Chapter 1369 Containment
Sun Bing did not take the Houjin Army lightly just because the battle went smoothly yesterday evening. He also knew that the enemy's performance in this confrontation was still mainly probing, and they did not let go and attack with all their strength. Although the two companies of the Marine Corps established a stronghold based on the abandoned fishing village, the hastily deployed fortifications were actually very thin and fragile, and it was impossible to turn this small village into an armed fortress like Lushun Zhongzuosuo City. .
If the Jin army attacks this place with heavy troops, the Marine Corps will probably not defend this place for safety reasons, but will still retreat to the coast. No matter how radical Wang Tom is, he will never risk the safety of his elite troops. The Marine Corps may not seem to have many people, but it takes a lot of energy and military expenditure to form such a team. The purpose of sending them ashore is to gain combat experience, not to fight to the bitter end with the enemy.
Of course, before that, the Marines still have to try their best to cause as much damage to the enemy as possible and create a scene that is fake enough for this feint attack. Only after Hou Jin feels the pressure will they withdraw the troops heading to the front line of Lushun. To the Jinzhou Isthmus line.
After clearing the battlefield, Sun Bing and his soldiers worked together to reinforce the existing defenses, and at the same time began to deploy barbed wire fences at the main traffic routes entering and exiting the village. The bellows type barbed wire is very convenient to install. After pulling it apart, you can drive wooden stakes into the ground at a certain distance to support and fix it. It is very simple to install and dismantle, and the defense effect is excellent. Regardless of whether it is used against infantry or cavalry, this thing is an extremely useful simple defensive fortification, and it has always been one of the must-have combat supplies in the army.
Yesterday, the Marine Corps entered the fishing village in a hurry, and many supplies did not have time to be transferred from the ship. The items used as roadblocks were masonry, tree trunks and the like. This barbed wire fence was unloaded from the ship early this morning and was immediately deployed in the village to block the road. If the Jin Army attacks nearby, these barbed wire fences can buy more reaction time for the Marines in the village.
In addition to the barbed wire fence, the Marines also took the time to reinforce the bunkers outside the village, making the bunkers in some areas wide enough to accommodate soldiers lining up in a shooting formation behind them. In the hasty battle last night, most of the people in the village could only disperse and hide behind various ruined walls. This still had a certain impact on the effectiveness of firepower output, and also made the officers' command more difficult.
The Marine Corps will not be stationed here for too long. They will voluntarily evacuate after completing the task of containing the Jin Army. It is not worthwhile to carry out a large amount of renovation here, so they can only build some temporary defenses in advance. Deal with it for a few days. Fortunately, when the fleet came here to clean up before, Sun Bing had already selected this place. He also went ashore twice to conduct reconnaissance, drew a detailed plan of the village, and made a plan for the deployment of troops in advance, so this The Marines' actions after entering the village were all in order, and they did not panic at all because they were in a strange environment.
Sun Bing knew that the Hou Jin Army would never give up, so he had to seize the time to strengthen the defenses of the fishing village and wait for the next wave of Hou Jin Army's offensive to come here. His expectation soon became a reality. After the sun rose three poles, the flag of the Hou Jin Army appeared again in the northern wilderness. The size of the troops that the Hou Jin Army put into the battlefield this time was obviously much larger than yesterday. Judging from what Sun Bing saw from the telescope, the strength of the Hou Jin Army that appeared here today was at least double that of yesterday. above.
The two companies of the Marine Corps totaled only about 400 people, and the cavalry dispatched by the Jin Army today was far more than this number, not to mention a group of infantry to cooperate. There was an obvious gap in the strength of the two sides. Erhe was riding on horseback, looking at the abandoned village in the distance with a cold face, thinking about how to carry out the attack. There seemed to be no human activity there, but the flagpole standing in the village and the red and blue flag flying on top reminded him that this place had been occupied by the Haihan Army.
Erhe was actually not too dissatisfied with last night's defeat. He did not expect that a tentative offensive would be able to drive the Haihan people back to the sea. As for the price of dozens of lives paid for this, Erhe didn't take it too seriously. No one would die in a war, not to mention that the opponent was the Haihan people who were more difficult to deal with than the Ming army. However, after yesterday's battle, Erhe did not get any more valuable information from it, because the Haihan people did not fully display their abilities and were suspected of deliberately retaining their strength.
