Chapter 1820 Delaying the Battle
Although the Fujian Navy does not have enough troops to completely blockade the Daning River, it is not difficult to guard against the Qing army organizing a large-scale crossing operation. After all, there are small troops of dozens and hundreds of people and large troops of tens of thousands of people. The movement before crossing the river is quite different. The latter requires gathering in advance and arranging a large number of crossing vehicles on the riverside, which can easily be discovered by ships patrolling the river. So in the past few days, although the Qing army crossed the Daning River in scattered pieces and hundreds of people, they basically failed to cause any waves. When they reached the other side of the river, they were eliminated by the North Korean defenders who were waiting for work.
After this stalemate lasted for three days, the anxious Qing army even began to try to cross the river on rafts at night to avoid surveillance by the Fujian Navy. However, this method of crossing the river is also quite risky. Visibility is poor at night, and the rafts used to cross the river are difficult to control. In order not to collide with each other on the river, they have to set off at a distance. In this way, even if the river crossing is successful by luck, the raft will not reach the shore. The locations will also become quite scattered, and the squad will still not be able to assemble in a short time. The officer who led the team across the river didn't even know whether the small team that had not yet appeared had drifted to the downstream bank or simply flipped into the river.
By using this method to cross the river in the dark, many people could be sent across the river overnight, but the price paid was also very high. Except for the unlucky ghosts who unfortunately fell into the river to feed the fish, it was difficult for the Qing troops who landed sporadically to cross the river in the early morning. To contend with the large number of North Korean defenders who came to patrol the river bank, the situation was not much better than the previous daytime sneak crossing. As the Korean army gradually became accustomed to such a fighting environment where more people fought against fewer people, they gradually became bolder and even began to build Jingguan with the heads of Qing soldiers on the banks of several major river crossing points.
The Koreans had never dared to think about such an exciting operation as using human heads to build a Beijing temple. However, this time the Qing army invaded and flattened several small towns within hundreds of miles. Thousands of North Korean soldiers and civilians were killed and injured. The number of people kidnapped was several times that, and the damage to property was impossible to estimate.
This situation has actually made the soldiers and civilians of Ping'an Road in northern North Korea realize that this time the Qing army is not here to grab some money, food and population and then withdraw, but to settle down and fight a war to destroy the country, and then to avoid this war with dignity. War is no longer possible. Now that armies from other countries have arrived to help in the battle and have effectively blocked the Qing army from moving south, some of the more bellicose Korean troops vented their long-simmering anger by building the Jingguan after the battle.
Of course, the heads of the Qing soldiers used to build the Jingguan had already been counted and counted for military merit. In addition, according to the Ming army's initiative, the officers among the prisoners of the Qing army were temporarily spared. These prisoners with special identities will be handed over to the Ming army for detailed interrogation to obtain more military intelligence.
In fact, these prisoners only stayed in the hands of the Fujian Navy for a short time before being handed over to the Haihan people and brought back to the Datong River base. The person who was actually responsible for interrogating these prisoners was not the Ming army, but the Haihan Military Intelligence Department. Professional torturers.
The information obtained by the Military Intelligence Office from these prisoners far exceeded what was obtained during the earlier operation on the Yalu River. At that time, almost all the prisoners that could be captured were small soldiers with limited knowledge. Understand the deployment and action plan of the Qing army, and the people captured this time are all officers, so they will know some military secrets to a greater or lesser extent.
The Military Intelligence Office quickly determined several things from the confessions of these prisoners: First, Huang Taiji was indeed supervising the battle in person and was currently in North Korea. However, the status of these officers was not high enough and they did not know where his boss’s specific location was. ; The second is that the Qing troops currently gathered on the banks of the Daning River have no specific plan for crossing the river, and are still trying to cross the river by feeling the stones, so they have arranged this tactic of spreading the troops across the river; the third is that The Qing army was completely blind to the situation on the other side of the Daning River, which meant that they had no idea whether the people waiting for them on the other side were Koreans, Haihan people, or a coalition composed of multinational forces.
"The Qing army is also afraid that they will face a bigger trap after crossing the river." After reading the interrogation report sent by the Military Intelligence Office, Qian Tiandun said to his staff officers: "They are worried that they will be half-crossed. However, we are afraid that we have set up positions on the other side and are waiting for them to land and die, so we dare not organize a large-scale crossing operation, and just send people across the river to test it out in pieces. At this pace, let alone. They may not be able to advance to Anzhou City in ten days or a month.”
