Chapter 1481 War Machine
If it were not for the safety of these southern businessmen, Takahashi Minami might actually order his troops to fight his opponents here. But today's visit has basically been completed. He didn't want to cause any extra trouble, so he decisively ordered a retreat to ensure the personal safety of the distinguished guests. As for the enemy troops that were rushing in from Jinzhou City, other troops were responsible for intercepting them.
Although He Li and others still felt that they had more to say, they had been warned many times before setting off from Jijiabao. They also knew that they must obey the military's arrangements on the battlefield. They did not dare to object to Gao Qiaonan's instructions at the moment and hurriedly returned home. After getting into the car, they were escorted by the Haihan Army and retreated to the south.
The post-Jin army that came out of Jinzhou City was much larger than the cavalry that rushed in before, with at least a thousand people. However, Haihan had noticed its movements very early, so it was impossible to carry out a surprise attack. It worked. When they discovered that several small units of the Haihan Army had assembled on the way, their intention to intercept and kill the convoy immediately faded away a lot. It was obvious that Haihan had understood their intentions and was no longer planning to risk the safety of important people.
Under such circumstances, neither side was willing to invest their troops in a deadly battle, so the subsequent battle was more like a symbolic routine. The two sides maintained a relatively safe distance. After the confrontation for more than an hour, the Hou Jin Army, which obviously suffered from a disadvantage in terms of weapon range, had to take the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield.
"They are very careful now!" Takahashi Minami, who has been supervising the battle at the front line and has not left, commented after seeing the enemy's movements: "If it had been last winter, they would have had to fight before they stopped. , it seems that he was also scared.”
Since Haihan attacked Lushun last winter, there have been no less than a hundred large and small battles and armed conflicts between the two sides. Most of the time, Haihan won the final victory. Although the Hou Jin Army has never found an effective tactic against the Haihan Army, it has not made any progress after suffering so many losses. At least it knows the circumstances under which it cannot engage in a head-on confrontation with the Haihan Army - for example The opponent is already ready for battle and has set up military formations waiting for him to attack upward.
If the opponent has to fight head-on while the opponent is well prepared, the weapons and equipment disadvantage of the Jin Army will be highlighted, and even if it has a large number of cavalry, it cannot completely save this disadvantage. At most, it can only retreat quickly when leaving the battlefield. Just a few. What's more, the number of terrifying musketeers like Haihan is also growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. If you encounter this kind of special cavalry with an extremely long attack range in the wild, you can only ask for good luck.
Therefore, although the Hou Jin Army was coming with force, when they found that their opponents were ready to fight, and there were even faintly visible Haihan cavalry in units of a hundred cavalry in the distance, heading towards the flanks of their advance route, they made a decisive choice after weighing the pros and cons. Fall back and abandon this attack. Takahashi Minami was also slightly disappointed by this decisiveness that was not willing to fight at all. He truly felt that the enemy was gradually adapting to his own tactics through constant confrontations. It was not as easy as before to cause large-scale damage to them.
Of course, this situation is not entirely beneficial to Haihan. The enemy has become more cautious and will no longer easily launch large-scale offensives. The defensive pressure faced by Haihan's army will also be relatively reduced. This is actually good news for the Haihan Army, which has limited troops and difficult supplies. But of course military generals are eager to fight every day, so that they can accumulate a lot of military merits in a short period of time and lay a solid foundation for future promotions.
The businessmen who evacuated the battlefield first did not have the same regrets as Takahashi Minami. They just subconsciously believed that the military arranged for their group of people to retreat because they could not provide sufficient security during the battle. Since the military believes that the current environment is unsafe, of course life is still at stake.
The convoy retreated all the way south into Sujiabao, which, like Jijiabao to the east, was a large construction site in the process of being renovated. Hundreds of migrant workers are dismantling the original Sujia Fort under the command of the foreman, and then using the dismantled bricks and stones to build a new bastion designed by Haihan. This scene was exactly the same as what the merchants had seen in Jijiabao before. If Liu Shang hadn't explained it beside them, they might have thought that they had returned to Jijiabao when they set out.
