Chapter 756 By the Zhuoshui River
October 27, 1632, the fourth day that the Haihan Militia set foot on Taiwan Island.
Sun Zhen's biological clock allowed him to wake up naturally in the morning light. He put on his military uniform, then patted his sleeping companion next to him awake, got up and left the tent. Compared with the wilderness survival training he participated in in September, this training on the island of Taiwan was undoubtedly much easier.
In the last training, each recruit received only a knife, a small amount of salt, two taels of fried noodles and a two-meter-long rope. They had to spend several days in the wild with these things. Fortunately, Sun Zhen has been going up the mountains to catch birds and down the rivers to catch fish since he was a child. This level of test is not difficult for him, and he achieved the first place in overall performance in this training. The so-called training that came to Taiwan this time was not only fully armed, but also a collective action. Two companies of troops brought enough tents, food and ammunition, and also built a temporary camp on the beach. Even a newcomer like Sun Zhen It can be seen that this formation is not just a training exercise.
Sure enough, the troops slowed down very slowly as they marched inland, surveying and recording the surrounding geographical environment along the way. Sun Zhen also heard the veterans talking about this operation, probably preparing for the next resettlement of immigrants here. Sun Zhen was originally from a farmer's family and was a good hand at farm work. Naturally, he had to habitually check the soil quality and environment here. He was very disdainful when he heard about the grain output in Fengrong Village. In the local environment, it is reasonable to grow grain at least 50% more than it is now. However, when he told the company commander his thoughts, the company commander disdainfully claimed that the grain output at Haihan Base Camp was at least two or three times higher than here. This data really shocked Sun Zhen.
Sun Zhen didn't understand why Haihan took such pains to immigrate to this island at first. It wasn't until he heard from the company commander that the size of this Taiwan island was almost the area of Dengzhou Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture combined, that he was shocked to understand Haihan. How big Han’s heart is. If he occupies such a large piece of land overseas, he can indeed seal the territory and establish himself as a king. Moreover, the Qiongzhou occupied by Haihan in the south is said to be not much smaller than here.
Of course, Taiwan Island cannot be occupied simply by occupying it. It is said that there are many competitors on the island, and the duty of the Haihan Militia is to ensure that these competitors will not pose a threat to immigrants moving to the island - such as Talk about some aggressive and fierce indigenous tribes living in the mountains.
Since they were approaching the "dangerous zone" where the Han people rarely set foot in the legendary area, Qian Tiandun had ordered that the members of the new company should not leave the group at will, and the teams responsible for reconnaissance and security on the periphery had all been replaced by veterans.
Entering the mainland of Taiwan Island this time, Qian Tiandun's intended destination was the intersection of the upper reaches of Zhuoshui River and the Central Mountains. It was about eighty miles away from the place where he landed on the coast. Going further east, he started to enter the mountains, and Qian Tiandun I didn’t want to set foot in the territory of the hill tribes when I was not fully prepared.
At noon that day, the troops arrived at the intended end point, the intersection of the upper reaches of Zhuoshui Creek and the largest tributary. Later generations named this tributary Qingshui Creek, and Haihan's map followed this name. Qingshui Creek originates from Data Mountain in the Ali Mountains. It is about a hundred miles long and flows from south to north into Zhuoshui Creek that flows from east to west. From the map, the Qingshui Creek basin already belongs to the edge of the Central Mountains.
Two guides told the Haihan militia that further east of this place is the activity range of mountain tribes. If the Han people want to set foot in this area, they will easily be regarded as a provocation or even an invasion by the mountain people of these tribes. In the early years when Fengrong Village immigrants moved to their current settlement, some people went into the mountains to collect medicine. However, after being discovered by the mountain tribes, none of them came back alive. This also laid the foundation for the subsequent unequal transactions between the two parties. Later, Fengrong Village was coerced by the indigenous tribes to buy and sell without daring to resist. This was partly due to the shadow left by the early bullying of the immigrants.
The Haihan militia did not return immediately after arriving at their intended destination. Instead, they set up a small camp at the intersection of two water veins. Relying on the natural angle barrier formed by the water flow, the camp's defense line can be concentrated within a range of approximately 90 degrees, and the defense pressure is half that of a seaside camp.
