Chapter 1832 Dilemma
Since the battle took place almost on Haihan's position, Haihan could no longer wait for the Qing army to send out men to collect the corpses. He could only handle the piles of Qing corpses on his own.
Due to the large number of corpses, it was too late to dig a large pit to bury the corpses outside the base. The generals made the decision after a brief discussion. A movable fortification made of sandbags at the front of the Haihan Army's position was opened by civilians, and then several flatbed carriages drove out of the position and arrived at the battle site along the channel cleared by the Qing army's artillery fire. The civilian workers responsible for transporting the bodies grabbed the hands and feet of the bodies and threw them onto the cart. After the cart was full, the cart turned around and headed south back to the base. At present, all Haihan can do is transport it to the sea for processing. , to put it simply, throw them all into the sea to feed the fish.
Among them, there were many wounded soldiers from the Qing army who had not yet expired. The Haihan Army had already established standards for dealing with this. Those who tried to resist and were seriously injured by gunshot wounds to the torso, or those who were injured in the feet and were unable to move, would be directly replaced by replacement guns. Get rid of the problem, so as not to waste resources on treating prisoners and cause trouble. Senior officers who are easily identifiable by wearing armor can relax their standards appropriately, and after all, it is possible to get some valuable intelligence out of their mouths.
Seeing so many corpses piled outside the position, most of the civilians who were assigned the task of moving the corpses turned pale and trembled. Although they were happy with the victory of the Haihan Army, they still couldn't help seeing such a tragic scene. I can't help but feel fear. Some people have strong physiological reactions. When they see a group of crows jumping around on the pile of dead bodies and starting to peck at the corpses, they can't help but go to the side to retching.
"Do you think the Qing Army will try again today?" Wang Tom asked Qian Tiandun who had just returned from the forward position.
Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "It's hard to say, but the possibility is very small. Their biggest loss today is actually not the soldiers who died at the door, but the artillery and artillery. According to the information we got from the previous interrogation of the prisoners of war, the Qing army's There were only more than a hundred artillery pieces and a thousand artillery troops brought to North Korea at this time. After today's battle, they have lost at least more than one-third of their artillery troops. I think Huang Taiji may not have the courage to take the rest. The artillery troops are all here.”
Qian Tiandun's judgment is based on the existing intelligence and past combat experience. Artillery is inherently an elite branch, and the Qing army's artillery is even more difficult to train, because with the cultural level of the Manchus, it is really difficult to master the skills that require precision. Due to the calculation of artillery combat skills, more than half of the artillery today are still Han surrendered troops recruited in previous years. Even if the Qing Dynasty has been able to cast its own artillery, each of these veterans will lose one if they die. It will be difficult to replenish qualified soldiers in a short period of time. Huang Taiji must be having a big headache about this.
If the Qing army wants to continue attacking the Haihan position, it must first consider whether it can still afford the corresponding battle losses. The losses in the previous battle did not bring the expected results for the Qing army. If the same attack method is adopted in the future, the battle will inevitably repeat the previous trend.
Wang Tom said: "If the Qing army doesn't plan to make a desperate move here, then I'm afraid they will change their mind soon."
"Can't sit still? Why don't you take the fleet and set off first?" Qian Tiandun asked jokingly.
According to the battle plan drawn up by the two men, Wang Tom would command the navy to rush north to intercept and kill the defeated Qing army. However, judging from the current situation of the Qing army, defeat is definitely a defeat, but there should still be a considerable gap from defeat. On the plain north of the Datong River base, there are still tens of thousands of Qing troops on standby, and they will probably not voluntarily evacuate for a while.
Of course Wang Tom knew that Qian Tiandun was joking with him, so he grinned and said: "Don't worry, it's not easy for the Qing army to escape with tens of thousands of people."
The Qing army entered the court with tens of thousands of troops, but the highly mobile cavalry only accounted for about a quarter. The remaining troops, which were mainly infantry, naturally could not march at the same speed. When the Qing army decides to evacuate North Korea, these troops of different arms and commanders may not be able to coordinate during the march. The naval fleet led by Wang Tom may not be able to keep up with the Qing army's cavalry, but it will definitely be much faster than the infantry. In Haihan's battle plan, the distance of more than two hundred miles from the Datong River to the Qingchuan River is the distance between the Qing army and the Qing army. It has been a race to death. In the end, the Qing army cannot outrun the naval fleet. It will be more difficult to return to Liaodong.
