Chapter 1364 The Beginning of the War
The contents of the spoils harvested from Zhongzuosuo City were quickly spread to the command headquarters on the seaside. Qian Tiandun and others were dumbfounded after hearing the report. Although they did not have high expectations for the spoils before the war, this harvest was really too shabby. A few thousand kilograms of food might be a lot for the Houjin garrison, but in Haihan's opinion, it was just It's just enough for one boat to load. Due to the long preparation period, Haihan currently has sufficient grain reserves in Shandong. In fact, it is not short of several thousand kilograms. In addition, the sea voyage between Shandong and Liaodong is also very close. This harvest can only be said to be better than nothing.
"I suddenly understood why Hou Jin tried his best to enter the customs." Wang Tom sighed: "These people are too poor. In comparison, the Ming Dynasty is really rich. If you don't rob me, who can you rob!"
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"With Houjin, the rate of return is really a bit low." Although Qian Tiandun is not a businessman, he can't help but feel a little emotional about the current situation: "At least after today's battle, we are losing money. But it’s a big loss!”
The size of Haihan's troops going into battle today was actually not too large. Three infantry companies, an artillery company and a cavalry company were the main force in the battle. Plus a few logistics support personnel, there were only more than a thousand people actually participating in the battle. Judging from the scale of Haihan's military operations in the past years, this can only be regarded as a very ordinary battle.
But the problem is that in today's battles, special operations battalions use a large number of new repeating rifles as their main weapons. Although this kind of rifle is powerful enough to allow infantry to form formations against cavalry, the value of ammunition consumed by its combat method is not a Small amount. Based on the current production capacity of the Sanya Military Factory, the ammunition consumed in today's battle will probably take more than a month of production to replenish. If measured against this standard, the value of this batch of ammunition is quite considerable. The value of what Haihan captured in Zhongzuo City was probably less than one-tenth of the value of these ammunition, so Qian Tiandun said he was losing money.
However, Harugong, who had just returned to the headquarters, had another opinion on this: "Grain and grass are not valuable, but horses are valuable! Do you know how many horses were seized today? Two hundred and sixty-three! This can almost catch up The cavalry battalion now has enough horses! If we fight this kind of battle a few more times, our cavalry battalion will be able to upgrade the cavalry regiment!”
"Just having horses is useless even if you don't have so many qualified cavalry!" Wang Tom immediately poured cold water on Harugong: "Besides, your cavalry equipment is so expensive, and it is not easy to get approval for expansion."
What Wang Tom said is indeed an objective fact. The individual equipment standards of the cavalry battalion are probably the highest among the Haihan Army, and even far exceed those of other elite units such as the special operations battalion. The cost of fully arming a cavalry is at least four to five times that of ordinary infantry, and this ratio will further increase during combat. Even if Haihan has abundant military expenditures, high-level officials will still consider cost-effectiveness factors when arranging the establishment of military units, and only keep the expensive elite troops in a smaller establishment. This is one of the reasons why the cavalry has remained at the battalion level for many years since its establishment.
Harugong also knew that although Wang Tom's words were unpleasant, they were true. In the past, the cavalry battalion had been restricted in scale due to high maintenance costs and limited military use. However, if it could open up a situation in the Liaodong region, then the cavalry would not There is no possibility of expansion. Especially after this battle with the Houjin Cavalry, Harugong found a way to solve the cost of cavalry formation-the Houjin Army has a high proportion of cavalry. If you rob their horses for your own use, then the military budget of the cavalry will be very high. This can save a considerable part of the cavalry training for expansion.
However, Harugong was also a thoughtful person and did not express his true thoughts at the moment. Although we are all comrades who share life and death, we are also career competitors. Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom respectively commanded the elite units of the navy and army infantry. The military expenditures of these two units were much higher than that of the cavalry battalion. When it came time to compete for the military budget, everyone would expose each other's shortcomings. The issue of the cost of cavalry horses has been the focus of attacks every year, but it seems that the next year is expected to change this dilemma that has lasted for many years.
