Chapter 1069 Preparing to go north
After all the prisoners from Hangzhou City were escorted away, Wan Fa emerged from the secret cabin on the ship. To the outside world, he had been burned to death in the Chengfenghang Store outside Hangzhou a few days ago. If anyone found out that he was still alive in this world, many new doubts would arise about the Chengfenghang fire case. . Haihan did not want this matter to happen again, so he specifically asked Wanfa to hide his whereabouts on the way home so that no one could discover that he had gone from Hangzhou to Zhoushan.
"This mission was completed successfully, and the executive committee is also very satisfied with your performance. Sanya has sent a telegram asking you to return to your job as soon as possible." Qian Tiandun paused, and then told the truth: "With the current situation Judging from the situation, you are not suitable to stay in Zhejiang. There will be other work arrangements for you after returning to Sanya. However, based on your achievements this time, your promotion should be stable after returning to Sanya."
Wan Fa quickly thanked Qian Tiandun. He actually knew that after this mission was over, he would no longer be able to stay in Zhejiang. Regardless of the life or death of Liao Xun and others, he could no longer appear in the coastal state capital of Zhejiang, lest he Cause unnecessary trouble. In fact, for Wanfa, this mission was a near miss, and he only followed Gong Shiqi's arrangements during the entire execution. It was only when he finally evacuated Hangzhou that he learned what the overall plan was. If Gong Shiqi had told him from the beginning that he wanted to cause such a big thing in Hangzhou, Wanfa might not be brave enough to get involved.
Of course, the final result of the operation still made Wan Fa very satisfied. Although there was another person in charge this time, the credit assigned to him should not be small. You must know that all three people were captured from Hangzhou. A high-ranking court official was a big shot that he could never even get close to. Although Wanfa is only a part-time employee of the Security Department, he also knows how high-level this kind of operation is. It should be considered unprecedented even in the Security Department. Being able to participate in it is simply a rare opportunity. Even if he has been running a business store in Hangzhou for ten years, The accumulated credit may not be as good as the harvest in just a few days.
However, the confidentiality period for this kind of operation will be very long. It is likely that Wanfa will not be able to use this experience as bragging rights to brag to his colleagues and relatives before he retires. Fortunately, this credit is real. Wanfa thought that after returning to Sanya this time, the leaders of the Ministry of Commerce might also promote him to a position like "director", but Haihan's current control area It’s so huge, spanning thousands of miles from north to south, and I don’t know where my next stop will be.
Qian Tiandun said: "It happens that there will be a ship heading south to Sanya tomorrow. Just work hard and set off with the ship tomorrow!"
Wan Fa quickly agreed, knowing that his superiors were worried that his whereabouts would be exposed if he stayed in Zhoushan for a long time, and wanted to send him to leave as soon as possible. However, he has no complaints about this arrangement. He has been away from his family for a whole year, and he also wants to return to Sanya to reunite with his family as soon as possible.
For the Zhoushan garrison, the completion of this special mission in Hangzhou means that the last obstacle to the northward journey has been cleared. Next, they will begin to mobilize personnel and materials to prepare for the next journey.
On June 27, the Zhoushan Administrative Committee and the garrison held a joint meeting to discuss and arrange various matters related to the northward journey. The second fleet currently departing from Sanya arrived in Penghu yesterday and is expected to continue northward after resting there for two days. Calculated according to the usual itinerary, the fleet will arrive in Zhoushan by early July at the latest. After the defense handover is completed, the special operations battalion and the troops that have arrived here before can set off.
Considering the climate in the north, the earlier the construction work of the footholds is started, the less difficult it will be for the troops heading north to survive the first winter. In order to buy as much time as possible before winter, the Ministry of National Defense did not arrange a large-scale reconnaissance operation for this northern move. It only placed some people in the fleet that had previously recruited refugees in the north and collected them locally. Some information. Compared with the past several operations to expand territory from south to north, the preliminary reconnaissance of this northward journey was relatively small.
"Climate reasons are of course only one of them. We have reduced the investigation arrangements going north, mainly because many local places are still out of control after the chaos. Many county-level offices have not been restored in time, and the garrison is only concentrated in Among several prefectures and cities, the scope of control is very limited." Qian Tiandun introduced the general current situation of the Jiaodong Peninsula to Wang Tom.
