Chapter 1833 A desperate move
Qian Tiandun and others were veterans who had led troops in wars all year round. They did not get carried away by their previous victories. Regardless of whether the Qing army would launch the next wave of offensive, they still ordered the organization of manpower and materials as soon as possible. Repairs were made to damaged fortifications. Of course, this kind of repair is not to achieve the purpose of persuading the Qing army to retreat, but to effectively prevent the cavalry charge that the Qing army is good at. Therefore, even if it has the ability to reinforce this area to 10%, the Haihan Army It was also intended to only achieve four or five points, leaving a channel for the infantry to attack in the gaps between the horse-rejecting formations.
For the Haihan Army, although the Qing Army had an absolute advantage in terms of strength, the Qing Army's infantry and artillery could not actually pose a real threat to their own positions, but they still had to be wary of the power of the cavalry charge. It must be controlled.
As long as the large cavalry units are not allowed to directly attack the defensive positions, there is no need to worry too much about the opponent's strength advantage. After all, compared with the efficiency of killing the enemy, the Haihan Army was far ahead of its opponents. If the engagement distance was firmly controlled during the battle, it would be difficult for the Qing Army to have a chance to come back.
However, the Qing army did not have such a clear understanding of the comparison of strength between the two sides. In the eyes of Huang Taiji and others, the main reason why the Qing army's combat effectiveness lagged behind Haihan was that the weapons and equipment were inferior to their opponents, but this gap seemed to be able to be overcome by their bravery. The advantages in combat and military strength are infinitely reduced, and it is not impossible to defeat the Haihan Army - even if it is only theoretically possible, they are still unwilling to give up.
However, the Qing army's desperate situation was exactly what the Haihan army wanted to see. Being able to take advantage of their positional advantages to eliminate the Qing army's effective forces was far more efficient than achieving the same results in the field. Thousands of people have worked hard on the banks of the Datong River in the past few months, and the final harvest will depend on the battles in these days.
Kim Sang-hyun is far more nervous about this battle than the Haihan people. North Korea has been retreating steadily in the previous battles, and its performance can be said to be very bad. As the main combatant, Lingqiu, Kim Sang-hun, has also been with the king for a long time. Li Zhu lost all his favor. If he hadn't still had hopes for the Daedong River defense line claimed by the Haehan people, Li Zhu would have dismissed Kim Sang-heon and investigated him.
Kim Sang-hyun knew that he wanted to regain the king's trust and rebuild his prestige in North Korea's official circles. It was not enough to just prevent the Qing army from continuing to invade the south. The coalition forces headed by Haihan had to fight a battle on the banks of the Datong River to severely damage the Qing army. A great victory, it is best to defeat the Qing army, and perhaps his situation will fundamentally change.
Although Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom had declared to him many times that Haihan would defend the Datong River defense line and launch a decisive battle with the Qing army, and there would be no recurrence. However, with the example of the Yalu River in front of him, how could Kim Sang-heon completely let go? Watch the fun with your heart. Fortunately, in the previous battle, the Haihan army performed really hard, and the results were very ideal. Thousands of Qing troops were wiped out in one battle, which was like a miracle for the weak Korean army.
According to Jin Sangxian's understanding, since the battle situation is so advantageous, the Haihan Army should take advantage of the victory to pursue it. However, the Haihan Army calmly chose to repair the defenses on the position first and did not plan to take the initiative to attack. So he found Qian Tiandun again and confirmed that Haihan's move was not intended to fight passively.
"We just want to fight in the safest way." Qian Tiandun saw that Jin Sangxian didn't seem to understand what he said, so he had to further explain: "positional warfare is the advantageous battlefield of our army. Under the current environment, regardless of Whether the Qing army launches an attack, remains on the sidelines, or takes the initiative to withdraw, our army can respond calmly. If we pull out to fight against the Qing army, we will give up this advantage and bear greater risks of casualties. This will actually reduce the combat efficiency of our army.”
Jin Shangxian said: "I see, I have learned a lesson! Then if the Qing army chooses to go all-out and attack with all its strength, how confident is General Qian of winning the battle?"
