Chapter 1832
Dilemma
Chapter 1832 Dilemma
Since the battle site was almost in Haihan's position, this time Haihan couldn't wait for the Qing army to send people to collect the corpses.
Due to the large number of corpses, it was too late to dig a big pit outside the base to bury the corpses. The generals made a decision after a brief discussion.A mobile fortification made of sandbags at the front of the Haihan army's position was opened by the peasants, and then several flat carriages drove out of the position, and came to the battle site along the passage cleared by the Qing army's artillery fire.The folks in charge of the transportation grabbed the hands and feet of the corpses and threw them on the cart together. After the cart was full, the cart turned around and headed south to the base. At present, all Haihan can do is to transport it to the sea for disposal. To put it simply, it is all thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
And there are still many wounded soldiers of the Qing army who have not yet expired. The Haihan army has long established standards for dealing with this. Anyone who tries to resist, gets shot in the torso and is seriously injured, or has a foot injury and cannot move, will directly fill the gun It's done, so that you don't have to waste resources and ask for trouble when you take prisoners.Senior military officers who are easily identifiable in armor can relax the standards appropriately, after all, it is still possible to get some valuable information from their mouths.
Seeing so many corpses piled up outside the position, most of the peasants who were assigned to move the corpses turned pale. Although they were delighted with the victory of the Haihan army, they still felt so miserable after seeing such a tragic scene. Unavoidable fear.Some people have a stronger physical reaction. Seeing groups of crows jumping up and down on the pile of dead bodies and starting to peck at the dead bodies, they can't help but go to the side and retch.
"Do you see that the Qing army will try again today?" Tom Wang asked Qian Tiandun who had just returned from the front line.
Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "It's hard to say, but the possibility is very small. Their biggest loss today is actually not the soldiers who died at the door, but the artillery and artillery. According to the information we obtained from the interrogation of the prisoners of war, the Qing army's The artillery that was brought to North Korea last time was more than 100, with thousands of artillerymen. After today's battle, they have lost at least one-third of the artillery troops. I don't think Huang Taiji may have the courage to take the remaining artillery. The troops are all here."
Qian Tiandun's judgment is based on the existing intelligence and past combat experience. Artillery is an elite weapon, and the artillery of the Qing army is even more difficult to train, because it is really difficult to master the skills required by the full level of education. Due to the calculated artillery combat skills, more than half of the artillery is now the Han surrendered troops taken in a few years ago.Even if the Qing Dynasty has been able to forge its own artillery, every death of these veterans means one less, and it is difficult to replenish qualified soldiers in a short period of time. Presumably, Huang Taiji is also having a big headache about this.
If the Qing army wanted to continue to attack the Haihan position, it must first weigh whether it could still bear the corresponding battle damage.The loss of the previous battle did not bring the expected results for the Qing army. If the same attack method is still adopted in the future, the battle situation will inevitably repeat the previous trend.
Wang Tom said: "If the Qing army doesn't intend to put all their eggs in one basket here, then I'm afraid they will change their mind soon."
"Can't sit still? Why don't you take the fleet first?" Qian Tiandun asked jokingly.
According to the battle plan formulated by the two, Wang Tom will command the navy to rush to the north to intercept and kill the defeated Qing army. However, judging from the current situation of the Qing army, the defeat must be a defeat, but there should still be a considerable gap from the defeat.On the plain north of the Datongjiang base, there are still tens of thousands of Qing troops on standby, and they will not voluntarily evacuate for about a while.
Of course, Tom Wang knew that Qian Tiandun was joking with him, so he also grinned and said, "No hurry, there are tens of thousands of Qing troops, it's not so easy to escape."
The Qing army entered the court with tens of thousands of troops, but the highly mobile cavalry only accounted for about a quarter, and the rest of the infantry-based troops naturally couldn't compare with each other in terms of marching speed.When the Qing army decided to withdraw from North Korea, these troops of different arms and commanders might not be able to coordinate in the march.The naval fleet led by Tom Wang may not be able to catch up with the cavalry of the Qing army, but it will definitely be faster than the infantry. In Haihan's battle plan, the distance of more than 200 miles from the Datong River to the Qingchuan River is the Qing army and the god of death. It's been a while in the race, and the part of the Qing army that can't run the navy fleet in the end will have a harder time returning to Liaodong.
