1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 283

After paying a new round of price, the South Vietnamese army finally touched the edge of the coalition positions, but at the same time they also realized that the North Vietnamese army, which appeared by the sea like a magic soldier, was not easy to deal with. It has sharp muskets and cannons with amazing lethality.If you want to defeat the enemies here, you may not be able to rely solely on traditional infantry.

At noon that day, the observation post guarded on the top of the mountain sent back the latest discovery—several disguised foreign devils appeared in the South Vietnamese Army.Although these people were wearing the costumes of the South Vietnamese Army, they were still fully exposed in the binoculars.After analysis, the headquarters thinks that this is most likely the instructor or commander of the musketeer unit in South Vietnam. It is estimated that he also appears here as a "military advisor", just like the "Haihan Military Advisor" who provided military aid to North Vietnam. .The purpose of these foreign devils appearing at this time is self-evident. It must be to observe the combat performance of the North Vietnamese Musketeers and prepare for the next battle of the South Vietnamese Musketeers.

"When we catch those foreign devils later, we have to investigate their origins!" Mu Xiabo was very excited when he learned that the target had appeared: "Find out where their lair is, and go there when we have ships and soldiers." Give him a pot!"

"Don't get too excited, our supplies and transport capacity are not enough to support frequent large-scale maneuvers at sea." Harukon poured cold water on him at the right time.

Although the Ministry of Shipping has provided full support for the expeditionary force this time, it will still consume a lot of mobile operations along the coastline for a long time. In addition, it is too far away from the North Vietnamese control area, and there will also be risks in supply.Moreover, the Haihan Militia has less training for amphibious operations. If the time spent on a boat is too long, it will seriously affect the combat effectiveness of soldiers.In order to allow the soldiers to maintain enough physical strength to participate in the battle after landing, the headquarters also specially transported the combat troops to the offshore island one day in advance, so that they can have one day to recover.In the overall combat plan formulated by the headquarters, "small groups harass and attack, and large groups garrison and attract" is the basic operational policy this time, and they do not plan to directly deploy large troops to areas behind enemy lines.

During the confrontation between the South Vietnamese Army and the Allied Forces, Qian Tiandun arrived in Zhengjiang again by boat with a special warfare company. The "Explorer" moved up slowly along the river bank, and arrived at the junction of the tributaries in the upper reaches of the Zhengjiang River at noon.

These two waterways, the south and the north, converge here. The north one is the main channel of the Zhengjiang River, and the south one crosses the Hengshan Mountains and reaches the coastal plain south of Hengshan.Most of the supplies of the South Vietnamese Army passed through this waterway and crossed Hengshan to the river bank north of the Zhengjiang River.The target of the special warfare company this time is to effectively attack the supply fleet on this waterway and temporarily block the supply line of the South Vietnamese Army.

"Explorer" turned into the southern tributary at the fork of the river, and continued to swim upstream.The river here is much narrower than the downstream, and the widest point is only nearly 200 meters.However, this is in line with the operational needs of the "Explorer" and the special forces. The artillery on the ship and the guns of the special forces can completely cover the entire river surface, and they can make full use of their own weapon advantages.

After entering the tributary and traveling upstream for two hours, it has entered the Hengshan area, and continuous hills and mountains began to appear on both sides of the river.According to the information obtained from the previous interrogation of the prisoners, the South Vietnamese Army did not deploy defenders on both sides of the river, because so far, they all believed that the North Vietnamese did not have a strong enough water force to invade this area.

Qian Tiandun's special warfare company disembarked and landed on a 40-degree curved river channel, and began to build fortifications on the slopes along the bank.The width of this river is only [-] meters, and the boats coming from the upstream cannot observe the scene on the river until they turn this sharp bend.

