1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 276 Reconnaissance Action
The special operations company that Qian Tiandun formed in Heitu Port was basically composed of North Vietnamese immigrants.The average age of this team is less than 20 years old, and there are more than 180 people including officers. The number has greatly exceeded the existing army company-level establishment of the Military and Police Department, and it is basically the size of a semi-normal company.Of course, this kind of overstaffing was also recorded in the military and police department, and it was not Qian Tiandun's reckless act.

Since the establishment of this company, Qian Tiandun has focused on the combat capability in the wild environment as the main training goal. Cat Ba Island between the mountain peninsula.

This island with an area of ​​more than 100 square kilometers is the largest island in the Beibu Gulf region. Most of the island is covered with rocky mountains and virgin forests.The small number of fishermen who originally lived on the island were also consciously moved to Heitu Port by Qian Tiandun to settle down, turning the island into a field military training base.

The training content formulated by Qian Tiandun is basically based on the field tactics he has learned before, and to a certain extent, it focuses more on the cultivation of individual combat awareness and skills.It's just that the weapon used is a front-loading flintlock with an extremely long barrel, which can't meet the training effect Qian Tiandun wants to achieve no matter whether it is loaded or carried, and there are still many inconveniences in fighting in jungles and mountains.However, Qian Tiandun has also submitted a report to the military and police department, requesting the military industry department to design and manufacture a weapon with a shorter gun body that is easier to carry and more powerful at close range.Of course, before that, Qian Tiandun must first prove the existence value of his company, at least it must be worthy of the military industry department designing and manufacturing a new weapon for this purpose.

In terms of the quality of individual soldiers, the tactical skills of the team led by Qian Tiandun have far surpassed those of the militiamen in the base camp. The only thing they lack is actual combat experience.For this southward battle, Qian Tiandun had already made up his mind to show his colleagues in the Military and Police Department the training results of the past two months.

After a while, Wang Tom and his friends also came to the pier and joined Qian Tiandun's team.The commanders on both sides checked the time with their watches, and then checked the communication channels of the radio and walkie-talkies to ensure that the means of communication were smooth before boarding the ship and preparing to set off.

In order to ensure the safety of this operation, the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Military and Police jointly equipped the "Explorer" with the strongest staffing. Sun Changmi personally served as the captain, and the crew were carefully selected from the existing staffing of the Ministry of Shipping. There are more than [-] veteran sailors, artillery company militiamen and artillery cadets, making sure that the more than ten artillery pieces on the ship are fully loaded and can enter the combat state at any time.In addition, Xie Chun, who attended the combat preparation meeting yesterday, also shamelessly asked Sun Changmi to take the position of chief mate overnight, and will board the ship today to travel together.

Since the "Explorer" was launched, this time it has carried the most people. Even the waterline has been lowered by more than one foot than usual, and it is obviously not as light as before when it leaves the dock.And the strange appearance of this ship also caused a large number of people to watch collectively at the pier—it was already dark when the "Discovery" arrived at the pier last night, so most people failed to see the true appearance of the ship in time. body.

Not to mention the North Vietnamese soldiers, even Qian Tiandun himself was full of praise after boarding the ship.Due to negotiating affairs with North Vietnam on the Tushan Peninsula before the new year, Qian Tiandun did not return to Victory Port to participate in the year-end debriefing meeting, so this was the first time he saw this new sailboat that was regarded as a treasure by the Ministry of Shipping.Xie Chun, who was traveling with him, was even more exaggerated than him. He got on the boat after the meeting last night and never got off the boat all night.

After Qian Tiandun boarded the ship, Xie Chun immediately squeezed to his side from the crowd on the deck: "Lieutenant Qian, have you seen this ship? Let me tell you, there are indeed many tricks on this ship... I I feel that we can’t just build some fishing boats, we should apply to the base camp for blueprints and craftsmen as soon as possible, and start building this new type of sailboat in Heitu Port.”

