Chapter 1236 Rallying Point
Let’s not mention the whereabouts of the British for now. The Johor army found here is consistent with the prisoners’ confessions, and the information about the location and approximate size of the garrison is basically the same. The lives of the spies caught by Haihan before were probably saved.
The size of the army of two to three thousand people is not much. What Roger cares about most is not the combat effectiveness of these troops. What he pays more attention to now is how to ensure the logistics of the enemy's troops. After all, the opponent's preset battlefield is on the planet. Although there is only a narrow strait between the islands, the transportation of materials and personnel is much more complicated than simple land operations. If Johor plans to go into full-scale war with Haihan, transportation will be a major difficulty that they cannot overcome.
To deliver a large number of people and materials to Star Island in a short period of time, a large number of ships are required, and this kind of transportation route from land to sea and then to land by sea also tests the military's command and coordination capabilities. Roger believes that a small country like Johor, which has not had any notable achievements in recent years, has relatively limited military strength and combat experience. It is unlikely that it will be able to smoothly command such a complex military operation. This link is likely to require the help of the British. Assisted.
The British had carried out many armed landing operations in the process of establishing colonies overseas, and their operational experience in this field must have far exceeded that of the Johor Army. According to the prisoners, they are acting as military advisors to the Johor Army, and they will probably also help in the field of shipping, which they are relatively good at.
Roger suddenly thought of something, and took out the map to check it carefully. Not far to the east of their current location, there was the mouth of a river, and the river surface there was relatively open, and there might be river alluvial deposits. A natural harbor formed. If the Johor Army wants to gather a large number of ships and prevent them from being detected by the Haihan on the other side of the strait, then mooring the ships in the mouth of the river is a very good concealment method. This place was not far from the Johor Army's station, and it was relatively convenient for supplies and personnel to board the ship. The more Roger thought about it, the more it made sense, and he decided to explore that place.
So after the reconnaissance team took a short rest, they set off again and headed east. The map in Roger's hand was drawn based on the satellite images stored in the Sanya database. However, hundreds of years apart, there will be certain differences in topography, especially at the mouth of the sea where the terrain changes almost every year. , the reference value of the map is even more limited. Therefore, whenever Haihan goes somewhere, one thing he must do is to correct the map at hand.
And this time is no exception. The location of the entrance to the sea is closer than the standard distance on the map. This may be due to the different flow direction of the river, but it also saves a lot of legwork for the reconnaissance team. Tens of meters away from the edge of the forest, Roger had already seen vague human activities outside the woods, and immediately stopped the team's progress. After careful identification, Roger discovered that it should be a patrol team of the Johor Army, which made him more certain of his previous guess.
In order to avoid being exposed by the crowd, Roger asked the others to stop first, and he led the two of them slowly towards the edge of the woods. After making sure that the patrol was far away, he stuck his head out to observe the situation outside.
On both sides of the river, which is about one mile wide, there are hundreds of sailboats docked densely. However, Johor's shipbuilding technology is obviously still quite primitive. These sailing boats are generally small in size, about the same size as the common fishing boats on Hainan Island. Each boat can only hold a dozen people at most. Even so, it is not known how many places were searched to collect these ships. With Johor's national strength, it must be extremely difficult to recruit so many ships in a short period of time.
Among these small boats, there are also five or six sailing boats with slightly larger hulls and more eye-catching appearances. Roger could confirm at a glance that this kind of Galen ship, which only Western colonists could own, was definitely not something that could be built by the country of Johor. Roger took out his binoculars and after careful observation, he finally saw the drooping tricolor flag on the mast of one of the sailboats. There is no doubt that the British garrison should be on the nearby river bank.
A small cargo dock has been built on the river bank not far from the British sailing ship. You can see that a lot of packaged materials have been piled on the dock. Bamboo sheds have also been specially built to protect against wind and rain. It seems that the opponent is preparing for war. Work has been underway for some time. There are still some migrant workers on the dock who are constantly transporting materials. However, it is obvious that this method of transportation that relies solely on human power is very inefficient, and is far inferior to the operation method of Haihan Terminal.
Roger soon noticed that there were indeed a few blond and blue-eyed Westerners pointing at the pier. They must be the British guys who came to Johor's aid. Seeing the patrol in the distance slowly turning back, Roger quickly signaled his two men to retreat with him. The trees on the edge of the jungle were relatively sparse, and when the patrol came close, the three of them could not hide their figures.
The reconnaissance team stayed here for a full two hours, changed several observation positions, and basically confirmed the frequency of the Johor patrol. However, the five hundred British militants claimed by the captives have not been confirmed so far. Apart from a few British sailing ships, the reconnaissance team probably observed fewer than fifty Westerners.
Roger looked at the time and ordered to return to the station along the same route. If we don't go back, we will definitely not be able to reach anywhere before dark, and traveling in the dark in the forest is not an easy task. The enemy troops are still gathering, so there is no need to rush to collect all the information in just a short while.
The reconnaissance team returned on a familiar road, marching much faster, and finally returned to the temporary camp before dark. After this day of reconnaissance, the assembly point of the Johor Army on the coast has been basically determined, as well as the actual participation of the British. However, it has not been confirmed yet how many troops Johor is preparing to actually go into combat, and whether the British have actually sent hundreds of armed personnel to participate in this operation, so they still have tasks to complete in the next day or two.
The temporary camp here was extremely peaceful. I didn't even see a ghost all day long. It seemed that there was indeed no human activity around here. The few people who stayed in the camp had had a day of free time. When they saw Roger leading the team back, they took the initiative to ask for a fight and asked to participate in the next day's operation. However, Roger had originally planned to let all his men take turns to participate, so he did not reject their request and readily agreed.
