1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1031 Hope Oil Field ([-])

In the relatively closed natural environment of this era, it is of course impossible for the natives on Taiwan Island to have received any form of formal military training. Their combat skills only come from daily hunting and occasional small bursts with fighters from other tribes. Scale conflicts are completely different from the combat skills of professional troops aimed at killing people.In the past, most of the Han people who were immigrated to Miaoli by Shibazhi were unorganized farmers. The natives could gain the upper hand in the confrontation with their bravery, but they had to use the fighting skills and weapons of hunting wild animals to deal with the fully armed and prepared ones. Professional soldiers, the results can be imagined.

Morgan deployed a platoon of troops to each of the two strongholds on the Houlongxi. It also took into account the strength of the two sides, so that the garrison could still carry out daily operations on the upstream and downstream river sections of the stronghold under the premise that they were speechless. Patrol, escort navigation safety.In terms of combat effectiveness alone, the strength of this platoon can indeed deal with the attack of the enemy several times as long as it is ready for battle.

Now that Morgan was smacking his chest, Beks and the others would naturally no longer question the strength of their own troops.But everyone knows that the few sporadic conflicts these days do not mean the end of the conflict between Haihan and the local indigenous tribes. As long as the nearby indigenous tribes are still around, such small-scale conflicts will continue. And it is very likely that it will intensify due to the gradual increase in the number of casualties.The defense against sneak attacks by the natives should not be relaxed at this point, but must continue to be strengthened.

To completely resolve the threat from the indigenous tribes, we can only wait until the oil field camp is settled first.However, limited by the existing transportation capacity, everyone could only patiently wait for the fleet to return to the coastal camp, load the goods and personnel, and then transport them here along Houlongxi.This round-trip cycle is at least two and a half days, and as time goes by, once the rainy season passes, the navigation capacity of the upper reaches of Houlongxi will weaken, and many materials may not be able to be transported directly into the mountains by boat.So the most urgent task at the moment is to scramble to transport supplies into the mountains.

For this reason, Beks made some adjustments to the original transportation plan, and reduced the original fleet to deliver supplies to two strongholds into one, because the garrisons and some supplies at these two locations have already been in place, and the time required to go to and from the coastal camps is even longer. In short, a fleet can run back and forth on the same day, and the capacity can meet the needs of the stronghold for the time being.The vacated fleet changed its destination to an oil field camp, thus increasing the transportation capacity from the coastal camp to the oil field by a quarter, which is expected to speed up the construction process of the oil field.

As predicted by Morgan and others, the attacks of the natives did not stop because they suffered losses in the previous conflicts, but intensified and became more frequent.When they found that the established strongholds and camps were difficult to break through, they shifted their targets to the fleet of ships that shuttled back and forth on the Houlongxi every day.The barges of these fleets have low sides and basically do not have much shielding and protection capabilities, and the water surface width of Houlongxi is also enough for them to use bows and spears to launch attacks. As long as they can concentrate on one place, they will definitely be able to create certain attacks. lethal effect.

On April 28, the native armed forces from Maolishe dispatched dozens of people to ambush the passing fleet in the river section between No. [-] and No. [-] strongholds. Although the escorting armed personnel fired back at the first time, And killed and wounded several people, but in the short battle still occurred the first death since Haihan entered Miaoli.A soldier was shot in the body by a bamboo spear thrown by the natives from the river bank during the battle. He died of excessive blood loss before reaching the No. [-] stronghold to go ashore for rescue.

Although I have been mentally prepared for the possible battle damage in the Miaoli project, when this situation actually happens, it still makes people feel depressed.In order to prevent the morale of the garrison from being affected, Bai Kesi made a special trip to the No. [-] stronghold to hold an encoffining ceremony for the soldier who unfortunately died in battle.According to the tradition of the Haihan military, after a simple antiseptic treatment of the corpse, the coffin will be transported back to Hainan Island and buried in the Martyrs Cemetery in Sanya.

Bai Kesi also publicly stated that he would personally apply for military merit for this soldier as a member of the Executive Committee, and would issue special pensions to his family members.Of course, the most important thing is to avenge the soldiers who were killed, and gather troops at the right time to wipe out the local indigenous tribes.