Liu Shang introduced to everyone: "There will be five armed fortresses like this, three large and two small, on the entire defense line, and each fort will be protected by heavy artillery. For a period of time in the future, this will be the area controlled by our country. The dividing line with the Jin rule area.”
The original forts built on the isthmus defense line were two large and three small. However, after the Haihan Army broke through this defense line, they believed that this setup was not safe enough, so they changed it to three large and two small. After each fort is completed, several artillery guns will be deployed to ensure that there is sufficient firepower to deal with large groups of enemy forces that may appear.
Someone asked: "With such a defense line that is several miles long, your country must have a lot of troops stationed here for a long time, right?"
How could Liu Shang not understand the meaning of these words? He immediately responded with a smile: "How many troops will be stationed here is already a military secret. Even if I knew it, I would not say it casually. Even if you are curious about this, Don’t ask, it would be bad if you are misunderstood.”
The man realized that he had made a mistake and quickly apologized to Liu Shang. Liu Shang waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter. You are all from Taiping, and you must be full of curiosity about war. There are many details about marching, troop mobilization, and material supply. A few pieces of information may be leaked. It’s a major military secret, so you have to be careful.”
Everyone didn't even dare to say so. They had just seen the Haihan Army's decisive killing on the battlefield, and naturally they understood that this army was not just a show-off, and would only be more powerful than the rumors said. No matter how daring they were, they didn't want to be regarded as spies by the short but powerful General Haihan.
After wandering around the battlefield for most of the day, they just gulped down some dry food in the carriage. At this time, after the group had rested, their stomachs finally began to growl. However, due to the limitation of material supply capacity, the food on the front line is of course not as rich as that in the rear. What they can eat is only the level of officers' meals during wartime. A meal with two meat and two vegetables is the ultimate. But the quality of the ingredients is actually quite good. The rice is produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the flour, vegetables and fruits are purchased in Shandong. It is no worse than what businessmen eat in places such as Lushun Fort in the rear. However, the merchants did not pay attention to food. Although they were wealthy, since they often traveled around, they did not care too much about the inconvenience of life in a short period of time. What's more, they were in the Haihan Army at this time, and there were far more people. Food is more important than anything else.
The deployment and mobilization of Haihan's army did not deliberately avoid them, so here they can see with their own eyes how the war machine of Haihan operates. However, in order to avoid suspicion, Liu Shang would not provide them with too many detailed explanations in this regard, so how much they can understand depends on their personal understanding.
Even if these people don't know how to march and fight, whether the military discipline of an army is strict, whether the morale is high, whether the coordination and cooperation of various departments are smooth, the reason is actually very similar to how they lead and command a business team. Moreover, the business scale can reach their level, and they can organize fleets to engage in trading activities thousands of miles away. Naturally, their vision and courage are not too bad. They have stayed in the military for a longer time, and they naturally do not need to be explained by others. You can see a lot of doorways. Of course, whether there is any military secrets involved, after Liu Shang's previous reminder, they will naturally not be stupid enough to ask Haihan's people for advice. They can just keep it in mind if they see anything, and there is no need to do anything extraneous. .
The military did not specifically restrict the scope of activities of the merchants. Under Qian Tiandun's instruction, Gao Qiaonan even specially greeted the garrison officers in Sujiabao and asked them to provide these southern merchants with some operational conveniences, as long as they Except for the arsenal, archives, communications office, headquarters and other confidential departments, these people can freely move around and visit other places in the camp. The purpose of the military is to have them take the initiative to act as Haihan's advocates after returning to the south and promote the power of Haihan Army to the outside world.
