Chapter 909 advances smoothly
Every armed force that fights against Haihan will face the same problem, that is, how to advance to the fighting distance within its capabilities under the salvo of Haihan rifles. Generally speaking, most of the opponents Haihan encounters will be completely defeated fifty meters away, because it is difficult for ordinary bows, arrows and firecrackers to have a relatively high hit rate at this distance, and Haihan's rifles are all Shooting is fatal. Moreover, the firing frequency of this salvo tactic is extremely fast, leaving almost no breathing room for the opponent.
In order to accurately convey tactical instructions on the noisy battlefield, the Haihan Militia will ask the commander to use a copper whistle to issue orders when shooting in a rotating formation. Accompanied by the sharp copper whistle, every tactical movement of the soldiers will be coordinated. When this whistle reaches the ears of the opponent, it is like a reminder, and its intimidating power sometimes even exceeds the sound of gunfire.
Most of the Eighteen Shiba Yu Party members fighting on Miyako Island at this time had fought against the Haihan Militia before they evacuated Penghu last year, so they naturally have fresh memories of this kind of whistle. There was a whistle on the Haihan position, and many of the pirates who were charging towards this area suddenly slowed down reflexively.
Their opponent was the Fourth Company of the First Battalion of the Haihan Militia, which was also one of the earliest units established in the militia. The company was commanded by Yu Tiezhu, a highly experienced naturalized officer in the militia.
Yu Tiezhu can be regarded as one of the first Ming people to join Haihan. The poor fishermen in Yulin Fishing Village have basically become successful now. Father and son Yu Dashan and Yu Xiaobao, who are related to him, are now both He became a senior cadre in different departments of Haihan. And Yu Tiezhu himself has been promoted to the position of captain and company commander relying on the military exploits accumulated in these years of fighting in the north and south. ,
Before this departure, Wang Tom had already talked to him on behalf of the top brass of the Military Commission, and after the mission was completed, a one-month refresher course would be arranged. Yu Tiezhu had been in the Haihan Army for a long time, so he naturally understood the meaning of further training. He guessed that the superiors were considering promoting him again. With his current position, the next step up will be a battalion-level cadre. At this level, he will have the opportunity to participate in the process of formulating combat plans by the Military Commission and the General Staff. It can be said to be a watershed for the officer class. Currently, there are only a few naturalized officers above this dividing line, including Gao Qiaonan and Wu Sen. This is exactly what Yu Tiezhu is trying to catch up with.
Of course, there is another necessary prerequisite for whether Yu Tiezhu can successfully get promoted in the future, that is, he should perform in a manner consistent with his status in this operation. The fourth company of the 1st Battalion he led was a veteran company in the Haihan Militia. This time, it was assigned the task of spearheading the landing in the battle to seize the island. As long as it could open a gap on the coastline of Miyako Island, it would provide a way for subsequent troops to land. With the first beachhead established, Yu Tiezhu's mission can be declared successfully completed.
Facing the pirates' counterattack, Yu Tiezhu didn't panic at all. He knew very well that these pirates were fierce and evil, and they looked menacing, but as soon as Haihan's attack was launched, the other side would soon fall apart.
Yu Tiezhu put the copper whistle in his mouth and blew it hard. The soldiers in the first row immediately raised their guns and aimed forward. After Yu Tiezhu confirmed that all personnel had completed their tactical actions, he immediately blew the first whistle. After the second strike, there was a sudden burst of gunfire, and a cloud of smoke caused by burning gunpowder rose in front of the array. The soldiers who finished shooting immediately gave up their positions and retreated from the gap in the queue to the back, while the soldiers in the back row stepped forward to fill the vacant shooting positions. Every soldier has practiced this position-changing tactical action hundreds of times before setting foot on the battlefield to ensure that they will be able to move safely even in the dark of night or in a completely unfamiliar formation. Can complete this action accurately.
The muscle response formed by long-term training will allow soldiers to ignore the dangers on the battlefield and focus on completing tactical actions. The shooting accuracy of the rifle is limited. Haihan's solution is to make up for the lack of accuracy by shooting more frequently and intensively. And if the opponent who enters the range happens to maintain a relatively dense formation, then the killing effect will be greatly improved.
