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 later hydrological records, the average depth of the cargo terminals built here is more than 10 meters, making it a deep-water port with good hydrological conditions. The beach along the coast here is more than two kilometers long and has a very wide landing surface. Even hundreds of ships can launch landings here at the same time. Although limited by objective conditions, it is unlikely that the Haihan Militia will build a permanent dock here, but as long as a few sturdy 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 station anyone at such a strategic location that was valued by the Military and Police Department. Perhaps this is because the North Vietnamese believe that this narrow beach surrounded by hills does not have the conditions to hold, or perhaps because they believe that the opponent's maritime power is not worthy of deploying troops to defend the coastline behind the battle line.
Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan each took several engineers to conduct field surveys at two mountain passes leading to the outside world, and selected construction sites for docks, barracks and material warehouses near the shore. There is a meandering river passing by outside the two mountain passes here. Within four or five miles to the south are plains and swamps washed out by this meandering river in its long history. It seems that whether it goes south Or heading north, the traffic conditions here are very poor.
However, this is in line with the wishes of the Military and Police Department. This is only used as a logistics supply base for this military operation. What is needed is to rely on the dangerous terrain here to reduce the defense pressure. The Military and Police Department can’t wait to get to the southern war zone from here. It would be better if it were all swampland. The delivery of troops does not need to rely on land, but can be carried out entirely by sea. It is only more than ten nautical miles away from the coastline of the war zone, and it only takes less than half a day for a sea ship to slowly sail there.
Mu and Feng left a few engineers behind and asked them to go to these hills to find the commanding heights and a suitable place to establish a lookout post, while they continued to sail south by boat to the war zone. After sailing south along the coastline for a while, they finally saw what they expected - densely packed tents and shacks dotted along the coast, with military flags of different colors erected in some places. It looked like they were where the North Vietnamese army was stationed.
However, rather than saying that this is a military station, it is more vivid to say that it is a refugee camp. These tens of thousands of troops are stationed here, but they are piled here and there, with no walls or trenches, and no rules for camping. Although small groups of patrolling soldiers can be seen walking back and forth between camps, if this kind of camp encounters an attack from foreign enemies or other emergencies, I am afraid that it will immediately fall into chaos.
Since the advance team's ship came from the north, it did not cause much commotion. After docking, the accompanying envoy showed the documents and identity certificates from the Qingdu Palace to the officers who came to inquire, and someone immediately took them to China. Army barracks to meet with local top commanders.
After entering the Chinese Army, the two people's perception changed slightly. The military camp here was at least arranged according to the regular camping method. There were trenches and drainage channels outside the camp to resist the enemy. Horse and deer villages are scattered throughout the camp, and the tents in the camp are arranged in neat rows. There is sufficient fire prevention distance between each unit. The military appearance of the soldiers in the camp is also much better than the troops seen before.
"It seems that the people stationed outside are probably farmers and soldiers." Feng Annan muttered softly.
Mu Xiabai also responded softly: "The North Vietnamese regular army still has some combat effectiveness. After all, it fought with the Yuan and Ming dynasties for hundreds of years, and defeated the troops of the two empires. It still has the foundation of an army. .”
"But it seems like they don't have many regular troops. Based on what we saw before, the regular troops probably only account for about one-fifth, right?" Feng Anan began to calculate the actual combat effectiveness of the North Vietnamese army as he walked.
Mu Xiabai obviously had his own opinion on this. He shook his head and said: "The army we see here is only part of it. Most of the real main force should be stationed on the front. Their number of regular troops must be larger than what we have now. See more ”
Mu Xiabai's unintentional guess is very close to the truth. Judging from the current war situation, the military camp here is actually the rear. The combat zone in the south is more than ten miles deep, and there are tens of thousands of North Vietnamese regular troops and several peasant soldiers. were deployed in this war zone.
The officer who led the way took them outside the Chinese army's tent and handed them over to the generals and soldiers guarding here. The North Vietnamese envoy handed over the military orders from the Qingdu Palace, Zheng Zha's autographed letter, and his own identity certificate to the soldiers. After a while, the soldiers came out to send a message for them to enter the tent.
As a powerful family that controls the military and political power of North Vietnam, the top local commander of the North Vietnamese army is also from the Zheng family. This general named Zheng Bai must be Zheng Zha's distant cousin. He is in his forties and has a dark body. Strong and possessing martial temperament. After the special envoy introduced Mu and Feng, Zheng Bai invited them to take a seat.
"I have read the letter from the eldest son. Since it is the intention of the Qingdu Palace, if the two generals have any request, I will fully cooperate with you." Zheng Bai's attitude was very upright, and he spoke directly from the moment he came up. Very understandable. 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 whose orders he should obey.