Wang Tom asked: "Didn't the Ming court increase its garrison in Shandong this year?"
Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "The Central Plains region has become a mess. The Ming Dynasty has focused its main forces on encircling and suppressing the peasant army. Most areas in Shandong are in an undefended state - at least for us. In In the early stage of entering the local area, we should not encounter too much military pressure. As long as your navy protects the back road, it will be difficult for the local Ming army to confront us. "
"From what you said, it should be easy to go north this time." Wang Tom said with a smile: "But if this happens, we probably won't have much to gain from the war."
"The local climate may be more troublesome than the Ming army." Qian Tiandun's expression was not relaxed: "According to historical records, in the Jiaodong Peninsula during the Little Ice Age, the temperature in winter would be below minus 20 degrees, and there would be blizzards and cold waves. Possible weather conditions will be a great test for our soldiers who are from the south. When we build a base locally, we must take into account the need for cold protection in winter, which is better than building a base in the south. The boardroom is much more troublesome.”
When the Haihan Army opened new strongholds near the equator, they often built prefabricated houses. As long as they can provide shelter from the sun and rain, they are basically qualified. However, these simple houses with poor thermal insulation capabilities are not suitable for the northern climate, and considering Indoor heating is required in the north, and the fire hazards of wooden houses are too great. At most, they can only be lived in when the weather is warm, and they are not suitable for use as winter barracks. However, to build a large number of masonry structures in the local area, the investment of manpower, material and financial resources is very considerable. Of course, the time required cannot be ignored, so the Ministry of National Defense is in a hurry to arrange it before the end of summer. Troops go north, otherwise they may not be able to complete the necessary infrastructure projects before the cold winter arrives.
Currently, most of the troops preparing to go north on Zhoushan Island are from the south. Even if they have uniformly issued winter clothes, they may not be able to adapt well to the northern climate. The Ministry of National Defense is not prepared to take risks and place its hopes on winter clothing and the physical fitness of soldiers. The safest way is to prepare the barracks and supplies needed for the winter as early as possible. As for the choice of location, senior officials of the Ministry of National Defense had reached a relatively unanimous opinion as early as last year, that is, the northern coastline of the Jiaodong Peninsula should be the main base. Although from a geographical point of view, the southern coastline seems to have more natural harbors, the factors considered by the Ministry of National Defense are not only the environment of this foothold, but also whether this location can help achieve Haihan. Control of the Bohai Bay waters, and even the next step is to cross the Bohai Bay and set foot on the Liaodong Peninsula.
After determining the general scope of site selection, the next thing to consider is the environment. The foothold cannot be too close to the local state capital and large garrison stronghold, otherwise it is very likely to trigger unnecessary armed conflicts. In addition, there must be good port conditions so that a large fleet can be stationed locally. Another point is that considering that Haihan's troops going north are limited, the land defense line should not be extended too long, but at the same time, there must be enough area to arrange the garrison camp and the immigration camp that Haihan will open there.
After considering various opinions, the Ministry of National Defense finally selected the Zhifu Island area as the destination for the northbound operation. Zhifu Island is located on the coast a hundred miles east of Dengzhou Fucheng. It is the largest land-connected island in China. From the map, Zhifu Island looks like a Ganoderma lucidum growing on the coastline. It is connected to the mainland through a sandbar less than two miles wide, forming a natural breakwater, and behind it is a large natural harbor.
Although Zhifu Island is mainly mountainous and hilly, its area exceeds ten square kilometers, which is enough to accommodate thousands of people. Moreover, the sandbar connecting it to the mainland is very narrow. For the Haihan Army, which is good at building fortifications, with a little processing, a solid line of defense can be built between Zhifu Island and the mainland to ensure the absolute safety of the land passage. . The north shore of the island is almost entirely covered with cliffs, making it basically impossible for large ships to dock. This is almost a natural barrier. This type of terrain, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and accompanied by a good natural harbor, is exactly the type of coastal stronghold location that the Haihan military prefers.