When the first group of people who rushed in front fell to the ground with the sound of brass whistles and gunfire, the pirates suddenly realized that what they were doing was no different from committing suicide, although at this time, the shooting of Haihan soldiers had not yet hit them. They caused too many casualties, but the intermittent sharp whistles on the Haihan position soon destroyed the pirates' will to fight. Every whistle blowing is inevitably accompanied by oncoming bullets. Even those who are not shot will feel that they are on the verge of death.
This group of pirates who were sent to the coast to snipe Haihan's landing, after a brief confrontation with Haihan's advanced troops who had landed, retreated in panic, leaving behind more than a dozen corpses. However, this group of people probably knew that they would not be able to communicate if they retreated like this, so after retreating for about a mile, they stopped and began to reorganize their formation in an attempt to launch another wave of attacks.
However, this struggle still seemed very futile. The Haihan militia did not waste too much time on the beach, but continued to move forward after stopping for a while. Since the pirates did not deploy long-range weapons such as artillery near the landing point, there was no need for the vanguard to stay on the beach to build a position. The warships at sea were enough to provide fire cover for the landing infantry, because the fourth company led by Tiezhu pressed straight to the southeast. As soon as the pirates gathered the scattered people, Yu Tiezhu's troops were already chasing them. No matter how loudly the pirate leader yelled, it was still difficult to stop the collapse.
Although the pirates were mentally prepared to fight Haihan to the death before the war, when the situation came to a close, most of them still chose to escape because of their survival instinct. Although they also knew very well that this kind of escape would not actually escape the island, but there would always be a chance of survival if they escaped. If they continued to fight the Haihan people here, they would probably go to see the King of Hell soon.
By 5 p.m., the Haihan landing force had advanced about five miles inland from the coastline, and had cleared a safe landing site on the northwest coast of Miyako Island, allowing transport ships to transport supplies and some heavy-duty equipment. Equipment is transferred ashore. During this period, although Shibazhi also organized several counterattacks, they all failed and no actual results were achieved. However, Shibazhi also showed relatively restraint in this battle and did not fight to the death with Haihan. Although there were some casualties in the afternoon battle, they were not so severe.
Wang Tom saw that it was getting dark and it was too risky to attack at night, so he ordered his troops to withdraw and stationed on the coast first. Shibazhi didn't seem to be interested in fighting fiercely all night. When he saw Haihan retreating and not pursuing him, he quickly took the time to retreat and rest. Of course, Wang Tom did not relax his vigilance. He still sent several ships around the northeast side of the island to intercept pirate ships that might escape. And this measure was not in vain. Before dark, there was a burst of gunfire from the ocean east of Miyako Island. News came back about an hour later that the patrol ship sank a fleeing pirate ship at sea and captured more than twenty survivors. As for the number of people who sank to the bottom of the sea with the ship, it is unknown.
The military interrogated the prisoners captured today overnight. Two things must be confirmed as soon as possible. One is the opponent's strength and deployment, and the other is whether Zheng Zhilong is still on the island. To the military's relief, they learned from the prisoners' confessions that the number one target, Zheng Zhilong, was still on the island and seemed to have no intention of escaping again. However, these low-level personnel cannot tell how the Shibazhi currently arranges its troops, how to resist Haihan's offensive, and how many troops are available. Many of them are not good at numbers at all, and there are thousands of them. In short, it is an astronomical fantasy figure. The information provided is too inaccurate and has little reference value.
Although the information he had was very limited, Wang Tom still relentlessly called together officers above the company level and held a combat preparation meeting to discuss the next day's combat plan. The difficulties faced by the Haihan militia are actually similar to those in the past. The opponent is not strong. However, due to the limitations of its own military strength, Haihan cannot fully deploy on the battlefield and can only focus on attacking some strategic points. The terrain on Miyako Island is mainly plains with almost no ups and downs, which brings great convenience to the attackers. The only troublesome thing is that there is not even a decent loess official road on the island. If the artillery troops and supplies go deep into the inland, it will take a lot of manpower and time.
