1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1797 Entering the enemy-occupied area

The reason Wang Tom gave made Jin Shangjiu dumbfounded, and he immediately realized that his question was simply humiliating himself.It’s just that North Korea is asking for Haihan, and Jin Shangjiu didn’t dare to refute Wang Tom. He could only reply with a dry smile: “General Wang is really good at joking. Fighting against the Japanese invaders has made heroic achievements. If General Wang is willing to let our army perform, I believe he will not be disappointed!"

Wang Tom replied blankly: "Your country's army will definitely have the opportunity to fight, and I hope their performance will not disappoint me!"

Due to the many problems exposed by the North Korean side in its preparations for war, Wang Tom did not dare to have too much expectations for the performance of the North Korean army, and he did not even allow North Korean generals to join the recent combat preparation meeting.In Wang Tom's view, it is really difficult for the Korean army, which has been pushed flat by the Qing army's cavalry in history, to give people confidence in its combat effectiveness.Perhaps there are many deep-seated reasons for North Korea's rapid retreat, not just a problem with the combat effectiveness of the army, but Wang Tom has no time to figure out the root cause of it. Opportunity.

Regarding the "arrogant" attitude of General Haihan, Jin Shangjiu has actually experienced it many times on the way from Zhoushan to Ganghwa Island, and he can only take it as a joke with a wry smile.But if you think about it on the bright side, General Haihan is willing to take the lead in carrying out reconnaissance missions in the Qing Dynasty. It is better than letting North Korea send troops to complete such dangerous missions.

Of course, as a North Korean official, Jin Shangjiu still hopes that his country's troops will be recognized and appreciated by the Haihan people through their brave performance on the battlefield. The price, and even the follow-up, will affect the stability of the country's governance, and North Korea will certainly not be able to withstand such a toss, which makes him very conflicted.

Who wouldn't want their motherland to become stronger?Of course, Jin Shangjiu also thought that if his own army could live up to it and give the enemy in the north some hardships, maybe he wouldn't have to pray to gods and Buddhas to ask for reinforcements to come to North Korea to help in the war.It's a pity that this possibility is almost zero for North Korea. The Qing Dynasty only announced that it would teach North Korea some lessons. The entire North Korean officialdom from King Li Zhen panicked. Asking for reinforcements almost immediately became the only choice. Even the faction of Kim Sang-heon, who advocated a decisive battle with the Qing army, did not fully pin their hopes on their own army.

Wang Tom didn't have the energy to take into account Jin Shangjiu's feelings at the moment. He was very concerned about the next reconnaissance operation, and whenever he had time, he called Xu Yuzhuo to his side to give him an opportunity.The Fujian navy took the initiative to take the lead this time. Wang Tom was somewhat worried that Xu Yuzhuo, who was inexperienced in fighting with the Qing army, would have problems in the on-the-spot command. Before arriving at the destination, he deployed a set of detailed Action plan.

Given the hydrological conditions in the lower reaches of the Yalu River, it is not a big problem for the warships dispatched this time to go upstream from the estuary to reach Jiulian City. U-turns may be sluggish.Wang Tom was worried that when the Majestic-class warship changed its course on the Yalu River, it would affect the operational efficiency of the entire fleet. After careful consideration, he decided to leave the Majestic-class warship at the mouth of the sea to guard the retreat.

Among the ten warships dispatched by the Fujian Navy, there are four exploration-class warships and one expedition-class warship exported by Haihan, and the other five are traditional blessing ships. The fleet was built according to the military system of the Haihan Navy. All captains had received military training from Haihan, and several of them even participated in several joint military operations including the Battle of Manila. And the command system is relatively familiar.

It is precisely because the battle system of the Fujian Navy and the Haihan Navy, which is in the same line, can better implement the designated action plan, that Wang Tom made an exception and allowed Xu Yuzhuo to lead his troops to act as the vanguard in this operation.However, the Fujian Navy is mainly responsible for river surface reconnaissance and hydrological survey, and the actual task of landing and entering the Qing army-occupied area will still be completed by Haihan's Marine Corps.