Harugong was worried that the other side would set up an ambush and counterattack at night, so he asked to track the Jin Army's reconnaissance cavalry back to Zhongzuosuo City before dark after the retreat. The news brought back by the reconnaissance cavalry also made the generals temporarily feel at ease. The people were marching rapidly to the north, with no intention of stopping. It seemed that they planned to escape to the Jinzhou Acropolis, a hundred miles away to the north. There should be thousands of Houjin troops stationed there to provide them with shelter.
Zhongzuosuo City has been in lack of repairs during the occupation of Hou Jin Dynasty. After Haihan took over it, it will still take time to restore some functional buildings in the city and return it to normal operation. After the southern city gate was shelled dozens of times, the door panel was already full of cracks and crumbling, and it would definitely not work unless it was replaced. Gao Qiaonan simply asked people to take down the two city gates and chop them up and use them as firewood. As for the defense at the city gate, temporary fortifications were temporarily built using the traditional method of blocking horses from a deer village and adding barbed wire. Although it is not as reliable as the city gate, there are long-range firepower guarding the top and bottom of the city tower, and ordinary small groups of enemy troops cannot attack. Enter the city.
There are actually many vacant houses outside Zhongzuosuo City, which were built by the Han people who lived here before. However, after the Hou Jin Dynasty occupied this place, these Han people either fled overseas or became slaves of the Hou Jin Dynasty, and the houses were It was taken over by Hou Jinjun who came here as his own. Many of Muteb's subordinates who were originally stationed here usually live outside the city, and only enter the city to avoid fighting during war. However, Haihan has no plans to resettle civilians here in the near future, so these houses are expected to remain vacant for at least the whole winter.
Suddenly the military bugle sounded on the top of the city. Seeing the Haihan flag slowly rising on the top of the city, the soldiers stopped what they were doing and raised their hands to salute. Gao Qiaonan was also one of them. This flag-raising ceremony symbolizes that Haihan has officially entered the Liaodong Peninsula and is another big step taken by Haihan in the Northeast Asian waters.
However, the enemy Haihan has to face this time is no longer as easy to deal with as the Ming Dynasty, which has no time to look around. The Hou Jin regime can be said to be the most powerful armed force in Northeast Asia in this era, and it is extremely warlike. In addition, the vast majority of Haihan's senior officials are Han nationality, and they have an inability to let go of this period of history, and will never accept the peace that comes from compromise with Hou Jin. The war between Haihan and the Hou Jin regime was just the beginning.
Although the Haihan Army is strong, it is far from home and has limited strength, so it is impossible to fight a war to destroy the country in a short period of time. What can be done in the near future is to establish a stronghold at the southern end of the Liaodong Peninsula, continue to bloodlett Hou Jin from the sea, and contain Hou Jin's strategic trend of going south along the west coast of the Bohai Bay to invade the Ming Dynasty. The biggest beneficiary of this strategy is actually not Haihan, but Ming Dynasty, which is in internal and external difficulties. Compared with Haihan, who behaves in a measured manner, the real trouble that Ming Dynasty is currently encountering is Hou Jin, who is eyeing it from outside the customs. If Haihan had not taken action, the Ming Dynasty would have perished due to internal and external chaos in less than ten years. But if Haihan could get rid of all the trouble and form a check on Hou Jin in the direction of the Liaodong Peninsula, then the Ming Dynasty would have a much easier life, and even have room to devote troops to quell the domestic peasant army war.
Haihan did not expect that Ming Dynasty could solve the internal and external troubles in one go, because then the next target that Ming Dynasty had to deal with might be his turn. As long as he could help Ming Dynasty solve some of the pressure, this huge empire would not be barbarically left behind. If civilization is destroyed, it will be considered as achieving its goal. As for replacing the Ming Dynasty, most people at the top of Haihan actually do not have a strong will for this direction of development. A complete change of dynasties means that thousands of lives will be taken away in the war, although the rulers do not What a holy mother thought, but no one wants to start a war against the Ming Dynasty yet.
After nightfall, the soldiers of the special operations battalion who had settled in Zhongzuosuo City finally had their first hot meal of the day. The main course was freshly baked braised horse meat. Although it was a little short of heat due to the rush of time, it was already an excellent delicacy for the soldiers who were already hungry after a day of fierce fighting.
