With one sleeve tucked into his belt, Wu Huapu bent down to dig through the snow. Under the withered grass was the soil of Liaodong, the solid land on which he grew up.
Suddenly, Wu Huapu got on his horse and shouted: "Go to the city!"
? In this reorganization of the Datong Army, although the five military governors' mansions (five major military academies) have been retained, the jurisdictions of each governor's mansion have changed a lot, and the unit numbers have all been changed to numbers.
?The Eleventh Division, the division commander Hu Dinggui, and the chief missionary officer Wang Yaochen.
As for the one-armed Wu Huapu, he was responsible for commanding the cavalry of the 11th Division. He also went to northern Anhui to pick out a few men who could ride horses. They were all Liaodong men who fled south together, and they came back to take Manqing's lair.
The Han people had killed the officials and stood on both sides of the street to welcome the Datong army into the city.
Hu Dinggui shouted loudly: "Has anyone read a book?"
A thin man rushed over, knelt down and said, "General, I have been studying for a few days."
"Don't move!"
Hu Dinggui stepped forward, took off the opponent's hat, grabbed the tail of the money rat, and cut it off with a knife.
After cutting off the whip, Hu Dinggui held the hat in both hands, put it on the man earnestly, and asked, "What's your name?"
The thin man looked at the money rat's tail, and his heart seemed to be cut off, and he replied with a smile: "General Qi, my name is You Jinlei."
Hu Dinggui asked: "What do you do for a living in Jinzhou?"
You Jinlei replied: "Jinzhou officials collect fish maw from fishermen, and I will boil the fish maw. After it is cooked, there will be bannermen Tartars came from Gaizhou and took away the boiled fish maw. Some food will be counted as rations. When they come, they will take away other military supplies besides isinglass.¡±
Hu Dinggui understood that the Han people who stayed in Jinzhou City were dedicated to providing military materials for the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
For example, isinglass is a necessity for making compound bows.
Hu Dinggui asked: "Is there a weapons factory in Gaizhou City?"
You Jinlei nodded: "Yes, they specialize in making bows and arrows and cotton armor. However, after the Tartars moved away, they probably took away many artisans, and Gaizhou collected less isingas than before. The rations given were also less and less. After spring, people will definitely starve to death."
Hu Dinggui looked at these people, and there were only two or three thousand people left in the whole city, and all of them were sallow and emaciated.
Hu Dinggui had some calculations in his mind, and asked Meng Huai'en, a civil servant with the army, to organize the people in the city to go to the seaside to carry food.
As a result, there was a shortage of manpower, and the local people happened to be the folks who moved the food.
Second, use work as relief and distribute some food to the people.
Three came to register and make a book, and while moving the grain and grass, compiled the household registration of the people in the city.
Hearing that being a civilian husband would give him rations, the people of Jinzhou became excited and followed Meng Huaien to the beach one after another.
Hu Dinggui left You Jinlei behind, and asked, "How much population is left in the Jinzhou territory?"
You Jinlei shook his head: "I don't know."
Hu Dinggui asked again: "Where is the nearest Eight Banners Army stationed?"
You Jinlei said: "Gaizhou."
Hu Dinggui asked again: "How many Eight Banners troops are there in Gaizhou?"
You Jinlei shook his head again: "I don't know."
This guy doesn't know what to ask, but it's normal. They can't even afford to eat, how can they have the time to pay attention to other things?
Hu Dinggui occupied Jinzhou, settled down the soldiers, and sent cavalry to scout around.
A few days later, the sentinels brought back news one after another.
Except for the official road leading to Gaizhou, the rest of the roads are mostly submerged in weeds.
The wilderness is full of ruined villages, houses and land that belonged to the Bannermen. With an order from Dorgon, the bannermen not only took away the serfs, but also burned down the houses.
Sometimes I can ride a horse for a whole day without seeing any people.
Here it quickly turned into a pristine state, and commercial and agricultural activities almost disappeared!
?The sentinels who came back from Jinzhou Zhongzuo (Lushun) reported that there were only a few hundred fishermen left there. There are ten families of Han soldiers living in the fort, who are responsible for expropriating fish maw, and they themselves have to cultivate land and fish for a living.
Immediately afterwards, the sentry cavalry who went to Fuzhou to inquire also came back.
All the forts and checkpoints along the way were abandoned, and no one could be found, only occasionally encountering a few farmers in the wild.
Hearing the news, Wu Huapu approached Hu Dinggui: "I want to take a day off and buy some wine from the army."
"Why do you suddenly want to drink?" Hu Dinggui asked.
Wu Huapu said sadly: "I can't hold it anymore, I want to drink some wine to sleep. I am from Liaodong, so I know what it's like here. Jinzhou and Fuzhou are both large counties in Liaodong, especially Jinzhou., has lit the matchlock, loaded the ammunition, and then climbed up the city wall.
Seeing the enemy charging, Hu Dinggui didn't bother to fight recklessly, and let the gunfire soldiers shoot directly.
This battle was fought outrageously. The original plan was to rebuild Dongjiang Town on Phi Island.
After learning about the situation in the Northeast, they changed to occupy Jinzhou as a military base. Unexpectedly, six cavalry captured Fuzhou, and now they took down Gaizhou, an important military town.
Except for the mountainous areas, the entire Liaodong Peninsula is controlled by the Datong Army.
But in this vast area, the three cities plus the wild villages have a total population of less than 100,000.
After some interrogation, he soon learned about the military situation.
Both Haizhou and Liaoyang have defenders, the number of which is about the same as that of Gaizhou.
The population around Shenyang is the largest, many Manchus have not migrated, and there are still a large number of domestic slaves and serfs.
"Do you still want to fight?" Wang Yaochen asked.
Hu Dinggui gritted his teeth: "Go straight to Shenyang and overthrow the Tartars' lair!"
"How to transport the food and grass?" Wang Yaochen asked.
The previous three cities were all on the seashore, but they will go deep into the hinterland next.
Hu Dinggui said: "The snow has almost melted, and the people of the three cities are recruited to transport food. The soldiers are quick, don't bring artillery, first take Haizhou, then take Liaoyang, and finally take Shenyang."
Hu Dinggui then ordered Wu Huapu: "The cavalry go ahead and bypass Haizhou. According to the confessions of the captives, after passing Haizhou, there will be more farmers outside the city. If there is no food, they will rush all the way. The cavalry will kill the Tartars when they see them. Shenyang, Liaoyang The reserved population is specially used to provide soldiers for the Eight Banners of Manchuria. The more people are killed in those places, the less the Manchu Qing army will have outside the customs.¡±
"Okay, this military order is exactly what I want!" Wu Huapu was overjoyed.