It was not the first time Tom Wang led his troops to the mouth of the Yalu River, but just like the previous few times, Weihua Island at the mouth of the sea was completely silent, and there was no trace of human activity on the nearby river bank.The ten warships of the Fujian Navy were at the forefront and sailed upstream into the Yalu River first.

Wang Tom left the flagship and eight supply ships outside the estuary, and for the sake of safety, he also left four exploration-class warships.The remaining warships and troop carriers, as the main force, entered the Yalu River at a distance of about five to six miles from the Fujian Navy ahead.In this way, if something happens ahead, the Navy will have time to reinforce the Fujian Navy, and the Fujian Navy will also have a relatively calm retreat space available.Of course, Wang Tom didn't think that the Qing army could secretly gather a combat-capable fleet and hide in the Yalu River for an ambush.

Originally, Wang Tom should have stayed on the flagship and commanded remotely for such an inland operation, but he still chose to transfer the headquarters to another expedition-class warship and lead the main force to the front line.Although it was a bit risky, under the protection of dozens of warships and more than [-] soldiers, Wang Tom was sure that even if the mission did not go so smoothly, he would definitely be able to escape unscathed.

In order to save the soldiers' physical strength, Wang Tom did not rush to arrange for the marines to land ashore, and planned to let the marines take action after entering the inland.

Lookouts with binoculars were arranged on both sides of each ship and on the mast to observe whether there were Qing army activities near the river bank.Wang Tom didn't expect his actions to be completely concealed from the enemy's eyes and ears. If the Qing army really chose to gather troops in Jiulian City, then according to normal operations, the Qing army would definitely send out cavalry sentries to the upper and lower reaches of the river bank, so as to Cut off possible prying eyes from across the Yalu River and from the sea.

After entering the Yalu River for about ten miles, a watchman finally found several riders and horses on the river bank in the distance. After careful identification, the watchman found the swords and bows on the horses, which were most likely the rangers of the Qing army. .

With such a huge fleet of the United Fleet, it is naturally impossible to hide on the river, so Wang Tom and others soon saw someone lighting a beacon on the river bank. Given the current weather conditions, I believe it can be seen from twenty or thirty miles away. .Wang Tom can basically confirm that there must be a certain number of Qing troops stationed nearby, but the scale cannot be confirmed yet.

Jin Shangjiu did not choose to stay on the flagship, but followed Tom Wang bravely. At this time, seeing the smoke on the shore, he couldn't hold back and asked Tom Wang for advice: "General Wang, the enemy has found our whereabouts. Are you going to start a war?"

"Don't be nervous, it's not that fast." Tom Wang shook his head and said: "Besides, we are hundreds of feet away from the shore, how do they fight? Let the archers shoot with arrows? That would be good. They can confirm whether the bow and arrow have a long range. Or our muskets have the longest range!"

Although it was the first time for Jin Shangjiu to go to the battlefield with the Haihan army, he had seen the daily military training of the local garrison many times when he was in Zhoushan. In the several battles in the Liaodong Peninsula in [-], the Houjin army at that time had repeatedly suffered from the Haihan muskets, and they would definitely not easily line up on the shore. That would be no different from actively acting as a living target.After listening to Wang Tom's relaxed ridicule, Jin Shangjiu's tension eased a lot.

The enemy's reaction was basically in Wang Tom's expectation. It was not the first time that the Haihan army had seen such an early warning method.During the first two years when the Haihan navy swept the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula, the post-Jin army often adopted such countermeasures. First, it could promptly notify the troops stationed in the rear strongholds, and second, it also persuaded the Haihan troops who entered the warning area to retreat. .But Tom Wang didn't intend to take the initiative to retreat today. He just wanted to force the Qing army to take action in order to judge how many troops the Qing army had assembled on the banks of the Yalu River at this stage.

Wang Tom called this reconnaissance method of proactively alerting the enemy as "oppressive reconnaissance", which means to put pressure on the enemy to force it to reveal its strength.In this way, it is more or less a last resort. After all, the area around Jiulian City is completely unfamiliar to Haihan. Although the North Korean side provides local guides, the guides can at most guide the way, but they can’t take them with them. Lead the scouts deep behind enemy lines.

