Chapter 1810: Overpowering
In the previous several raids ashore, the Portuguese had almost never encountered regular troops of the Qing army. Their opponents were basically local militia armed groups, or even just personal guards of some large landowners, regardless of weapons, equipment or combat experience. They were all extremely lacking and naturally could not withstand the offensive of the Portuguese musketeers. Ximang seemed to have underestimated the enemy because of this, and had underestimated the true strength of the Qing army. This landing operation still relied too much on luck and did not do enough reconnaissance, which led to a head-on collision with the Qing army.
In the course of fighting against Daming year after year, the Qing army has transformed from tribal armed forces into a professional army, and has gradually accumulated rich combat experience. In the past two years, it has added a strong opponent, Haihan, for The adaptability of musket tactics has become stronger and stronger, and some means of defeating the enemy have been developed. Although these tactics may not be easy to use against the Haihan Army, which has better weapons and equipment, it has obvious effects against the Portuguese, who have inferior combat capabilities.
Because Simang was commanding on horseback, he became a very conspicuous target. In the chaos, he was also hit by an arrow falling from the sky on his shoulder. Fortunately, he was wearing light armor. Although the arrow penetrated the armor, it did not damage any muscles or bones, it was just a skin injury. Simang angrily pulled out his bow and arrow, ordered a signal flare to be fired, and asked the fleet on the seaside to quickly organize reinforcements.
The current location of the Portuguese is only three or four miles away from the seaside, and there are still hundreds of sailors left on the ship. They can organize another force to support Simang's retreat.
Soon a red flare shot into the air and exploded. This was equipment provided by the Haihan Army to the Portuguese in order to send distress signals to distant places in critical moments. Unexpectedly, it would actually come in handy. Now as long as they can retreat to the seaside and rely on the fire cover of the naval guns, the Portuguese can return to the ship and leave this dangerous area.
However, the Qing army obviously did not want to let go of the Portuguese who had caused chaos on the east coast of Liaoning. They still maintained an extremely oppressive offensive posture by relying on their superior strength. Although the Portuguese had the advantage in terms of force, the musket array tactics they used also had very obvious shortcomings, that is, it was difficult to maneuver quickly on the battlefield, otherwise they would lose the advantage of intensive firepower.
Even if Ximang was determined to evacuate the battlefield as soon as possible, he still had to keep his men in an orderly formation and divide them into two teams, front and rear, to alternately cover the retreat. Otherwise, as long as the formation is messed up, these hundreds of infantry will immediately become the target of enemy cavalry. Once the two sides engage in close combat, Simang will not have the confidence to command the troops in close combat with just the bayonets on their rifles. Defeat an enemy army several times your own. Fortunately, these people under him are not fledglings. Although the situation is passive, everyone knows that the more this happens, the less likely they are to mess up their position. They cannot outrun the cavalry with two legs, so they can only maintain their formation and fire their guns. retreat.
The flintlock guns equipped by the Portuguese have a limited firing frequency, and the amount of ammunition they carry is not too much. In order to save ammunition and prevent the enemy from seizing the gap in loading ammunition and rushing nearby, they must try to ensure the killing of each round of firing. Effect. To ensure the accuracy of shooting, Simang could only order the enemy to be placed at a closer distance before firing, but this would give the enemy's bows and arrows more opportunities to shoot into the Portuguese musket array. There were screams of pain after being hit by an arrow.
In just one mile after they ordered the retreat from Simang, the Portuguese consumed almost half of their ammunition, and more than 30 unlucky people were hit by arrows and lost the ability to fight, which is equivalent to losing almost ten points. This is a situation where the two sides are not in close combat. Once the ammunition is exhausted or the opponent rushes closer, the number of casualties may soon increase several times.
Ximang was already aware of this danger, so he was also trying his best to command his troops to break through the Qing army's obstruction. However, the Qing army they bumped into this time seemed to have become violent. Even though some people continued to fall after being hit by muskets, they still could not Ken stopped his offensive momentum. Although the battle loss ratio between the two sides was still significantly different, Ximang knew that once his troops collapsed, they would most likely have to answer here. At the moment, he had no time to regret that this action was too hasty, so he could only step up his orders and direct the troops to break out south.
