Chapter 2038
Chapter 2038
Chapter 2038
In Chen Yixin's impression, the field hospital behind the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line has not been so busy for a long time.Even if the patrol team encountered an ambush at the end of last year, there were actually few wounded soldiers who escaped, and they were dealt with quickly.And when he walked into the field hospital today, he saw the constant flow of medical staff coming in and out, and the busyness was even comparable to that during the war. If he hadn't just received the news and rushed back from the front line, he would definitely think that it was an outbreak of the isthmus defense line A large-scale battle, because only the Qing army launched a fierce attack, it is possible to cause so many casualties to one's own side.
As soon as Chen Yixin arrived, someone led him to meet Sun Bing who was lying on the hospital bed first.At this time, Wei Lin was still in front of the hospital bed, and when he saw Chen Yixin coming, he immediately stood up and saluted.Although Sun Bing was injured, he immediately sat up straight and raised his hands to salute.
Although Chen Yixin was a little worried, he had been leading troops for a long time after all, and he would never show any uneasiness in front of his subordinates. After returning the salute to the two of them, he asked Sun Bing with concern: "Is the injury on your body serious?" ?”
Sun Bing quickly responded: "Thank you General for your concern. The military doctor has already seen them. They are just flesh wounds. They will recover after a period of recuperation. I think there should be no serious problems."
"That's good. How is this operation going?" Chen Yixin asked directly when there were no outsiders.
Sun Bing didn't dare to be negligent, so he told Chen Yixin in detail how he attacked the Qing army's musketeers yesterday, and how he was chased by the Qing army's large troops on the way to retreat.
Chen Yixin was also a little surprised after listening to his dictation. After seeing the situation in the field hospital, he was already mentally prepared to accept the result of failure. He never thought that the result of the Marine Corps was better than he expected. Much more, it can even be said that the task was overfulfilled.
However, the Marine Corps obviously paid a relatively high price for this. It is very rare in the history of the Marine Corps to have dozens of casualties in a mission like this. It hurts.
Wei Lin added next to him: "General, the captives that Company Commander Sun desperately brought back and the evidence he collected have all been handed over to the Military Intelligence Bureau, and we are investigating this."
Chen Yixin nodded, turned around and called his secretary Zeng Xiaowen to his side and told him: "You are responsible for following up the aftermath and pension affairs of the brothers on the company commander Sun's side. After confirming the personal situation, make arrangements as soon as possible. Don't let the brothers sacrifice in vain. !"
Zeng Xiaowen responded understandingly: "This subordinate will do statistics."
Now that the combat objective has been achieved, regardless of the casualties on Sun Bing's side, this infiltration into the enemy-occupied area is considered a great achievement, and the Ministry of National Defense will definitely reward it for its merits.Chen Yixin's remarks are also an official statement on behalf of the government, first to provide compensation to the casualties, and to properly handle the funeral.
But Chen Yixin did not dare to relax his vigilance for the time being. At present, there is no evidence that there is only that group of Musketeers in the Qing army, and the actions of the marines have not ruled out the existence of other possibilities, at least from the mouth of the prisoners. Only after obtaining a more credible confession can it be confirmed that this hidden danger has been eliminated.
Regarding the source of the weapons of the Qing army, in fact, through the previous joint investigation of gun cases in various places, it has been roughly confirmed that they were provided by the Spaniards.And another thing that needs to be investigated is still a mystery so far, and that is the true identity of these mysterious forces that bridge the gap between the Spaniards and the Qing army.
With a glimmer of hope, Chen Yixin asked Sun Bing carefully about what he had seen and heard during the incubation period, but only the interpreter next to the foreign instructor was more suitable for the middleman's conditions-the costume was Ming Han, and he could communicate with Spaniards and Manchus. Language Exchange.But according to what Sun Bing saw, this person behaved very humble to both parties. It seemed that he was just here to work, not the real mastermind behind the plan.
Chen Yixin comforted Sun Bing with kind words, went to visit the other wounded, then left the hospital and went to the Military Intelligence Bureau.The Marine Corps finally brought back four survivors, but unfortunately they failed to capture the key figures alive. These people brought back were just ordinary soldiers in the Musketeers, and the level of information they could access would not be too high. Naturally, it is more limited.
