1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1034 Battle Plan
In terms of combat distance, the current situation is actually not suitable for snipers to fight. The native soldiers on the river bank are only about 20 meters away from the barges on the river. At this distance, no matter whether they are injured by bows and arrows or spears, it is extremely difficult. It is possible to lose combat capability immediately.Although the rifles in the hands of the Haihan soldiers were more accurate, they had no advantage when used on the choppy boat. In addition to the slow reloading, the firepower output was really not comparable to that of the natives on the river bank.

When Morgan shot the fourth target, a soldier beside him fell to the ground with an arrow. Looking sideways, Morgan saw a bamboo arrow stuck between his shoulder and neck, and the blood had soaked from the wound. , but judging from the parts, it hasn't hurt the vitals yet.Fortunately, just in case, Morgan was on the ship and sent an additional medical soldier, who stepped forward to check the injuries before Morgan ordered.

Morgan looked up at the river bank, and saw that the number of natives was increasing. From 40 to [-] at the beginning of the battle, the number has almost doubled in just a few minutes now.Although some natives were shot and fell to the ground during the period, they seemed to be replenishing their troops faster than Haihan's killing. The bamboo arrows they fired were crackling and nailed to the side and roof of the ship. The situation was far worse than Morgan expected before setting off. more dangerous.

When making the battle plan before departure, Morgan even considered whether he should slow down his speed and kill as many natives as possible if he was attacked. The advantages are not obvious, and the risks are far greater than he expected.Putting his elite soldiers to fight against the natives under such conditions is almost like changing their lives. Even if the battle loss ratio can reach more than ten times, Morgan still thinks this risk is not worth it.

"Pick up the horsepower!" Morgan ordered the boatman.What needs to be considered now is not to kill more enemies, but to get out of this unfavorable combat environment for Haihan as soon as possible, so as to avoid continuing to cause unnecessary loss of personnel.

The barges behind the steam-powered tugboat were all in an empty state, and in addition to going down the current, the full speed could reach at least six knots, enough to throw off the native warriors chasing on the river bank on two legs.After the boatman heard the order, he immediately began to shovel coal into the furnace, and at the same time shifted the gear lever of the steam engine to the highest gear, so that the piston could output at its full capacity.

Morgan put down his rifle and took out a bamboo tube about a foot long and the thickness of an egg from his backpack.This is a local signal flare made by Haihan Ordnance Industry. When using it, you only need to point the opening up to the sky, pull down the rope ring at the bottom, and a colored signal flare will be fired.Although there are only three or four colors currently made, it is enough to transmit signals and orders in combat.All Morgan needs to do now is to use signal flares to inform the fleet behind to speed up the evacuation.

After firing the flare from the safety of the right side of the ship, Morgan picked up his rifle again and continued to shoot at the few natives on the river bank who were still chasing.Seeing fewer and fewer natives chasing after him, Morgan finally felt relieved.

If Morgan hadn't made the trip himself, it would have been hard for Morgan to imagine such a violent attack by the natives. It's no wonder that the soldiers and officers in charge of the escort complained endlessly after returning, saying that the natives in Miaoli were worse than before. Enemies who have been there are more troublesome.

Haihan is in the Ming Dynasty, and the natives are in the dark. Although the Haihan army has a higher combat power, they have always been in a relatively passive position during the confrontation.Moreover, in almost every battle in the field, the troops of the natives were dominant, which led to the fact that the Haihan army could only adopt passive defenses during battles, and was unable to take the initiative to deal with the natives' armed forces.

Of course, if Miaoli is stationed in the Annant Battalion, which is good at jungle and mountain warfare, this situation may be able to change.Morgan couldn't help but think of the coming reinforcements, among which were the Special Operations Battalion led by Chen Yixin.Although there is only one platoon in the establishment, Morgan also wants to see what is unique about the legendary mountain battalion performing combat missions in the wild.