"Everyone, please work harder, I can already see the top of the mast!" Simang, who was riding on horseback, kept shouting loudly to encourage the soldiers so that they would not lose their will to fight due to the increasing number of casualties around them.
In fact, even if Simang could see the mast top of the sailing ship on the seaside from horseback, the distance was still at least one or two miles away. It seemed very close, but with the front and rear interceptions, the Portuguese's escape route was not flat.
After losing about a quarter of their men, another group of Portuguese musketeers who hurried from the coast to rescue finally helped them drive away the Qing cavalry. The unwilling Qing army tried several more attacks, but the Portuguese had stabilized their position and repelled the cavalry attempts with intensive volleys of gunfire. After paying the price of dozens of cavalry, the Qing army saw that the Portuguese had retreated within the range of the naval guns, and they did not dare to continue pursuing them.
"God bless!" Ximang made a sign of the cross in shock after returning to the deck. He really didn't expect that this attack would be so unsatisfactory, and he was almost blocked by the Qing army on the shore and unable to retreat. It seems that the success some time ago has caused everyone to fall into a state of numbness and carelessness, even ignoring that the current opponent is a strong man who has made Ming Dynasty struggle to parry, and has already made Korea famous before sending troops. Although the Qing army is in the Haihan army, They can only remain humble in front of them, but their combat effectiveness is not bad. At least in today's battle, Xi Mang's troops were in a very embarrassed state, and they were almost unable to evacuate the battlefield safely.
"Weight the anchor! Raise the sail! Get out of this damn place quickly!" Simang didn't want to delay here any longer and quickly gave the order to the crew.
The Qing army stopped and watched less than a mile away from where the Portuguese fleet docked, watching the fleet slowly sail away from the coast. Although the Qing army itself suffered three-digit battle losses, the Portuguese also left more than twenty corpses near the coast. This is already the largest result of the recent war against Portugal. Take back the heads of these Portuguese and ask for help. There will definitely be generous rewards for meritorious service.
After leaving the coast, Ximang no longer had to worry about the Qing army chasing them to the sea, and then he began to count the losses of today's battle. Among the more than 400 people he led to land, the number of casualties was close to a quarter, and more than 40 people were killed in battle. The bodies of more than 20 of them were not brought back. Ximang had heard the Haihan people mention the way the Qing army dealt with the corpses of enemy soldiers before. He thought that it would be difficult for the Qing army to keep the whole bodies of these unlucky ghosts who died on the shore. Ximang didn't feel too distressed about the deaths of these men. It wouldn't be difficult to recruit a group of desperadoes who were willing to take risks when he returned to Macau next time. It's just that it is too far away from his own base camp, and it will be difficult to replenish his troops if there are too many battle losses, which will inevitably affect subsequent actions. Moreover, after this not-so-big mistake, knowing how the Haihan people would view him, and whether it would affect subsequent combat mission arrangements, made Ximang slightly uneasy.
Although he hit an iron plate outside Dazheng Town, Xi Mang had no intention of stopping there. The losses he suffered today must be recovered as soon as possible through the next action. Dozens of people had died, and the pension alone would cost a lot of money. It would take at least two or three more robberies to make up for it.
Xi Mang thought for a while and decided to turn around and go to Zhuanghe. More than half of the more than 400 Han people sent to Guanglu Island were kidnapped from villages and towns near Zhuanghe.
Zhuanghe is actually a collective place name, referring to a sea-facing plain sandwiched between the two waterways of Zhuanghe and Xiaosihe, with several villages and towns dotted in between. Zhuang River and Xiaosi River share an outlet, and Portuguese sailing boats can sail directly into these two rivers and go upstream to nearby villages and towns, which is far safer than Dazheng Town, which requires landing and marching. Although he had just visited this place a few days ago, Ximang believed that there was still money to be made here and it was worth another trip.
Zhuanghe is actually only thirty miles away from Dazheng Town, where the Qing army had previously fought, but Ximang believed that the enemy army would not have expected that they would reach the next target so quickly. The so-called unprepared attack is now Excellent time to act. So the fleet turned around and headed northeast on the nearby sea. In order to avoid being noticed by the Qing troops on the shore, Simang also specifically ordered the fleet to make an arc to avoid the sight of the shore.
