Chapter 1817
Unsolved Problems
Chapter 1817 Unsolved Problems
Judging from the current strength, equipment level, and combat experience of the Qing army, it is already considered a quasi-first-class strength in Northeast Asia. No matter how he acts, he is always restrained everywhere. Huang Taiji can only lament the disadvantages of fleeting years.
In fact, Huang Taiji also summoned the ministers of civil and military affairs to brainstorm and discuss how to deal with Haihan.The ministers thought of many ways, but in the end there was one problem they couldn't solve - how to eliminate Haihan's advantage at sea.
In the view of the emperors and ministers of the Qing Dynasty, the fundamental reason why the Haihan Army has always had an advantage on the battlefield does not lie in the obvious aspects of weapons, tactics, and military strength, but the sea dominance brought by its powerful shipping capabilities and armed fleets.The Haihan army could send thousands of armed forces to any point on the long coastline of the Liaodong Peninsula at any time, and quickly withdraw from the sea after achieving the combat objectives, making it impossible for the Qing army to deploy effective defensive means. It would be easy to fall into the endless law and order harassment war-just like the current situation faced by the Qing ruled area.
If the Qing army wants to change the passive situation, this problem must be solved first, but no one can come up with an effective solution.Although there are still many members of the Daming Navy who defected to Liaodong at the beginning, they are still serving in the army, but they suffer from no use.After being swept away by the Haihan Fleet for more than two years, there is not even a sampan on the coastline of the Qing Dynasty's ruled area, and all the shipbuilding places have been destroyed. There is no hope for the revival of the Navy. .
Of course, the Qing Dynasty can also try to build a secret shipyard in the upper reaches of the inland river, but there will still be other problems. The rivers near the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula basically do not have very good navigation capabilities, so it is enough to build some small boats for fishing and crossing the river. It is more difficult to build a huge warship, and the shipyard is extremely easy to expose its location because it needs a lot of personnel and materials. Once it is discovered by the Haihan people, they will come to destroy everything—this has happened before and has never been done. A situation where a solution can be found.
The ships used by the Qing army to cross the river this time were all secretly built in the upper reaches of the Kui River. Although they were hidden from the investigations of Haihan and North Korea, the displacement of these ships was generally small, and the hull structure was also designed to meet the deadline. Without special reinforcement, it is not suitable for use as a warship, and it is not even suitable for sailing at sea. It can only be used to undertake short-distance passenger and cargo tasks on the inland river section.
Naturally, these small boats could not be used to fight against Haihan's armed fleet, so after the Haihan fleet entered the Yalu River, the Qing army transferred all these small boats to the upper reaches of the Kui River and hid them until the Haihan fleet retreated voluntarily. .Of course, it is impossible to completely control the right of navigation on the Yalu River by doing so. There are still great hidden dangers in the Qing army's combat plan, and the current news that the Haihan fleet is frequently attacking the Liaodong Peninsula has even clouded the Qing army's actions in North Korea. A shadow, God knows when they will fight back to the Yalu River and cut off the retreat of the Qing army.
What Huang Taiji was worried about was not the retreat of the Qing army. At worst, he would retreat to the upper reaches of the Yalu River in the north. After all, the Haihan fleet could not keep going upstream.However, if the Qing army wanted to continue fighting in North Korea, supplies from the rear had to be transported across the Yalu River. If the point of crossing the river was moved to the north in order to ensure the transportation line, the transportation distance would have to be extended, and the transportation efficiency would be reduced. Further decline, this is bound to greatly slow down the speed of the Qing army going south, which in turn will affect the implementation of the entire combat plan.
This time Huang Taiji held a combat meeting in Longchuan City, and the generals still failed to come up with a reliable solution to the current situation.In the end, they could only order that the population of coastal villages and towns be moved to the inland as soon as possible, so as to avoid the fate of being abducted by the Haihan army.As for the defenders, try to avoid direct combat with the Haihan army, and take preserving strength as the primary goal.
Of course, the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty, represented by Huang Taiji, did not believe that this method could effectively prevent Haihan from looting in Liaodong. They also knew that it was not as easy as issuing orders to complete the migration and resettlement of a large number of people. Well, by the time this order reaches the local area, the Haihan people may have erased the names of these villages and towns from the map.
