Chapter 1839 Battle with Yizhou
The Qing army put a lot of effort into finding a place to cross the Yalu River and enter North Korea. They inspected many places and made multiple action plans. In the end, they chose Jiulian City because they could attack and retreat there. It can be defended. The terrain in Yizhou across the river is relatively flat, suitable for the rapid advancement of cavalry troops.
Now, if we want to withdraw from North Korea, we have to cross the Yalu River again. The generals of the Qing army actually did not really want to return to Jiulian City to cross the river again, because the Haihan fleet would most likely arrive there before them and stage an armed blockade of the river again, which meant that the Qing army would have to go around again. Go back upstream and find another place to cross the river. But the Qing army really had no better choice at the moment. They urgently needed to go to Yizhou downstream to obtain supplies. Otherwise, even if they could successfully cross the river in the upper reaches, they would not have enough military rations on the other side to support their return to the big city with sufficient food reserves.
As for whether they would see the Haihan Fleet, which they least wanted to meet, on the local river, they would only know if they went there, and there was no time for the Qing army to think about it at the moment. You must know that there is an extremely vicious force behind it. The pursuers chased for hundreds of miles from Anzhou. Once they stopped, they would be bitten by them within half a day.
The Qing army rushed to Yizhou almost non-stop. However, because the road was covered with dense mountains and forests, the marching speeds of these tens of thousands of horses varied greatly. Therefore, the distance between each department was also widened, and the team stretched for dozens of miles in front and back. It seems that the momentum is quite high, but the Qing generals know very well that the troops under their command are very tired, and the army is almost running out of food and grass. Some troops have no longer distributed rations to the soldiers since last night.
After entering Yiju, the inhabited places seen along the way, whether scattered farmers or villages and towns, could not escape the plunder of the Qing army. Although the amount of food grabbed was limited, it was still better than nothing and could temporarily relieve the pressure of lack of military rations. The one that can really solve their food problem is Yiju City ahead.
When the Qing army entered North Korea, after crossing the Yalu River, they did not divide their troops to attack Yiju City, which was not on the marching route. Instead, they pushed directly southeast to attack Yongchuan City. As a result, Yizhou, the city that was originally the largest city away from the Qing army's crossing point, escaped the Qing army's attack unscathed. However, almost three months later, the Qing army came back again, and with the limited number of troops stationed in Yizhou City, it was extremely difficult to withstand the Qing army's siege.
When the Qing army first entered North Korea, they attacked several cities. Naturally, they did not take Yiju City seriously. After the vanguard troops arrived outside Yiju City, they only rested for a moment, made some siege ladders, and then began Raise troops to attack the city.
However, perhaps the combat status did decline after the long march. The Qing army's first wave of offensive did not go smoothly. As the infantry approached the city wall, two to three hundred people were shot down by bows and arrows from the city wall. Although the Qing army also organized archers to shoot at the city from a distance, after all, the side with the higher position had the advantage in this kind of bow and arrow shooting.
The defenders in Yiju City were obviously prepared for this battle. When the Qing army put up the siege ladder under the city wall, the siege troops with only a thousand people were thrown out by the golden soup of wood, rolling stones, etc. There were a lot of casualties immediately. The most terrible thing is that after all the troubles, only about half of the dozens of temporary siege ladders made by the Qing army are still struggling to support the city. After the defensive pressure on the city head is reduced, it will be easier to concentrate troops. Defend the few offensive positions left.
After the Qing army lost more than a hundred lives, they saw that the siege ladder was almost completely lost. It was hopeless to attack the city in this wave, so they had no choice but to withdraw their troops.
Huang Taiji was very angry after receiving the news from the front, and immediately ordered the troops who rushed outside Yizhou City to take turns attacking the city, striving to break through the city defense before dark.
It's just that the Qing army seemed powerless to respond to Huang Taiji's instructions. Almost all the infantry arrived here after running at a rapid march for most of the day. Their stomachs were already empty. It was not easy to launch an offensive immediately after arriving. The consequence of the forced siege was that in the next two waves of offensives, the Qing army suffered nearly a thousand casualties, but still failed to break through the Yizhou city defenses. By the time it was getting dark, the Qing army had gathered tens of thousands of troops outside the city, but it was difficult to take action due to the lack of siege equipment.
