New Shun 1730

Chapter 45 Ice Wall

The mason looked at the typos on the paper and thought that today was an eye-opener. After half a lifetime of carving inscriptions, this is the first time I have seen so many "tongjia" characters.

But thinking that my name can be like the one on the Yongning Temple monument, with the names of stonemasons and carpenters engraved on it, so that it will not deteriorate for thousands of years, it is worth it.

The carpenters and stonemasons stayed here, and Liu Yu led people to follow the tribesmen to the next village that the Rakshasa people might attack.

It is said that tribute should be paid first and then protected.

However, since the Xuande period, tribute has been cut off for three hundred years. Now we can only protect it first and then pay tribute, to show that Dashun still has power and a voice here. After this battle, they were willing to send people with walrus tusks and mink skins to follow them to the Songhua River defense envoy.

By tricking the tribes into paying tribute, Liu Yu didn't feel satisfied with the glory of the Celestial Dynasty, but he just felt that these people could get more things for themselves.

For example, the emperor would definitely like it if someone paid tribute.

For example, you can trick some people into spilling some blood and doing some private work for you along the way. A few more people are always useful.

After arriving at the tribal village, Liu Yu intuitively understood why dozens of Cossacks and dozens of servants could defeat these tribes.

The entire village has almost no defenses, and the houses are made of wood and covered with thick thatch.

A fire can burn a house to ashes.

In order to prevent fire, these wooden houses are spaced far apart. For a tribe with a hundred or ten people, the village is quite large.

There were only some simple fences outside as defense. Not to mention that the Cossacks were armed with cannons this time. Even if they were full of muskets, these people couldn't resist them.

According to the traveling speed of those Cossacks, there would only be two or three days of preparation time.

After walking around the village for a few times, Liu Yu took Du Feng and others to look at the terrain nearby.

The village is on a hill with a small river behind it.

There are dense forests next to them. These tribes do not know how to farm, and religious customs do not allow them to farm. At most, they can only collect some food such as berries, hazelnuts, and pine nuts.

Only in front of the village is a grassy open space, also covered with thick snow.

"What do you think we should do, sir? This village is indefensible and is no better than a field battle?"

Du Feng felt that he had a good chance of winning in the wild. He often dealt with the Cossacks at Handori Acropolis, so that was it. His riding skills are good and he can endure hardships, but fighting in the field is not his strong point. It is also difficult to defend the fortress.

Since these Cossacks came from the north and did not ride horses, but recruited moose and dogs, it was tantamount to abolishing the riding skills that the Cossacks were best at.

Liu Yu picked up his riding whip and pointed to the open space in front of the village and said: "I don't think there is any need for a field battle. These Rakshasa people will definitely deploy their cannons in this open space, and then rush into the village after bombardment. There will be no defense from behind."

"Uh... don't underestimate the enemy, sir."

Liu Yu laughed and asked: "Why do you think the Cossacks came so far? To expand the territory for the motherland?"

"Of course not. Everyone in the world is here for profit."

"That's it. Fighting is not a purpose, fighting is to achieve a certain purpose. Knowing what purpose he is trying to achieve, you can deduce how they will fight. Let me ask you, why are these Cossacks here?"

"Come back to me, sir. The Rakshasa people kill people to frighten the villages and attack them to steal their furs."

"In this case, not to mention that the Rakshasa people will not be able to surround the entire village. Even if they can surround the village and kill everyone, who will they ask to collect the 'Yasak'? Therefore, the Rakshasa people will not Surrounded from all sides, they must bombard from the front and swarm in after breaking down the fence. Whoever breaks into the village first will get the most skins. Besides... the Rakshasa people are used to bullying this tribe, and they have forgotten it. Why are you fighting? Bullying the tribe is called fighting? "

Stretching out his thumb to roughly measure the distance to the open space in front of him, Liu Yu pointed to a lone birch tree in the distance and said, "I'm going to give them a warning today. Bullying tribes are used to bullying. This is playing chess with a bad chess basket. The lower it gets, the worse it gets.”

"The same goes for our country. After beating the southwestern chieftains, we came to the conclusion that a small cannon weighing 100 kilograms, capable of crossing mountains and ridges, placed on horseback, and without a gun mount is the most useful. Isn't this right? Nonsense?"

"In my opinion, at about that position, the Rakshasa people will set up artillery. There is no rules for tribal wars, and these Rakshasa people don't think about things like flanks and rear. Don't think too much, think about it. If you have too many, you won’t be able to win the battle. I’ll leave it to you to seize the cannon.”

Du Feng's heart moved. Ever since Emperor Taizong's campaign in Jingxiang, military achievements have been based on three things: killing generals, capturing flags, and seizing cannons.

After Dashun and Jingxiang counterattacked, it was extremely difficult to conquer the world.

Nan Ming was okay, they dispersed as soon as they charged, but Man Qing was much more difficult to defeat. Especially the artillery of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was relatively plentiful and good, so at that time seizing artillery was the same as seizing the flag.

This is also the reason why Zhechongfu soldiers from all over the Songhua River demolished their houses and sold their land to find a qualified war horse: it is easy to die as an infantryman, and they can't grab any trophies, let alone seize artillery. great merit.

Du Feng was trapped by Liu Yu's "making up for his past mistakes". Apart from having a horsemanship fight with the Cossacks to get Liu Yu's hat back, there was really no chance for him to make any meritorious deeds.

Now that Liu Yu has made it clear that he is giving him a chance, how could Du Feng still not understand and said hurriedly: "Please rest assured, sir, and leave it to me. Are you going to use the tribe as bait?"

"It's not bait, it's an anvil. Don't ride a horse, take a few people to walk around, choose a place, and lie in ambush there."

