Chapter 1806
Chapter 1806
Chapter 1806
Considering the low operational efficiency of North Korean officials, Wang Tom even had the urge to transfer civilians from Liaodong to build a naval base.Of course, this is just a thought. If Jinzhou’s social production should be stopped and the limited labor force should be transported across the sea to build a military base in North Korea. Even if the Jinzhou authorities and Dongjiang Town have no complaints, the executive committee will definitely not Agree with such a crazy approach.
Although the situation on the Korean peninsula is also very important to Haihan, it is nothing more important than his own territory. After all, the Jinzhou area is Haihan's most important colony in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea regions, and its priority far exceeds North Korea, which has not yet been confirmed base.Even if Wang Tom wants to dig the east wall to make up for the west wall, he has to weigh whether the east wall can be dug.
Before the construction of the base is finalized, Tom Wang can only continue to maintain the current confrontation on the Yalu River, trying to gain buffer time for the construction of the base as much as possible.But so far, the coalition forces still have not accurately grasped the situation of the Qing army's assembled forces near Jiulian City and the next direction of action. The lack of information in this regard made Wang Tom dare not make more radical deployments.
As for the Fujian Navy, which has no combat missions for the time being, the order they received was to maintain vigilance upstream to ensure that no large forces of the Qing army would flow down the upstream river to attack the coalition fleet.In this way, as long as the estuary and the upper river are under monitoring, Wang Tom can rest assured that all the main warships of the fleet will be deployed near the dock position to serve as fire support for the Marine Corps.
From the perspective of the geographical environment, it is unlikely that the Qing army would choose the upper reaches of the Yalu River to cross the river. It is less than [-] miles upstream from the location of Jiulian City. There are also continuous mountainous areas on the North Korean side of the Yalu River. If It's fine for a small group of troops to cross the river. It would be extremely troublesome for a large army to travel long distances in these areas. Even if the Qing army had a considerable number of cavalry and pack horses, it would be difficult to quickly advance in this area.And the relatively flat downstream area is almost all under the surveillance of the coalition fleet. It is extremely difficult for the Qing army to find a new breakthrough point on the Yalu River to cross the river.
Xu Yuzhuo actually hoped to fight the Qing army on the frontal battlefield, but the troops he led were mainly sailors. If they landed and fought, it would be easy to drag the marines back.Therefore, he could only follow Tom Wang's instructions and lead the fleet to patrol and garrison the upper reaches of Weihua Island.Xu Yuzhuo's troops did not stop at the monitoring area designated by Wang Tom, and had reached about [-] miles upstream of Jiulian City, but still did not find the fleet used by the Qing army to cross the river.
Based on the map provided by Wang Tom, Xu Yuzhuo judged that the Qing army should have gathered all the ships used to cross the river to the upper reaches of the Kui River, which is narrower in the river, after discovering that the coalition fleet had entered the Yalu River—the assembly point was located in the area occupied by the Qing army , which will obviously make them feel more secure.
With the strength of the coalition fleet, of course, you don't have to worry so much, rushing up the Kui River, it should be difficult for the Qing army to implement effective blocking methods.Xu Yuzhuo was quite eager to try this. If Tom Wang didn't agree with this radical approach, he would probably have led his troops into the Kui River long ago.
The confrontation and exploration surrounding Jiulian City continued without any surprise. Wang Tom also tried several times to get the marines to advance closer to Jiulian City, but as soon as the marines started to leave the position, the people in the forest on the opposite side The cavalry of the Qing army will appear, waiting to find an opportunity to cut off the retreat of the Haihan army, and Wang Tom will definitely not take such unnecessary risks in a situation of taking the initiative, so as long as he sees the opponent's cavalry move, Wang Tom will He will immediately order to stop the operation and continue to stay behind closed doors.
However, Haihan did not take any further action, and the Qing army did not take the initiative to attack. They really kept avoiding and did not fight. It seemed that they were not in a hurry to invade North Korea.The composure of the Qing army is different from Wang Tom's initial prediction. When he decided to occupy the riverside wharf in Jiulian City, he was optimistic that this move would force the Qing army to take the initiative to attack and expose its strength. Judging the progress of the opponent's preparations, but the actual situation is not the case. After the night attack failed, the Qing army did not make any further attempts, and it seems that it did not intend to start a confrontation with the Haihan army in this area.