"We must know whether the Haihan people have really fallen out with North Korea!" This is probably the only goal that Huang Taiji can conditionally achieve at present. With the increase in the number of places captured since entering the DPRK, some local officials have also become prisoners of the Qing army, and the actual relationship between Haihan and North Korea can also be inquired from the mouths of these North Korean officials.
If it really fell out, it would of course be great news for the Qing army, and they could continue to advance southward with confidence.But if there is something tricky in it, the Qing army must be careful that the two countries conspired to make arrangements for themselves.
Two days later, the Qing army captured Xuanchuan, which was also the fourth small city it occupied after entering North Korea.Although the process was fairly smooth, everyone has realized that the progress of the operation is much slower than the previous three days.On the one hand, this is because Xuanchuan has assembled the North Korean troops who retreated from Longchuan, Yanzhou, and Tieshan, and the resistance is much stronger than the previous ones. On the other hand, Xuanchuan is located in a mountainous area, and the terrain is relatively rugged. However, it was difficult for the Qing army to fully launch its offensive, which greatly reduced its combat effectiveness.
After conquering Xuanchuan, the Qing army obtained an important piece of information related to Haihan from the captives—Korea allocated a piece of land to Haihan along the Datong River, allowing it to build a military port and garrison troops there.But to the high level of the Qing army, it is fortunate that this place is said to be a remote place. Even if the Haihan people get this land, they probably won't be able to build a military port of the size of Lushunkou in a while.
But as for the most critical piece of information, whether Haihan has parted ways with North Korea, there is still no more accurate and credible answer here.After all, because the local officials here have limited access to information, and when the Haihan people withdrew from the Yalu River, they never greeted the local authorities at all.Longchuan, which is the closest to the border, was almost defenseless against the attack of the Qing army. Part of the reason was that it did not receive timely warning from the upper reaches of the Yalu River, so that the Koreans thought that there was a Haihan fleet acting as a barrier on the river. The Qing army can suddenly come to the door of the house.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that not far from the open sea near Tieshan and Xuanchuan, there is Phi Island, where the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town in Daming Dynasty once borrowed for a long time. The task of Dongjiang Town to provide supplies.After the people in Dongjiang Town moved to Jinzhou last year, the burden on the people in these two places was greatly reduced, but it is a pity that the Qing army broke in after a few days of good times.
The Manchus have fought against soldiers and horses of Dongjiang Town for many years. Even though they knew that their opponents had defected to Haihan and moved to Jinzhou, they were still not at ease about their past residence.In order to ensure that there will be no enemy ambushes nearby, the Qing army also specially requisitioned the small fishing boats of the nearby North Korean fishermen, went to Phi Island and the nearby Shenmi Island for reconnaissance, and confirmed that these places have become uninhabited islands , the generals were a little relieved.
At this time, the news of the successive fall of the northern border had not yet reached Seoul, but at the new garrison on the bank of the Datong River, Qian Tiandun had already received a radio report from the front reconnaissance troops, confirming that the main force of the Qing army had arrived in Xuanchuan.
"If there are no accidents, Xuanchuan should have fallen when we were discussing the strategy for the battle here, and the Qing army may have already marched towards the next target, Dingzhou."
Qian Tiandun calmly explained the situation on the front line, tilted the teapot in his hand slightly, and brewed a cup of hot tea for Jin Shangxian who was sitting opposite.Since Haehan announced that it would withdraw its troops from the Yalu River basin, Kim Sang-heon came here from Seoul to guard here. On the one hand, he wanted to ensure that the Haehan people would not completely abandon North Korea. Quickly provide the country with news of the battle on the front line.
But so far, what Kim Sang-heon has received from Qian Tiandun every day is all bad news. There are almost no enemies of the Qing army in the towns and cities in northern North Korea. It is even difficult to delay the advancing speed of the Qing army.It must be said that there is some good news. It is probably that in order to pursue the speed of advancement, the Qing army still chose the narrow plains close to the coastline as its marching route, while the more extensive inland mountainous areas have not yet been attacked by military forces.