"If we have a month, we can add at least two more miles of trenches and protective walls to the base's defensive position, build ten more fixed forts, and build a few more berths in the port!"
"One month is enough for North Korea to mobilize troops and horses from the south to garrison on the Datong River and Pyongyang City. By then it will also relieve some of the pressure on us."
"By then, the Liaodong operation should have come to an end, and the navy can be withdrawn to assist in defense. The Qing army's life will be even more difficult than now!"
The staff officers all expressed an optimistic attitude towards the trend of the war. Although the defense of Anzhou City itself may not be very strong, as long as the two water veins of Daning River and Qingchuan River can hold back the main force of the Qing army for a long enough time, North Korea will Even if Anzhou is lost, it will not affect the overall situation. By then, the intensity of the coalition's blockade of the Datong River will certainly be much greater than the earlier operations on the Yalu River. It will be basically impossible for the Qing army to safely cross the Datong River basin. To put it bluntly, the finish line drawn by Haihan for them is here.
Of course, North Korea will still make great sacrifices during this process. Not only will it lose another Anju, it is even possible that the city of Pyongyang on the banks of the Datong River will have to abandon all parts of the north of the Yangtze River and evacuate personnel to the south of the Yangtze River. Preserve the strength to fight against the Qing army. However, as long as it can block the Qing army and protect North Korea, the Haihan military believes that the North Korean monarchs and ministers will eventually suffer this embarrassing loss in silence.
As for why the Datong River was chosen as the location to launch a counterattack, instead of the Daning River basin in the north, which also has inland navigation environment, there are three main reasons. First, Haihan had already selected a suitable location for building a military port on the bank of the Datong River, and decided Relying on the establishment of a military base in North Korea, the war here can make full use of the advantages of the home field to wait for work, without the need to mobilize the army to travel long distances to attack; secondly, Haihan needs more time to build defenses at his own base, and locating the position on the Datong River can Gain more buffer time to complete the construction; thirdly, there is still a distance of two hundred miles between the Daning River and the Datong River. When the Qing army was fighting smoothly, there was no serious problem, but when they needed to retreat, After a long march, they have to cross the Daning River again. Then it will be the real nightmare for the Qing army.
But until now, Qian Tiandun has still not fully disclosed his combat plan to the North Korean military. On the one hand, he cannot trust the North Koreans and is worried that a traitor will leak the news. On the other hand, he also hopes that the North Koreans can attack as many people as possible in the north. By consuming the Qing army's combat power, the counterattack launched on the Datong River will be easier.
According to the plan agreed upon by Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom, the follow-up combat arrangements would not be informed to the North Korean military until the Qing army arrived at Anzhou City. To put it bluntly, it is necessary to obtain the maximum results at the minimum cost. Of course, the main body of the cost refers to the Haihan Allied Forces, not North Korea. North Korea's role in this combat plan is actually that of cannon fodder. However, North Korea's own national and military strength is very weak in Haihan's opinion. It cannot even compare to the province of Fujian, and it was also lacking in previous battles. After such a brilliant performance, the Haihan military naturally did not want to take the North Koreans to play with them. On the twelfth day when the Qing army stayed on the banks of the Daning River, a Qing army quietly attacked the Korean army's station from the upstream direction. After a hasty and chaotic resistance, the three thousand Korean troops responsible for guarding the river bank were defeated and immediately fled.
This Qing army, with a strength of more than 2,000 men, was able to successfully cross the river without any noise because the place where they crossed the river was not within the defense zone of the Fujian Navy and the Korean Army. On the third day after the main force of the Qing army arrived at the Daning River, after realizing that they could not break through the blockade of the Fujian Navy, they sent a force to go upstream and detour, and it took a full eight days for this force to do so. , sneaked across the river from the undefended area upstream, and then went in a circle to kill them back. When they discovered that the troops stationed on the river bank were not the Haihan army but the North Korean defenders, they decisively launched a surprise attack and defeated the poorly prepared North Korean army.
