Chapter 1243 It’s not that simple
As the general of the Johor Army, Papong was not very satisfied with the arrangement of the division of labor for this battle. He believed that the Johor Army constituted the main force of the joint forces of the two countries, and the main battlefield was also on the territory of Johor. In any case, it should be led by the generals of the Johor Army. To serve as commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, this command should not be left in the hands of the British. However, the facts were not as he wished. The British officer Hogg finally obtained the command recognized by the Johor royal family, while Ba Pong could only sit in the second position in the coalition forces.
Although he was a little aggrieved, Bapong finally put the overall situation first and accepted this arrangement. He also expected that Hogg would definitely take credit during the battle in order to gain a greater say for the East India Company. However, the elite of the coalition were the five hundred mercenaries under Hogg, and he could not take over the command. Hogg's people, naturally they can't take over Hogg's job of playing forward. The other party led the elite coalition forces and rushed towards the south, but he could only lead a large group of infantry and slowly follow behind with food, grass and baggage.
Of course, Ba Peng also understood that the key to winning this sneak attack lay in the speed of the troops. There was nothing wrong with Hogg's tactic of leading the elite troops to attack first, but he thought that he might not even be able to get there if he led the large troops to rush over slowly. I can't even drink anything that's hot in my mouth, and I can't feel better no matter how hard I feel. According to the British man's arrogant temper, at most he would leave tasks such as cleaning the battlefield to himself, which was very frustrating to think about.
Ba Peng wanted to march quickly with his troops, and maybe go to the battlefield to fight hard, so that he could report his merits to his superiors and get rewards afterwards. But unfortunately, the distance from the north to the south of the island is long, and there are no decent roads. The transportation of baggage is extremely inconvenient. In many places, it is even necessary to carry large materials on the shoulders to pass. This marching speed cannot be increased at all. As a last resort, he could only let the civilians transporting artillery, grain, grass and other baggage move forward slowly, while he led part of the main force to speed up the pace.
However, when he was still several miles away from the forward troops, Bapen met the soldiers sent back by Hogg to deliver the order, asking him to speed up his march and rush to the fighting area for reinforcements.
"Reinforcement?" Ba Peng couldn't help but taste the meaning of this order. He did not believe that Hogg accelerated the march just to get a bite of meat for himself. The only reason for doing so could only be that the war was not going well and the troops led by Hogg were unable to suppress the enemy, so they needed support so urgently.
Ba Peng quickly asked a few more questions, and sure enough, the messenger said that Hogg had launched two offensives and was blocked, and he had not yet invaded Haihan Village. Bapen almost laughed out loud on horseback. As the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, this British guy rushed forward to grab the credit, but ended up in vain. In this way, all his scheming plans simply came to nothing. He made a joke to see if he would have the dignity to show off his power in front of her in the future.
However, after Bapen laughed at Hogg in his heart, he did not take this emergency situation lightly and immediately ordered a rapid march to the battlefield. He knew very well that his battle plan was to use sneak attack tactics to break through Haihan's defense line before he could react. Even if he could not conquer his stronghold for the time being, he would at least capture the villages where immigrants lived and capture a group of prisoners to coerce him. Haihan officially surrendered. But Hogg commanded the elite coalition forces, and they couldn't even attack the village. This was really unreasonable. If Hogg hadn't made a major mistake in his on-the-spot command, it would have been because the Haihan Army's strength far exceeded their expectations and they were unable to implement the combat plan smoothly.
Hurrying slowly, it still took nearly an hour for the troops led by Ba Pong to rendezvous with Hogg's men from the time they received the news. Before Bapon dismounted, he noticed that the mercenaries under Hogg were not in a high mood. Most of them had gloomy faces. It seemed that they were indeed frustrated on the battlefield. Soon Hogg came to meet him and told him about the previous battle with the Haihan Army, which was relayed to Bapen by the translator.
The more Bapeng listened, the more surprised he became. If Hogg hadn't made any major mistakes that he deliberately concealed, then the most likely reason was that the Haihan Army had already prepared for the arrival of the coalition forces, and there were no defensive loopholes for sneak attacks. In other words, the coalition's attack this time may have hit the iron plate. This is the situation that everyone least wants to encounter before sending troops.
