I

Page 739

The first thing he did when he went ashore was to cut down trees, and the entire Jiangxin Island was covered by forests.

It took two days to cut down the trees and set up camp. The wood obtained from the felling was just used to make siege equipment and more wooden boats for crossing the river.

"worn out!"

Qiao Guang sat on the ground with his buttocks, his arms were shaking.

His family belonged to Shanxi merchants, but he had been doing business in Yangzhou for a long time and made a lot of money by selling salt, so he didn't have the time to collude with foreign enemies and collude with the Tartars.But Emperor Zhao won the world, Jiangxi and Huizhou merchants trembled, and Qiao Guangyong's father was forced to go north to get a license for the Changlu Salt Field.

A few years later, the imperial court checked the fields again, and the Qiao family was suspected of embezzling farmers' land.They were supposed to be exiled, but the local officials interceded, saying that those places were all saline-alkali land, and renting and building salt farms could actually increase farmers' income.

The imperial court specially sent a censor to investigate, and the situation is true.

It is true to occupy land, and it is also true to increase the income of the people.After repeated calculations, there is no need to be exiled, or even revoked the salt industry license, but a large fine must be paid, because this is indeed a violation.

The Qiao family suffered successive losses and had to expand its business scope.

As the eldest son of a concubine, Qiao Guangyong was thrown to Heilongjiang to start a trading company.The competition in the Songhua River Basin was fierce, and the competition in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang was also fierce. Qiao Guangyong simply took the risk to go to Hailan Pao.

This choice really paid off.

Then, he was conscripted by people and boats, not to mention the employees of the trading company, even he became a civilian husband himself.

"Young master, let me rub it for you." Qiao Nian, the second shopkeeper of the trading company, came over.

Qiao Guangyong sat on the ground paralyzed: "It's fine to knead, but if I cut down the tree for another two days, I'm afraid my life will be gone."

There are also a few guys who also ran over to serve, and the second shopkeeper finally didn't have to do it himself.

Some beat their legs, some rubbed their shoulders, some slapped their arms.

"Oh, oh, oh... Shu Tan, Shu Tan." Qiao Guangyong looked intoxicated.

A military officer came over suddenly and angrily said: "Are you here to relax and enjoy life, or to be a civilian husband?"

Qiao Guangyong stood up quickly: "Master Jun, I have never done hard work since I was a child. If I don't exercise my muscles and bones, I won't be able to get up tomorrow."

The goods winked, and the second shopkeeper immediately took out silver dollars.

The officer scolded angrily: "Give it to me, and bribe the general on the battlefield. Do you think your life is too long?"

Qiao Guang shrank his neck, a little at a loss.

Datong soldiers in the Heilongjiang River Basin would occasionally collect money.The sky is high and the emperor is far away, and it is nothing to make money in a bitter and cold place, as long as you don't make principled mistakes.In many cases, even the missionary officers turned a blind eye, because the soldiers here are really hard.

But this is a battlefield, anyone who dares to collect money will be killed.

Day three of landing.

After waking up from sleep, Qiao Guang had a sore back and back, and was called to dig a trench again.

Thousands of civilians digging forward in a Z-shape from several directions at the same time, this is to guard against the Zibao artillery on the opposite bank.

Qiao Guangyong didn't know what he was digging for, his palms were already blistered, and the ligaments in his legs were throbbing with pain.I feel sorry for myself, a young master from a rich family, who actually has to do this kind of job. Although the army is paid by the day, who the hell cares about the money.

There is no way, the population of Heilongjiang is too small, even the boss of a business company has to be recruited as a civilian husband.

A few days later, the trench was dug.

Li Zheng stood at the forefront of a trench: "Is it really possible to hit here? Did you calculate correctly?"

The artillery surveyor stood at attention and saluted: "After repeated calculations more than ten times, there are two locations in Jiangxinzhou where we are located that can be used as artillery positions."

When the Datong Army attacked Batavia, the geometric siege method they came up with had already been extended to the entire army, but it has not yet achieved any results in actual combat.

More than 20 artillery pieces were pulled out along the Z-shaped trench.

The gun body was completely hidden in the trench, and in front of it was a sack filled with soil, only half of the gun barrel was exposed.Even if the artillery of the two sides fired at each other, the artillery of the Datong Army was relatively safe, and the sacks could buffer the kinetic energy of the incoming shells.

Qiao Guangyong leaned against the wall of the pit to rest, and an officer beckoned them to pass.

Many places where the artillery is placed still need to be excavated and repaired.Qiao Guang was in charge of transporting some clods away, while the stronger-looking civilian husband adjusted the position slightly with the cannon.