The cavalry attacking the village yesterday did not encounter the terrifying intensive shooting that the Haihan Army unleashed at Lushunkou. The frequency of firing by the Haihan infantry in the village did not seem to have changed significantly from the previous encounters, and the final casualty figures also proved that However, the firepower coming from the village was not that strong. Erhe believed that this was because his opponent deliberately held back and did not show his full ability.
But the musket that could hit the target accurately from a hundred feet away still exerted its power. One of Erhe's men, Niulu Ezhen, and his deputy were all killed by this terrible weapon. Military doctors dug out pellets from their corpses, proving that they were not some unbreakable Haihan spell, but actual deaths from gunshot wounds.
But as of now, Erhe can't imagine what kind of musket Haihan has made that can maintain an extremely accurate hit rate at such a long distance. Only a few infantrymen were shot at a relatively safe distance. Erhe believed that this was probably because the Haihan Army was equipped with a limited number of such sharp muskets, so it could only achieve such combat efficiency.
Erhe didn't know that his guess was infinitely close to the truth, but he was still worried that the Haihan people were deliberately acting to hide their strength in order to draw out their main force and then go on a killing spree. It would not be surprising if this trick was used by the cunning Haihan people. His former partner Muteb met Haihan at Lushunkou a few days ago and deliberately arranged an infantry attack on the city, leading the golden cavalry to fight. What happened next It turned out that this was done intentionally by the Haihan people, who had already formulated corresponding tactics, causing the cavalry led by Muteb to be completely lost in several rounds of attacks.
Yesterday's probing offensive failed to grasp the approximate strength of Haihan's troops deployed in the village. This is what Erhe is really worried about. He already knows that the Haihan fleet is currently stationed on the coast behind the village. If the Haihan people are not driven away from this place as soon as possible, the fleet may continuously drop more Haihan troops here. If Haihan establishes a long-term stronghold here, then the security situation of the Jinzhou Isthmus will be even more precarious.
Although Erhe was not sure about the situation of the war, due to his duty, he could not sit back and watch the Haihan Army continue to stay here, so he could only lead his troops to conquer. However, he also knew that the Haihan Army had muskets with a long range, and his identity would definitely become the enemy's first choice target, so he cautiously kept a relatively far distance from the village.
"Cheer up! Yesterday was just an appetizer, today is the real test!" Sun Bing saw that the Jin army had already begun to form a formation. He knew that there would definitely be a battle next, so he started to prepare for the battle loudly. The last mobilization: "Brothers, the commander is supervising the battle behind us. Today's battle is the beginning of our Marine Corps becoming famous all over the world! It is up to the brothers to fight for the many rewards after the war with their own skills!"
Whenever mobilizing for combat, it is nothing more than showing great righteousness and motivating them with fame and fortune, so that the soldiers' desire to fight can be raised to a certain height. The mobilization initiated by the commander in the Haihan Army generally follows this principle, and Haihan has always been famous for its generous rewards for combat achievements. In addition, the army itself has strong combat effectiveness. Often quite excited. The Marines were all made up of veterans, so they naturally understood that this was a good opportunity to get promoted and make a fortune, so they responded in unison. The noise in the village was also heard far away in the Houjin army formation. The Houjin soldiers wearing various animal skin jackets raised their weapons and roared loudly in response. Although some of them already know how terrifying their opponents are, the warlike gene is deeply rooted in their bodies. They will not be afraid of fighting because of the strength of their opponents, but will be inspired by such provocations. The ferocity in his heart aroused.
When Erhe saw the performance of his men, the gloom on his face dissipated a little. Although the enemy's combat effectiveness was terrible, at least his own morale was not affected, and his military morale was still available.
"Attack!" Erhe knew that launching an offensive while morale was high was the wisest thing to do, so he immediately issued the combat order.