As for the actual combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army, neither side of the coalition has any experience, and the information they have is only rumors from other countries. However, the Haihan Army is known as the undefeated force in the South China Sea. Even strong players such as Portugal and the Netherlands have fallen into its hands. Naturally, the coalition forces did not dare to underestimate this opponent. Therefore, when formulating the battle plan, they adhered to the principle from the beginning. Operate with the idea of avoiding its edge and attacking its unpreparedness, and try to avoid a head-on confrontation with the Haihan Army.
Both Hogg and Bapong agreed to launch the offensive from the land route. One of the reasons was that Haihan's stronghold was closer to the south coast of the island, and the north was a populated area. It was obviously easier to attack the villages in the north first than to attack the stronghold. If you pinch this soft persimmon, you will be basically invincible. During the landing, the coalition forces found no signs of Haihan's activities nearby, and thought that their actions had been concealed from the public and were not noticed by the Haihan people at all. However, Hogg had already suffered a loss as soon as they fought here. This was obviously not the case. What a coincidence.
In two short battles, the troops under Hogg's command had lost more than 40 people, and more than 30 wounded were withdrawn. This was a loss of almost one-tenth of the forward force, but the result was that they didn't even touch the edge of the village. The Haihan soldiers didn't even form a formation to fight, they just hid in the house and fired black guns. The coalition offensive has been repelled. Hogg's face was ashen, and it could be seen that he was extremely angry but helpless about this.
After a brief communication through a translator, the two decided to launch another offensive before dark. If they couldn't get in this time, they could only withdraw their troops for the night and wait until tomorrow to make plans. Of course they don't want the battle line to remain at its current position after today's battle. If the opponent is given one more night to deploy troops, then when they launch the offensive again tomorrow, they may encounter an even more intense attack than today. resistance.
In order to avoid a worse situation from happening, now even if they know that the Haihan people have been prepared before the war, they can only bite the bullet and launch an offensive. After the large troops brought by Ba Pong took a short rest, they began to assemble and prepare to cooperate with Hogg's mercenaries to launch the last wave of offensive today.
This time, the coalition forces dispatched thousands of people, and the attack direction was still the weak area between the two villages. After checking the terrain of the battlefield, Bapen agreed with Hogg. There seemed to be only one place on Haihan's defense line that seemed easier to attack. The place was too small to accommodate too many people. As for the silent villages on the east and west sides, who knows how many Haihan soldiers are ambushed in the villages?
Bapen wanted to go out in person to supervise the battle, but Hogg stopped him after knowing his plan: "Let your lieutenant go, and you stay behind to observe the enemy's fighting methods."
Although Ba Peng was a little confused about Hogg's intention, he thought it would do no harm to him. He sent his deputy general to supervise the battle. If he broke through the Haihan defense line, he would still be credited with this battle achievement, so he nodded in agreement immediately. "Business is here again!" Roger heard the sound of drums coming from the field outside. He immediately jumped up from his chair, grabbed the telescope and moved it to the observation hole in front to look out.
The coalition forces in the distance have completed their assembly and are slowly advancing towards them to the beat of drums. Judging from the scale, it is obvious that much more troops were invested than the previous two exploratory attacks. In addition to the British tricolor flag, Roger also discovered the green flag representing the country of Johor. There is no doubt that not only the mercenaries brought by the British this time to the battlefield, but also the mercenaries who have just arrived on the battlefield. The Johor Army.
"The formation is quite decent, and this British guy is not a freeloader." An expert said. The first thing Roger paid attention to was the marching queue of the Johor Army. Since the British provided military assistance to it, it must be It also includes helping Johor to train musketeers internally. At least this queue looks neat from a distance, but I don't know what the combat capabilities of these Johor soldiers who have never used muskets on the battlefield are.
"Cheer up, everyone! It's getting late. By the time this battle is over, our opponents will probably withdraw their troops. Fight them off and we'll have enough chicken, duck and fish for dinner later!" Roger loudly cheered for the soldiers around him. . Although the defenders were waiting for work, these soldiers had been in combat mode since they received the news early in the morning. Their spirits had been in a state of high tension throughout the day, and people would definitely feel tired.