As Qian Tiandun judged, Huang Taiji's biggest headache today is not the number of casualties in this battle, but whether the existing artillery force can survive until the end of the battle, or whether it is worth sending the remaining artillery force Also bet on it, fight to the end with the Haihan people, and fight for the possibility of breaking through the defense line.
The generals of the Qing army are naturally not reconciled to the current battle situation. If the Haihan people did not send troops to interfere, perhaps the army has successfully advanced to the front line of the Han River, and they can prepare to draw a successful conclusion to this war.But now it has only advanced to half of the planned itinerary, not to mention the goal of the Han River in Seoul, and even the other side of the Datong River seems out of reach.
To cross the Datong River under the eyes of the powerful Haihan Fleet, it is really unrealistic for the Qing army that does not even have ships. They have tried various methods, but it is obvious that these methods are not feasible. In front of the Han people, there is also the suspicion of cheating.
But now it seems that the Qing army is not only not the opponent of Haihan in the water battle, but the land battle is also quite difficult. The confrontation on the Datong River can be described as tragic.However, in the end, it was still impossible to see the hope of breaking through the Haihan defense line, and it was even difficult to judge how many casualties were caused to the opponent.
After the battle, the emperor's wife has realized that she has now awakened a bit. The purpose of Haihan's formation on the banks of the Datong River may not only be to prevent the Qing army from crossing the south of the Yangtze River, but also to use this battlefield to consume the Qing army's vitality. intention in it.Reason tells him that he should withdraw his troops decisively now to avoid greater losses, but the idea of "unreconciled" is also constantly wearing away his reason, making it difficult for him to make a decision that is most beneficial to himself with a calm mind.
The mentality of the other generals was also similar to Huang Taiji's. They mobilized the army to go to North Korea this time with the attitude that they must win, and they didn't even regard Haihan's intervention as a real trouble at the beginning.But if we look back now and look at the course of the war in the past few months, Haihan's first toughness and then softness in the Yalu River should have been intentional.
Just imagine that if Haihan used the Yalu River as a line of defense to build a position at that time, it would not be easy for the Qing army to complete the crossing of the river locally, and it might even make the battle plan to go to North Korea aborted.However, Haihan chose to withdraw from the Yalu River at a wonderful time, and gave the Qing army the passage to the court without reservation.At that time, it seemed that he had picked a big deal, the army crossed the river and entered North Korea without a deadly battle, but looking back now, it was clearly Haihan's move to lure the Qing army into the North.
After the Qing army entered the DPRK, Haihan would use this to put forward many conditions and get many benefits from North Korea. This is probably an inevitable situation.Just the military base on the banks of the Datong River, it is unknown how much resources the North Korean country will consume to build it in such a short period of time.The Haihan people here basically enjoy the advantage of the home field, and the Qing army, which is waiting for work to fight the long-distance trek, naturally has an advantage.
The Qing army worked hard to mobilize the masses to launch a war. So far, they have not even recovered their money, and North Korea has lost several cities in a row, and it must be very difficult to support the Haihan army, a gold-swallowing beast.Thinking about it this way, Haihan seems to be the biggest winner of the war launched by the Qing army. Not only did he make a lot of money in North Korea, but he also took advantage of the fire to go to Liaodong to abduct a large number of people, and benefited from both ends.
After trying to understand the reason, the anger of the generals of the Qing army was even more difficult to calm down. Why did the Haihan people take advantage of us when we killed them? A trip cost countless money and food, and caused thousands of casualties. In the end, it failed to deter North Korea.
Azige made a suggestion to Huang Taiji, give up continuing to attack this Haihan stronghold, go north and fight and retreat, but do not withdraw troops, and take the land in northern North Korea as his own first, so it is not in vain. a trip.
"But do you know how many soldiers and horses need to be stationed in North Korea?" Huang Taiji asked blankly after hearing this.
