Chapter 1518 Patrolling the Front
The Minister of War of the Ming Dynasty had an air of selflessness that he could not let go of, but Kim Sang-hyun did not have that. His purpose is very clear, which is to gain strong support from Haihan for his country. If Jin Sangxian still had doubts about Haihan's strength before coming to Liaodong, then what he saw and heard in Liaodong in the past two or three days was enough to dispel these doubts.
It is an indisputable fact that Haihan snatched back most of Jinzhou from the Jin people through war means, and judging from the fact that the Ming army stationed in Dongjiang Town obeyed the command so obediently, it is obvious that Haihan army It was through fighting that the Ming army was convinced. Kim Sang-hyun's logic is very simple. The Haihan Army is obviously stronger than the Korean Army, stronger than the Ming Army, and stronger than the Later Jin Army in terms of record. Since this army is already the most powerful armed force in the region, it is a natural choice to stick to the strong ones.
As for Daming’s feelings? Jin Sangxian could actually see that Master Mei, sent by the Ming Dynasty, was quite attracted by Haihan's conditions, but for some reasons he did not dare to agree rashly. However, the other party did not dictate the choice that North Korea should make. Kim Sang-hyun understood this attitude as Ming's acquiescence, so naturally he had to try his best to be more positive in front of senior officials from Haihan.
Kim Sang-hyun even believed that perhaps Mrs. Mei hoped that North Korea would take the initiative and inquire more about Haihan's specific ideas for the alliance, and then share information, lest Ming Dynasty end directly and there would be no buffer room. From his point of view, there is nothing wrong with this understanding, but if Umeikawa knew what he was thinking, he would probably want to beat him to death with a stick.
Seeing Jin Sangxian's performance, Mei Shengchuan snorted and turned his head. Although he had not come into contact with Jin Shangxian before, he also knew that this man had visited the Ming Dynasty ten years ago, in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, as the envoy of Xie Enchen and Chen Zuo to pay homage to the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Ding Mao was in chaos when the Jin Dynasty invaded North Korea. This man wrote to the Ministry of War in the capital, requesting the Ming Dynasty to send troops to rescue North Korea: "At this time, quickly send out the partial troops, take advantage of its emptiness, and destroy its lair. The thieves will be restrained head and tail, and they will be embarrassed. If you don't save it, the whole Liao can be restored in one fell swoop, the country can be restored, and the ugly groups can be eliminated. This is a rare opportunity that cannot be missed."
However, after this man returned to China the following year, he reported to the King of Korea that "there was nothing more that could be done" in the Ming Dynasty, and even believed that the end of the Ming Dynasty was approaching. However, these remarks were later transmitted back to the Ming Dynasty. Mei Shengchuan, as a senior official, naturally knew something about it and had a relatively low opinion of Kim Sang-heon. Therefore, after arriving in Liaodong, he knew that North Korea had sent this famous double-faced man, so he subconsciously There was not much attempt at communication left. Of course, Jin Sangxian himself didn't know the secret behind this, and still thought that his actions were an expression of goodwill to Haihan and Daming at the same time.
Bai Kesi saw the reactions of the envoys from both countries and just smiled without saying a word. He also knew a little about the grudges between Ming Dynasty and North Korea, and had no intention of persuading the two families to reconcile. In his view, if these contradictions are used properly, they can actually promote the subsequent negotiations. He believed that Sha Xi’s negotiation strategy in Lushun was more about using some business methods, and that this kind of country-to-country negotiation required more political wisdom. Sha Xi’s understanding of the situation was biased, so The previous negotiation process will stall. But when the negotiation progressed to the stage where Bai Kes participated, there was still room to adjust the strategy, so he planned to make some fine-tuning according to his own ideas.
The team patrolling the front line today is very important because the identities of the escorts are very important. Qian Tiandun also specially ordered his subordinates to put down other affairs at hand, and brought the elite troops from the special operations battalion to personally take charge of this mission. escort mission. In addition, artillery, cavalry and even the Dongjiang Town Ming Army stationed in Jijiabao also mobilized various numbers of elites to join the team escorting important figures. Compared with the previous times when the southern businessmen and North Korean envoys came to inspect the war situation, the level of alert was indeed raised to a higher level.