On the contrary, the muskets used by the Qing army brought back by the marines made Chen Yixin play with them for a while.Although he doesn't know how to make guns, he has been in the army for so many years, and he is at least half a weapon expert. He can tell at a glance that this is a weapon made by the Spaniards.The Latin inscriptions engraved on some of the guns were not even polished. Obviously, these guns had been used before they entered the Qing army, and the Qing army did not know which owner it was.
These muskets are all front-loading flintlock guns. If Haihan is excluded first, the performance of this kind of muskets is actually superior in this era. The muskets owned by the Qing army before that were almost all more primitive matchlocks. Guns are naturally inferior to imported products with more complicated manufacturing processes.As far as Chen Yixin knew, the Spanish colonial armed forces in the Philippines should also be equipped with similar weapons. It can be seen that the Spaniards did not hide anything about it, and they even took out their own good things.
Chen Yixin didn't expect that the Spaniards didn't hide their secrets. They really didn't have enough production capacity to meet the needs of their partners, and they didn't want to give up the opportunity to make overseas allies. They could only take out some of the weapons they used as military aid. provided to partners.Even though the Spaniards charged a lot of money for this, this kind of arms transaction will inevitably weaken the armed strength of the colonies in the short term.
Even if Cebu has built a new arms workshop, the colonial authorities are determined to double the arms production capacity in the next few years, but the establishment of related industries and the training of professional craftsmen will not be achieved overnight, and the production capacity will still not be significantly improved in the short term. promote.The actions of the Philippine colonial authorities at this time are actually a bit like drinking poison to quench their thirst. Once Haihan finds out that the essence of their foreign military aid is to empty his own family, it is very likely that Haihan will attract a new round of blows.
The muskets brought back by the marines were all second-hand goods with obvious traces of long-term use. The Military Intelligence Bureau believed that this showed that the Qing army probably did not have the ability to manufacture such muskets by itself. Otherwise, the Qing army had no reason not to make the situation worse. Good weapons and equipment for this musketeer team with outstanding combat effectiveness.This is good news for Haihan. Since the opponent needs to rely on externally imported weapons, it will be difficult for them to train a large number of musketeers in a short period of time.
Chen Yixin also agrees with this judgment, but he believes that if the channel of military aid from the outside world to the Qing cannot be cut off in time, then it is only a matter of time before the Qing army begins to manufacture new guns in batches.Although the performance of this kind of front-loading flintlock is still significantly different from the rifles currently used by the Haihan Army, the Haihan Army must take into account the difference in strength between the two sides. They don't even need to defeat the Haihan Army on the battlefield, as long as they can Letting the Haihan Army's casualties reach a certain percentage is enough to win this confrontation.
To achieve such a goal, the Qing army only needs to train a firearms force of 6000 to [-] people, so that Haihan will not dare to act rashly. Otherwise, once the casualties in Liaodong increase, the Haihan army may not be able to mobilize enough troops from the south. The troops were replenished.
In the past, the Qing army might not have known about Haihan's deployment of troops overseas, but now that there are middlemen who can reach out to the South China Sea, it may not be so easy to continue to impose an intelligence blockade on the Qing army.If the opponents are made to realize that Haihan's weakness lies in limited troops and long supply lines, then they will definitely try to attack these weaknesses.
In fact, Haihan has long been aware of the shortcomings in the Liaodong ruling area, and has been taking measures to improve them.The troops from Dongjiang Town who were recruited two years ago have now settled in Jinzhou, and some of the Ming troops have also changed their appearance and were dispersed into several Haihan troops stationed locally.Some of the personnel with better qualifications, after receiving specialized training, will be selected into the front-line combat troops to perform combat missions with the regular army.
In this way, although there was no obvious change in the establishment of the Haihan Army stationed in Jinzhou, its actual strength has increased a lot, which greatly reduces the need to send additional troops from the south when the situation is tense.But this kind of supplement is limited after all. In addition to the Haihan Army's consistent requirements for the quality of its military sources, the pressure on military expenditure is also one of the reasons.
