Cao Yong, Cai Zhichao, Zhang Paparazzi and others, because of the surprise attack on the Horqin Department made great contributions, now Cao Yong and Cai Zhichao have been promoted to chief, Zhang paparazzi was promoted to captain, and the three of them are stationed together in this castle in the middle reaches of the Heilongjiang River. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It is a small brick and wood castle, about 80 zhang in circumference and 6 zhang high, the bottom is a one-zhang high base made of earth and bricks, and the top is a five-zhang high brick and wood building, the castle is densely packed with shooting holes, and there is a turret equipped with four three-pounder guns at the top.

In the castle, a hundred Ming troops were stationed, and Cao Lei, a sharpshooter who always made great contributions in the Battle of Horqin. The castle was connected with the walls of the residential areas inhabited by the Evenks, forming a unified defensive system.

When the Russian army arrived, Cao Yong and others were sitting in the castle drinking, which was located in a cold place, and the whole body was warm after a sip of strong wine. Inside the castle, a blazing fire burns in the stove, making the rooms inside as warm as spring. On weekdays, these Ming soldiers didn't have much to do, except for the daily routine drills, there was nothing else. The fish and prey caught by the local Evenks will be sent to the castle, and the Ming army will exchange them with surplus food.

Many of the local Evenks also participated in the Ming army, and some locals who served as soldiers also settled in the castle.

The Russian army circled around the outside of Tucheng and found a castle connected to Tucheng.

"There's a castle here! It seems that the Tatars here actually built fortifications! Fyodor, a Russian officer, pointed at the castle with a horsewhip in his hand and said, "Let's try to attack first!" ”

The Evenks in the city took up arms and climbed to the top of the city, or climbed to the tower. The Evenks were armed with a wide variety of weapons, ranging from flintlock pistols, bird guns, and strongbows provided by the Ming army, to their own hunting bows, harpoons, spears, and pikes. On the head of the city, there are stones and wolf tooth slaps and fire oil cans and other weapons to defend the city.

More than a dozen Russian musketeers approached Tucheng, held their muskets and pulled the trigger at the city, the guns roared, the muzzles spewed fire, and the bullets hit the city, which looked very lively, but the Russian army was afraid of the bows and muskets at the head of the city, and only dared to shoot at a distance of 100 steps, and did not cause any harm to the Ming army and the Evenks who were protected by the city walls.

"Damn Rakshasas, as nasty as flies!" Cao Lei said, carrying a rifled gun and walking to the castle.

There are more than 100 Ming troops in the castle, a total of two rifled guns, and the rest are equipped with flintlock pistols, bird guns and various cold weapons. Although the rifled guns of the Zheng raid department were not small, they were scattered to various departments, and there were not a few in each stronghold.

Cao Lei picked up the gun, aimed at a Russian musketeer more than 100 steps away, and pulled the trigger.

With a "bang" of gunshots, a conical bullet whistled out, flew more than a hundred paces away, and accurately pierced the head of a Russian musketeer. The Russian soldier spurted a bloody sword from his head and fell backwards on his back.

Another rifled gunner also opened fire, killing a Russian musketeer with one shot.

"Damn! The Tatars here actually have rifles! Fyodor was taken aback.

Rifled guns are not an uncommon thing in Europe, the Russian army has clashed with Denmark and Sweden many times in Europe, and a small number of rifled guns in the hands of the Nordic army have made the Russian army suffer. While the Russians were engaged in war with the Poles, the Swedish army stepped in and fled back to Moscow with the army of Tsar Alexei in disarray.

Rifled guns were known as rifles in Europe at that time, with a long range and great power. However, the disadvantage of the rifle is that it is difficult to load, when the bullet is stuffed into the muzzle, the rifled gunner's hand has a blue tendon, and then the bullet has to be hammered in, the whole process is time-consuming and physically demanding, and it is not possible to use too much force to cause rifling wear.

On the European battlefield, an experienced smoothbore gunner can fire six rounds in one minute! And a rifled gunner, being able to shoot one bullet a minute is very powerful! And that's still experienced, specially trained rifled gunners. If a rifled gun is used by a gunner who has not been specially trained, I am afraid that if it is not done well, it will explode.

It is for this reason that rifled guns have not been able to replace the position of smoothbore guns until the invention of the mini bullet.

It's not terrible to have rifles in the castle, it's scary to have two rifles!

The rifled gun bullets used by the Ming army were wrapped in silk to increase lubrication, and the loading speed was a little faster, but this kind of gun was still very difficult to master, so the rifled gunner was very valuable.

It can only be said that the communication and intelligence systems of those years were too backward, and there were already Cossacks and some Russians who started to do business with Zheng Zheng, and the Cossacks smuggled a large number of Don hippos to Zheng Zheng, and they knew that in the Far East there were not only Tatars, but also real Eastern civilizations. However, the Russians who came to explore the Far East did not know these things, and Fyodor came later, not knowing that the previous expedition officer, the Ukrainian Turbuqing, had been captured by the Ming army, and was engaged in the war horse smuggling trade with the Ming army.

Besides, after Turbuqing was captured by the Ming army, he secretly cooperated with the Ming army to smuggle a lot of Don Hippo from Ukraine to the Far East and sell them to Zheng Xi, but these things were carried out secretly, and of course it was impossible for the tsar to know.

Tsar Alexei I had been carrying out his policy of expansion, and after the resignation of the Ukrainian Thurbucin from the post of an expedition officer to the Far East, he sent new officers to the Far East. It's just that the new officers don't know what is happening in the Far East at all, which can only be said that Turkuqing is too pitiful, taking care of his own stuffy fortune and not caring about the life or death of the Russians.

At this time, Turbuqing had returned to his hometown of Ukraine. Through the smuggling trade with the war horses of the Ming army, Tulbuqing made a windfall. He obtained a large amount of silk, tea, ceramics, and a lot of gold, pearls, precious stones, and other items from the East, which he shipped back to Europe to sell, and then shipped from Ukraine to the Far East to sell them. Naturally, Turbucin resigned from his post as an officer in the Far East, left this bitter cold land, and returned to Europe with a warm climate to enjoy happiness.

The new Russian officer, Fyodor, was originally the son of a serf, and he took credit for his service in the army and became a petty officer. In order to achieve more credit as soon as possible, he took the dream of promotion and fortune, recruited a group of unemployed vagrants, petty gangsters, criminals and lumberjacks, and recruited a group of Cossack cavalry, and traveled thousands of miles to the Far East.

After the onset of winter, the transport lines of the Russian army became difficult, and the Yaksa Castle in the Far East ran out of food. However, the Ming army had already transferred the local ethnic minorities such as the Oroqen, Evenki, Daur and Hezhe people and concentrated them in strong cities, making it difficult for the Russian army to obtain supplies through plunder.