Qian Tiandun knew that Jin Shangxian didn't want to know the specific tactical arrangements of the Haihan Army when he asked. He just wanted to get some reassurance out of habit, so he immediately satisfied his request: "Master Jin, please don't worry, we are here." The base has invested so much effort and will not leave any chance for the Qing army to break through the defense line. If they really dare to make a desperate move, that will be in line with our wishes. Then Mr. Jin can go to the watchtower to watch the battle and witness it with his own eyes. How the Qing army severely damaged the Qing army."
"Then there is Lao Guijun!" Jin Sangxian quickly bowed deeply to express his gratitude.
"Master Jin is too polite for this matter." Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "But for this month's military expenses, Master Jin remembers to help urge the court of your country."
"Don't worry, General Qian, this period of military funds will arrive within five days!" Jin Sangxian responded quickly. He is now accustomed to the very practical style of the Haihan people. Although they are a bit greedy for money, the Haihan people are very efficient in collecting money and doing things. They promised to stop the Qing army from the Datong River, so far. That's what he said. Although the asking price is so high that North Korea can no longer afford it, now that the war is coming to an end, it has to find a way to raise the money first even if it grits its teeth.
Jin Sangxian got reassurance, and the big stone hanging in his heart was finally put back in his heart. He said goodbye to Qian Tiandun and returned to his residence peacefully to wait for the news.
Although the Qing army's new offensive did not directly attack the whole army, it did put on a desperate posture. Except for the accompanying soldiers and civilians and a few logistics troops, almost all combat troops left the camp and set out on the plains beside the Datong River. The upper group formed several dark square formations.
Of course, given the width of the Haihan position, it was impossible to put tens of thousands of people into the battlefield at the same time, so the attack could only be launched in batches. What's more terrible is that there are not many materials in the nearby area that can be used by the Qing army, which greatly limits the offensive methods that the Qing army can adopt. Not to mention large equipment such as trebuchets, even the ability to quickly pass through Haogou There are only a few wooden boards used for iron nets.
The Qing army did not make major adjustments to its offensive direction, and still focused on the middle of the Haihan position as its main attack point. This is because there are rivers at the east and west ends of this defense line, so it is difficult for the offensive troops to fully deploy their formation, and the terrain in the middle is relatively flat. In addition, the previous round of attack has cleared a channel about five or six feet wide in the middle. This It made the Qing army think that if they put more effort, they might be able to attack the Haihan position along this passage. Of course, the Qing army did not fail to notice that the Haihan army repaired the gap in the defense line after cleaning up the corpses in front of the formation, but the problem is that the Qing army currently has no better attack direction to choose from. If we want to pick another area and try again, we will have to spend a lot of artillery shells to open the way. And the Qing army's current logistics is becoming more and more tight, and they no longer have such capital to squander.
As for tactics, the Qing army also couldn't come up with anything new. The only thing they could do was to gather the shields and armors in the army and equip them first to the first few troops to charge. If these suicide squad-like troops can open a real gap in the Haihan defense line, then the subsequent troops invested will not need such comprehensive protection methods. As long as they can truly enter the stage of face-to-face combat, the Qing generals are still very confident in the fighting strength of their own soldiers.
The battle still started with the artillery fire between the two sides. The Haihan side, which had superior artillery performance and built a fort bunker, quickly took the initiative and began to call out the Qing artillery on the plain who tried to concentrate fire to open an attack channel. . Although the Qing army also tried to use sacks of earth as bunkers, the effect was not very satisfactory, especially for those small-caliber guns that needed to move forward to more dangerous positions due to their limited range. They basically could not escape the fixed-point clearing fire from the opposite side.
The artillery battle lasted only about half an hour, and only about half of the number of artillery pieces on the Qing army's position was left. For Huang Taiji, this situation is tantamount to cutting off his flesh. The casting process of these artillery consumes a lot of military expenses, and the training of artillery is extremely difficult. Now it is quickly consumed in this way. It can be said that the Qing army's combat strength is declining at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Although the defenses in the attack channel did not seem to have been completely destroyed, Huang Taiji, who was distressed by the loss of artillery, decisively issued an attack order and let the cavalry begin to attack.
