Chapter 2029
To maintain an established musketeer force not only requires a large amount of military expenditure, but also a stable supply of weapons and ammunition. Even Haihan does not have the ability to expand its army on a large scale at this stage.
The Qing army obviously lacked the corresponding strength in this regard. Their weapons, ammunition and training were all provided by external assistance, so the size of the musketry team stationed here was not large. Sun Bing monitored it for more than half a month, and basically It was confirmed that the establishment of this musketeer team was roughly equivalent to a reinforced platoon in the Haihan Army, with less than a hundred combatants.
However, despite the shortage of weapons, the Qing army was obviously preparing to expand its army. Another group of soldiers who were not equipped with muskets began to train with the musketeers. Sun Bing thought that maybe after the next batch of muskets arrived here, The Qing army will probably expand the establishment of this musketeer unit.
In fact, there were already musketeers in the Qing army. Among the Ming troops who defected from Denglai, Jinzhou and other places to join the enemy, many were musketeers. They were later incorporated into the Han army banner by Huang Taiji.
However, the weapons used by these musketeers inherited from the Ming Dynasty were relatively old, and their performance was far from sufficient to fight against the Haihan army.
The hundreds of artillery pieces that the Qing army had finally accumulated were gradually used up in the tug-of-war in Jinzhou in the past two or three years. However, the technical threshold for manufacturing large-caliber artillery was difficult for the Qing army to overcome, otherwise There is no need to focus on the Musketeers.
However, Huang Taiji did not want to place all his hopes on people like Han Junqi. He still had to train a firearms unit of the Jurchen ethnic group. So when external military assistance appeared, he selected a group of young soldiers from various ministries. , handed over to foreign instructors for training.
Of course, these soldiers are all Jurchens, and there is not a single Han among them.
Moreover, Huang Taiji also put forward very specific requirements, that is, preliminary combat effectiveness must be formed this winter, and training must be for actual combat purposes, not just for practicing tricks.
When necessary, they can directly participate in the combat operations of the frontline troops, such as the previous ambush of the Haihan Army patrol in the confrontation zone between the two armies.
As Sun Bing found the musketeer team, Wang Tom also considered the possibility of a firefight with the enemy. His purpose of replenishing troops for this reconnaissance operation was actually to prepare for emergencies, in case the musketeer team The commander is hot-headed and wants to engage in projects such as field march training near the coast. Then the front-line commander Sun Bing can immediately gather manpower to kill the musketeer team at the right time, and then evacuate from the sea. the area.
In addition, Wang Tom also gave Sun Bing a new secret mission, which was to wait for an opportunity to capture alive the foreign instructor who trained the Qing army.
For the Haihan Army, the Qing Army's musketeers were not enough to pose a real threat to themselves, so cutting off the Qing Army's channels for military assistance at the source was the best way to completely resolve the matter.
"Capture alive? I'm afraid it won't be that easy!" Sun Bing looked through the telescope at the Qing Army's musketry team training down the hillside, and couldn't help but reveal a wry smile.
Although this place was considered an area controlled by the Qing army, the Qing army was not careless about the safety of important figures and still deployed relatively complete security measures.
Not far from the foreign instructor was his mount, and there were about seven or eight strong Bajala warriors around him, all of whom were equipped with war horses. They were obviously here to protect him.
If something happens, these Bagala soldiers should immediately escort the foreign instructor to leave here and return to the Qing army camp.
Although the weapons of the Marines have a certain range advantage, considering the distance up and down the hillside, Sun Bing is not sure that he can keep the foreign instructor with the rifle in his hand, and he may not even be able to kill the opponent with the purpose of killing him. success.
Once a firefight breaks out here, the nearby Qing army camp will immediately react. At that time, the Marines hiding in the mountains and forests will inevitably fall into a bitter battle. In Sun Bing's view, this risk is unnecessary to bear.
Of course, if the superiors want to fight a big battle near Jinshitan, Sun Bing would be happy to see it happen. After all, military merit can only be gained by fighting, and military merit can be promoted quickly.