As for when to clear it up, Beks said of course it doesn't matter, it's up to the chief military officer Morgan to make up his mind.When Bex returned to the oil field camp, Morgan informed him of the telegram just sent by the Sanya base camp. The fleet heading north to the Yellow Sea had already departed from the Shengli Harbor Naval Base and would pass through the Fujian Strait. It was expected to stop at the Penghu base for supplies.In view of the fact that the current unrest in the Miaoli region has affected the development and construction of the Hope Oilfield, both the Executive Committee and the Ministry of National Defense believe that it is necessary to carry out a large-scale clean-up operation in the area, and the Beishang Fleet will rush to Miaoli to participate in the war as reinforcements. By the way, this This operation is regarded as a drill before actual combat.

The Ministry of National Defense's arrangement for the fleet to go north this time is not limited to the navy serving in Hainan Island. The garrisons deployed in Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang will also have to transfer some ships and combat personnel including the army. The fleet that provides logistical supplies for the expeditionary fleet is expected to go north to the Yellow Sea this time to become the largest expedition since Haihan became an army.

If this force can join the campaign against the Miaoli area, then Morgan will naturally no longer have to worry about the lack of local troops to take the initiative.Although the naval ships could not contribute to the clean-up operations, the naval soldiers could land in Miaoli and take on the defensive tasks of various camps and strongholds when the army entered the mountains to attack the indigenous tribes.Moreover, at least one battalion of the army in this expeditionary force went north with the fleet in order to take over the local defense in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, which was in charge of the special operations battalion. This temporary joining task happened to let them warm up in Miaoli first.

"Not surprisingly, we will be able to solve the problems of the indigenous tribes before the end of the rainy season." Morgan felt much more relaxed after receiving the good news, and was very optimistic about the prospect of the clean-up operation.

"Then we just need to wait for the arrival of the large troops with peace of mind?" Bex was also willing to accept the arrangement of the base camp, which was safer than the local garrison's risky attack.

Morgan replied: "Yu Yao must inform the Penghu base that the supplies needed for the battle must be prepared in advance."

The base camp decided to let the Expeditionary Force go north to intervene in the security battle in Miaoli. This is naturally a good thing for Beks and others who are in charge of the oil project. However, the voyage from Sanya to Miaoli still needs a few days. The method of operation is to continue to advance the construction of the basic camp and stronghold along the Houlongxi.

After a large number of loggers arrived at the oil field camp, the progress of felling trees to clear the ground finally increased significantly.After being roughly processed on site, most of the felled wood can be used to build defensive walls around the camp and make some simple furniture such as tables and chairs.After more than half of the peripheral fortifications were completed, the drilling site requested by Tian Yeyou was finally cleared, and formal drilling work could begin.And it has been a whole week since they came to Chusulphurous Pit.

Although Beks and the others were all engineering students and were not superstitious about ghosts and gods, they still burned incense and offered sacrifices before starting drilling to pray for smooth mining, while Morgan believed in Western religion and had his own way of praying.Everyone is praying for the blessing of the gods in the dark for the same purpose, and it is considered harmonious if each worships separately.

After a brief worship ceremony, the steam engine that was already ready was started up.Watching the drill bit slowly drill into the ground, the emotions of the traversers became a little nervous. If the oil is successfully drilled from here, then the mission of this trip is considered to be more than half completed.

At the same time when Bai Kesi and others were staring at the small piece of land under the drilling well, the Haihan Navy Task Force was sailing through the sea area of ​​the Qizhou Islands in the northeast corner of Hainan Island, heading for the next stop, Hong Kong Island.

The establishment of this task force includes a Majestic-class flagship, four Expedition-class warships and eight Exploration-class light warships, eight troop carriers, twelve logistics integrated supply ships and four scout speedboats .In addition, there are also a group of merchant ships and civilian ships from Sanya to the coastal areas of Guangdong accompanying them, which should be regarded as escorts.And this is only a part of the task force. When the fleet merges with the garrison in the southeast coastal area of ​​the mainland, the scale may be expanded by two to three times on the existing basis.