As Qian Tiandun judged, the biggest headache for Huang Taiji now is not the number of casualties in this battle, but whether the existing artillery force can still sustain it until the end of the battle, or whether it is worth using the remaining artillery force. Also bet on it, fight to the end with the Haihan people, and have a chance to break through the defense line.
The generals of the Qing army were naturally unwilling to accept the current war situation. If the Haihan people had not sent troops to interfere, perhaps the army would have successfully advanced to the front line of the Han River and could be ready to draw a successful conclusion to this war. But now we are only halfway through the planned journey. Let alone goals like Seoul and the Han River, even the other side of the Daedong River seems out of reach.
To cross the Datong River under the nose of the powerful Haihan fleet is really unrealistic for the Qing army, which does not even have a ship. They have tried various methods, but it is obvious that these methods are not feasible. The Han people are also suspected of playing tricks on their own.
But now it seems that the Qing army is not only no match for Haihan in water battles, but also very difficult on land. The confrontation on the bank of the Datong River was brutal. The number of casualties of the Qing army in this battle has even exceeded the total number of foreign wars in the past year. However, the result was that there was still no hope of breaking through the Haihan defense line, and it was even difficult to judge how many casualties it had caused to the opponent.
After this battle, Huang Taiji realized that Haihan had set up this formation on the bank of the Datong River. The purpose may not only be to prevent the Qing army from crossing the river south, but also to use this battlefield to consume the Qing army's effective strength. The intention is in it. Reason told him that he should withdraw his troops decisively now to avoid greater losses, but the thought of "unwillingness" was also constantly wearing away his reason, making it difficult for him to make a decision that was most beneficial to his own side with a calm mind.
The mentality of other generals was also similar to that of Huang Taiji. They mobilized large armies to go to North Korea this time with the attitude that they were bound to win, and they did not even regard Haihan's intervention as a real trouble at the beginning. But if we look back now and look at the course of the war in the past few months, Haihan's first hard and then soft approach in the Yalu River must have been intentional.
Just imagine if Haihan had used the Yalu River as a defense line to build a position at that time, it would not have been easy for the Qing army to cross the river there, and it might even have caused the plan to attack North Korea to be aborted. However, Haihan chose to withdraw from the Yalu River at a wonderful opportunity and gave the Qing army the access to the DPRK without reservation. At that time, it seemed that they had picked up a big bargain, and the army could successfully cross the river and enter North Korea without fighting to the death. But looking back now, it is clear that this was Haihan's move to lure the Qing army into North Korea. After the Qing army entered North Korea, how many conditions would Haihan use to put forward and how many benefits would he get from North Korea? This is probably what will happen. Just for this military base on the banks of the Datong River, I don’t know how much North Korea’s resources were spent to build it in such a short period of time. The Haihan people basically enjoyed the advantage of the home field here. They were waiting for work to fight the Qing army who had traveled a long distance, so they naturally had an advantage.
The Qing army mobilized troops to launch a war, but so far it has not even regained its capital, and North Korea has lost several cities in a row, and it has to support the gold-eating beast of the Haihan Army. Life must be very difficult. Thinking about it this way, Haihan seems to be the biggest winner of this war launched by the Qing army. Not only did he make a lot of money in Korea, but he also took advantage of the situation and went to Liaodong and kidnapped a large number of people, benefiting from both sides.
After figuring out the reason, the anger of the Qing generals was even more difficult to calm down. Why did we fight for life and death, but let the Haihan people take advantage? If we just retreat in despair, then wouldn't this mission be in vain? One trip cost countless money and food, and caused thousands of casualties. In the end, it didn't even have the proper deterrent effect on North Korea. Who can be willing to swallow this arrogance?
Azig made a suggestion to Huang Taiji: give up the attack on the Haihan stronghold, fight to the north and retreat, but do not withdraw the troops after retreating, and take the land in northern Korea as his own first. This way, it is not in vain. One trip.
"But do you know how many soldiers and horses will be stationed in North Korea to do this?" Huang Taiji asked expressionlessly after hearing this.