"Company Commander, we have been here for almost a month, starving and freezing every day. When can we take action against these guys?"
Some subordinates who couldn't hold back asked this question to Sun Bing. In fact, questions like this have appeared more and more frequently in recent days. It can be seen that more and more people are impatient with this silent surveillance operation. .
This is of course a reasonable situation. After all, it is uncomfortable to stay in such a freezing environment. The staff on duty only eat dry food and snow water every day, and can only return to the beach after nightfall. base to have a hot meal.
After the recent heavy snowfall, non-combat attrition due to frostbite has begun to appear in the team, and everyone's patience is being worn away bit by bit. If it continues to be delayed, it will become increasingly difficult for Sun Bing to appease the soldiers' emotions, which will eventually affect the execution of the mission.
Sun Bing raised his finger and pointed at the group of people at the bottom of the hillside, lowered his voice and responded: "Whenever they take action, we will take action!"
Sun Bing's judgment of the situation is relatively accurate. That is, the reason why this musketeer team affiliated to the Qing army insists on winter training is not because of diligence, but because they are preparing for the next secret operation.
On the hillside just a few hundred meters away from Sun Bing and others' hiding place, Spanish officer Bayano was coldly observing the training of his Qing soldiers. To be honest, he was not too satisfied with these soldiers. Kong has bravery and a strong body, but his brain is very difficult to use.
A very simple queue training, but after several months of practice, they are still unable to master it. Many people even cannot distinguish between left and right, resulting in ridiculous situations where they turn in the wrong direction from time to time during the training.
A stupid guy like this would have been whipped long ago if he had been in the Spanish army. If he still couldn't change, he could only be a groom or a porter in charge of logistics. However, the Qing army's standards for selecting outstanding soldiers seemed to be somewhat Different, they pay more attention to martial arts, and whether the brain is good or not is secondary.
Bayano also wanted to ask the Qing generals to find some smarter Han soldiers for training, but the other party rejected the proposal and asked him to train these "Qing warriors" well.
If it weren't for the generous treatment provided by the other party, Bayano would probably kick all these unqualified soldiers out of the team. However, he later understood that many people in this musketeer team had aristocratic backgrounds. Why did the Qing generals refuse to replace their candidates?
This practice of drawing people with special backgrounds into a certain army to gain military exploits was actually no different from what he had seen and heard in the Spanish army. Bayano served in the army in his early years and participated in more than ten battles, large and small, on the European battlefield. Later, because he couldn't stand the blind command and ridiculous behavior of the noble officers in the army, he applied for retirement when he was injured in a battle and needed to recuperate.
He heard that Spain had many lucrative livelihoods in its far-flung eastern colonies, especially for veterans like him. As long as they were willing to go, there would definitely be jobs with good pay.
So Bayano drifted half way around the world with the caravan's sailing ship, and ended up in the Philippines several times.
However, after Bayano arrived in the Philippines, he soon discovered that the situation here was actually no different from that at home. Power was still in the hands of a few upper-class people. There were many immigrants like him who came to the East to make money after hearing the rumors. If you don’t have a certain family background or identity background, you can only start from the bottom of society.
Fortunately, Bayano had military experience and was once a small officer. This experience allowed him to get a job in the colony - becoming a member of the Philippine Governor's personal guard.
Although the salary for this job was not as generous as he had expected before leaving Spain, it was still pretty good for a colony.
But the good times did not last long. Under the pressure of Haihan, a strong opponent, for many years, the trade scale of the Philippine colonies showed a trend of shrinking year by year, and the results of previous battles continued to dampen the strength of the colonies.
When the Haihan Army captured the city of Manila, Bayano withdrew to Cebu along with the fleeing army. Not long after, he was assigned a new job - carrying out military assistance missions overseas on behalf of the colonial authorities.
At that time, Bayano was not the only one to receive this mission, but the destination Bayano drew in the subsequent mission lottery was said to be the farthest place from the Philippines, thousands of miles away.