This kind of deployment as if facing a powerful enemy is also related to the recent adjustment of the Hou Jin Army's combat strategy. Geng Zhongming is now in charge of the frontal battlefield of the Hou Jin Army in the north, and his conservative tactical arrangements seem to have been approved by Huang Taiji. and support, and is no longer subject to Azig in Jinzhou City in terms of command power. But it is precisely because Geng Zhongming's tactics tend to be conservative that Haihan needs to respond more carefully to ensure that his troops who go out to the area north of the isthmus defense line can move safely.
Although the identities of Mei Shengchuan and Jin Sangxian are kept secret from ordinary soldiers, basically all the first-level officers of the company and platoon participating in this mission know that in addition to their own leaders, there are also VIPs from Ming Dynasty and North Korea being escorted today. Envoy. Moreover, the results of this inspection are likely to affect the prospects of Haihan's alliance with these two countries, so there is absolutely no room for compromise in terms of security. As for the time and route arrangements for this inspection of the battlefield, only officers of Takahashi Minami's level knew the exact information in advance.
Despite the high level of the mission, there was little nervousness among the soldiers performing the mission. For them, protecting a group of important people in an area not far from the defense line behind them is not a very dangerous task. If the Hou Jin Army were to attack this position, they would inevitably use a large number of cavalry, and the reconnaissance cavalry responsible for monitoring the periphery could detect traces of large groups of cavalry at least half an hour in advance, so there would be enough contingency time for important figures to withdraw. Behind the defense line, combat troops can be left behind to delay the opponent's offensive if necessary.
The special operations battalion is originally the elite division of the Haihan Army, and the companies traveling today are also the elite of the special operations battalion. They are basically veterans with rich combat experience from top to bottom. The atmosphere is similar to that of regular patrol missions. almost.
Sun Zhen pinched the war horse under his crotch with his legs and lifted the reins slightly. The war horse knew what he wanted, so it ran a few steps quickly and rode in front. Sun Zhen lowered his voice and said: "Battal Commander, I heard that we are really going to form an alliance with Ming and North Korea this time. Is this news reliable?"
Takahashi Nan's eyes were still looking forward firmly, seemingly not paying attention to Sun Zhen who was leaning next to him, but he lowered his voice and said, "Is this something that you, a small platoon leader, should ask about?"
Although Gao Qiaonan is already a senior officer commanding the entire special operations battalion, he still likes to participate in battles on the front line in person. Therefore, during the time Sun Zhen came to Liaodong, he had many opportunities to fight side by side with Gao Qiaonan. Although the two are superiors and subordinates, they have gradually become familiar with each other during the battle. Sun Zhen heard that Gao Qiaonan's tone was not actually angry, so he continued to ask confidently and boldly: "Battalion Commander, I also heard that the higher-ups are planning to cease the war. If peace is negotiated with Jin, what will happen to Ming and North Korea? What else will happen to Ming and North Korea? Alliance? ”
Takahashi Nandao: "The armistice agreement and so on are all rumors. Don't spread rumors. If there is no opponent like Hou Jin, then what conditions should we use to get Ming and North Korea to take the initiative?"
Sun Zhen scratched his head and said: "What do you mean by the battalion commander, the superiors don't really intend to cease the war, but just use this to scare the two countries? Why do I feel a little uncertain?"
"You know nothing!" Gao Qiaonan laughed and scolded: "You can't understand the clever calculations of the chiefs. I heard the chief mentioned that this is called political means. Do you know what politics is?"
Sun Zhen shook his head blankly. All he had learned in the past twenty years was farming, marching and fighting. He really didn't understand what "politics" was. In addition to leading troops to fight in the past few years, Gao Qiaonan read a lot of books under Qian Tiandun's deliberate supervision, and now he can also read articles in front of his subordinates: "The so-called politics means subjugating others without fighting. They were reluctant to agree to the alliance, of course, because of many concerns, but the leaders tried to get them to put aside these concerns and obey the arrangements honestly. "
Sun Zhen asked: "I think that high-ranking official from the Ming Dynasty looks like a piece of wood, with a dead face all day long. Can this piece of wood understand the leader's meaning?"
Takahashi Nanxin said: "How do I know this? It's not me who is responsible for negotiating with Daming, but I can't show timidity in front of my subordinates, so I explained to Sun Zhen: "I think he is just pretending to be calm and doesn't want to let anyone down. People can tell from his expression that he is guilty. How can he stop pretending when the leader comes up with something?”
