Chapter 2029

To maintain an organized 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 is in this regard

Obviously they lack the corresponding strength. Their weapons, ammunition and training are all provided by external assistance, so the scale of the musketeers stationed here is not large. Sun Bing monitored the musketeers for more than half a month and basically confirmed the musketeers.

The establishment is 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 musketeers in the Qing army. Among the Ming troops who defected from Denglai, Jinzhou and other places, many were musketeers. They were later incorporated into the Han army banner by Huang Taiji. However, these were inherited from

The weapons used by the Ming Dynasty's musketeers are relatively old, and their performance is far from enough to fight against the Haihan army. The hundreds of artillery pieces that the Qing army finally accumulated have been used in Jinzhou in the past two or three years.

They were exhausted during the war, but the technical threshold for manufacturing large-caliber artillery was difficult for the Qing army to overcome, otherwise there would be 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 skills. When necessary, he can directly participate in frontline troops

During the combat operations, such as the previous ambush of the Haihan Army patrol in the confrontation area 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 frontline 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 musketry team was not enough to cause real damage to itself.

Threat, and trying to cut off the Qing army's channels for obtaining military assistance from the source is the best way to completely resolve this matter.

"Capture alive? I'm afraid it won't be that easy!" Sun Bing looked through the telescope at the Qing Army's musketeers training down the hillside, and couldn't help but reveal a wry smile.

Although this place is considered an area controlled by the Qing army, the Qing army did not care about the safety of important people and still arranged relatively complete security measures. Not far from the foreign instructor was his mount, surrounded by

There are also about seven or eight strong Bajala warriors, all equipped with war horses, who are obviously here to protect him.

If something happens, these Bagala warriors 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, in terms of the distance up and down the hillside, Sun Bing

There was no certainty that he could keep the foreign instructor with the rifle in his hand, and even if he aimed to kill him, he might not be able to succeed.

Once a firefight breaks out here, the nearby Qing army camp will immediately respond. 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 boss wanted to fight a big battle near Jinshitan, Sun Bing would be happy to see it happen. After all, military merit can only be obtained by fighting, and military merit can help you rise 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.

Of course, this is a reasonable situation. After all, it is really 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 after nightfall.

You can only get a hot meal at the beach base.

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 drag on, it will become increasingly difficult for Sun Bing to appease the soldiers' emotions.

Large, it will definitely affect the execution of the task in the end.

Sun Bing raised his finger and pointed at the group of people at the foot of the hillside, lowered his voice and replied: "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.

Just a few hundred meters away from Sun Bing and others' hiding place at the foot of the hillside, Spanish officer Bayano was coldly observing the training of his Qing soldiers. To be honest, he was not too satisfied with these soldiers. These people

Although he has martial arts and a strong body, his brain is very difficult to use. Even though he has been practicing a simple queue training for several months, he still cannot master it. Many people even cannot distinguish between left and right, which leads to

From time to time during training there would be ridiculous situations where the car would turn in the wrong direction.

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 attach more importance 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 to receive training, but the other side rejected this proposal and asked him to train well.

These "Qing warriors".

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, but he later understood that many people in this musketeer team had aristocratic backgrounds.

Why did the generals of the Qing army refuse to change 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 on the European battlefield. Later, because he could not stand the blind command and ridiculous behavior of the noble officers in the army, he took advantage of a

He applied for retirement when he was injured in battle and needed to recuperate. He heard that Spain had many lucrative livelihoods in the distant eastern colonies, especially for veterans like him. As long as they were willing to go, there would definitely be well-paid jobs. So Baya

Nuoben 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 figures, and 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 benefits of this job were not

He expected it to be so generous before leaving Spain, but it was already 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 have continuously dampened the strength of the colonies. Haihan's army broke through the city of Manila.

At that time, Bayano withdrew to Cebu along with Governor Aragones. Soon after, he was assigned a new job - to carry 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 that Bayano drew in the subsequent mission lottery was said to be the farthest place from the Philippines, thousands of miles away. He was

It was told that the partner was a rising power in the north, and it was said that it was at war with Haihan and Ming Dynasty at the same time. This 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.

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 sailing ship of the colonial authorities that performed this long-distance transportation task, but a certain Han merchant. According to the explanation given by Bayano, it was because the route between the Philippine Islands and the Qing Dynasty was very dangerous.

, it is possible to encounter Haihan's armed fleet at sea. Once the Spanish sailing ship is discovered, it may lead to death, so the cover of Han maritime merchants is 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 partners work together to deal with Haihan, then maybe the days of the Philippine colonies under the rule of the Kingdom of Spain will enter a 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 to grab it first.

Let’s talk about it later.

Bayano's reason for not trusting middlemen is simpler and more straightforward. He believes that neither the Han nor the Haihan can be trusted. Manila was conquered by the Haihan with force, and after the city was broken, there were not many Hans at that time.

They chose to evacuate the local area together with the colonial authorities. In Bayano's view, this is a den of snakes and rats. The Han people and the colonial authorities are not of the same mind. And these maritime merchants who act as middlemen are not under the control of the colonial authorities, and their reliability is even higher than

Without the Han Chinese in Manila, it was too risky for the colonial authorities to entrust them with such a major event.

However, an order was an order, 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 existence locally, they will try every means 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."

The Han merchant who was responsible for transporting Bayano to his destination once said this to him on the way, and Bayano also understood that this was indeed true. His mission was 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 military assistance methods.

In order to avoid as much as possible the activities of the Haihan armed sailing ship, the merchant ship Bayano was aboard 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. In more than a month

During the month-long voyage, Bayano rarely saw the horizon within his field of vision, and almost every day he moved forward on the endless sea.

The ship only made one stop at an uninhabited island during the journey. After replenishing fresh water from a water source near the coast, it hurriedly set off again. During the entire voyage, it did not interact with anyone. Bayano was on the voyage.

I learned that several other colleagues who went to other places also had similar itineraries to minimize the possibility of exposure. However, the destinations of other colleagues were much closer than him, and Bayano was still a little uncomfortable thinking about this.

Comfortable.

After completing a 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 appeared on this coastline would once be attacked by the Han Dynasty.

If the ship is discovered, it will inevitably be attacked, so they can only choose to enter this area at midnight. This arouses a little sympathy from Bayano. It seems that the partners in the north are much worse off than the colonial authorities, at least in the Philippines.

The coast and ports there have not been so blockaded by Haihan warships.
Chapter completed!