"I don't care what method you use, our army's flag must be planted on the top of Yizhou City tonight!" Huang Taiji was furious at the performance of his subordinates. He could not wait any longer. If he launched another offensive at dawn, it would be very difficult at that time. It is possible that the pursuers have arrived nearby. If the Haihan Army joins the battle group, the battle situation will change from simple to complicated.
Since the death order was given, the Qing army could only fight to the death. Among the cities that the Qing army attacked during their current invasion of Korea, Uiju City was not the strongest city defense, nor did it have the largest number of defenders. However, the Qing army spent the most time and suffered the most casualties during the siege. of a place. By the time the Qing army attacked the city and planted the first flag, they had already suffered more than 2,000 casualties in the Battle of Yiju.
Although the Qing army broke through the city defense that night, because the defenders blocked the city gate from the inside with rocks and tree trunks in advance, the Qing army was unable to enter the city in a large scale to clear out the defenders. The street fighting in the dark in the city was very stalemate and did not have a strength advantage. The Qing army could only fight with the defenders in the city street by lane, and the battle losses on both sides were not small.
The fighting in Yiju City continued all night. By dawn, the Qing army had controlled two-thirds of the city. There were still more than a thousand defenders using the buildings in the city to build a line of defense to resist resolutely.
Although the Qing army had already occupied the granary in the city, it would take at least half a day to reopen the blocked city gate at this juncture, so the Qing army officers in the city simply separated some soldiers and asked them to carry the goods. Carrying the rice bag up the city wall, and then hoisting the rice bag from the city wall to the outside of the city. Although this efficiency was low, it still gave hope to the Qing army, which had basically run out of rations.
However, before the Qing army could turn the food into rice, the pursuers had already arrived. The conditions of Haihan's two infantry battalions were not much better than those of the Qing army. Days of marching had exhausted most of the people, and there was not much food and ammunition left. Even the only radio station accompanying the army was malfunctioning. , is temporarily unavailable. Fortunately, before the radio broke down, they had received notification from the headquarters that the coalition fleet had entered the Yalu River and would provide assistance to them on the river bank near Uiju City.
Takahashi Nan saw the Qing flag on the top of Yizhou City through the telescope and knew that the city might have been lost. Of course, with the troops he currently commands, he can try to regain control of the city, but there is no need to take this risk. Not to mention the possible casualties during the siege, if he is surrounded by the Qing army after entering the city, it will soon be You will fall into the dilemma of running out of ammunition. In fact, the troops led by Takahashi Minami were able to arrive at Yiju City at midnight yesterday, but the reconnaissance report stated that the Qing army had probably broken through the city defenses. Takahashi Minami was no longer eager to approach the city, but first led the team to the scheduled rendezvous. location, waiting for the supply fleet to appear.
However, since Takahashi Nan's marching schedule was uncertain, he did not agree on an exact rendezvous time in advance. As a result, it was all in vain. After dawn, Takahashi Nan was impatient to wait, so he asked the large troops to continue waiting and brought his own. Some troops first came to the vicinity of Yizhou to observe the battle situation.
The appearance of the Haihan army did not go unnoticed by the Qing army's cavalry outside Yizhou City. The news was quickly sent to Huang Taiji's tent, but he was worried about another thing at this time - sending a reconnaissance mission The cavalrymen who reported the situation on the river downstream brought back news that there were Haihan fleet activities on the river in the Jiuliancheng and Weihua Island areas.
This almost blocked the passage for the Qing army to cross the river from here to return home. With an armed fleet guarding this section of the river, the Qing army had no choice but to find another place to cross the river, and this would inevitably be a journey accompanied by countless small boats. A long journey of large-scale battles.
Huang Taiji didn't even plan to make any more unnecessary attempts to cross the river near Waihua Island. He directly ordered the ministries to gather the troops as soon as possible, take away all the supplies that Yizhou could take away, and then set off to march upstream of the Yalu River. If they did not get rid of the Haihan Fleet, these tens of thousands of people would never be able to safely cross the river and return home.
However, it is not so easy to leave. When the Qing army was ready to leave Yiju, Takahashi Nan's troops had already completed supplies on the river bank northeast of Yiju, and some wounded and sick soldiers were transported The warships took them away, and at the same time, a battalion of the independent regiment and two companies of the Marine Corps landed here to join Takahashi Nan's team. Not only that, the new reinforcements also brought about ten field artillery pieces, which was great news for Takahashi Nan, who had been unable to engage in a head-on confrontation with the Qing army due to lack of heavy firepower for many days.
