Chapter 1356
Looting the Racecourse
Chapter 1356 Looting the Racecourse
Although no investigation has been done on this place beforehand, due to the relatively open terrain of the horse farm, the area can be seen from a slightly higher place in the distance, so it is easy to see the scale of the buildings here, and then refer to the general cavalry Harugong can deduce the approximate strength of the Ming army stationed here based on the establishment of the troops and the racecourse.
Although the cavalry battalion he led was small in strength, its individual equipment and combat skills were at the top level of the Haihan Army. , They really don't fear any opponent.So even though the target was in an unfamiliar environment, Harukon decided to act immediately and take away the secret horse farm.
The cavalry battalion left part of the pack horses and manpower in charge of the luggage in place, and the remaining combat cavalry was divided into two teams equally, attacking from the north and the south, and outflanking the horse farm.
There are no shelters near the horse farm that can be used to cover up their tracks, so the Haihan cavalrymen have not long since appeared, and they have already discovered their existence.It was just in a hurry, and the other party probably didn't recognize the identities of the two teams of riders. It wasn't until they got closer that someone recognized the Haihan cavalrymen from their costumes, and then rushed into the stable immediately. Leading the horse, there was no time to put the saddle and bridle on the horse in a hurry. Before the Ming army stationed there was ready, the Haihan cavalry had already approached.
At the moment, several Ming soldiers who were riding their horses were preparing to come up to resist, but seeing that the Haihan soldiers had drawn their weapons and were ready to charge, they immediately turned around and fled westward.The Haihan cavalry is equipped with bursting muskets that are easy to use on horseback. This is something that many people know. If only a few people go to confront the Haihan cavalry, they will probably be shot down by their muskets from a long distance away. Rushing over is just dying in vain.It's better to retreat immediately when the situation is not good, and report back to Dengzhou City first.
There were a few iron-headed ones who rushed over with sabers, but this kind of resistance was really futile. When they were 40 meters away from the Haihan cavalry, they ushered in a volley, and they were knocked down together with their horses. on the ground.The Haihan cavalry is one of the very few combat units in the army equipped with seven-shot rifles, which makes their long-range firepower output very impressive.Such a charge attack launched by a small number of sporadic enemies basically couldn't even win the chance to fight the Haihan cavalry close to each other.
After each suffered a round of volleys, these soldiers of the Ming army who bravely rushed towards the Haihan cavalry were all settled.After witnessing the long-range firepower of the Haihan cavalry, more than 20 Ming soldiers in the racecourse who had not had time to mount their horses quickly lost the courage to continue fighting. slogan, these soldiers did not make any more unwise moves, but put down their weapons and knelt and surrendered.
After controlling the inside and outside of the racecourse, Harukon took the captives to collect the corpses of the Ming soldiers who had been shot.Although the two armies fought for their own masters, Harukon, as a soldier, still maintained enough respect for their bravery in a situation where the enemy was outnumbered. After the battle, these fighters should not be allowed to fight. The corpses of the dead were exposed in the wilderness.
Due to the huge disparity in strength, and Haihan's surprise attack with cavalry, the confrontation between the two sides only lasted for a short time before it was declared over.The cavalry battalion easily occupied the horse farm with zero casualties, and captured more than 20 Ming soldiers who did not have time to escape here.
The location of this horse farm is more than 40 miles away from Dengzhou City in the north. Haru Gong doesn't have to worry that the fleeing Ming army can move rescue soldiers from Dengzhou City in a short time. I fetched the account documents of the racecourse and checked the status of the assets here.
The most important asset of the racecourse is naturally the war horse.Although this racecourse has not been established for a long time, it has produced more than two hundred horses.In the roster of horses, these horses are divided into two categories: war horses for cavalry units and pack horses for luggage. Among them, there are only about [-] war horses, and many of them have been marked as "departure" "It should have been recruited by the Dengzhou garrison.
After looking through it, Harugong called a captured officer to him and asked him, "Are you in charge of this place?"
The officer of the Ming army was obviously not a hard-headed character, so he timidly replied: "The villain Wei Xin is the chief officer of this racecourse, what orders does the general have?"
