1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1114 Plan Change
Wang Tom asked Pan Yan to be escorted down first and held in solitary confinement, and then he summoned the main officers of the fleet to discuss changing the action plan.The operation to go north to Liaodong was originally based on topographical reconnaissance, waiting for an opportunity to launch a harassing war along the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula. However, now that he has received news about Phi Island halfway, Wang Tom believes that this is an opportunity to open another immigration channel for Haihan. , should be processed first.However, to go to Phi Island, it is necessary to redo the route and the corresponding material and personnel deployment plan. At the same time, they also learned that they will go to the base camp of Zhifu Bay, so that they can check the relevant information of Phi Island as soon as possible so that they can make corresponding preparations.

Although the Haihan Fleet has never traveled the voyage from Lushunkou to Phi Island before, the fleet has detailed charts of the relevant areas in its hands, and Pan Yan, a former Dengzhou Navy officer who can act as a navigator, wants to complete this voyage. The voyage with a straight-line distance of only one hundred nautical miles is not difficult.The real uncertain factors are still in Phi Island. What is the current local situation, whether the soldiers and civilians on the island will be full of hostility to outsiders like Haihan, and how to deal with local officials who are in charge of power. Consider and prepare a response plan in advance.

Tom Wang arranged for a boat to monitor the movement of Zhongzuo City near the north bank, but the Hou Jin army in the city did not act rashly during this day. The city gate was still closed until sunset, and it seemed that they were not Planning to take the initiative.Wang Tom didn't relax his vigilance because of this. The Hou Jin army was much more familiar with the local terrain, and still needed to beware of the opponent's nighttime sneak attack.Although this possibility is unlikely, Wang Tom still deployed a platoon of infantry at the point where the tiger tail peninsula connects to the mainland as a night sentry.Its location is three or four miles away from the fleet's temporary camp. It only needs to warn the enemy immediately after discovering the enemy's situation, so that the camp can prepare for the battle in time.

Wang Tom's preventive measures really worked. After nightfall, the Houjin army indeed arranged some people to go out of the city and take a land detour to the Huwei Peninsula in an attempt to launch a night attack on the Haihan camp.However, it was not easy to smear the march at night in the wilderness, and they couldn't make a quick charge on horseback. It was only in the middle of the night that they finally touched the Tiger's Tail Peninsula.However, the Hou Jin army probably did not expect that the opponent would place the sentry post a few miles away from the camp. When they reached this area, they did not deliberately slow down to hide their tracks. As a result, they were discovered by the infantry platoon deployed by Haihan. up.

The platoon leader leading the troops couldn't see how many troops his opponent had at night, so he immediately set off a warning firework into the sky.When the firework exploded in mid-air, it briefly illuminated the area, and then Haihan soldiers took the opportunity to launch a round of fire at the stunned Hou Jin army.

The light from the fireworks only lasted for a few seconds, and everything returned to darkness. This round of shooting did not know how many Jinjun soldiers were shot, but enough chaos was created, and screams came and went.However, the Haihan army did not take advantage of the enemy's chaos to continue pursuing. The risk of fighting in this dark environment was too great, but the results were not necessarily cost-effective. Therefore, they still followed the strategy formulated in advance and retreated decisively after completing the warning. Do not give the opponent the opportunity to close the combat distance for melee.

The Hou Jin army knew that their deeds had been exposed, and they didn't know how many troops the opponent had deployed in the dark, so they didn't dare to march in the dark at the moment, so they hurriedly lit torches and gathered the chaotic team to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of it. Random attack.Niu Luzhang Jing, who led the troops, simply counted the casualties. In fact, there was not much loss. Only five people were shot, and two of them unfortunately hit vital points and died on the spot.However, in the darkness, the soldiers crowded and stomped on each other, and seven or eight others were injured in the chaos.

When Zhang Jing saw that all the wounded by the enemy were caused by firecrackers, Zhang Jing couldn't help being a little frightened. If he continued to advance, he was afraid that the opponent would have already deployed his position after receiving the warning.Moreover, the Huhuwei peninsula is full of hills and mountains, and there is no way to use cavalry. Letting his men go down to attack the firecracker position is tantamount to death in vain.It's not the worst thing to lose his team here. If the opponent waits until dawn and then attacks the center left city, it may be difficult to defend that side because of the shortage of troops.After hesitating for a moment, he still chose to deal with it safely and ordered the withdrawal of the troops back to the camp.