Haihan has always followed the route of elite soldiers, and Liaodong is far away from the mainland, and the corresponding military expenditure is very high, so it is difficult to maintain an oversized garrison in Liaodong.This put the Liaodong ruling area in a dilemma. On the one hand, it could not bear too much loss of personnel because of the limited force, and on the other hand, it was unable to increase the size of the garrison because of military expenses and other issues.
Therefore, for Chen Yixin, the current long-term confrontation with the Qing army in the Jinzhou Isthmus is the most ideal state.The Qing army was afraid of Haihan's solid line of defense, and did not dare to attack rashly, and Haihan was happy to use this situation to achieve the goal of containing the Qing army's strength, and at the same time bought more time for its own development in Jinzhou.
But if the Qing army possessed a large number of firearms, which could significantly improve their combat effectiveness, they would no longer be content with the status quo, and would definitely take the initiative to break the current strategic balance, which is exactly what the Jinzhou authorities wanted to avoid.
The only way to solve the problem is to immediately cut off the channels for the Qing army to obtain military resources from the outside world from now on.Chen Yixin secretly calculated that the sea power he could command probably wasn't enough to blockade the hundreds of miles of coast from the Jinzhou Isthmus to the mouth of the Yalu River, and he had to get more assistance from the navy.
Admiral Wang Tom is currently stationed at the Taedong River base in North Korea. If he wants to take action, he must first communicate with him.Chen Yixin drafted a telegram, and then handed it over to the communications corps to send to the Datongjiang Base, and then waited for a reply.
"Old Qian, look at this." Early the next morning, Tom Wang knocked on Qian Tiandun's door and showed him the telegram sent from Jinzhou last night.
The content of the message is mainly to inform Wang Tom of the results of the Marine Corps' operations and the situation after the withdrawal to Golden State, and to ask Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun for instructions on the next arrangement.
Qian Tiandun read the telegram once, nodded and said: "It seems that the situation is better than expected. The target was directly eliminated by your people, and this achievement was taken away by your navy."
Tom Wang sighed and said, "A tragic victory! You also read what the telegram said. When the marines retreated, they were chased by the Qing army, and dozens of people died in the battle. It's not easy to get this victory!"
Qian Tiandun said: "Chen Yixin suggested to block the Liaodong coast as soon as possible to prevent external forces from providing military resources to the Qing Dynasty. What do you think?"
Wang Tom said in a deep voice: "I don't think it's enough to just blockade. We should completely cut off their channels before this kind of military cooperation has formed! I heard that after Zhoushan fought in Yangzhou, they are already in Planning further actions, I plan to take this opportunity to start the business of Jindun Escort in the local area, and forcefully promote the salt industry business in Ningbo to the north of the Yangtze River Estuary. Although there is no business to do here, we must get some for ourselves It's good."
Qian Tiandun said with a smile: "This is the real reason why you came to me early in the morning, right?"
Wang Tom said seriously: "You and I have the most powerful armed forces in the entire Northeast Asia. If we want to plan a big move, I must have a good discussion with you first."
Qian Tiandun responded noncommittally: "If you have any ideas, let's hear them first."
Tom Wang walked quickly to the map hanging on the wall, raised his finger to the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula facing the Yellow Sea and said: "In the past two or three years, we have carried out many sweeping operations on the coast of Liaodong. It has prevented these areas from entering the sea. However, it has not succeeded in preventing people from smuggling into the Qing control area by sea. In fact, I suspect that the other party’s route is to cross the Bohai Strait and land on the west coast of the Liaodong Peninsula.”
Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "So you plan to use this excuse to let the navy enter the Bohai Sea?"
Tom Wang nodded and said, "If the timing is right, we can also arrange a few major combat operations, let Daming also send troops to participate, and show them their muscles."
In fact, after completing the control of Zhifu Island and Lushunkou, Haihan has actually incorporated the Bohai Strait into its own maritime jurisdiction.However, in order to avoid irritating the Ming court, the Haihan Navy rarely went deep into the Bohai Sea, and its attack on the west coast of the Liaodong Peninsula was far less powerful than the east coast.However, the original three guards on the Liaodong Peninsula, except the Jinzhou Guard at the southern end, has been occupied by Haihan. important traffic node.