Takahashi Minami's food is basically the same as that of the soldiers, but he can also enjoy a special dish, which is horse meat sashimi specially made for him by the cooking class. Although he has been naturalized as a Haihan citizen for many years, he still retains some of the eating habits originally formed in his hometown, and eating certain types of meat raw is one of them.
Sliced horse leg meat and grilled horse tongue are served in a coarse porcelain bowl with a small dish of minced garlic soy sauce. This is Takahashi Minami's special dish. Due to Haihan's extremely strict control over military horses, Takahashi Minami rarely had the opportunity to taste horse meat after joining the army. This time, it was thanks to the Houjin Cavalry that he could eat it again in the next few days. Serve some fresh horsemeat.
After eating, Takahashi Nan patrolled the city, checking whether there were any loopholes in the light and dark sentry posts and city gates. When we came to the city wall on the south gate and looked out, we could see the lights shining through the night in Lushun Port a few miles away. That was the beachhead established by the Haihan Fleet on the shore.
Seeing the lights on the coast, Gao Qiaonan suddenly felt very relieved. He knew that although he was thousands of miles away from Haihan, he was not fighting alone. There was an unparalleled powerful country as the backing to support his troops in the battle. Combat missions are carried out here. Even just two or three years ago, he would never have dared to imagine that using musketeers and infantry against large groups of cavalry in the plains could achieve such a great victory today. After this battle, Gao Qiaonan was even more impressed by the advanced military technology mastered by the leaders. If Qian Tiandun ordered a direct attack on Houjin Jingcheng tomorrow morning, he probably would not have any doubts about such an order. .
Of course, Takahashi Nan also knew that his superiors would not issue such a radical order. At the pre-war preparation meeting before departure, several senior officials had already announced Haihan's initial strategy in the Liaodong region. Haihan's goal is to seize Lushunkou and expand the control area northward as much as possible in the next one or two years, striving to incorporate the peninsula area south of the Jinzhou Isthmus into Haihan's territory. With this control area, we can gradually expand Haihan's influence in the Yellow Sea, and strive to allow Hou Jin to have no time to go south and invade the Ming Dynasty.
But even if a long-term war with Houjin is to be launched, Haihan's current war preparation plan does not include the option of a large-scale all-out war. Taking into account the actual difficulties in troop deployment and logistics supply, Haihan is unlikely to deploy a large-scale army here for a long time in the future. Both sides have their own escape routes and will not easily launch a large-scale decisive battle. Therefore, in the future and the rear, Kim’s war is likely to remain a long-term state of small- and medium-scale armed conflicts.
Compared to large-scale battles, Takahashi Minami personally prefers small and medium-sized armed conflicts. This is the situation that the special operations battalion is best at handling. During this year, he has carefully studied the map near Lushunkou, and he has also designed many combat plans. If the Jin army tries to retake Lushunkou, then there is no need to worry about being without a fight in the next period. Hit.
Early the next morning, tons of cargo began to be unloaded from the supply ship anchored in the harbor. Dozens of large flatbed carriages took turns transporting these weapons and ammunition, food, medicinal materials, winter clothes and other supplies into Zhongzuosuo City. To be precise, it should be called "Lushun Fort" now. Last night, the headquarters had decided on this new name to replace the previous name given to this place by the Ming Dynasty.
In addition to the ready-made fortifications of Fort Arthur, Haihan will also build a naval camp in the Port of Port Arthur to echo the Fort Arthur on land. Therefore, the army and the navy cannot rest these days. They have to temporarily act as construction teams and seize the time to build various infrastructure here.
The battle plan originally drawn up by several senior military officials left an extremely ample time for action. It was originally planned to take about ten days to clear the area. However, they did not expect that the battle process turned out to be much smoother than expected. It only took 10 days to clear the area. In one day, Hou Jin's main force stationed in the Lushun area had been eliminated. With the remaining time, several commanders decided to seize the time to carry out major construction projects and first set up the land and sea strongholds at Lushunkou.
Fortunately, active army troops have been trained in basic civil engineering skills and are no strangers to building camps and forts. Although the navy is not good at this, there is no technical obstacle to serving as a labor force for logging and transporting heavy goods. Several senior officials even personally served as project commanders and supervised the soldiers building armed strongholds in this coastal area.
(End of chapter)