1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 269
Feng Annan still wanted to argue a few words, but Mu Xiabo stopped him with his eyes - at this time, it is more important to get down to business first, there is no need to argue about these unnecessary things.Wearing a suit of armor will at most make you less mobile, but that's fine.But Mu Xiabai didn't forget to remind Zheng Bai that he must keep the secret of Haihan's military aid internally, and don't leak the news in advance.

Zheng Bo ordered to prepare chariots and horses again. The North Vietnamese army’s central camp was still eight or nine miles away from the current defensive position. Of course, friendly generals could not be allowed to walk there in full armor—these two sets of armor that Zheng Bo took out were both It weighs more than [-] kilograms, and it is not an easy job to wear this thing to climb mountains and mountains.

The armor of the lieutenant generals of the North Vietnamese Army is very similar to that of the Ming Dynasty. They are all iron armor with open fronts. The craftsmanship is not bad, but the protective measures of ordinary soldiers are almost zero. There is no armor, and the only equipment that can be called protective is probably a small bamboo or rattan hat on the head.Low-ranking officers are a little better, and can wear a two-piece iron vest to protect their chest and back.

As for the weapons used, in addition to the regular army, which is relatively well-organized, the peasants and soldiers temporarily conscripted to fight almost all have their own weapons, so it is really strange and full of everything.There are even quite a few people holding bamboo spears, that is, sharpening one end of bamboo and roasting it hard on the fire.

Such an army is almost pure consumables, and when the battle is unfavorable, its combat effectiveness will drop extremely quickly.This is probably also an important reason why the North Vietnamese army brought more than 10 troops to the South Expedition. As a result, after several defeats in a row, the number of troops was directly halved.Of course, for a country like Annan that has been in war all year round, the lower the cost of maintaining the army, the better, so as to have the capital to fight the opponent for a long time, and the advantage of farmers and soldiers is that the cost of maintenance and use is very low , and it can also withstand consumption-anyway, after finishing the fight, you just need to ask for it again.If it is really necessary to maintain a combat force of [-] people all year round, there is no need to fight at all, and the military expenditure alone is enough to directly bankrupt those in power.

And this situation also exists in South Vietnam. Therefore, when South Vietnam attacked the defense line here, it also used a large number of peasants and soldiers, hoping to use its superiority in strength to wear down the fighting will of the defenders.

Zheng Bai personally accompanied them and explained the situation of the battle to Mu and Feng along the way, and it took about an hour to reach the battle position.The current line of defense of the North Vietnamese army is built on a mountain ridge that runs from east to west and leads directly to the sea. On this mountain that is about ten miles long, there is a simple fortification built by the North Vietnamese army almost every [-] meters, and there are about [-] troops stationed there. , During which various roadblocks such as traps, trenches, and deer villages were used to fill the gaps.And several key mountain passes have specially built city walls to increase defense.If you look down from the air, this line of defense is simply a miniature version of the Great Wall.

Mu and Feng noticed that although the average altitude of the mountain was only a little over 45 meters, the south facing side was relatively steep. The South Vietnamese army almost had to look up at [-]° to attack the defenders on the mountain. The difficulty of combat is naturally self-evident.Even troops using matchlock guns are quite restricted when they get here-the shooting elevation angle is large, not to mention the limited lethality, and they will be covered by bows and arrows shot from top to bottom.

In fact, after the first few attacks, the South Vietnamese army saw that the effect was extremely limited, so they basically gave up the idea of ​​using musketeers to attack this front, and planned to use farmers and soldiers as cannon fodder to fill the pit.

Zheng Bai led them to a hill near the sea, which is the highest point of the entire defense line, with an altitude of about 200 meters.Although Mu Xiabo and Feng Annan were soldiers, they were wearing more than 20 kilograms of armor and carried a large bag of equipment. They were still out of breath when they climbed this mountain.Zheng Bo wanted the soldiers to carry the two bags for them, but Mu and Feng did not agree - one of the two backpacks was filled with short-wave military radios and batteries, and the other was filled with guns and other military equipment. Handed over to outsiders.

