Chapter 1974
Nanguanling Military Camp is the largest garrison camp behind the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line. About two-thirds of the troops stationed in the Jinzhou Isthmus use this place as their rotation base. When there is no fighting, the troops deployed on the defense line are basically rotated every ten to fifteen days, and the replaced troops will return to the Nanguanling camp to rest.
However, the distance between the Nanguanling Military Camp and the Jinzhou Isthmus Defense Line is not very close. In fact, the two places are separated by about ten miles. Therefore, this is not only the main camp of the Jinzhou garrison, but also the logistics center that provides various military supplies to the isthmus defense line. All kinds of weapons and ammunition, clothing, tents, food and medicinal materials, etc., are distributed and transported from here to the munitions offices at various strongholds along the isthmus defense line, and then distributed to front-line troops at the company and platoon level.
In fact, Nanguanling has another function that is not much noticed by the outside world, which is responsible for the medical treatment, rescue and funeral arrangements of wounded and injured soldiers. The largest field hospital in the Jinzhou area is located next to the Nanguanling Military Camp. Wounded soldiers who retreated from the front line and the bodies of soldiers who died in battle are basically received and processed here.
After Chen Yixin arrived at Nanguanling, he went straight to the field hospital, where he saw seven or eight pellets taken out by military doctors from the dead soldiers.
"These are the only projectiles we have collected so far. Through simple comparison, we found that the caliber and weight of these projectiles are almost the same. This obviously follows certain production standards. The muskets previously equipped by the Qing army Most of them have different standards and there is no unified format. The most important thing is that we compared it with the Qing army musket bullets we collected before and found no identical bullets. This means that what we found this time is very likely to be from the Qing army. New weapons that have just begun to be installed.”
The person responsible for explaining the situation to Chen Yixin was Lieutenant Intelligence Officer Wei Lin of the Military Intelligence Bureau. He was one of the first graduates of the intelligence major of Sanya Army Academy. Before being transferred to Liaodong, he served in many overseas jurisdictions and participated in many battles. He was also Currently, the Military Intelligence Bureau is focusing on training. After the patrol team under attack withdrew, he quickly discovered the suspicious points in the battle report, organized follow-up investigation work, and immediately notified the rear of the unusual situation.
Chen Yixin picked up the small projectiles and looked at them, then told Wei Lin: "Send the samples back to the south as soon as possible for comparison on a larger scale."
Chen Yixin was more cautious about this, because he did not believe that the Qing Dynasty had enough technical strength to develop and manufacture new weapons. Even if Huang Taiji had some craftsmen who had mastered firearms manufacturing technology, their level was far from mass production. The height of standard weapons.
Unless the Qing State obtained relevant technology and production equipment through some special channels, or directly bought ready-made equipment with money. To put it bluntly, Chen Yixin believed that this sudden improvement in weapon performance did not come from the Qing Dynasty's own capabilities, but might come from external supply.
As for related tactics, since 1635, the Qing army has had countless experiences fighting against Haihan. As for the basic tactics of the musketeers, no matter how stupid the Qing army is, after paying so much tuition at the cost of human life, you should read it. We met for more than half of it. Although the Haihan army was still helpless on the frontal battlefield, if there were weapons with comparable performance, it would not be difficult for the Qing army to imitate Haihan's musketeer tactics, and it would not be difficult to imitate Haihan's musketry tactics.
The Qing army has always been at a disadvantage in terms of weapons. Needless to say, it must find ways to overcome this difficulty. Since Chen Yixin determined that his opponent did not have enough technical level to manufacture a flintlock rifle on his own, it was necessary to find the source. Although there is no concrete evidence yet, he tends to believe that the Qing Dynasty should have obtained batches of standard weapons through some channels. So he hoped to find out the real manufacturer of these rifles through bullet comparison.
Only after knowing where these rifles come from can we try to cut off their channels for import into the Qing Dynasty. However, sending these bullets back to the south for further testing is not something that can be completed in ten days and a half. Therefore, before that, the Jinzhou Garrison probably has to make adjustments to its recent patrol arrangements to avoid giving more trouble to its opponents. opportunity to launch such a sneak attack.
