Chapter 710 Cleaning the battlefield
Penghu Island is only more than twenty miles deep in the east-west and north-south directions. The terrain on the island is flat, with almost no undulating terrain of ravines and hills with large differences. Therefore, there is basically no place on the island that can be defended against danger. When the Dutch resisted the Ming army here, they only relied on their superiority in guns and weapons. Although Shibazhi inherited the stronghold and fortifications left by the Dutch, they did not have the same level of weapons and equipment as the Dutch. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong gave up his plan to use Penghu as the battlefield for the final decisive battle very early. Through the two battles on Nanri Island last year, he already knew that the gap between his own strength and the Haihan Militia could not be bridged by the right location and people.
Qian Tiandun did not choose to stay at the headquarters today, but went to the front line to command in person. He didn't like and wasn't good at sitting in the rear, so it was better to leave it to Yan Chujie to take control.
"This is really like when we were chasing South Vietnamese deserters in Annan." Qian Tiandun looked at the rows of prisoners tied up with long ropes and said with emotion.
After the city of Hue was captured, tens of thousands of South Vietnamese soldiers were captured inside and outside the city. They were bundled into long strings and escorted to prisoner-of-war camps as they are now. However, the size of the troops Qian Tiandun led at that time was far from what it is now, and Gao Qiaonan was just an ordinary soldier under him, but now he has become the battalion commander of Qian Tiandun's ace troops because of his repeated military exploits.
"This battle is much easier than when we fought Hue!" Gao Qiaonan didn't have that much emotion. For him, it was actually a little disappointing to win Penghu so easily.
Before the war started, the staff estimated the difficulty of this battle to be relatively high because it required a cross-sea landing, and the opponent was not as helpless at sea as the original South Vietnam. As a unit stationed in Fujian last year, the original Annan Special War Battalion where Gao Qiaonan was located, which is now the Fujian Special War Battalion, will definitely be appointed as the leading unit. Therefore, in the first few months of the first half of this year Here, Gao Qiaonan's troops conducted many amphibious landing trainings on Kinmen Island and nearby coastal areas, and prepared response plans for various possible situations.
Everyone in the battalion was ready for a tough battle, but they didn't expect that when it was the Army's turn to take the stage, there was nothing left to do. The people who were stranded on the island and had not had time to evacuate were almost all stragglers, and these people were on the scene. It is obviously difficult to escape the waves in front of a special operations battalion that is armed to the teeth. Wherever the soldiers pointed, their defenses were defeated almost effortlessly. Compared with the original battle in Annan, the casualties in this round of encirclement and suppression of the remaining bandits on the island were much lower. So far, the Army has not reported any deaths in battle.
Although low battle losses are a good thing, there is no tough battle to fight, which means that the Army cannot make any great achievements in this operation. Of course, when the military calculated the military merits afterwards, the army generals would definitely have to argue with the navy. If the navy had not been delayed by two waves of pirate ships, the army would not have been unable to get oil and water after landing.
Zheng Zhilong had obviously carefully planned his evacuation plan. He did not leave many valuable things on the island, not even much food. Gao Qiaonan's men searched the two strongholds they captured, but they couldn't find anything valuable at all. They were not even as big as when they cleared Shibazhi's dens in the Pearl River Estuary area.
"What a huge loss!" Yan Chujie checked the seized materials counted by the logistics department at the temporary headquarters set up in Magong Port. He couldn't help but sighed: "The grain is less than three thousand kilograms, the silver is more than two thousand taels, and the small gold bars are two Ten pieces of red coral, two pieces of red coral, and more than 400 large and small pearls... These things are not even enough to mobilize the troops from Hainan! If someone here in Fujian hadn't paid for it, we would have lost this battle. Back home!”
Wang Tom responded with a smile: "Xu Xinsu is quite knowledgeable. I just asked Xu Jia to come and inform us that 50,000 kilograms of rice will be transported from Fujian to here within three days. In addition, there are also construction craftsmen we need, and they have already We have gathered 800 people and will send them along with the food and grass when the time comes.”
