Chapter 1518

Patrolling the Front Line

Chapter 1518 Patrolling the Front Line
The Minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty has a shelf that cannot be put down, but Jin Shangxian does not.His purpose is very clear, that is, to hold Haihan, a strong supporter, for his country.If Jin Shangxian still had doubts about Haihan's strength before coming to Liaodong, then what he saw and heard in Liaodong in the past two or three days was enough to dispel these doubts.

It is an indisputable fact that Haihan snatched most of Jinzhou back from the hands of the Jinren through war, and judging from the obedient performance of the Ming army stationed in Dongjiang Town in the local area, it is obvious that the Haihan army It was through fighting that the Ming army was convinced.Jin Shangxian's logic is very simple. The strength of the Haihan army is obviously stronger than that of the Korean army, stronger than that of the Ming army, and stronger than that of the Hou Jin army in terms of record.Since this army is already the most powerful armed force in the region, it is a natural choice to stick to the strong.

As for Daming's feelings?In fact, Jin Shangxian could also see that the Master Mei sent by Daming was quite attracted to Haihan's conditions, but for some reason he did not dare to agree rashly.But the other side also didn't dictate the choice North Korea should make. Kim Sang-heon interpreted this attitude as Daming's acquiescence, so naturally he had to try his best to behave positively in front of high-ranking Haihan officials.

Kim Sang-heon even thought that perhaps Lord Mei hoped that the North Korean side would take the initiative to inquire more about Haihan's specific ideas for the alliance, and then share information, so that there would be no buffer room for Daming to end directly.From his standpoint, there is nothing wrong with such an understanding, but if Mei Shengchuan knew what he was thinking, he would probably wish to beat him to death with a stick.

Seeing Jin Shangxian's performance, Mei Shengchuan snorted coldly and turned his head.As for Jin Shangxian, although he had never been in contact with him before, he also knew that this man had made a pilgrimage to Ming Dynasty as an envoy of Xie En Chen Zuo ten years ago, that is, in the sixth year of Apocalypse.At that time, Dingmao, who was upright and Houjin invaded North Korea, was reckless. This old man wrote a letter to the Ministry of War in the capital, asking Daming to send troops to rescue North Korea: "Sincerely at this time, send troops to the side quickly, take advantage of its emptiness, and destroy its lair. Make the bandits head and tail tied, and they are in a panic. Don’t save it. In one fell swoop, the entire Liao Dynasty can be restored, the country can be restored, and the ugliness can be destroyed. This is a rare opportunity that cannot be missed.”

However, after the old man returned to the country the following year, he reported to the King of Korea that Daming had "nothing to do", and even believed that the end of Ming Dynasty was approaching.It’s just that these remarks were later passed back to Daming. As a high-ranking official, Mei Shengchuan naturally knew something about it, and he didn’t have a good impression of Kim Sang-heon. There was not much attempt at communication.Of course, Kim Sang-heon himself didn't know the way to do this, and still thought that his actions were an expression of goodwill to both Hai Han and Daming.

Bai Kesi saw the reactions of the envoys of the two countries in his eyes, and he just laughed without saying a word.He also knew a little bit about the grievances and grievances between Daming and North Korea, and he did not intend to persuade the two families to reconcile.In his view, if these contradictions are used properly, they can actually promote the next negotiations.He believes that Sha Xi’s negotiation strategy in Lushun is more about using some business means, and this kind of negotiation between countries requires more political wisdom. Sha Xi’s understanding of the situation is somewhat biased, so The previous negotiation process will be stalled.However, when Bex got involved in the negotiation, there was still room to adjust the strategy, so he planned to make some fine-tuning according to his own ideas.

The team patrolling the front line today is very important because the identities of the escorts are all very important. Qian Tiandun also specially ordered his subordinates, Gao Qiaonan, to put down other affairs at hand, and specially brought the elite troops from the special warfare battalion to personally take charge of this time. escort mission.In addition, the artillery, cavalry, and even the Dongjiang Town Ming Army stationed in Jijiabao also dispatched various elites to join the team escorting important figures.Compared with those southern businessmen and North Korean envoys who came to inspect the battle situation before, the level of vigilance has indeed been raised to another level.