It has been three months since the military trade agreement reached between the Zheng family and the Hai Han people, and it is no longer a secret within the North Vietnamese military. Many military personnel who were sent to the Do Son training camp to receive military training They are all descendants of the Zheng family - Zheng Bai's second son is also one of the first batch of officers to be trained. This was Zheng Bai's first time dealing directly with Haihan, and the reason why his attitude was so humble was partly because of the effect of those two letters.
The document from the Palace of Qingdu was written by King Zheng of Qingdu, the current actual controller of the North Vietnamese regime. The general content was to ask Zheng Bai to cooperate with the intentions of the Haihan people and to give the Haihan people full autonomy in combat operations. If necessary, Let the Haihan army assume the main task of defense or counterattack. This letter was written by Zheng Zha before Zheng Zha set out. If the cooperation between the two parties breaks down, the letter will naturally be destroyed; and if the two parties reach an agreement to borrow troops, then Zheng's special envoy He will take this letter and rush to the combat zone in advance so that the two sides can coordinate the combat system.
In addition to being more time-sensitive, the letter from Zheng Zha was also more detailed, detailing Haihan's intention to send troops and matters that might require Zheng Bai's cooperation. Of course, Zheng Zha also had the intention of stabilizing the morale of the army. In the tight war situation, telling the soldiers at the front that reinforcements would arrive soon was undoubtedly great news - not to mention that the reinforcements came from It is said that he is a subordinate of the Haihan people who are quite capable of fighting.
Of course, Zheng Zha did not discuss the specific transaction conditions between the two parties in the letter. After all, hiring foreign armed forces to intervene in a domestic civil war is not a glorious thing. The fewer people who know about it, the better. And the two sides have also made an agreement that the Hai Han troops will not identify themselves 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 its military strength to the outside world too early, so the two sides hit it off and quickly reached an agreement on this issue.
"General Zheng, we will talk about the specific requirements later. Please brief us on the current war situation first!" Mu Xiabai was not in a hurry to list the requirements of the Military and Police Department, but planned to understand them first. Let’s take a look at the trend of the battle.
Zheng Bai nodded and said: "Then it's better to obey orders than to be respectful! Someone, hang up the map!"
At that moment, some soldiers put up a three-foot map on a wooden stand. What was drawn on it was the terrain of the east coast of Vietnam. However, due to the current level of surveying and mapping, the resolution of this map was indeed a bit poor. According to Mu and Feng, the viewing angle of this map is at least 200 kilometers above sea level, and there are no details to speak of. The land distance from Yong'an Port to here is close to 10 kilometers, which is only 1 centimeter on this map, almost The scale is 1:1,000,000. How can we talk about discussing tactics and arranging positions?
At that moment, Feng Annan said: "Please wait a moment, General Zheng, your map is not very easy to use, so you should use the map we brought!" After that, he took out a folded map from his briefcase and opened it. Fastened to wooden frame.
"This... this is..." Zheng Bai is also a man who leads troops to fight. At a glance, he knows that the Haihan map is indeed not of the same quality as what he has in his hand.
The map Feng Annan took out was a military map drawn after enlarging the 3D satellite map in the large database. The scale was dozens of times larger than Zheng Bai's map, and it was even marked with clear contour lines. It shows 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 Annan Civil War, the Military and Police Department quickly mobilized technical forces to produce military maps of the east coast of Vietnam, especially the war zone. Gu Kai and Qian Tiandun brought several maps with them when they left Victory Port. Among them One of them is the picture shown by Feng Annan. Moreover, the Military and Police Department is continuing to work overtime to produce a larger-scale detailed map, which will be delivered as combat supplies.
But even this relatively small-scale map left Zheng Bai dumbfounded: "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 friendly forces, not your enemies. The reason why we are here is that your war prospects are no longer optimistic. Our mission here is 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 battle plan as soon as possible. Can you understand what I say? Bai didn't give Zheng Bai a chance to question himself and immediately blocked his mouth with words.
Zheng Bai hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said: "I understand. But this map...can I have a military Chinese document copy it later?"
"Okay." Mu Xiabai responded: "Let's get down to business now!"
"Okay, okay! Let's get down to business!" Zheng Bai quickly turned his attention back to his eyes and explained to the two of them the changes in the battle situation in the recent period.
Three months ago, around the time Zheng Zha and Tao Dong came to discuss the arms deal, the situation in North Vietnam was still very good. The army led by Zheng Bai had already attacked Hue Prefecture, which is only a hundred miles away from the Nguyen family base in South Vietnam. In Quang Zhi, it seems that it is only a matter of time before the troops arrive in Hue to capture the Ruan family traitors. But at this juncture, South Vietnam's firearms troops appeared on the battlefield without warning, and killed and wounded more than 3,000 North Vietnamese vanguard troops in the first battle.