"You said this, I remembered it. Have the people from the Ministry of Construction arrived?" Yan Chujie asked: "It's easy to settle the troops' accommodation. At worst, they can just use tents in the near future, but the renovation of the port still needs to be done by the Ministry of Construction. Only if someone comes to host it”
"The preliminary project will not be very big. I went to the port this morning and found that the conditions can still be used. Only a small part needs to be renovated." Wang Tom comforted: "I will send a telegram to Kinmen Island later. They arranged for someone to come over as soon as possible.”
Due to well-known reasons, Haihan's current temporary station on Kinmen Island is not a long-term solution. There are many inconveniences in Haihan's military training or material transportation, and the Fujian government certainly does not trust that this powerful armed force will be stationed for a long time. Near the gateway to the sea under the rule. In the past, there was the external threat of Shibazhi, and Haihan's garrison was undoubtedly a protective umbrella. However, after Shibazhi was expelled from the Taiwan Strait, this protective umbrella may gradually change in the eyes of the Fujian officials.
In the pre-war agreement, the two sides had agreed that after regaining Penghu, it would be handed over to Haihan as a concession to operate. Haihan could establish a free trading port here and station armed forces. For the Fujian government, at least the attitude of the Haihan people towards the Ming Dynasty has always been very "friendly", and they have spared no effort to support Fujian's war against the Shibazhi. It is better to hand over this place to Haihan than It would be much safer if it fell into the hands of Shibazhi or the Dutch.
Having said that, the Dutch still have a stronghold on Taiwan Island. Although the two sides have reached an armistice agreement, the existence of Damuan Port is still a threat to the Fujian coast. Penghu is located right between Taiyuan Port and Fujian. After the Haihan people settled here, it was definitely impossible for the Dutch to cross Penghu and take military action against Fujian. From this perspective, Haihan's occupation of Penghu is equivalent to expanding the original protective umbrella.
On May 2, the coalition forces captured more than 2,800 prisoners on Penghu Island, and killed and injured more than 400 people during the battle. The Fujian Navy, which was responsible for cleaning up nearby islands, also made small gains and captured more than 300 prisoners. The coalition forces suffered only a small number of casualties during this process, and several of those killed were from the Ming Army. The Haihan Militia was lucky enough to have only a few wounded.
After a whole day of counting, the preliminary results of the coalition forces' attack on Penghu Island the day before were finally calculated. In two naval battles yesterday, the coalition fleet sank and damaged more than 60 enemy ships and captured more than 80 ships. Since a considerable number of Shibazhi personnel who died in the naval battle have sunk into the sea along with the ship, the specific number of casualties has been difficult to calculate. However, based on rough estimates of the conditions of the sunk and damaged ships, Shibazhi was killed yesterday. At least thousands of lives were lost in the two naval battles. Of course, the sacrifice of these people in exchange for the escape of the main force of Shibazhi is actually a good deal for Shibazhi. If these two fleets hadn't slowed down their progress, the number of people stuck on Penghu Island might not have been three or four thousand, but tens of thousands. Although the final interception and killing effect was not particularly satisfactory and did not fully achieve the strike effect planned before the war, judging from the battle loss ratio, the coalition forces have indeed taken a big advantage, and they have indeed taken advantage of Shibazhi's attack. The strength caused a certain blow. In the two naval battles on the first day alone, Shibazhi had already lost more than 50% of its armed warships. At least in a short period of time, it may be difficult for the Shibazhi to return to the level of force they had in their heyday.
On May 3, the Army continued its mission of cleaning up and hunting down the island, and the two fleets sent to pursue Shibazhi the day before also returned on this day. They caught up with the last batch of Shibazhi's fleet leaving Penghu Island in the afternoon of the previous day, and a small-scale battle broke out at sea.
Of course, the Haihan fleet with two "Dignity-class" battleships would not suffer at all in this confrontation. In the short confrontation, more than ten ships of the other side were left behind, more than half of which were seriously damaged and no one was left. can be taken back to Penghu. Shi Diwen conducted a surprise interrogation of the prisoners on the way back, and further determined that Shibazhi's destination was Miyako Island in the Ryukyu Islands.
Although this kind of performance is not outstanding in this battle, it is enough to make the Army jealous. Three battalions of the army turned over the land on Penghu Island and only captured 3,000 remnants of pirates who had lost the motivation to resist. Most of them were old, weak, sick and disabled, and were not even worth working as coolies. big. The looted property was extremely limited, and Yan Chujie and Qian Tiandun looked down upon it at all.