The horns of the Hou Jin Army sounded, and the cavalry began to mount their horses and press forward slowly. The formation was still similar to last night's offensive. They surrounded the village from three directions, but the strength of the troops was larger than last night. At least two or three times more.
From the telescope, Sun Bing discovered more things that were different from yesterday's fighting situation. There were some more heavy cavalry in armor among the Houjin cavalry, which did not appear among the troops who attacked yesterday. These heavy cavalry were not many in number and were scattered among the queues, but they all wore the same armor style.
Sun Bing had never seen this type of soldier appear in the formation of the Later Jin army before, but he recognized the special identity of the opponent from the style of the armor - these people were the elite of the Later Jin army, known as Bagala. Senior samurai. During Sun Bing's training, they had seen relevant picture materials, and the instructor also specifically emphasized to them the power of Bagala.
Bagala selected one percent of the strong men from each Niulu's nearly a thousand men based on their archery and horse skills to become full-time military aristocrats who were completely out of work and only received military training. Their status was the same as that of the West. Similar to the knights and Japanese samurai. Bagala has been training since he was a child, and he is an elite soldier supported by good material conditions and rich experience in actual combat. Many bagaras wear three layers of armor, with chain armor inside, cotton armor in the middle, and iron plate armor outside. Their defensive power is far beyond that of ordinary Later Jin soldiers. Haihan's current rifles in the army may not be able to penetrate Bagala's multiple armor at a slightly longer distance.
Later, the Jin army used Bagala, naturally hoping that these elite soldiers could break through Haihan's defense line. Sun Bing knew that these Bagalas were not so easy to deal with, so he immediately communicated with the snipers and asked them to make these Houjin warriors in heavy armor their primary targets. Although ordinary rifles may not be able to penetrate their armor, sniper rifles are different. The kinetic energy of the bullet is much greater than that of ordinary rifles, and the chance of penetrating the armor is at least several times greater.
However, the Hou Jin army should have been prepared for Haihan's beheading tactics. These bagalas did not charge forward. Instead, ordinary cavalry provided human shields around them, which also increased the aim of the snipers. Not a small difficulty.
This sign made Sun Bing feel bad, but now it was impossible to evacuate from the village, and the Marines did not have the ability to confront cavalry on foot in the open like the special operations battalion. It would be very dangerous to be attacked by cavalry during the evacuation. Therefore, the Marine Corps can only choose to continue to hold on in the village, relying on the fortifications and bunkers here to resist the offensive of the Jin Army.
Soon the golden cavalry rushed into the shooting range of the defenders. Bursts of gunshots rang out throughout the village, and soon the whole village seemed to be filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke. The two artillery pieces deployed at the north entrance of the village finally came into use. They fired two grapeshots mercilessly at the Houjin cavalry who rushed nearby, mowing down more than a dozen cavalrymen in one fell swoop.
While the cavalry was attacking nearby, the Houjin army once again sent infantry to follow and launched a projectile offensive into the village with bows and arrows. Yesterday, the snipers were still able to kill Hou Jin's archers, but today, because Hou Jin's army sent more troops, the snipers could only focus on shooting Bagala, and they had no time to attack the infantry farther away. .
Although the Houjin cavalry continued to fall down after being shot, the superiority of the troops finally allowed some cavalry to successfully approach the village and launch a counterattack using bows and arrows on horseback. Fortunately, the various fortifications deployed by the Marine Corps outside the village in the past two days still worked. These war horses could not fly directly over the roadblock and could only circle back and forth outside the village.
Some of the Houjin Cavalry chose to ride quickly around the village, looking for an opening to enter the village while continuing to fire bows and arrows at the Haihan soldiers who leaned out from behind the bunker to shoot. Another part of the Houjin cavalry decisively gave up their plan to ride into the village, jumped off their horses and walked into the village. Although these roadblocks can block the entry and exit of horses, the human body is much smaller and more flexible. It is not too difficult to find the passage into the village through the hastily arranged roadblocks.
Of course, finding the passage does not mean that they can successfully invade the village. The Marine Corps has also made special arrangements for these weak areas. Every place that seems to have a loophole to exploit is also a place to harvest lives. Death trap.
(End of chapter)