This kind of deployment as if facing a big enemy has something to do with the recent adjustment of the strategy of the Houjin Army. Now Geng Zhongming is in charge of the frontal battlefield of the Houjin Army in the north, and his conservative tactical arrangement seems to have been approved by Huang Taiji And support, in terms of command, he is no longer subject to Azig in Jinzhou City.But it is precisely because Geng Zhongming's tactics tend to be conservative that Haihan needs to deal with it more carefully, so as to ensure that the troops who go out to the area north of the isthmus defense line can move safely.

Although the identities of Mei Shengchuan and Kim Sang-heon are kept secret from ordinary soldiers, basically the first-level officers of the platoon who participated in this mission know that besides their own chiefs, the distinguished guests escorted today also come from Ming Dynasty and North Korea. Envoy.Moreover, the results of this investigation are very likely to affect the prospect of Haihan's alliance with these two countries, so there is absolutely no room for loss in terms of security.As for the time and route arrangement for this patrol, only officers of Gao Qiaonan's level knew the exact information in advance.

Although the task level is very high, the soldiers who perform the task do not have much tension.For them, protecting a group of important people in an area not far from the defense line behind them is not a very dangerous task.If the Hou Jin army wants to attack this position, it will inevitably use a large number of cavalry, and the scout cavalry in charge of monitoring the periphery can find the traces of the large cavalry at least half an hour in advance, so there will be enough contingency time for important people to withdraw Behind the line of defense, if necessary, combat troops can be left to delay the opponent's offensive.

The special warfare battalion was originally the elite division of the Haihan Army, and the companies that are traveling today are the elite of the special warfare battalion. From top to bottom, they are basically veterans with rich combat experience, and the atmosphere is not the same as performing patrol missions on weekdays almost.

Sun Zhen pinched the war horse under his legs, and flicked the rein slightly, the war horse knew what he wanted, so he ran a few steps quickly, and got on the front one.Sun Zhen lowered his voice and said: "Battalion Commander, I heard that this time we really want to form an alliance with Daming and North Korea. Is this news reliable?"

Gao Qiaonan's eyes were still looking forward firmly, as if he didn't pay attention to Sun Zhen posted next to him, but he lowered his voice and replied: "Is this something that you, a small platoon leader, should ask?"

Although Gao Qiaonan is already a senior officer commanding the entire special warfare battalion, he still likes to go to the front line to participate in combat. Therefore, during the time when Sun Zhen came to Liaodong, he had many opportunities to fight side by side with Gao Qiaonan.Although the relationship between the two is superior and inferior, they have gradually become familiar with each other during the battle.Sun Zhen heard that Gao Qiaonan's tone was not angry, so he continued to ask boldly: "Battalion Commander, I also heard that the higher-ups are planning to stop the war. If there is a peace negotiation with Jin, what will happen to Ming and North Korea? Alliance?"

Takahashi Nan said: "The truce talks and so on are all rumors, so don't spread rumors. If there is no such opponent as Hou Jin, then what conditions do we have to let Daming and North Korea take the initiative to post it?"

Sun Zhen scratched his head and said, "What does the battalion commander mean? The higher-ups don't intend to really stop the war, but just use it to frighten the two countries? Why do I feel a little bit suspenseful?"

"You know what a fart!" Gao Qiaonan scolded with a smile: "The chiefs are so clever, how can you understand it. I heard the chiefs mentioned that this is called political means. Do you know what politics is?"

Sun Zhen shook his head blankly. What he had learned in the past 20 years was farming and marching and fighting. He really didn't understand what "politics" was.

Gao Qiaonan has read a lot of books under Qian Tiandun's deliberate urging while leading troops to fight in the past few years, and now he can write in front of his subordinates: "The so-called politics is to subdue others without fighting. They are unwilling to agree to form an alliance. Of course, there are many reasons for their scruples, but the chiefs have tried to get them to dispel these scruples and obey the arrangement obediently."

Sun Zhen asked: "I see that high official from Ming Dynasty looks like a piece of wood, with a dead face all day long, can this piece of wood understand the meaning of the chief?"

Takahashi Nanxin said, I don't know, I'm not in charge of negotiating with Daming, but I can't show timidity in front of my subordinates, so he explained to Sun Zhen: "I think he's just pretending to be calm, and he doesn't want to let People can tell from his expression that he is guilty. How can he put on a show when the chief comes up with a means!"

Officers like Takahashi Nan actually didn't have too much expectation of being able to form an alliance with Ming and North Korea, because in their eyes, the military strength of these two countries was far from that of the Haihan Army, and they forcibly formed military alliances. The alliance, or even the formation of coalition forces, is actually difficult to form an effective boost to the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army.If the running-in is not good, it may drag down the Haihan army and limit the display of combat effectiveness.