Due to the highest terrain, the possibility of direct attack here is relatively small.However, the North Vietnamese army still built a small military depot on this hill, stationed 800 people, gathered some supplies and weapons, and could provide timely support to nearby defense points according to the needs of the war.Judging from the deployment of the defensive positions, Zheng Bo did have two talents as a commander.

After Mu and Feng rested for a few minutes, they asked Zheng Bai to let the soldiers retreat to a farther place.Although Zheng Bo was a little puzzled, he thought of the document from the north asking him to cooperate with the Haihan people as much as possible, so he agreed to the request immediately.

Mu Xiabo opened his backpack after the surrounding idlers backed away for a certain distance, took out two military binoculars, and started visual inspection to the south with Feng Annan.

Similar to other departments before crossing, the Military and Police Department purchased a large amount of special equipment, and telescopes were naturally one of the important military supplies.However, as professionals, there are still some people in the military and police department who have purchased better personal equipment out of their own pockets, instead of choosing to use the stock purchased at public expense.For example, the few local tyrants headed by Wang Tom in the North American gang are all equipped with the all-powerful Nighthawk produced by Steiner.What Mu Xiabo and Feng Annan used was the domestic Boguan, which was also a high-quality military version. According to the evaluation of old Morgan and Johnson after using it, its quality was slightly better than the M22B telescope equipped by the US military.

Zheng Bai saw that the two were holding a strange object in front of his eyes, and he didn't understand what it meant for a while.But the content of the conversation between the two of them, he could hear almost the same.

"At two o'clock, at 1500 meters, there is an enemy military camp. Judging from the scale, it should be an outpost camp."

"Yes, judging from the layout of the enemy's position, the enemy's camp should be located behind the hill on the left side of the outpost camp, about 2200 meters away from where we are."

"At this distance, our army artillery is definitely out of control, but there is hope that this outpost battalion can be hit."

"At such a long distance, it's not very lethal to barely hit it. It seems that it's not enough to just defend, we still have to try to attack."

The two discussed for a while, then put down the binoculars, and began to spread out the map for marking.Zheng Bo went up to look for a while, and found that the places they marked were all the positions of the enemy's barracks in the distance, and even the enemy's Chinese army camp seven or eight miles away had been marked in detail, and he couldn't help being surprised at the moment: "How did the two know the details of the opponent's military formation?"

After Zheng Bai retreated to defend this place, of course he did not blindly defend. He still sent a lot of spies along the western mountains to the South Vietnamese garrison camp to investigate. It took a long time to figure out the location of the opponent's central army.And the two generals, Hai Han, have already found out the location of each other's barracks in only about half a stick of incense here, what's the reason for this?
Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan exchanged glances before responding to Zheng Bai: "General Zheng can try our good stuff."

Feng Annan gave Zheng Bai a demonstration and handed him the telescope.Zheng Bai put the binoculars in front of Feng Annan's posture with some unease, and soon his hands trembled uncontrollably: "This... what kind of magic is this? It can see the grass and trees several miles away so clearly! "

Feng Annan was afraid that he would drop the telescope on the ground, so she quickly reached out and took it back: "This is not a magic spell, this is a telescope made by our Haihan."

"Binoculars? Good things, good things..." As a general in command, Zheng Bai immediately realized the usefulness of this thing on the battlefield. He looked at the telescope in Feng Annan's hand and muttered in his mouth. : "Your army has this sharp weapon, Ruan Ni will be defeated!"

"If you are undefeated, you will know when you fight." Mu Xiabo was not fooled by Zheng Bai's flattery, and immediately brought the topic back to the real thing: "General Zheng, please confirm, look at the enemy positions and positions we have drawn. Is there anything missing from the barracks?"

Zheng Bai blushed, but luckily he couldn't tell because of his dark skin: "I'm not afraid that the two generals will laugh at me. The military situation we have so far is probably not as detailed as the two generals have done on this map."