"[-] to [-] is enough." Azig continued to analyze: "Although the Haihan infantry is strong, they don't dare to go deep into the inland to fight. They have never wanted to fight with us in North Korea. That's why they chose We set up battlefields near various rivers and water veins. We can do the opposite, abandon the coastal areas, and capture inland towns. The Haihan people have limited forces, and most of them dare not follow up. At that time, we will slowly find crossing rivers. Opportunity to attack Seoul."
After hearing Azig's idea, Huang Taiji was actually a little bit moved. Pulling the battlefield from the river basin near the sea to the inland area can indeed effectively limit the enemy's display.He knew that the Haihan Army's rapid delivery almost all relied on its strong shipping capabilities, but once the battlefield moved inland, the Haihan Army's mobility would be greatly affected, and it would even voluntarily give up entering the inland area.
However, there will also be some problems in doing so. The Qing Dynasty does not intend to annex North Korea directly, because it does not have enough troops to guard the huge Korean Peninsula, and there are not enough officials to govern this area, so the Qing army’s plan is Subdue the North Korean ruler through war, let him give up diplomatic relations with Haihan and Ming, and respect Qing as the suzerain.What the Qing army wanted was a quick battle, rather than turning this war into a long war of attrition. If North Korea cannot be surrendered quickly, it can be said that the entire strategy has failed.
Although Azig's method can allow the Qing army to temporarily obtain a large area of territory from North Korea, North Korea, with the support of Haihan, will certainly not swallow it.If we continue to organize counterattacks at this point, the Qing army will continue to be consumed by then, and Haihan should not be affected. They only need to stay at the base by the Datong River to ensure that the Qing army cannot successfully fight the Datong River. I was able to make business with the North Koreans.
Going around, things seem to be back to the original starting point.If this place on the banks of the Datong River is not captured, the Qing army's overall strategy for North Korea will hardly achieve the expected results, and that means that the successive military operations, a large number of casualties, and countless money and food will all be in vain.
After discussing with everyone for a long time, Huang Taiji came to the conclusion that the Haihan people had to be dealt with before they could achieve their goals in North Korea.Of course, this solution does not mean eliminating Haihan's main force. No matter how inflated Huang Taiji is, he will not have such an unrealistic goal. He only hopes to conquer this Haihan stronghold and force Haihan to withdraw from this area. , even if it can make it retreat to the front line of the Han River, at least this battle still has to be fought.
However, in order to be able to learn lessons from today's tragic battle, Huang Taiji did not raise troops again immediately.He decided to spend one more day for the troops to fully rest, slaughter all the pigs, cattle and sheep brought here, and promised many rewards to the combat troops. The head of the Haihan Army starts at 20 taels of silver. Officers and even generals can also get slaves, land and official rewards.Anyway, this kind of empty reward that can stimulate morale should be made up as much as possible first. As for how to cash it, let's wait until the end of the war.
If the next offensive is still unable to break through the Haihan position, then you really have to consider withdrawing your troops and returning home.Although Huang Taiji didn't want to admit it, if he suffered too much damage in the duel with Haihan, it might affect the Qing's strategic position in the north for a period of time to come. A restless enemy like Daming might take the opportunity Jumped out to add insult to injury.
The clean-up of the corpses outside the Haihan camp continued until night, and nearly a thousand people and dozens of flatbed trucks were used to transfer all these corpses to the wharf by the Datong River for loading.But the blood from so many corpses has already soaked a large area of land, and there are even a large number of coagulated blood clots floating in the trenches outside the position.
The flock of crows, which had been blasted away no less than a hundred times, finally landed on the ground after dark. Although there were no dead bodies for them to "enjoy", these crows still persisted in digging out the pieces of meat with their beaks and claws. The stump, barely, can be regarded as the end of this day's hard foraging.
In the early morning of the next day, hundreds of civilians were sent to the Haihan position, and under the command of the foreman, they began to repair the fortification area that was destroyed the day before.It is too late to restore these areas to a complete state, but it is not difficult to temporarily install some anti-infantry fortifications.Especially those heavy iron horses, each weighing more than 200 kilograms, are connected to each other with fasteners. Only seven or eight of them can re-block the passage cleared by the Qing army's artillery fire yesterday, and the chassis can be nailed again. Once fixed, it is difficult to move it by manpower.