However, the desire of the participating troops to fight is very strong. In the past year, Haihan has engaged in many foreign wars, but the scale of the battles is not large. Almost all the wars have been taken over by the special operations battalion led by Qian Tiandun. This is for the needs It is not a good thing for officers who rely on accumulated military exploits to gain promotion opportunities. Seeing that Takahashi Minami, who only joined the army in 1628, has been promoted to the position of commander of the special operations battalion, while veterans like Yu Tiezhu, who joined the army earlier, are slightly slower in promotion, it would be a lie to say that he is not in a hurry. . This attack on Miyako Island is undoubtedly a good opportunity to gain military glory. How to capture Miyako Island quickly and reliably and capture Zheng Zhilong and other bandit leaders is what the officers are most concerned about. As for combat, There are specific difficulties that need to be overcome in the process. Officers will not let these trivial problems block the opportunity to display their talents.
"The artillery can be dismantled first, put on a flatbed truck and transported inland, and then assembled and used before combat. Although it will take a while, but now we have no animals to use to drag the artillery, so we can only use this stupid method." Artillery commander Long Ping first expressed his attitude. This means that even if transportation is troublesome, our artillery unit still has to participate in this battle. Don't think of leaving us on the beach to play by ourselves. Long Ping enlisted in the army in 1628. He was also one of the first artillerymen of the Haihan Militia who served in Yulinjiao Fort that year, and his qualifications were not young.
"There are no surface armed forces available in Shibazhi. The navy can also send some ashore to participate in the war." Navy Lieutenant Xie Li, who was afraid of falling behind, also hurriedly expressed his opinion. This time he served as Tom Wang's deputy. There were some things that Tom Wang was not comfortable saying, so he, his deputy, had to watch the right time to express his opinions on his behalf. Since the attack on Miyako Island was led by Navy Commander Wang Tom, it was naturally led by the Navy. If the Army finally took all the benefits, it would be a loss for the Navy. Naturally, Wang Tom was too powerful to make such an announcement in person. At this time, it was time for Xie Li to come out and fight for the interests of the navy.
"Old Xie, you look so ugly!" Yu Tiezhu couldn't understand Xie Li's intention, so he quickly said: "The army should do the work on land, and besides, with these 18 Zhi There were no casualties, so we don’t need to replenish our troops yet.”
Xie Li glared and said, "I saw several people from your company being carried off on stretchers today."
"What do you mean there are several people? There are only two minor injuries. Just bandage them and they'll be fine. It's not as serious as you said!" Yu Tiezhu quickly defended.
Although the Fourth Company under the command of Tiezhu had the upper hand in today's battle with Shiba Zhi, Shiba Zhi was not without the power to fight back. The archers and musketeers stood in the distance and fired a shot, but they were still injured. The people who arrived at Haihan. Fortunately, the injuries of the injured were under control and there were no casualties. According to combat regulations, such a battle loss ratio does not require the deployment of reserve troops to supplement.
Wang Tom saw these guys vying for credit and was about to quarrel, so he quickly stopped them: "What we are discussing now is tomorrow's battle plan, not your distribution of military credits after the war!"
After Wang Tom issued a reminder, the discussion direction returned to the tactical level. Island offensive and defensive battles in this era are not too difficult, especially when the strength and fighting will of both sides are seriously unbalanced. The outcome is no longer the biggest suspense in this war. In the end, it depends on the Haihan Militia during the battle. What a price to pay.
At the same time, in a small town twenty miles away from Haihan's headquarters, Zheng Zhilong was also holding a meeting with his subordinates to discuss countermeasures. In fact, from the moment the Haihan people set foot on Miyako Island, everyone understood that all resistance was in vain. Even if they could kill some Haihan people in the battle, there was no way to defeat this powerful opponent, let alone change the Eighteenth Century. Zhi's imminent destruction. The reason why they did not escape was because they had nowhere to escape. The reason why they did not surrender was because they wanted to see the final attitude of the leader Zheng Zhilong. If Zheng Zhilong still insists on fighting to the death, then most of them will probably follow him to the end. After all, after being captured by the Haihan people, he will be handed over to the Fujian government. If he falls into the hands of Xu Xinsu, he will inevitably die.
(End of chapter)