Mu Xiabo raised his eyebrows, but he didn't pay much attention to it.After all, the reconnaissance capabilities and methods of the North Vietnamese Army are very limited. How much can be observed with the naked eye?Just as he was about to speak, he heard the sound of drums coming from the plain to the south.

"Ruan Ni's army is about to launch an offensive again!" Zheng Bai immediately recovered his solemnity when he heard the sound of the drum, called his own soldiers to come over, and sent an order to prepare for the battle.

"I'm going to the front to supervise the battle, please stay here, don't move around at will!" Zheng Bai hurriedly bid farewell to the two, and then left with a group of soldiers.

It was the first time for Mu and Feng to watch the large-scale battle of the army in this era at close range, and they were also very curious at the moment, so they picked up the binoculars again and began to observe the battlefield situation.

The gate of the camp that they thought was an outpost camp opened, and some soldiers ran out and moved the Juma and Luzhai at the gate, and then a wave of South Vietnamese soldiers rushed out of the camp in a mess.

Then groups of soldiers also turned out from behind the hill on the left side of the camp, and began to line up beside the hill.It seems that there should be as many as 4000 people.But Feng Annan only looked at it for a moment, then put down the binoculars impatiently: "Is this formation too slow? When they line up and start attacking, I'm afraid the sun will be setting!"

Mu Xiabo responded with a smile: "Although combat in the era of cold weapons also pays attention to military formations, the requirements for formations are not so strict. These troops must have not received special training. How could they be like our militias? Arrange the attack formation in a short time."

It took about 10, [-], and [-] minutes before the messy group of soldiers finally lined up. However, judging from the inconsistent uniforms and weapons, these South Vietnamese soldiers should not be regular soldiers, but temporary workers.

"The regular army has come out." Mu Xiabo greeted, and Feng Annan quickly picked up the binoculars again and began to check: "Where is it?"

"At the end of the army formation."

It wasn't that Mu Xiabo looked carefully, Feng Annan really didn't pay much attention to the small group of South Vietnamese soldiers lined up behind the peasants and soldiers, but it seemed that this regular army had no intention of leading the charge.

"It should be the supervising team." Mu Xiabo deduced: "These farmers and soldiers should not have a strong will to fight. If there is no supervising team watching from behind, I'm afraid they will run away after hitting people."

During the conversation, the drums sounded again, and the timid farmers and soldiers finally started to move towards the mountains where the North Vietnamese Army was located.From the place where they assembled to the foot of the mountain, there was only about a mile away. The South Vietnamese army moved forward slowly, not in a hurry to launch a charge-after reaching the foot of the mountain, they had to climb about four to five hundred meters to reach the North Vietnamese army. If you charge too early, you will definitely run out of stamina.

The North Vietnamese army has also begun to deploy troops and generals according to the opponent's forward route, and gradually gather troops to a section of the mountain that may be attacked.Especially the archers stationed in various strongholds on the mountain, they are all rushing towards the assembly point in groups at this time. As long-range strike firepower, they have always been a very important defensive force for the mountain position.

"The commanders over there in South Vietnam don't have enough food!" Mu Xiabo couldn't help muttering while holding up his binoculars.

After the first wave of peasants and soldiers set off, a second wave of troops had already appeared at the location where they assembled just now. It seemed that South Vietnam did not hope to push the mountain position flat with a wave of peasants, but It is planned to use the wheel warfare method to carry out the attack, even if it cannot be defeated, it must put enough pressure on the North Vietnamese Army.

Seeing this, Feng Annan murmured, "But North Vietnam's positional advantage is too obvious. If they attack from the bottom up like this, how many people will have to die to attack!"

"That's not necessarily the case." Mu Xiabo retorted after carefully observing the terrain: "Even if the defense of the city wall several feet high is breached sometimes, what's more, there is no city wall here at all, it's just a hillside, and the defense line is long. If the opponent has enough troops and uses multiple points of attack, it will be very difficult for North Vietnam to defend."