The general in charge of commanding this fleet is Navy Commander Wang Tom. This is also the second time he led the army to go north to perform a mission after he led the attack on Miyako Island in the second half of last year.However, the destination this time is much farther than Miyako Island. If the trip goes well, the fleet will arrive in the Yellow Sea in the middle of this year and try to establish a stronghold in the Jiaodong Peninsula.

Along with him are Chen Yixin, a young military officer who is preparing to return to the army after attending the founding ceremony, and Hao Wanqing, the second-in-command of the Haihan Security Department who was transferred because of his native place in Shandong.Wang Tom and Chen Yixin have traveled back and forth between the mainland and Hainan several times, but Hao Wanqing left Hainan Island for the first time to go to the mainland after crossing. He is obviously not used to sailing at sea, and he hasn't eaten much since he left the voyage.

"Minister Hao, no matter how uncomfortable you are, you still have to eat. You have to walk to Hong Kong for at least two days. I'm afraid you will fall ill before that time." Tom Wang didn't see Hao Wanqing out for dinner at lunch time , and went to visit him in his cabin.For people who lost their appetite due to seasickness, there is actually no immediate solution. They can only forcibly eat food to let their bodies gradually adapt to the turbulence at sea.

Hao Wanqing's face was pale, and he replied weakly: "I didn't expect that I would be so useless, and I still have such a long way to go. This time I will drag everyone down."

"It's just that you spend too little time on the boat, and you are not used to the wind and waves at sea. It will be fine in a few more days." Wang Tom said a few words of comfort, and asked Hao Wanqing's entourage to slowly feed him some rice porridge, and then he left leave.

Back in the command cabin on the deck, Chen Yixin asked him about Hao Wanqing's condition. Tom Wang shook his head lightly and said, "Minister Hao probably needs to rest in Hong Kong Island for two days to recover from his condition."

Chen Yixin said: "Then what about our mission? Taiwan is waiting for us to go."

Wang Tom said: "Taiwan matters are more important. I plan to rest only one night after arriving in Hong Kong, and then we will leave first. After Minister Hao recuperates in Hong Kong Island, we will arrange another boat to Penghu. Anyway, we will go to Miaoli. The task will also take some time to complete, which should allow him to catch up."

"It seems that this is the only way to go." Chen Yixin has no objection to Wang Tom's arrangement. Compared with this matter, he is actually more concerned about the current situation on Taiwan Island: "I heard that old Morgan is doing well in Miaoli. It went so smoothly, and the resistance of the local natives seems to be quite intense.”

Wang Tom nodded and said: "The local supply line is more than 30 kilometers long, and the oil mining area has penetrated into the inland mountainous area. It is indeed difficult to spare troops to wipe out the indigenous tribes with three companies. To clean up their lairs, this law and order war has to be fought day after day. So the mission we are going to perform this time is to help Morgan eliminate the local indigenous tribes. Mountain and jungle warfare is a special specialty of your special warfare battalion. At that time, it is likely to arrange your people to play the vanguard."

Chen Yixin went south to participate in the founding ceremony on behalf of the special warfare battalion this time, and he also brought a platoon of soldiers with him. The original purpose was to let them participate in the celebration parade in the name of the special warfare battalion. combat missions.Fortunately, in order to participate in the military parade, the individual soldiers were well equipped when they went south, so there shouldn't be any major problems in performing this kind of combat mission.

The fleet arrived at Hong Kong Island on May [-]. After staying for one night, Hao Wanqing was left there to recuperate temporarily. The task force continued to head north along the coastline to the Fujian Strait.Three days later, the task force arrived at Magong Port, Penghu, the second stop of the trip.

Originally, during this period, Hao Wanqing would represent the Executive Committee to meet with representatives of the officialdom and business circles in Fujian, but because Hao Wanqing was still stranded in Hong Kong to recuperate his health at this time, all the meeting arrangements had to be postponed.

The arrival of this huge fleet naturally attracted the attention of the Fujian government office in Penghu. In addition, a few days ago, the naval base in Penghu began to clean up the docks and ordered a large number of supplies from Ming merchants. These signs combined with the arrival of the fleet, It was clearly a harbinger of war.Although Xu Xinsu was not worried that Haihan would take military action against Fujian, he still sent his fourth son Xu Yuzhuo to Penghu to ask Haihan about the intentions behind these recent moves.

(End of this chapter)