Wang Tom is still unable to confirm whether the calm response of the Qing army was due to the fact that the army's assembly and preparations had not yet been completed, or whether there were other plans for the invasion of North Korea.Although Haihan still holds the active advantage on the battlefield, this advantage is gradually being wiped out by the reaction of the Qing army.Tom Wang even began to think about whether he should let Qian Tiandun bring the troops from Jianghua Island, and then build a relatively large fortress on the bank of the Yalu River for a long-term garrison, so as to gain more opportunities for the construction of a military base in the rear. time.
However, such a plan will also have many practical difficulties, such as the building materials and manpower required to build a large stronghold, which is a problem that is not easy to solve for the Haihan Army.Wang Tom really can't believe North Korea's efficiency and engineering construction capabilities. If it is handed over to the North Koreans, the situation on Jianghua Island will inevitably be repeated again.
After this stalemate continued for another four days, the memorial written by Jin Sangjiu finally had an echo. The King of Joseon, Lee Jung, ordered Kim Sangheon to be in charge of thoroughly investigating the serious dereliction of duty of the Uiju government and the garrison and the situation of concealing military information. And sent a commissioner to Yizhou to be responsible for the logistical support requested by Haihan.The conditions proposed by Haihan to build a military base at the mouth of the Datong River have also been approved by the North Korean court. From now on, civilian workers will be recruited to start construction in this area. Of course, there is no clear statement about the specific construction schedule.
This is finally good news for the coalition forces. Qian Tiandun also made a slight concession on behalf of Haihan during the negotiations on Jianghua Island, allowing North Korea to send a 3000-strong force to Weihua Island to act as an auxiliary force for the Marine Corps. .Of course, this unit was also designated by Haihan. The first batch of weapons provided by Haihan to North Korea last year was installed in this unit. It is stronger than other North Korean troops that still use knives and bows as their main weapons. There are quite a few.
However, Qian Tiandun's question of apportioning military expenditures to Jin Shangxian encountered certain resistance.Just like Kim Sang-heon’s reaction when he heard this request at the beginning, the princes and ministers of North Korea also thought that the price offered by Haihan was too high, and it was beyond the level that North Korea’s finances could bear. Haihan military expenditure, it may not have to wait for the Qing army to hit Seoul, the Korean state has already gone bankrupt.
Although Qian Tiandun pointed out the maze to Jin Shangxian, the methods he gave could not be made public after all, so even if it was feasible, Jin Shangxian could not come up with it to persuade other officials to accept the offer.However, at this time the king's authority came into play. After listening to Kim Sang-heon's private report, the king chose to believe in Kim Sang-heon and authorized him to investigate the problems of Uiju officials.As long as Kim Sang-heon can prove the crimes of Uiju officials, he will naturally have a way to expand the scope of the investigation and set off a major purge in North Korean official circles.
In the blink of an eye, it was late May, and the tense situation along the Yalu River remained unchanged. However, on the line from the east bank of the Liaodong Peninsula controlled by the Qing Dynasty to the mouth of the Yalu River, foreign armed landings and raids began to occur frequently.According to the reports received by the local government, the troops who attacked these coastal areas were not the Haihan Army or the Ming Army, but Western Fans that had never been seen before.
For this reason, the Qing government sent special personnel to investigate the area under attack. Finally, based on eyewitness accounts and other evidence, it was determined that the group of militants who were aggressively attacking the coastal areas were Portuguese.Many officers of the Shandong rebel army who defected to Liaodong had worked with Sun Yuanhua's Portuguese mercenaries and were familiar with the Portuguese, so this situation can be basically confirmed without a doubt.
The Qing court couldn’t help being a little confused about the presence of the Portuguese fleet in this area. According to what they learned, the main scope of activities of the Portuguese was in the remote South China Sea, and they had never appeared in this area, let alone launched an armed attack. .And the level of armed force of these Portuguese is not much inferior to that of the Haihan army, and the scattered armed forces in the local area can't beat the attackers with live ammunition at all.In just a few days, many offshore villages and towns were alerted, and hundreds of local people were taken away.
