1627 Rise of the South China Sea

286 Intercept
In the face of the coalition forces equipped with black technology such as night vision goggles, even the best-organized night raids will show their feet in advance.The night attack, which the South Vietnamese Army placed high hopes on, failed at the beginning. After dropping more than 100 corpses in front of the coalition positions, they had to choose to withdraw to the camp.

Early the next morning, the South Vietnamese Army suddenly discovered that the coalition forces had advanced a bit further, and were getting closer to their own camp. This was not good news for the South Vietnamese Army, which was at a serious disadvantage in long-range firepower—at this distance The artillery of the upper coalition army no longer even needed precise aiming, and just hit something by bombarding directly in the direction of the camp.However, the South Vietnamese army had no way to avoid it, and if they retreated westward, they would retreat into the mountains.

Now there is only one way of life left in front of the South Vietnamese Army. Immediately abandon everything and organize a retreat to the south. At least there is hope that some of the vitality can be preserved.If you continue to shrink in the camp and stand up, it will basically be in vain to give your opponent a head for the record.

After the coalition forces conducted two more rounds of shelling, the South Vietnamese Army finally gave up the strategy of retreating and organized troops to withdraw southward.It's just that I didn't seize the opportunity to retreat in time yesterday, so it's not so easy to move now.When the army retreats, the most taboo thing is to be chased by the opponent's tail, and the current battle situation will not give the South Vietnamese army a chance to get rid of the opponent.The leading troops of the coalition army were less than one mile away from the rear troops of the South Vietnamese army, and the terrible thing was that the South Vietnamese army had to pass through the fire range of part of the artillery of the coalition army to withdraw. Confusion for retreating troops.

The problem that the South Vietnamese generals were worried about appeared very quickly. A few cannons from the coalition forces fired at the retreating South Vietnamese army, causing chaos immediately.The South Vietnamese soldiers who were already anxious began to rush south frantically, hoping to escape before this survival channel was blocked by the coalition forces.Some people chose to go west, flee directly into the mountains, and then try to make a detour southward. This is undoubtedly much safer than retreating southward under the artillery fire of the coalition forces.In this chaotic situation, the command system of the South Vietnamese Army quickly lost its function. Tens of thousands of troops and civilians were mixed together, completely losing their combat organization.

Seeing that the South Vietnamese Army had lost its ability to resist, the headquarters asked the Congregation Army to continue to drive the South Vietnamese Army that had fallen into chaos to the south, while the Haihan militia returned east to the sea to prepare to board the ship.The headquarters didn't plan to drive the South Vietnamese army away, especially the musketeer unit in the opposing camp, which kept the headquarters in the throat. If they didn't try to eliminate this army, everyone couldn't feel at ease.The plan of the headquarters is to let the militia go directly to the south by boat and intercept the retreating South Vietnamese Army on the front line of the Zhengjiang River. The compression was slowly packed on the bank of the river.

The land road from Nanyueying to Zhengjiang is about 40 miles. Although it takes nearly a quarter of the distance to go up the Zhengjiang River by boat, it will travel faster than the land road, and it is expected to be able to Intercept the large troops of the South Vietnamese Army in the upper reaches of the Zhengjiang River.

If the South Vietnamese Army had retreated in a normal and orderly manner, the headquarters might not have dared to make such a bold arrangement.But now that the South Vietnamese army has become a mess, and without the cover of water power and heavy weapons, the headquarters will naturally not miss such a good opportunity to severely injure the opponent.And with the natural moat of Zhengjiang, it is possible to rely on a small number of elite troops to stop the retreat of the South Vietnamese Army.

Of course, there is another deeper reason, that is, the headquarters believes that the training purpose of this operation has not been fully achieved. They all just played the role of suppressing the formation.The only company that has completed more combat missions is the special warfare company led by Qian Tiandun. Even the artillery, which the military and police department placed high hopes on before the war, began to really play a role in these two days. After finishing the work and going home, I really feel sorry for coming so far.