Of course, if the allied army can obey the command like the Dongjiang Zhenming army, then at least it can be used as an auxiliary army.But the military generally believes that this possibility is unlikely. After all, Dongjiang Town was in a very special situation when it came into contact with Haihan. In order to survive, it had to obey Haihan's various arrangements and received training and reform.And if it was a Ming army transferred from the mainland, it would definitely not be as obedient as Dongjiang Town.

As for the North Korean army, they were not taken seriously by these elite troops stationed in Liaodong.In their view, the strength of the North Korean army is much lower than that of the local militia in Haihan. If they want to go directly to the battlefield to carry out combat missions, they will probably stab them. They dare not put their backs on In the hands of such an unreliable partner.

The envoys of the two countries, who were being discussed by Gao Qiaonan and Sun Zhen, were listening to the introductions of Qian Tiandun and Bai Kesi while observing the situation in the area north of the isthmus line of defense.

After nearly two months of renovations in Haihan, the defense line of the Jinzhou Isthmus is undoubtedly much stronger than it was during the post-golden occupation.In the north of the tall city wall, a fortification zone with a depth and width of more than 20 meters was deployed, consisting of ditches, horse pits, deer villages, barbed wire and various traps, in order to mobilize more troops to defend the city wall when the post-Golden army attacked. Gain buffer time.

In addition, in some areas with favorable terrain, Haihan also built some small firepower bunkers north of the city wall, using the natural slope of the terrain and the shooting positions on the city wall to form a three-dimensional crossfire network.However, since there is no way to demonstrate the actual combat situation right now, we can only rely on explanations to let visitors know the design concept of these fortifications.And Jin Shangxian and Mei Shengchuan obviously lacked enough imagination for this, and could only show a look of "unclear".

However, there are many obvious signs that can indicate the fierce battles that have taken place here. For example, the land in some areas has a palpitating purple-red color, because extremely fierce battles have taken place in these places, and the color of the land is completely suppressed. It appears after soaking in a large amount of blood.There are even corpse pits that have not yet been filled. Standing on the edge of the pit, you can see the layers of corpses of the post-Jin army below.

"Generally speaking, one or two such landfill pits have to be dug every time a battle involving thousands of people is completed. However, the buried corpses below are all headless corpses. As for the whereabouts of the heads, I believe Lord Mei is very clear. Yes." Qian Tiandun ostentatiously introduced the results of the Haihan Army to the visitors.

This kind of aftermath work of cleaning up the battlefield is basically done by the troops of Dongjiang Town. Naturally, the severed heads are also pickled with lime, and the heads of the officers are sent to the Ministry of War for meritorious service, while the remaining heads are in the army. On the side of the Jinzhou Isthmus, a central base in a valley has become a Jingguan with a terrifying scale, just waiting for Mei Shengchuan to come and accept it.

In fact, Mei Shengchuan already knew what was going on with the military exploits reported by the Dongjiang town newspaper, but he would not ignorantly expose such things. After all, now that the Ming Dynasty is full of wars, it is not easy to get some good news back to the capital. up.Even though many people understand that there is moisture in this kind of record, Daming just needs such a booster to stabilize the hearts of the people.At least the Ministry of War will not worry about being suspected of being a fictitious record when it announces the news that "on a certain day in a certain year, the Ming army wiped out a certain number of enemies in a certain place in Liaodong".

Of course, it is one thing to see the battle reports on paper, but it is another thing to be on the battlefield where these battles took place and witness the traces left by these battles.Seeing the enemy corpses buried layer upon layer, and the heads piled up like a hill, this kind of visual impact is not something ordinary people can bear.Even if Mei Shengchuan was the Minister of the Ministry of War, he had never seen such a scene that made his heart beat faster in the past.

Facts speak louder than words. Seeing these scenes, no one can doubt Haihan's record.According to the figures provided by the Haihan military, since the attack on Lushunkou last winter, the Haihan army has so far wiped out more than [-] post-Jin soldiers in Liaodong.About half of it was given to Dongjiang Town to report its merits to the country.This is not because Haihan is stingy, but because he is worried that Dongjiang Town will report too many achievements, so that the imperial court and the Ministry of War will not reward him, which will be very troublesome.

(End of this chapter)