"Two to thirty thousand is enough." Azig continued to analyze: "Although the Haihan infantry has strong combat power, it does not dare to fight deep inland. It has never wanted to fight mobile warfare with us in North Korea, so it chose We can go in the opposite direction, abandon the coastal areas, and capture inland towns. The Haihan people have limited troops and most of them will not dare to follow up. Then we will slowly look for crossing the river. Opportunity to attack Seoul ”
Huang Taiji was actually a little tempted after listening to Azig's idea. Pulling the battlefield from the river basin near the sea to the inland can indeed effectively limit the enemy's performance. He knew that the Haihan Army's rapid delivery almost always relied on its powerful maritime transport capabilities, but once the battlefield moved inland, the Haihan Army's mobility would be greatly affected, and it would even voluntarily give up entering the inland areas.
But there will be some problems in doing so. The Qing Dynasty does not plan to directly annex North Korea at present, because there are indeed not enough troops to guard the huge Korean Peninsula, and there are not enough officials to govern this area, so the Qing army's plan is Subdue the Korean rulers through war, let them give up diplomatic relations with Haihan and Ming Dynasty, and respect the Qing Dynasty as the suzerainty. The Qing army wanted a quick victory rather than turning this war into a long war of attrition. If North Korea could not be surrendered quickly, then it can be said that the entire strategy failed.
Azig's method can certainly allow the Qing army to temporarily gain a large territory from North Korea, but North Korea with Haihan's support will definitely not just swallow its anger. If we start to organize counterattacks continuously, the Qing army will continue to be consumed by then, and Haihan should not be affected. They only need to stay at the base on the Datong River to ensure that the Qing army cannot successfully defeat the Datong River. I can now deliver a message to the Koreans.
Going around and around, things seem to be back to where they started. If this place on the bank of the Datong River is not captured, the Qing army's overall strategy against North Korea will be difficult to achieve the expected results, and that means that the successive military operations, a large number of casualties and countless money and food will all be in vain.
Huang Taiji discussed with everyone for a long time and came to the conclusion that the Haihan people must be dealt with first before he could achieve his goal in North Korea. Of course, this solution does not mean destroying Haihan's main force. No matter how much Huang Taiji expands, he will not have such an unrealistic goal. He only hopes to conquer this Haihan stronghold and force Haihan to withdraw from this area. , even if it can be allowed to retreat to the front line of the Han River, at least this battle can still be fought.
However, in order to learn lessons from today's tragic battle, Huang Taiji did not immediately raise troops again. He decided to spend one more day to allow the troops to fully rest and recuperate. He slaughtered all the pigs, cattle and sheep brought here to the laborers, and promised many rewards to the combat troops. The heads of the Haihan Army would all start at twenty taels of silver. If he could If you capture an officer or even a general alive, you will be rewarded with slaves, land, and official positions. Anyway, we should compile as many empty rewards as possible that can stimulate morale. As for how to cash them out, we will wait until the war is over.
If the next offensive is still unable to break through the Haihan position, then you really have to consider withdrawing your troops and returning home. Although Huang Taiji didn't want to admit it, if he suffered too much damage in the duel with Haihan, it might affect the Qing's strategic position in the north for a period of time. A restless enemy like Ming might take advantage of this opportunity. Jump out and add insult to injury.
The work of cleaning up the corpses outside the Haihan position continued until night. It took nearly a thousand people and dozens of flatbed trucks to move all the corpses to the dock on the bank of the Datong River for loading. But the blood shed by so many corpses has soaked a large area of land, and even a large amount of coagulated blood clots are floating in the ditch outside the position.
The crows, which had been blown away more than a hundred times, finally landed on the ground after dark. Although there were no dead bodies for them to "enjoy", these crows still persisted in digging out the scraps of meat on the ground with their beaks and claws. The remnant section can be regarded as an end to the hard work of foraging for this day.
Early the next morning, hundreds of civilians were dispatched to the Haihan position. Under the command of the foreman, they began to repair the fortification areas that had been destroyed the previous day. It is too late to restore these areas to their intact state, but it is not difficult to temporarily install some anti-infantry fortifications. Especially those heavy iron horses, each weighing more than two hundred kilograms, are connected to each other with fasteners. It only takes seven or eight to re-block the passage cleared by the Qing army's artillery fire yesterday, and the chassis is reused. Once nailed, it is difficult to move it manually.
(End of chapter)