Of course He Li had seen the local guards when he was in the south. Although he had not come into contact with all the thirty-eight thousand households of Zhejiang Dusi Sixteen Guards, he did know the Guanhai Guards, Dinghai Guards, and Changguo Guards of Ningbo Prefecture. He is quite familiar with it, especially the Shipu Port under the jurisdiction of Changguo Wei Shipu Qianhu. He has been there more than ten or eight times. That place was the first port that Haihan captured after entering Zhejiang. Although it is not as famous as Zhoushan Dinghai Port, the local Shipu Institute has close contacts with Haihan. Therefore, a considerable number of people in Taizhou and Ningbo have connections with Haihan. All goods transactions are completed and delivered in Shipu Port.
It was also because of this that He Li got acquainted with Ma Ling from Qianhu in Shipu Suo. After Haihan settled in, the local guard army soon became nothing more than an empty shell. Ma Ling told him bluntly at the wine table that there was no need to be on guard when dealing with the Haihan people, because their purpose was to trade rather than invade. Whether buying and selling goods or recruiting immigrants, they are all very reasonable business activities. There is really no need to maintain a high degree of hostility towards Haihan. Of course, Ma Ling did not tell He Li how Haihan used force to forcibly seize control of Shipu Port.
So before going north, He Li couldn't help but have an illusion in his mind, that is, the Haihan Army looked very powerful. Part of the reason was actually the Ming Army's intentional concession. After all, as long as he could establish a relationship with Haihan and do business, he would basically be able to do business. It is certain to make money, and the generals and officers at various guards will naturally not let go of such a cheap opportunity to make a fortune.
As for Haihan's war with the Jin people in Liaodong, He Li didn't quite believe that Haihan would do such a crazy move until he witnessed the situation here with his own eyes. He could not understand the reason why the Haihan people opened a battlefield so far away from the mainland. If it was just to occupy the land, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it might be relatively easy to grab it directly from the Ming Dynasty. As for the legendary achievements of Haihan in the north, he had always been somewhat doubtful. It was not until he saw the situation here with his own eyes that he was convinced that Haihan had indeed snatched a large area of footholding from Hou Jin in Liaodong. land.
Compared with the Ming troops at the Zhejiang Coastal Guard Station who wished they could be transferred to maritime trade, He Li had to admit that the Haihan troops he saw in Liaodong could be called a real army. With such an army guarding the area, He Li already had strong confidence in the future security of this place. He even thought that if Haihan sent thousands more troops to Liaodong, he might be able to push all the way north to Shengjing City of the Jin people.
However, what He Li didn't know was that almost all of Haihan's troops stationed here were elite troops in the military, including special operations battalions, cavalry battalions, marines, and sniper squads. Any one of these teams would be at sea. The Han army had a well-known reputation, and its combat effectiveness was far superior to that of the Hou Jin army, which had primitive and backward equipment. Therefore, it was possible to seize the existing territory from the Hou Jin army at a very small cost. If it were an ordinary army to perform this task, it might not be so easy. Even if more troops are sent from the south, their purpose will not be to continue attacking Houjin, but to guard this place and gradually replace the several elite troops stationed here. The situation he envisions is unlikely to materialize, at least in the short term.
After dinner, no one was in the mood to go into the tent to sleep so early. Since the Haihan military had given them freedom of movement, of course they had to make full use of it. However, there were many forbidden areas in the military, and they encountered obstacles wherever they went. In the end, they had no choice but to go to the construction site to watch the progress of the construction, which had already begun with midnight work.
For the strange-looking fortress built by Haihan, everyone did not understand the design idea, but since the Haihan people insisted on demolishing the original fortress, this new fortress must have its own power. Apart from anything else, just by looking at the number of fortifications that have begun to take shape, we know that this fortress deploys a lot of heavy firepower weapons. It can be seen that Haihan has spent a lot of money on this line of defense.
He Li, who knew the people of Haihan better, thought more deeply. Since Haihan invested heavily in building a defense line here, he must have felt at ease to continue operating in Liaodong for a long time. Based on the past practices of the Haihan people, they must try to recover the investment costs as soon as possible and achieve profits. It seems that part of this profit point will probably fall on them, the southern businessmen.
Is Haihan making money to continue fighting, or starting a war to make more money? He Li is now a little confused.
(End of chapter)