After the special warfare company landed, the "Explorer", which had successfully lost weight, also looked a lot lighter, cruising back and forth on the river waiting for the fighter.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the team sent upstream for reconnaissance sent back a message that a fleet of seven ships was heading downstream.The displacement of these ships is around [-] to [-] tons. Compared with the "Explorer", they are completely small boats. Judging from the draft of the ships, the ships should be fully loaded with cargo.Qian Tiandun immediately ordered the assembly and notified the "Explorer" to prepare for battle.

The unlucky fleet had just sailed through the bend of the river when they saw a big ship with a strange appearance appearing on the river ahead.Before they came back to their senses, the big ship showed its claws aggressively.

Compared with yesterday's record of missing three rounds, today's gunners on the "Explorer" tried their best to save face. In the second round of shelling, two shells hit the South Vietnamese fleet at a distance of 50 meters. The leading ship had two large holes in its side.The river rushed in, and soon the hull tilted.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the fleet behind hurriedly leaned towards the west bank, trying to avoid this strange ship that fell from the sky.But what they didn't expect was that there were also enemy troops ambushing on the west bank.Under the concentrated fire of more than 100 flintlock guns, the crew on the deck of the leading ship was wiped out within ten seconds, and the ship that lost control quickly plunged into the river beach on the west bank.

The entire river is only more than 100 meters wide. If these South Vietnamese ships want to avoid the heavy firepower of the "Explorer", they cannot avoid land strikes from the west bank.Soon, two more ships were severely damaged by land and water and began to capsize. Another ship saw that the situation was not good, and took the initiative to lean towards the west bank and choose to surrender.The last two boats tried to turn around and escape upstream, but the river here was a sharp bend, and the river was narrow, so how easy would it be to turn back?
The "Explorer" quickly caught up and quickly cleaned up the two ships.The entire battle lasted only half an hour. Seven South Vietnamese ships sank three times, wounded three and surrendered. They captured more than [-] people, and none of them escaped from the ambush circle. Haihan’s casualties were zero, and the opponent even had a decent ship. The resistance was over before it could even be made.

After a simple inventory, it was found that these ships were carrying food.After the special warfare company commanded the prisoners to transfer some of the food to the river bank, they ruthlessly scuttled all these ships on the river bank.

The results of the interrogation of the captives were a little fruitful. The boss of one of the ships confessed that a troop transport fleet would pass by here later to fight for the north bank of the river.So the special warfare company, which had just been relieved, hurriedly regrouped to prepare for the next wave of battles.

More than an hour later, as expected, another fleet of five ships arrived at this river bend, and also suffered a head-on blow from the "Explorer" without any suspense.However, the troop carrier this time obviously has a certain counterattack capability. A number of archers on each ship rushed to the deck and used arrows to launch a counterattack against the "Explorer" and the special warfare company on the shore.

This time, good luck did not protect the Haihan militia. A soldier was shot through the neck by a cold arrow and became the No.1 combatant who died in this cross-sea battle.In addition, three soldiers were injured by arrows. In addition, two crew members on the "Discovery" were unfortunately shot by arrows. Fortunately, none of the injuries could be life-threatening.

After the "Discovery" damaged two ships and caused it to roll, the other three ships had rushed downstream under the firepower.Qian Tiandun issued a pursuit order to the "Explorer", in order to destroy these ships on the river.

So the "Explorer" turned around slowly on the river, and then chased all the way, until the last ship was sunk in the Zhengjiang River, but it is not sure whether any of the drowning people will swim to the north bank of the Zhengjiang River.In the end, only 37 people were captured on the five South Vietnamese troop transport ships. According to the results of the surprise trial, this fleet transported a total of more than [-] combat personnel, and most of them were sent to the bottom of the river as water ghosts.

As the commander of the raid in the enemy's rear, Qian Tiandun was not very satisfied with the result.Although the two battles did effectively kill and injure enemy personnel and hit the opponent's limited water transportation capabilities, judging from the combat process, this special warfare force with a huge firepower advantage did not achieve the expected results.Although the fire launched by the musketeers from the shore can effectively attack the deck personnel of the enemy ship, the damage to the ship is almost zero, and it can only scratch the itch.

