Chapter 1829 Nowhere to start
Before setting off from Pyongyang, Huang Taiji had actually expected that the terrain of this battlefield would be unfavorable to himself. After all, the Haihan people had chosen this place months in advance. They had made various moves to confuse the Qing army some time ago, and secretly summoned a large number of soldiers. The manpower was working hard to build strongholds, and then arranged for the Korean army to abandon the defenses north of the Datong River, making it clear that they planned to fight the Qing army here. The Haihan people always plan before taking action, and they must be relying on something to assume such a posture. He sent out scouts to survey the terrain. In fact, he just wanted to try his luck to see if the Haihan people would miss anything in the defense line. But the situation seemed to be worse than he expected.
Not only were the trees cleanly cut down near the Haihan stronghold, but there were not even large stones on the ground. The nearest place where stone could be quarried was six or seven miles away from the Haihan defense line. Obviously, the surrounding area could be used All kinds of natural materials for offensive and defensive operations have been collected by Haihan early. If the Qing army did not have wood and stone to use, the tactical methods they could use would be greatly limited, and the difficulty of attacking this line of defense would inevitably rise sharply.
Although the two small rivers on the east and west sides of the Haihan position are not too wide, there are no water vehicles available in this place. To carry out an armed swim against the gunfire from the other side, it may be more difficult for the Qing army who is not good at water. A frontal attack on the Haihan position was even more terrifying, so it was not included in Huang Taiji's options.
Therefore, the only offensive direction left for the Qing army was the northern defense line, but this was obviously a situation that Haihan had planned for a long time. It was not difficult for Huang Taiji to imagine that Haihan had deployed many powerful killing methods on this line of defense. , waiting for the Qing army to deliver it to their door. Azig had lost hundreds of cavalry here before, and realized that this place was not easy to break, so he hastily withdrew his troops and did not try to attack again. However, after Huang Taiji came here in person to understand the surrounding environment, he actually had the same idea as Azig. , thinking that this place was the killing array set up intentionally by Haihan.
Even if the Qing army has an absolute advantage in terms of military strength, the offensive area where troops can be deployed on this battlefield is too narrow. And facing the Haihan position where a large number of guns are deployed, the consequences of launching a dense charge will be tragic. This has been seen many times in the past. It has been verified in this battle.
If Seoul is taken as the goal of this war into Korea, the Qing army has almost completed half of its journey, and retreating at this time will naturally not be an option for the Qing army. Even if Huang Taiji and most of the Qing generals did not want to have another head-to-head confrontation with the Haihan Army, they were even less likely to accept retreating without a fight on the banks of the Datong River. They would have to fight anyway. Called.
However, since the presence of the Haihan Army had already delayed too much time in the advancement process, the Qing army did not need to rush to seize this day and a half on the bank of the Datong River to launch an attack. Huang Taiji studied the collected environmental information for a long time, and finally decided to be a little patient and spend more time to figure out the deployment of the enemy's defense line, and then try to find reasonable and effective tactics to launch an attack.
Wang Tom returned to the Datong River base by boat at almost the same time as the main force of the Qing army arrived. He had learned through radio contact that the main force of the Qing army had left Pyongyang and headed south. He knew that it must be attacking the base downstream, so he sent Portugal and Annan's fleet stayed near Pyongyang to assist the North Korean Navy in defense, while he hurried back with the fleets of the Haihan Navy and the Fujian Navy.
Wang Tom came back with his troops not to take credit from Qian Tiandun. At most, he just wanted the Marine Corps to participate in the defense of the base. What he was more concerned about was the reaction of the Qing army after hitting a wall at the Datong River base.
According to the battle plan designed by the command before the war, after Haihan succeeded in blocking the Qing army at the Datong River base, the coalition fleet would detour from the sea and rush to the Qingchuan River and Daning River basins in the north to intercept again those who wanted to return to the north. of the Qing army. Considering that there are a large number of cavalry units in the Qing army, in order to achieve the best combat effect, the coalition fleet must arrive at the scheduled location before the opponent, so Wang Tom brought the main force of the fleet back to the Datong River base early. First, Support the army's operations, and secondly, be able to immediately go to sea and rush north when the situation becomes clear. Even if the effect of this may only be to shorten the operation time by half a day, it may have completely different results during the actual combat.