The surveyors carefully calculated one door after another, constantly making angle adjustments.

Qiao Guangyong couldn't understand it at all, but he seemed to think it was very powerful.It was the first time he knew that he had to do problems in war, and he actually did arithmetic temporarily on the battlefield.

"This cannon is ready."

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sound of the cannon came from the opposite bank, and Qiao Guangyong shrank his neck in fright.

Fortunately, they have gotten used to it. When they were digging trenches, the opposite side would often fire at them.Most of the enemy's shells flew over the trench, only a few shells rolled into the trench, and one shell hit the wall of the trench.

So far, only one unlucky guy had his leg broken by a shell that rolled in while digging a trench.

Li Zheng waited for the enemy's shelling to end, and said angrily: "Test the cannon!"

"boom!"

The artillery shells of the Datong Army returned fire, and the trajectory of the shells was almost parallel to the city wall of Zibao, and then hit the corner of the wall.

"Error, a small error." The surveyor quickly explained.

"Adjustment?" asked the artillery battalion commander.

The surveyor said: "There is no need to adjust, it has been calculated, and some errors are normal."

Li Zheng said, "Fire again."

"boom!"

This time the shell flew very accurately, with a parabola at a very small angle, it barely passed the bastion in front and landed on the side wall of the fort.

Then, the shell bounced and rolled along the city wall, and four Cossacks were smashed along the way.One person was killed on the spot, and the other three were knocked off their legs.

The watchman of the hot air balloon waved a flag to indicate that the cannon was successful.

Li Zheng praised: "That's right, go and transfer to the next one."

As more and more shells did not bombard the city wall, but bombarded the soldiers on the city at a small angle in parallel, the Cossack officer in the sub-fort finally felt that something was wrong.

What kind of play is this?

Those Cossacks did not dare to stand in the middle of the top of the wall, and all huddled close to the parapet.The same is true for the Cossacks on the bastion, they leaned against the parapet to avoid collectively, because occasionally shells just fell on the bastion.

Li Zheng looked at the enemy's castle, thinking about how to attack with a headache.

The water area between the two Jiangxin Islands is only more than ten meters wide.It is close at hand, but it is like a moat, because it is impossible to dig trenches across the river, and it is necessary to land and attack by boat. The citizens and peasants who land are all exposed to the enemy's firepower.

"Guardian, the wind is blowing from the southeast these few days." The officer in charge of hot air balloons came over and said.

Li Zheng said: "It's not summer yet, the southeast wind must be blowing."

The officer said: "We are just to the east, and we are very close to the enemy's fort. Raise a hot air balloon at the southern end of Jiangxinzhou. As long as the rope is long enough, the hot air balloon will float over the castle. How about throwing ten thousand enemies down?"

Li Zheng thought for a while: "You can try it, but I don't think it will do much. Besides, you are very dangerous in the hot air balloon. If the enemy's shells break the rope, or the enemy shoots the hot air balloon with a gun, the soldiers in the hot air balloon There is no doubt about death."

"All the ropes in the entire army are connected into one piece, as long as it is high enough, the firecrackers can't hit it," the officer said with a smile. "If the rope is broken by a shell, it will be considered unlucky for us. And it doesn't necessarily mean that we will die. where to land."

Chapter 990 [Epoch-making air strike]

Bashkov, the Yenisei warlord, was very busy. He often left his warlord's garrison and went to the east of Lake Baikal for a stroll.

The castles of Chita and Nerchinsk were built by him!

After the Chita Castle was built, Bashkov simply stayed.He not only had to guard against the Datong Army, but also the Buryat Mongols and Sauron.Because the area around Lake Baikal was originally the territory of the Buryats, while Nerchinsk was the territory of the Saurons.

Before the Nerchinsk Castle was built, the Cossacks were even overthrown by the Buryat and Sauron forces, and the Warlord fled quickly with dozens of remnants by boat.

All kinds of encounters made Bashkov not only order to build the castle, but also increase the strength and weapons here year by year.

Upon receiving the news that the Datong Army sent troops to Nerchinsk, Bashkov rushed over from Chita by boat with reinforcements.At the same time, a herald was sent to summon all the troops around Lake Baikal.

"Guardian, there are local Sauron warriors here to vote!"

"Hurry up please!"

Before Li Zheng ordered a formal attack, a group of nearby natives suddenly came.

There were more than 200 people, carrying bows, arrows and hunting knives. When they saw Li Zheng, they kowtowed and knelt down. After reporting their names, they said: "General, as long as it is to kill Raksha ghosts, we can do whatever we want. We are willing to rush to attack the city." in front of!"