Arriving near the Zhuang River, Ximang was very careful this time. He specially sent more than 20 cavalrymen with a limited fleet to land first to detect whether there were any traces of Qing army movements nearby. He only led the infantry to land after it was safe to confirm. In order to ensure nothing went wrong, the Portuguese even moved a few small cannons ashore and took the time to build several temporary forts near the coast to act as fire cover for the troops as they retreated to the coast.
As expected, Ximang's attack did not encounter the established Qing army again. The village he commanded to attack only had four or five Manchu households, and it was already under control without any decent resistance. Then Simang ordered that the whole village, old and young, be gathered together and escorted to the bank of Zhuang River to board the boat. During this period, some people were unwilling to embark on a journey with an uncertain future, but Simang had already anticipated this. He took the Manchu families outside the village and shot several of them in front of the people, and then did not show up again. Dissent and rebellion were made.
In addition to using this simple and crude method to quickly shock the people, Ximang also wanted to vent his anger at being driven away by the Qing army. He is currently unable to face off against the Qing army on the frontal battlefield, so for the time being he can only use this method to avenge himself.
And this is just a mistake. Several families in the village are dead, who dares to stay? After the Qing army came here, they would definitely kill all the living people in the village. First, to keep it secret and avoid causing wider panic; second, to accuse these Han people of colluding with foreign thieves and kill them. You can also go back to report your merits, which is also killing two birds with one stone. These Han people had been oppressed for a long time, and naturally knew what consequences would await them if they stayed. At the moment, they could only choose to accept Portugal's arrangement, board a ship and leave this place of right and wrong. As for the Chinese-speaking Portuguese who claimed that they would be sent to a safe place to be resettled by the Haihan people, these refugees were dubious.
The men and horses led by Simang captured two villages before dark, and captured more than 400 people, more than 8,000 kilograms of grain, a large number of livestock, and some gold and silver collected from the homes of several Manchu landlords. Although these gains did not seem to be enough to offset the previous battle losses, they at least revived the morale of the fleet. Even those who were injured in the battle with the Qing army were screaming to fight back to give the Qing army some color. Take a look.
Of course, it is impossible to fight back. Although Ximang is bellicose, he is still very self-aware. The fleet he leads can fight well at sea, but after landing, its combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced and it can only perform some raiding combat missions. It can be done, but if we start a fight with the enemy's regular army, it will almost replicate the previous battle in Dazheng Town. If we are not careful, we may even risk the entire army being annihilated.
The Portuguese fleet's activities in this sea area are to recoup the cost of the expedition through plunder, and to brush up the record so that Haihan can give more trust. Naturally, Xi Mang had no need to attack such a hard nut as the Qing Army, and would even take the initiative to get out of the way. But he also knew that with the frequent activities of his own fleet in this area of the sea, the Qing army's defenses would gradually shrink relatively safe areas, and the risks involved in carrying out landing operations in the future would be much greater than before.
After leaving Zhuanghe, the Portuguese did not dock again and sailed directly to Xindao at the mouth of the Yalu River to complete the handover of refugees there. Fortunately, not long after they left, another group of Qing troops who received the warning rushed to the area, but naturally they missed the opportunity and failed to catch this group of Portuguese who came and went like the wind.
One day later, the Portuguese fleet arrived at Salido and unloaded the Han refugees here. These refugees will be identified and registered here, and then transferred by boat to their new destination at the mouth of the Datong River. Haihan has resettled more than a thousand refugees locally, and the port project that worried Wang Tom was started by Haihan himself before the official arrangement of North Korea. Of course, it is still unknown as to when the first phase of the project will be completed and the Haihan fleet can be stationed locally.
Qian Tiandun estimated that at least 3,000 local laborers would be invested in order to allow the coalition forces to move the base from Ganghwa Island to the local area in time for this summer. North Korea is also trying to organize craftsmen and civilians to be sent to the area to accept the command of the Haihan people.
(End of chapter)