"Since you are the head of the racecourse, you should be very clear about the situation here." Haru Gong shook the document in his hand and said, "How many of the horses recorded on it are still in the local area, please report the number." !"
Wei Xin replied: "General, the number of horses in this racecourse is just like an account record, and there is no falsehood... It is just a few horses ridden by those who escaped just now."
"Oh? Are your accounts so real? Why do I hear that many of the war horses here are draft horses confiscated from the people?" Harugong will not be fooled by his words. The news he got from Xindian Town earlier, It made him realize that the management of this racecourse might not be so formal.What Wei Xin said was obviously not that reliable.
Wei Xin swallowed, looked at Haru Gong's expression, and then at the account book in his hand, before explaining: "General, this...horse...actually..."
"Speak well, don't hesitate to make up stories!" Harugong scolded impatiently.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Wei Xin quickly replied, "This horse farm has been established in a hurry, and there is no way to gather enough horses. We can only replace some of them with ordinary pack horses..."
After hearing this, Harukon understood, obviously, the person in charge used pack horses to top up the number of war horses in order to cope with the superiors, which was consistent with his previous prediction.However, such a racecourse can't be full of pack horses, more or less there will be some war horses.
Haru Gong immediately called a platoon leader over and asked him to escort Wei Xin to the stable to assist in counting the actual number of war horses here.The value of pack horses and war horses are completely different concepts. Harugong has worked so hard for so many years, and he has only trained hundreds of war horses, but if he can make a fortune in this place, he will certainly not let it go.
At present, the cavalry battalion sent a few cavalry to patrol and warn the outside, and the rest of the troops took the time to rest in the racecourse, and gradually counted the original horses here.They can only stay here for one night at most, and they must leave tomorrow.Otherwise, if Dengzhou sent troops to come after receiving the alarm, Harugong's plan to take all the horses from here might fail.
Before night fell, the cavalry, with the assistance of the captives, completed an inventory of the domesticated horses in the stables.Among them, there are only more than 20 horses that can meet the standard of cavalry battalion war horses. This number makes Harugong a little disappointed. He originally thought that even if it does not reach the more than 80 horses recorded in the account, there should be at least half the number, but obviously The water inside is too heavy, and many pack horses are not even up to the level of war horses, and they are also registered as war horses by the racecourse.
However, nearly [-] pack horses are not a small number. Haihan has settled in Dengzhou for a year, and the number of pack horses purchased and recruited from the local area is only about the same as this number.This unexpected harvest should help Haihan alleviate the problem of insufficient transportation capacity a little bit.
Since Haihan landed on Zhifu Island at the end of last summer, he has been continuously searching for livestock that can be used for transportation. However, the Dengzhou area has been severely affected by the war, and it is difficult for ordinary people to even survive, so why bother on livestock.After working on and off for more than a year, the number of livestock collected is still extremely limited, not even comparable to the number that can be bought from the market in Guangzhou within a month.Without enough transportation capacity, Haihan will face many difficulties if he wants to build large-scale construction projects and promote trade in the occupied area.
The Dengzhou government obviously realized the dilemma that Haihan would face very early, and imposed extremely strict restrictions on the local livestock trading in Dengzhou by decree, prohibiting the public from selling all livestock to Haihan. live livestock.Especially mules, donkeys, cows, horses and other large livestock that can be used for animal power transportation. If they are found to be sold to the Haihan people, in addition to heavy financial penalties, those involved may even be imprisoned.
Although the Dengzhou government cannot defeat the Haihan army on the frontal battlefield, the effect that this kind of government order can play in the local area is not something that Haihan can easily eliminate.Therefore, more than half of the livestock used by Haihan for transportation in the local area were even transported thousands of miles from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places in the south.Such a helpless solution will naturally increase Haihan's local operating costs. Qian Tiandun and others have long planned to build a pasture in Fushan County to fundamentally solve the local livestock demand problem.
