Chapter 1795 Preparations
Regarding North Korea's military strength, Ming Dynasty probably has the most information. During the Wanli period, troops were sent to aid Korea to resist the Japanese. Although the coalition forces finally won the war, thousands of Ming soldiers died on the Korean Peninsula, so it could only be regarded as a tragic victory. If the North Korean armed forces could have performed better at that time, the number of casualties of the Ming army would not have been so huge. In the past two years, the Ming Dynasty has been unwilling to let go of North Korea's request for help. Part of the reason is that the Ministry of War believes that North Korea is not strong enough to fight alongside the Ming army. If it sends troops to North Korea to fight, it will probably step into a huge pit, so it simply refuses to do so. Yes.
Although Xu Yuzhuo was leading troops in Fujian, he had some internal information from the Ministry of War, so he was not surprised by the performance of the Koreans. After all, even the Ming Dynasty looked down upon North Korea's military level, let alone marching formations and logistics. Haihan has more stringent protection requirements. Xu Yuzhuo understood Wang Tom's anger very well, but he had no way to solve the problems caused by the Koreans' procrastination in preparing for war.
Qian Tiandun's statement was unanimously supported by the coalition generals. They sent troops to follow Haihan to fight in Liaodong purely for their own interests. They wanted to gain the same trade rights as Haihan through the war to aid Korea, so that they could establish an alliance in Northeast Asia. Create new trade routes. But if North Korea is too unreliable as a partner, then they will naturally have to weigh whether the price they have to pay in the war is worth it. Especially now that even Haihan thinks North Korea's reliability is worrying, then they will naturally follow Haihan's lead. As long as Haihan decides to withdraw, they probably will not continue to be stationed in North Korea. As for North Korea's life and death, they actually don't care that much.
Of course, although Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun were dissatisfied with North Korea's war preparations, they would not really let the troops leave immediately. Different from other members of the coalition, Haihan's dispatch of troops to aid Korea had a strong political overtone. What the Executive Committee valued was whether Haihan's international influence in Northeast Asia could be further strengthened and whether it could prevent the Qing Dynasty. has grown rapidly, and diplomacy and trade with North Korea are secondary.
After Wang Tom got over his anger, he decided to observe for a few more days to see if the North Koreans' work would improve due to the arrival of the combined fleet. In addition, he also needs to further confirm the enemy's movements in Liaodong and judge whether the Qing army has the possibility of going south to invade the Korean Peninsula in the near future. If Huang Taiji really planned to attack North Korea during this period, Haihan would not be able to sit idly by completely and must formulate a response plan in advance.
Before the combined fleet went north, the Ministry of National Defense had already issued an order to the Jinzhou garrison via telegram to investigate the Qing army's movements in Liaodong. However, since the main force of the navy had already moved south at the end of last year, and the naval forces remaining in the Jinzhou area had less than ten combat ships, it was difficult to fully launch the reconnaissance operation in the Liaodong area, and the harvest was not great.
Currently, Chen Yixin and Morgan are responsible for the military defense of Liaodong, and the reconnaissance work in the areas controlled by the Qing army is mainly completed by Morgan. He regarded this task as a training subject for snipers. He conducted several reconnaissance activities on the northern coast with snipers as the main force. After landing, he went deep into the land for several miles and approached Qing army strongholds in a concealed manner. Through observation, he Determine the troop deployment and mobilization status of the Qing army.
However, due to the extremely high risk of such a reconnaissance mission that requires entering enemy-occupied areas, and the value of Morgan and the snipers themselves is much greater than military intelligence, the Ministry of Defense strictly ordered them not to go more than 20 miles into the interior, so their actions The range is also limited to near the coast. Due to Haihan's armed raids on the Liaodong coast in the past two years, the enemy retained very few troops near the coastline. The places Morgan's operations could go were all concentrated in a narrow area offshore, and he obtained There is naturally very little effective information. Even if the Qing army mobilizes large-scale troops, it is almost impossible to carry out it in this area. Therefore, Morgan has been busy for more than half a month, but the intelligence information provided to the Ministry of National Defense is still difficult to accurately judge the movements of the Qing army.
However, this situation is expected to change as the combined fleet arrives in the Yellow Sea. In addition to the navy, the troops brought by Wang Tom also include marines who are good at amphibious operations. In addition, the special operations independent regiment, which has rich combat experience in various environments, is also fully capable of meeting the requirements of reconnaissance operations.