Seeing that the ship had already left the combat zone, Morgan quickly checked the condition of the wounded on board.There were more than ten people on board the tugboat, two of them were injured by bamboo arrows, one was shot in the shoulder and neck, and the other was injured in the arm.Morgan checked the injuries of the two of them. Fortunately, they were all superficial injuries and would not be life-threatening.The medical soldiers had already disinfected and stitched the wound of one of them. Morgan immediately wiped his hands with alcohol cotton and treated the wound of the other wounded with the medical soldiers.

About an hour and a half after leaving the battlefield, the fleet arrived at the No. [-] stronghold downstream.Morgan arranged for the fleet to stop here for a while, because he wanted to confirm the casualties of the other fleets in time.If there are people with more critical injuries, he can also carry out another treatment.

Perhaps it was the tugboat that Morgan was on that attracted most of the attention of the natives, and the attacks encountered by the following fleets were not so intense.There were no casualties in the four fleets, but injuries were still unavoidable. A total of three people were injured in the battle. One of them was shot in the eye by a bamboo arrow. The injury was serious. The arrow was stuck in the eye and no one dared to pull it out. .

After Morgan checked, he found that the soldier's injured eye was useless, and the wound needed to be properly treated as soon as possible, so he decided to perform an operation immediately, and asked someone to carry him to the No. The prefabricated room was used as the operating room, and after a simple anesthesia, the eyeball was enucleated immediately.Although the soldier's life may be saved, he will definitely not be able to continue serving in the army after he recovers from his injury.

As a result, the fleet stayed on the river bank outside No. [-] stronghold for two hours. When they set sail again, the sky was already dark.Morgan had to let the soldiers light a torch on the bow of the ship and slow down the speed of the ship.When we arrived at the coast camp, it was nearly four hours later than the scheduled time.

"Why did it take so long? Did you encounter trouble on the way?" Yu Yao asked Morgan who had just stepped off the boat with concern.

Morgan nodded and said, "We were attacked by the natives on Houlongxi, and some soldiers were seriously injured, so I chose to stop at the No. [-] stronghold for a surgical operation."

Yu Yao asked, "How are the casualties?"

"Fortunately, there were only a few wounded, and no one was killed." Morgan replied: "As for the natives, the figures we have calculated should be 20 to [-] people were hit, and the casualties are unknown."

"The result...isn't ideal!" Yu Yao was also quite surprised by this result.He had already communicated with Morgan in advance and knew the general content of his battle plan, and he also believed that Morgan's preparations were highly targeted, and he should be able to gain a clear upper hand in the battle with the natives, but the actual situation The results appear to be significantly different from expectations,
"The natives of Maolishe are more difficult to deal with than we thought. They are very fierce and have a strong will to fight. When we fired on the ship, the hit rate dropped very badly, and it would become a very conspicuous target." Morgan He said with a heavy face: "I took my previous thoughts for granted. The purpose of these natives' combat is actually very clear, that is, to exchange their lives with us. If we just spend time with them on the Houlongxi, it is really a shame. A choice that outweighs the gain.”

Yu Yao said: "Fortunately, they won't be jumping around for a few days. Just now Tom Wang sent a telegram that his fleet will probably arrive here tomorrow morning. This time Tom Wang brought a whole battalion of troops over, even if the cats No matter how the natives in Lishe can fight, it is time for their story to end."

"Then we have to hurry up and revise the battle plan." Morgan rubbed his stomach and said, "But before that, I have to fill my stomach first. You shouldn't let me down, right?"

Yu Yao said with a smile: "I have already prepared a reception banquet for you, it's all the wild game hunted today, I'm sure you'll be satisfied!"

Early the next morning, before Morgan and Yu Yao woke up from their sleep, a huge fleet with two-color flags appeared on the sea west of the camp.The scale of the wharf built outside the coastal camp is limited, and it is impossible to dock so many ships at one time, so they can only dock in batches, and at the same time use small boats to transfer the personnel and materials on board to ashore.

After Wang Tom and Chen Yixin landed, they immediately held a combat meeting to listen to Morgan's report.The destination of Wang Tom's troops was not Taiwan, and they came to Miaoli just to help the local garrison solve their troubles, which was an unplanned temporary task.After solving the problem of insufficient garrison troops, it is relatively easy for Haihan to take the initiative to push the native tribes in the Miaoli area.Morgan's previously designated campaign plan for clearing and suppressing was also based on this idea.

