Chapter 1793: Place to stay
Due to the tight time schedule, the fleet's itinerary did not include arrangements to dock in Jeju Island for rest. Therefore, Wang Tom did not intend to send another person to the island to explain the nervousness of the people on the island. The fleet sailed directly through the sea on the west side of Jeju Island and continued to move north. After one night, the coastline of South Jeolla Province in North Korea was already visible.
However, there is still about two hundred nautical miles to travel from here to the North Korean capital. Judging from the slow speed of the huge Haihan combined fleet, it will take at least one and a half to two days to reach the mouth of the Han River.
For Wang Tom and others, there is still a problem that is not easy to solve at the moment, and that is the long-term garrison of this unit after it enters North Korea. If you want to examine the topography of the Korean Peninsula based on Haehan's standards for port selection, then probably only the natural conditions of Pohang, Ulsan, Busan and other places in South Gyeongsang Province and North Gyeongsang Province on the southeast coast can meet the standards, while the entire west coast of the Korean Peninsula. Especially on the northwest coastline near Liaodong, it is basically impossible to find a natural harbor that can meet the construction requirements of Haihan Port.
When Haihan chooses colonies and military bases overseas, he often takes geographical conditions as one of the main considerations. The military will generally try its best to choose strategic locations with natural harbors as the location to station organic naval units, such as Magong Port in Penghu, Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Zhifu Port in Dengzhou, and Lushun Port in Liaodong along the coast of the Ming Dynasty. product.
If the navy wants to station troops in North Korea for a long time and provide assistance for the border line between North Korea and the Qing Dynasty, then the range of military bases can only be limited to the northwest coastline of the Korean Peninsula, so that it can have time to respond to various emergencies. . The Ministry of National Defense had carefully studied the local geographical environment before, but still could not find a location that was truly suitable for establishing a base. If such a place existed, Haihan would not have been in a hurry to move the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town to Liaodong last year.
As a last resort, Haihan could only temporarily select a few places as reference. The specific location would have to be determined through consultation with the North Korean royal family after an on-site inspection. Before that, the temporary location proactively provided by North Korea was Ganghwa Island, located at the mouth of the Han River.
Ganghwa Island covers an area of more than 400 square kilometers and is about a hundred miles away from Seoul. Because the narrow strait between here and the mainland has a large tidal drop, many reefs, and complex hydrological conditions, the Korean monarchs used to encounter strong enemy invasions from the north. Then he would flee to Ganghwa Island to escape. When Mongolia invaded Korea in the 13th century, the then king was even forced to move the capital to Ganghwa Island.
Ten years ago, when Ding Mao was in chaos and Hou Jin invaded North Korea, the current King of North Korea, Li Zhu, also took refuge on Ganghwa Island, and then upgraded the Ganghwa Protectorate to Ganghwa Remaining Mansion, serving as the companion capital of North Korea. In recent years, many palaces and pavilions have been built on the island to maintain the operation of the court during the war.
If the original historical development trajectory was followed, the Qing army would invade North Korea at the beginning of this year, and the North Korean royal family and major ministers would go to Ganghwa Island to escape the war. The Qing army commanded by Dorgon captured Ganghwa Island in the first month of the year and captured all the Korean monarchs and ministers, which was known as the Bingzi Rebellion in history. However, under the influence of Haihan, this scene did not appear as expected.
North Korea arranged for the reinforcements sent by Haehan to be stationed on Ganghwa Island, which can be regarded as a way to show its trust in its allies. After all, if a war breaks out, Ganghwa Island will be the last refuge of the princes and nobles, and the current move is The task of guarding the refuge was handed over to the Haihan Army. Of course, North Korea went through a lot of trouble to bring in reinforcements, and it did not just expect the Haihan Army to guard the shelter at the door of their home. The ultimate goal was to hope that the Haihan Army could defend the enemy from outside the country and defeat the Qing Army. Blocked north of the Yalu River.
But hope is hope. North Korea is not qualified to dictate how the Haihan Army will fight. All they could do was to meet Haihan's logistical requirements as much as possible, so that Haihan could help them resist foreign invasion.
Before the fleet headed north, Haihan had already contacted the northern garrison via telegram, and informed North Korea of Haihan's support plan and requirements through North Korean officials stationed in Shandong and Liaodong. However, the improvement in communication speed after Haihan used black technology is still limited. This important information is sent back to North Korea by envoys by boat, and then the North Korean monarchs and ministers discuss and make decisions, and then feed it back to Haihan. It’s been ten days.