Qian Tiandun and his special warfare company had already gone to the south to conduct field operations last time, so they were familiar with it, so they were naturally included in this mission.As the commander, Yan Chujie also "used his power for personal gain" a little, and decided to lead the team to participate in this interception operation himself.Haru Gong and Mu Xiabo stayed here and were in charge of commanding the Consortium Army to pursue the South Vietnamese Army.As for Wang Tom and others, they must not be idle. As soon as the large troops started to board the ship, the "Speed" had already weighed anchor and left the shore, ready to set off.

If the headquarters hadn't prepared the interception plan as a backup plan a day or two in advance, it would not be so easy to organize a large-scale mobile operation in a hurry.In addition to the "Explorer" and "Speed", the headquarters also mobilized five other armed merchant ships with better ships and equipped with artillery as vehicles to assist in the battle.These ships will carry a total of more than [-] combat personnel and crews to go south together, and another five ships will follow behind as backup and material transport ships, guarding near the mouth of the Zhengjiang River in case South Vietnam sends reinforcements from the sea.

The North Vietnamese Army could finally let go of the battle today. Zheng Bai led his own troops into the camp of the South Vietnamese Army, blocking the last batch of unlucky ghosts who hadn't had time to evacuate in the camp.However, he did not forget the command of the headquarters. Immediately after occupying the ground, he asked the civilian men and soldiers to start collecting the scattered shells in the camp. Most of the shells that were not deformed could be recycled and reused.Of course, even if it is severely deformed, the iron lump can be recast in the furnace.The most important thing is that each of these shells has to be priced and calculated. Once it is recovered, it will save the North Vietnamese regime a fortune. Counting hundreds or thousands of shells, this amount cannot be ignored.

Moreover, there is still a large amount of military supplies in the camp of the South Vietnamese Army that have not had time to be taken away, which can also reduce some expenses for the North Vietnamese side.There is not much food and grass in these military supplies, and it also verifies the role of the command's sabotage battle from the side.However, all kinds of weapons and armor were piled up like a mountain. There were tens of thousands of bows and arrows alone.

However, compared with the coalition forces commanded by the headquarters, the North Vietnamese army on Zheng Bai's side was suppressed by the opponent for two full months, and their desire for war was obviously stronger. Continue to pursue the South Vietnamese Army.

The Haihan militia's intercepting fleet arrived at the mouth of the Zhengjiang River at [-]:[-] p.m., but it would take at least two hours to travel to the upper reaches of the Nanyue Army's river crossing point, and at night it was so dark. It can be said that it is a very risky thing to go up the river.For the sake of safety, the fleet did not rush into Zhengjiang, but rested overnight at the mouth of the sea.

In the early morning of the next day, when the sky was just getting brighter, the fleet set off to catch up upstream. When they arrived at the upper reaches of the Zhengjiang River, everyone was very happy.Tens of thousands of South Vietnamese troops were blocked by the Zhengjiang River, and only a dozen small boats and some improvised rafts were tasked with transporting the army across the river.There are still many South Vietnamese soldiers on the shore who are hurrying to cut wood to make rafts, and on the far horizon in the north, the flags of the North Vietnamese Army who are chasing and killing can already be seen through the binoculars.

After this fleet appeared on the river, it immediately caused another commotion in the South Vietnamese Army.At first, some people thought it was a rescue fleet from the south, but they soon realized that it didn't seem to be the case.South Vietnamese ships don't have such big regulations, and they don't have so many cannons on the ship's side—wait a minute, cannons?

Soon the artillery loaded on the ship began to attack indiscriminately, and the gunner didn't even need to aim at any specific target at all, just blasting directly towards the river bank could knock down a piece of land.And those sampan-like small wooden boats were completely small in front of Haihan's fleet, and the leading "Explorer" ran over them without reason, crushing these small boats into pieces with its hull.