From then on, the war situation began to reverse. The South Vietnamese rebels, who had a large number of matchlocks and several artillery pieces, launched a counterattack. However, the North Vietnamese army, which was still in the cold weapon period, was almost unable to parry this "sharp" attack, resulting in considerable casualties. heavy. In desperation, Zheng Bai could only command his troops to fight and retreat. They retreated to Donghai, 150 miles away, and then relied on the natural barrier of the Donghai River to enter the sea from here to stabilize the situation.
Dong Hoi was later known as Phong Nga Ke Bang National Park, and the scenery was pretty good. However, the defeated North Vietnamese troops had no time to appreciate the scenery when they retreated here. Only three days later, the South Vietnamese army successfully smuggled across the upper reaches of the Dong Hoi River. Once again Drive North Vietnamese troops north. With this retreat, they retreated more than a hundred miles to the north. Only when they retreated to the current front line can they truly stabilize their position.
But the South Vietnamese side was obviously fully prepared for this counterattack. The size of the troops pursuing all the way north was getting bigger day by day. When they got here, it was said that there were already 100,000 troops. This was definitely not a temporary organization that could explain the counterattack. phenomenon. On the North Vietnamese side, there were only 20,000 regular troops and about the same number of farmers, soldiers and civilians left. Under the strict military order of Thang Long Palace not to continue to retreat, they could only rely on the nearby dangerous terrain to barely resist the opponent's attacks day after day. . Although there are currently no signs of another defeat, even if this continues slowly, the tens of thousands of people in North Vietnam will be consumed alive on this battlefield sooner or later.
The situation is not optimistic! Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan looked at each other and had the same thought in their minds. It’s no wonder that the Zheng family in the north is so anxious that they are preparing to recruit all the households near Thang Long House as peasant soldiers and then march southward. It seems that they plan to stake all their wealth and compete directly with the Nguyen family in South Vietnam - if they cross the group There is no active military aid plan here, so the situation is probably developing in this direction. And with Zheng Bai's attitude being so good, he must have been looking forward to the early arrival of reinforcements from the north.
"General Zheng, can you tell us in detail how your army has deployed its defensive positions?" Mu Xiabai now put away his previous relaxed feeling and asked Zheng Bai seriously.
Zheng Bai pointed to the map and explained: "I previously laid out the defense line in three layers based on the terrain here..."
To the south of the North Vietnamese army was a mountainous area, which isolated the South Vietnamese army. If the South Vietnamese army wanted to bypass here, it would have to march westward and detour hundreds of miles through the dense forest. This kind of march would be a nightmare for an army with more than 100,000 people. It is just a supply line passing through the virgin forest. It's enough to collapse the logistics supply troops.
Because of this, although several passes guarded by North Vietnam 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 use human flesh tactics to defeat the battle - the Nguyen family of South Vietnam was also very good. It is clear that after passing this pass, there will be no obstacles further north to Shenglong Mansion, and you can push all the way through.
Among the three layers of defense currently deployed by Zheng Bai, the first layer of defense has been breached by South Vietnam's consecutive offensives, 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 is not sure of the time.
"I think we should go directly to the front line to see the real situation, right?" Feng Annan listened for a long time and could only get a rough idea of how many infantry, how many archers, and how many spearmen were deployed at a certain mountain pass, but such an explanation was really difficult. It's hard to understand, and you can only rely on your imagination. This way there is no way to complete the investigation mission undertaken by the advance team.
"The two generals have heavy responsibilities, how can they be involved in danger?" Zheng Bai was shocked when he heard this and quickly dissuaded him.
Zheng Zha made it very clear to him in his letter that the two Haihan people who came to fight this time were the instructors of the Tushan training camp and were also "senior officers" in the Haihan army. As for how senior they were, Zheng Zha couldn't figure out Haihan's military position, so he could only call Mu and Feng "general" - to be sent by the Haihan people as military leaders, they were definitely not small roles. In his letter, Zheng Zha 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 discouraged.
"General Zheng, we are all soldiers. Needless to say, we are not here to enjoy the scenery. Our Haihan troops will come over in a few days. If we don't do it first Preparation work, our comrades and soldiers will pay the price for this! This is not what we want to see, we are here to win the war!" Mu Xiabai said loudly.
"In that case...come here!" Zheng Bai gave the order, and soldiers immediately stepped forward to obey the order.
"Go and get two sets of armor for the two generals!" After Zheng Zha gave the order, as if he expected that Mu and Feng might refuse, he immediately turned to persuade them: "Swords and guns have no eyesight, and you are well prepared, two generals. Although brave, since we are going to the front line in person, according to military regulations, we must wear armor and go into battle.”
(End of chapter)