At this time, Jin Shangxian didn't react in a panic when he heard such bad news, but he still had a wry smile on his face.This kind of defeat was faster and more miserable than he expected, and after these news came back to Seoul, Cui Mingji and his like would have the opportunity to jump to the stage again to advocate the theory of "peace talks to protect the country".
"Couldn't your country's fleet cause them a little trouble? Even if it's just to delay their marching speed a little bit!" It's not the first time Jin Shangxian has made such a request, although Qian Tiandun pushes it every time However, as always, he still hoped that through his repeated persuasion, the Haihan people would change their minds.
"The time has not yet come." Qian Tiandun's reply to Jin Shangxian is still an old saying: "We hope to start operations after the main force of the Qing army reaches the front line of the Datong River. By then, the length of the Qing army's front in your country will have exceeded four." Baili, there are a lot of loopholes to catch, and we can also obtain the greatest results at the least cost, which is much more cost-effective than fighting the Qing army with high morale right now."
"But...every day the Qing army is in our country, the people will suffer one more day!" Jin Shangxian argued.
Qian Tiandun glanced at him, smiled and said: "But one day later, there will be one more day of preparation time, and one more possibility of defeating the Qing army. I believe that the result your country wants is not just to suppress the invasion. The Qing army stood in the way of peace, but they wanted to drive them out, so that they could learn a deep enough lesson and give up their plans to invade your country again... If this goal is to be achieved, forbearance right now is a must."
Jin Shangxian said in his heart that I believe you are really stupid. He said well before that he would block the Qing army on the Yalu River, but in the end he withdrew the fleet without saying a word and let the Qing army cross the river into North Korea without bloodshed. Now what is the timing? If he didn't arrive, it was very likely that he was just prevaricating himself.But he didn't dare to turn his face and question Qian Tiandun's statement. After all, the current situation of the war is extremely unfavorable for North Korea. If the Haihan people really don't intervene, North Korea may not be able to survive this summer according to the advancing speed of the Qing army.So even though Jin Shangxian had some complaints about Qian Tiandun in his heart, he still had to put on a friendly and courteous gesture on the surface, and continued to ask Haihan for help.
Of course, Qian Tiandun can feel the unconcealable resentment of Jin Shangxian, but in the current situation, everything must be in the interests of Haihan. North Korea can only be a victim at this stage to attract the firepower of the Qing army. No matter how resentful the ruling and opposition parties are, the Haihan army will not choose to confront the Qing army head-on at this time.
"I've already finished what I should say. Since Mr. Jin is so concerned about the situation on the front line, I'll say it again. In order to keep the country, your country needs to save the lives of the three armies, try to hold back the Qing army's southward march, and step up local efforts. The progress of the construction. Only after this place is put into use, our army can better defend the natural moat of the Datong River, and whether we can stop the offensive of the Qing army depends on the progress of the project here!"
Qian Tiandun repeatedly emphasized the importance of this military base. The purpose was also to make North Korea do its best to speed up the construction, so that the Haihan army could rely on this base to build a defense line and keep the Qing army north of the Datong River.
At the beginning, North Korea only promised to send hundreds of craftsmen and 4000 civilians to assist Haihan construction, but after the Qing army invaded, the anxious North Koreans realized that the Haihan military base might be the last straw, and immediately Let nearby Pyongyang and other places send additional civilian workers to come here for construction.As the Qing army went all the way south, Kim Sang-heon ordered the entire South Pyongan Province to do its best to recruit civilians and rush to the Datong River Estuary to participate in the project as soon as possible.According to the statistics on the construction site, there are more than [-] Han refugees transported from Liaodong and more than [-] Korean civilian husbands who came from nearby to participate in the construction of the project. There are still more than [-] people, and the number of workers on the construction site is expected to exceed [-] in the near future.
For this reason, Haihan specially transported a large number of labor tools from the two colonies of Shandong and Liaodong in advance to ensure the smooth progress of the project.As for the supply of logistical materials, it is provided by North Korea.For this reason, Pyongyang City has opened an official warehouse, and delivered more than 60 ships totaling 15 catties of snacks to the mouth of the Datong River.
