cordially saw him off and gave him no gifts before leaving. All that really belonged to Yi Cheng was an iron seal and a letter of appointment. The rest was to load their car with the specialties of the Marshal's Mansion.
Twelve lion soldiers, including the chief, the brave chief, the commander, and the fire chief, had just unloaded their equipment, loaded it on a cart and pushed it to the prefect's Yamen. Who knew that the prefect's Yamen did an inventory and not only took away the original equipment? Loaded up their cars and added some new stuff.
The waist knives and spears, the cavalry bows and blunderbuss, the guns and gunpowder, the armor and cotton armor, and the felt tents and quilts were all still there. The prefect's Yamen also gave them 300 arrows, three large barrels of gunpowder, and more than 100 tea bricks. .
They even installed a door bag on the car to lock the seventy-pound lynx grandson of Huang Shengxiao, the commander of Mobao Artillery Corps.
The Lynx Sun is a small red barbarian cannon made by Huang Shengxiao based on the Lion Cannon. It is named Shanmao, but the garrison in Nangqian all calls this thing the Lynx Sun.
This set of equipment made him feel very excited. He had never brought so many weapons and equipment with him since Xining and the Marshal Nanzheng.
Zou Feng asked Yang Dingrui: "Mr. Yang, is this Huangyuan Station occupied by the enemy?"
Yang Dingrui quickly shook his head with a smile: "No, no, there are few people there, so you have to go hunting."
Full of murmurs, Zou Feng led eleven lion soldiers to take office, only to realize that Magistrate Yang was a scholar and spoke tactfully.
Does that mean it's sparsely populated?
Even though they were heading north, the terrain of that damn place was higher than Nangqian and could freeze a calf to death.
Within a radius of a hundred miles within the three stations, there are two tribes of people and one tribe of Mongolians living together, with a total population of less than 2,000. They are all nomadic, there is no one at all, and there are more wild donkeys than people.
What's the most irritating thing? Zou Feng has been mocking Xie Baixing, the prime minister of Kuhaiyi, saying that it is an unlucky place.
When he finally took office, he found that the two of them were on the same road, with Xie Baixing's Kuhaiyi Station standing just in front of him.
Huangyuan is the summer and autumn pasture for local herdsmen. When winter comes, the herdsmen all go to Kuhaiyi because the winter there is slightly warmer!
It turns out that my own territory is worse than others.
But when they arrived at Huangyuanyi, Zou Feng felt relieved. It was not much better anyway.
There are mountain roads from south to north on the other side of Kuhai. There are mountain roads to the north and flat terrain to the south. He can only use the ferry built by the locals.
During the two months after the New Year, Zou Feng tried to cultivate 20 acres of land, but the seedlings were planted too early and they all froze to death. He raised ten small animals, but two of them were still alive during a cold snap.
Yang Dingrui's foresight was reflected. Twelve lion soldiers were stationed in Hebei and one in Henan to operate the two ferries that were exchanged for tea bricks and ferrymen. The rest of them all became hunters. Fortunately, there were a lot of wild animals in this place. I can barely survive, and living is harder than being a soldier.
But even so, the life of the Lion Soldiers is much better than that of the local people. They have guns and artillery weapons, and the local people do not dare to rob them despite the large number of people. Moreover, they also have tea bricks, which are high-value goods here and can be compared with the people. In exchange for livestock and rations.
With these, they became the targets of the tribal leaders' efforts to win over. Within one month, all twelve post soldiers married local aunts.
With the help of local people, Zou Feng finally built three walls, and Huangyuan Station took the prototype of an inn.
Until the end of March, a message from the bitter sea broke Zou Feng's peaceful life. The Tatar army from outside Suzhou attacked Xining Prefecture. The postman delivering the message from the north was intercepted and injured. Before he died, he told the herdsmen the news and sent him to Xining Prefecture. Arrive at Kuhaiyi.
Xie Baixing invited Zou Feng to come over, and the two postmen stared at each other all night, wondering whether they should send the news to Kangning without a letter.
Just when the two were at a loss in Kuhaiyi, dozens of fleeing Mongolian herdsmen came from the north, followed by hundreds of enemy cavalry in pursuit.
Both of them were ignorant when it came to being Yi Cheng, but when it came to war, they were experts.