In addition to the elites of these two Haihan armies, the other three armies of the coalition are also eager to try. For them, as long as the Haihan army acts together, they will not be able to go anywhere in the world. After traveling thousands of miles to the north, you still have to recruit and train with your opponents to make sure your trip is not in vain.
During the meeting at the coalition command headquarters that night, Xu Yuzhuo took the lead in proposing to participate in the next reconnaissance mission, and said that the troops he brought could fully serve as landing arrow troops to explore the way for the Haihan Army. This means that Xu Yuzhuo's troops are taking the initiative to take over the riskiest part of the landing reconnaissance mission, which shows their great determination.
But from another perspective, this also shows that Xu Yuzhuo has great confidence in the combat effectiveness of his troops. He is not afraid of running into enemy troops in enemy-occupied areas. On the contrary, he has a vague intention to use this to threaten Haihan and others. Allies' intention to prove their strength.
Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun knew very well Xu Yuzhuo's intention to earn this performance. The Xu family in Fujian has become stronger and stronger in recent years, and they are no longer content to guard the one-third of an acre of land at their doorstep. Although Mingchen was unable to raise a flag to rebel due to his status, his thoughts of outward expansion were already active. During his previous participation in the Haihan National Day celebrations in Sanya, Xu Yuzhuo made it clear to the Executive Committee that the Xu family intends to seek cooperation with Haihan on a wider scale outside of Fujian, not just in the trade or military fields. The family wanted to follow Haihan's example and open up their own colonies overseas.
Of course, Xu Xinsu also knows that this approach actually competes with Haihan. If the Fujian Xu family wants to make gains overseas, it will still have to hold on to Haihan for a foreseeable period of time. Therefore, if you want to own overseas colonies, you must first let Haihan recognize your strength. To do this, the battlefield is undoubtedly the most suitable environment.
From the perspective of Haihan, the Ministry of National Defense is naturally happy to see the results. As for whether the Fujian Xu family will compete with Haihan in the fight for overseas colonies in the future, the military is relatively optimistic and believes that the Fujian Xu family will compete with Haihan in the future. The growth of the clan can be used by Haihan. According to the opinions of some generals, the Fujian Xu family can be allowed to send troops in the name of Ming Dynasty when necessary to facilitate Haihan's actions overseas.
For example, although the troops sent to aid Korea this time were organized by Haihan, there were Ming troops among the coalition forces. This gave the king of North Korea an excellent reason to convince the domestic opposition. After all, even the sovereign country had already sent troops. , what reason does North Korea have for choosing not to fight but to beg for peace?
Xu Yuzhuo wanted to perform in Liaodong so that Haihan would pay more attention to the strength of the Fujian Xu family, and Haihan also hoped to use the special status of the Fujian Ming Army to make North Korea better cooperate with his combat plan. The two sides hit it off. Of course, the mutual trust and tacit understanding established by the two sides' in-depth cooperation over the years is also an indispensable part of the reason why General Haihan was willing to let the Fujian Ming Army join this risky mission. "Then please make preparations, General Xu. We will set off from Ganghwa Island and head north in three days." Wang Tom has made up his mind. Regardless of whether the Koreans have made significant improvements in war preparations in the past three days, the reconnaissance operation against the Qing army will be It must be carried out as soon as possible to avoid delaying the fighter opportunity. Although Haihan has a detailed map of the Yellow Sea area, many places still require on-the-spot inspections before the war. Only as a commander can he have a clear understanding of the situation and formulate more appropriate tactics.
The person under greatest pressure at this time was not the commander of their expeditionary force, but Kim Sang-hyun, who had a bad encounter with Wang Tom. As the leader of the main war faction in North Korea, Kim Sang-hyun undoubtedly had high hopes for the arrival of the coalition fleet, and believed that this should be the biggest help for North Korea to escape the crisis of national destruction. However, he did not expect that General Haihan would not be so easy to deal with. , just because Ganghwa Island’s preparations for war were not effective, they almost left in a hurry.