If the Haihan Army were to enter the area, the biggest threat would be Qishansuo located near Zhifu Island. Qishan Qianhusuo is located thirty miles southeast of Zhifu Island. The city is built of blue stone bricks, with a circumference of two miles. The city wall is two feet high and two feet thick. There are Baode Gate, Xuanhua Gate, Fulu Gate, East, West, and South respectively. Chaochongmen has four city gates, and there are sixteen pavilions in between. There is also a circular horse track on the inside of the city wall, so the defenders can quickly send additional troops and heavy equipment to the city wall during wartime.
According to the intelligence information collected so far, the establishment of Qishan Institute includes one deputy each of Qianhu, Baihu, Limu, and Zhenfu, 498 Jingcao troops, and 113 city defenders. There were 60 troops stationed there, 75 Japanese troops captured, and 18 troops guarding the Dunbao. Among them, the Jingcao Army is also divided into two classes: Spring and Autumn. The Spring Class is in the first month and the Autumn Class is in July. They take turns going to the capital to train together with the Beijing camp. Therefore, the local resident strength will not exceed 500 people at full strength. Considering the local impact of the Denglai Rebellion for more than a year, the actual garrison is definitely still far behind the paper number.
It's just that the personnel Haihan sent to Shandong to inquire about information basically only moved around Jiaozhou Bay in the south of Laizhou Prefecture. They had limited knowledge of the local garrison situation in Dengzhou Prefecture on the northern line, and could only make inferences based on some fragmentary information. The actual situation on the ground will probably only be known after the Haihan Army arrives there. However, the small strength of Qishan Institute should not pose a real threat to the Haihan Army, which is armed with live ammunition.
The current plan of the Ministry of National Defense is to use its own maritime transport capacity to deploy organized troops to the local area in a short period of time, and to occupy Zhifu Island in a separatist style, just like Haihan did in Black Earth Port. After this stronghold is firmly established, we can control the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea, and even the gateway to the capital, and control the sea route to the Liaodong Peninsula. We can enter the inland of the Ming Dynasty to the west, and the almost undefended Korean Peninsula to the east. In the future, we can even use Jiaodong as our base. The peninsula is the foundation to plan Haihan's development in Northeast Asia.
Of course, to deliver so many people and materials to the Jiaodong Peninsula by sea, the transportation plan to be formulated is also quite complicated, so among the upcoming fleet, there is also Sun Chang, the Minister of Shipping who came to Zhoushan specially. Mi, he will be specifically responsible for commanding and arranging the maritime transport capacity during the northward operation.
Starting from late June, various materials from all over Zhejiang have been shipped to Zhoushan. Most of these materials are needed for the northward movement, because the local area is short of materials after the war, and it is difficult to produce them on their own. There is even no place to take money. To buy them, they have to be prepared in the south and then shipped to the local area. The food supplies needed by these thousands of personnel stationed locally are not a small amount, and the need to recruit refugees locally must also be taken into consideration. Therefore, large amounts of food reserves have become as necessary as weapons and ammunition. .
On July 3, the vanguard of the second batch of northbound fleet arrived at Zhoushan Port, and in the next two days, subsequent ships also arrived one after another. The size of the entire fleet was as many as forty or fifty ships, but this time The fleet arrived dispersedly, but it did not attract too much attention from the merchants entering and leaving the port.
In addition to Sun Changmi in the fleet that came this time, it is also worth mentioning that the Haihan Cavalry Battalion also came to Zhoushan with the fleet. The Ministry of National Defense arranged for the cavalry unit led by Harugong to also go north together to station in Shandong. This is the first time the cavalry unit has left Hainan Island to station abroad for a long time since it was established. It is also the rare opportunity to participate in actual combat since its establishment. It is said that Harugong himself is holding back his energy and wants to show off his face during this mission to the north, so that the citizens of Haihan Kingdom know that this cavalry team is not just a catwalk in every military parade. That's all, but an elite soldier who can truly participate in combat and kill enemies, and can change the situation on the battlefield. Of course, whether this cavalry can find a local opponent is another matter.
Qian Tiandun was not very optimistic about the combat prospects of the cavalry. It was not that he doubted the strength of this unit, but considering the weakness of the local garrison, there might not be any room for the cavalry to play its role.
(End of chapter)