Such efficiency is naturally extremely procrastinating for Haihan, so when the fleet left Zhoushan, Zhejiang, North Korea still could not provide a better alternative location than Ganghwa Island. In desperation, Wang Tom could only order the fleet to go to Ganghwa Island first. After arriving there, he would discuss the subsequent stationing matters with North Korean officials. In short, he had to come up with a plan that could be recognized by his own side.
On May 3, the combined fleet successfully arrived in the waters near Ganghwa Island. Several North Korean military sailing ships that had been waiting here for a long time took the initiative to greet them and rendezvous with the combined fleet. Under the leadership of their North Korean counterparts, the combined fleet temporarily docked on the southwest coast of Ganghwa Island. There is no fully equipped military port here, and the few docks simply cannot accommodate the ships of the United Fleet. In addition, large warships like the Majestic class cannot enter the small berths.
"The North Koreans are really unreliable!" After Wang Tom confirmed the situation of the dock through the telescope, he couldn't help complaining: "There isn't even a decent military port, and we are invited to garrison it. How can we garrison it? Go and get it. Jin Shangjiu called him and told him to get ashore quickly and coordinate these messy things!”
Jin Shangjiu was not a god, and he could not conjure several large berths for the Haihan people on the shore. He could only humbly apologize to Wang Tom, saying that his country was not well prepared, and hoped that the Haihan Heavenly Soldiers could try to overcome the difficulties. .
In fact, the North Koreans are not unaware that Haihan is going to send a big ship. North Korea has been informed of this in previous briefings. However, if a large military dock is to be built on Ganghwa Island, North Korea must first send craftsmen to survey the site and formulate plans. The construction plan, calculation of the project quantities, and recruitment of civilian workers to start the work, this series of processes would take ten days and a half no matter how fast it was. When the Haehan fleet arrived at Ganghwa Island, North Korea had just begun preparing materials, and the construction workers had not yet entered the site, so they could not catch up.
But such an incident by Wang Tom will definitely be reported to the North Korean court through official channels. By then, the officials in charge of the project will inevitably be unlucky because of the delay in the construction period. In order to quell the anger of the Haihan people, perhaps dismissing him from office would be considered an easy task.
But in fact, the geographical environment of Ganghwa Island is indeed not suitable for building a large port. Wang Tom had already confirmed this when he came last year. The Koreans regarded this place as a refuge during the war. They knew that it would be difficult for the enemy to launch a large-scale amphibious landing here, so they hid on the island without fear and waited for the end of the war. But now that the Haihan Fleet is stationed here, there are not enough berths, which is a bit embarrassing.
Of course, North Korea will not just let Kim Sang-joo handle the reception of the Hae-han fleet from afar. In fact, King Yi Zhu has sent Chief Secretary Kim Sang-heon to Ganghwa Island to receive and settle senior officials of Hae-han. Fleet officers. Although Kim Sang-hyun and Kim Sang-gu, who acted as a punching bag in the fleet, have similar names, they are not related to each other. Not only are they a generation apart in age, but their status in North Korea is also very different. Kim Sang-hyun is the leader of the peace-denying faction in North Korea. He has always advocated vigorously expanding armaments, improving military facilities, and strengthening the defense of the northern border. Historically, after Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor and changed the Yuan Dynasty, the King of Korea also listened to his opinions and announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, it directly attracted a military attack from the Qing army.
However, due to the impact of Haihan's entry into Northeast Asia in this time and space, the peace-rejecting faction has a greater voice in North Korea than in history. The Cui Mingji faction who advocated peace was because of Haihan's arrogance against Hou Jin in Liaodong. Even now that North Korea is facing the threat of invasion from the Qing Dynasty, the peace advocates still have not been able to gain an advantage in the competition with the peace opponents. King Li Zhu sent Kim Sang-heon to Ganghwa Island to express his attitude to Hae-han.
Two hours after the fleet arrived at Ganghwa Island, this popular official in North Korea finally took a transport boat to the Haehan flagship, which was still at sea and unable to dock. Since Kim Sang-hyun was already sixty-seven years old, he went through a lot of trouble when boarding the ship. Finally, he lowered the cargo bucket for hoisting supplies from the ship, let Kim Sang-hun sit in it, and then pulled him to the deck. .
