1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 268 Advance Team

After the advance team arrived at Yong'an Port, they immediately conducted a careful survey of the landing environment here.According to the hydrological data records of later generations, the average depth of the freight wharves built in this place is more than 10 meters, which can be regarded as a deep-water port with good hydrological conditions.The sandy beach along the coast here is more than two kilometers long, and has a very wide landing surface, even if there are hundreds of boats, they can also initiate landing here at the same time.Although limited by objective conditions, the Haihan militia is unlikely to build a permanent pier here, but as long as a few strong wooden trestles are built on the shore, the conditions required for landing can basically be met.

However, to the surprise of the advance team, the North Vietnamese army did not send personnel to garrison such a strategic location that was valued by the military and police department.Perhaps this was because the North Vietnamese believed that the narrow beach surrounded by hills was not suitable for defending, or perhaps it was because they believed that the opponent's sea power was not worth deploying troops to defend the coastline behind the battle line.

Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan each brought a few engineers and went to two mountain passes leading to the outside world to conduct on-the-spot surveys. They also chose the construction sites of the wharf, barracks and material warehouse near the shore.There is a meandering river passing by beyond the two mountain passes here, and within four or five miles to the south are plains and swamps washed out by this meandering river in the long history. Or go north, the traffic conditions in this place are very bad.

However, this is in line with the wishes of the Military and Police Department. This is only a logistics supply base for this military operation. What is needed is to rely on the dangerous terrain here to reduce the defensive pressure. It's better if the room is full of swamps.The projection of troops does not need to rely on land, but can be carried out by sea. This place is only more than ten nautical miles away from the coastline of the battle zone, and it only takes less than half a day for sea ships to sail slowly there.

Mu and Feng left a few engineers and asked them to go to these hills to find commanding heights and places suitable for setting up lookout posts, while they continued to sail southward by boat to the war zone.After sailing south along the coastline, they finally saw what they expected—the densely packed tents and shacks dotted all over the coast, some of which were erected with military flags of different colors, which seemed to be the garrison of the North Vietnamese army.

But rather than saying that this is an army station, it is better to say that it is a refugee camp.These tens of thousands of troops are stationed here, but there are piles here and there. There are neither walls nor trenches, and there is no way to set up camp.Although small groups of patrolling soldiers can be seen walking back and forth between the camps, if this kind of camp encounters foreign enemy attacks or other emergencies, I am afraid that it will immediately fall into chaos.

Since the advance ship came from the north, it did not cause much commotion. After landing, the accompanying special envoy showed the documents and identity certificates from the Qingdu Palace to the officers who came to question, and someone immediately took them to the Central Plains. Army barracks to meet the local supreme commander.

After entering the Chinese army, the perception of the two of them changed slightly. The barracks here are at least arranged according to the regular camping method. Outside the camp, there are all kinds of ditches and drainage channels to resist the enemy. There are horse and deer stockades all over the place, and the arrangement of tents in the camp is relatively neat. There is enough fire distance between each army, and the military appearance of the soldiers in the camp is much better than that of the troops seen before.

"It seems that the people stationed outside are probably peasants and soldiers." Feng Annan muttered softly.

Mu Xiabai also responded softly: "The North Vietnamese regular army still has some combat effectiveness. After all, it has fought against the Yuan and Ming dynasties for hundreds of years, and even defeated the troops of the two empires. It still has a solid background as an army. .”

"But it seems that they don't have many regular troops. Based on what we have seen before, the regular army probably only accounts for about one-fifth of it?" Feng Annan began to calculate the actual combat power of the North Vietnamese army as he walked.

Mu Xiabo obviously had his own opinion on this, he shook his head and said: "The army we see here is only a part, the real main force should be mostly stationed on the front line, and their regular army must be larger than what we have now. See more."

Mu Xiabai's unintentional guess is very close to the facts. Judging from the current battle situation, the barracks here are actually the rear, while the battle zone in the south is more than ten miles deep, and there are tens of thousands of North Vietnamese regular troops and some peasant soldiers. was deployed in this battle zone.

The officers who led the way took them outside the large tent of the Chinese army, and handed them over to the generals and soldiers guarding here.The special envoy of North Vietnam handed over the military order of Qingdu Palace, Zheng Zuo's personal letter and his own identity certificate to the soldier, and after a while, the soldier came out to send a message to let them enter the account.

As a powerful family that controlled the North Vietnamese military and political power, the top commander of the North Vietnamese army in the local area is also from the Zheng family. This general named Zheng Bai should be Zheng Zuo's distant cousin. He is in his forties and has a dark body. He is strong and has a martial temperament.After the special envoy introduced Mu and Feng, Zheng Bai invited them to sit down.

"I have already read the letter from the eldest son. Since it is the intention of Qingdu Palace, if the two generals have any requests, I will fully cooperate." Zheng Bai's attitude is very correct, and he speaks directly when he comes up. very clear.Although he is a senior general in the military, he only plays the role of a thug in Zheng's system. He knows very well who he should obey orders.