Qian Tiandun said disapprovingly: "Thank you, did you find the wrong person? I am in charge of the military, and you are in charge of shipping! You should be the one who drafts the report, and I heard that there are many parts on this ship that can only be used. It is manufactured in the base camp, and the production capacity is also very low. I am afraid that the Ministry of Shipping does not have the ability to open a branch in Heitu Port."

Xie Chunying said: "Our two departments are joint names, so the chances of the application being approved are higher! By the way, you haven't seen the gun bay on the second deck, have you? Let's go, I'll take you down to have a look. The withdrawal system designed by the department seems to be pretty good..."

At [-] o'clock in the morning, the "Explorer" and "Flying Speed" left the Wharf of Yong'an Port one after the other, bypassed the protruding cape to the northeast, and then turned around and headed towards the southeast sea.

The reason why I didn't choose to go south along the coastline was also out of safety considerations.According to the route drawn up overnight by the Ministry of Shipping, the reconnaissance fleet will make a big circle in the open sea after departing from Yong'an Port, first bypassing the coast of the battle zone to the southeast, and then turn back to the southwest near the coastline behind the battle zone to carry out reconnaissance activities .Although this will increase the voyage a lot, it greatly reduces the possibility of being discovered by the South Vietnamese Army stationed in the fighting area from land.

Since the "Discovery" is currently almost fully loaded, the speed of the ship is also much lower than usual, and it can only maintain a speed of seven to eight knots.For this reason, "Flying Speed" also had to slow down its speed, and accompanied the "Discovery" to march along the side and rear.However, for the North American Gang on the "Speed", this trip is not so much a military mission as an opportunity to let the air go. Except for Tom Wang who often goes to sea, the others are busy with various activities. Work and time to go to sea have become less and less.Luo Jie, Shi Diwen and Qiao Zhiya have all been stationed in Tiandu Industrial Zone for a long time, and the opportunities to go to sea are very rare. They have long been looking forward to such an opportunity to go for a ride in the sea.

At noon, the walkie-talkie on the berth rang: "Flying speed attention, speeding speed attention, the small island three nautical miles in front of the right is the No. [-] target, after passing the No. [-] target, turn to the south, over!"

Qiao Zhiya raised his binoculars to check the sea ahead, lowered his head to look at the chart, and said to Wang Tom who was in charge of the steering wheel: "According to the sign on the chart, the front right is Huanyue Island."

"What kind of island is Huanyue Island? Is it famous?" Shi Diwen asked curiously.

"It is one of the basis for the delineation of the sea boundary between China and Vietnam in later generations." Wang Tom, who has done special research on the sea conditions in the South China Sea before crossing, explained: "The midpoint of the shortest line between Hainan Island and Huanyue Island, It is one of the base points of maritime demarcation between China and Vietnam, and there are ten such base points. However, there is nothing special about Huanyue Island itself, it is just a small uninhabited island at this time."

Soon the "Flying Speed" arrived at this small island near the east coast of Vietnam. In terms of area, Huanyue Island is much smaller than Fushuizhou Island in the Beibu Gulf, and there is no natural harbor on the shore of the island. There is no development value.This place is about [-] nautical miles from Yong'an Port in the northwest, and only ten nautical miles from the Beiyue mountain defense line in the west.If you stand at the highest point of the mountain defense line, you can directly see the two sailboats sailing past Shunyue Island when the weather is fine.Of course, the South Vietnamese army, which is located below the mountains and whose line of sight is almost at the same level as the sea level, does not have sharp tools such as telescopes, and they will certainly not be able to spot targets on the sea surface ten nautical miles away.

After bypassing Wanyue Island, the fleet turned south and sailed south for an hour and a half, then adjusted its direction again and headed southwest.Their target is the first key object of this reconnaissance activity, which is located at the mouth of the Zhengjiang River 40 miles behind the battle zone.

