Just when Dorgon made up his mind to change the strategy of driving away tigers and devouring wolves, and instead launched an attack on the Ming Dynasty territory in Shandong and Henan, Zhu Cixiang was not idle either, but came to strike first!

On the fourth day of April in Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, dozens of sand boats broke through the fog on the sea in the early morning and landed on the beach in the bay on the south side of the "waist" of Juehua Island with a roar.

Before a sand ship could stop, two long springboards were placed on the square bow. Then came Ming, who was wearing red cloth-covered iron armor and an iron war hat on his head, holding a turtle-dove-foot firegun that had been lit with a match rope.

The soldiers rushed down the gangplank with shouts. An officer holding a gun in one hand and a sword in the other also came down from the ship.

At the same time, dozens of other boats also lowered their gangplanks, and groups of heavily armed Ming troops rushed onto the beach of Juehua Island in western Liaoning.

Every one of these Ming troops, both officers and soldiers, looked nervous.

"Has anyone seen a Tartar?"

"No, I didn't see any Tatars."

"This is Tatar territory, be careful"

"Quickly, form an array, with the firecrackers in front, the archers in the middle, the swords on both sides, and the spearmen in the back!"

"Tatars will appear at any time, quickly form an array!"

The officers had already reacted, shouting at the top of their lungs, and commanded their men to form four battalion formations on the beach of Juehua Island.

The four battalions that landed on Juehua Island today are the Dengzhou Association of the Denglai New Army. The Dengzhou Association is a group of guards, and it is almost considered a "third-line" unit in the New Army of Denglai. However, these "third-line" troops

Its combat effectiveness is not weak, and is even much stronger than many "second-line" divisions, that is, divisions that have not yet been reorganized into "model regiments".

This is because the regiments of all divisions and armies have been determined to be "modelled", that is, adapted into European-style troops using Morris tactics. This requires equipped with a large number of muskets, spliced ​​plate armor and three-pound regimental cannons. There is still work to be done.

Morris-style formation training also requires training a large number of officers and artillerymen.

This is a huge systematic project, and it is impossible to complete it in two or three years.

And the twelve regiments that are currently undergoing "modelling" have not yet been completed! The remaining more than twenty infantry regiments can only use lances, swords, shields, and bows and arrows to make up the number.

They don't even have many bows. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of these troops is very unreliable. They are not as good as the guards with relatively complete equipment!

After all, the guards have the old foundation of the guards. The guards in Jiangnan are in terrible condition, but places like Shandong, Henan, and Fengyang have been in chaos for a while. Therefore, their military equipment has been restored, and many of the guards' disciples are

They join the army with armor, so their armament is better. And Dengzhou Association is the best among the guards. Not only was it established the earliest, it was also strengthened by Shen Tingyang and Su Guansheng. Now every battalion has

A fire gun flag, equipped with fire guns produced by Shen Tingyang's Dengzhou Gun Factory. In last year's Northern Expedition, which ended in a tailspin, he fought with Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo's troops and won a great victory!

But last time we were fighting traitors, this time we were fighting Tatars!

Therefore, no one from top to bottom of the Dengzhou Association dared to take it lightly, and soon the battalion was used as a unit to formulate four square formations.

"Okay, we've finally formed our formation." Yu Daren, the commander-in-chief of the Dengzhou Association, breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Zhang Huang, who was also the magistrate of Penglai and Juehua counties, and said, "Magistrate Zhang, you are a civil servant. Now,

Wait on the boat, I'll go ashore first."

Yu Daren and Zhang Huangyan were riding on a Centipede warship of the Beiyang Navy. For today's landing, Shen Tingyang spent a lot of money. Four centipede ships came out and are now on the sea less than two miles away from the coast. They lined up in a row, lowered the big anchor, and opened the gun windows on the bow. Eight 12-pound red barbarian cannons were now aimed at the beach, waiting for the Tatars to appear!