There was no danger of Kuhai Post being defended. Xie Baixing made a prompt decision and entrusted Zou Feng with the heavy equipment, refugees, and local people, and asked him to lead the troops to retreat south. He led eleven post soldiers into battle and organized defense on the spot.
With the echo of the three-eyed gun echoing in the valley, Zou Feng retreated all the way to Huangyuanyi, organized people to cross the river south, and finally burned down the ferry. More than 600 herdsmen and dozens of refugees north of the Yellow River were rescued.
But including Xie Baixing, none of the twelve lion soldiers of Kuhaiyi escaped.
Among the Mongolian refugees who fled, there was a monk who could speak Chinese. He said that they were tribesmen of Guru Taiji. They were suddenly attacked by Huaidan. Xiao Lazun did not allow them to cross the Yellow River, so they had to flee to the Han people. The place asks the generalissimo to make the decision.
Zou Feng's expression was complicated. It was normal for people to let the Marshal's Mansion make the decision. The elite soldiers and generals such as Taiji followed Taiji to the south, and now they are probably all camping in Tibet.
But in Huangyuanyi, how can it be called a Han place?
There are only twelve lion soldiers and three earth walls within a hundred miles.
With no other choice, Zou Feng could only bite the bullet and pass the news for help southward. On the one hand, he checked the equipment and actively prepared for war. The weapons Yang Dingrui asked him to carry would finally come in handy.
The Mongolian cavalry that came from afar burned the felt tents on the other side that the herdsmen had no time to take away, and rode their horses around. It was clear that they wanted to cross the river and continue the attack.
Seeing the twenty acres of land he had worked so hard to cultivate being trampled by horse hooves, and thinking of the death of his friend in Kuhaiyi, Zou Feng was filled with rage.
Others persuaded him to lead the people to retreat south, but he refused: "I am Huang Yuanyi Cheng. If Huang Yuanyi is gone, what is the use of Yi Cheng?"
Zou Feng wanted to take revenge.
The benefits of intermarriage were clearly seen at this time. The father-in-laws, brothers-in-law, and brothers-in-law of the post soldiers were all recruited by Zou Feng. He also selected young men from refugees and tribesmen to form a team of hundreds of people to serve as coastal defenders.
The two sides faced each other across the Yellow River. These Mongolian soldiers who came from nowhere lacked the means to cross the river. The two ferries on the river were in the hands of Zou Feng. No matter how angry they were, they were helpless to cross the river.
He counted the number of Mongolian soldiers on the other side day by day. At first, it was four to five hundred, and then the highest number was close to a thousand, and then it gradually became less. However, they began to pull out wood that had been dry for an unknown period of time from the mountains to make boats. .
Finally, half a month later, the number of Mongolian soldiers on the other side remained at more than 200. Zou Feng thought that his opportunity had come.
He has two boats, one large and one small. The small one can carry six people, and the large one can carry twenty people. Based on the warship design ideas inherited from the Qinghai Navy, the large ferry was quickly modified.
Without Liu Chengzong's knowledge, the Qinghai Marshal's Office added the Yellow River Navy to its establishment.
The Yellow River Navy has a total staff of nineteen people, including one admiral, eleven sailors, five baggage soldiers, and two boatmen.
It is equipped with a heavy-fire warship with two cannons, two muskets, and eight light and heavy muskets, and a small salvage ship.
On the morning of April 18th, the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Yellow River Navy completed its oath of oath on the south bank of the source of the Yellow River. Then all members boarded the ship and set sail. When they saw the Mongolian cavalry wandering along the coast, they launched a fierce attack, attacked the enemy's shipyard, and killed nine enemy soldiers. , three war horses.
Then the salvage ship with a crew of six people quickly docked, and five heavy baggage soldiers landed with knives, salvaged the enemy's supplies and dead horse corpses on the ship, and set fire to three sampans under construction. They returned victoriously.
I originally wanted to grab a completed small sampan and use it as salvage ship No. 2, but it sank as soon as it was launched into the water.
After that, Admiral Zou Feng became more and more courageous as he fought every day, winning nine battles and nine victories. He even captured two prisoners and defeated the enemy so that they did not dare to herd horses for a mile along the Yellow River.