It has been three months since the military trade agreement reached between the Zheng family and the Haihan people, and it is no longer a secret within the North Vietnamese military. They were all descendants of the Zheng family—Zheng Bo's second son was also one of the first officers to be trained.It was Zheng Bai's first time dealing directly with Haihan, and the reason for his humble attitude was more or less because of the effect of those two letters.

The document from the Qingdu Palace was written by Qingdu Wang Zhengyi, who is currently the actual controller of the North Vietnamese regime. Let the Haihan army take on the main task of defense or counterattack.This letter was written by Zheng Bing before Zheng Zuo set off. If the cooperation between the two parties collapses, this letter will naturally be destroyed; They will take this letter to the war zone ahead of time so that the two sides can coordinate the combat system.

The letter from Zheng Zuo is not only more time-sensitive, but also more detailed, detailing Haihan's intention to send troops and things that may require Zheng Bai's cooperation.Of course, Zheng Zuo’s move also has the intention of stabilizing the morale of the army. In the tense situation of the war, telling the soldiers in front that the reinforcements will arrive soon is undoubtedly a great piece of good news—not to mention that the reinforcements still come from the It is said that they are quite capable of fighting under the command of the Haihan people.

Of course, Zheng Zuo did not mention the specific terms of the transaction between the two parties in the letter.After all, it is not a glorious thing to hire foreign armed forces to intervene in the country's civil war, and the fewer people who know about it, the better.And the two sides have also made an agreement that the Haihan troops will not reveal their identities when fighting abroad, but will directly fight under the banner of the North Vietnamese army.In fact, the military and police department did not want to expose their military strength to the outside world too early, so the two sides hit it off and quickly reached a consensus on this issue.

"General Zheng, we will talk about the specific requirements later, please tell us about the current battle situation first!" Mu Xiabo was not in a hurry to list out the requirements of the military and police department, but planned to understand first. Take a look at the trend of the battle.

Zheng Bai nodded and said, "Then respect is worse than obedience! Come here, hang up the map!"

At present, some soldiers set up a three-foot-wide map on a wooden frame. The topography of the east coast of Vietnam was drawn on it. However, due to the current level of surveying and mapping, the resolution of this map is indeed a bit miserable.In Mu and Feng's opinion, the viewing angle of this map is at least 200 kilometers above sea level, and there are no details at all. The land distance from Yong'an Port to here is close to 10 kilometers, which is only 1 centimeter on this map, almost It is a scale of 1:1000000. How can we talk about discussing tactics and setting up positions?
Immediately Feng Annan said: "Please wait a moment, General Zheng, your map is not easy to use, you should use the map we brought!" After finishing speaking, he took out a folded map from his briefcase, opened it Fixed to wooden frame.

"This... this is..." Zheng Bai is also a man who leads troops to fight, and he can tell at a glance that the map of the Haihan people is indeed not of the same grade as the one in his hand.

The map that Feng Annan took out is a military map drawn after zooming in on the 3D satellite map in the large database. The scale is dozens of times larger than Zheng Bai's map, and it is even marked with clear contour lines. The direction of the mountains and the location of the commanding heights in this area.

After the base camp decided to take military action to intervene in the civil war in Annan, the Military and Police Department hastened to mobilize technical forces to produce military maps of the east coast of Vietnam, especially the war zone. Gu Kai and Qian Tiandun brought a few of them when they left Victory Port. One of them is the picture shown by Feng Annan.Moreover, the military and police departments are still working overtime to produce detailed drawings with larger scales, which will be sent together as combat materials at that time.

But even this relatively small-scale map left Zheng Bai stunned: "Where did you get it..."

"Where we got the map is not the point, General Zheng, our current combat mission is joint foreign affairs, we are your allies, not enemies. The reason we came here is that your war prospects are no longer optimistic. Our mission here It is to help you win this war, and your task now is to explain the current situation to us as soon as possible, so that we can formulate a combat plan as soon as possible. Can you understand me when I say this?" Mucha Bai didn't give Zheng Bai a chance to question himself at all, and immediately blocked his mouth with words.

Zheng Bai hesitated for a while, then nodded and said: "I understand. But this map... can I have a copy of the map later?"

"Yes." Mu Xiabo replied, "Now let's talk about the business first!"

"Okay, okay! Let's get down to business!" Zheng Bai quickly turned his attention back to his eyes, explaining the recent changes in the battle situation to the two of them.

Three months ago, when Zheng Zuo and Tao Dong came to discuss the arms deal, the situation in North Vietnam was still good. The army led by Zheng Bai had already attacked Hue, which was only a hundred miles away from the Ruan family base in South Vietnam. It seems that it is only a matter of time before Guangzhi and soldiers come to Hue to capture the rebels of the Nguyen family.But it was at this juncture that the South Vietnamese firearms troops appeared on the battlefield without warning, and killed and wounded more than 3000 North Vietnamese vanguard troops in the first battle.