"I will go ashore with you!" Although Zhang Huangyan is a civil servant, he is now fully armed, with an arrow jacket, a quiver on his shoulder, a Kaiyuan bow on his back, and a sword in one hand. However, his figure is a bit thin and his face is too pale. , at first glance, it looks like a scholar pretending to be a robber.

"Okay, let's go ashore together!" Yu Daren saw that he was very interested, so he didn't stop him. After all, Juehua Island is an isolated island, and there is probably no Tatar army on the island.

Centipede warships cannot be used for beaching. They have to be on guard near the beach to guard against the unknown Dai Qingshui Division. If necessary, they will also use the bow cannon to support the battle on the beach, so they must maintain mobility.

Therefore, Yu Daren and Zhang Huangyan had no choice but to take a sampan and rush to the beach. The four battalion commanders under Yu Daren had already come over to see the report.

"Xie Tong, my subordinates have sent out sentries to be on guard, but no Tatars have been found so far."

As soon as the battalion commander who was leading the report said this, a sharp whistle came from the distance. This was someone shooting a loud arrow into the air!

Yu Daren immediately became nervous and raised his hand to stop the battalion commander who was reporting. He then raised his ears and listened for a while. When there was no second sound of arrows, he breathed a sigh of relief and said to Zhang Huang: "It should be Zhang Huang, the common man." Magistrate, do you want to see them?"

"Of course I want to see you!" Zhang Huang said, "I am the magistrate of Juehua County, and the people here are the people under my rule!"

Yu Daren nodded, and then ordered one of his battalion commanders to lead his men in formation and protect him and Zhang Huangyan to meet the people of Juehua Island.

The place where the people were found was a shabby village. The terrain of Juehua Island is strange, a bit like a dumbbell, with large east and west ends and a narrow middle, so two natural bays are formed in the north and south of the island.

Yu Daren and Zhang Huangyan landed in the bay south of the island today.

In addition, the east and west ends of Juehua Island are covered with hills and woods. Only the northeastern corner of the eastern end of the island has some flat land and a bay that can be sheltered from the wind. Earlier, when the Ming Dynasty did not abandon Ningyuan, that The bay is very busy. Food and wages shipped to Ningyuan are all transited there. Therefore, wharves, warehouses and a government office were built. If the Tatars stationed troops on the island, they were probably there.

The narrow middle part of the island is full of farmland and villages, and there is a small fishing village near the bay on the back. However, the first village Yu Daren and Zhang Huangyan arrived after landing on the island was a village hidden in the woods. The farm is surrounded by newly sown wheat fields.

More than a hundred men and women were captured from the village and gathered in the grain drying field at the entrance of the village. They looked at the Ming officers and soldiers who appeared out of nowhere in panic!

They are all people who moved from Ningyuan after the massacre of Juehua Island in the sixth year of Tianqi. They have lived on the island for more than ten years. Every winter, when the sea freezes, they are always on tenterhooks, fearing Donglu's attack. The soldiers suddenly came and killed them, and it was not until last winter that they lived a peaceful life. Because at that time, the whole territory of Ningyuan was the territory of the Qing Dynasty, so they were naturally the subjects of the Qing Dynasty, and they were obedient people.

All the men on the island obediently shaved their hair and tied braids, and no one wanted to resist the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The price of resistance was too heavy. It was not something they, the common people, could bear. They just wanted to live a peaceful life on Juehua Island.

Go down.

The Qing Dynasty didn't seem to care much about the people on the outer islands. In addition to letting the men among them shave their heads, and handing over some food and seafood, it didn't embarrass them too much. It was really a great kindness from the emperor!

In the words of later generations, now that they have become slaves, they can be peaceful and obedient people from generation to generation.

But just when they felt "stable", something unexpected happened to them.

I don't know where a group of Ming soldiers came from that looked very strange. They looked fierce, but they didn't steal things or rape women. They didn't look like they wanted to "borrow" their braided heads to repay their merits.

, just let everyone go to the grain drying field at the entrance of the village to listen to a lecture from a heavily armed county magistrate.
Chapter completed!