If Harukon could bring these pack horses back to the occupied area, it would undoubtedly be a great achievement, at least more meaningful than killing the same number of Ming troops.But in this way, Dengzhou must have received the news of the attack on the racecourse at night, so that they can judge the approximate location of Harugong's team. He originally planned to go to the city of Dengzhou to show off his force. Now it seems that it is definitely impossible to implement.To bring these pack horses back safely, the cavalry battalion could only retreat along with them.
Although he failed to reach the city of Dengzhou, Harukon was still in a good mood, and asked the soldiers to slaughter a few goats raised in the racecourse, and held a collective tooth sacrifice after nightfall.
The next day, when the sky was just dawning, Harukon ordered the cavalry battalion to move out, driving the more than 200 horses collected from the racecourse, as well as livestock such as pigs, cattle and sheep, and slowly headed eastward.He was also worried that the Dengzhou garrison would come overnight and launch a counterattack in the early morning, so he set off early to avoid confrontation with the opponent as much as possible.
However, what Harugong didn't expect was that the soldiers who escaped from the racecourse in Dengzhou did send back a police report before nightfall yesterday, but after Liao Jie got the news, he hesitated for a long time, not sure whether he should report to him or not. Rescue troops were dispatched in the direction of the racecourse.He was worried that Haihan had sent people back to Dengzhou to report the news on purpose, and then set up an ambush at the racecourse, waiting for the rescue force to come to the door and fall into the trap.
If there are few troops sent, they may be directly eaten by the Haihan people, but if there are many troops sent, it may take another day or two just to prepare for the departure.Such a long time is enough for the Haihan people to retreat to their occupied area, and Liao Jie doesn't think that the Haihan people will wait for the Ming army to appear there.
As for the property of the racecourse, Liao Jie no longer took any chances. He knew how urgent the Haihan people's demand for livestock was, so he would not let the horses in this racecourse go.Had he been in the seat of the Haihan people, he would have looted the racecourse before leaving.
Liao Jie wasn't entirely concerned about the loss caused by the robbing of these horses. After all, he also made nearly ten thousand taels of silver from the process of setting up the horse farm.What he was worried about was that after these horses were taken back by the Haihan people, their various local construction projects might advance faster, which would definitely not help Daming regain lost ground in the long run.
So after such a hesitation, Liao Jie did not rush to send reinforcements to the racecourse before dark, but waited until the next morning to order a battalion of soldiers, both on foot and horse, led by General Guo Xingning to the racecourse. .However, when this team set off from Dengzhou City, Harukon's cavalry battalion had already left the racecourse and headed east, and when they fumbled to the racecourse, they could only be in vain.
But as soon as the outpost of Guo Xingning's team arrived near the racecourse, Dengzhou sent another fast horse, saying that there was an urgent military situation, and it was reported that they would turn back immediately.So Guo Xingning's troops turned around and walked back before entering the racecourse.The outpost cavalry who arrived at the racecourse only found more than 20 soldiers of the Ming army trapped together in the kitchen. As for the rest of the racecourse, almost all of them had been removed. Saddles, bridles, whips, and various weapons were not spared, and even the prepared wintering fodder was pulled away with a large cart.The entire racecourse was relocated overnight by the Haihan people, and there was only an empty shelf left. Even if Guo Xingning's troops came, it would be meaningless.
Guo Xingning led the team back to Dengzhou City, only to find out that Liao Jie had told him that the reason for his return was because he had received news that Haihan had already begun to gather troops in Fushan County, and it seemed that he was going to do a big job before winter field.Although he didn't know what Haihan's goal was, but out of prudent consideration, Liao Jie must first keep Dengzhou City safe from accidents.He was more and more worried that the matter at the racecourse was a trap deliberately set by the Haihan people, so he quickly ordered Guo Xingning's troops to withdraw to avoid being ambushed outside.
Although it was expected, the news about the racecourse that Guo Xingning brought back made Liao Jie so angry that he dropped his teacup.This is the first time this year that the Haihan people have so blatantly penetrated into the area controlled by the Ming Dynasty to plunder government property.Liao Jie knew very well in his heart that this incident did not happen by accident, and it was very likely that it was Haihan's means of revenge against the Zheng Ai incident.