The Qing court had to adjust its deployment, dispatching troops from the direction of the Liaodong Peninsula, and rushing to the attacked area for control.But for the four to five hundred miles long coastal area, it is also difficult to fortify everywhere. There are too few troops stationed and there is a danger of being eaten.
The ones who repeatedly attacked the east coast of the Liaodong Peninsula at this juncture naturally came from the Portuguese fleet in this northward coalition.In addition to the Fujian navy that went to the Yalu River with Wang Tom, there are also fleets from Annan and Portugal temporarily stationed on Jianghua Island. Due to comprehensive reasons such as geography and climate, many soldiers of the Annan fleet are not acclimatized. Therefore, he had to honestly stay in Jianghua Island to recuperate, while the situation of the Portuguese fleet was much better. After staying in Jianghua Island for more than ten days, Simao took the initiative to ask for a battle, and wanted to lead the fleet out to find something to do.
Regarding the Portuguese's positive attitude, Haihan was happy to see the results, so he asked Simao to take his troops to the east coast of the Liaodong Peninsula where the Qing army's defenses were relatively loose.Since these areas have been repeatedly raided by the Haihan Navy many times, almost no fishing boats can be seen on the seashore, and the Portuguese fleet will basically not have too much risk in operating in this sea area.Of course, Simao will not stop at sea. After confirming that the Qing army basically has no means of defense against the sea, he quickly organized several landings and raided some villages and towns not too far from the coast.
In fact, these villages and towns attacked by the Portuguese were mainly Han people. However, after these areas were occupied by the Hou Jin, the status of the Han people was suppressed, and most of them were used as slaves. private property.And when the Portuguese attacked, the armed men that could be organized in these places were very easy to distinguish their identities. Those who could ride horses and wear armor were basically Manchu flagmen, and civilians dressed up with dung forks and hunting bows. Those who use weapons to fight as "soldiers" must be Han people.
Xi Mao had already received advice from Qian Tiandun before setting off, and he gave priority to dealing with the Manchus during the battle. Often after killing the Manchu warriors who took the lead in the charge or were in charge of commanding, the remaining people lost their fighting spirit to continue fighting.And some Hai Han soldiers from the Northeast brought by Xi Mang will take the opportunity to shout loudly to make the Han people disarm and surrender.
This tactic was very effective. When the [-] infantry led by Simao fought against the local armed forces of more than [-] in Zhuanghe Town, they quickly defeated the enemy in less than a stick of incense. More than four hundred Han Chinese were captured.Later, Haihan soldiers came forward to inform these captives that they would be transported to Jinzhou and North Korea for resettlement and new life.
Hearing such news, among the captives, some were overjoyed because they had regained their freedom, and some were worried about being separated from their families. However, under the threat of gunpoint, no one dared to object to such an arrangement.But in any case, it is a good thing for them to be able to get rid of the oppression of the Manchu court.
For Haihan, the local Han people from Liaodong were undoubtedly the best source of population for establishing a new colony.These people can adapt very well to the environment of this region. Most of them have a deep hatred for the Qing Dynasty because of the severe oppression, and because they have been separated from the Ming Dynasty for a long time, they do not have a strong sense of belonging to their original nationality. It is easy to accept Haihan's targeted ideological propaganda offensive and become a subject of the new colony of Liaodong.
Of course, among these Han groups, there must have been dog legs who had defected to the Qing court early, so a preliminary identification will be made on these captives later, and the "dangerous elements" among them will be picked out first and dealt with separately.
Since the Qing army had no sea power in this area at all, it was impossible to monitor the whereabouts of the Portuguese fleet.After Simao's fleet landed in a certain village and town in the morning to plunder, it may appear in another coast hundreds of miles away in the afternoon to repeat this operation, sometimes even sweeping four or five villages and towns in one day Take thousands of people.
In order to cooperate with the actions of the Portuguese fleet, Haihan also specially dispatched several idle troop carriers and cargo ships from Jinzhou and Ganghwa Island to meet the Portuguese captives at the mouth of the Yalu River and the Changshan Islands respectively. Then transport it back to the place of departure for placement.
Of course, the Portuguese worked so hard not to do good deeds without regard to remuneration. According to the agreement between the two parties, all the property obtained by the Portuguese during the operation will be distributed by themselves.In order to earn back the military expenditure of this trip to the north, the Portuguese did not slack off at all.
