Chapter 1811 Port Engineering
The Taedong River is located in the northwest of the Korean Peninsula. It has many tributaries and a drainage area of 20,000 square kilometers. It is the fifth largest river in the Korean Peninsula. Because of its deep river bed and the influence of the Yellow Sea tide, it is very conducive to river navigation. The hundred-mile channel near its entrance can smoothly pass large ships with a displacement of about 4,000 tons. Wang Tom selected this place as the navy's base port in North Korea, partly because of the hydrological conditions here.
However, in this era, there were no large population settlements near the mouth of the Datong River that could supply the large number of labor required for the port project. The nearest city of Pyongyang was more than 80 miles away in a straight line, and Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun I also have reservations about using North Korean civilians. After all, this is a military base. It is impossible for the North Koreans not to take the opportunity to add sand to it and send spies. Therefore, Wang Tom and others still hope to have their own people do the construction of some key facilities - for example, Han people brought back from Liaodong.
Although these laborers may not be loyal to Haihan at this stage, they can be relocated to other places after the project is completed, and there is no need to worry too much about leaking military secrets. In the eyes of the generals, it is far better than using a large number of Korean civilians. Be reliable. However, the current population source is limited, and we can only rely mainly on the Portuguese raids in Haihan, Liaodong, to collect Arhat refugees. Therefore, although the local work has started in name, there are actually only a thousand or so people, far from reaching 1,000 people. to the requirements of the project plan. Fortunately, General Haihan had taken this into consideration and specially transferred an expert from the army to serve as a supervisor.
Takahashi Minami never thought that one day he would return to the construction site to supervise work. Even though he knew very well that this was just a temporary job, it still gave him the illusion of dreaming back to ten years ago, and he couldn't help but think of the time he worked on the construction site. The days of working as a foreman in the Haihan hard labor camp.
Takahashi Minami was able to become famous in Haihan as a prisoner of war because he met two noble people, one was Qian Tiandun who made him willing to be loyal to him for life, and the other was who gave him a chance to stand out in the hard labor camp. Ren Liang. And it was precisely because of his outstanding performance as a foreman in the hard labor camp that he was recommended by Ren Liang to join the army, and he got better opportunities in the army.
But for Takahashi Minami, those not-so-good days in the hard labor camp were really not pleasant memories. If he hadn't received the job of supervisor again this time, he would have almost forgotten that time. Of course, since the current job is a task assigned to him by Qian Tiandun, he will definitely not slack off at all because of these personal reasons.
Gao Qiaonan actually doesn't know much about construction engineering, but the relevant knowledge he has is almost all in the military field, such as building military ports, castles, trenches, fortress walls, etc. Basically, he can make do with commanding related projects. Engineering construction. However, he has not systematically learned the theoretical knowledge of construction, so he still cannot understand engineering drawings. He is mainly responsible for personnel deployment and construction site order. Technical problems still have to be solved by professionals.
Takahashi Minami has been in the army for nearly ten years. The independent regiment under his command now has far more troops than the civilians on this construction site. He can still command the battlefield in various environments. It is necessary to arrange these civilians. Work is not a problem.
Originally, if a port project like this followed the normal development process, from site selection to design to formulation of construction plans, the time required would not be too short. It would be considered very fast to start construction within a few months. . However, Haihan has detailed satellite images of later generations. The Ministry of Construction has already given a clear plan for the location and construction scale of the port at the mouth of the Datong River. After selecting this place, it can be completed in the shortest possible time. start.
Fortunately, there is a hill with a stone foundation near the construction site, and stone can be quarried nearby. Otherwise, just the stones needed to build the military port would still be insufficient even if all the more than a thousand people currently devoted to quarrying and transporting the stone. Still not enough.
Thanks to Kim Sang-heon's efforts, North Korea sent the first batch of more than 80 construction craftsmen and more than 500 civilians. According to the instructions, Takahashi Nam did not let them participate in the project to build port facilities, but arranged They went to build the barracks and other infrastructure needed to station the army.