"Huang Taiji has calmed down this time!" Wang Tom put down the telescope and said to Qian Tiandun next to him: "You said they arrived this morning, but they haven't launched an offensive all day long. This is not like what they did in the past. Fighting style! ”
"If you suffer too much, you will naturally learn to be smart." Qian Tiandun seemed very calm about this, and explained to Wang Tom the reconnaissance operations carried out by the Qing army after arriving here. The several watchtowers built by Haihan were not in vain. Every move of the Qing cavalry on the plains outside the base was difficult to hide from Haihan's surveillance.
After listening to the introduction, Tom Wang nodded and said: "They probably need some time to figure out how to attack, so we have to find a way to put more pressure on them."
There are many ways to put pressure on the Qing army, but the commanders do not intend to let their troops take risks to provoke the Qing army outside the defense line. They have better ways to urge the Qing army to launch an offensive as soon as possible.
Liu Shang had already rested, but suddenly a messenger came and delivered an order from the headquarters, asking him to immediately gather three thousand civilians and bring their work tools to the northern border defense line for construction. Liu Shang was a little confused when he received this order. He received the order from the headquarters yesterday evening because the Qing army would soon arrive nearby, so all the civilians on the construction site were ordered to evacuate. But today, after the Qing army arrived, the two armies had not yet started fighting. Why did the headquarters come back with a completely opposite order, requiring overnight construction? Could it be that there had been a quiet fight in the north.
However, the construction of the defense line was a military secret, and it was inconvenient for Liu Shang to ask the messengers about what happened on the front line. He quickly summoned a few of his subordinates and assigned them tasks. Although this order came from the command to Liu Shang's head, he did not need to personally organize and implement it. He had a group of helpers to run the errands. However, it was already dark by this time, and it would take a lot of hard work to organize three thousand civilians from the camp on the riverside, and then go through the entire base to the northern defense line.
Liu Shang was a little curious about the battle situation on the front line, and was a little worried about the temporary arrangements for this night, so he personally led his team to the northern border defense line to hand over with the military, hoping to take a chance to understand the current battle situation. He now has a good relationship with Takahashi Minami and other senior military officers, so it is not difficult to get some information.
It was not just Liu Shang and other civil affairs officials and the three thousand civilians who were temporarily organized who could not sleep peacefully that night. Huang Taiji, who had already gone to the tent to rest, was also put off by the military intelligence report from his subordinates.
On the Haihan position in the south, a large number of fires began to be lit after nightfall, and the entire defense line gradually lit up. At first, the Qing army responsible for surveillance thought that this might be a way for the opponent to prevent their own night attacks, but soon I found that things are not that simple.
There was a large flow of people on the Haihan position, but these people were not soldiers with live ammunition, but civilians holding various tools. They seemed to be expanding and reinforcing the fortifications on the periphery of the position. The Haihan position was under construction overnight, and the amount of information contained in such an action was very large. The subordinates who discovered this situation did not dare to make decisions without authorization, and immediately reported it to Huang Taiji. When Huang Taiji heard such news, he naturally did not dare to neglect, and quickly dispatched two teams of elite cavalry to go south again to confirm the new movements on the Haihan position.
If the news is true, then there must still be some weak links in the defenses on the Haihan position, which is why the Haihan people are so eager to organize construction overnight. Of course, Huang Taiji also knew that the Haihan people were full of tricks, and what he saw and heard might not be the truth. You must know that just over two months ago, the Haihan fleet voluntarily withdrew from the Yalu River. At that time, there were rumors that Haihan had fallen out with North Korea and gave up military assistance to North Korea. But judging from the scale of the military base on the banks of the Datong River, the original rumors were obviously false. The Haihan people were just trying to cover up their real battle plan.
Of course, it is possible that the arrangement of this overnight construction was done deliberately by the Haihan people, as a pretense to lure the Qing army to launch an offensive. The Qing army could ignore this, but regardless of whether there were real loopholes in the Haihan position or they were deliberately used to lure the Qing army, if thousands of people were working day and night, they would undoubtedly make the already difficult-to-break defense line stronger.