The "Explorer"'s artillery fire is fierce, but the gap caused by the slow firing frequency is enough for the opponent to take the opportunity to slip across the river.The lethality of solid shells on personnel is of course indiscriminate, but the effect on ships depends to a certain extent on luck.The troop carrier that was finally sunk had at least seven or eight hits before the ship began to leak water and slow down. Before that, the effect of the attack was nothing more than piercing a few transparent holes in its hull, and it did not affect it at all. sailing performance is affected.

In addition, after two consecutive blocking battles, even if the roar of artillery fire did not spread too far, the opponent would definitely notice that there were twelve ships missing in a day.Qian Tiandun estimated that in order to keep this precious lifeline, the other party would start clearing the river no later than the next day.Judging from today's combat process, the combat capability of this special warfare force is still insufficient when dealing with enemies with large differences in strength.After discussing with Sun Changmi, Qian Tiandun decided to evacuate the waters for the time being and return to activities near the mouth of the sea—if the situation changes, at least he can leave by sea calmly.

Qian Tiandun's judgment was indeed correct. Although the artillery fire did not disturb the South Vietnamese army in the distance, two fleets lost contact for no reason, which quickly attracted the attention of the South Vietnamese army.In the evening of the same day, the South Vietnamese patrol patrolling along the banks of the Zhengjiang River found several drowned bodies near the shore. After inspection, it was found that they were the personnel of the missing fleet.

If one ship and two ships capsize and sink, it can be explained as an accident, but the two fleets add up to twelve ships and hundreds of people, and they just disappeared on the Zhengjiang River without a sound. Take the accident as an explanation.The senior leaders of the South Vietnamese Army also realized that it was very likely that the North Vietnamese invaded through waterways, trying to use this method of combat to destroy their own logistical supply lines.

So in the next day, the South Vietnamese Army organized thousands of people to conduct a sorting and investigation of this water supply line along the banks of the Zhengjiang River. As a result, a large number of South Vietnamese soldiers' corpses were found in the river along the river.But what disturbed Nanyue was that the invisible and intangible opponent had never been found, as if it had disappeared into the air out of thin air.

Of course, the "Discovery" did not disappear out of thin air, it just returned to sea early.In order not to be blocked by his opponents in the upper reaches of Zhengjiang, Qian Tiandun decisively chose to avoid it temporarily.However, this strategy does not mean that the special operations forces' attacks stopped. On the contrary, in the early morning after a day, the "Explorer" appeared on the coast of Donghai, 15 nautical miles south of Zhengjiang.

Dozens of South Vietnamese troops guarding the pier hadn't figured out what happened before they found countless muzzles protruding from the big ship that broke into the harbor.After a burst of gunfire, the special warfare company chose to land directly at the pier.

"The first row guards the pier, the second row follows me to the warehouse to see what can be moved, the third row...the third row burns all those ships!" Qian Tiandun quickly issued a combat order after landing: " Act fast! We will evacuate in 10 minutes!"

Most of the supplies brought by the South Vietnamese Army from Hue were first transported to Donghai, and then transported to the front line in the north by water and land. Therefore, there are a lot of supplies stored in the warehouses built on the shore, and there are many of them. Poultry and other meat.

The reason why the special forces dared to land and fight here was also because they learned from the captives that the South Vietnamese camp in Dong Hoi was quite a distance away from the port. By land, there are no large garrison points near Donghai Harbor, and the defense of the harbor itself is relatively loose.

The defenders quickly organized a counterattack, but the charge of these unarmored infantry was futile in the face of the flintlock.After dropping more than 30 corpses, including the commander, the defenders finally broke up and gave up the idea of ​​retaking the pier.

