Chapter 355 Attack Zhengjiang
At the end of August 1628, Annan Yongan Port.
"So your army is planning to let us sell new artillery shells for use in attacking the Zhengjiang defense line?" Qian Tiandun put down the tea cup in his hand and looked meaningfully at Zheng Ting sitting opposite: "Sending troops to attack South Vietnam is not the same as sending troops to attack South Vietnam. The battle plan we agreed on beforehand doesn’t match!”
After Qian Tiandun completed the Battle of Hoi An with the main force coming from the base camp, he led his troops back to Yong'an Port in North Vietnam to rest and recuperate. However, after two days of rest, Zheng Ting came to the door in a hurry. He wanted to buy new artillery shells that had just begun to be equipped to the militia.
When the Crossing Group formulated its action plan in June, it asked the North Vietnamese to send troops to stage a feint attack to attract the attention of the South Vietnamese army, so as to cooperate with the militia army in launching a raid behind enemy lines. However, at that time, North Vietnam suffered from lack of military funds to carry out large-scale military operations, and was somewhat reluctant. If it were not later blocked by the Haihan Executive Committee on the arms trade, North Vietnam would not be willing to participate.
But now that North Vietnam learned that the Hai Han militia had overwhelmingly destroyed Hoi An City in the south and attracted a large number of South Vietnamese troops to withdraw from the Jiangjiang defense line to defend Hue Prefecture, they decided to take advantage of the chaos in the south to fight. This is something that the North Vietnamese military takes for granted, but in Qian Tiandun's eyes, it is somewhat arrogant and respectful - I have long persuaded you to send troops to attack together, but you have tried to shirk it, but now you see an advantage. He jumped out immediately, which was a little too adaptable.
Zheng Ting had been a student under Qian Tiandun when he was in the Tushan training camp. Although the two were about the same age, Zheng Ting still respectfully treated him as a disciple: "Instructor Qian, there is a saying in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. Soldiers have no constant momentum, and water has no shape. Those who can win due to changes in the enemy are called gods. The use of troops must make corresponding changes according to changes in the battlefield situation and the external environment. This is also the combat principle you taught us at the beginning. We decided not to fight because the South Vietnamese rebels were well positioned on the Zhengjiang defense line, and our military strength was not superior. Even if we fought, it would be difficult to win. Now that the South Vietnamese rebels have withdrawn nearly half of them, and Hoi An has fallen. The news has caused panic among the people in his camp. It is a good time to launch an attack. If it were instructor Qian commanding our army, he would definitely not miss this great opportunity."
"Not bad. After staying in Victory Port for a few months, I have become eloquent." Qian Tiandun said with a chuckle.
"It's all because of the good guidance of the instructors." Zheng Ting responded quickly.
"The price of our new artillery shells is not cheap, as you probably know." Qian Tiandun said unhurriedly. He also knew that Zheng Ting had gone to Panyu with other military officers and cadets to participate in the Lijiazhuang battle during his training - perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that it was observation. Almost all foreign officers and students showed great interest in the new shotgun shells used by the militia army in battle at that time. Zheng Ting was not the only one who asked Officer Haihan about the price of the new shells. However, because the price of the new artillery shells is too high, the only one who has clearly placed an order with "Haihan Military Industry" is Xu Xinsu, a local tycoon in Fujian who is not short of money.
Since the Xu Xinsu Group was equipped with Haihan's arms, it has gradually regained its disadvantage in the fight against the "Eighteen Zhi". For Xu Xinsu, the price of Haihan arms is not a problem. The only thing to worry about is that the supply cannot keep up with consumption. Because there are often some inexplicable situations here in Haihan, this kind of gun is temporarily suspended, and that kind of cannon needs to be purchased in limited quantities, and several times Fujian sent cash there but couldn't buy anything, so later Xu Xinsu simply died One hundred thousand taels of silver were deposited in the "Haihan Bank" in Guangzhou, which was specially used to purchase Haihan arms. Not long after the new artillery shells appeared in Lijiazhuang, Xu Xinsu asked someone to withdraw half of the 100,000 taels of silver and ordered Haihan's new artillery shells to be purchased. No matter the unit price, he could buy as much as he could buy for 50,000 taels.