The Qing army's move to avoid the Haihan fleet did not go beyond Takahashi Nan's expectations. After all, compared with a decisive battle with the armed fleet on the river, there was a greater chance of fighting the Haihan army on land, at least in terms of strength. The superiority on the battlefield can also make the Haihan Army afraid during the battle.
Therefore, Gao Qiaonan asked his troops to build a defense line near the river bank twenty miles northeast of Yiju City in advance, trying to block the Qing army here again. After this battle, the Independent Regiment will probably take the initiative to withdraw its troops. After all, with the current state of the army, it is basically impossible to fight. If they continue to fight with the Qing army, they can only kill a thousand enemies. For the Haihan Army, which had basically achieved its combat objectives, it was not worth suffering more battle losses on the premise that the Qing army was basically sure that it would withdraw its troops and return home.
The battle started without any suspense in the afternoon of that day. After leaving more than two thousand corpses, the Qing army decisively gave up attacking this seemingly weak defense line, and turned southward and once again took the initiative to enter the mountainous area. . The Qing army's tactical intention was very clear. They would rather detour dozens of miles more than engage in a head-on war of attrition with the Haihan army.
This time Takahashi Nan did not order a forced pursuit. He just asked the two newly arrived troops to follow the Qing army behind to confirm their direction of action. As long as the Qing army is successfully driven out of North Korea, the relationship will be successful.
Starting from the Datong River Counterattack, North Korean officers served as military observers in all the battles between the Haihan Army and the Qing Army, so they had a very clear understanding of the course of the war. If the Qing Army's offensive when they invaded North Korea was overwhelming, then what happened in the Haihan Army? Under the counterattack launched by the Han army, it can only be described as retreating. These battle processes will be recorded by the North Korean officers accompanying the army and sent back to Seoul, enough to make the frightened North Korean monarchs and ministers in the rear lament the power of the Haihan Army.
If the military assistance provided by Haihan was aimed at repelling the invasion of the Qing army and preserving the Korean state, then it drove them all the way from the Datong River back to the Yalu River, and caused tens of thousands of casualties to them in successive battles. In terms of casualties, the mission has already been exceeded. I believe that North Korea's monarchs and ministers will hardly have any faults.
Of course, the price paid by North Korea for achieving such a record is not small. They receive a military subsidy of thousands of taels of gold per month. They are also responsible for logistical supplies, providing Haihan with a large amount of materials, personnel, and military command authority in the theater. . This war lasted for more than three months from the Qing army's attack on the Yalu River to the final battle outside Yiju City. It had basically emptied North Korea's treasury. In the later period, it relied entirely on the big businessmen in the south. Donations from landowners are struggling to support it. If the war continues for another two or three months, I am afraid that even these funders will give up and continue to pay, and they will shout that the Qing army should take over North Korea.
For North Korea, the only good thing is that the strategy chosen by the Qing army at the beginning was to advance southward along the west coast. Although several cities and thousands of troops were lost in the early stages of the war, this strategy allowed the vast majority of northern North Korea to Some areas were not attacked by the Qing army. Until the Qing army was driven back to the Yalu River, the areas in North Korea directly affected by the war were actually very limited, and the entire country was not plunged into war.
As for how many people died, how many homeless refugees were created, and how many Koreans were kidnapped by the Qing army, this was not a big deal to the rulers of North Korea. As long as the Qing army is defeated and the country is defended, these losses are completely within the acceptable range.
The battle losses of the coalition forces with the Haihan Army as the main body during this period were actually not small. The Annan, Portuguese, and Fujian navies each suffered three-digit casualties. Adding the casualties of the Haihan Army, the total number was nearly a thousand. Although the battle loss ratio with the Qing army is still more than one to ten, which seems pretty good, but if you take into account the gap in combat power between the two sides and the advantages of the coalition forces on local battlefields such as rivers and water veins, such a The casualties are really not low.
However, according to the agreement reached between the coalition forces and North Korea before the war, the pensions of these coalition soldiers who died in North Korea will also be borne by North Korea. For North Korea, it will definitely be hit hard again after the war.
(End of chapter)