Zou Feng also summed up a set of equipment ideas suitable for combat during the battle. The two Lynx Suns that were loaded onto the ship were unloaded during the second battle.
A total of one cannon fire was fired, but failed to hit the enemy. However, the sailors on the ship were frightened and feared that the ferry would sink to the bottom, which greatly affected their morale.
On the other hand, the gun is very useful on the ship. If it is far away, it can be loaded with large lead bullets, and the hit rate is extremely high. If it is close, it can be loaded with broken iron slag. One shot of the gun can kill more than a dozen people with bloody heads.
The Mongolian nobles on the other side were so angry that they moved more than 200 people to hide at the foot of the mountain to build ships.
Not only are ships being built on the other side, Zou Feng's next plan is also to build ships.
His father-in-law was the leader of a nearby tribe, and with the trophies snatched from the salvage ship, the entire tribe used masking equipment.
But the equipment can be looted, but the quality of the soldiers is not good. In this sparsely populated place, people rarely fight. The conscripted father-in-law army basically has no experience in fighting. Even if they put on armor and hold scimitars, they look like a group of grass bandits.
The father-in-law said with a sad face: "Feng'er, you can't even build a boat, and if you build a boat without a magic weapon, you don't dare to fight."
"Old man, the purpose of building boats is to cross the river. We can't build boats, but those Mongolians can? Anyway, neither side can build boats. We still have a ready-made boat to look at."
The Mongolian nobles on the north bank of the Yellow River built ships to kill Zou Feng.
Zou Feng built the ship to provide an opportunity for the army to cross the river, because he already knew where the enemy came from from the prisoners.
The leader of the enemy was Choktu Taiji who had stationed outside Gansu during the Tianqi period. He led the Mongolian nobles from Khalkha and united many Mongolian nobles stationed in Huaidan and other unlucky places.
"I learned from the prisoners that this Tatar coalition has 30,000 soldiers. This number is basically all the Mongolian soldiers in Qinghai except the Tumut tribe."
The father-in-law was frightened when he heard this. He may not have seen more than 30,000 people in his life. He quickly waved his hand, took Zou Feng's arm and said, "Then why don't we run south?"
"Why are you running? You can't fight them?"
My father-in-law slapped me on the forehead.
In fact, Zou Feng's father-in-law is very happy recently. His son-in-law is very capable. The number of Mongolian soldiers who died in his hands is not more than 100 but also 80. The loot he grabbed is piled up like a mountain. It is because he started a business on the Yellow River with two ferries.
But when I heard that there were tens of thousands of troops on the other side, my father-in-law, who had never seen much of the world in his life, felt timid. He just didn't dare to say, 30,000 people, how many troops does your Qinghai Marshal's Mansion have? Maybe even Xining Mansion will be lost.
Zou Feng knew what his father-in-law was thinking, so he waved his hand and said, "I can't leave. The marshal must be rushing north. My brother died on the other side. If I run away, I'll be sorry for him, the marshal, and myself. Besides, Xining Can’t throw it away.”
"How do you know you can't throw it away?"
Zou Feng was speechless for a moment. How should we explain this? Because there is a big fool named Xiao Lazun in the Northeast?
He analyzed Chuo Ketu's march route. He did not follow Gansu through the Qilian Mountains, but directly attacked the territory of Salt Lake and Guru Taiji from Huaidan.
However, Xiao Lazun, who was entrenched in the east of the river, was indifferent to this matter and did not allow Guru Taiji's tribe to retreat eastward. He even wanted to take this opportunity to steal his brother's hand.
Therefore, Zou Feng speculated that the territory between Chaka Salt Pond and the source of the Yellow River that once belonged to Guru Taiji was probably completely occupied.
"Master Liu is in charge in the north and has established Haixi and Haibei counties. The commander also stationed General Zhong Hu's 1,200 elite troops at Nanshan Pass. If Chuo Ke Rabbit can capture Nanshan Pass, there will be no need to leave from Chuaidan."
Zou Feng waved his hand, and then raised his thumbs confidently: "So listen to me, let's build the ship, and wait for the commander to come back from the south for reinforcements. God in Qinghai still has the commander in chief. Your son-in-law... will definitely get a hundred generals. Do it!"
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