(End of this chapter)
Considering the low operational efficiency of North Korean officials, Wang Tom even had the urge to transfer civilians from Liaodong to build a naval base.Of course, this is just a thought. If Jinzhou’s social production should be stopped and the limited labor force should be transported across the sea to build a military base in North Korea. Even if the Jinzhou authorities and Dongjiang Town have no complaints, the executive committee will definitely not Agree with such a crazy approach.
Although the situation on the Korean peninsula is also very important to Haihan, it is nothing more important than his own territory. After all, the Jinzhou area is Haihan's most important colony in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea regions, and its priority far exceeds North Korea, which has not yet been confirmed base.Even if Wang Tom wants to dig the east wall to make up for the west wall, he has to weigh whether the east wall can be dug.
Before the construction of the base is finalized, Tom Wang can only continue to maintain the current confrontation on the Yalu River, trying to gain buffer time for the construction of the base as much as possible.But so far, the coalition forces still have not accurately grasped the situation of the Qing army's assembled forces near Jiulian City and the next direction of action. The lack of information in this regard made Wang Tom dare not make more radical deployments.
As for the Fujian Navy, which has no combat missions for the time being, the order they received was to maintain vigilance upstream to ensure that no large forces of the Qing army would flow down the upstream river to attack the coalition fleet.In this way, as long as the estuary and the upper river are under monitoring, Wang Tom can rest assured that all the main warships of the fleet will be deployed near the dock position to serve as fire support for the Marine Corps.
From the perspective of the geographical environment, it is unlikely that the Qing army would choose the upper reaches of the Yalu River to cross the river. It is less than [-] miles upstream from the location of Jiulian City. There are also continuous mountainous areas on the North Korean side of the Yalu River. If It's fine for a small group of troops to cross the river. It would be extremely troublesome for a large army to travel long distances in these areas. Even if the Qing army had a considerable number of cavalry and pack horses, it would be difficult to quickly advance in this area.And the relatively flat downstream area is almost all under the surveillance of the coalition fleet. It is extremely difficult for the Qing army to find a new breakthrough point on the Yalu River to cross the river.
Xu Yuzhuo actually hoped to fight the Qing army on the frontal battlefield, but the troops he led were mainly sailors. If they landed and fought, it would be easy to drag the marines back.Therefore, he could only follow Tom Wang's instructions and lead the fleet to patrol and garrison the upper reaches of Weihua Island.Xu Yuzhuo's troops did not stop at the monitoring area designated by Wang Tom, and had reached about [-] miles upstream of Jiulian City, but still did not find the fleet used by the Qing army to cross the river.
Based on the map provided by Wang Tom, Xu Yuzhuo judged that the Qing army should have gathered all the ships used to cross the river to the upper reaches of the Kui River, which is narrower in the river, after discovering that the coalition fleet had entered the Yalu River—the assembly point was located in the area occupied by the Qing army , which will obviously make them feel more secure.
With the strength of the coalition fleet, of course, you don't have to worry so much, rushing up the Kui River, it should be difficult for the Qing army to implement effective blocking methods.Xu Yuzhuo was quite eager to try this. If Tom Wang didn't agree with this radical approach, he would probably have led his troops into the Kui River long ago.
The confrontation and exploration surrounding Jiulian City continued without any surprise. Wang Tom also tried several times to get the marines to advance closer to Jiulian City, but as soon as the marines started to leave the position, the people in the forest on the opposite side The cavalry of the Qing army will appear, waiting to find an opportunity to cut off the retreat of the Haihan army, and Wang Tom will definitely not take such unnecessary risks in a situation of taking the initiative, so as long as he sees the opponent's cavalry move, Wang Tom will He will immediately order to stop the operation and continue to stay behind closed doors.
However, Haihan did not take any further action, and the Qing army did not take the initiative to attack. They really kept avoiding and did not fight. It seemed that they were not in a hurry to invade North Korea.The composure of the Qing army is different from Wang Tom's initial prediction. When he decided to occupy the riverside wharf in Jiulian City, he was optimistic that this move would force the Qing army to take the initiative to attack and expose its strength. Judging the progress of the opponent's preparations, but the actual situation is not the case. After the night attack failed, the Qing army did not make any further attempts, and it seems that it did not intend to start a confrontation with the Haihan army in this area.