"You shouldn't have left so much time for Shiba Zhi!" Qian Tiandun sighed. He has given up supervising operations on the front line and returned to the Magong Port temporary headquarters, because the current situation does not require him to monitor the front line at all. Gao Qiaonan is enough to handle the situation on the island.
There is no place for too many people to hide on Penghu Island, and the remnants of the pirates who fled in a hurry have no food rations at all. Even if the coalition forces do not conduct a large-scale manhunt on the island, these people will have to surrender on their own if it takes a while. In fact, starting from the afternoon of May 3, some pirates who had luckily avoided being hunted in the first two days also came out of their hiding places on their own. They had also realized that the enemy troops attacking Penghu this time would probably not withdraw and would continue to hide. If you go down, you will either be caught by the enemy, or you will starve to death in the wilderness.
"It seems that I can return to the court earlier than scheduled." Yan Chujie's tone was also slightly disappointed. If he had known that Shibazhi was so defenseless, Haihan should have moved forward the time of the general attack.
However, not everyone hopes for a big fight. Xu Xinsu hopes to end the war in Penghu as soon as possible and withdraw the large troops to Fujian. There are currently more than 10,000 coalition troops and logistics personnel in Penghu, and a large amount of supplies are consumed every day. Moreover, there is nothing in Penghu except seafood, and most of the daily necessities have to be constantly transported from the mainland, which is also a huge trouble for Xu Xinsu. The largest group of ships in his transport fleet had gone south to Sanya a few days ago, preparing to transport combat supplies to the Haihan Militia. However, the battle was over before the supplies came back.
For Xu Xinsu, almost all his troops and transportation capacity were invested in this battle. Although he is also prepared for the follow-up, if he can reduce unnecessary investment, he still hopes to save a little for himself. After all, only half of the funds for this battle were spent from the Fujian government's finances, and the other half were funds raised from the private sector in various names, of which more than half came from the Xu family. As for the combat expenses paid to the Haihan side, they all came from his pocket. If the Haihan militia did not announce the end of the operation for one day, he would have to pay for another day. This is definitely very painful for a businessman. Buy and sell.
Therefore, before Yan Chujie could think clearly about whether he really wanted to withdraw the large forces in advance, Xu Xinsu came to the door to act as a lobbyist in person: "General Yan, since Shibazhi has emptied Penghu and chose to withdraw to Ryukyu, it must be It is no longer possible to go to great lengths to fight back. Now that the island has settled down and the remaining pirates are almost captured, is it possible to consider evacuating the troops to the mainland to save the daily sea transportation between the two places? "< br>
Of course Yan Chujie understood Xu Xinsu's voice and responded with a smile: "Master Xu has also been tired these days. I think so, our troops will rest here for two days and then break camp and return to Sanya. Master Xu only needs to provide The food supplies we need on the way are enough. As for evacuating to the mainland, there is no need. After all, we have brought our troops to Fujian to fight, so our home is a bit empty. It is safer to go back early. ”
What Xu Xinsu was most afraid of was that it was easy to ask gods but difficult to send them away. Yan Chujie expressed his position so readily that a big stone in his heart was immediately relieved: "I will order people to prepare and deliver all the materials needed for your army's return journey within two days." Come to Penghu. As for the ownership of this place, it will be implemented according to the previously agreed regulations. However, in order to explain it to the court, an inspection department will be set up here, and General Wang Yan will know.”
Yan Chujie nodded and said: "This is understandable. After all, this is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and it is appropriate to set up a government office for management. Mr. Xu has also been to Sanya. Do you think the local Yulin Inspection Department is also operating? Do you want to set up Penghu here? There is no problem with the inspection department. Mr. Xu, just appoint an inspection envoy to come over, and we will provide you with good food and drink.”
Yan Chujie seemed to be polite, but in fact he was also imposing conditions on Xu Xinsu - he could set up an inspection department, but it must be operated according to Yulin's model, and he shouldn't bring anyone else here, just an official to show off. It’s enough to be passable on face.
(End of chapter)