On September 19, 1651, outside the city of Boli, the smoke of gunpowder was filled with gunfire. The 240 officers and men of the 1st Company, the most elite of the East Coast Army, were divided into several groups, calmly firing a row of guns at the city, and on both sides of them, some Shandan hunters belonging to the Heilongjiang Security Regiment were carrying bows and arrows, using their skilled archery skills, to shoot the Qing troops who rushed up.

Today is the fourth day of the Qing army's onslaught on Boli City. For four days, the fighting of the Qing army was generally unfavorable - the Eight Banners were reluctant to be killed and wounded, and the tribesmen were unusable - at least nearly a thousand corpses (most of them were auxiliary soldiers of the tribesmen) were left under the city, but no progress was made. They didn't even climb the four-meter-high top of the city, and under the precise blows of the army soldiers and Shandan hunters, and under the lethal fire of the artillery, these inexperienced tribesmen could not cross the invisible chasm between the two sides with just a bloody bravery.

And after the battle to this day, no matter how full of blood and courage is, it should dissipate! Even the most savage, muscular Shandan tribesmen should know by this time that the city is not for them. War evolved to this era, killing people has become an art, and the emergence of fortresses, muskets, and cannons has made siege warfare a protracted military operation. Especially for the side that is militarily technologically backward, the installation of a large number of artillery pieces and the well-trained small bastions of the defenders are simply like a moat for them. I can only look at it and sigh.

The Qing army had a total of 6,000 men and horses, and they fought under the city to this day, not only did not advance an inch. On the contrary, the loss of troops was 12,300 men, and this battle was about to be unfought. What the Qing court is looking forward to now is that the Rakshasa Khabarov will keep his promise and come to the city with several cannons to help the Qing army capture the city. It's just that what they don't know is that if the Russians' artillery doesn't consider mobility, it is not as powerful as the large-caliber iron cannon they have worked so hard to transport from the south. What's more, what's the use of more artillery. Is it possible to fight with the East Coast people in terms of the number, caliber, range and accuracy of artillery? That's no joke!

"The Qing army has fallen, and the offensive is bound to not last." Chang Kaisheng stood at the head of the city. Looking at the retreating Qing army in twos and threes, a sense of déjà vu hit my heart. Wasn't that the case in South Africa? The Xhosa blacks rushed into the makeshift line of carts and barbed wire, while the equally loyal East Bank Army fired artillery and guns from behind. The Black Eight Banners warriors stabbed approaching enemies with their spears, and each time they could break a Xhosa tribe with only a few casualties. Unless you're attacked by the Xhosas while you're on a wild march, it's hard to get the enemy to inflict much casualties, not to mention that today they're still standing on the walls, and those savage tribesmen can't shake them at all!

"The horse team of the Heilongjiang Security Regiment is on standby at any time, and once the Qing army shows signs of withdrawal, it is time for them to appear. Sha'er Huda gathered so many people to gather at the foot of Boli City, just because of his little grain and grass reserves and miserable logistics and transportation conditions. There is no other way but to fight quickly, this is the death hole of the Qing army! On the other hand, our army, the Qing army could not stop us from receiving the supplies brought by the naval gunboats. This doomed them to failure. There is no suspense in this battle, it is a matter of time before the Qing army withdraws, this time we must seize the opportunity and give them a long memory! Chang Kaisheng happily said to Wang Shi, the temporary head of the security regiment who was following him.

"The last will obey." Wang Shichuan immediately replied loudly. He was born as a thief, served as the county commander of the Dashun regime in Shandong, and later studied for a while at the Anti-Qing Military and Political University in Yantai. was transferred to the Amur River Detention Area to serve as a local manager, and he can be regarded as capable of civil and military affairs. Over the years, the East Bank has been operating in the Amur River Basin step by step. Extremely stable, Wang Shichuan himself and his family have also become a well-known new magnate in the local area, they represent the will of the East Coast, run the place, naturalize the natives, resist the Qing Dynasty and resist the Russians, and in general they are quite reliable people.

On this expedition, Wang Shichuan recruited troops on a large scale in Temple Street and the surrounding areas, and all tribes were taken by the prestige of the people on the east coast, and they also sent some outstanding sons to join the army, and hundreds of elites were recruited in a few days. And when he brought together Ding Zhuang from Henggon Village, Jiangdong Village, Gonghe Village, Boli Village and other places, the Heilongjiang Security Corps has historically reached an establishment of 1,300 people.

These people have excellent riding skills, and some of them (mainly the tribes living near Temple Street Harbor) have also had quite good personal combat skills after many trainings, and they are also familiar with the weapons distributed on the east coast, so they can form combat effectiveness quite quickly. They went all the way to train, and when they arrived at Boli Village in September, although there were still some problems with the run-in, the basic combat effectiveness was still formed, and the bannermen of the Qing army's Zhenglan Banner (mainly Yu Ding, with a few armor soldiers) did not fall behind at all. Even, some barbaric Hezhe people rose up, showed their ability to hunt bears on weekdays, and dismounted and fought on foot to repel those slightly weak Eight Banner Yu Ding. It was only when they encountered the onslaught of the Qing army taking advantage of the numerical advantage that they had to retreat into the city to defend themselves in order to temporarily avoid the Qing army's sharp spirit.

