Chapter 1813 A two-pronged approach
According to Wang Tom's original idea, the Qing army should continue to be held by the Yalu River in order to buy more time for the construction of military bases in the rear and the raid on the Liaodong Peninsula. However, if the Qing troops were not released into the DPRK, it would be difficult for Haihan to be justified. In order to obtain more favorable conditions from North Korea, it was not a wise choice to launch a decisive battle with the main force of the Qing army on the banks of the Yalu River with limited troops. So after careful discussion with Qian Tiandun, they decided to set up this situation. They would first pretend to be at odds with North Korea, and then withdraw their troops from the Yalu River. After a part of the Qing army crossed the river to invade North Korea, they would They made a comeback and cut off the shipping in the Yalu River to disrupt the Qing army's battle plan.
Of course, this plan could not be communicated to the North Korean high-level officials in advance, because the other party would definitely not agree to such a war plan that would lead the wolf into the house. Therefore, when the military accidentally intercepted a secret message sent to the Qing Dynasty by a ghost in Yiju officialdom at the border, they He immediately took control of the relevant personnel and forged a fake secret message and sent it to the Qing army through the original channel to mislead the other party's judgment. The entire process was not notified to Seoul and was completely operated by Haihan himself.
After the two days of artillery battle, Wang Tom believed that the time was ripe. Taking the initiative to withdraw at this time would make the Qing army think that Haihan was unwilling to fight for it after falling out with North Korea. It would not appear too blunt and trigger the Qing army. doubt.
In order to show respect for the allies, news will be sent to North Korea tomorrow morning. Because the Qing army's offensive in Jiuliancheng was too fierce, the Haihan army had to temporarily withdraw from this area. If North Korea delivers the news quickly enough, then the bad news should arrive in Seoul earlier than the news of the fall of Yiju. At that time, Qian Tiandun will hold talks with Kim Sang-hyun and other senior North Korean officials and ask them for more conditions - such as providing more manpower and military expenses to the Haihan Army.
By that time, the Qing army had entered North Korea, and the urgency of the situation did not allow the North Koreans to slowly negotiate terms at the negotiation table. Even if the conditions offered by Haihan will be relatively harsh, the North Koreans will have no room for bargaining and will have no choice but to give Haihan more money in exchange for military assistance.
Although they may not fully understand the intentions of their superiors in making this arrangement, the Marines still completed the evacuation task extremely well. By midnight, they had all evacuated to the troop carrier and then slowly sailed downstream. The Fujian Navy, which was originally performing a warning mission upstream, played the role of rearguard during the retreat. It was not until all the ships of the Haihan Navy left this section of the river that the Fujian Navy's fleet slowly sailed past this area. Haihan occupied the place for nearly a month.
Xu Yuzhuo still felt a little regretful. The fleet he led had been going up and down the Yalu River for so many days, but in fact it had never been involved in the real battle. The most important task was just to serve as a sentinel for the Haihan Army in the upper reaches of the river. , and occasionally had to be responsible for completing logistics and transportation errands, and had never set foot on the battlefield outside Jiulian City.
When he was commanded by Wang Tom on Jianghua Island, Xu Yuzhuo was quite proud, thinking that this fully proved that the Fujian Navy was the most relied upon and trusted ally of the Haihan people. But now both the Portuguese and the Annamites have participated in the battle to harass the Liaodong coastline, while their own troops can only play a supporting role with little role in the Yalu River. Now they are about to evacuate the Yalu River without firing a single shot. This gap The feeling still makes him feel a little uncomfortable.
Of course Wang Tom also explained to him why he should take the initiative to retreat from the Yalu River on the premise of taking the initiative, but this explanation was only limited to the current situation on the Korean Peninsula. As for the deeper reasons, such as Haihan's desire to withdraw from the regional chaos Tom Wang will not elaborate on the benefits he seeks for himself in the game. It was not the first day that Xu Yuzhuo had dealt with the Haihan people. He knew very well that the explanation he received was not the whole truth of the matter. However, based on the information he had, it was indeed difficult to deduce the real purpose of Haihan's repeated strategic deployment. .
This time the Fujian Navy sent troops to the Korean Peninsula, of course it was not a special trip to watch the excitement. Thanks to the influence of the Haihan Army, the Fujian Navy attached great importance to the actual combat capabilities of the troops. With the Haihan Army's expeditions to various places, it can both Learn more practical tactics from the Haihan Army, and it is also an excellent means of actual combat training.