Wang Tom is still unable to confirm whether the calm response of the Qing army was due to the fact that the army's assembly and preparations had not yet been completed, or whether there were other plans for the invasion of North Korea.Although Haihan still holds the active advantage on the battlefield, this advantage is gradually being wiped out by the reaction of the Qing army.Tom Wang even began to think about whether he should let Qian Tiandun bring the troops from Jianghua Island, and then build a relatively large fortress on the bank of the Yalu River for a long-term garrison, so as to gain more opportunities for the construction of a military base in the rear. time.
However, such a plan will also have many practical difficulties, such as the building materials and manpower required to build a large stronghold, which is a problem that is not easy to solve for the Haihan Army.Wang Tom really can't believe North Korea's efficiency and engineering construction capabilities. If it is handed over to the North Koreans, the situation on Jianghua Island will inevitably be repeated again.
After this stalemate continued for another four days, the memorial written by Jin Sangjiu finally had an echo. The King of Joseon, Lee Jung, ordered Kim Sangheon to be in charge of thoroughly investigating the serious dereliction of duty of the Uiju government and the garrison and the situation of concealing military information. And sent a commissioner to Yizhou to be responsible for the logistical support requested by Haihan.The conditions proposed by Haihan to build a military base at the mouth of the Datong River have also been approved by the North Korean court. From now on, civilian workers will be recruited to start construction in this area. Of course, there is no clear statement about the specific construction schedule.
This is finally good news for the coalition forces. Qian Tiandun also made a slight concession on behalf of Haihan during the negotiations on Jianghua Island, allowing North Korea to send a 3000-strong force to Weihua Island to act as an auxiliary force for the Marine Corps. .Of course, this unit was also designated by Haihan. The first batch of weapons provided by Haihan to North Korea last year was installed in this unit. It is stronger than other North Korean troops that still use knives and bows as their main weapons. There are quite a few.
However, Qian Tiandun's question of apportioning military expenditures to Jin Shangxian encountered certain resistance.Just like Kim Sang-heon’s reaction when he heard this request at the beginning, the princes and ministers of North Korea also thought that the price offered by Haihan was too high, and it was beyond the level that North Korea’s finances could bear. Haihan military expenditure, it may not have to wait for the Qing army to hit Seoul, the Korean state has already gone bankrupt.
Although Qian Tiandun pointed out the maze to Jin Shangxian, the methods he gave could not be made public after all, so even if it was feasible, Jin Shangxian could not come up with it to persuade other officials to accept the offer.However, at this time the king's authority came into play. After listening to Kim Sang-heon's private report, the king chose to believe in Kim Sang-heon and authorized him to investigate the problems of Uiju officials.As long as Kim Sang-heon can prove the crimes of Uiju officials, he will naturally have a way to expand the scope of the investigation and set off a major purge in North Korean official circles.
In the blink of an eye, it was late May, and the tense situation along the Yalu River remained unchanged. However, on the line from the east bank of the Liaodong Peninsula controlled by the Qing Dynasty to the mouth of the Yalu River, foreign armed landings and raids began to occur frequently.According to the reports received by the local government, the troops who attacked these coastal areas were not the Haihan Army or the Ming Army, but Western Fans that had never been seen before.
For this reason, the Qing government sent special personnel to investigate the area under attack. Finally, based on eyewitness accounts and other evidence, it was determined that the group of militants who were aggressively attacking the coastal areas were Portuguese.Many officers of the Shandong rebel army who defected to Liaodong had worked with Sun Yuanhua's Portuguese mercenaries and were familiar with the Portuguese, so this situation can be basically confirmed without a doubt.
The Qing court couldn’t help being a little confused about the presence of the Portuguese fleet in this area. According to what they learned, the main scope of activities of the Portuguese was in the remote South China Sea, and they had never appeared in this area, let alone launched an armed attack. .And the level of armed force of these Portuguese is not much inferior to that of the Haihan army, and the scattered armed forces in the local area can't beat the attackers with live ammunition at all.In just a few days, many offshore villages and towns were alerted, and hundreds of local people were taken away.