If conditions permit, Qian Tiandun actually hopes to continue to inspect the upper reaches of the two water veins to see if there are conditions for building small hydropower in the mountainous environment. However, judging from the actual situation seen before us, the sand and gravel accumulation in these two water veins is very serious. It is probably impossible to build a hydropower station with the current technical conditions. Coupled with the existence of mountain tribes, it is necessary to build a hydropower station here. The hydropower station probably won’t work anymore. However, he still hopes to stay here for two to three days to understand the living environment of the mountain tribes as much as possible - if he really wants to fight against the mountain tribes in the future, then reconnaissance in advance is also necessary.
Since he was not familiar with the surrounding environment, Qian Tiandun did not rashly let the new recruits out for activities, so Sun Zhen's range of activities was limited to within two hundred meters of the camp, and he had to act collectively in squad units. Of course, the tasks that can be assigned to them at this time are basically not related to combat. They are basically menial tasks such as carrying water and chopping firewood. Tasks such as security, patrol, and reconnaissance are all contracted by veterans.
The first day the militia was stationed here was uneventful, but early the next morning, uninvited guests appeared. Sun Zhen woke up to the rapid sound of the trumpet. Although he was unclear about the situation outside, the usual emergency gathering training still played an obvious role. Sun Zhen finished dressing up in a very short time, grabbed the rifle and rushed out of the tent. .
Sun Zhen was not in a hurry to find the source of the incident. Instead, he remembered his usual training content and immediately gathered his class. Because there have been similar emergency rallies more than once during recruit training, all the recruits who still scurry around like headless flies after the muster whistle blows will receive a punishment that impresses them. Now that they hear the trumpet, the conditions of the soldiers Reflection is to first find the class gathering to which you belong, rather than exploring the reason for the emergency gathering.
Although the gathering speed of the new recruits was not satisfactory, when company commander Wu Qin arrived at the scene, most of the squads had already completed the gathering of personnel. Soon the soldiers learned the reason for the gathering from the officers: the soldiers on guard found signs of a large number of human activities about a mile away. Although the identity and purpose of the other party were not yet clear, the guard Still, the news was immediately sent back to the camp. Qian Tiandun did not dare to be careless and immediately ordered an emergency assembly and entered a state of combat readiness.
Soon new news came back. The group of people moving in the mountains and forests had been confirmed to be nearby indigenous people, but it was impossible to judge whether they were hostile or not. For safety reasons, the secret sentries and patrols deployed outside have been withdrawn to the camp, and they can only wait and see what happens for the time being.
Sun Zhen and the other recruits were not deployed to the first line of defensive positions, but remained in the center of the camp as a reserve team. Although they knew that sooner or later they would step onto the battlefield soon after joining the army, when they really felt the battle atmosphere, many of them could not help but tremble with their hands holding the rifles. Sun Zhen was a rather nervous person, and the hand holding the gun did not shake, but his mouth was extremely dry. Although the weather was slightly cool, the sweat on his head kept coming out.
Somehow, Sun Zhen couldn't help but recall the chaos in his hometown when Kong Youde's rebels invaded the village. He was so nervous at that time, worried about his family and his own life. However, he did not lose his mind due to nervousness at that time. When he found that it was impossible for him to rush into the village occupied by the rebels to save his family and other villagers, he decisively chose to flee to the nearby mountains and forests to hide, and during his escape In the process, he also used a hoe to kill two rebels who tried to intercept him - something he has never told anyone about until now. It was only with the dry food and broken silver found from the corpses of the rebels that he was able to persist in fleeing from Dengzhou to Huai'an Prefecture, and finally boarded a maritime merchant's refugee ship and was transported to Penghu. Seriously speaking, he is probably one of the few recruits in this group who has had the experience of truly fighting for his life, and this is probably one of the reasons why he can barely maintain his composure in this environment.
"What's wrong? Everyone's face looks like they have cramps! It's just a state of combat readiness, it's not really going to start a war. Why are you so nervous?" Wu Qin couldn't help laughing when he saw the nervousness of these recruits. : "Besides, even if we have to fight, it will be the veterans who are in front of us. Why are you in the reserve team panicking!"
