Chapter 1030 Hope Oilfield (4)
This wave of attacks launched by the natives did not bring any substantial trouble to the Haihan Army. On the contrary, they were wiped out in an instant. The Haihan camp seems to be exposed in the open, but in fact it is a trap that is difficult for the opponent to detect. Moreover, Morgan and others have already determined their attitude towards dealing with the natives, and have no intention of leaving the opponent any chance to struggle and resist. Once launched, It's just thunderous and shows no mercy.
After the short battle, the soldiers quickly cleaned up the fighting area outside the camp, killing 17 people on the spot and capturing 38 alive. However, two-thirds of the prisoners captured alive were injured, ranging from minor to serious, and it is still unclear how many of them will survive. Although Morgan is a licensed doctor, he will not waste his precious time and energy treating the injuries of these prisoners who are of little use. He must seize the time to conduct surprise interrogations on the prisoners to find out who came to touch them in broad daylight. Who are the natives in the camp and whether they have any other tricks.
Before determining the offensive strategy of the natives, Morgan did not dare to relax his vigilance for the time being. He still ordered his troops to continue to maintain combat readiness and take turns to be responsible for vigilance. In addition to Liu Shanxia continuing to direct the engineering team to build the camp, Bai Kesi and Tian Yeyou also participated in the interrogation of prisoners.
However, they soon discovered that this job was far more troublesome than commanding their subordinates to build a camp. Although they had Tainan natives who had taken refuge in Haihan as translators, they still had to deal with these trembling natives who were already a little delirious with fear. Communication is still a very difficult thing. The interrogation lasted until dark, when the three of them gathered together to summarize the situation, and finally used the fragmented information given by the prisoners to piece together the general situation of the matter.
These natives indeed belong to the tribe discovered by Morgan in the upper reaches of Houlong River. Their tribe is called Dajia Society. How long this tribe has existed in the local area, these natives who have no clear chronology cannot tell clearly, but it is said that the birthplace of three generations of old people is the current location of the tribe. However, these natives of Dajia She are also illiterate like the previously captured natives of Maoli She, and they do not have clear units of weights and measures. They cannot make specific and accurate information on the most critical information such as the tribe's population size and the scope of daily activities. description.
Fortunately for Tian Yeyou, he has been in the gold mines of Taipei for almost a year. He has fought with the local indigenous tribes for several rounds, and he has a better understanding of the problems of the natives. But Bai Kesi rarely leaves Hainan Island. This is his first contact with Taiwanese natives. This congenital defect makes him dumbfounded. It seems that as Tian Yeyou once said, these captured native captives really have no other use besides being thrown into the mines as coolies.
However, this interrogation did clarify a question that has troubled Morgan for many days, that is, why there are no boats from the indigenous tribes on Houlong River - the canoes of Dajia Society have not been launched recently due to the rainy season, because once As the rapid water of Houlong River reaches the lower reaches, it becomes difficult to row the boat back to the upper reaches of the mountainous area by human power. The reason is actually quite simple, it's just that Morgan didn't think of that level for a while.
The people of Dajia Society had already noticed these outsiders intruding into their territory when Yu Yao led his team to inspect the mountains last month. However, at that time, the team led by Yu Yao only stayed on the river bank of Chushuangkeng. They evacuated in two days, so the natives did not have a direct conflict with them. A few days ago, Morgan once again led a team to investigate here, and also destroyed a hunting trap set by Dajia Club hunters in the mountains, which once again attracted the attention of the natives.
From that time on, Dajia Society deployed manpower in the mountains to monitor the movements of the valley. The reason why we did not go to the lower reaches of Houlong River to track down the origin of this group of uninvited guests is because the boundary drawn between Dajia Society and Maoli Society is the junction of the mountainous area and the valley plain outside the mountain. After exiting the mountain along Houlong River, This is Maolishe's territory. Breaking in rashly will inevitably cause unnecessary trouble.