(End of this chapter)
Although no investigation has been done on this place beforehand, due to the relatively open terrain of the horse farm, the area can be seen from a slightly higher place in the distance, so it is easy to see the scale of the buildings here, and then refer to the general cavalry Harugong can deduce the approximate strength of the Ming army stationed here based on the establishment of the troops and the racecourse.
Although the cavalry battalion he led was small in strength, its individual equipment and combat skills were at the top level of the Haihan Army. , They really don't fear any opponent.So even though the target was in an unfamiliar environment, Harukon decided to act immediately and take away the secret horse farm.
The cavalry battalion left part of the pack horses and manpower in charge of the luggage in place, and the remaining combat cavalry was divided into two teams equally, attacking from the north and the south, and outflanking the horse farm.
There are no shelters near the horse farm that can be used to cover up their tracks, so the Haihan cavalrymen have not long since appeared, and they have already discovered their existence.It was just in a hurry, and the other party probably didn't recognize the identities of the two teams of riders. It wasn't until they got closer that someone recognized the Haihan cavalrymen from their costumes, and then rushed into the stable immediately. Leading the horse, there was no time to put the saddle and bridle on the horse in a hurry. Before the Ming army stationed there was ready, the Haihan cavalry had already approached.
At the moment, several Ming soldiers who were riding their horses were preparing to come up to resist, but seeing that the Haihan soldiers had drawn their weapons and were ready to charge, they immediately turned around and fled westward.The Haihan cavalry is equipped with bursting muskets that are easy to use on horseback. This is something that many people know. If only a few people go to confront the Haihan cavalry, they will probably be shot down by their muskets from a long distance away. Rushing over is just dying in vain.It's better to retreat immediately when the situation is not good, and report back to Dengzhou City first.
There were a few iron-headed ones who rushed over with sabers, but this kind of resistance was really futile. When they were 40 meters away from the Haihan cavalry, they ushered in a volley, and they were knocked down together with their horses. on the ground.The Haihan cavalry is one of the very few combat units in the army equipped with seven-shot rifles, which makes their long-range firepower output very impressive.Such a charge attack launched by a small number of sporadic enemies basically couldn't even win the chance to fight the Haihan cavalry close to each other.
After each suffered a round of volleys, these soldiers of the Ming army who bravely rushed towards the Haihan cavalry were all settled.After witnessing the long-range firepower of the Haihan cavalry, more than 20 Ming soldiers in the racecourse who had not had time to mount their horses quickly lost the courage to continue fighting. slogan, these soldiers did not make any more unwise moves, but put down their weapons and knelt and surrendered.
After controlling the inside and outside of the racecourse, Harukon took the captives to collect the corpses of the Ming soldiers who had been shot.Although the two armies fought for their own masters, Harukon, as a soldier, still maintained enough respect for their bravery in a situation where the enemy was outnumbered. After the battle, these fighters should not be allowed to fight. The corpses of the dead were exposed in the wilderness.
Due to the huge disparity in strength, and Haihan's surprise attack with cavalry, the confrontation between the two sides only lasted for a short time before it was declared over.The cavalry battalion easily occupied the horse farm with zero casualties, and captured more than 20 Ming soldiers who did not have time to escape here.
The location of this horse farm is more than 40 miles away from Dengzhou City in the north. Haru Gong doesn't have to worry that the fleeing Ming army can move rescue soldiers from Dengzhou City in a short time. I fetched the account documents of the racecourse and checked the status of the assets here.
The most important asset of the racecourse is naturally the war horse.Although this racecourse has not been established for a long time, it has produced more than two hundred horses.In the roster of horses, these horses are divided into two categories: war horses for cavalry units and pack horses for luggage. Among them, there are only about [-] war horses, and many of them have been marked as "departure" "It should have been recruited by the Dengzhou garrison.
After looking through it, Harugong called a captured officer to him and asked him, "Are you in charge of this place?"
The officer of the Ming army was obviously not a hard-headed character, so he timidly replied: "The villain Wei Xin is the chief officer of this racecourse, what orders does the general have?"