Huang Taiji had a clear idea of why his opponent would start construction after dark. He should be worried that the Qing army would launch an offensive during the day and would not be able to withdraw the large number of civilians from their positions in time, which would lead to chaos in the defense line and weaken the fighting capacity of the defenders. After nightfall, due to limited visibility and lack of familiarity with the environment, it was difficult for the Qing army to organize and direct large-scale night attacks.
The Jingqi sent out soon came back and said that construction was indeed underway on the Haihan position, and that there were at least two to three thousand civilians. In addition, Haihan still deployed a lot of musketeers on the position. When the elite cavalry sent came close to about a hundred feet, they already attracted shots from the opponent. Fortunately, the field of vision was limited at night, and it was estimated that the other party could not see clearly. These scattered shootings did not cause any casualties to these elite cavalry of the Qing army.
Just sit back and watch Haihan strengthen his position? Huang Taiji's answer is obviously no. Even if this is really a trap set by Haihan, he cannot let the other party build this line of defense stronger and stronger under his nose.
About half an hour later, two thousand-man cavalry teams quietly left the Qing army's position, splitting from east to west and slowly outflanking the Haihan position in the south.
According to the information obtained from previous reconnaissance, there are not only Haogou on the outside of the Haihan position, but also an iron net deployed to prevent cavalry attacks. Therefore, Huang Taiji did not expect these two cavalry to directly break through the Haihan defense line, but let them They harassed the area with bows and arrows, making it impossible to construct the Haihan position.
Of course, with the light bows equipped by the cavalry, if you want to shoot arrows into the Haihan position, you have to close the distance to about 30 feet, which is actually within the range of the Haihan rifle. If it were during the day, this dangerous distance would inevitably cause a lot of casualties to the Qing cavalry. However, there were thousands of civilians on the Haihan position at this time, so they could try this less advanced tactic.
However, the tactics of the Qing army were not without technical content. The cavalry launched a charge at night and carried out a mounted shooting attack during the charge. This in itself already reflected the well-trained Qing cavalry. If it were against other opponents of the same generation, such combat capabilities would be clearly superior. However, their opponent was the incredibly powerful Haihan Army. Even if they used this special skill, it would still be difficult to fight against them. Take advantage.
Not long after the Qing army's cavalry came into battle, Haihan's side had already noticed its movements. So Liu Shang, who had just assigned the civilian workers to various construction sites, received a new order to immediately organize the civilian workers to withdraw from their positions. Liu Shangzhen didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he immediately followed the military's instructions and carried out the order. He himself also retreated half a mile with the civilian team and stood by in the safe zone.
Liu Shang had already inquired with the officers he knew before. It turned out that the overnight construction was arranged to lure the Qing army to take the initiative. Now the military ordered the civilians to withdraw from their positions. It was obvious that they had succeeded in luring the enemy. However, the military just asked the civilians to evacuate their positions and continue to stand by. It seems that the Qing army may not be launching a large-scale attack, maybe it is just harassment.
However, he couldn't watch the excitement in peace yet. He had to quickly appease the mood of these civilians. After all, they were being transferred here and there at such a late hour, and he heard that there was an incoming Qing army outside, which would make these civilians feel uneasy.
Naturally, the military's arrangements cannot be told in full to these civilians, but Liu Shang also has rich experience in dealing with this situation. After all, when the Jinzhou Isthmus was first captured, Haihan was rebuilding the defensive positions despite the intermittent offensives of the Jin Army. It was common for him to supervise the work while appeasing the emotions of the civilians.
When the Qing cavalry marched near the Haihan position, they responded in advance and basically completed the retreat of the civilians. However, the Qing army still followed the previous instructions and launched a feint charge.
They were greeted by musket fire from the Haihan position, but the hit rate was obviously not comparable to the level during the daytime battle. The Qing cavalry was able to rush close with relatively small casualties, and fired a round at the Haihan position while turning. arrows. However, wooden roofs were built above the infantry trenches in the Haihan position, and the damage effect of this kind of projectile was extremely limited.
After the two sides had a brief and painless confrontation, perhaps thinking that the night attack had had the effect of stopping the construction, the Qing cavalry disappeared into the darkness again.
(End of chapter)