(End of this chapter)
Since the battle site was almost in Haihan's position, this time Haihan couldn't wait for the Qing army to send people to collect the corpses.
Due to the large number of corpses, it was too late to dig a big pit outside the base to bury the corpses. The generals made a decision after a brief discussion.A mobile fortification made of sandbags at the front of the Haihan army's position was opened by the peasants, and then several flat carriages drove out of the position, and came to the battle site along the passage cleared by the Qing army's artillery fire.The folks in charge of the transportation grabbed the hands and feet of the corpses and threw them on the cart together. After the cart was full, the cart turned around and headed south to the base. At present, all Haihan can do is to transport it to the sea for disposal. To put it simply, it is all thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
And there are still many wounded soldiers of the Qing army who have not yet expired. The Haihan army has long established standards for dealing with this. Anyone who tries to resist, gets shot in the torso and is seriously injured, or has a foot injury and cannot move, will directly fill the gun It's done, so that you don't have to waste resources and ask for trouble when you take prisoners.Senior military officers who are easily identifiable in armor can relax the standards appropriately, after all, it is still possible to get some valuable information from their mouths.
Seeing so many corpses piled up outside the position, most of the peasants who were assigned to move the corpses turned pale. Although they were delighted with the victory of the Haihan army, they still felt so miserable after seeing such a tragic scene. Unavoidable fear.Some people have a stronger physical reaction. Seeing groups of crows jumping up and down on the pile of dead bodies and starting to peck at the dead bodies, they can't help but go to the side and retch.
"Do you see that the Qing army will try again today?" Tom Wang asked Qian Tiandun who had just returned from the front line.
Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "It's hard to say, but the possibility is very small. Their biggest loss today is actually not the soldiers who died at the door, but the artillery and artillery. According to the information we obtained from the interrogation of the prisoners of war, the Qing army's The artillery that was brought to North Korea last time was more than 100, with thousands of artillerymen. After today's battle, they have lost at least one-third of the artillery troops. I don't think Huang Taiji may have the courage to take the remaining artillery. The troops are all here."
Qian Tiandun's judgment is based on the existing intelligence and past combat experience. Artillery is an elite weapon, and the artillery of the Qing army is even more difficult to train, because it is really difficult to master the skills required by the full level of education. Due to the calculated artillery combat skills, more than half of the artillery is now the Han surrendered troops taken in a few years ago.Even if the Qing Dynasty has been able to forge its own artillery, every death of these veterans means one less, and it is difficult to replenish qualified soldiers in a short period of time. Presumably, Huang Taiji is also having a big headache about this.
If the Qing army wanted to continue to attack the Haihan position, it must first weigh whether it could still bear the corresponding battle damage.The loss of the previous battle did not bring the expected results for the Qing army. If the same attack method is still adopted in the future, the battle situation will inevitably repeat the previous trend.
Wang Tom said: "If the Qing army doesn't intend to put all their eggs in one basket here, then I'm afraid they will change their mind soon."
"Can't sit still? Why don't you take the fleet first?" Qian Tiandun asked jokingly.
According to the battle plan formulated by the two, Wang Tom will command the navy to rush to the north to intercept and kill the defeated Qing army. However, judging from the current situation of the Qing army, the defeat must be a defeat, but there should still be a considerable gap from the defeat.On the plain north of the Datongjiang base, there are still tens of thousands of Qing troops on standby, and they will not voluntarily evacuate for about a while.
Of course, Tom Wang knew that Qian Tiandun was joking with him, so he also grinned and said, "No hurry, there are tens of thousands of Qing troops, it's not so easy to escape."
The Qing army entered the court with tens of thousands of troops, but the highly mobile cavalry only accounted for about a quarter, and the rest of the infantry-based troops naturally couldn't compare with each other in terms of marching speed.When the Qing army decided to withdraw from North Korea, these troops of different arms and commanders might not be able to coordinate in the march.The naval fleet led by Tom Wang may not be able to catch up with the cavalry of the Qing army, but it will definitely be faster than the infantry. In Haihan's battle plan, the distance of more than 200 miles from the Datong River to the Qingchuan River is the Qing army and the god of death. It's been a while in the race, and the part of the Qing army that can't run the navy fleet in the end will have a harder time returning to Liaodong.