"Since you are the head of the racecourse, you should be very clear about the situation here." Haru Gong shook the document in his hand and said, "How many of the horses recorded on it are still in the local area, please report the number." !"
Wei Xin replied: "General, the number of horses in this racecourse is just like an account record, and there is no falsehood... It is just a few horses ridden by those who escaped just now."
"Oh? Are your accounts so real? Why do I hear that many of the war horses here are draft horses confiscated from the people?" Harugong will not be fooled by his words. The news he got from Xindian Town earlier, It made him realize that the management of this racecourse might not be so formal.What Wei Xin said was obviously not that reliable.
Wei Xin swallowed, looked at Haru Gong's expression, and then at the account book in his hand, before explaining: "General, this...horse...actually..."
"Speak well, don't hesitate to make up stories!" Harugong scolded impatiently.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Wei Xin quickly replied, "This horse farm has been established in a hurry, and there is no way to gather enough horses. We can only replace some of them with ordinary pack horses..."
After hearing this, Harukon understood, obviously, the person in charge used pack horses to top up the number of war horses in order to cope with the superiors, which was consistent with his previous prediction.However, such a racecourse can't be full of pack horses, more or less there will be some war horses.
Haru Gong immediately called a platoon leader over and asked him to escort Wei Xin to the stable to assist in counting the actual number of war horses here.The value of pack horses and war horses are completely different concepts. Harugong has worked so hard for so many years, and he has only trained hundreds of war horses, but if he can make a fortune in this place, he will certainly not let it go.
At present, the cavalry battalion sent a few cavalry to patrol and warn the outside, and the rest of the troops took the time to rest in the racecourse, and gradually counted the original horses here.They can only stay here for one night at most, and they must leave tomorrow.Otherwise, if Dengzhou sent troops to come after receiving the alarm, Harugong's plan to take all the horses from here might fail.
Before night fell, the cavalry, with the assistance of the captives, completed an inventory of the domesticated horses in the stables.Among them, there are only more than 20 horses that can meet the standard of cavalry battalion war horses. This number makes Harugong a little disappointed. He originally thought that even if it does not reach the more than 80 horses recorded in the account, there should be at least half the number, but obviously The water inside is too heavy, and many pack horses are not even up to the level of war horses, and they are also registered as war horses by the racecourse.
However, nearly [-] pack horses are not a small number. Haihan has settled in Dengzhou for a year, and the number of pack horses purchased and recruited from the local area is only about the same as this number.This unexpected harvest should help Haihan alleviate the problem of insufficient transportation capacity a little bit.
Since Haihan landed on Zhifu Island at the end of last summer, he has been continuously searching for livestock that can be used for transportation. However, the Dengzhou area has been severely affected by the war, and it is difficult for ordinary people to even survive, so why bother on livestock.After working on and off for more than a year, the number of livestock collected is still extremely limited, not even comparable to the number that can be bought from the market in Guangzhou within a month.Without enough transportation capacity, Haihan will face many difficulties if he wants to build large-scale construction projects and promote trade in the occupied area.
The Dengzhou government obviously realized the dilemma that Haihan would face very early, and imposed extremely strict restrictions on the local livestock trading in Dengzhou by decree, prohibiting the public from selling all livestock to Haihan. live livestock.Especially mules, donkeys, cows, horses and other large livestock that can be used for animal power transportation. If they are found to be sold to the Haihan people, in addition to heavy financial penalties, those involved may even be imprisoned.
Although the Dengzhou government cannot defeat the Haihan army on the frontal battlefield, the effect that this kind of government order can play in the local area is not something that Haihan can easily eliminate.Therefore, more than half of the livestock used by Haihan for transportation in the local area were even transported thousands of miles from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places in the south.Such a helpless solution will naturally increase Haihan's local operating costs. Qian Tiandun and others have long planned to build a pasture in Fushan County to fundamentally solve the local livestock demand problem.
