Chapter 1034 Battle Plan
In terms of combat distance, the current situation is actually not suitable for sniper combat. The native warriors on the river bank are only about 20 meters away from the barge on the river. At this distance, whether they are injured by bows, arrows or spears, they will not be injured. It is very likely that the combat capability will be lost immediately. Although the rifles in the hands of the Haihan soldiers were relatively accurate, they had no advantage when used on the undulating ship. Coupled with the slow reloading, the firepower output was really not as good as that of the natives who had the superior force on the river bank.
While Morgan shot the fourth target, a soldier beside him fell to the ground after being hit by an arrow. Morgan looked sideways and saw a bamboo arrow stuck between his shoulder and neck, and blood had soaked from the wound. , but judging from the location, it didn’t hurt the vitals. Fortunately, just in case, a medical soldier was specially dispatched to the ship where Morgan was on, and he had already stepped forward to check the injuries without waiting for Morgan's instructions.
Morgan looked up at the river bank and saw that there were more and more natives. From the thirty or forty people at the beginning of the battle, the number had almost doubled in just a few minutes. Although natives continued to be shot and fell to the ground during this period, they seemed to be replenishing their troops faster than Haihan could kill them. The bamboo arrows they shot continued to crackle onto the sides and roof of the ship. The situation was far beyond what Morgan had expected before setting off. is more dangerous.
When formulating a battle plan before setting off, Morgan even considered whether he should slow down his ship if he was attacked and kill as many natives as possible. However, the real situation made him find that in this environment, fighting the natives would not be easy for Haihan. The advantages were not obvious, and the risks were far greater than he expected. Putting his elite soldiers to fight the natives under such conditions was almost like exchanging lives. Even if the battle loss ratio could reach more than ten times, Morgan still believed that the risk was not worth it.
"Increase the horsepower!" Morgan ordered the boatman. What needs to be considered now is not to kill more enemies, but to get out of this unfavorable combat environment for Haihan as soon as possible to avoid further unnecessary losses of personnel.
The barges behind this steam-powered tugboat are all in an empty state, and since they are moving downstream, their full speed can reach at least six knots, which is enough to throw off the native warriors chasing on the river bank on two legs. After hearing the order, the boatman immediately began shoveling coal into the furnace and at the same time moved the steam engine's gear lever to the highest gear so that the piston could output at full power.
Morgan put down his rifle and took out a bamboo tube about a foot long and as thick as an egg from his backpack. This is a homemade signal flare made by Haihan Ordnance Industry. When using it, you only need to point the opening upward to the sky and pull down the rope loop at the bottom to shoot out a colored signal flare. Although there are only three or four colors currently produced, it is enough to convey signals and orders in combat. What Morgan wants to do now is to use a signal flare to notify the fleet behind to speed up the evacuation.
After firing the flare from the safety of the right side of the ship, Morgan picked up his rifle again and continued shooting at the few natives still pursuing him on the river bank. Seeing that there were fewer and fewer natives chasing after him, Morgan finally felt relieved.
If he hadn't made this trip himself, it would be hard for Morgan to imagine that the natives' attack was so violent. It's no wonder that the soldiers and officers responsible for escorting the convoy complained bitterly after they came back. They all said that the natives of Miaoli were worse than before. Enemies that have arrived are more troublesome.
The Haihan army is in the light and the natives are in the dark. Although the Haihan army has higher combat power, it has always been in a relatively passive position during the battle. Moreover, almost every battle in the field was dominated by the native troops. This resulted in the Haihan Army often being able to only adopt passive defense during battles and unable to take the initiative to deal with the native armed forces.
Of course, if the Anant War Battalion, which is good at jungle and mountain warfare, is stationed in Miaoli, this situation may be able to change. Morgan couldn't help but think of the upcoming reinforcements, which happened to be the special operations battalion led by Chen Yixin. Although there is only one platoon, Morgan also wants to see what is unique about the legendary mountain battalion when it performs combat missions in the wild.