As Qian Tiandun judged, Huang Taiji's biggest headache today is not the number of casualties in this battle, but whether the existing artillery force can survive until the end of the battle, or whether it is worth sending the remaining artillery force Also bet on it, fight to the end with the Haihan people, and fight for the possibility of breaking through the defense line.
The generals of the Qing army are naturally not reconciled to the current battle situation. If the Haihan people did not send troops to interfere, perhaps the army has successfully advanced to the front line of the Han River, and they can prepare to draw a successful conclusion to this war.But now it has only advanced to half of the planned itinerary, not to mention the goal of the Han River in Seoul, and even the other side of the Datong River seems out of reach.
To cross the Datong River under the eyes of the powerful Haihan Fleet, it is really unrealistic for the Qing army that does not even have ships. They have tried various methods, but it is obvious that these methods are not feasible. In front of the Han people, there is also the suspicion of cheating.
But now it seems that the Qing army is not only not the opponent of Haihan in the water battle, but the land battle is also quite difficult. The confrontation on the Datong River can be described as tragic.However, in the end, it was still impossible to see the hope of breaking through the Haihan defense line, and it was even difficult to judge how many casualties were caused to the opponent.
After the battle, the emperor's wife has realized that she has now awakened a bit. The purpose of Haihan's formation on the banks of the Datong River may not only be to prevent the Qing army from crossing the south of the Yangtze River, but also to use this battlefield to consume the Qing army's vitality. intention in it.Reason tells him that he should withdraw his troops decisively now to avoid greater losses, but the idea of "unreconciled" is also constantly wearing away his reason, making it difficult for him to make a decision that is most beneficial to himself with a calm mind.
The mentality of the other generals was also similar to Huang Taiji's. They mobilized the army to go to North Korea this time with the attitude that they must win, and they didn't even regard Haihan's intervention as a real trouble at the beginning.But if we look back now and look at the course of the war in the past few months, Haihan's first toughness and then softness in the Yalu River should have been intentional.
Just imagine that if Haihan used the Yalu River as a line of defense to build a position at that time, it would not be easy for the Qing army to complete the crossing of the river locally, and it might even make the battle plan to go to North Korea aborted.However, Haihan chose to withdraw from the Yalu River at a wonderful time, and gave the Qing army the passage to the court without reservation.At that time, it seemed that he had picked a big deal, the army crossed the river and entered North Korea without a deadly battle, but looking back now, it was clearly Haihan's move to lure the Qing army into the North.
After the Qing army entered the DPRK, Haihan would use this to put forward many conditions and get many benefits from North Korea. This is probably an inevitable situation.Just the military base on the banks of the Datong River, it is unknown how much resources the North Korean country will consume to build it in such a short period of time.The Haihan people here basically enjoy the advantage of the home field, and the Qing army, which is waiting for work to fight the long-distance trek, naturally has an advantage.
The Qing army worked hard to mobilize the masses to launch a war. So far, they have not even recovered their money, and North Korea has lost several cities in a row, and it must be very difficult to support the Haihan army, a gold-swallowing beast.Thinking about it this way, Haihan seems to be the biggest winner of the war launched by the Qing army. Not only did he make a lot of money in North Korea, but he also took advantage of the fire to go to Liaodong to abduct a large number of people, and benefited from both ends.
After trying to understand the reason, the anger of the generals of the Qing army was even more difficult to calm down. Why did the Haihan people take advantage of us when we killed them? A trip cost countless money and food, and caused thousands of casualties. In the end, it failed to deter North Korea.
Azige made a suggestion to Huang Taiji, give up continuing to attack this Haihan stronghold, go north and fight and retreat, but do not withdraw troops, and take the land in northern North Korea as his own first, so it is not in vain. a trip.
"But do you know how many soldiers and horses need to be stationed in North Korea?" Huang Taiji asked blankly after hearing this.