Takahashi Minami understood the instructions of his superiors and knew why North Koreans were arranged to build barracks. Therefore, he politely kept a distance from North Korean officials who took the initiative to apply for tasks and did not interact too much with them. Although North Korea currently seeks help from Haihan as an ally, spying on military intelligence does not only happen between the enemy and ourselves. There are also such shady activities between allies, and Haihan does not I don’t plan to reveal my entire family fortune to the North Koreans. Takahashi Nan sent a company of men and horses to guard the military port wharf and weapons depot, which had the highest level of confidentiality, to prevent stray people from entering the construction site.
In addition to the labor force, the living supplies of so many people are also a problem that needs to be properly solved. As a landlord, North Korea had to shoulder most of the material supply tasks. Especially for food, more than 80% of the food currently depends on North Korea.
According to the battle plan conceived by Wang Tom, before the Qing army goes south, Haihan needs to complete the preliminary supporting projects required to station troops here, including military docks that can dock majestic-class warships, military camps and military camps for stationing independent regiments and naval forces. Supporting facilities, and the most critical part - building a reliable line of defense to the north of the station. Perhaps the Haihan army entering North Korea will have to rely on this line of defense to block the Qing army going south.
The land chosen by Haihan has a river on the east and west sides that flows southward into the Datong River. The narrowest point between the two rivers on the north side is only five or six miles wide. The terrain is similar to the Jinzhou Isthmus in the Liaodong Peninsula. wonderful. The difference is that the Jinzhou Isthmus is flanked by the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, while the place chosen by Haihan is surrounded by two rivers. When Wang Tom first selected this place, he had already imagined that he would copy the defense method of the Jinzhou Isthmus and establish a defense line on the north side of the station. The rivers surrounding the east and west sides would become a natural chasm that would be difficult for the enemy to cross.
Of course, it is not a simple task for the army troops, which are mainly independent regiments, to defend such a wide front and resist tens of thousands of Qing troops moving south. Whether this battle can be fought or not will probably depend on how far the fortifications can be built in the early stage. Just relying on fortifications such as trenches, iron mesh and city walls was not enough. After Wang Tom came to see it on the spot when he went north, he decided to dig another canal outside the defense line to introduce river water from the east and west sides and make full use of the special features here. terrain to enhance defense.
However, the time left for Haihan's construction is not that abundant, so there should be no need to think about the moat in the traditional sense. Wang Tom's idea was to rely on this water canal to build multiple bastions in sections along this line of defense, supplemented by other fortifications. But his idea still hit a wall with professionals from the Ministry of Construction. To build the kind of bastion defense line requested by Tom Wang, at least three to four thousand people would need to work for more than a year, and there may be more work during this period. Due to additional work due to various reasons, the completion date will be later than expected. In desperation, Wang Tom could only do the next best thing and asked to dig out the ditch first.
The matter of digging canals naturally does not have a high technical content, so when Takahashi Nan found that the current labor force was far from enough to start construction on multiple construction sites at the same time, he made a request to North Korean officials to send more civilian workers to the north to dig canals. , and he asked for three thousand people as soon as he opened his mouth, which gave the North Korean officials responsible for contacting him a headache. Three thousand civilians can make it together, but if so much labor is taken away from the local area, many large landowners and dignitaries will also be affected. After all, most of the cultivated land is concentrated in the hands of these people. After the labor is taken away, the degree of impact will be The biggest ones are also these people. The pressure that the officials responsible for handling this matter must face can be imagined. Even if they bite the bullet and do it, it will not be done in a short time. To solve this problem, we can only use Kim Sang-heon's method to put pressure on the local governments from the central government and force them to obey the arrangements. As for those who are still unwilling to cooperate, it just so happens that Kim Sang-heon has been cleaning up dissidents in the officialdom recently, so he can just add his name to this month's punishment list.
But even though all the methods that should be thought of have been thought of and all available connections have been used, the progress of the project still cannot meet Haihan's expected requirements due to the low operating efficiency of each link. If this progress is maintained, Wang Tom's fleet will have to hold off the Qing army on the banks of the Yalu River for at least six to eight months before this new base can really play its role.