(End of this chapter)
Judging from the current strength, equipment level, and combat experience of the Qing army, it is already considered a quasi-first-class strength in Northeast Asia. No matter how he acts, he is always restrained everywhere. Huang Taiji can only lament the disadvantages of fleeting years.
In fact, Huang Taiji also summoned the ministers of civil and military affairs to brainstorm and discuss how to deal with Haihan.The ministers thought of many ways, but in the end there was one problem they couldn't solve - how to eliminate Haihan's advantage at sea.
In the view of the emperors and ministers of the Qing Dynasty, the fundamental reason why the Haihan Army has always had an advantage on the battlefield does not lie in the obvious aspects of weapons, tactics, and military strength, but the sea dominance brought by its powerful shipping capabilities and armed fleets.The Haihan army could send thousands of armed forces to any point on the long coastline of the Liaodong Peninsula at any time, and quickly withdraw from the sea after achieving the combat objectives, making it impossible for the Qing army to deploy effective defensive means. It would be easy to fall into the endless law and order harassment war-just like the current situation faced by the Qing ruled area.
If the Qing army wants to change the passive situation, this problem must be solved first, but no one can come up with an effective solution.Although there are still many members of the Daming Navy who defected to Liaodong at the beginning, they are still serving in the army, but they suffer from no use.After being swept away by the Haihan Fleet for more than two years, there is not even a sampan on the coastline of the Qing Dynasty's ruled area, and all the shipbuilding places have been destroyed. There is no hope for the revival of the Navy. .
Of course, the Qing Dynasty can also try to build a secret shipyard in the upper reaches of the inland river, but there will still be other problems. The rivers near the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula basically do not have very good navigation capabilities, so it is enough to build some small boats for fishing and crossing the river. It is more difficult to build a huge warship, and the shipyard is extremely easy to expose its location because it needs a lot of personnel and materials. Once it is discovered by the Haihan people, they will come to destroy everything—this has happened before and has never been done. A situation where a solution can be found.
The ships used by the Qing army to cross the river this time were all secretly built in the upper reaches of the Kui River. Although they were hidden from the investigations of Haihan and North Korea, the displacement of these ships was generally small, and the hull structure was also designed to meet the deadline. Without special reinforcement, it is not suitable for use as a warship, and it is not even suitable for sailing at sea. It can only be used to undertake short-distance passenger and cargo tasks on the inland river section.
Naturally, these small boats could not be used to fight against Haihan's armed fleet, so after the Haihan fleet entered the Yalu River, the Qing army transferred all these small boats to the upper reaches of the Kui River and hid them until the Haihan fleet retreated voluntarily. .Of course, it is impossible to completely control the right of navigation on the Yalu River by doing so. There are still great hidden dangers in the Qing army's combat plan, and the current news that the Haihan fleet is frequently attacking the Liaodong Peninsula has even clouded the Qing army's actions in North Korea. A shadow, God knows when they will fight back to the Yalu River and cut off the retreat of the Qing army.
What Huang Taiji was worried about was not the retreat of the Qing army. At worst, he would retreat to the upper reaches of the Yalu River in the north. After all, the Haihan fleet could not keep going upstream.However, if the Qing army wanted to continue fighting in North Korea, supplies from the rear had to be transported across the Yalu River. If the point of crossing the river was moved to the north in order to ensure the transportation line, the transportation distance would have to be extended, and the transportation efficiency would be reduced. Further decline, this is bound to greatly slow down the speed of the Qing army going south, which in turn will affect the implementation of the entire combat plan.
This time Huang Taiji held a combat meeting in Longchuan City, and the generals still failed to come up with a reliable solution to the current situation.In the end, they could only order that the population of coastal villages and towns be moved to the inland as soon as possible, so as to avoid the fate of being abducted by the Haihan army.As for the defenders, try to avoid direct combat with the Haihan army, and take preserving strength as the primary goal.
Of course, the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty, represented by Huang Taiji, did not believe that this method could effectively prevent Haihan from looting in Liaodong. They also knew that it was not as easy as issuing orders to complete the migration and resettlement of a large number of people. Well, by the time this order reaches the local area, the Haihan people may have erased the names of these villages and towns from the map.