For the coalition forces led by North Korea and Haihan, the sooner they can find out the deployment of Qing troops on the banks of the Yalu River, the more time they will have to make adjustments.The most concise and effective method is probably the "oppressive reconnaissance" formulated by Tom Wang.Therefore, he gave up the traditional practice of sending a small team to covertly infiltrate into enemy-occupied areas, and directly formed a fleet to go deep into the Yalu River.

If the Qing army sent a small group of soldiers and horses next, the fleet could choose to ignore it directly and continue sailing upstream, or send marines ashore to fight, attracting the enemy to send more troops to fight.Wang Tom believes that with his own equipment advantages, he can come and go freely on the special battlefield of Jiangmian.Even in the most extreme situation, the Qing army had assembled tens of thousands of troops near Jiulian City, but there was still nothing they could do to block the coalition fleet on the river.

If the Qing army is still capable of fighting the Haihan army on land, then it is completely powerless to fight back when fighting on the water.After being mopped up for two years in a row, the Qing army basically had few surface ships left that could undertake combat missions.The United Fleet has traveled upstream for more than 20 miles, but they haven't even seen a small sampan.Of course, this situation is also very likely that the Qing army has gathered all the ships on the Yalu River, and they will only use them when they cross the river for battle.

But no matter what the situation is, Wang Tom has made up his mind to at least clean up the river section including Jiulian City. If there are still boats on this section of the river that can cross the river, no matter the size of the boat, the coalition fleet will All of them will be destroyed in order to delay the process of the Qing army crossing the river and invading North Korea.

Seeing the distant smoke rising from the mountains like a relay, Wang Tom became more and more sure that there was something tricky in the upper reaches of the Yalu River.If the Qing army only stationed a small number of troops upstream, then this efficient way of transmitting signals would not have much practical significance. It would be wise to rush back quietly with a fast horse to inform the garrison to avoid Haihan's edge.But now the rangers of the Qing army are blatantly warning with blazing smoke, just to allow enough time for the upstream garrison to fight. It seems that the force should have a certain scale.

Thirty miles into the Yalu River, the rangers on the river bank no longer concealed themselves, and began to appear more and more frequently in the sight of the coalition fleet.Wang Tom believed that the Qing army was repeatedly confirming its offensive intentions and the size of its troops, but he was not worried that the other side could set any traps, and the Fujian navy that opened the way in front of the river had not yet discovered the real enemy situation, and still kept four Up to five knots and head upstream.

After a voyage of fifty miles, the scattered cavalry on the river bank began to gather together, and a small cavalry unit of hundreds of riders appeared, and some of them openly followed their horses on the river bank with banners.

Some Qing army rangers may have been too excited, or they may not know the strength of the Haihan army. They rode their horses to the river bank and stopped. .The range of the light bows carried by these rangers is only a hundred steps, and even if they are shot at an extremely high angle of elevation, it is still difficult for the arrows to reach the warships in the middle of the river.However, their behavior immediately drew a counterattack from the sailors on board. After a burst of gunshots, several unlucky ghosts were shot and fell from their horses.

In fact, this kind of distance is basically a random hit for the rifles equipped by the navy, but the dense fire net formed by shooting in groups made up for the lack of accuracy, and finally hit a few enemies.The rest of the rangers found that this kind of battle had no chance for them, so they could only give up and continue to bend their bows and arrows, and quickly restrained their companions who were shot, and then rode away.

After seeing this scene, Jin Shangjiu couldn't help admiring: "As expected of the ever-victorious army, the cavalry of the Qing army is simply vulnerable in front of your army! If your warships can cruise on this river for a long time, the Qing army must You won't have the guts to cross the river again!"

Wang Tom smiled and did not attack Jin Shangjiu. It is not difficult to cruise on the Yalu River for a long time, as long as North Korea can build a military base in Uiju and help Haihan support an inland river fleet all the year round.However, with the efficiency of the North Koreans, even if the military base is approved immediately, it may take a year or two before it is completed and put into use. The current situation definitely cannot afford to wait.

(End of this chapter)