Since then, the war situation has reversed. The South Vietnamese rebels with a large number of matchlock guns and a few artillery launched a counterattack, while the North Vietnamese army, which was still in the period of cold weapons, had almost no power to parry this "sharp" attack, and the casualties were considerable. heavy.In desperation, Zheng Bo could only command the troops to fight and retreat all the way, retreating to Donghai, 150 miles away, and then relying on the natural danger of Donghai River entering the sea from here to stabilize the situation.

This place in Donghai has Phong Nha Kibang National Park in later generations, and the scenery is quite good, but the North Vietnamese troops retreated here and there was no time to enjoy the scenery. Only three days later, the South Vietnamese army successfully smuggled from the upper reaches of the Donghai River. Drive North Vietnamese troops north.And with this retreat, they retreated more than 100 miles to the north, and it was only when they retreated to the current front that they really stabilized their position.

But the South Vietnamese side obviously made full preparations for this counterattack. The size of the troops chasing all the way north is getting bigger and bigger every day. When they chase here, it is said that there are already [-] troops. This is definitely not a temporary counterattack. The phenomenon.On the North Vietnamese side, there are only [-] regular troops and almost the same number of farmers, soldiers and peasants left. Under the strict order of the Thang Long Mansion not to continue to retreat, they can only rely on the dangerous terrain nearby to barely resist the opponent's attacks day after day .Although there is no sign of another defeat for the time being, even if it is consumed so slowly, the tens of thousands of North Vietnamese will be exhausted to death on this battlefield sooner or later.

The situation is not optimistic!Mu Xiabo and Feng Annan glanced at each other, both of them had the same thought in their hearts.It's no wonder that the Zheng family in the north is so anxious that they are going to conscript all the households near Thang Long Mansion as peasants and soldiers, and then go south in a large scale. This side did not take the initiative to propose a military aid plan, so the situation is probably developing in this direction.And Zheng Bo's attitude is so good, I'm afraid he has been looking forward to the early arrival of the reinforcements from the north.

"General Zheng, can you tell us in detail how your army has set up its defensive positions?" Mu Xiabai had put away his former relaxed feeling, and asked Zheng Baifa seriously.

Zheng Bo pointed to the map and explained: "According to the terrain of this place, the defense line was laid out into three layers..."

South of the North Vietnamese army is a mountainous area, and it is this mountainous area that separates the South Vietnamese army.If the South Vietnamese army wanted to circumvent this place, they had to march westward, detouring through the dense forest for hundreds of miles. This kind of march was a nightmare for an army of more than [-] people, just passing through the supply line of the virgin forest It is enough to cause the logistics and supply units to collapse.

Because of this, although the several passes guarded by the North Vietnamese were difficult to attack, the South Vietnamese army still spared no casualties, and continued to attack the North Vietnamese defense line every day, preparing to grind down this battle with human tactics—the South Vietnamese Ruan was also very It is clear that after passing this pass, there will be no obstacles to the north until Shenglong Mansion, and it can be pushed all the way.

Among the three layers of defense that Zheng Bai has set up, the first layer of defense has been breached by South Vietnam's continuous offensive, and the North Vietnamese troops have retreated to the second layer of defense.As for how long this line of defense can last, even Zheng Bai himself does not have a certain time in his heart.

"I think, let's go directly to the front line to see the real situation?" Feng Annan listened for a long time, and could only hear a rough idea, how many infantry, how many archers, and how many spearmen were deployed on a certain mountain pass, but this kind of explanation is really true. It's hard to understand, and it can only be made up by brain. This way, there is no way to complete the investigation task undertaken by the advance team.

"The two generals have important responsibilities, how can they be in danger?" Zheng Bai turned pale when he heard that, and quickly dissuaded him.

Zheng Zuo made it very clear to him in the letter that the two Haihan people who came to the front station this time were the instructors of the Tushan training camp, and they were also "senior officers" in the Haihan Army.As for how senior they are, because Zheng Zuo didn't know Haihan's military position, he could only refer to Mu and Feng as "generals"—it must be no small role to be sent by the Haihan people as military leaders.In the letter, Zheng Zuo ordered Zheng Bai to protect these two people, because if something happened to them on the front line, Haihan's military aid plan might be backed down.

"General Zheng, everyone is a soldier. Needless to say, we are not here to play in the mountains and rivers. Our Haihan troops will come here in a few days. If we don't do a good job first Prepare for the work, when the time comes, our comrades and soldiers will pay the price for it! This is not what we want to see, we are here to win the battle!" Mu Xiabo said loudly.

"Since that's the case... come here!" Zheng Bai gave an order, and his own soldiers immediately stepped forward to obey.

"Get two sets of armor for the two generals!" After Zheng Zuo gave the order, as if expecting that Mu and Feng might refuse, he immediately turned his head and persuaded them: "Swords and guns have no eyes, and you are always prepared. Although heroic, but since you want to go to the front line in person, then according to military regulations, you must wear armor to go into battle!"

(End of this chapter)