Everyone responded in unison, and the soldiers who were still resting grabbed their rifles again and stood up, quickly walked to their shooting positions and began to prepare for the battle. The officer in charge of commanding the artillery was a little anxious, and took the initiative to come over and ask for help: "Chief, have you shown your face to our artillery this time?"
Roger patted him on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, if you show your face today, I guess they will have to evacuate overnight. It is better to wait until tomorrow, when the enemy's artillery arrives, and then you will extinguish their last glimmer of hope." ! ”
If we use artillery to deal with our opponents today, it will not be difficult to win a big victory. However, it will be dark, and even if we can defeat the enemy, we will not be able to pursue them for the time being. Moreover, the troops going back from the sea have not yet sent any news. Roger does not want the enemy to withdraw from the battlefield prematurely before confirming their progress. Again, the result he wanted was to completely annihilate his opponents, not just to defeat them.
The words are divided into two parts. Mu Xiabai, who came from the sea for reinforcements, has now sailed into the eastern end of the Johor Strait, but there are still more than ten nautical miles away from the position where the Johor Army crosses the sea. Even if he ordered to advance at full speed, with the current sea wind and sea conditions From the looks of it, it would take at least two hours or more to reach the destination, and the sky should have darkened by then. Even if Mu Xiabai had confidence in his men, he would not dare to risk launching a landing in the dark.
Mu Xiabai had been too full of words before, but now he was unable to arrive at the target location to launch the offensive as expected. He could not think of any other remedy at the moment. He could only send a telegram to the Xingdao Base to inform him of the current situation. Tell the truth.
Roger was a bit dumbfounded after receiving the telegram. Fortunately, he held back and did not launch a full-scale attack. Otherwise, the group of enemies who came to the door would have been scared away, and the reinforcements to outflank the retreat had not yet arrived, so this scene would be terrible. I can't continue acting. Immediately, he quickly sent an order to the two companies ambushing in the wild not to take action for the time being, and wait until tomorrow to choose an opportunity to enter the battlefield.
Although the enemy's force input in this offensive has doubled, Roger has previous experience and is no longer nervous. The opponent's offensive methods are very single and limited. They are enough to suppress the indigenous troops in Southeast Asia. However, if they want to use it to deal with the Haihan Army, which is well-equipped, well-trained, and well prepared for this battle, the existing strength is indeed It's not enough.
Roger estimated that the opponent would have to invest at least three to four thousand troops on this battlefield at one time, and would have to have a large number of cavalry as the vanguard to break through the concave firepower network he had laid. But judging from the current battle situation and the intelligence we know, the opponent obviously does not have so many troops to invest, and there is no effective way to crack the Haihan defense line. Attacking here by just relying on refueling tactics is nothing more than increasing the number of troops. Just casualties.
Roger deliberately slowed down the pace of the battle. On the one hand, he was waiting for reinforcements to outflank the enemy's rear route tomorrow morning, cutting off the possibility of their retreat into Johor. On the other hand, he also used this to give his troops more opportunities to exercise. He believed that the combat effectiveness of this unit was not bad, but it just lacked this kind of actual combat experience to improve its combat capabilities. Finally, with such a training partner coming to his door, Roger naturally did not want to kill the opponent with one punch, but to let the opponent Make the best use of everything and act as a punching bag for boxing.
The coalition's third offensive unsurprisingly once again fell into a dilemma of fire from three sides, and their counterattack seemed extremely futile. Most of the bullets hit the impenetrable bunker and were unable to harm the enemy at all.
However, relying on the superiority of their numbers, the coalition forces finally advanced to the barbed wire fence area, but it was only then that they discovered that this was an obstacle far more terrifying than the mud pits in the rice fields. The barbed wire fence was full of sharp thorns. , if you are not careful, you will get poked or cut. Although the wound is not big, it is enough to deform your movements. Moreover, these barbed wires were all wrapped around the wooden piles driven into the ground, and they were densely packed and tightly stretched, like a large and indestructible net that blocked the large army here. Only the machetes and axes in the hands of a very few people can effectively destroy them, but often before they can cut through a few iron fences, they have attracted the opponent's concentrated fire, and they are covered in honeycombs in an instant. After several people fell down in succession, no one dared to continue taking over this fatal task.
(End of chapter)