"[-] to [-] is enough." Azig continued to analyze: "Although the Haihan infantry is strong, they don't dare to go deep into the inland to fight. They have never wanted to fight with us in North Korea. That's why they chose We set up battlefields near various rivers and water veins. We can do the opposite, abandon the coastal areas, and capture inland towns. The Haihan people have limited forces, and most of them dare not follow up. At that time, we will slowly find crossing rivers. Opportunity to attack Seoul."
After hearing Azig's idea, Huang Taiji was actually a little bit moved. Pulling the battlefield from the river basin near the sea to the inland area can indeed effectively limit the enemy's display.He knew that the Haihan Army's rapid delivery almost all relied on its strong shipping capabilities, but once the battlefield moved inland, the Haihan Army's mobility would be greatly affected, and it would even voluntarily give up entering the inland area.
However, there will also be some problems in doing so. The Qing Dynasty does not intend to annex North Korea directly, because it does not have enough troops to guard the huge Korean Peninsula, and there are not enough officials to govern this area, so the Qing army’s plan is Subdue the North Korean ruler through war, let him give up diplomatic relations with Haihan and Ming, and respect Qing as the suzerain.What the Qing army wanted was a quick battle, rather than turning this war into a long war of attrition. If North Korea cannot be surrendered quickly, it can be said that the entire strategy has failed.
Although Azig's method can allow the Qing army to temporarily obtain a large area of territory from North Korea, North Korea, with the support of Haihan, will certainly not swallow it.If we continue to organize counterattacks at this point, the Qing army will continue to be consumed by then, and Haihan should not be affected. They only need to stay at the base by the Datong River to ensure that the Qing army cannot successfully fight the Datong River. I was able to make business with the North Koreans.
Going around, things seem to be back to the original starting point.If this place on the banks of the Datong River is not captured, the Qing army's overall strategy for North Korea will hardly achieve the expected results, and that means that the successive military operations, a large number of casualties, and countless money and food will all be in vain.
After discussing with everyone for a long time, Huang Taiji came to the conclusion that the Haihan people had to be dealt with before they could achieve their goals in North Korea.Of course, this solution does not mean eliminating Haihan's main force. No matter how inflated Huang Taiji is, he will not have such an unrealistic goal. He only hopes to conquer this Haihan stronghold and force Haihan to withdraw from this area. , even if it can make it retreat to the front line of the Han River, at least this battle still has to be fought.
However, in order to be able to learn lessons from today's tragic battle, Huang Taiji did not raise troops again immediately.He decided to spend one more day for the troops to fully rest, slaughter all the pigs, cattle and sheep brought here, and promised many rewards to the combat troops. The head of the Haihan Army starts at 20 taels of silver. Officers and even generals can also get slaves, land and official rewards.Anyway, this kind of empty reward that can stimulate morale should be made up as much as possible first. As for how to cash it, let's wait until the end of the war.
If the next offensive is still unable to break through the Haihan position, then you really have to consider withdrawing your troops and returning home.Although Huang Taiji didn't want to admit it, if he suffered too much damage in the duel with Haihan, it might affect the Qing's strategic position in the north for a period of time to come. A restless enemy like Daming might take the opportunity Jumped out to add insult to injury.
The clean-up of the corpses outside the Haihan camp continued until night, and nearly a thousand people and dozens of flatbed trucks were used to transfer all these corpses to the wharf by the Datong River for loading.But the blood from so many corpses has already soaked a large area of land, and there are even a large number of coagulated blood clots floating in the trenches outside the position.
The flock of crows, which had been blasted away no less than a hundred times, finally landed on the ground after dark. Although there were no dead bodies for them to "enjoy", these crows still persisted in digging out the pieces of meat with their beaks and claws. The stump, barely, can be regarded as the end of this day's hard foraging.
In the early morning of the next day, hundreds of civilians were sent to the Haihan position, and under the command of the foreman, they began to repair the fortification area that was destroyed the day before.It is too late to restore these areas to a complete state, but it is not difficult to temporarily install some anti-infantry fortifications.Especially those heavy iron horses, each weighing more than 200 kilograms, are connected to each other with fasteners. Only seven or eight of them can re-block the passage cleared by the Qing army's artillery fire yesterday, and the chassis can be nailed again. Once fixed, it is difficult to move it by manpower.
(End of this chapter)