"Burn everything that can't be taken away!" Qian Tiandun gave the order mercilessly.After destroying this port, it will take at least ten or eight days for South Vietnam to rebuild this supply point, and during this period the supply of tens of thousands of people ahead will definitely be greatly affected.

More than a dozen warehouses and more than 20 boats on the entire dock were all burned down by the special forces this morning.By the time the South Vietnamese Army, who was several miles away, rushed to the pier panting, it had already turned into a sea of ​​flames, and the special forces who took the opportunity to search for it had already set sail and left Donghai Port.

After the "Explorer" sailed out to the open sea for more than ten nautical miles, he could still see billowing smoke rising from the direction of Donghai Port.Sun Changmi handed over the control of the ship to Xie Chun, and went to the deck with Qian Tiandun to count the spoils of these several sabotage battles.

First of all, there are all kinds of knives, guns, bows and arrows, and some armor and helmets. These things must be looked down upon by the Haihan militia who use standard equipment, but they can be given to the North Vietnamese army as a favor in the future.

The second is various food supplies. Due to the limited loading capacity of the "Explorer", the looting in Zhengjiang and Donghai did not actually take away too many supplies.Only about one ton of grain was loaded onto the ship, and some live poultry were used to supplement meat.Since the ship did not have fresh-keeping means, Qian Tiandun's original idea of ​​slaughtering a few more pigs and bringing them on board had to be abandoned.But even so, in the next three or four days, it is basically guaranteed that all the combatants will have meat to eat.

The last is the money seized in the two battles. Two boxes of silver ingots were found on the warship in Zhengjiang. There were about 5000 taels of silver, which were probably rewards for the frontline combat troops.During the battle on the Donghai side, the soldiers also found nearly a thousand taels of scattered silver and a small amount of copper ingots from various sources.As for those small denominations of iron money, they were never taken back as spoils of war.

Since Black Earth Port has also implemented circulation coupons as the main currency in circulation, there is no way to use silver money in the local area, so no one has been found to take advantage of the chaos to greed for ink loot.Moreover, in the combat discipline announced by Qian Tiandun before the battle, it has been clearly stipulated that anyone who finds money hidden in his body after the war will be treated as a spoil of war--cancellation of the status of a naturalized citizen, relegation to a prisoner of labor reform, and a minimum of two years of imprisonment. Started with labor camp punishment.

"The harvest is not bad! After two or three days, you can earn thousands of taels of silver. A few more times will be enough for your company for a year, right?" After counting the spoils, Sun Changmi got up and patted his body. Dust: "Why don't we just continue going south and snatch it all the way?"

"That's not good." Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "From here to the south, it takes almost a day's journey to get to Guangzhi, and Guangzhi City is located inland, tens of miles away from the sea, we don't need to take such a risk. Big risk. Our combat purpose is to interfere with the opponent's supply line, and there is no need to increase the combat radius. We are now returning to the coalition position and communicating the combat situation of the past two days to the headquarters."

"I listen to you!" Sun Changmi patted Qian Tiandun's shoulder and went back to the bridge.Qian Tiandun's command in the past few days has fully proved his military ability, and Sun Changmi also knows that he is not a professional, and it is better to listen to the opinions of professionals in making decisions on this kind of combat direction.

During the two or three days when the special forces went south to fight, the South Vietnamese army did not stop attacking the coalition positions, but they never sent that mysterious musket force to participate in the battle.The command believes that this may be because its own defensive strategy and fortifications have made the opponent's military adviser suspicious, and at the same time it has been trying to confirm its own military strength and deployment.After all, the consumption of field battles and positional battles are two different things. As long as the opponent's brains are not burned out, they will not use field battle strategies to attack their more solid defensive positions.

The secret battles on the two mountains in the north and the south are becoming more and more frequent. It seems that South Vietnam has also noticed the benefits of the two commanding heights, and tried to capture these two strategic locations that can see the overall situation by sending more troops.

(End of this chapter)