However, this order later revealed the shortcomings of being too hasty. The cavalry rushed over under a hail of bullets and found that only the front part of the rebel horses in the attack channel was damaged by their own artillery fire, while there were still a considerable number of tall rebels behind. With the presence of horses, it was impossible to charge directly to the Haihan people's position. The cavalry troops that rushed to this position were unable to turn around and retreat. They could only follow the previous tactics and dismount their horses and advance on foot with shields, hoping to use manpower to move the fortifications in front and clear the way for the subsequent cavalry charge. obstacle.
But this idea is in vain. The chest-high iron horses placed in front of the Qing army are not only connected to each other with fasteners, but the chassis is also nailed to the ground with thick nails. It is difficult to pry them with the knives and guns in their hands. . Compared with the dense iron mesh formation next to the horse-rejection formation that makes people feel hopeless when looking at it, the infantry can move forward through the relatively sparse gaps of the resistance horses, but the large cavalry cannot pass smoothly. They can only dismount and fight on foot. This path is optional.
After discovering that the cavalry in front was congested in the attack channel, the Qing generals responded promptly and allowed the infantry to press forward and act as the main offensive force. However, the Qing army still did not come up with any effective method on how to break down these obstructive fortifications on the Haihan position.
In desperation, the Qing army could only use a crooked trick, asking the infantry to carry wooden springboards forward, and try to set up springboards directly above these resisting horses to allow the cavalry to pass quickly on the springboards. This is made of trees cut down from far away in the past two days. Several bowl-sized logs are fixed side by side to form a springboard about two feet wide and one to two feet long. It can indeed be lifted when placed on a horse. to achieve the effect of rapid climbing.
But the Haihan army obviously would not let such a simple and crude trick succeed easily. After several Qing troops used this method to pass through two rows of resisting horses, the Haihan army concentrated fire on the position where the springboard was built, and continued The springboard and the horse were all blasted together.
Although this approach resulted in killing one thousand enemies and damaging eight hundred, the Qing army only had a dozen or so wooden springboards, which would be gone once they were destroyed. Although Haihan lost some of his horses, the large group of cavalry still could not pass. this area. As for the cavalry that rushed over sporadically, they basically had no chance to avoid the musket fire at close range.
As the Qing infantry joined the battle, the battle situation seemed to have returned to the previous round. The Qing infantry that continued to pour in were completely humanoid moving targets under crossfire, and became props for the Haihan army to practice their shooting skills. . The armor and shields of the Qing army had very limited protection against such intensive shooting, and were not enough to help them fight against the bullets constantly flying in the air. The speed at which they were shot and fell was even faster than the follow-up troops rushing into this killing battlefield, so that the soldiers of the Haihan Independent Regiment could stop and rest for a while, waiting for the next group of Qing troops to pour in. Die.
Takahashi Minami specially prepared six infantry companies on the firing line for this battle, three companies were responsible for the battle, and three companies were alternated to ensure that the firepower output intensity could always be maintained above the level he required. Of course, this method of combat also consumes ammunition at an alarming rate. The number of bullets fired per minute is almost always over a thousand rounds. If it were replaced by several other coalition forces in the same position, the Qing army's offensive would probably soon exhaust their ammunition reserves.
For the Qing army, this so-called offensive channel became a bottomless pit that constantly swallowed up human lives. They only saw troops filling it continuously, but did not see any combat results. What was the progress on the firing line? It is also difficult for the commander sitting behind the scenes to get a clear feedback.
About an hour after the battle started, the Qing army had already lost five Niulu troops at this attack point. Although the number did not seem too large, you must know that these were almost all elite troops of each banner. There were more than 200 Bagala soldiers, and they were lost in the fighting zone without doing anything.
The news from the front line of fire wiped out the enthusiasm of the generals like a basin of cold water - after paying such a heavy price, the distance the Qing army could advance was still very limited, and there were at least a dozen trenches between the trenches where the Haihan soldiers were hiding. Zhangyuan.
This distance is short for a cavalry charge, but in a positional battle, especially a positional battle with a special opponent like the Haihan Army, it means one-sided massacre. At this fighting distance, it was difficult for the Qing soldiers to cause effective damage to their opponents hiding in the bunkers. They could only fall to the ground and die in despair after being shot.
(End of chapter)