After Haihan received the warning, he was naturally flustered, but after waiting for a long time, the opponent did not attack, and then the news sent back by the scouts said that the Jin army had quietly retreated.

"Hou Jinjun is so cowardly?" Wang Tom, who was woken up from his sleep to supervise the battle, was also a little surprised to hear the news. Hou Jinjun took the initiative to attack twice this morning and one night, and he ate two times under the hands of Haihanjun. The second loss, he couldn't bear it so much and tried his best, which also subverted his image of Jin Jun only being brave and ruthless in his mind.Although he looked down on the opponent verbally, Tom Wang also understood that from the perspective of the commander, since the purpose of the night attack had been exposed early, it was a rational choice to withdraw decisively. Possess basic tactical literacy.

When the lights were out of control, Tom Wang naturally wouldn't send troops to pursue them, but sent troops to strengthen the security around the perimeter, and beware of the opponent playing other tricks.However, from midnight to morning, nothing else happened. It seemed that the other party really gave up.

Tom Wang had worked out the action plan and route to Phi Island with his officers the night before, and he ordered everyone to break out of camp and leave here after breakfast.As for the dozens of prisoners of war captured after the battle the day before yesterday, they were all stuffed into the cabin, and they will be interrogated slowly after returning to Zhifu Bay.

Pan Yan, the former Ming army officer who seized the opportunity to take refuge in Haihan first, received slightly better treatment. Although the shackles and handcuffs have not been removed, at least he does not have to be imprisoned in a dark, airtight and crowded cabin with his former companions. After spending the rest of the voyage, you can stand on the deck and use the information you know in your mind to win the favor of your new master.

Pan Yan thought about it all night and still couldn't figure out the origin of the "Haihan Kingdom". When he stepped on the flagship deck, he quickly realized that this "navy" was very different from the Dengzhou navy he served in the past. Not only the military uniforms and weapons are different, but also the hull structure and rigging system of this ship are obviously different from the Ming Dynasty warship he knew.But one thing is beyond doubt, that is the strength of this army, it is better to work with such a backer than to be forced to fight against Daming by the gold thief at Lushunkou.

After the personnel who landed yesterday packed up and re-boarded the ship, the Haihan fleet sailed away from the coast one by one without making a sound, and left Lushunkou Harbor along the original road through the narrow waterway on the east side of Huhuwei.In this section of the waterway near the shore, one or two corpses washed ashore by the waves can occasionally be seen, which should be the victims of yesterday's battle.But now that the Haihan fleet is eager to leave this place, it is impossible to stop to collect these remains.

Yesterday's naval battle was basically an overwhelming victory, but after yesterday's battle, all the captured people were the Ming army stationed in Dengzhou before, and not a single living Houjin soldier was caught.And last night, the outpost troops had a short confrontation with the enemy army that carried out the night attack, and they retreated before checking the results of the battle. They didn't know the damage caused by the enemy army, so there was no substantial gain to speak of.This result also made Wang Tom feel a little bit regretful.If one or two Houjin soldiers who went to battle can be caught alive, perhaps we can have a clearer understanding of Houjin's deployment of troops in the Liaodong area.

Tom Wang’s new route is not to draw a straight line between Lushunkou and Phi Island. After discussing with his officers last night, Tom Wang realized that he can also take care of this reconnaissance mission on the way to Phi Island. , as long as you follow the east coast of the Liaodong Peninsula and make a small circle in the northeast direction, and spend an extra day or two on the way, you can at least complete the investigation of the coastline outline and coastal islands, but you probably don’t have time to send marines ashore to do more detailed inspections. field trip.

For dozens of miles to the east from Lushunkou, the coastal terrain is almost all mountainous terrain. It will not be until the vicinity of Dalian Bay in later generations that there will be terrain suitable for berthing ships.Of course, this era does not have the place name Dalian, and it is more appropriate to call it Jinzhou Bay.It was only more than 20 nautical miles from Lushunkou to Jinzhou Bay. Although the fleet slowed down, it took less than half a day to reach the peninsula at the southern end of the bay.