Seeing that the ship had moved out of the combat zone, Morgan quickly checked on the status of the wounded on board. There were more than ten people on board the tugboat, and two of them were injured by bamboo arrows. One was hit in the shoulder and neck, and the other was injured in the arm. Morgan checked the injuries of the two men. Fortunately, they were all superficial injuries and were not life-threatening. The medic had already sterilized and sutured the wound of one of them. Morgan immediately wiped his hands with alcohol cotton and worked with the medic to treat the wound of the other wounded man.
About an hour and a half after leaving the battlefield, the fleet arrived at the No. 1 downstream stronghold. Morgan arranged for the fleet to stop here for a while, because he wanted to confirm the casualties of several other fleets in time. If there are people who are seriously injured, he can also provide further treatment.
Perhaps the tugboat Morgan was on attracted most of the attention of the natives, and the attacks on the following fleets were less intense. There were no casualties among the four fleets, but injuries were inevitable. A total of three people were injured in the battle. One of them was shot in the eye by a bamboo arrow. The injury was relatively serious. The arrow was stuck in the eye and no one dared to pull it out. .
After checking, Morgan found that the soldier's injured eye was disabled, and the wound needed to be properly treated as soon as possible, so he decided to perform surgery immediately and had him carried on a stretcher to Camp No. 1. He requisitioned the headquarters' The prefabricated room served as the operating room. After simple anesthesia, the eyeball removal surgery was performed immediately. Although the soldier's life can probably be saved, he will definitely not be able to continue serving in the military after recovering from his injuries.
Therefore, the fleet stayed on the river bank outside the No. 1 stronghold for two hours. When they set sail again, the sky was already a little dark. Morgan had to ask the soldiers to light torches on the bow and slow down the ship. By the time we arrived at the coastal camp, it was already nearly four hours behind schedule.
"Why did it take so long? Did you encounter trouble on the way?" Yu Yao asked with concern to Morgan, who had just stepped off the boat.
Morgan nodded and said: "We encountered an attack by the natives on Houlong River. Some soldiers were seriously injured, so I chose to stop at Stronghold No. 1 and perform a surgical operation."
Yu Yao asked: "What are the casualties?"
"Fortunately, there were only a few injuries and no lives were lost." Morgan responded: "As for the natives, the number we counted should be fifteen to twenty people hit, and the casualties are unknown." "This The result... is not very ideal!" Yu Yao was also quite surprised by this result. He had already communicated with Morgan beforehand and knew the general content of the battle plan he had formulated, and he also believed that Morgan's preparations were very targeted and should be able to gain a clear upper hand in the battle with the natives, but in reality The results seemed to be significantly different from what was expected,
"The natives of Maolishe are more difficult to deal with than we thought. They are very fierce and have a strong will to fight. We opened fire on the ship, and the hit rate dropped greatly, and they also became a very conspicuous target." Morgan He said with a heavy face: "My previous thoughts were a bit taken for granted. The purpose of these natives' war is actually very clear, which is to trade their lives with us. If we just fight them on the Houlong River, it will be really terrible. A choice that outweighs the gains and losses.”
Yu Yao said: "Fortunately, they can't stay idle for a few days. Wang Tom just sent a telegram. His fleet will probably arrive here early tomorrow morning. This time Wang Tom brought a whole battalion of the army, even if the cat No matter how hard the natives of Lishe can fight, their story has come to an end.”
"Then we have to hurry up and revise the battle plan." Morgan rubbed his stomach and said, "But before that, I have to fill my stomach first. You won't let me down, right?"
Yu Yao smiled and said: "I have prepared a feast for you a long time ago. It is all the game I caught today. I guarantee your satisfaction!"
Early the next morning, before Morgan and Yu Yao woke up from their sleep, a huge fleet with two-color flags appeared on the sea west of the camp. The dock built outside the coastal camp is limited in scale and cannot dock so many ships at one time, so it can only dock in batches and use small boats to transfer people and materials ashore.
After Wang Tom and Chen Yixin landed, they immediately held a combat meeting to listen to Morgan's report. The destination of Wang Tom's troops was not Taiwan. They came to Miaoli just to help the local garrison solve problems. It was considered an unplanned temporary mission. After solving the problem of insufficient garrison troops, it would be relatively easy for Haihan to take the initiative and push back the native tribes in the Miaoli area. The clearing operation plan that Morgan had designated before was also based on this idea.