Li Zheng hurriedly helped them up: "You warriors have a heart, and the court will definitely not treat you poorly."

People's hearts are available!

Li Zheng didn't know that he was attacking Nerchinsk here, and Cossacks from all over the place came to rescue him.As soon as the Cossacks left their strongholds, the Buryats of the Baikal region moved.Of course the castle couldn't go on, but there was only Muzhaizi's territory, several of which were destroyed by the Buryats.

The southeast wind blows gently, and the monsoon is blocked by the remaining veins of the Daxing'an Mountains, and it has been very weak when it reaches Nerchinsk.

A hot air balloon gradually rose into the sky, and the Cossack gunner in the sub-fort hurriedly reloaded, then adjusted the angle and fired at the hot air balloon.By the time the cannonballs were launched, the hot air balloon had already ascended more than ten feet, and the cannonballs could only pass near the traction rope, and the closest shot to the rope was more than two meters away.

The breeze carried the hot air balloon and slowly floated over the castle. The Cossack defenders could not help but look up.

"It's over, it's over!"

Shen Kaizao stood in the rattan basket, waving the flag at the friendly troops on the ground.

This is because the take-off point was too close to the castle, and the rope was too long, so the hot air balloon actually floated over the city center.

After receiving the semaphore, a group of soldiers dragged the rope in the tunnel, pulling the hot air balloon back little by little.

"Stop, stop!"

A nearby observer held up a telescope and said.

Shen Kaizao put down the flag, bent down and picked up Ten Thousand Enemies.

There are three types of Ten Thousand Enemies today, five catties and ten catties for field battles, and twenty catties for city defense.

The one in Shen Kaizao's hand weighed ten catties.

The wind is not strong, and the hot air balloon is very stable.

Shen Kaizao looked down and felt that the position was still not correct, so he raised the flag to signal again.

After some dragging on the ground, it finally aimed at the bastion.

Shen Kaizao blew on the torch, ignited the fuse, picked up Ten Thousand Enemy and threw it down.

"boom!"

The first air strike in human history was born in such a ridiculous way.

The Cossack below is stretching his neck to watch.Suddenly, they saw a lump of black things, ranging from small to large in sight, and fell on top of their heads in a blink of an eye.

The early porcelain shell was invincible, but now it has also been changed. The shell is directly poured with pig iron, which is very convenient for dewaxing and molding.At this time, it fell from a high altitude, cracked the pig iron shell, and bounced to the side twice—boom!

The three Cossacks in the explosion circle went to God on the spot.

Six people were injured nearby, one was pierced into the stomach by a pig iron piece, one had his finger cut off by the iron piece, and one had more than a dozen iron sand embedded in his face...

Those who survived the injury rolled on the ground in pain, while the others ran away in fright.

Shen Kaizao picked up the second Ten Thousand Enemies, and was about to ignite the fuse, when he found that there was no one directly below him.

Hot air balloon bombing, that's the bad thing, you can't move freely.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The Cossacks returned fire, firing bullets into the sky.

Shen Kaizao was a little guilty, after a while, he realized that there was nothing wrong with him, so he laughed again.

But at this moment, a bullet hit the hot air balloon.Although the power was not great, and he barely pierced the hot air balloon through the small hole, Shen Kaizao was still terrified.

This is rifled and has a longer range.

Shen Kaizao waved the flag, and the friendly forces on the ground pulled him back.

Li Zheng didn't wait for the hot air balloon to stop, and asked, "How?"

Shen Kaizao replied: "A few were blown up, and the others all ran away. When our army attacked the city, the enemy did not dare to escape, so they had to stay where they were and let me bomb."

"it is good!"

Li Zheng clapped his hands in praise.

On the bank of the mother castle, the warlord Bashkov who led the reinforcements arrived stared blankly at the sky.He knew that the Datong Army had hot air balloons, but he never expected that those balloons could actually throw bombs.

"Your Excellency," Nerchinsk guard Mikhail said, "this season often blows southeast winds, and the hot air balloons of the Khitans can easily float over the sub-fort. Why don't we take the initiative to abandon the sub-fort and withdraw all the defenders?" The mother castle. This will not only avoid the enemy's hot air balloon bombs, but also increase the defensive force of the mother castle..."

"Shut up, you idiot!"

Bashkov scolded: "There are so many enemies coming, I am afraid it will take a year to fight. Even if all the defenders of Zibao are dead, they must be firmly stuck there to buy time for the next reinforcements! If Zibao is abandoned, Although the enemy's big ships can't get through, the small boats can bypass the river south of Zibao. At that time, the passage for the follow-up reinforcements to enter the city will be blocked!"