Chapter 44: Asymmetric War
To the east, with the assistance of Chekde, Kakduli raided Tuturask at the intersection of the Tutura River and the Lena River, wiped out the defenders inside, and captured more than 30 Cossacks, including centurion Yulev.
After taking Tutulask, Kakduli asked Chekde to clear the Cossack stronghold on his own, which was still in the Tutula River. His 1,200 troops were divided into two, and he led him personally, with 800 people continuing north along the Lena River, clearing the Russian strongholds along the way.
After arriving in Ustikut, he continued west along another river from the west of the Lena River, entering the Ilimu River, and pulling out Ilimsk, an important stronghold on the Cossacks on the Ilimu River.
The other way was along the Tipta River westward, preparing to meet with Wang Chengluan, who was heading north along the Angara River.
It should be noted here that the Russians' military deployment in the Angara River Basin was naturally focused on the Buryat Mongols in the south. The Tungus people in the north were generally small in tribes and had little population, so they set up strongholds in the north, mainly for tax collection.
Although Ilimsk is also a big city, it was built before Bratsk, but there are only ten Cossacks inside, which is cheaper. Kakduli climbed up with a tiger's claws while the night was dark.
After taking Ilimsk, Kakduli left 100 cavalry to guard the city, and he led other cavalry to continue north along the Ilim River, walking and cleaning up, and finally arrived a month later where the Ilim River flowed into the Angara River.
According to the previous arrangement, Kakduli stopped near the estuary of the river, and this stop lasted for ten days!
Hard work pays off. When they waited for the enemy, they had about two hundred cavalry, like Kakduli and others, riding on the ice.
That was the reinforcements sent by the Yenisesk Governor's Office, which was transported from the Angara River to the mouth of the Yenisei River after receiving the alarm.
Since the establishment of Bratsk, Yenisesk's status has been much worse than before. However, since it is the place where the Angara River, the largest tributary of the Yenisei River, still maintained the regulations of the Governor's Office.
At present, Yenisesk's governor was a Germanic Dmitry Vrazbekov who ran over from the German city-state due to the Thirty Years' War. He had only two hundred men, one hundred Cossacks and one hundred shooting soldiers. When he heard that Bratsk was in a hurry, he went to report to the governor of Tobolsk on the one hand, and sent all his people out.
Because he knew that once Bratsk was out of protection, the enemy could easily invade the Yenisei along the Angara River, and his Yeniseii was the first to be blasted!
It's strange to say that Vlazbekov is the viscount of Yenisesk, and the Cossack leader he sent out was Fedor. Nefijev is a baron from another small town in Yenisesk's jurisdiction. Both of them are small nobles.
These two hundred people were riding horses, but only the one hundred people under Nefijeff could fight on the horse, and the remaining one hundred shooting soldiers could only ride horses.
At present, the road from the Angara River Basin to the Yenisei River Basin, besides the road from Tulunsk to Krasnoyarsk, is this big river. When it is not frozen, take a boat, and if it is frozen, it will drive from the ice. It can be regarded as "navigation" all year round.
Nefijev was able to partner with Vrazbekov because he was a Polish Cossack, who participated in the Thirty Years' War with Vrazbekov, and was also the latter's old subordinate. People like them are very popular in Russia at present, except for people like them, such as the English, Scots, Swedes, Czechs, etc., and the British could even be the commander of a large army of ten thousand people.
Vratsbekov received the news that "The Sorens were besieging Bratsk."
At first, he did not react. Now, in the eyes of the Russians who invaded Siberia, there are only two types of people, one is the Tatars and the other is the Tungus. Only when the Cossacks broke into the area east of the Yenisei River can we distinguish the Mongols, Ewenks, Yakuts, etc.
"Soren?", what was that? After a while, he realized that it was a great power to the east. His Majesty's empire had just suffered a great defeat in Yakutsk and lost the entire Lena River east of the Fort Vendo and the important strongholds on the Villuoi River. Tobolsk made a briefing to remind the admirals of each castle to pay attention.
If the Buryat Mongols attacked Bratsk, Vlazbekov would not care at all. Bratsk was a diamond castle made of bricks and stone. With the Mongols' attack methods, they would not succeed even if they fought for a year.
But it would be different if it were that "barbarian" empire. They had artillery in their hands!
Therefore, fearing that Bratsk would make mistakes, Vratsbekov sent out all the troops in his hands.
It takes nearly two thousand miles from Yenisesk to Bratsk. Even if Nefijev travels day and night, it will take as fast as twenty days to arrive, but that is impossible.