"We must know whether the Haihan people have really fallen out with North Korea!" This is probably the only goal that Huang Taiji can conditionally achieve at present. With the increase in the number of places captured since entering the DPRK, some local officials have also become prisoners of the Qing army, and the actual relationship between Haihan and North Korea can also be inquired from the mouths of these North Korean officials.
If it really fell out, it would of course be great news for the Qing army, and they could continue to advance southward with confidence.But if there is something tricky in it, the Qing army must be careful that the two countries conspired to make arrangements for themselves.
Two days later, the Qing army captured Xuanchuan, which was also the fourth small city it occupied after entering North Korea.Although the process was fairly smooth, everyone has realized that the progress of the operation is much slower than the previous three days.On the one hand, this is because Xuanchuan has assembled the North Korean troops who retreated from Longchuan, Yanzhou, and Tieshan, and the resistance is much stronger than the previous ones. On the other hand, Xuanchuan is located in a mountainous area, and the terrain is relatively rugged. However, it was difficult for the Qing army to fully launch its offensive, which greatly reduced its combat effectiveness.
After conquering Xuanchuan, the Qing army obtained an important piece of information related to Haihan from the captives—Korea allocated a piece of land to Haihan along the Datong River, allowing it to build a military port and garrison troops there.But to the high level of the Qing army, it is fortunate that this place is said to be a remote place. Even if the Haihan people get this land, they probably won't be able to build a military port of the size of Lushunkou in a while.
But as for the most critical piece of information, whether Haihan has parted ways with North Korea, there is still no more accurate and credible answer here.After all, because the local officials here have limited access to information, and when the Haihan people withdrew from the Yalu River, they never greeted the local authorities at all.Longchuan, which is the closest to the border, was almost defenseless against the attack of the Qing army. Part of the reason was that it did not receive timely warning from the upper reaches of the Yalu River, so that the Koreans thought that there was a Haihan fleet acting as a barrier on the river. The Qing army can suddenly come to the door of the house.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that not far from the open sea near Tieshan and Xuanchuan, there is Phi Island, where the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town in Daming Dynasty once borrowed for a long time. The task of Dongjiang Town to provide supplies.After the people in Dongjiang Town moved to Jinzhou last year, the burden on the people in these two places was greatly reduced, but it is a pity that the Qing army broke in after a few days of good times.
The Manchus have fought against soldiers and horses of Dongjiang Town for many years. Even though they knew that their opponents had defected to Haihan and moved to Jinzhou, they were still not at ease about their past residence.In order to ensure that there will be no enemy ambushes nearby, the Qing army also specially requisitioned the small fishing boats of the nearby North Korean fishermen, went to Phi Island and the nearby Shenmi Island for reconnaissance, and confirmed that these places have become uninhabited islands , the generals were a little relieved.
At this time, the news of the successive fall of the northern border had not yet reached Seoul, but at the new garrison on the bank of the Datong River, Qian Tiandun had already received a radio report from the front reconnaissance troops, confirming that the main force of the Qing army had arrived in Xuanchuan.
"If there are no accidents, Xuanchuan should have fallen when we were discussing the strategy for the battle here, and the Qing army may have already marched towards the next target, Dingzhou."
Qian Tiandun calmly explained the situation on the front line, tilted the teapot in his hand slightly, and brewed a cup of hot tea for Jin Shangxian who was sitting opposite.Since Haehan announced that it would withdraw its troops from the Yalu River basin, Kim Sang-heon came here from Seoul to guard here. On the one hand, he wanted to ensure that the Haehan people would not completely abandon North Korea. Quickly provide the country with news of the battle on the front line.
But so far, what Kim Sang-heon has received from Qian Tiandun every day is all bad news. There are almost no enemies of the Qing army in the towns and cities in northern North Korea. It is even difficult to delay the advancing speed of the Qing army.It must be said that there is some good news. It is probably that in order to pursue the speed of advancement, the Qing army still chose the narrow plains close to the coastline as its marching route, while the more extensive inland mountainous areas have not yet been attacked by military forces.