During the civil war between North and South Vietnam that lasted for decades in the 17th century, the Zheng family sent troops to conquer the Ruan family in the south several times but failed. offensive.This time, the South Vietnamese army attacked the front line of Zhengjiang Hengshan, and it was the first time that North Vietnam lost ground since the civil war. Before that, the North Vietnamese army even suppressed the main force of South Vietnam to the Guangzhi area further south, but now this strategic advantage has disappeared. Wucun, the offensive and defensive positions of the two sides have also undergone a thorough exchange.

In the original history, the civil war between North and South Vietnam did not end until 1672 under Kangxi's mediation, and the boundary between North and South Vietnam was drawn with Zhengjiang Hengshan as the boundary, and peace was maintained for a hundred years after that.Of course, Emperor Kangxi took care of this business not out of humanitarianism, but to unite the Zheng family in the north to fight against the San Francisco Rebellion caused by Wu Sangui and others in southern China.The person who reached a cooperation agreement with Emperor Kangxi was Zheng Zuo, who represented the Zheng family in negotiating affairs with the Time Travel Group. influence the course of history.

After researching historical materials by relevant departments, it was concluded that in the civil war between North and South Vietnam that lasted for more than 50 years, the front line of Zhengjiang and Hengshan has always had a very important strategic position. will return to this balance point.On the one hand, the military action taken by the Crossing Group will help North Vietnam to recover from its disadvantages and prevent North Vietnam’s Zheng family from falling due to military failure. In order to achieve such a strategic goal, the South Vietnamese Army will be driven back to the south of Zhengjiang and Hengshan, and then used as a strategic balance point to maintain the balance of power between the two sides. , is undoubtedly a good choice.

Of course, in order to implement the executive committee's spirit of "increasing military support for the North Vietnamese regime", this operation must not only repel the offensive of the South Vietnamese army, but also deal a certain degree of blow to its military power. The troops retreated unscathed to the south of Zhengjiang Hengshan.

Since the outbreak of the Annan Civil War in 1619, the Ruan family of Nanyue has been operating on the defense line of Zhengjiang Hengshan for many years, and has many military strongholds on the south bank of the Zhengjiang River, the commanding heights and passes of Hengshan.After the South Vietnamese Army attacked the Zhengjiang River this time, the coastal plains became the most important logistics supply line for the South Vietnamese Army, and small military stations were stationed every few miles along the way.Therefore, the investigation activities in this area are actually quite dangerous.

Because there is the Hengshan Mountain Range as a reference on land, the fleet confirmed its position smoothly.About three to four nautical miles away from the coastline, Qian Tiandun confirmed the location of the mouth of the Zhengjiang River with a telescope, and passed this information to the "Flying Speed" following behind.

According to the plan planned in advance, the "Flying Speed" with a faster speed and better weaponry will conduct close inspections of the mouth of the Zhengjiang River. After confirming the safety situation, the personnel on the "Explorer" will be allowed to land on the shore to perform tasks.

"Flying Speed" quickly adjusted its sails, and then headed towards the mouth of the Zhengjiang River.Everyone on the boat had stopped laughing at this time, and began to seriously check their equipment and weapons.

In terms of equipment level alone, the North American Gang must be regarded as the elite in the military and police establishment.These guys invested most of their personal property on weapons and armaments, and the level of individual equipment far exceeded the average level of the Li Military and Police Department.In addition to being equipped with HK416, MK23 and other matching long and short weapons, helmets, external tactical vests, assault backpacks, and throat vibration intercom systems are all standard military configurations.Although there are only five people in this squad, their actual combat capabilities are not weak at all, and they are enough to deal with various emergencies.

The "Flying Speed" docked on the coast south of the mouth of the Zhengjiang River, and Wang Tom and others jumped into the waist-deep sea water and waded ashore.The only one left on board was Old Morgan, who was assigned the task of being a sniper, and an M200 sniper rifle worth fourteen thousand dollars was his companion.From the "Flying Speed", this sniper rifle can be used to effectively strike targets within a range of 2000 meters, and this range is basically the area that this team needs to reach for its reconnaissance mission.