Following them was a "baby" team composed of Tungus people, which was composed of ten large sledges pulled by reindeer, filled with some supplies, the most important of which was the chopped rye pole that was supplied to the reindeer themselves - that was the only thing reindeer would want to eat except moss in winter.
When we arrived at the mouth of the Ilim River, a month had passed. Nefijeff's Tungus people ran away halfway and finally had to let Cossack drive the sledge themselves, and the supplies loaded on the cross sledge were almost exhausted!
At that time, this place was five hundred miles away from Bratsk!
As a Cossack who had been mingling in major battlefields in Central and Eastern Europe since he was fifteen years old, he had participated in the Thirty Years' War, the war between Russia and Poland, and the war between Cossacks within Ukraine, the thirty-five-year-old Nefijev immediately made a decision.
Kill those reindeer!
There were two reindeer pulling each sled, and they could barely reach Bratsk, but the remaining Tungus (actually the Ewenks) disagreed. Nefijeff was furious and killed all the dozen "lowly Tungus" without saying a word!
It was this gunshot that alarmed Kak Duli, who was ambushing near the estuary of the river.
At this time, they were about three miles away from the mouth of the river, and a camp left by the Ewenki people before was cat.
After the investigation, Kakduli launched!
In fact, veterans like Nefijeff were very alert during the march. If they suddenly encountered an enemy, they would definitely place one hundred shooting soldiers on the shore and take the remaining one hundred cavalry to defend the enemy on the ice. Naturally, the horses of his 100 cavalry did not have nail covers like Hanhai Army, but they also had ropes wrapped with rough cloth strips.
Although the rough cloth strips are not as good as nail covers, they are stronger than straw ropes, and at least they don't need to be replaced after walking for a while.
Even so, their horses were still not as fast as Han Hai Army!
Kak Duli was sincerely trying to wipe out the enemy army. He divided his 700 men into four groups. The largest and most sudden group was Cossack's outfits, and they surrounded Nefijeff from all sides.
Nefijeff was a little confused.
The closest to them was that the group of people rushing over from the estuary were riding Mongolian horses. This was not surprising. Since occupying the Angara River Basin, Cossacks have also tried to use Mongolian horses, and they can't afford to use all of them with Don Hippos.
The key is that the Cossacks that can come out of this estuary may only come from Ilmsk, but I haven't heard of so many Cossacks in Ilmsk? Could it be that they came from Killesk and Ustikut, and they all received an alarm from Bratsk?
His stunnedness created an opportunity for Kak Duli to approach them quickly.
Among the three hundred people of Kake Duli, one hundred dragon cavalry were the leader!
After a burst of ejection, just as Nefijeff was stunned, Kakduli led two hundred tiger cavalry to kill in!
Speed and extraordinary speed played a big role at this time. When the cavalry of the Han Navy passed through the ice like the wind, the shooting soldiers of the Nefijeff cavalry, who were unable to move, were already a little sparse.
At this time, the cavalry coming from other sides also arrived!
Nefijeff now understood where the team came from, but now it was too late to come. On this ice surface, their Cossacks' skill in controlling horses to fight freely was greatly reduced. The number of opponents was several times that of theirs, and they suddenly encountered an enemy.
How can I fight this battle?
After all, Nefijeff was born as a mercenary, and after losing about half of his hands, he raised the white flag.
However, Kakduli did not mean to let them go. There were still four or five hundred miles from here to Bratsk, and today, they did not have much food.
After Nefijeff put down his weapons, another massacre began, and a massacre that Nefijeff, who had participated in the most cruel Thirty Years' War, began.
However, this kind of scene is just a routine operation for generals like Kake Duli, who were formerly a general of the Qing Dynasty.
After annihilated this enemy, Kakduli led the cavalry south.
Five hundred miles south, the Russians in the central castle of the Angara River, Bratsk, have been besieged by Wang Chengluan's army for a month.
However, just one day after they headed south, they met a team heading north halfway.
A team of ice ships led by Mongolian horses, loaded with a large amount of supplies.
"The Khan has orders"
The one who was carrying the ice boat team turned out to be a gray-clothed guard, and Kak Duli quickly dismounted and bowed.
"You don't have to go to Bratsk, it's just a cover. You can go north immediately and then west, target Yensesk, there is no one there!"
Kak Duli's eyes lit up when he heard this.
Yenisesk, according to the information of the Censorate, it is no less than that of Bratsk.
"Abide by the order!"
Kakduli knelt on one knee and took the token and flag symbolizing Nikan's personal arrival in the gray guard, and there was also a volume of documents.
"Has Khan also arrived in Bratsk?"
Chapter completed!