As soon as Wu Qin saw Sun Zhen with a calm face, he pointed at Sun Zhen and said, "Look at Squad Leader Sun, who is also a recruit joining the army with you. He is not panicked at all."
Sun Zhen forced out a smile and responded: "Company Commander, how about you share with the brothers your first experience on the battlefield?"
"Is this...appropriate? Brothers, are you interested in listening?" Wu Qin looked hesitant.
"Yes, yes, interested!" There is no shortage of curious cheering parties at any time, and someone immediately responded.
"Then I'll just talk about it, and you can just listen to it." Wu Qin sat down, and the people around him immediately gathered around and sat next to him.
Wu Qin pondered for a moment and then began to speak: "I was rescued by General Qian's fleet in Qinghua, Annan, in the summer of five years ago. At that time, I was just like you, because the war destroyed my home and had to Fleeing to a foreign land. I know that many of you choose to join the army because you want to make a living. This is okay, because I joined the militia with this idea in mind. ”
As soon as these words were said, the recruits immediately felt that they were much closer. During the training, they were often scolded or even punished by Wu Qin, but they really did not expect that Wu Qin was actually a war refugee in a similar situation to themselves, and even Even the original intention of applying for the vigilante group is similar.
Wu Qin continued: "At that time, it was not as difficult as it is now to take the militia exam. As long as your limbs are sound, you are not sick, and General Qian likes you, you can join the army. Don't think that I usually train you too harshly. Think of Gao Qiao back then. When the battalion commander trains us, there is no day where he doesn’t punch, kick and scold us... You may wonder, since the commander is so fierce, why do we have to obey orders obediently? Because he is really powerful and I have to obey! The first time I went on a mission with General Qian and Battalion Commander Takahashi was six months after joining the army..."
Going back to the beginning of 1628, in order to ensure his own interests in the Annan region, the fledgling Haihan decided to put all his armed forces on the Annan battlefield to assist the northern regime against the southern rebels. The special operations company, which was established in Heitu Port just a few months ago, has become the only unit under the Haihan Militia that is familiar with the local conditions in Annan. This team, with less than 200 troops, undertook the most dangerous forward reconnaissance mission at the time. At that time, Wu Qin was not yet twenty years old. Like Sun Zhen now, he was a new recruit who had not been baptized by war. His first mission was to take a boat to the Zhengjiang estuary area behind enemy lines under the leadership of Qian Tiandun. Scout the enemy.
"The team was led by all big shots at that time. In addition to General Qian, there were also General Tom Wang, the current commander of the Navy of the Militia, Instructor Morgan who was responsible for training snipers, and General Shi Diwen of the Second Fleet, who is now stationed at General Roger of Nanyang..." When Wu Qin talked about these big figures, he also had an expression of pride. After all, he could fight with so many senior military officials on the battlefield. It is probably unlikely that there will be anything similar in the future. Opportunity.
At that time, the reconnaissance team encountered two ships of the South Vietnamese army on the Zhengjiang River. The ships ran aground on the beach and fled ashore. The Haihan Militia immediately sent people ashore to pursue them. The officer leading the team at that time was Takahashi Nan, and Wu Qin was among the soldiers who followed him ashore to pursue the enemy.
In order to be able to pursue lightly, Takahashi Minami didn't even bring a musket. He only grabbed a saber and chased all the way. Wu Qin witnessed with his own eyes how Takahashi Nan caught up and knocked down his opponent in close combat. Seven of the eight people who escaped ashore were cut down by Takahashi Nan. The fastest one had already escaped. After five miles away, they were all captured by the pursuit force of the Haihan Militia. Gao Qiaonan became famous in that battle and became Qian Tiandun's trusted arm.
"At that time, I saw that Battalion Commander Takahashi was eager to kill, so I forgot about all my fear and nervousness. I went up with a bayonet and stabbed him!" Wu Qin couldn't help but talk about the fighting scene at that time. He stood up and asked someone to demonstrate the movements. Naturally, everyone was excited.
"Let me tell you, do you panic when fighting? Panic! For the first time, I was so panicked that I couldn't even hold my gun. I was even more embarrassed than you are now! But after the fight started, there was nothing to panic... "Wu Qin's tone was very relaxed: "Actually, it's just repeating your usual training content."
(End of chapter)