About 500 meters south from the landing point is a branch of the Hengshan Mountains that is closest to the coast here, with an average altitude of only about [-] meters.The reconnaissance team did not know whether there were South Vietnamese strongholds in this mountain range, so they had to be careful.

According to the information learned from North Vietnam in advance, the supply line of South Vietnam is not close to the coast, but is located about ten kilometers inland.The materials were loaded on a ship upstream of a tributary of the Zhengjiang River south of Hengshan, and then transported by water from south to north to the north bank of the Zhengjiang River, and then transported by land to the fighting zone in the north.Of course, even if the North Vietnamese Army, which lacked sea transport capacity, knew the supply route arrangement of the South Vietnamese Army, there was no way to send troops from the sea to the banks of the Zhengjiang River to carry out raids and harassment operations.

After the team went ashore, they were not in a hurry to investigate the inland, but made detailed records of the near-shore water depth, current velocity, and geographical environment near the estuary.Originally, some residents on both sides of the Zhengjiang River reclaimed the alluvial plain here, but after several years of war, this place has already become a no-man's land, and the former fertile fields have now returned to their original natural features.After confirming that there was no threat within miles, Morgan sent a signal to Discovery.

Soon the "Explorer" arrived at the mouth of the sea, and Qian Tiandun led the soldiers of the special warfare company to land quickly.The next arrangement is that the "Flying Speed" will lead the way in the front, and the "Exploration" will follow behind, advancing to the upper reaches of the Zhengjiang River.The special warfare company led by Qian Tiandun marched along the river bank on foot, and cooperated with the fleet to conduct reconnaissance of the area along the Zhengjiang River.Another reason for putting them on the shore is that the "Discovery" needs to go upstream, and the weight reduction can greatly increase the speed and flexibility of the ship.

The reason why the two ships dared to go upstream was because this section of the river was wide, more than 500 meters in length. If the South Vietnamese army attacked from the shore, there was plenty of room to escape. It will be too difficult.Of course, the most important thing is that the river is wide enough, so that the downstream will not be easily blocked by wooden piles or semi-floating boats, and it will be blocked in the middle and unable to escape.

Going backward for about ten miles from the mouth of the sea, we arrived at the first river intersection in the upper reaches of the Zheng River.The two main rivers here come from the mainstream of the Zhenghe River deep in the Hengshan Mountains in the west, and the other comes from a tributary in the south, which is where the supply channel for South Vietnam's logistics is located.

Perhaps it was because the South Vietnamese army fought too smoothly during this period and relaxed the security at the rear. The reconnaissance team went all the way up the river, but they didn't even find the South Vietnamese patrol troops.It is estimated that the senior leaders of the South Vietnamese Army also believed that North Vietnam did not have the ability to project troops remotely by sea, so the defenses for these areas were extremely relaxed.

However, the reconnaissance team did not intend to ambush a South Vietnamese supply team here. The main task of this trip is to reconnaissance rather than to alert the enemy. It is this time to collect the geographical environment here and prepare for the next attack. The main purpose of the reconnaissance mission.

After the reconnaissance team arrived at the river confluence, it took an hour to take detailed photos and record the river conditions, and even found the road for the South Vietnamese Army to transport supplies on the north bank of the Zhengjiang River through binoculars.So far, the first task of this reconnaissance operation has been basically completed. The two ships slowly turned around in the center of the river. Then Qian Tiandun and his special warfare company returned to the "Explorer" and headed for the sea. heading in the direction.

The reconnaissance operation of the landing this time was successfully completed without any problems, but no situation means no performance. Although the march of the special warfare company during this period has reached the usual training level, Qian Tiandun is still somewhat concerned. I have such a small regret, I always feel that it would be great if there is a chance for the special warfare company to show its combat effectiveness.

However, this feeling of regret did not affect him for too long, because the opportunity to perform soon appeared in front of him.Xie Chunfa, who was standing at the bow and was in charge of looking out, came to report: "Two small boats appeared on the river ahead, about 2000 meters away!"

(End of this chapter)