Chapter 1835 It’s hard to escape
After the Qing army occupied Anzhou, they left about 2,000 Korean civilians and more than 70 shipbuilders there, who worked day and night to build ships and rafts. In addition, dozens of ships were mobilized out of the Yalu River and southward through the Yellow Sea to Anzhou to solve the problem of insufficient vehicles on the Qingchuan River and Daning River to meet logistical transportation needs.
However, these actions are all temporary measures after all, and their effect is really limited. A few ships can be built in a hurry. The North Korean defenders followed Haihan's command early and emptied the ships in the two river basins. Even the shipbuilding timber on the riverside that had not been transported away in time sank into the river. If the Qing army wanted to build ships, they had to prepare wood on site, and the wood for shipbuilding had to be prepared. After one to three years of drying in the shade, the wood cut from the mountain forest can only be used for a short period of time even if it is barely used for shipbuilding. On the other hand, it is easier to build a raft. You only need to cut off the trunk and branches from the wood, process it into similar lengths, and fix them together before launching into the water.
Of course, based on the Qing army's plan, they probably didn't plan to use these improvised vehicles for a long time. They would just use them for a month or two now, and when the war was over, these vehicles would be of little use. So no one cares about its quality and durability, as long as it doesn't sink or leak when thrown into water. At this time, no one could have imagined that not long after the army left Anzhou and headed south, they would be driven back in disgrace by the enemy. And what's worse is that the Haihan fleet arrived at the Qingchuan River before their own army.
When two large majestic-class battleships suddenly appeared on the Qingchuan River, the unprepared Qing army abandoned all ships and rafts at the first opportunity and took the initiative to shrink the defense line to Anzhou City. Although the Qing army garrisoned more than 2,000 people in Anzhou, no one dared to use bows, arrows and spears to challenge this monster equipped with dozens of naval guns.
Wang Tom was worried about fraud, so he ordered two rounds of cannons to be fired symbolically at the dock to confirm that there was no Qing army ambushing here. However, the Qing army's active retreat made the navy's job of cleaning up these small boats and rafts on the river bank much easier, because using naval guns to hit these small targets would inevitably be like killing a chicken with a knife. Not only would it consume a lot of ammunition, but the cleaning efficiency would also be low. It will be very low and much faster than manual demolition.
After confirming that the Qing army had given up on river bank defenses, Wang Tom ordered the marines on the ship to land immediately, scuttle the ships on the shore as quickly as possible, dismantle the rafts, and even pour kerosene on the wood piled on the shore and burn them all. The main task of the navy at the moment is not to destroy the Qing army stationed in Anzhou City, but to try its best to destroy the vehicles that can be used to cross the river so that it can intercept the main force of the Qing army returning north.
Fires have been lit on the docks here, and a messenger from the south came from the south to order the local defenders to protect the vehicles on the river. They had just rushed into Anzhou City. This happened by accident in less than half an hour, but Anzhou But these boats and rafts on the riverside outside the city cannot be saved.
By the time the garrison generals heard the order from Huang Taiji and rushed out of Anzhou City in a panic to try to save the situation, the landed Marines had completed their mission and returned to the ship to evacuate. Facing the raging fire on the dock and the debris floating on the river, the defenders could only cry without tears. When Huang Taiji led his army back to Anzhou, some people would definitely have to take responsibility for this situation.
Although Haihan's wave of raids did not destroy all the vehicles on the Qingchuan River, if the Qing army's tens of thousands of troops wanted to pass through this area quickly, they would not know how long it would take to complete it relying on the remaining poor transportation capacity. .
Of course, this matter is not over yet. The two fastest warships of the Navy turned around and went downstream, and then turned into the Daning River at the confluence with the Daning River. They also carried out inspections on the adjacent water veins. Same cleanup. The fleet that will arrive here later will take over the work of the flagship, enter the Qingchuan River closer to Anju, and block the main crossing points in the lower reaches of the Qingchuan River.
With the capabilities of the Fujian Navy, it was able to successfully delay the Qing army in these two river basins for nearly a month. Now the naval fleet commanded by Wang Tom himself wants to blockade the rivers here. The Qing army wants to cross the river and retreat to the north. It probably won't be any easier than it came.