In fact, this kind of action of the Qing army had long been expected by the coalition forces. Xu Yuzhuo had even greeted the North Korean garrison a few days in advance, asking them to beware of Qing troops that might appear in the upstream areas. However, the Koreans were obviously overly optimistic about the results of the war during this period. They believed that the Qing army sending people across the river to die every day was the limit of the offensive, and did not think that the enemy would try to cross the mountainous area to break through from the upper reaches of the Daning River. Encountering a surprise attack by the Qing army without preparation, a defeat was inevitable.
Without the assistance of the Korean army on the river bank, the section of the Daning River that the Fujian Navy could effectively control had to be further shortened. Especially at night, there was basically no way to prevent the small Qing army from crossing the river. In the absence of reinforcements and the inability to further divide his troops, Xu Yuzhuo also realized that if he did not retreat to the Qingchuan River in the south, the Qing army would effortlessly break through the next natural moat and reach the foot of Anzhou City.
Therefore, the Fujian Navy had no choice but to evacuate the Daning River on its own initiative, and instead sailed into the Qingchuan River to the south to set up defenses, and asked the Anzhou garrison on the south bank to assist in defense on the shore to prevent the Qing army from quickly crossing the river.
Although there were thousands of defenders in Anzhou, after the situation took a turn for the worse, local civil and military officials were generally pessimistic about blocking the Qing army. They believed that since the Daning River defense line had been breached, it was only a matter of time before the Qingchuan River line was lost unless It was Haihan who sent infantry troops to help defend the city.
Letters for help from the front line were sent to Kim Sang-hyun almost every day, but Kim Sang-hyun had already learned the follow-up combat arrangements from Qian Tiandun, and it was absolutely impossible to mobilize troops to help two hundred miles away at this time. Anzhou could only throw these letters for help into the brazier and burn them, pretending that they had never received any news.
Jin Sangxian has sent his right-hand man to rush back to Seoul to report to King Li Zhu the battle situation on the front line and the secret battle plan of the Haihan people. In order to win the support of the king, Kim Sang-heon has issued a military order and will stay at the Daedong River base to supervise the battle. If this line of defense cannot be held, he will commit suicide on the banks of the Daedong River and will not return to Seoul.
Kim Sang-hyun's decision was basically a gamble with his life and fortune. Of course, the war situation has developed to the current stage, and he can't do anything without betting. The Qing army went all the way south and defeated North Korea without the ability to fight back. The Haihan army, which was hired at a huge cost, has been refusing to take action on the banks of the Datong River. Kim Sang-heon. The main war party cannot absolve himself of the blame for this situation. At this time, the king has not yet issued an order to punish him, but he has already given him enough trust. But this kind of trust will eventually be exhausted. Pressure from domestic and foreign countries will probably not give the king the confidence to put all his family wealth on the table and gamble it away.
If they continue to lose and let the Qing army cross the Datong River, there will probably be no chance for a comeback in the last few hundred miles away from Seoul. Kim Sang-hyun believes that instead of letting the king push him out as a scapegoat, it is better to fight the last fight in the Daedong River now, and die here if he loses. It is better to die for the country than to escape back to Seoul and be convicted and imprisoned. many.
Regarding the issuance of the military order, Kim Sang-hyun did not hide it from Qian Tiandun, but told him frankly, hoping that his bet would make the Haihan people pay attention to this battle, fight the Qing army well, and stop deliberately conserving their strength. .
"Lord Jin, attacking the Qing army is not only your country's wish, but also our country's long-term goal. Our country has traveled thousands of miles to station troops in Liaodong to fight against the Qing Dynasty for several years, and this is the purpose. Since we have agreed to your country's request, let us accept With the military expenditure and land provided by your country, this battle will definitely be handled well. In fact, I have a bold request. I would like to ask His Majesty the King to come to the Datong River in person to supervise the battle and take a good look at how the arrogant Qing army is here. Broken in the sand, defeated like a mountain!"
Qian Tiandun's reply was full of confidence and was not shaken at all by the fact that North Korea's current war situation was completely passive. This made Kim Sangxian a little bit suspicious that his previous distrust of the Haihan people was a bit too hasty.
Part of Qian Tiandun's confidence came from the telegram he had just received. The navy's operations in Liaodong had basically come to an end. After a short rest, they would move south and return to the Korean Peninsula to participate in the final decisive battle. When the entire coalition fleet arrived in the Datong River Basin, the Qing army would not be able to break through this line of defense as easily as it had previously broken through the Daning River.
(End of chapter)