Before Mu Xiabai finished speaking, he saw a South Vietnamese army appearing on the right side of the hill, and began to slowly advance towards the mountain defense line.

"Old Mu, you are really a crow's mouth!" Feng Annan couldn't help sighing when she saw this.

The left and right attack routes of the South Vietnamese Army were about two miles apart. In this way, the two lines of defense that were attacked could basically only take care of themselves, and had no time to take care of and support the friendly forces that were far apart.But standing on the highest mountain, Mu and Feng could also see thousands of soldiers from the North Vietnamese army marching from the camp behind to the defensive position on the top of the mountain. The South Vietnamese army wanted to break through this line. The line of defense is not so easy.

The South Vietnamese Army, which arrived at the foot of the mountain first, did not stop to readjust the team. The commander directly issued an order to attack. Thousands of soldiers accelerated their pace and began to advance up the mountain.

At this time, the disadvantages of the North Vietnamese defensive position began to appear-the hillside was completely covered by dense forest, and the opponent had excellent natural protection at this distance.Only the trees within a distance of about three to forty meters near the defense line were cleared in advance by the North Vietnamese side, leaving an unhindered attack vision.This is not because the North Vietnamese side is lazy and unwilling to continue to clean up, but the South Vietnamese army left many guerrilla posts in the dense forest to snipe the logging personnel sent by the North Vietnamese. After several small-scale tug-of-wars, the final safe distance was only can be maintained at the present level.

Although the North Vietnamese Army can defend from a high position, due to the obstruction of dense forests, the effective strike range of long-range firepower is only a small distance outside the defense line.The South Vietnamese army also made full use of this feature, slowing down its advance speed at the edge of the dense forest, and regrouping-putting a large number of archers behind the infantry who were about to charge.

Even though they were several miles away from the battle zone, Mu and Feng heard three drums beating very clearly, and then they saw South Vietnamese soldiers pouring out of the woods and rushing towards the North Vietnamese defense line through the binoculars.Behind them, a large group of archers took up their positions and began to throw attacks towards the North Vietnamese defense line.

The priority targets of the archers on the North Vietnamese side must be these infantrymen who are rushing towards them. A wave of condescending arrow rain was shot from the gap between the wall and the fortifications, knocking down dozens of people who rushed to the front.But at the same time, the bows and arrows shot by the South Vietnamese archers also fell from the sky, causing some damage to the defenders hiding behind the wall of the village. Although the defenders gathered together held many shields, some people still fell to the ground with arrows.However, the South Vietnamese infantry continued to charge upwards regardless of casualties, and it seemed that this was the idea of ​​attracting firepower.

"This is really exchanging human lives!" Mu Xiabo, who witnessed the cold weapon war for the first time, couldn't help sighing.

At this time, Feng Annan was holding a digital video camera that had been replaced with a telephoto lens, concentrating on filming the battle scenes in the distance.The content of their investigation as the advance team is not just to draw a map to see the enemy's situation, this kind of first-hand information of the two sides fighting is also very important.When the frontline command wants to formulate a specific combat plan, these image data are very important references.

At the same time as the first wave of South Vietnam's attack was launched, the second wave of attack force had reached the foot of the mountain and began to slowly advance up the mountain, while the third wave of attack force had been assembled and ready to go.The South Vietnamese army on another attack route also arrived at the predetermined position at this time, and was adjusting the archer troops, preparing to launch an attack.

This attack mode undoubtedly caused greater casualties to the South Vietnamese Army, but the South Vietnamese commanders seemed to have recognized this method and planned to exchange their superiority in strength for an advantage in the battle situation.After the North Vietnamese archers on the defense line fired three rounds in a row, two to three hundred South Vietnamese infantry fell to the ground, but there were still more infantry desperately rushing to the defense line, because only face-to-face fighting could prevent them from being overwhelmed. long-range strikes and look for a chance to survive the battle.

(End of this chapter)