Compared with the wealthy people in Fujian, North Vietnam's economic situation can only be described as appalling. Even though they won a rare victory with the assistance of the Haihan militia last time, they did not enjoy the war dividends from the victor at all like Haihan. Instead, they owed a huge war debt to the Haihan people. It took half a year to finally get it right, but a new round of fighting, or a wave of money-burning, is coming soon.
"I have inquired before. Mr. Bai from Haihan Military Industry said that each round of this kind of artillery shells costs twenty taels of silver, and one hundred rounds are not sold in retail." Zheng Ting responded honestly.
Qian Tiandun laughed secretly when he heard this. He had also participated in the research and development of this kind of artillery shell, and he was naturally aware of its manufacturing cost. Although this kind of shotgun has a higher technical content than the original cast iron solid bullets, its production cost has not increased to ten times that exaggeratedly. The price quoted by Baikes for twenty-two rounds is somewhat deceptive. Feel. And due to the limited production capacity and the large orders placed by Fujian, Baikesi has the saying "100% on sale".
"I do have some inventory here, but the quantity is limited. I don't know how many you plan to buy?" Seeing Zheng Ting's sincere attitude, Qian Tiandun gave up the idea of continuing to talk to him and returned to the business.
Zheng Ting said cautiously: "One hundred shots..."
"I'm afraid one hundred rounds won't be enough." Before Zheng Ting could finish his words, Qian Tiandun shook his head and interrupted him: "Let me ask you, in the battle plan you made, how many doors are needed for the width of the landing site? Artillery, have you done any calculations?”
"Of course this needs to be calculated." When talking about the war, Zheng Ting also regained some confidence and began to discuss with Qian Tiandun: "The South Vietnamese rebels still have nearly 20,000 troops fighting for the south bank of the Yangtze River. Our side If we want to establish a strong beachhead on the south bank, we must land enough troops in a short time. According to our calculations, the landing site must be able to accommodate at least 3,000 troops. As for the required artillery, of course. The main ones are the lightweight Type 27 Army six-pounder. According to the combat rules learned at the Victory Port Military Academy, based on the scale of 3,000 troops, each thousand-man unit is equipped with four to six artillery pieces, and a total of 12 to 16 guns are needed. Cannon.”
"It's quite logical. It seems that I have learned something in the past few months. But have you ever thought that if one hundred rounds of new artillery shells are allocated, each gun will only have seven or eight shells, and it will be destroyed by a quick shot. If the war goes badly and the enemy troops don't retreat after the new artillery shells are fired, how will the beachhead troops deal with the enemy's strength?" Qian Tiandun asked while analyzing.
"This..." Zheng Ting was speechless for a moment. What he actually wanted to say was that with the power of the new artillery shells, no army could withstand three rounds of artillery bombardment at close range without collapsing. There was no need to allocate too many artillery shells. But Qian Tiandun said this, but he did not dare to refute. After all, the initiative of whether to sell or not was in the hands of the other party. If he offended the other party with words, he would not be able to buy back the shells. This cross-river attack was The battle can only remain on paper.
"In my opinion, at least three hundred rounds are enough." Qian Tiandun tripled the order quantity in one sentence.
"But this..." Zheng Ting was shocked. Two thousand taels of silver even made his father Zheng Bai unhappy. He spent six thousand taels in one go. He couldn't imagine the consequences.
"It's nothing. Think about it, even if you don't use up the shells when you cross the river, you can keep these shells for future battles! If you encounter similar situations in the future, do you have to come to me to buy them temporarily every time? ? Be prepared!" Qian Tiandun persuaded with "kindness".