"Based on the prisoners' confessions and the map we have, we have deduced that the location of Maolishe is right here." Morgan pointed to a location on the map: "This is about two kilometers away from the bank of Houlong River and 1 and 2 away. The strongholds are four kilometers and six kilometers respectively, which are exactly in the defensive void between our two strongholds. I must admit that I did not think carefully enough when choosing the location for the stronghold along the river. If the location of Maolishe could be determined first, Then we can build the stronghold on the river bank closest to the tribe in a targeted manner, which should be able to effectively suppress the attacks of the natives.”
After Morgan conducted a reconnaissance along the Houlong River, he selected two river bends, one in the south and one in the north, as the location of the armed stronghold. In terms of pure geographical conditions, this choice of building the stronghold inside the river bend is actually the optimal solution. Not only can it effectively reduce the defense surface of the stronghold, but it also maximizes the river section covered, allowing the limited The military force exerted its maximum effect. But God's calculations are not as good as God's, and Morgan's location selection just put Maolishe's sphere of influence in the blind spot of the Haihan stronghold, so that the fleets that later sailed on Houlong River were frequently attacked.
Haihan has invested a lot of manpower and material resources in these two strongholds in the early stage. If he wants to build another stronghold in the middle, firstly, there will be a lack of sufficient materials, and secondly, new problems will arise in the deployment of troops. The army garrisoned in the Miaoli area is organized into three companies. One company is stationed at the oil field, and the other company is stationed at the coastal camp to ensure that the supply line from the sea will not be interrupted. It also cannot be easily mobilized. The remaining company is stationed at two strongholds. Finally, there are two platoons organized for maneuvering between various camp strongholds, that is, taking turns to perform escort missions. To establish another stronghold, Morgan's troops were already stretched thin and difficult to deploy.
If the Ministry of National Defense did not arrange for Wang Tom to bring troops for reinforcements, Morgan would also apply to Sanya to mobilize the nearby garrisons from Taipei Jilong Port, Tainan Kaohsiung Port, and Penghu to conduct a relatively thorough eradication of the indigenous tribes in the Miaoli area. However, this large-scale build-up will inevitably affect the stability of other areas. The Ministry of National Defense's arrangements will also require the coordination of garrison troops from various places. It will definitely not be as efficient as the direct transfer of an entire battalion of troops as it is now.
Wang Tom said: "The geographical environment of the Miaoli area is relatively complex, and there are omissions in the investigation, which cannot be attributed to the responsibility of an individual person. Our main goal of entering this area is to extract the oil from the sulfur pit, and now more than half of this goal has been achieved , this is a big deal. The Executive Committee doesn't care what happens here, as long as it can ensure the smooth production of oil. You and Bai Kesi have been here for so long, and you should have heard him reveal the Executive Committee's intentions. Right? ”
Neither Yu Yao nor Chen Yixin made a sound, so they could naturally hear that Wang Tom was trying to excuse Morgan's misjudgment. The two people have a very good personal relationship, and it is understandable to act like this. However, Yu Yao was somewhat unhappy. During the early field inspection of this area, he and Morgan were the only two people. However, Wang Tom wanted to help Morgan absolve himself of the responsibility, so he dragged him into the water with just one sentence.
Morgan responded: "Lao Bai's attitude is very clear, everything is focused on oil. However, he also believes that the security situation in Miaoli is too severe, and action must be taken to curb the restlessness of the natives."
Tom Wang nodded and said: "Then what are your current plans?"
Morgan continued pointing to the map and explained: "To the east of Maolishe is the valley plain and Houlong River, and to the west is a mountainous area near the sea. Theoretically, we can even go directly over the mountain from the coastal camp to launch an attack, but the effect of doing so may not be ideal. , so I personally prefer to attack from the direction of the river valley and plains. Although this will expose our intentions earlier, the natives will not be able to compete with us on the frontal battlefield. Even if we cannot annihilate them all, At least they must destroy their tribe and force them to move away from this area.”
This time, Tom Wang was not eager to express his support for Morgan. Instead, he asked Yu Yao and Chen Yixin to share their views on this combat plan.
(End of chapter)