(End of this chapter)
In Chen Yixin's impression, the field hospital behind the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line has not been so busy for a long time.Even if the patrol team encountered an ambush at the end of last year, there were actually few wounded soldiers who escaped, and they were dealt with quickly.And when he walked into the field hospital today, he saw the constant flow of medical staff coming in and out, and the busyness was even comparable to that during the war. If he hadn't just received the news and rushed back from the front line, he would definitely think that it was an outbreak of the isthmus defense line A large-scale battle, because only the Qing army launched a fierce attack, it is possible to cause so many casualties to one's own side.
As soon as Chen Yixin arrived, someone led him to meet Sun Bing who was lying on the hospital bed first.At this time, Wei Lin was still in front of the hospital bed, and when he saw Chen Yixin coming, he immediately stood up and saluted.Although Sun Bing was injured, he immediately sat up straight and raised his hands to salute.
Although Chen Yixin was a little worried, he had been leading troops for a long time after all, and he would never show any uneasiness in front of his subordinates. After returning the salute to the two of them, he asked Sun Bing with concern: "Is the injury on your body serious?" ?”
Sun Bing quickly responded: "Thank you General for your concern. The military doctor has already seen them. They are just flesh wounds. They will recover after a period of recuperation. I think there should be no serious problems."
"That's good. How is this operation going?" Chen Yixin asked directly when there were no outsiders.
Sun Bing didn't dare to be negligent, so he told Chen Yixin in detail how he attacked the Qing army's musketeers yesterday, and how he was chased by the Qing army's large troops on the way to retreat.
Chen Yixin was also a little surprised after listening to his dictation. After seeing the situation in the field hospital, he was already mentally prepared to accept the result of failure. He never thought that the result of the Marine Corps was better than he expected. Much more, it can even be said that the task was overfulfilled.
However, the Marine Corps obviously paid a relatively high price for this. It is very rare in the history of the Marine Corps to have dozens of casualties in a mission like this. It hurts.
Wei Lin added next to him: "General, the captives that Company Commander Sun desperately brought back and the evidence he collected have all been handed over to the Military Intelligence Bureau, and we are investigating this."
Chen Yixin nodded, turned around and called his secretary Zeng Xiaowen to his side and told him: "You are responsible for following up the aftermath and pension affairs of the brothers on the company commander Sun's side. After confirming the personal situation, make arrangements as soon as possible. Don't let the brothers sacrifice in vain. !"
Zeng Xiaowen responded understandingly: "This subordinate will do statistics."
Now that the combat objective has been achieved, regardless of the casualties on Sun Bing's side, this infiltration into the enemy-occupied area is considered a great achievement, and the Ministry of National Defense will definitely reward it for its merits.Chen Yixin's remarks are also an official statement on behalf of the government, first to provide compensation to the casualties, and to properly handle the funeral.
But Chen Yixin did not dare to relax his vigilance for the time being. At present, there is no evidence that there is only that group of Musketeers in the Qing army, and the actions of the marines have not ruled out the existence of other possibilities, at least from the mouth of the prisoners. Only after obtaining a more credible confession can it be confirmed that this hidden danger has been eliminated.
Regarding the source of the weapons of the Qing army, in fact, through the previous joint investigation of gun cases in various places, it has been roughly confirmed that they were provided by the Spaniards.And another thing that needs to be investigated is still a mystery so far, and that is the true identity of these mysterious forces that bridge the gap between the Spaniards and the Qing army.
With a glimmer of hope, Chen Yixin asked Sun Bing carefully about what he had seen and heard during the incubation period, but only the interpreter next to the foreign instructor was more suitable for the middleman's conditions-the costume was Ming Han, and he could communicate with Spaniards and Manchus. Language Exchange.But according to what Sun Bing saw, this person behaved very humble to both parties. It seemed that he was just here to work, not the real mastermind behind the plan.
Chen Yixin comforted Sun Bing with kind words, went to visit the other wounded, then left the hospital and went to the Military Intelligence Bureau.The Marine Corps finally brought back four survivors, but unfortunately they failed to capture the key figures alive. These people brought back were just ordinary soldiers in the Musketeers, and the level of information they could access would not be too high. Naturally, it is more limited.