Xu Yuzhuo spat fiercely in the direction of Jiulian City in the distance, thinking that if there was a similar fighting opportunity next time, he would have to ask Tom Wang to fight anyway, otherwise it would cost a lot of military supplies to travel so far. It would be a real loss to come here just to do odd jobs for the Haihan Army.
Although the Qing army received a "secret report" from North Korea in advance, they really did not expect that the Haihan army would withdraw so quickly. When the rangers responsible for monitoring the Haihan position in the early morning discovered that the Haihan warships parked on the shore had disappeared, and there was no smoke on the Haihan position as usual, they knew that something must have happened here. Hurry and report the news to Jiulian City.
Huang Taiji, who had just arrived in Jiulian City to supervise the battle just the day before yesterday, was also very surprised after hearing the news. In fact, he did not believe too much in the news sent by the spy earlier. After all, he had been dealing with Haihan for two or three years, and he was deeply Knowing that this opponent has many tricks on the battlefield and uses almost every trick, the so-called withdrawal of troops is most likely just a cover, and it is impossible to say that there is any other conspiracy.
But after two days of not particularly fierce artillery battles, the Haihan people really evacuated the position they had occupied for almost a month. This decisive performance shook Huang Taiji's original thoughts.
As expected by the outside world, after Huang Taiji changed the Yuan Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, he chose North Korea as a soft persimmon to sacrifice the flag as the target of the first battle in the founding of the country. According to his plan, the Qing army would concentrate its superior forces, invade North Korea in one fell swoop, advance to Seoul as quickly as possible, force the North Koreans to surrender and cut off all diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty and Haihan.
Judging from the strength comparison between the Qing army and the Korean army, it is not impossible to achieve such a combat goal. Huang Taiji was very optimistic that if everything goes well, the war will be over within three months, which will solve North Korea's worries. From now on, the Qing army's main attack direction can be concentrated to the southwest and concentrate on dealing with the Ming Dynasty and the sea. The Han Dynasty was a big trouble on the Liaodong Peninsula.
But it was a pity that his idea could not be realized smoothly. When he was still dispatching troops and gathering troops, he was approached by the Haihan people and directly blocked the planned crossing point of the Qing army. After receiving the report from the front line, Huang Taiji was a little doubtful. Was it someone in the army who accidentally leaked the news, or was it because the Haihan people had a dog nose and could smell the smell and find it all the way? Otherwise, why would he be late and early? We were about to take action against North Korea, but this Haihan suddenly jumped out and acted as a stumbling block?
However, follow-up information was quickly sent to Huang Taiji. It turned out that the North Koreans, unwilling to be humiliated, chose to invite Haihan to enter the country to help in the war. The special national border between North Korea and the Qing Dynasty made it easy for Haihan to find the key parts of the Qing army's combat plan. With only two to three thousand troops, tens of thousands of Qing troops were blocked in Jiulian City and unable to move.
Since the heavy weapons of the Qing army have not yet reached Jiulian City, if they had to use their flesh and blood to attack the guns and cannons, they would avoid repeating the tragic situation in the Battle of Jinzhou. Therefore, Azig, who was taking command here, chose to remain silent. He has been unwilling to take the initiative to fight. It wasn't until Huang Taiji brought a large number of heavy artillery that the Qing army finally cautiously opened up their formation and fought against Haihan. But unexpectedly, after just two days of fighting, the Haihan Army voluntarily abandoned this position and withdrew completely. Even the most optimistic Huang Taiji did not think that he could win this position in two or three days, and was even mentally prepared to sacrifice thousands of people here. But the Haihan people always act so unexpectedly. When the Qing army was finally ready for battle, they found that their opponents just walked away. If he hadn't received the news beforehand, Huang Taiji would have really suspected that his opponent was trying to lure him into the trap.
Of course, even so, Huang Taiji still did not dare to be careless at all, and sent out rangers to the upper and lower reaches of the Yalu River to search for traces of the Haihan Fleet, in case it was still ambushing somewhere on the river, waiting for his army to cross the river. Strike halfway across.
Naturally, the Qing cavalry could not find the presence of the Haihan fleet on the Yalu River, because at this time the fleet had sailed out of the Yalu River estuary and met up with the Majesty-class battleships and logistics fleets staying here in the waters near Xindao. Except for a small number of reconnaissance cavalry who stayed on the North Korean side of the Yalu River to monitor the Qing army's movements, all other troops had withdrawn from the Yalu River so that the Qing army could cross the river in peace.