Both Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun from the Ministry of Communications had lived in Dalian for a long time before participating in the crossing. During this trip to the north, Tom Wang also saw many pictures of Dalian on Sun Changmi’s laptop, so he It didn't take long to recognize the bay near Tiger Beach.According to the map, after bypassing Tiger Beach, turn to the north and sail into the waters of Jinzhou Bay.

The area of ​​Jinzhou Bay is much larger than that of Lushunkou. The width of the entrance of the bay formed by the two peninsulas is more than ten kilometers. The sea area in the bay is nearly [-] square kilometers, which is as large as more than a dozen ports of Lushunkou. .On the long coastline, there are also several small natural harbors recessed inland.However, because the map in Wang Tom's hand is from hundreds of years later, there have been many changes in the coastline caused by man-made construction in the harbor, which is quite different from the current actual situation, so this kind of on-site inspection is still necessary.

Tom Wang led the fleet into Jinzhou Bay, not only for the purpose of inspecting the terrain here, he knew that the main force of the Jinshui Division was deployed in Jinzhou Bay, and he took this trip to see how big the opponent was. Strength.According to Pan Yan, a prisoner of war, at that time Kong Youde’s rebel army had as many as four battalions of the Ming navy. This battalion consisted of four Dafu ships, two Haicang ships, and four Cangshan ships, a total of ten warships. The warships of the four battalions together are quite large.

It was only four of the ships that faced off at Lushunkou yesterday, but if the main force is on the Jinzhou Bay side, even if the Haihan fleet is equipped with advanced equipment, it must be handled with care.After all, the Haihan fleet consisted of only eight warships, one large, two medium, five small, plus four comprehensive supply ships and one scout boat.

After entering Jinzhou Bay, Wang Tom ordered everyone to enter a state of combat readiness. Several logistics ships with relatively poor self-protection capabilities did not follow the large forces into the port, but stayed near the large and small mountain islands outside the harbor to prevent any accidents. It is too late to leave the battlefield during an armed conflict.

And the one who is most nervous right now is not the sailors, but Pan Yan, a prisoner of war. He hopes that Haihan can find the fleet of the former Dengzhou Navy here to prove that the information he provided is accurate and valuable. , it is inevitable that there will be another fierce fight.Judging from yesterday's battle, the Haihan Fleet, which has a very powerful shipboard firepower, should still have the upper hand in the battle, and there are many old friends in the navy, so he can't bear to see these men who originally belonged to Ming Dynasty again. Just like that, it fell under Haihan's muzzle.Pan Yan hesitated again and again, but still asked the soldiers guarding him to see Tom Wang.

"Pan Yan, do you want me to let go of these navy soldiers who betrayed Daming?" Tom Wang was also a little surprised after hearing Pan Yan's request. Trying to intercede for former colleagues and comrades-in-arms is a bit of loyalty.

Pan Yan knelt on the deck and begged with his head down: "General Wang, we didn't mean to betray Daming, but we were forced by the situation at the beginning. If we didn't board the ship, we would immediately become the ghosts of the rebel army. We had no choice but to come to Liaodong. It's just for survival. Except for the few rebels who came from Liaodong, who would leave their hometown to stay in this shitty place!"

Wang Tom said: "If I don't beat them, they will also beat me under the coercion of Hou Jinbing. Besides causing me trouble, what else can they do? Can they choose to join us like you?"

As soon as Pan Yan heard Tom Wang's tone loosen, he immediately responded: "If there is a chance, the villain is willing to act as a lobbyist for General Wang! There are many capable people in the Dengzhou Navy who are familiar with the sea conditions in Liaodong. If they can serve the general Under my command, it will definitely help the general to put down the gold thief!"

Wang Tom laughed and said, "If you want to be a lobbyist, then I have to catch the living prisoners first. Isn't this more troublesome than killing them directly?"

Pan Yan said in a hurry: "You can try to send a message to the old Dengzhou navy personnel, and look for opportunities to cooperate internally and externally to break away from the control of the gold thieves. When going out to sea, there are only a dozen gold thieves on board to supervise the battle. As long as you make preparations in advance, there will be Chance to escape!"

Wang Tom said: "It's so lively, people who didn't see you yesterday are looking for an opportunity to escape?"

"This..." Pan Yan thought to himself, how could he risk his own life in such a matter, if there is no good escape route, who would dare to offend those post-gold soldiers who don't treat Han people as human beings.

(End of this chapter)