On the contrary, the muskets used by the Qing army brought back by the marines made Chen Yixin play with them for a while.Although he doesn't know how to make guns, he has been in the army for so many years, and he is at least half a weapon expert. He can tell at a glance that this is a weapon made by the Spaniards.The Latin inscriptions engraved on some of the guns were not even polished. Obviously, these guns had been used before they entered the Qing army, and the Qing army did not know which owner it was.
These muskets are all front-loading flintlock guns. If Haihan is excluded first, the performance of this kind of muskets is actually superior in this era. The muskets owned by the Qing army before that were almost all more primitive matchlocks. Guns are naturally inferior to imported products with more complicated manufacturing processes.As far as Chen Yixin knew, the Spanish colonial armed forces in the Philippines should also be equipped with similar weapons. It can be seen that the Spaniards did not hide anything about it, and they even took out their own good things.
Chen Yixin didn't expect that the Spaniards didn't hide their secrets. They really didn't have enough production capacity to meet the needs of their partners, and they didn't want to give up the opportunity to make overseas allies. They could only take out some of the weapons they used as military aid. provided to partners.Even though the Spaniards charged a lot of money for this, this kind of arms transaction will inevitably weaken the armed strength of the colonies in the short term.
Even if Cebu has built a new arms workshop, the colonial authorities are determined to double the arms production capacity in the next few years, but the establishment of related industries and the training of professional craftsmen will not be achieved overnight, and the production capacity will still not be significantly improved in the short term. promote.The actions of the Philippine colonial authorities at this time are actually a bit like drinking poison to quench their thirst. Once Haihan finds out that the essence of their foreign military aid is to empty his own family, it is very likely that Haihan will attract a new round of blows.
The muskets brought back by the marines were all second-hand goods with obvious traces of long-term use. The Military Intelligence Bureau believed that this showed that the Qing army probably did not have the ability to manufacture such muskets by itself. Otherwise, the Qing army had no reason not to make the situation worse. Good weapons and equipment for this musketeer team with outstanding combat effectiveness.This is good news for Haihan. Since the opponent needs to rely on externally imported weapons, it will be difficult for them to train a large number of musketeers in a short period of time.
Chen Yixin also agrees with this judgment, but he believes that if the channel of military aid from the outside world to the Qing cannot be cut off in time, then it is only a matter of time before the Qing army begins to manufacture new guns in batches.Although the performance of this kind of front-loading flintlock is still significantly different from the rifles currently used by the Haihan Army, the Haihan Army must take into account the difference in strength between the two sides. They don't even need to defeat the Haihan Army on the battlefield, as long as they can Letting the Haihan Army's casualties reach a certain percentage is enough to win this confrontation.
To achieve such a goal, the Qing army only needs to train a firearms force of 6000 to [-] people, so that Haihan will not dare to act rashly. Otherwise, once the casualties in Liaodong increase, the Haihan army may not be able to mobilize enough troops from the south. The troops were replenished.
In the past, the Qing army might not have known about Haihan's deployment of troops overseas, but now that there are middlemen who can reach out to the South China Sea, it may not be so easy to continue to impose an intelligence blockade on the Qing army.If the opponents are made to realize that Haihan's weakness lies in limited troops and long supply lines, then they will definitely try to attack these weaknesses.
In fact, Haihan has long been aware of the shortcomings in the Liaodong ruling area, and has been taking measures to improve them.The troops from Dongjiang Town who were recruited two years ago have now settled in Jinzhou, and some of the Ming troops have also changed their appearance and were dispersed into several Haihan troops stationed locally.Some of the personnel with better qualifications, after receiving specialized training, will be selected into the front-line combat troops to perform combat missions with the regular army.
In this way, although there was no obvious change in the establishment of the Haihan Army stationed in Jinzhou, its actual strength has increased a lot, which greatly reduces the need to send additional troops from the south when the situation is tense.But this kind of supplement is limited after all. In addition to the Haihan Army's consistent requirements for the quality of its military sources, the pressure on military expenditure is also one of the reasons.