It's not that there are far-sighted people from South Vietnam on the river bank. Immediately, military officers began to organize manpower to launch a counterattack.Of course, in the absence of heavy weapons, their only means of counterattack was bows and arrows, and this immediately attracted a more ferocious attack from the militia.

With a whistle, a long row of gun barrels protruded from the side of the ship, and immediately knocked down the South Vietnamese soldiers on the shore after firing.The Haihan militiamen, who had been holding back for many days and were not released, finally had a chance to fight happily. The dense rain of bullets kept pouring from the sides of several large ships to the shore.Although the ups and downs of the ship will have some negative effects on the accuracy of the shooting, the density of the South Vietnamese army on the river bank is too high, and there is nowhere to avoid it. Even if the bullet deviates from the original target, there is still a huge impact. Chance hits other people.

When the targets on this stretch of river bank gradually decreased, the boat moved slowly, and continued to kill in another place.So that later, as the ship moved, the South Vietnamese Army on the shore also began to move. Wherever the ship went, there would be no-man's land at least tens of meters deep on the shore.However, the number of shells carried on the ship is relatively limited, and it is impossible to attack the tens of thousands of people on the shore by smashing bowling balls without restriction.

But the effect of the attack is unquestionable. In order to avoid the killing gods floating on the river, the large troops of the South Vietnamese Army began to march westward along the Zheng River, apparently hoping to enter the valley of the Hengshan Mountains before another Find a narrow and shallow place to cross the river.Although Haihan's fleet has an absolute advantage in equipment, but because they are not familiar with the water conditions upstream, they dare not be too aggressive.After consulting the headquarters, the fleet repeatedly attacked the river bank where the South Vietnamese army was most concentrated. The entire river bank and surface were full of corpses left by the South Vietnamese army, and the casualties were far higher than those in the north The first few encounters on the battlefield were much more tragic.

The casualties on the Haihan side were much less in comparison, except that a few people were injured when the South Vietnamese army counterattacked with bows and arrows on the river bank at the beginning, and then the battle situation became one-sided. Not enough, there is no counterattack that can threaten these ships.

In the evening of the same day, the Beida troops who had been chasing down from the mountain defense line finally arrived at the Zhengjiang River.According to rough statistics provided by the North Vietnamese Army, during this one-day battle royale, at least more than 2 troops were annihilated by the South Vietnamese Army, of which more than 4000 were captured alone. Whether it was casualties or uncertainties—such as being torn to pieces by shells, or the unlucky ghosts who fell into the Zhengjiang River and were swept away by the river, etc.

As for the part of the South Vietnamese army who fled to the upper reaches of the Zhengjiang River, it does not mean that they have already escaped.It would take at least a hundred miles to travel from the upper reaches of the Zhengjiang River through the primeval forest of the Hengshan Mountains to the south. This was not easy for the South Vietnamese Army, which lacked food and clothing and whose morale was at a low point.In the process of fleeing, I don't know how many wounded soldiers will be abandoned halfway. The result of waiting for them may be worse than being captured by North Vietnam.

Quite a few of the military officers who were still going through the crossing clamored to "fight the Zhengjiang River and liberate Hue Mansion", but Yan Chujie was still relatively sober, and was not affected by the fanaticism of others, so he stopped this unrealistic in time thought.The main purpose of the Haihan Militia this time is to repel the offensive of the South Vietnamese army. From the current point of view, this strategic goal has been relatively satisfactorily completed, and the elimination of the South Vietnamese Ruan regime is not the short-term goal of the Executive Committee. However, going south to attack Hue, which is hundreds of miles away, is not a battle plan that can be realized by a few radicals shouting slogans.

In order to win this battle, the Traversing Group can be said to have invested most of its resources in preparing for the battle, and the entire group's preparation materials for several months have already consumed more than half of it after a few battles here, which is not enough to continue the battle .If the South Vietnamese army hadn't chosen to retreat under the disadvantage of weapons, the Haihan militia's combat supplies would probably last another five or six days.Even if they don't retreat at that time, they can only hang up the exemption card and wait for the base camp to send ammunition and supplies.