Because they did not want to abandon the thousands of civilians who had been captured from North Korea, the main force of the Qing army retreated northward at a slow pace. It took more than two days to complete the more than two hundred miles from Datong River to Anzhou. Although the cavalry unit returned to Anzhou more than a day earlier, it was still several hours later than the Haihan fleet, and was eventually intercepted on the south bank of the Qingchuan River.
After Huang Taiji learned the news, it was naturally impossible for him to remain calm. He immediately ordered that Jia La E Zhen Putel, who was stationed in Anzhou, be investigated and prosecuted for delaying military flights. But even if this unfortunate guy's head is chopped off, the current passive situation can no longer be reversed. This is the most troublesome problem for Huang Taiji.
Judging from the rapid response of the Haihan army, Huang Taiji became more and more certain that this was one of a series of combat strategies that the Haihan people had formulated long ago. He deliberately sent the Qing army southward in the Yalu River and launched a counterattack on the banks of the Datong River. Then the surface troops continued again. Intercepted the Qing army on their way back. In this process, the Qing army not only consumed a lot of time, materials and military expenses, but also suffered thousands of casualties. No matter from any aspect, the Qing army's war situation in North Korea was far less than expected, and it was completely The combat goal of this troop recruitment was not achieved. Although some people and wealth were captured from North Korea during this period, it was still not enough to make up for the losses in this operation.
At this time, if the fight with Haihan continues in North Korea, casualties will be secondary, and unsmooth logistical supplies will be the biggest problem facing the Qing army. These tens of thousands of people need to consume a lot of supplies every day. Once the supplies are interrupted, it may affect the combat effectiveness of the entire army. The Qing generals knew this very well, but the terrible thing was that their opponents also knew this very well, and they would definitely try every means to block the Qing army's route to obtain supplies.
After Huang Taiji settled in Anzhou, he immediately asked all ministries to report the current food reserves in order to calculate how much time he had left to break through the Haihan river blockade. Since the Haihan people have planned the previous series of actions, it will never be the end of it by sending a few ships to blockade the Qingchuan River. There will definitely be other actions next. Only by leading the army back to the country as soon as possible can Huang Taiji feel at ease. Come.
This southern expedition to Korea ended in such an embarrassing situation. No one thought it would be like this before setting off. Huang Taiji could only be grateful that although his army suffered a setback, it was not to the extent of breaking his muscles and bones. As long as he could Just get rid of the interception of the Haihan Army and return to the country, and then slowly try to recover the losses from this expedition from the Ming Dynasty.
However, the actual situation is not optimistic. After the various ministries conducted simple statistics on the supplies accompanying the army, the numbers reported were somewhat shocking. If the supply is interrupted, based on the strength of the Qing army in the area south of the Qingchuan River, the current grain and grass reserves can be supplied for less than ten days at most. And this does not include the share of food required by thousands of Korean civilians among the generals, otherwise the time limit will be even shorter. Faced with such a huge demand gap, sending troops to plunder villages and towns in surrounding areas may still not be enough.
If they don't want to go back and seek a decisive battle with the Haihan Army, then there are only two solutions before the Qing army. One is to restore cross-river supplies as soon as possible and continue to obtain food and grass from the north; the other is to try to cross the river and return north, further Shorten supply lines. But no matter which method is used, it is a difficult problem for the Qing army, which currently lacks vehicles to cross the river. Cutting down trees and building ships again? Are you kidding me? The warships of the Haihan people have already sailed into the Qingchuan River and made their appearance. At this time, even the Daning River may have been cleaned up. Building and launching ships will just repeat the scene of being blocked by the Fujian navy when they went south. , It's okay to sneak some people to the other side at night, but with an army of tens of thousands of people, it will take many years and months to send all the people back to the other side with just a few rafts.
But Huang Taiji also understood that under the current situation, it was basically impossible to bring these tens of thousands of people back home intact, and the method of losing soldiers to protect vehicles must also be used.
Huang Taiji ordered that all civilians currently in the army be mobilized to cut down trees and build rafts on the river bank near Anzhou. The main force of the Qing army quietly marched towards the Bichuan River fifty miles upstream of the Qingchuan River, searching for wood from the upper reaches. Crossing the river is carried out in a place where the river is narrow and the water is shallow.
This attempt actually has certain risks, because the Qing army does not know whether Haihan has deployed surveillance upstream. Even if Haihan does not have time to take such measures, it can still leave this task to the North Koreans to complete. The whereabouts of tens of thousands of troops certainly cannot be concealed for too long, and the upper reaches of the Qingchuan River have entered the mountains, which is inconvenient for the march of the Qing army. Once Haihan detects his intentions, I am afraid it will happen again. It was a fierce battle.