It’s not that Qian Tiandun wanted to be an arms dealer when he was full and had nothing to do. In fact, when he returned to the base camp to report his work on the anniversary, Qian Tiandun had already submitted a request to the Executive Committee to increase the military budget of the Black Tu Port Military Region to meet the needs of the military region. Compile the daily expenses of the growing Black Earth Port force. This proposal was ultimately not approved by the Executive Committee, because the original plan to expand the army was approved by the Executive Committee after the Black Earth Port Management Committee proposed to bear military expenses. However, this did not trouble Qian Tiandun. Under the coordination of the Military Commission, "Haihan Military Industry" later came up with a compromise. Considering that the Black Tu Port Military Region is located in Annan, and the "Haihan Military Industry" responsible for the manufacturing and sales of military products does not have a special marketing agency in the local area, Baikes proposed that the Black Tu Port Military Region should be responsible for part of the military product sales tasks, and part of the profits Just as a military subsidy for the Black Earth Port Military Region. The first batch of test products were new artillery shells that attracted the attention of many foreign military officers and students.
Like various weapons and ammunition exported in the past, "Haihan Military Industry" has also designed a special export model for this high-end artillery shell with promising market prospects. Its power and range are slightly weaker than the artillery shells used by the militia in Lijiazhuang. The first batch of export models produced has been sent to Fujian for use by Xu Xinsu's troops. What was transported to Yong'an Port was brought by ships from the troops who set off from the base camp to Hoi An. The number was not large, only less than 500 rounds.
Because it plays the role of a distributor, the price that "Haihan Military Industry" supplies to the Black Tu Port Military Region is naturally much lower than the external sales price. For every artillery shell sold, the Heitugang Military Region made a profit of ten yuan, which was basically a month's military expenditure for a militiaman. Under such stimulation, Qian Tiandun naturally became an amateur arms dealer and spared no effort to sell new ammunition to Zheng Ting. Qian Tiandun's calculations are intuitive and simple - every hundred rounds of artillery shells sold are basically enough to cover the expenses of a company of militiamen for a month. The more sold, the less pressure on the military expenditure of the Heitugang Military Region.
Qian Tiandun spared no effort in promotion in order to reduce the pressure on his own military expenditure, but Zheng Ting had to face his own military budget deficit. At present, North Vietnam has nearly 20,000 troops stationed on the front line of Zhengjiang, and the military expenditure allocated to the front line by Thang Long Palace is only 20,000 taels per month, which also includes the military pay paid to the soldiers. If there were not a large number of cheap peasants and soldiers to enrich the camp, such a small amount of money would not be enough to cover military expenditures. And if you want to squeeze out a few thousand taels of silver from this kind of scarce funds to buy arms, the operation is not easy.
How much money is given to the Haihan people here will be deducted from their own military expenditures. If nearly one-third of the current month's military expenditures are to be deducted at once, I am afraid that it will cause even greater problems before the war begins. of chaos. Not only did Zheng Ting dare not bear the blame, but his old man Zheng Bai couldn't bear it either. Therefore, Zheng Ting did not agree to Qian Tiandun's slightly rough sales pitch, but began to negotiate with the other party in circles.
The two discussed for half an hour, and finally reached an agreement to purchase 200 rounds of new artillery shells for 3,800 taels of silver. In addition, as a subsidy of the agreement and the goodwill of the Hai Han military, the North Vietnamese military can borrow a number of offshore boats from Yong'an Port to participate in cross-river operations - of course, the North Vietnamese military needs to provide its own sailors, and this does not even require a note on the agreement by both parties. . This is not because there are not enough sailors in Yong'an Port, but every manpower provided by Haihan costs money. If he is injured or killed in battle, he will have to bear the cost of treatment and pension. This is not A situation the North Vietnamese military wanted to see. Although no additional rent was charged for these ships borrowed from Port Victory, if they were damaged or even sunk during the battle, the North Vietnamese military would still have to pay for them.
There is nothing that can be done about it. The North Vietnamese military does not have many ships, so it is somewhat reluctant to use them for cross-river operations. However, the Haihan people have recently captured hundreds of large and small ships from Hoi An, and they are the only ones who can borrow them. The object of the ship. Zheng Ting almost fled Yong'an Port, because after talking about it, Qian Tiandun actually took the initiative to bring up the plan to send troops to assist the North Vietnamese military in combat, which scared Zheng Ting and left Yong'an Port quickly, because military expenses could no longer afford this. The expenses for a sky-high mercenary army.