He was told that the partner was a rising power in the north, which was said to be at war with Haihan and Ming Dynasty at the same time, which sounded very powerful.
Bayano knew that there were other people sent to Daming and Haihan. This was obviously a very complicated plan, and his mission was to assist this country called "Qing" in training an elite force.
For this purpose, the colonial authorities also provided hundreds of muskets, several artillery pieces and a large amount of ammunition, which were shipped to the Qing Dynasty with him.
But in fact, it was not the colonial administration's sailing ship that performed this long-distance transportation task, but a certain Han maritime merchant who undertook this task.
According to Bayano's explanation, it was because the route between the Philippine Islands and the Qing Dynasty was very dangerous, and it was possible to encounter Haihan's armed fleet at sea. Once the Spanish sailing ship was discovered, it might lead to death, so Only the cover of Han maritime merchants was needed to pass through these dangerous areas.
Of course, there is another reason that cannot be ignored, that is, there is no direct contact between the colonial authorities and the Qing Dynasty. This so-called military assistance cooperation is actually achieved through an intermediary, and the intermediary is a group of Han maritime merchants with mysterious identities.
Neither the colonial authorities nor Bayano could fully trust these Han maritime merchants. However, after the defeat in Manila, the colonial authorities had little choice and time left. If they did not find more cooperation overseas as soon as possible, If our partners work together to deal with Haihan, then maybe the days of the Philippine colonies under the rule of the Kingdom of Spain will begin to countdown.
Therefore, for the Spaniards, this cooperation opportunity is actually a life-saving straw. Even though the hope is slim, they can only reach out and grab it first.
Bayano's reason for not trusting middlemen is more simple and straightforward. He believes that neither the Han nor the Haihan can be trusted. The city of Manila was conquered by the Haihan with force, and after the city was broken, there were not many Hans at that time. Choose to evacuate the area with the colonial authorities.
In Bayano's view, this is a nest of snakes and rats, and it shows that the Han people and the colonial authorities are not of the same mind. These maritime merchants who acted as middlemen were not under the control of the colonial authorities, and their reliability was not even as reliable as that of the Han people in Manila. It was too risky for the colonial authorities to entrust them with such a major event.
However, orders were orders, and as a soldier, he could only abide by the arrangements of his superiors and escort this batch of arms to the far north with the Han merchants.
"Once the Haihan people discover your presence locally, they will try their best to kill you. As for the reason, you should have thought of it, so you have to hide it well and don't let the Haihan people know your existence."
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The Han merchant who was responsible for sending Bayano to his destination had said this to him on the way, and Bayano also understood that this was indeed true.
His mission is to bring advanced weapons and combat concepts to his partners, and the Haihan people will definitely not be happy to see their local opponents suddenly change and improve their combat effectiveness, and they will definitely kill all external means of military assistance.
In order to avoid the activities of the Haihan armed sailing ship as much as possible, the merchant ship Bayano was on chose a very risky route and did not sail close to the mainland coastline. Instead, it sailed north from the waters east of Taiwan Island.
During the voyage of more than a month, Bayano rarely saw the horizon within his field of vision, and almost every day he moved forward on the endless sea.
The ship only had one stop at an uninhabited island during the journey. After replenishing fresh water from a water source near the shore, it hurriedly set off again. It did not interact with anyone during the entire voyage.
Bayano learned during the voyage that several other colleagues traveling to other places also had similar itineraries to minimize the possibility of exposure. However, the destinations of other colleagues were much closer than his, and Bayano was still somewhat uncomfortable thinking about this.
After completing the long voyage, the ship arrived at the Liaodong coast at midnight and then sailed into a certain inland river.
According to Han merchants, any sailing ship that appears on this coastline will inevitably be attacked once it is discovered by a Haihan warship, so they can only choose to enter this area at midnight.
This aroused a little sympathy from Bayano. It seemed that the partners in the north were much worse off than the colonial authorities. At least the coast and ports on the Philippine side had not been so blockaded by Haihan warships.
(End of chapter)