After listening to Wei Lin's investigation report, Chen Yixin set out to visit the five patrolmen who narrowly escaped and listened to the descriptions of the parties involved.
"The gunshots were so intense at that time that the villain could hear the whizzing sound of bullets flying past his ears. Wang Erzhu looked back and was shot and fell off his horse..."
"The enemies were all hiding in the woods. We couldn't see how many people or guns they had from the outside, but the captain ordered an immediate evacuation... Alas! It's a pity that the captain couldn't withdraw with us..."
"The villain has been at the Isthmus defense line for more than half a year. I have never seen the Qing army with such firepower. This time it is really a ghost..."
Everyone's statement has their own position, but their common view is that the intensity of firepower displayed by the Qing army in this raid should be far beyond their knowledge. One of the cavalrymen who originally belonged to Dongjiang Town believed that such firepower could at least compete with the Ming Army's firearms troops.
After having a conversation with the survivors, Chen Yixin returned to the Nanguanling military camp and immediately convened several senior officers who were in the camp at this time for a meeting to discuss countermeasures.
"As for the specific details of the attack on the patrol and the doubts involved, please let Lieutenant Wei Lin explain it to you." Chen Yixin knew that most of these officers still didn't know why they rushed to the front line for this small-scale conflict. He wanted to convene such an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures, so he simply brought Welin over and asked him to tell these officers the key points.
After Wei Lin explained the situation, Chen Yixin added: "As for the weapons of the Qing army, there is currently no further evidence to prove that they have begun to install muskets on a large scale, so please do not share unconfirmed news with your subordinates for the time being. Spread out. But out of caution, the existing patrol arrangements must be adjusted immediately, especially the patrol routes, which must be kept at a relatively safe distance from areas with bunkers such as woods, hillsides, and fortresses, and cannot be too close!” Before this incident occurred, the patrol team of the Haihan Army often made some provocative actions when performing patrol missions, such as deliberately approaching areas controlled by the enemy, luring the enemy to take the initiative to attack, and then using their weapon advantages to attack the enemy. Shoot before approaching, and immediately evacuate after firing a round regardless of the outcome. Although this may not cause effective damage to the Qing army every time, it can more or less kill dozens of people in a month, so that now the Qing army has learned to ignore the provocations of the Haihan patrol and let the patrol It becomes more difficult for the team to achieve results.
In this case, some patrols will become bolder and move closer to enemy-controlled areas. The patrol that was attacked this time was actually nearly a mile north of the scheduled patrol route, with one foot already within the Qing's control area. This bold move was also seized by the Qing army and carried out a surprise attack that surprised the Haihan army.
Ten people were killed in an armed conflict. This was the combat operation with the largest casualties for the Jinzhou garrison this year. The captain and deputy who led the team are undoubtedly responsible for this, but they were not able to return to the Haihan control area alive, so it is not appropriate to pin this responsibility on a specific person. On the other hand, Chen Yixin specially gave a few words to make arrangements for the corresponding funeral arrangements and pension payments as soon as possible.
The officers did not appear too nervous about this matter, because they knew that even if the Qing army was equipped with a certain number of standard muskets, it would be difficult to confront the Haihan army on the frontal battlefield. This was not only due to the performance of the muskets and related tactics between the two warring parties. The gap in aspects, and more importantly, the defense system built by Haihan relying on the Isthmus Defense Line is very strong. Even if the Qing army is willing to sacrifice human lives to fill it, it may not be useful - this point has been further demonstrated this year when the Qing army attacked the Datong River base. Proof once.
Compared with the Datong River base that was hastily put into use, the Haihan Army has been operating the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line for longer, built more solid fortifications, and has more complete combat readiness measures. If the Qing army feels that it can challenge this line of defense if it has new weapons, the garrison troops would not mind teaching them a lesson to let them understand that the gap between the combat capabilities of the two sides is not so easy to cross.
Of course, what makes the officers feel most at ease is the numerous artillery deployed on the ground line of defense. At present, there are more than 20 heavy artillery with a caliber of 150mm or more with fixed turrets on the defense line. In addition to various small-caliber artillery and army field artillery that can be flexibly deployed, the Haihan Army can be deployed in a very short time. Deploy hundreds of artillery pieces to the isthmus defense line. With such powerful firepower output, even if the Qing army launched a battle with a scale of ten thousand people, it would be difficult to break through the firepower network built by Haihan.