Of course, the combined fleet did not enter a state of vacation because of this. Although it gave up the battlefield on the Yalu River, Wang Tom did not intend to let the coalition forces just idle. The fleet will go to Shicheng Island near the Liaodong coast to meet up with the Portuguese fleet and the Annan fleet, and then seize this opportunity to play some big games on the Liaodong coast.
Earlier, Wang Tom had also worried that the coalition forces blocking the way on the Yalu River and launching high-frequency raids on the Liaodong coast would cause the Qing army to give up the idea of invading North Korea and instead transfer troops to the coastal areas to prevent coalition plunder. But now that the Qing army has transported a large amount of heavy weapons to the banks of the Yalu River, and it is clear that they want to pull out the dock position at Haihan and cross the river into North Korea. Wang Tom does not need to worry that playing too hard on the Liaodong coast will cause the Qing army to turn around and come back. Although the south passage has now been vacated and handed over to the Qing army, Wang Tom will not let it go easily.
After confirming that the Haihan Army had completely evacuated the Yalu River Basin, Huang Taiji did not hesitate to issue an order to cross the river, allowing hundreds of large and small ships hidden in the upper reaches of the Gehe River to return to the Jiulian City section as soon as possible. However, what made the Qing army a little depressed was that Haihan set up many explosive devices at the dock position. The Qing army that went to take over the dock encountered a series of mine attacks. Not only more than a hundred people died, but the entire dock facilities were also bombed. It was in shambles, and it would take several days just to repair the trestle where the ships docked.
But this situation made the Qing generals feel a little more at ease. They believed that this just showed the determination of the Haihan people to leave here. The other party had even destroyed all the dock facilities. Judging from this situation, they did not plan to return here at least in the short term. Coming.
But it is not that no one thought that if the Haihan people made a comeback, they could try to capture the repaired Jiulian City Pier again. After all, fighting on the Yalu River, the Qing army was basically unable to resist the offensive of the Haihan fleet. Therefore, Azig, who is both rough and subtle, specially ordered that while repairing the pier, he also started building coastal defense forts on the shore to prevent the Haihan fleet from returning to the carbine and still having no means of defense and counterattack.
Jin Sangjiu, who originally served as a military observer in the coalition fleet, has been cut off from communication channels with the outside world at this time, because according to Haihan's request, it is currently the so-called "quiet period" and the fleet must prepare for the next raid. Fully concealed, any communication with the outside world is not allowed.
It is naturally difficult for Jin Shangjiu to understand such an arrangement. In his opinion, it is clear that they have taken the initiative at Jiuliancheng Pier. Even if they cannot withstand the Qing army's offensive, the coalition forces can retreat to Weihua Island or Yiju territory, as long as the fleet blocks it On the river, no matter how many ships the Qing army had, they could never hope to cross the Yalu River. But the Haihan people actually withdrew quietly in the middle of the night, leaving the Yalu River wide open.
Without witnessing it with his own eyes, Jin Sangjiu could completely predict the situation after the Qing army crossed the river. With more than 3,000 troops stationed in Yizhou, how could they withstand the offensive of tens of thousands of Qing troops. From the south of Uiju, Yongcheon, Yeomju, Chelsan, Seoncheon, Jeongju, Anju, Suncheon, and Pyeongseong all have the same garrison strength as Uiju. It is not until Pyongyang City that there are tens of thousands of garrison troops. This area Jin Shangjiu is not optimistic about how long it can hold back the Qing army.
But now that Wang Tom said that the coalition forces would "open up a second battlefield" and "find a more effective way to attack the Qing Dynasty," he could only temporarily believe it and pray that Haihan would not abandon North Korea.
While the coalition fleet rushed to assemble on the Liaodong coast, Qian Tiandun delayed for one day before informing the Koreans of the withdrawal of the coalition fleet from the Yalu River according to the prior arrangement. Kim Sang-hyun was thunderstruck after hearing the news, and rushed from Seoul to the construction site by the Daedong River to find out why the Haihan people suddenly retreated without a fight.
"The local support for our army in Yiju is very limited. It is difficult for our army to hold the Jiuliancheng pier for a long time, and some warships also need maintenance and ammunition replenishment." Qian Tiandun explained patiently to Kim Sang-heon who hurried over. The reason: "As we all know, your country has no suitable place that can provide maintenance and repairs for warships, so we can only send the fleet back to Jinzhou first. But Mr. Jin can rest assured that we will complete the supplies as soon as possible, and then repair the warships nearby in the Liaodong area. The Qing Dynasty launched a war."
(End of chapter)