Du Feng nodded in agreement, but he was still confused. Looking back at the vulnerable tribal village, he hesitated for a long time and asked: "How can you be an anvil instead of a bait? An anvil must be able to withstand the blows of a hammer. This village is so dilapidated that it is difficult to defend. First, the Rakshasas will arrive in three to five days, so there is no time; second, it is freezing cold, even if you can build a fort, there is nothing you can do."

"Have you never read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"? Cao Mengde conquered Ma Chao, and Lou Gui offered a plan to pour water and freeze it into a wall. No matter how cold the northwest is, is it colder than here? Now ice is harder than iron. With wood as the plywood base, a wall can be built within one night. You don't need to worry about what's going on inside. Just choose a good place and wait there with your men. When the opportunity comes, go grab the cannon yourself. As for when the opportunity comes, if you don't even know this, then there is really no need for you to make a contribution."

Du Feng hummed, thinking that this made sense.

He jumped off his horse and went around to the nearby woods with his companions, looking for a place upwind, not easily noticed, and covered by trees.

Liu Yu returned to the village by himself and chose a house in the middle of the village.

He asked the translator to talk to the elders and warriors of the tribe. They only regarded Liu Yu as a savior who appeared after praying to the gods, so they naturally obeyed his orders.

All the wooden houses in the middle of the village were knocked down, and there was no need to dig the soil. The knocked-down wood and branches were spread on the ground.

After stacking them up layer by layer, they made fire, chiseled ice, melted snow, and fetched water, and poured buckets of water on the wood and branches.

It was the coldest time, and the water condensed into ice in a short time.

Some people were sent outside to continue cutting trees. In just one night, a simple fortress was built.

The ice wall was less than two meters high, not high, but very thick.

The entire ice wall formed a "V" shape with a large angle, and the two wings were supported by simple ice forts to prevent the Luosha people from finding out and going around from the two wings.

Water was poured outside for another morning, and some snow and wood were covered in the afternoon.

The wall was only two meters high, and the base was more than one meter thick. It was frozen into one piece, and it was just a white mark when it was hit with a hammer. People squatted inside, and they could just stand up and shoot.

It didn't have to be so complicated. Liu Yu was worried that Du Feng would fail to seize the cannon, and the Luosha people would bombard it with cannons, so it was so complicated.

I said before that we should underestimate it, but in terms of tactics, we should consider defeat first and victory later. If the Luosha people were really alert, relying on this simple ice fort, even if there were three times more people, they would not be able to attack it.

It was easy to use the ice wall as a fortress, but the difficult thing was to let these tribesmen learn to retreat.

Not to mention an organized retreat, at least when you really want to retreat, don't run to the ice fort in a mess, but go around to the two wings.

His tactics were very simple.

The fence outside the village is used to lure the enemy. Let the tribe's "cannon fodder" stand in front and shoot arrows according to primitive tactics.

These people's bone bows will definitely not kill many people. But if they don't guard the fence, they are afraid that the Russians will get suspicious.

According to Liu Yu's thinking, the Cossacks will definitely use artillery to fire a few rounds and volleys to fire two rounds. Once the fence is broken, they will rush over.

These Cossacks have few flintlocks and even fewer bayonets. Today's Tula Arsenal only produces two to three thousand flintlocks a year. The front-line troops are still underequipped, let alone these Cossacks who are exploring and making money.

But the Russian matchlock gunners use axes as gun racks. It is a sharp weapon for hand-to-hand combat and also a sharp weapon for cutting fences. Once the Russians start charging, these tribesmen will run back.

Don't fight the Rakshasa people, you can't win: the Rakshasa people at least have military organization and teammates to cooperate with. It's not much different to run into a flock of sheep and kill sheep when they charge in formation.

Don't look at the strong and powerful people in this tribe, bragging about fighting tigers and shooting bears. This is not the same as fighting.

As long as the people of these tribes learn to run back from the two wings and run to the two wings of the ice castle. Let the Rakshasa people get close, a round of volleys can break the formation of the Rakshasa people. When there is no formation, it's time for these tribal warriors to show their skills.

After the volleys, the formation will be scattered, and these tribesmen who retreated to the two wings will fight back and win a big victory.

Two low-level sentinels were selected from the team, and they were asked to lead a team of tribesmen each, and they just needed to learn how to run back.

It seemed like a simple task, but it forced the two sentinels to curse. Once they ran, it was like herding sheep, chaotic and disorderly, and even several of them went in the direction of the ice castle.

That is, the elders of the tribe had spoken, and the people of the tribe had to listen, so they could only practice how to run backwards over and over again.

After two days of practice, they were able to do it. At least when they ran, they knew who they were following and which direction they should run.

When they were almost ready, they finally heard the barking of dogs and the somewhat piercing cry of moose in the distance.

Liu Yu stood on the wood, took out a telescope and looked around, and was sure that the Rakshasa people had finally come to take revenge.

He jumped into the ice castle and squatted down, asking the musketeers hidden inside to check the fuse and gunpowder for the last time. The tribal elder used to lure the enemy also wore a bear skin, set out a drum made of fish skin, and banged it on a pile of wood in the ice castle.

All the skins in the tribe were taken out and piled in a conspicuous place in the ice castle.

Liu Yu was not nervous at all. He had a hundred veteran musketeers on his side, and they had simple fortifications. There were only seventy or eighty true Rakshasas, nothing to worry about.

The only thing he was worried about was the discipline of his side.

Looking at the soldiers who were ready to kill people to relieve their stress and exchange heads for money, Liu Yu reiterated at the end.

"Those who shoot in advance will be punished with eighty military sticks, and all military merits, spoils, and head money will not be shared."

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