The Qing court had to adjust its deployment, dispatching troops from the direction of the Liaodong Peninsula, and rushing to the attacked area for control.But for the four to five hundred miles long coastal area, it is also difficult to fortify everywhere. There are too few troops stationed and there is a danger of being eaten.
The ones who repeatedly attacked the east coast of the Liaodong Peninsula at this juncture naturally came from the Portuguese fleet in this northward coalition.In addition to the Fujian navy that went to the Yalu River with Wang Tom, there are also fleets from Annan and Portugal temporarily stationed on Jianghua Island. Due to comprehensive reasons such as geography and climate, many soldiers of the Annan fleet are not acclimatized. Therefore, he had to honestly stay in Jianghua Island to recuperate, while the situation of the Portuguese fleet was much better. After staying in Jianghua Island for more than ten days, Simao took the initiative to ask for a battle, and wanted to lead the fleet out to find something to do.
Regarding the Portuguese's positive attitude, Haihan was happy to see the results, so he asked Simao to take his troops to the east coast of the Liaodong Peninsula where the Qing army's defenses were relatively loose.Since these areas have been repeatedly raided by the Haihan Navy many times, almost no fishing boats can be seen on the seashore, and the Portuguese fleet will basically not have too much risk in operating in this sea area.Of course, Simao will not stop at sea. After confirming that the Qing army basically has no means of defense against the sea, he quickly organized several landings and raided some villages and towns not too far from the coast.
In fact, these villages and towns attacked by the Portuguese were mainly Han people. However, after these areas were occupied by the Hou Jin, the status of the Han people was suppressed, and most of them were used as slaves. private property.And when the Portuguese attacked, the armed men that could be organized in these places were very easy to distinguish their identities. Those who could ride horses and wear armor were basically Manchu flagmen, and civilians dressed up with dung forks and hunting bows. Those who use weapons to fight as "soldiers" must be Han people.
Xi Mao had already received advice from Qian Tiandun before setting off, and he gave priority to dealing with the Manchus during the battle. Often after killing the Manchu warriors who took the lead in the charge or were in charge of commanding, the remaining people lost their fighting spirit to continue fighting.And some Hai Han soldiers from the Northeast brought by Xi Mang will take the opportunity to shout loudly to make the Han people disarm and surrender.
This tactic was very effective. When the [-] infantry led by Simao fought against the local armed forces of more than [-] in Zhuanghe Town, they quickly defeated the enemy in less than a stick of incense. More than four hundred Han Chinese were captured.Later, Haihan soldiers came forward to inform these captives that they would be transported to Jinzhou and North Korea for resettlement and new life.
Hearing such news, among the captives, some were overjoyed because they had regained their freedom, and some were worried about being separated from their families. However, under the threat of gunpoint, no one dared to object to such an arrangement.But in any case, it is a good thing for them to be able to get rid of the oppression of the Manchu court.
For Haihan, the local Han people from Liaodong were undoubtedly the best source of population for establishing a new colony.These people can adapt very well to the environment of this region. Most of them have a deep hatred for the Qing Dynasty because of the severe oppression, and because they have been separated from the Ming Dynasty for a long time, they do not have a strong sense of belonging to their original nationality. It is easy to accept Haihan's targeted ideological propaganda offensive and become a subject of the new colony of Liaodong.
Of course, among these Han groups, there must have been dog legs who had defected to the Qing court early, so a preliminary identification will be made on these captives later, and the "dangerous elements" among them will be picked out first and dealt with separately.
Since the Qing army had no sea power in this area at all, it was impossible to monitor the whereabouts of the Portuguese fleet.After Simao's fleet landed in a certain village and town in the morning to plunder, it may appear in another coast hundreds of miles away in the afternoon to repeat this operation, sometimes even sweeping four or five villages and towns in one day Take thousands of people.
In order to cooperate with the actions of the Portuguese fleet, Haihan also specially dispatched several idle troop carriers and cargo ships from Jinzhou and Ganghwa Island to meet the Portuguese captives at the mouth of the Yalu River and the Changshan Islands respectively. Then transport it back to the place of departure for placement.
Of course, the Portuguese worked so hard not to do good deeds without regard to remuneration. According to the agreement between the two parties, all the property obtained by the Portuguese during the operation will be distributed by themselves.In order to earn back the military expenditure of this trip to the north, the Portuguese did not slack off at all.
(End of this chapter)