When necessary, the Haihan Army can even dispatch naval warships to serve as mobile forts near the coast to cover the weak coastal areas at both ends of the defense line, or to drop troops behind enemy lines through the sea to attack them unprepared. Therefore, even if the Qing army has new equipment, it is still impossible to change the situation on the Jinzhou Peninsula through combat.
In fact, the officers even vaguely expected the Qing army to take action next. After all, this place had allowed many soldiers stationed here to win dazzling military honors in the past two years. And most of them have not really fought a big battle here since they switched defenses from other places to the Golden State front line. They are all just small fights with a hundred or so people. This was quite different from their original intention of coming to Jinzhou to gain military exploits. Some patrols would deliberately provoke the Qing army during their missions, often without the tacit approval or even instigation of their superiors.
If there is no war, where will military success come from? Everyone has traveled thousands of miles to come to this bitter and cold place. Is it possible that after two years of garrison period, they will leave quietly? For aspiring military officers, the purpose of coming to Liaodong is to fight the Qing army, gain military merit by attacking the enemy, and gain more capital for their future promotion. But if the two armies continue to confront each other without starting a fight, then they will have no way to show their abilities and have no chance to win the coveted military glory for themselves.
But Chen Yixin has led many young soldiers in the army, so he naturally knows that the little ones in the belly of these officers are just things that Chen Yixin is worried about, but these people under him may not really understand. And the only person who knows a little bit about the stakes may be Wei Lin from the Military Intelligence Bureau.
What Chen Yixin was worried about was not the equipment of the Qing army, but who allowed the Qing army to possess this equipment. Whether it is buying or building, he believes that there must be the intervention of external forces to give the Qing army the opportunity to use weapons.
Obviously the Ming Dynasty would not do such a stupid thing to shoot itself in the foot. The Qing army still goes south to knock the pass every year to plunder the products and people in the border areas of the Ming Dynasty. This is much greater than the conflict between Haihan and the Qing Dynasty. If you want to curb the development of Haihan in Liaodong by providing weapons to the Qing army, it is tantamount to inviting a wolf into the house. The top brass of the Ming Dynasty should not be confused to the extent that they do not distinguish between the important and the important.
Needless to say, North Korea has neither the ability nor the intention to do so. After all, they just finished a war with the Qing Dynasty this year. At this time, North Korea is eager to hug Haihan's thigh as tightly as possible, so how can it go along with the Qing Dynasty behind Haihan's back. What's more, the old-style muskets Haihan provided to North Korea were all provided according to the scale of the new army it was preparing. In order to facilitate military management, each gun was specially stamped with a steel seal on the gun. If such guns were lost to other countries, they would be used by the sea. If Han gets the handle, things will be big.
As for the Rakshasa Kingdom far to the north of the Qing Dynasty, Chen Yixin didn't know much about its situation, but he knew that the Qing Kingdom and the Rakshasa Kingdom had fought several times in the border areas in history, and logically speaking, the relationship should not be too harmonious.
This would be even more complicated if the countries bordering it had not provided it with new weapons. From Haihan's standpoint, Chen Yixin certainly would not want other forces from outside the region to intervene in the Liaodong war. Because no matter which party did this, its real purpose was definitely not to help the Qing Dynasty, but to use it to contain and attack Haihan - because only Haihan was the one that the Qing Dynasty could not defeat with swords, bows and horses. opponent.
It was difficult for the officers present to imagine that this kind of hidden information would involve changes in the international situation. Even though Weilin explained the doubts about the Qing army's new weapons, all they thought about was whether it would cause harm to the Haihan army. direct threat. If Chen Yixin gave a detailed explanation on this matter, some of them might think that Chen Yixin was thinking too much and was just making unfounded worries.
All Chen Yixin can do at the moment is to adjust the patrol method first and emphasize to the officers that during this period, no rash actions should be taken in the area north of the isthmus defense line.
(End of chapter)