The time Chang Kaisheng said finally came three days later, when the Qing army suffered heavy casualties after repeated onslaughts, and the whole army was a little tired. And the camp is extremely short of food and grass, can no longer support for a long time, relying on the rear transfer is far away, so Shaerhuda came up with the idea of withdrawing the army - although the attack on the city of the yellow thief ended in failure again, and after returning to avoid being punished by the superiors, it is better than the whole army being wiped out and surrendering himself here, right?

Therefore, on September 23, after driving a wave of tribal auxiliaries and Korean bird gunners to attack the city failed, Shahrhuda decisively gave the order to withdraw his troops. Chang Kaisheng, who had long been paying attention to the Qing army's every move at the head of the city, immediately ordered the Heilongjiang Security Regiment to prepare for the attack, and the 700 horsemen who were on standby in turn were fully armed and ready to go; More than 20 miles west of Boli Village, more than 300 Cossacks led by Khabarov had already crossed a small tributary of the Amur River, preparing to speed up to the vicinity of Boli Village for military speculation.

On the night of September 23, the cavalry of the Heilongjiang Security Regiment that attacked bit the troops of the North Korean bird gunners more than ten miles south of Boli Village. Because they couldn't see their five fingers in the dark at night, Wang Shichuan and others mistakenly thought that this was Sha'er Huda's Chinese army, so they immediately dismounted and fought with them. The soldiers of the Li Dynasty were weak and could not fight, and they were quickly dispersed, and the thousands of bird-gunners were not killed or wounded on the spot, but many escaped in the night, and more than 300 people were captured, and this army was basically wiped out.

On the morning of the 24th, Wang Shichuan and others, who found that Sha'er Huda and the main force of Zhenglan Banner had withdrawn first, were greatly disappointed, and they sent people to report Chang Kaisheng while searching and pursuing south along the Ussuri River. In the afternoon, they found a large number of small boats abandoned by the Qing army in a river, and some of the Daur people guarding the boats scattered when they saw the people from the east coast chasing them. Coincidentally, at this time, the navy's four shallow-water gunboats also rushed against the water from the downstream, so the six or seven hundred cavalry of the Heilongjiang Security Regiment, accompanied by gunboats, went south along the Ussuri River to pursue the Qing army. At this time, west of Boli Village, Khabarov and others had also initially inquired about the news of this war, and the Cossacks were a little impatient, as if they wanted to follow the people on the east coast to take advantage of the fire to loot and salvage.

On the 26th, the Heilongjiang Security Regiment intercepted a Qing rearguard force, which was a mixed infantry and cavalry force composed of tribesmen, and after a fierce battle, defeated this army, which was not strong in battle and was like an arrow, beheaded more than 50 ranks, captured 100 people, and died in the battle of Jialazhang Jinghai Tower. At this time, Khabarov and others had already thoroughly figured out the outcome of the battle, so they immediately changed their minds, and while sending people to "congratulate" the people on the east bank and reiterate "friendship and harmony," they organized people to cross the river to the south, intending to enter the hinterland of Manchuria and plunder.

On the 28th, the Heilongjiang Security Regiment defeated a group of Daur tribesmen who were said to have participated in the battle against Boli. These people fled back to the tribal settlement after hardships, but they did not expect that the evil yellow-clothed thieves would chase them along the way, and the people who had been hastily organized were killed and scattered, and more than 500 men, women, and children were also captured. At this time, Boli City also sent a fast horse messenger, and Chang Kaisheng asked the pursuing troops to accept it when they saw it, and not to be ambushed by the enemy.

Therefore, after Wang Shichuan and others plundered the vicinity again, they escorted more than 1,000 captured Daur tribesmen, escorted by naval gunboats, and slowly retreated north along the Ussuri River on the 30th. At this time, the Khabarov gang had also looted a number of indigenous tribes on the south bank of the Amur River, and they had gained a lot.

In the following 10 and 11 months, the people of the east coast urgently recruited 600 soldiers in the three counties of Dabo, Heishui and Miaojie (Miaojie County had just been established and had a population of more than 6,000) (some veterans had to be put on the battlefield again), and they were urgently transported to Boli Village by boat. Their unit was temporarily incorporated into the Heilongjiang Security Regiment, and then this small force of 2,000 men mixed with infantry and cavalry was on both sides of the Amur River, and naval gunboats cooperated to sweep back and forth and relocate the tribes that were originally under the control of the Qing army.

These natives were originally nomadic and nomadic in nature, and were influenced by Bogd Khan in Manchuria in the past, not only providing horses and soldiers for the Eight Banners, but also responsible for providing food and arrows for the Eight Banners soldiers who went to the lower reaches of the Amur River to capture the birth of the female Zhen, which was regarded as the military station and grain depot of the Qing court in the north. Now, taking advantage of the unfavorable attack of Shaerhuda to retreat, the people on the east coast simply killed them and forcibly relocated all the ruling bases of the Qing court, and if the Qing army organizes a counterattack in the future, it will inevitably be even more difficult to continue.

In Chang Kaisheng's view, the essence of the art of war is to focus on the gains and losses of one city or one place, and to focus on striking at the enemy's vital forces and strengthening one's own strength -- and winning over these tribes that were originally under the control of the Qing court is also the focus of the work of the people on the east coast in the next period of time. But before that, he had to knock the Cossacks and tell them to stop in moderation, and when they had enough, they would quickly go back to the west of Albazin, this was not the place they should be, and I believed that Khabarov, a smart man, would make the right choice. (To be continued)