And this kind of combat consumption is still difficult for the Traversing Group to bear for a long time.Although the North Vietnamese side did promise to bear all the expenses, it was an afterthought, and it would take at least a month or two after the war to make the settlement clear.Moreover, the North Vietnamese side is simply unable to provide many combat materials needed by the Haihan militia.It can fight small battles, but it can't support big battles, and because of too few troops, it can't bear too much damage at all. This is the status quo of the Haihan militia.

The North Vietnamese Army is now also powerless for the Southern Expedition. First, the consumption of materials and personnel has not been replenished in time, and going south will only drag itself down.The second reason is that the damn musketeers in South Vietnam managed to escape from the encirclement in the end. Zheng Bo didn't have the guts to send his troops to the enemy's guns to die again.

According to the confession of the captives, the musketeer unit had already crossed the Zhengjiang River the evening before, and it was probably near Donghai by this time.Qian Tiandun, who heard the news, was so angry that he slapped the table, regretting that he didn't have the courage to rush into Zhengjiang the day before, maybe he would have a chance to intercept him at that time.

But Yan Chujie was quite open about this result: "Although we didn't wipe out this army, our combat objective has been achieved. Besides, the existence of the musketeers in South Vietnam is not necessarily a bad thing..."

Seeing Qian Tiandun looking up at himself, Yan Chujie continued to analyze to him: "South Vietnam has a musketeer team, so North Vietnam's dependence on us must continue, at least for a period of time, our arms export can still have good performance. "

"If South Vietnam rests and goes north again, will we come to fight the fire again? Although this is a profitable business, we can't participate in the civil war in Annan for a long time, Mr. Yan, do you think so?" Qian Tiandun still has some doubts.

"Nanyue's actions should not be so fast. If you are the commander of Nanyue, after being beaten up so hard, you know that the opponent's weapons and equipment are several grades better than your own, and you dare to be tough on the frontal battlefield. Opponent?" Yan Chujie smiled and said, "As long as the brain is not burned out, the South Vietnamese Army will not take the initiative to attack again in a short period of time. You are nervous, but in fact the enemy on the other side of Zhengjiang is more nervous than you."

"That's true!" Qian Tiandun was preoccupied with how to use the victory to expand the results of the battle, ignoring the environment in which the South Vietnamese Army was in. After being reminded by Yan Chujie, he came to his senses and realized that in this situation, it should have been The weak side should be more worried.

"Our task now is to clean up the battlefield and do a good job of finishing the aftermath." Yan Chujie looked around at the officers present, and said in a deep voice, "Especially the calculation of military merits and casualty statistics during the battle, commanders at all levels must carefully keep records , After returning, the executive committee and the military and police department will have corresponding rewards and pensions. Although this battle is over, the soldiers under our command who have shed blood and fought their lives must also get corresponding rewards! "

In the nearly ten days of fighting, the number of casualties of the Haihan militia was the lowest among the three parties participating in the war.According to the current statistics, 19 people were killed in Haihan, 11 were seriously injured, and more than [-] people were slightly injured. Two of them became civilian husbands, crew members and other non-combatants.Fortunately, none of the officers died during the battle. Only two platoon leaders were slightly injured in the battle, but fortunately they were not serious.Most of the people who died in the battle died unfortunately in the battle for the top of the mountain on both sides of the coalition positions, which also exposed the inadequacy of the militia soldiers in mountain combat from the side.

Although Qian Tiandun's field company undertook the most combat missions, the casualty rate was quite low, with only two deaths and seven injuries, which fully demonstrated the results of special training.As for the special warfare company's meritorious service and rewards, as well as expanding its establishment and replacing it with better equipment, it will be impossible to escape properly.

(End of this chapter)