At this time, Jin Shangxian didn't react in a panic when he heard such bad news, but he still had a wry smile on his face.This kind of defeat was faster and more miserable than he expected, and after these news came back to Seoul, Cui Mingji and his like would have the opportunity to jump to the stage again to advocate the theory of "peace talks to protect the country".
"Couldn't your country's fleet cause them a little trouble? Even if it's just to delay their marching speed a little bit!" It's not the first time Jin Shangxian has made such a request, although Qian Tiandun pushes it every time However, as always, he still hoped that through his repeated persuasion, the Haihan people would change their minds.
"The time has not yet come." Qian Tiandun's reply to Jin Shangxian is still an old saying: "We hope to start operations after the main force of the Qing army reaches the front line of the Datong River. By then, the length of the Qing army's front in your country will have exceeded four." Baili, there are a lot of loopholes to catch, and we can also obtain the greatest results at the least cost, which is much more cost-effective than fighting the Qing army with high morale right now."
"But...every day the Qing army is in our country, the people will suffer one more day!" Jin Shangxian argued.
Qian Tiandun glanced at him, smiled and said: "But one day later, there will be one more day of preparation time, and one more possibility of defeating the Qing army. I believe that the result your country wants is not just to suppress the invasion. The Qing army stood in the way of peace, but they wanted to drive them out, so that they could learn a deep enough lesson and give up their plans to invade your country again... If this goal is to be achieved, forbearance right now is a must."
Jin Shangxian said in his heart that I believe you are really stupid. He said well before that he would block the Qing army on the Yalu River, but in the end he withdrew the fleet without saying a word and let the Qing army cross the river into North Korea without bloodshed. Now what is the timing? If he didn't arrive, it was very likely that he was just prevaricating himself.But he didn't dare to turn his face and question Qian Tiandun's statement. After all, the current situation of the war is extremely unfavorable for North Korea. If the Haihan people really don't intervene, North Korea may not be able to survive this summer according to the advancing speed of the Qing army.So even though Jin Shangxian had some complaints about Qian Tiandun in his heart, he still had to put on a friendly and courteous gesture on the surface, and continued to ask Haihan for help.
Of course, Qian Tiandun can feel the unconcealable resentment of Jin Shangxian, but in the current situation, everything must be in the interests of Haihan. North Korea can only be a victim at this stage to attract the firepower of the Qing army. No matter how resentful the ruling and opposition parties are, the Haihan army will not choose to confront the Qing army head-on at this time.
"I've already finished what I should say. Since Mr. Jin is so concerned about the situation on the front line, I'll say it again. In order to keep the country, your country needs to save the lives of the three armies, try to hold back the Qing army's southward march, and step up local efforts. The progress of the construction. Only after this place is put into use, our army can better defend the natural moat of the Datong River, and whether we can stop the offensive of the Qing army depends on the progress of the project here!"
Qian Tiandun repeatedly emphasized the importance of this military base. The purpose was also to make North Korea do its best to speed up the construction, so that the Haihan army could rely on this base to build a defense line and keep the Qing army north of the Datong River.
At the beginning, North Korea only promised to send hundreds of craftsmen and 4000 civilians to assist Haihan construction, but after the Qing army invaded, the anxious North Koreans realized that the Haihan military base might be the last straw, and immediately Let nearby Pyongyang and other places send additional civilian workers to come here for construction.As the Qing army went all the way south, Kim Sang-heon ordered the entire South Pyongan Province to do its best to recruit civilians and rush to the Datong River Estuary to participate in the project as soon as possible.According to the statistics on the construction site, there are more than [-] Han refugees transported from Liaodong and more than [-] Korean civilian husbands who came from nearby to participate in the construction of the project. There are still more than [-] people, and the number of workers on the construction site is expected to exceed [-] in the near future.
For this reason, Haihan specially transported a large number of labor tools from the two colonies of Shandong and Liaodong in advance to ensure the smooth progress of the project.As for the supply of logistical materials, it is provided by North Korea.For this reason, Pyongyang City has opened an official warehouse, and delivered more than 60 ships totaling 15 catties of snacks to the mouth of the Datong River.
(End of this chapter)