"According to the captive's confession, we combined the map at hand to deduce that the location of Maolishe is here." Morgan pointed to a location on the map: "It is about two kilometers away from the bank of the Houlongxi River, and it is about [-] meters away from No. [-] and No. [-]. The strongholds are four kilometers and six kilometers respectively, and they are located in the empty defense zone between our two strongholds. I have to admit that I didn't think carefully when choosing the location for the stronghold along the river. If the location of Maolishe can be determined first, Then we can build a stronghold on the river bank closest to the tribe in a targeted manner, and this should be able to effectively suppress the attacks of the natives."

After Morgan conducted a reconnaissance along the coast of Houlongxi, he selected two river bends, one south and one north, as the location of the armed stronghold.In terms of geographical conditions alone, the choice of building the base on the inner side of the river bend is actually the optimal solution. Not only can the defense area of ​​the base be effectively reduced, but the river section covered is also maximized, allowing the limited The military force played the greatest role.But man is not as good as God, and Morgan's location selection just put Maolishe's sphere of influence in the blind spot of Haihan stronghold, so that the fleet navigating on Houlongxi was frequently attacked.

Haihan has invested a lot of manpower and material resources in these two strongholds in the early stage. If he wants to build another stronghold in the middle, firstly, he lacks enough materials, and secondly, new problems will arise in the deployment of troops.The army stationed in the Miaoli area is composed of three companies. One company is stationed in the oil field, and the other company is stationed in the coastal camp to ensure that the supply line from the sea will not be interrupted, and it cannot be easily transferred. The remaining company is divided into two strongholds. Finally, there are two platoons for maneuvering between camps and strongholds, that is, taking turns to perform escort missions.To set up another new stronghold, the strength of Morgan's troops is already stretched and it is difficult to deploy.

If the Ministry of National Defense did not arrange for Wang Tom to bring troops over for reinforcements, Morgan would also apply to Sanya to mobilize troops from Jilong Port in Taipei, Kaohsiung Port in Tainan, and Penghu to carry out a relatively thorough campaign against the indigenous tribes in the Miaoli area.However, this large-scale build-up will inevitably affect the stability of other regions, and the Ministry of National Defense will need to coordinate with the troops stationed in various regions.

Wang Tom said: "The geographical environment in the Miaoli area is relatively complicated, and there are omissions in the investigation, which cannot be attributed to the responsibility of individual people. Our main goal of entering this area is to get oil from the Sulfur Pit, and now this goal has been achieved. , This is the big deal. The executive committee won't care what happens here, as long as the oil can be produced smoothly. You and Beks have been here for so long, you should have heard him reveal the intention of the executive committee Bar?"

Neither Yu Yao nor Chen Yixin made a sound, they could naturally hear that Tom Wang was trying to excuse Morgan's mistake in judgment.The personal relationship between the two is very good, and there is nothing wrong with such a move.However, Yu Yao felt somewhat displeased. He and Morgan were the only ones who visited this area earlier, but Tom Wang wanted to excuse Morgan from responsibility, so he dragged him into the water with a single sentence.

Morgan replied: "Lao Bai's attitude is very clear, everything is oil. However, he also believes that the security situation in the Miaoli area is too severe, and actions must be taken to curb the restlessness of the natives."

Tom Wang nodded and said, "Then what is your plan now?"

Morgan continued pointing to the map and said: "To the east of Maolishe is the valley plain and Houlong River, and to the west is a mountainous area near the sea. In theory, we can even go directly over the mountain from the coastal camp to launch an attack, but the effect of this may not be ideal. , so I personally prefer to attack from the direction of the river valley and plain. Although this will expose our intentions earlier, it is impossible for the natives to contend with us on the frontal battlefield. Even if we cannot wipe out these natives, At least destroy their tribe and force them to leave the area."

This time Tom Wang was not in a hurry to express his support for Morgan, but instead asked Yu Yao and Chen Yixin to talk about their views on this battle plan.

(End of this chapter)