New Shun 1730

In the convoy, the thick black smoke was like the blood flowing from a big fat fish in the sea, and the bloodthirsty sharks soon surrounded them.

Two Cossacks rode their horses and stopped more than a hundred steps away from the convoy.

The people in the convoy were busy acting. Several people were carrying felled wood, and some were peeling birch bark, looking like they were going to make a few boats in a hurry.

Some people were by the campfire, as if they were going to dry the rhubarb and tea leaves that fell into the water. The rest of the people were holding muskets and looking at the Cossacks outside vigilantly.

With a whistle, those who were busy "building ships" and "roasting goods" all jumped into the simple defense-like convoy.

More than a dozen people raised their muskets at the same time and aimed at the two Cossacks riding horses in the distance.

A Cossack waved at the people in the convoy and shouted, "Are you merchants? Anyone who knows Russian? Are you Chinese or Korean?"

The Cossack who shouted was very brave. He slowly approached the convoy with the reins and found that it was more like a defensive circle of wood surrounding the city than a convoy. Those convoys had no wheels, and many of them looked like scraps of simple boats.

Jiao Laobutu signaled the translator next to him to take over. The translator stood up and shouted, "Get out of here, Cossack. We have a lot of people."

While speaking, he shook the matchlock in his hand and pointed at the Cossack on horseback as if to show off, signaling him to get out.

The Cossack took two steps back and shouted with laughter: "Don't be afraid, we are good people. If you want, I can bring some people to help you transport the goods. What goods do you bring?"

The translator didn't seem to believe him. He pretended to whisper a few words to Jiao Laobutu, and then said: "Thank you, Cossack. We don't need help. Our ship will be built soon. In fact, a lot of it has been built. We will leave soon. Our gunpowder is in barrels, but it is not wet. We don't carry tea and rhubarb, just some groceries that you don't need."

While speaking, several people quietly put back the rhubarb and tea that were placed outside to dry. The rest of the people kept watching the Cossacks outside vigilantly.

Obviously, the Cossacks' reputation for "good heart" is external.

The Cossack on horseback made a sign of the cross to everyone and shouted: "Okay. Good luck to you."

After that, he rode his horse and galloped towards the distance with the companion who came with him.

After the people left, the translator asked, "Master Shu, will this work? What if he is really a good person?"

Jiao Laobutu used the words Liu Yu had taught him and smiled, "Don't worry, the good Cossacks are all farming honestly in Ukraine."

"Master Liu said. If we have hundreds of people guarding, they are good people. We are just a few people, they must be bad people."

"Everyone!"

"Check the tinder and gunpowder. Prepare the chevaux de frise and wooden deer. Everyone, cheer up. We are not alone in this battle. Master Liu is waiting with his men. Don't be afraid. When the time comes, we will be the first to make the contribution. When we capture the Russian castle in the future, we will directly share 15% of the goods and money."

These people have long known that Liu Yu and his men were ambushing outside. Jiao Laobutu's money boosted their morale and they cheered.

The chevaux de frise and wooden deer that had been prepared were all carried out in front of the battle, and each sentry began to check the muskets of the squad. Two bonfires have also been lit to prevent the fuse from going out.

…………

In the Russian fortress, the atmosphere of the Day of the Dead still lingers. In the cemetery outside the castle, the cornflowers left by the graves have not yet completely dried.

In the moat, there are still some wreaths made by unmarried girls, and the candles used for prayer have all burned out.

Next to the Orthodox church decorated with birch branches and ferns, several old ladies are praying there. In front of every house, there are fern and birch branches picked upside down, which look a bit like the wormwood of the Dragon Boat Festival.

The rye outside the castle has already sprouted ears, and most of the Cossacks are holding the scythes like the Grim Reaper to cut grass in the pastures allocated to each family, preparing to save horse feed for the winter.

The faint bitterness of hops and the fragrance of cut grass float around the fortress.

The Cossacks who are working look no different from the farmers in the south. But when two Cossacks on horseback ran to the pasture and loudly announced their discovery, these hardworking peasants turned into wild bandits in an instant.

The women laughed and asked how much goods there were and how many rubles they could get? The children chased and asked if there was any sugar in the goods?

The men threw away their long-handled sickles, jumped on the war horses at the edge of the field, and ran towards the castle. They were going to get their sabers and muskets.

In the castle, Hannibal looked at the busy Cossacks and couldn't help cursing.

These barbarians were reluctant to dig trenches and build cities when they were asked to do so, and even disobeyed orders. This kind of thing did not require any orders, and everyone was excited.

Hannibal could not control these Cossacks. Unlike the gray livestock soldiers who recruited serfs, many Cossacks were serfs who fled to the grassland. They chose autonomy and refused any constraints.

Many Cossacks were "recruited after rebellion". Many Cossacks on the banks of the Heilongjiang River were fugitives, but Peter pardoned their crimes.

Nominally, Hannibal's rank was brigadier general, and he was the highest commander here.