According to the agreed time, Roger used the radio to contact the Xingdao base and briefly informed the current progress of the operation. He also did not forget to remind Tan Juren, who was in charge of Xingdao, to speed up preparations for war. Although the content of preparations for the war in Johor seems simple, Roger will not underestimate his opponents in terms of tactics. In the final analysis, it is people who determine the direction of the war, not just the quality of equipment. Advanced weaponry and combat methods can certainly bring great advantages to the Haihan Army, but to turn the advantages into victory, the soldiers must work together to fight hard. In fact, the war preparations at Xingdao Base have not stopped since the day Roger led the army. The various defense facilities built, all daily military training, and the large amount of food and materials stored in the base have all been completed. It is preparation for the war that may come one day. When the Haihan Executive Committee took over this choke point, they never thought that this place would be peaceful forever. Therefore, they did not invest many resources in the commercial development of Star Island after the occupation. This may be one of the reasons why the Executive Committee kept it secret. .
The next day's action, Marcus, who had stayed at the camp to look after the house the day before, finally took a rotation and joined the team that went out for reconnaissance. Roger still followed the route of action that he had reconnoitred yesterday and led everyone straight to the assembly point of the Johor Army. Marcus, who was tall and powerful, walked at the front carrying a three-foot-long machete. The path he carved out of the forest was enough for the teammates behind him to pass easily. His dark complexion only needs to be smeared with some green paint to have a sufficient camouflage effect, which saves a lot of trouble in camouflage. And the backpack he carries is one size larger than others. With him in the team, the overall combat load of the entire team can be slightly increased.
When he was about one or two miles away from yesterday's observation point, Roger ordered to slow down his advance and carefully observed some secret signs deliberately planted during yesterday's evacuation to confirm that the opponent had not noticed that the reconnaissance team had entered and exited here yesterday. action.
Roger first sent people to yesterday's observation point to confirm whether there were any obvious changes in the opponent's situation at the river bank assembly point, and then led the team to march from the forest to the upper reaches of the river. The observation point found yesterday was very close to the mouth of the sea. The nearby area has been carefully observed and no British camp was found. Roger believed that if the British really sent a large number of men, their camp might be located further upstream so that supplies could be easily obtained from nearby villages.
Roger's speculation was soon confirmed. After the reconnaissance team moved about two miles upriver, they finally found the important goal of the trip, the British camp.
There are also several Galenic ships docked on the river bank here. Judging from the number of sailing ships discovered so far, it is indeed possible that a large number of British armed personnel have arrived here. There is a sparse fence around the perimeter of the camp, isolating it from the outside world. Roger observed with a telescope for a while. There were indeed many armed personnel who looked like Aryans in the camp and were practicing in formation. Judging from the matchlocks they were equipped with, they should be mercenaries under the British.
"These bastards are quite well trained!" Roger murmured while observing the group of people with a telescope. Although the opponent is Haihan's opponent, Roger will not look down on the opponent's strength because of this. The training level of these mercenaries is not bad. At least the tactical movements made under the instructions of the officers are very neat. According to the standards of this era By this measure it's quite good.
It is not difficult to estimate the strength of the troops based on the number of barracks and tents in this camp, and the number will not be too different from the number given by the prisoners. Moreover, the British should not have expected that their opponents would send people to lurk here to conduct reconnaissance, so they suspected the enemy. This kind of advanced operation should not exist, and the calculated military strength has a high degree of credibility.
Of course, just finding the British camp does not mean that the mission has been successfully completed. Roger hopes to confirm the main tactics that the opponent will use in combat by observing the opponent's pre-war training, and preferably also confirm With the size of the Johor Army trained by the British, it will be more confident to deal with the opponent's next attack.
Judging from what Roger observed, the musketeers were almost all British mercenaries in uniform uniforms, while the Johor soldiers were responsible for using spears and shields to provide cover for the senior troops behind them. These shields, about four feet high, stood on the ground and joined together, almost providing a parapet that covered most of the body of the musketeers standing behind. The musketeer can even directly place the musket on the top of the shield to complete the firing action, and then remove it to make room for the musketeer in the back row to fill in and continue shooting. If the opponent rushes to a relatively close distance, the spear stretched out between the shields will also have a certain degree of lethality.
This can not but be said to be a relatively smart design. In fact, the Haihan Army also used similar methods in combat, but it did not use so much manpower. Instead, the small vehicles used to transport supplies on the battlefield were designed to be erected as bunkers. function in order to save the manpower invested on the battlefield to the greatest extent.
Of course, the operating efficiency of this manpower bunker between the Johor Army and the British is obviously higher and more flexible. Not only can this shield wall move freely left and right before and after the battle, but even if personnel at a certain position are damaged, it can The loopholes will be filled immediately by alternate personnel. From this perspective, it is indeed more flexible and convenient than Haihan's vehicle formation bunker.
After Roger understood the opponent's tactics, he immediately began to think about how to crack the opponent's methods. If the shield is not thick enough to block the bullets fired by the Haihan rifle, then all this is in vain, and the shield wall, no matter how tightly lined it is, will be in vain. But if this shield is enough to block rifle bullets, then the Haihan Army's inherent tactics may need to be slightly adjusted.
If it is the latter case, then the area that can effectively damage enemy soldiers through shooting will be much smaller, only about one-third of the body at most, which requires soldiers to aim more carefully when shooting. Just for the sake of accuracy. But to achieve this, the firefighting distance must be further shortened to ensure shooting accuracy, which will undoubtedly increase the risks for soldiers.
Of course, there is another solution that uses force to defeat skill, which is to push out the cannon and aim it at the musket array and blast him to pieces.
(End of chapter)