But the current situation is urgent, and the Qing army has no more time to slowly plan a foolproof strategy. They can only make a gesture of forcibly crossing the river in Anzhou, in order to confuse the Haihan fleet that is blocking the river and serve as its main force. Troops move to buy time.
The more you fear, the more likely it will come. Just as the Qing army feared, Haihan indeed gave the task of monitoring the areas around Anzhou to the Koreans and asked them to use the communication method developed by Haihan - homing pigeons. This can basically guarantee that the news detected by the North Koreans on the front line can be transmitted to the Datong River base on the same day. Although it is not as fast as the radio, it is already the most time-effective method at the moment.
As the Qing army retreated northward, some troops from the Datong River base had already sailed north along the river to Pyongyang on standby. On the one hand, this is to prevent the Qing army from returning to attack the Taedong River base. At that time, troops can be sent from Pyongyang to outflank the retreat. On the other hand, from here, you can continue to travel upstream by boat, and you can go all the way to the upper reaches of the Qingchuan River, where the two water veins The nearest straight-line distance is less than forty miles, which can greatly shorten the time required to march to the vicinity of the Qing army. The Bichuan area where the main force of the Qing army headed was right between these two water veins.
Without any surprise, when the main force of the Qing army began to move upstream, the North Korean spies lurking in the mountains and forests outside Anzhou City had already noticed this movement, and promptly released carrier pigeons to report the news to Haihan.
So the 1st Battalion of the Independent Regiment in Pyongyang immediately went on the road, and together with more than 600 soldiers drawn from Annan and Portugal, they boarded more than ten troop transport ships and rushed to the upper reaches of the Datong River. In order to cooperate with the operation, North Korea also sent more than a thousand soldiers to coordinate the operation. Although they may not be qualified to fight alongside the Haihan Army by then, they can at least serve as guides during wartime.
The Fujian Navy set off together with the remaining Haihan naval warships on the Datong River and rushed from the sea to the Qingchuan River basin to reinforce the Haihan Fleet. At this point, Haihan has mobilized the main force of the combat troops to the north. Only a small number of warships from the Annan and Portuguese fleets are left on the Datong River to cooperate with the North Korean Navy's defense, and the army in the Datong River base has also set off to march north. .
Due to the timely transmission of military intelligence information, when the First Battalion of the Independent Regiment arrived and landed about 20 miles south of Bichuan, the forward battalion of the Qing army had just camped on the river bank here in Bichuan. But they never expected that the Haihan people would pursue them so quickly, and that the combat troops would be less than half a day away from their camp.
However, although the straight-line distance is not far, the terrain is mainly hilly, and the marching speed of the first battalion carrying some heavy equipment is not ideal. When the advance team arrived in Bichuan, they found that this small town with only a thousand permanent residents had been looted by the Qing Army's forward battalion. The dozens of Korean corpses hanging on the big trees outside the town were probably their response to the resistance. The author's method.
Not far to the north of Bichuan is the bank of the Qingchuan River, but this area is relatively flat and there is no cover to allow the first battalion to get closer to the Qing army. After Gao Qiaonan arrived here, he decisively ordered the troops to enter the already empty Biichuan Town and use the buildings here to build positions.
The North Korean spies who were monitoring the movements of the Qing army in the vicinity quickly discovered the whereabouts of the Haihan Army, and then took the initiative to come over and get in touch with the Haihan Army. Based on the information they provided, Gao Qiaonan judged that the Qing army currently camped on the banks of the Qingchuan River was not the main force of the Qing army. There was no need to rush into action at this time. Passing the news back to the headquarters was the top priority.
After another night, the main force of the Qing army gradually arrived nearby. At this time, Gao Qiaonan had already commanded the troops to set up multiple surveillance points in the nearby area to ensure that the Qing army's movements would not be missed. At the same time, the coalition fleet that received the news also began to march upstream of the Qingchuan River, intending to drive the main force of the Qing army into the mountainous areas upstream.
As long as the Qing army can be driven into the mountains, the power of its cavalry will naturally be greatly reduced. However, independent regiments that specialize in mountain and jungle combat can maximize their combat effectiveness in such an environment.
(End of chapter)