Sure enough, within a few days, Haihan's large army broke into the place again and began to cut down the surrounding forests and build camps. It seemed that they would take root for a long time. Naturally, Dajia Society would not turn a blind eye to the intruders. This morning, they sent a team of people to the hillside near the Haihan camp to detect the enemy's movements. However, they never thought that this opponent would also set up guard posts in the mountains and take action. One person was injured, and the remaining people panicked and fled all the way back to the tribe without daring to resist.
When the elders of the Dajia Society heard that they had taken action, and that there were still people on their side in front of the formation, they naturally refused to give up. They immediately organized some of the young men in the tribe, took weapons and rushed here again. . However, these natives did not have much planning in doing things. They only wanted to start a war. However, they did not have any detailed battle plan on how to defeat an opponent whose strength was unknown. That is to say, after arriving at a place, relying on one's familiarity with the terrain, he just went to touch the place nearby. But Haihan had already set up a trap and waited. Their primitive attack method ended up not even touching the gate of the camp, and they were beaten to pieces by continuous volleys of musketry.
Battle plan? No. Follow-up plan? is zero. If we had to say what kind of backup plan the natives had prepared, it would be to leave two and a half young men in the forest so that they could run back and report in time if something happened. However, due to the loud noise during the previous battle, those who stayed in the woods must have been frightened and fled. It's not a big deal if someone escapes to report the news, but I don't know if the Dajia Club still has enough courage and manpower to organize the next round of offensive.
Although the Turkish offensive was defeated relatively easily this time, Morgan could not confirm from the prisoners' confessions whether they would come back again. Theoretically speaking, this possibility is very high. After all, Haihan's move was a cruel move, and the hatred between the two parties should be unlikely to be resolved. If Dajia Society does not intend to give in and move far away from this place, it will definitely continue to look for opportunities to seek revenge on Haihan. And Morgan cannot just sit back and watch a time bomb that may explode at any time placed so close to the Hope Oil Field. Sooner or later, he will have to take the initiative to send troops to eliminate the hidden danger. However, there is only one company in the garrison at the moment. If we divide the troops, it will inevitably make the defense of our camp weak.
"Old Bai, what do you think? Should we take action as soon as possible, or wait until the camp is settled?" The action plan was related to the safety of the camp. Morgan could no longer make the decision without authorization, so he took the initiative to seek Bai Kesi's opinion.
Bai Kesi did not think about it for too long before making a decision: "Safety comes first, safety first. Our overall strength has an absolute advantage, and the longer we settle here, the greater the advantage. There is no need to take risks to grab this opportunity." Timing. I think we can mobilize troops into the mountain after the camp is stabilized and take down this Dajia Society in one fell swoop.”
Tian Yeyou has been dealing with the natives on the island of Taiwan for a longer time, but he is not as optimistic about this as Bai Kesi: "Mr. Bai, the best we can do is to expel them from this area. It is difficult to achieve the goal of eradicating the indigenous tribes."
Baikes said: "We are not trying to drive out all the natives. As long as they stay far away from here and do not hinder the production and operation of our oil fields. There are more than 80 kilometers of mountainous areas from here to the east coast. They can move wherever they want. Okay." Tian Yeyou smiled and did not answer his words. Although the mountainous areas on the island of Taiwan are large, they are not all unclaimed land. Those areas with better terrain have often been occupied by tribes for a long time. For example, the river valley where Dajia Society is located is where three water veins meet. It is definitely a golden treasure in the mountainous area. If they are forced to move away, it may be difficult to find a place with similar conditions. Besides, the hasty relocation of these indigenous tribes is unlikely to have the mobilization ability of Haihan to arrange colonial operations, transporting all the necessary materials to the destination at any cost. If they are expelled from their homes, the fate of these indigenous tribes is likely to be no worse than being expelled. How good are the captured compatriots?
Bai Kesi has lived in Sanya for a long time, and the indigenous people he has come into contact with are at most the semi-Chinese Li and Miao ethnic groups on Hainan Island, and they are basically naturalized people. He does not know much about the cruel competition in the living environment of this era, and Tian Yeyou I don't want to reveal the inside story to him, lest if he becomes sympathetic after hearing this, the matter will be difficult to handle.