Zheng Ting was speechless about the money-obsessed style of the Haihan people. Fortunately, the visit finally achieved its goal, buying new artillery shells and borrowing ships needed for crossing the river. Although he was slightly ripped off by Qian Tiandun, if this battle can successfully break the natural chasm of Zhengjiang and allow the North Vietnamese troops to re-enter the border south of Zhengjiang, it will be a great achievement, and the court will not He will have trouble with the generals leading the front line because of this small military expenditure of several thousand taels.
However, as part of the military assistance plan, the Haihan Militia also sent an advisory team to the front line of Jiangjiang as a military observer. This advisory group does not directly participate in the battle, but only provides reference opinions for the military operations of the North Vietnamese Army. Of course, the most important task is to more intuitively grasp the current military strength and battlefield trends of the warring parties, so as to provide guidance for the Central Military Commission's future decision-making. information.
After another five days of careful preparation, on September 2, the North Vietnamese army launched a cross-river attack southward without warning.
Hundreds of large and small ships loaded with more than 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers on the coast a few miles north of the Zhengjiang estuary. They sailed into the Zhengjiang estuary when the sky was dark and rushed directly to the south bank. The width of the river here is only about a hundred feet. Before the South Vietnamese army sentries could fully react, the flat-bottomed boats of the vanguard had already washed up on the beach.
The soldiers scrambled to lift the six-pound cannon and shells loaded on the ship, and began to set up a beachhead according to the predetermined battle plan. Only then did the South Vietnamese defenders realize that it was the North Vietnamese army that had launched a landing battle. While warning, they dispatched a small force to attack the North Vietnamese army's beachhead, trying to drive the unsteady North Vietnamese army into the sea.
The South Vietnamese troops who rashly stepped forward to fight were attacked by muskets and sporadic artillery shells about 70 to 80 feet away from the beachhead, and quickly retreated after leaving more than 30 corpses behind. At this time, the first batch of ships that docked had already begun to leave the shore and returned to the north of the Yangtze River to pick up the next batch of troops crossing the river.
Of course, the South Vietnamese defenders knew what it would mean to lose the Jiangjiang defense line, so they mobilized the elite troops of the defenders in a very short period of time and launched another attack on the beachhead troops. This time, among the troops, there was a new army that used muskets and artillery to fight.
At this time, the number of North Vietnamese troops on the river bank was only three to four hundred, and they had no firepower advantage at all when facing an enemy ten times their size. Fortunately, their commander was also someone who had studied in Victory Port. At the beginning of the landing, he used the terrain and some wooden boards carried on the ship to erect a simple parapet as a cover.
Although this kind of simple cover facility is completely unable to block artillery shells and close-range musket fire, it can still play a certain protective role at a longer distance-at least it will provide some psychological comfort to the soldiers. At this critical time, the new artillery shells that the North Vietnamese Army spent a lot of money to purchase from the Haihan people finally began to play their due role.
Although there were only four six-pound cannons in the first batch to land, when these four cannons were loaded with new shells and fired one after another at the rushing enemy troops, they were very effective in mitigating the opponent's offensive. As Zheng Ting expected, in the face of such artillery shells with a huge area of destruction, it is difficult for an army to maintain a dense formation and rush within a distance of thirty to forty feet.
The vast majority of South Vietnamese soldiers fell down at a distance of about fifty feet, and they fell in pieces accompanied by the roar of artillery. Even the South Vietnamese soldiers who rushed over sporadically between artillery firings could not escape the hundreds of muskets. of horizontal volleys. Although the South Vietnamese Army invested a large amount of troops to attack this small beachhead from the beginning, it did not achieve the desired results. If the muskets used by the South Vietnamese Army wanted to hit individual targets at this distance, they could only rely on luck. There were only two small cannons with a firing frequency of once every two minutes. The shells fired occasionally penetrated the simple breastworks on the beachhead, taking away the lives of a few unlucky people.
However, the development of the war situation did not give the South Vietnamese army the opportunity to slowly wear down the opponent's strength. As the number of ships docked continued to increase, the strength of the beachhead quickly doubled from three to four hundred people. More artillery pieces were unloaded from the ships and pushed to gun emplacements on the beachhead.
(End of chapter)