If according to the combat rhythm of the previous two years, both sides ceased action after winter, then it would only be delayed until winter comes, but this tacit understanding may not be able to continue on the Korean Peninsula. According to historical records, the Qing army invaded North Korea in the depth of winter. During the first month of the year, they marched southward to the banks of the Han River with overwhelming force, forcing the North Korean court to surrender. This means that the weather will not prevent the Qing army from invading. The reason for the truce with Haihan on the Liaodong Peninsula was probably because they did not want to send troops to the Haihan defense line to die needlessly.
At present, Haihan can still rely on the natural moat of the Yalu River to block the offensive momentum of the Qing army, but if Wang Tom takes the initiative to let the Qing army cross the border, the historical scene is likely to really happen, and there is also the risk of getting burned.
But Wang Tom was unwilling to give up this plan that could maximize Haihan's profits. After repeated communications with Qian Tiandun, Qian Tiandun was finally persuaded by him and decided to take a gamble on the banks of the Yalu River.
In early June, the Annan fleet, which had been resting on Ganghwa Island for many days, was assigned a new mission. It headed to the Liaodong coast to rendezvous with the Portuguese fleet, and then together they carried out raiding operations on the Liaodong Peninsula. The target was still mainly small villages and towns, and they were robbing the population. priority tasks.
The Manchus, who had been plundering people from the borders of the Ming Dynasty in the past few years, probably never imagined that things would turn around and that they would now become the target of other countries' plundering of people. Moreover, the opponent launches an attack from the sea, and it is more difficult to predict where it will come from than on land. If there are not enough troops in the area, it may be eaten by the opponent, which is indeed difficult to guard against.
The confrontation in Jiulian City has also undergone new changes. As the Qing army's concentration of troops in the area continues to increase, there are finally some signs that it is ready to move. Just as Wang Tom originally expected, when the main force of the Qing army completes its assembly on the banks of the Yalu River, they are unlikely to stay here for too long. Every extra day of waiting will consume a lot of supplies, which is very important for the Qing Dynasty. Not a good deal.
There were only two choices before Huang Taiji. One was to actively withdraw his troops and give up the idea of invading North Korea, and the other was to try to force Haihan to retreat and seize this crossing point. The possibility of the former is slim. This was the first foreign war after the founding of the Qing Dynasty. It took at least half a year to prepare for the war. Retreating without a fight is completely unacceptable. This is not only a slap in the face, but also the mobilization of numbers back and forth. The material consumption of tens of thousands of troops and the tilt of the strategic focus of the entire country also require a huge and lucrative victory in return.
The latter is not without hope of realization, but it is very likely that a tragic number of casualties will be required in exchange for Haihan's withdrawal. The commander-in-chief of the Qing army has never made up his mind. After all, the defeat in Liaodong is still fresh in our minds. If it happens again on the banks of the Yalu River, it will be a huge setback to the Qing's national strength.
But one day, a secret letter sent to Jiulian City through some secret channel gave the Qing army a glimmer of hope for a change in the situation.
This secret letter came from an official bribed by the Qing Dynasty in North Korea. The content was very explosive, saying that because Haihan demanded too high a price for aiding the Korean war, the North Korean king was unwilling to comply, and the cooperative relationship between the two countries had cracked. Haihan forcibly occupied a piece of land on the bank of the Datong River and planned to build a military base on his own. However, North Korea believed that this move had exceeded the relationship between the two countries and interrupted the supply of materials to Haihan. The military cooperation between the two countries also fell into trouble. deadlock.
The secret letter finally reported a piece of news that made the commander of the Qing army very excited. The Haihan people were determined to show some color to the disobedient North Korean court, so they might withdraw from the Yalu River in the near future and let North Korea fight against the Qing army alone.
If the situation mentioned in the secret letter really occurs, it will undoubtedly be a great relief for the Qing army. As long as the Haihan people voluntarily withdraw from this battlefield, North Korea's weak armed forces will not be put aside by the Qing army at all. In eyes.
However, the Qing army did not fully believe this. After all, the conquest plan could not be completely pinned on such unconfirmed news. The battles that should be fought still had to be fought one by one. Therefore, after receiving this news, the Qing army began to take the initiative to attack the armed stronghold established by Haihan on the banks of the Yalu River.
(End of chapter)