Of course, it is understandable that Bai Kesi strives for safety. After all, ensuring the smooth progress of the oil field mining work is the first priority of this team, and when the existing troops are not large, it is indeed risky to divide the troops to go to unfamiliar areas to clear out the indigenous tribes. There are certain risks, and Baikes probably doesn't want to bear this responsibility, whether it's public or private.
Since no action will be taken against Dajia Society for the time being, it is hoped that the existing troops in the oil field camp can only remain on alert and wait for the subsequent arrival of materials and personnel before planning the next move. Although the fleet had already embarked on its return journey before today's incident, the next batch of supplies and personnel will probably have to wait until tomorrow night at the earliest. Baix specially sent a telegram to Yu Yao who was stationed at the coastal camp, asking him to arrange more loggers among the next group of people entering the mountain, so as to speed up the clearing of forests here.
By evening, seven more of the captured prisoners died of their injuries. Morgan asked the soldiers to take several uninjured prisoners to the river beach outside the camp to dig a big hole overnight and dig all the corpses of the natives. Buried in. In order to prevent the natives from causing trouble again at night, Morgan specially doubled the number of night sentries and had the lights in the camp be extinguished early to avoid exposing the target in the dark. Morgan also kept vigil until two o'clock in the morning, and then took a break with Tian Yeyou.
However, perhaps it was the tragic losses during the day that made Dajiashe temporarily unable to recover. The natives did not take any action that night, and the night was uneventful. The next morning, without warning, another warning came. However, this time the incident occurred not near the oil field camp, but from the No. 2 River Bend stronghold ten miles away.
Because the Ministry of National Defense attaches great importance to this operation, almost all military supplies are over-provisioned. Even advanced equipment such as radios are no exception. Therefore, the No. 1 and No. 2 strongholds along the Houlong River are also equipped with Station required for transmission. It is precisely because of this advanced equipment that the oil field camp was able to receive the alarm information from the No. 2 stronghold more than ten miles away at the first time.
There is currently a platoon of Army troops stationed at Stronghold No. 2. The sentry discovered about a dozen unidentified people wandering nearby early in the morning. After learning about it, the platoon leader quickly assembled his team and entered combat readiness. Although the peripheral defenses of Stronghold No. 2 are currently less than 20% complete, the well-trained Haihan troops are not worried about enemy attacks. After all, Haihan's only opponents in this area are the local indigenous tribes. , and the equipment and combat level of the natives are quite limited. As long as the Haihan troops are prepared, it can be said that the native armed forces are not a concern at all.
The subsequent small-scale conflicts between the two sides also confirmed this point again. The Haihan garrison waited until the opponent was approaching the stronghold camp and was ready to launch an attack before opening fire to resist the enemy, and successfully repelled the Turkish offensive. Our own side suffered zero casualties, while the natives paid the price of three deaths and five injuries in the battle.
However, the people who appeared outside Stronghold No. 2 were not the natives of Dajia Society, but the same family as the natives who had previously attacked the coastal camp. They were both from the Maoli Society in the mountains on the west bank of Houlong River.
"It's this Maoli Club again!" Morgan couldn't help but sigh after learning the news: "It seems that we are really not welcome here. Two tribes have already attacked us."
"There is nothing we can do about it. After all, to these natives, outsiders like us are equivalent to invading their homes. Naturally, they will try to drive us away." Tian Yeyou understands the intentions of the natives relatively well. In fact, The resistance he encountered from the natives during his mining operations in Taipei was even more intense. The number of native warriors participating in the battle reached three digits. Of course, the outcome is actually the same as the natives who attacked the oil field camp yesterday, except that the scale of the group's destruction is larger.
"Can stronghold No. 2 withstand it?" Bai Kesi is more concerned about safety issues. After all, the size of the garrison there is four times different from that of the oil field camp, and there are no time travelers to take command. If there is a large-scale attack, there are still certain risks. security risks.
"If the natives can organize five or six times the force and launch a charge against the stronghold, there is still hope of breaking through the defense line." Morgan responded directly to Baikes' doubts: "But I don't think a single tribe has the ability to organize and command such a scale. combat unless any of them have formal military training.”
(End of chapter)