Of course, Kim Sang-hyun also knows that his side does have some imperfections. For example, the port terminal of Ganghwa Island is completely unable to cope with the entry of a huge coalition fleet. But there are certain objective reasons. From the time Li Xi called for Haihan reinforcements in Sanya to receiving the news in North Korea, it took about five days. He argued with the peace faction in the court and persuaded the king Determined to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army, they were delayed for several days, then recruited civilians, formulated a construction plan for the port expansion, prepared various building materials and tools, and transported people and materials to the port of Ganghwa Island. The coalition fleet had already Arrived in Zhoushan. In the few days left, it was naturally too late to expand the original port facilities to the standards required by Haihan.
Kim Sang-hyun believed that he had asked the relevant domestic institutions to operate at full speed to ensure that the Haehan fleet could move into Ganghwa Island as soon as possible, but the degree of completion was obviously far from qualified in the eyes of the Haehan people. But Jin Sangxian was also aggrieved. Who could have expected that the Haihan fleet would be so large and arrive so quickly? The reception banquet originally prepared was naturally canceled because Wang Tom did not want to attend, but Kim Sang-hyun did not forget to scold all the officials waiting at the banquet. For the current solution, we can only order local construction workers to work at full capacity, day and night. If the existing port conditions cannot be improved after three days, then responsible officials and foremen at all levels will be able to delay the handling of state affairs.
As for the other alternative locations requested by Haehan, it is not that North Korea is unwilling to hand over these places to Haehan to station troops, but that most of the places chosen by Haehan are far away from nearby cities, and some are even uninhabited. In this area, it is impossible to build camps and ports for thousands of people to be stationed in a short period of time, so we can only deal with it first and arrange the base of the Haihan Army on Ganghwa Island, which has relatively good basic conditions. However, this compromise arrangement obviously failed to satisfy General Haihan, and was regarded as a sign that he had no intention of fighting the Qing army. Kim Sang-hyun, who came all the way from Seoul to receive the Haihan people, had to cry out that he was wronged.
The next morning, thousands of North Korean civilians came to the port and began work to expand the existing dock facilities. The most urgent thing at the moment is to build a trestle at the port that can dock the Majesty-class battleships. Hundreds of thigh-thick logs were processed by carpenters on the seaside into a pointed shape, and then civilians worked together to erect them and nail them into the offshore sea. In the bed, it serves as a support for the trestle. However, due to the lack of large-scale construction machinery, the construction speed is not ideal because it relies solely on human shoulder and hand lifting.
Almost all the officials on Ganghwa Island came to the port to supervise the work, and the foremen spared no effort to direct the work of the civilian workers. Unfortunately, what Haihan valued was not the degree of their hard work, but the actual operational efficiency.
"If the domestic construction efficiency is used as the standard line of ten points, then I think the North Koreans can only have five points at most." After watching on the dock for a while, Qian Tiandun shook his head and came to the conclusion: "With this construction speed , even after three days there is no way to build a dock capable of docking the Majesty-class warship.”
"It will take at least five to seven days." Tom Wang agreed with his view: "This has to be the premise that everything goes well. If God is not kind, or there is some construction accident in the middle, it is hard to say how long it will take. .”
"Before departure, Yan Chujie said that the battle with the Qing army this time was a five-nation coalition, but now I feel that four nations are enough. With the performance of the Koreans, I don't really want to fight side by side with them on the battlefield." Qian Tian Atsushi made no secret of his thoughts.
"There isn't even a decent port... This war is not going to be easy to fight!" Wang Tom also felt a little frustrated. He was originally full of enthusiasm for this military operation to the north, but the actual situation in North Korea made him confused. A basin of cold water. The Haihan Navy is stronger when it is strong, but its reliance on logistics is no less than that of the army, and even more so in some aspects. If there is not a well-equipped supply port behind the war zone, it will inevitably greatly affect the situation. The performance of Haihan Navy on the battlefield.
In the afternoon of that day, there was finally some good news. The first batch of two thousand taels of gold promised to be paid by North Korea for military expenses to Haehan finally arrived at Ganghwa Island earlier than expected, and Kim Sang-hyun personally came to meet with him. Tom Wang completed the handover count. This money was originally provided to Haihan in the name of departure fees, but because the North Korean envoy simply did not have so much money on hand, the payment could only be postponed until the combined fleet arrived in North Korea. But in fact, all the expenses for the fleet dispatch were advanced from the temporary budget allocated by the Ministry of Finance, and then deducted from the gold. Therefore, as soon as Wang Tom arrived at Ganghwa Island, he insisted on recovering the money first to avoid the risk of national defense. There is a big hole in the ministry's military expenditure.
(End of chapter)