If Harukon could bring these pack horses back to the occupied area, it would undoubtedly be a great achievement, at least more meaningful than killing the same number of Ming troops.But in this way, Dengzhou must have received the news of the attack on the racecourse at night, so that they can judge the approximate location of Harugong's team. He originally planned to go to the city of Dengzhou to show off his force. Now it seems that it is definitely impossible to implement.To bring these pack horses back safely, the cavalry battalion could only retreat along with them.
Although he failed to reach the city of Dengzhou, Harukon was still in a good mood, and asked the soldiers to slaughter a few goats raised in the racecourse, and held a collective tooth sacrifice after nightfall.
The next day, when the sky was just dawning, Harukon ordered the cavalry battalion to move out, driving the more than 200 horses collected from the racecourse, as well as livestock such as pigs, cattle and sheep, and slowly headed eastward.He was also worried that the Dengzhou garrison would come overnight and launch a counterattack in the early morning, so he set off early to avoid confrontation with the opponent as much as possible.
However, what Harugong didn't expect was that the soldiers who escaped from the racecourse in Dengzhou did send back a police report before nightfall yesterday, but after Liao Jie got the news, he hesitated for a long time, not sure whether he should report to him or not. Rescue troops were dispatched in the direction of the racecourse.He was worried that Haihan had sent people back to Dengzhou to report the news on purpose, and then set up an ambush at the racecourse, waiting for the rescue force to come to the door and fall into the trap.
If there are few troops sent, they may be directly eaten by the Haihan people, but if there are many troops sent, it may take another day or two just to prepare for the departure.Such a long time is enough for the Haihan people to retreat to their occupied area, and Liao Jie doesn't think that the Haihan people will wait for the Ming army to appear there.
As for the property of the racecourse, Liao Jie no longer took any chances. He knew how urgent the Haihan people's demand for livestock was, so he would not let the horses in this racecourse go.Had he been in the seat of the Haihan people, he would have looted the racecourse before leaving.
Liao Jie wasn't entirely concerned about the loss caused by the robbing of these horses. After all, he also made nearly ten thousand taels of silver from the process of setting up the horse farm.What he was worried about was that after these horses were taken back by the Haihan people, their various local construction projects might advance faster, which would definitely not help Daming regain lost ground in the long run.
So after such a hesitation, Liao Jie did not rush to send reinforcements to the racecourse before dark, but waited until the next morning to order a battalion of soldiers, both on foot and horse, led by General Guo Xingning to the racecourse. .However, when this team set off from Dengzhou City, Harukon's cavalry battalion had already left the racecourse and headed east, and when they fumbled to the racecourse, they could only be in vain.
But as soon as the outpost of Guo Xingning's team arrived near the racecourse, Dengzhou sent another fast horse, saying that there was an urgent military situation, and it was reported that they would turn back immediately.So Guo Xingning's troops turned around and walked back before entering the racecourse.The outpost cavalry who arrived at the racecourse only found more than 20 soldiers of the Ming army trapped together in the kitchen. As for the rest of the racecourse, almost all of them had been removed. Saddles, bridles, whips, and various weapons were not spared, and even the prepared wintering fodder was pulled away with a large cart.The entire racecourse was relocated overnight by the Haihan people, and there was only an empty shelf left. Even if Guo Xingning's troops came, it would be meaningless.
Guo Xingning led the team back to Dengzhou City, only to find out that Liao Jie had told him that the reason for his return was because he had received news that Haihan had already begun to gather troops in Fushan County, and it seemed that he was going to do a big job before winter field.Although he didn't know what Haihan's goal was, but out of prudent consideration, Liao Jie must first keep Dengzhou City safe from accidents.He was more and more worried that the matter at the racecourse was a trap deliberately set by the Haihan people, so he quickly ordered Guo Xingning's troops to withdraw to avoid being ambushed outside.
Although it was expected, the news about the racecourse that Guo Xingning brought back made Liao Jie so angry that he dropped his teacup.This is the first time this year that the Haihan people have so blatantly penetrated into the area controlled by the Ming Dynasty to plunder government property.Liao Jie knew very well in his heart that this incident did not happen by accident, and it was very likely that it was Haihan's means of revenge against the Zheng Ai incident.
(End of this chapter)