But in fact, these Cossacks have their own committee members and leaders, and they will not listen to Hannibal's words. Hannibal can only control a hundred or so troops, some of whom are responsible for maintaining trade order, and the other part is the shooting army that was liquidated and sent to the border because of participating in the coup.

Hannibal found a captain who was quite prestigious among the Cossacks, pointed to a section of the added wall that had not yet been completed and said: "A few days ago, I asked the Cossacks to repair the wall. The Cossacks said that it was the season for mowing grass, and they said that it would be too late to mow grass after the horse-shoe purple orchid bloomed, and the horses would not eat it. Now you are not going to mow grass, why don't you have time to repair the wall, but you have time to do this kind of thing?"

The Cossack captain bit his mustache, grinned, drew his saber and shouted: "The Cossack harvest is not plowed or cut with a sickle, but plowed and cut with sabers and horseshoes."

"We will not dig holes and build walls like groundhogs on the grassland. The Cossack horseback is the best wall. We are not the Khohors who build cities and live in them!"

After that, he ignored Hannibal, kicked the horse's belly and ran away.

Hannibal was helpless. He couldn't do anything, and the Cossacks didn't respect him at all.

He didn't know how many times he heard the Cossacks talking about it behind him.

Some people also said that Emperor Peter also liked such things, so he made a black man a brigadier general, and married a Polish army chicken as the queen to cover up his tracks...

In the upper class of Petersburg, he was Peter's godson and a new noble; in the high-end salons of France, he was the black eagle in the mouths of enlightenment scholars.

Hannibal looked at the Cossacks who began to form a team outside the city and shook his head.

I wondered when the castle reinforcement work here would be completed?

However, I shouldn't be here for too long.

A few days ago, he received a secret letter from Petersburg, telling Hannibal that Menshikov, who is now in power, is fabricating that he is also a descendant of the "Rurik" family, implying that he also has the right to claim the throne...The old nobles are very dissatisfied with the "regent" of Peter's gang and are secretly contacting the guards. Tell Hannibal, please don't be discouraged, things will turn around soon.

Seeing that the Guards were about to stage a coup again, Hannibal felt that Russia was really like the Third Rome.

Hannibal, who had been thinking about doing some serious work after being exiled, was completely discouraged after receiving this letter.

He grew up in the palace and didn't like the barbaric frontier atmosphere at all. Coupled with these Cossacks' vulgar messages, he was unhappy every day here.

In addition to drinking and robbing, the people here don't understand the spirit of law, contracts, and rights that the upper class talks about; they don't drink coffee; they don't spray perfume; tableware is not expensive Chinese porcelain; there is no wig on their heads but dirty braids full of lice; they don't speak elegant court French; there is no dance for entertainment in the evening... They are simply a group of uncivilized barbarians.

Seeing that the Cossacks who were incompatible with him had already formed a team, Hannibal just shook his head.

He closed the window, sat back in his chair, and continued to read Locke's "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding".

Before, he did want to repair the fortress. He was exiled and still worried about his country. But now, repairing the fortress is just a hobby to kill time in exile.

…………

"Here they come! The Rakshasas are coming!"

The rumbling of horse hooves can be heard from a long distance.

Jiaolaobutu stood on a tree and watched for a while. After a rough calculation, there were quite a few people coming.

These Cossacks did not stupidly launch a charge immediately. Some people got off their horses and began to line up under the orders of several officers.

Others were still on horseback, although they were preparing to launch a charge.

The Cossacks lined up in a standard horizontal line. They did not need to worry about the flanks, but only needed to maximize their firepower advantage.

In their opinion, their "reputation is outside", and the people in these caravans have made sufficient preparations to guard against them.

The chevaux deer and wooden deer that made the horses irritable were outside the chariot formation, and some wood was thrown randomly in front, and there were some traces of digging horse hoof pits.

The cavalry could not charge immediately, so some Cossacks had to dismount and fight on foot, open the chevaux de frise in front, and fight hand-to-hand to create chaos.

As veterans of chariot formation tactics on the grassland, the Cossacks naturally had ways to deal with such simple fortifications.

Two small cannons were mounted on the side of the team, and the Cossacks unloaded several carriages, while the rest of the people cut trees nearby.

Soon, some wood was loaded on several carriages, and the Cossacks filled some soil with cloth bags and piled it on the carriages.

Six Cossacks in a group pushed the carriages full of earth and wood, moving forward slowly. Behind them followed some of the strongest ones, carrying heavy axes.

The remaining whole team of Cossacks began to move forward slowly, and they had to move to a close enough shooting distance. After the exchange of fire, the two carriages full of soil were used as cover, allowing the hand-to-hand fighters to rush to the wooden deer and chevaux de frise, and then the cavalry could launch an attack.

Carts full of earth were useless in a large-scale battle with many field artillery. It can only be used to bully enemies who don't have cannons, or have cannons but don't know how to use them, or can only defend and not attack. It is very effective against caravans.

Boom... Boom...

The two small cannons finally fired, white smoke rose, and the attack officially began. In other words, the Shun-Russian War officially began.