Officers like Takahashi Nan actually do not have high expectations for an alliance with the Ming Dynasty and North Korea, because in their eyes, the military strength of these two countries is far from that of the Haihan Army. Alliances, or even the formation of coalition forces, are actually difficult to provide an effective boost to the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army. If the running-in is not good, it may drag down the Haihan Army and limit the effectiveness of its combat effectiveness.
Of course, if the Allies can obey the command as Dongjiang Town, at least it can be used as auxiliary army. However, the military generally believes that this kind of possibility is not much high. After all, the situation of Dongjiang Town was too special when it was in contact with Haihan. In order to survive, he had to obey the arrangements of Haihan and received training and transformation. And if you change a Ming army transferred from the mainland, it will definitely not be as obedient as Dongjiang Town.
As for the Korean Army, it was not even stationed in Liaodong's elite troops. In their opinion, the strength of the Korean Army has a large gap compared to the militia arms of the Haihan and Han Dynasty. If you want to directly pull the battlefield to perform combat missions, most of them will stab Louzi. This unreliable partner.
The envoys of the two countries discussed by Takahashi and Sun Zhen were listening to the introduction of Qian Tiandun and Baili, while observing the situation north of the Division Defense Line.
After the renovation of the Jinzhou Digorian Defense Line for nearly two months, the solidity is undoubtedly a great improvement than the post -gold occupation period. The north of the tall city walls also deployed a defensive industrial area with a depth of more than 20 meters wide. It consists of trenches, trap, Luzhai, iron wire mesh, and various traps in order to mix more for the city wall when the Golden Army attacks more. Binglibu won the buffer time.
In addition, in some favorable terrain, Haihan also built some small firepower bunkers north of the city walls. The natural slope of the terrain and the shooting position on the city wall form a coccure cross firepower network. However, because there is no way to demonstrate the actual situation at the moment, it can only rely on explaining to let visitors know the design concept of these defensive industries. And Jin Shangxian and Mei Shengchuan obviously lack enough imagination, and can only show a look of "unknown".
But there are many obvious signs that indicate the fierce battles that have taken place here. For example, the land in some areas is a heart-stopping purple-red color, because extremely fierce battles have taken place in these places, and the color of the land is completely affected by it. It appears after being soaked in a large amount of blood. There are even corpse pits that have not been filled in in some places. Standing on the edge of the pit, you can see the layers of corpses of the post-Jin army below.
"Generally speaking, after every battle involving a thousand people, one or two such landfill pits have to be dug. However, the corpses buried underneath are all headless. As for the whereabouts of the heads, I believe Master Mei knows it very well. "Qian Tiandun showed off the achievements of the Haihan Army to the visitors.
The aftermath work of cleaning up the battlefield is basically done by the troops in Dongjiang Town. The severed heads are naturally pickled with lime. The heads of the officers are sent to the Ministry of War to report their merits, while the remaining heads are sent to the Ministry of War to report their merits. A valley center on the Jinzhou Isthmus has become a terrifying scale of the capital, waiting for the Mei Sheng River to come and accept it.
In fact, Mei Shengchuan has long known what the military exploits reported in the Dongjiang Town newspaper are about, but he will not expose such things without interest. After all, the Ming Dynasty is full of wars, and it is not easy to get some good news back to the capital. . Even though many people understand that there is water in this kind of record, Ming Dynasty just needs such a booster to calm the people's hearts. At least when the Ministry of War announces the news that "the Ming army wiped out several enemies in a certain place in Liaodong on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year," it won't worry about being suspected of being a fictitious achievement.
Of course, it is one thing to see battle reports on paper, but it is another thing to be on the battlefield where these battles took place and witness the traces left by these battles with your own eyes. Seeing the enemy corpses buried in layers and the heads piled up like a hill, this kind of visual impact is not something that ordinary people can bear. Even though Umeikawa was the Minister of War, he had never seen such a scene that made his heart beat fast in the past.
Facts speak louder than words. Seeing these scenes, no one can question Haihan's record. According to the figures provided by the Haihan Army, since the attack on Lushunkou last winter, the Haihan Army has so far eliminated more than 4,000 Hou Jin soldiers in Liaodong. About half of them were given to Dongjiang Town to report their merits to the country. This is not because Haihan is stingy, but because he is worried that the achievements reported in Dongjiang Town will be too great, leaving the court and the Ministry of War with no reward, which will be very troublesome.
(End of chapter)