Jin Sangxian rearranged his clothes in a leisurely manner, and then with the support of Jin Sangjiu, he came to Tom Wang to greet him. The two had dealt with each other in Seoul last year, so they were not strangers.
"Master Jin, I think you should have noticed that the port facilities on Ganghwa Island are too crude to allow my fleet to be stationed for a long time. This problem must be solved as soon as possible." Wang Tom pointed to the distant coast , trying his best to say in a calm tone: "In this situation, we can't prepare properly for war!"
Tom Wang refrained from getting angry. Firstly, he saw that Kim Sangxian was indeed too old. Secondly, he had a noble status in North Korea and was said to be the main advocate of introducing Haihan garrison. Even if he had any dissatisfaction, he could only endure it as much as possible. However, he still had to express this dissatisfaction, otherwise he was worried that the North Koreans would not be able to distinguish priorities, and if they continued to dilly-dally like this, it would definitely affect Haihan's planned action plan.
Jin Sangxian responded: "What General Wang said is absolutely true. This is indeed because the construction progress in our country is too slow. I just went to verify the situation. Currently, 3,000 civilians have been recruited, and the building materials are about to be in place. It is expected that tomorrow Construction of a new terminal can begin, and the first batch of new berths can be put into use within half a month. ”
"That's still too slow." Wang Tom shook his head helplessly: "What about the alternative locations proposed by our country before? Is your country prepared?"
Kim Sang-hyun said: "To be honest, His Majesty the King has been discussing with the ministers for many days, but there is still no final decision, so in the near future, I may only bother your army to settle here on Ganghwa Island first."
Wang Tom was so angry that he wanted to curse. After receiving Li Xi's request for help, Victory Fort was afraid that it would be too late. He even canceled the rare vacations of several troops, mobilized many overseas colonies to complete the supply relay, and hurriedly traveled thousands of miles. When I came to North Korea, the attitude displayed by the North Koreans was that there was no tense atmosphere. This loose preparation could not be compared with the importance Haihan attached to it.
"It seems that your country is not very concerned about the threat from the powerful enemy in the north. This is probably because the intelligence we received was a bit misunderstood!" Wang Tom said angrily with a smile: "Otherwise, our fleet should go first Go to Liaodong. If a war does break out in your country in the future, we can come from Liaodong to provide support.”
The port facilities on Ganghwa Island are far inferior to those of Port Arthur, and North Korea seems obviously not ready to receive the garrison. Even though the King of North Korea sent important ministers to Ganghwa Island to greet him, Wang Tom still believed that this plan to send troops to North Korea would not be able to be implemented smoothly. If it weren't for the military alliance between the two countries, Wang Tom might have turned his face to Kim Sang-hyun right away.
Jin Sangxian responded quickly: "General Wang, calm down! His Majesty the King has ordered that the palace on the island be vacated for your army generals to live in. Two hundred private houses and five hundred tents have been prepared for your army soldiers to garrison. Garrison During this period, our country will bear all the expenses incurred by your army! At present, according to your army's request, supplies for five thousand people for one month have been prepared on the island, and various facilities are also under construction. If you are brave, please ask General Wang to go to the island to take a look. If you are still not satisfied, it is not too late to make other plans.”
After hearing these words, Tom Wang's face brightened a little, and his tone softened a little: "Anyway, this pier must be repaired first. Otherwise, you see, my big ship can't even dock, so how can it be stationed for a long time? ”
"Yes, yes! I will order the construction to start as soon as possible later, working in shifts day and night. The local dock facilities must be improved as soon as possible so that your army can enter smoothly." Seeing that Wang Tom's tone had relaxed, Jin Shangxian quickly struck while the iron was hot to express his determination.
Jin Sangxian repeatedly invited him, but Wang Tom could not resist, so he agreed and temporarily handed over the command of the fleet to Qian Tiandun. He followed Jin Sangxian ashore first to check the progress of local war preparations.
In fact, Kim Sang-hyun is not lying. North Korea is indeed making relevant preparations for war, but its low operating efficiency cannot be compared with Hae-han. Even if it knows that the threat of war in the north is getting closer and closer, it understands that this war The help of the Haihan Army is needed to have the possibility of victory, and the North Koreans are still making preparations leisurely.
(End of chapter)