Haihan has always followed the route of elite soldiers, and Liaodong is far away from the mainland, and the corresponding military expenditure is very high, so it is difficult to maintain an oversized garrison in Liaodong.This put the Liaodong ruling area in a dilemma. On the one hand, it could not bear too much loss of personnel because of the limited force, and on the other hand, it was unable to increase the size of the garrison because of military expenses and other issues.
Therefore, for Chen Yixin, the current long-term confrontation with the Qing army in the Jinzhou Isthmus is the most ideal state.The Qing army was afraid of Haihan's solid line of defense, and did not dare to attack rashly, and Haihan was happy to use this situation to achieve the goal of containing the Qing army's strength, and at the same time bought more time for its own development in Jinzhou.
But if the Qing army possessed a large number of firearms, which could significantly improve their combat effectiveness, they would no longer be content with the status quo, and would definitely take the initiative to break the current strategic balance, which is exactly what the Jinzhou authorities wanted to avoid.
The only way to solve the problem is to immediately cut off the channels for the Qing army to obtain military resources from the outside world from now on.Chen Yixin secretly calculated that the sea power he could command probably wasn't enough to blockade the hundreds of miles of coast from the Jinzhou Isthmus to the mouth of the Yalu River, and he had to get more assistance from the navy.
Admiral Wang Tom is currently stationed at the Taedong River base in North Korea. If he wants to take action, he must first communicate with him.Chen Yixin drafted a telegram, and then handed it over to the communications corps to send to the Datongjiang Base, and then waited for a reply.
"Old Qian, look at this." Early the next morning, Tom Wang knocked on Qian Tiandun's door and showed him the telegram sent from Jinzhou last night.
The content of the message is mainly to inform Wang Tom of the results of the Marine Corps' operations and the situation after the withdrawal to Golden State, and to ask Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun for instructions on the next arrangement.
Qian Tiandun read the telegram once, nodded and said: "It seems that the situation is better than expected. The target was directly eliminated by your people, and this achievement was taken away by your navy."
Tom Wang sighed and said, "A tragic victory! You also read what the telegram said. When the marines retreated, they were chased by the Qing army, and dozens of people died in the battle. It's not easy to get this victory!"
Qian Tiandun said: "Chen Yixin suggested to block the Liaodong coast as soon as possible to prevent external forces from providing military resources to the Qing Dynasty. What do you think?"
Wang Tom said in a deep voice: "I don't think it's enough to just blockade. We should completely cut off their channels before this kind of military cooperation has formed! I heard that after Zhoushan fought in Yangzhou, they are already in Planning further actions, I plan to take this opportunity to start the business of Jindun Escort in the local area, and forcefully promote the salt industry business in Ningbo to the north of the Yangtze River Estuary. Although there is no business to do here, we must get some for ourselves It's good."
Qian Tiandun said with a smile: "This is the real reason why you came to me early in the morning, right?"
Wang Tom said seriously: "You and I have the most powerful armed forces in the entire Northeast Asia. If we want to plan a big move, I must have a good discussion with you first."
Qian Tiandun responded noncommittally: "If you have any ideas, let's hear them first."
Tom Wang walked quickly to the map hanging on the wall, raised his finger to the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula facing the Yellow Sea and said: "In the past two or three years, we have carried out many sweeping operations on the coast of Liaodong. It has prevented these areas from entering the sea. However, it has not succeeded in preventing people from smuggling into the Qing control area by sea. In fact, I suspect that the other party’s route is to cross the Bohai Strait and land on the west coast of the Liaodong Peninsula.”
Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "So you plan to use this excuse to let the navy enter the Bohai Sea?"
Tom Wang nodded and said, "If the timing is right, we can also arrange a few major combat operations, let Daming also send troops to participate, and show them their muscles."
In fact, after completing the control of Zhifu Island and Lushunkou, Haihan has actually incorporated the Bohai Strait into its own maritime jurisdiction.However, in order to avoid irritating the Ming court, the Haihan Navy rarely went deep into the Bohai Sea, and its attack on the west coast of the Liaodong Peninsula was far less powerful than the east coast.However, the original three guards on the Liaodong Peninsula, except the Jinzhou Guard at the southern end, has been occupied by Haihan. important traffic node.
(End of this chapter)