Chapter 2033
This is not the first time that Bayano has directly fought against the Haihan Army. At this time last year, he also had the experience of fighting against the Haihan Army in Manila City, and the end result was the same, both fleeing the battlefield in a panic. A year has passed, and on the northern continent thousands of miles away from Manila, the same scene has appeared again. It is like an infinite loop of nightmares, which makes Bayano feel frightened.
When this happened, Bayano knew he had made a crucial mistake. First of all, he did not arrange security around the training area, which was already a taboo for marching and fighting. He believed that this was an area controlled by the Qing army, which was very close to the fortress defense line and the Qing army camp. Logically speaking, there seemed to be no enemy troops in this area, so there was no awareness of taking precautions in the bud. Even though they knew that the Haihan Army had the possibility of invading from the sea, they were still careless and did not take preventive measures. Otherwise, if they could have given a warning a moment in advance, they might have been able to gather together to fight the enemy.
Secondly, he rarely arranges emergency response measures in daily training, because the function of this musketeer team is not an assault force. They will not even appear on the frontal battlefield for a short period of time, and they will suddenly encounter enemies in the rear. The possibility of an attack is extremely slim - at least that's what Bayano and the Qing army's top brass thought.
God knows how a group of Haihan troops came to this place quietly, and even launched an attack so boldly. At this time, Bayano didn't realize that the other party was coming for his musketeers, and he still thought it was a sudden accident.
Bayano knew that the Qing soldiers who failed to leave in time would be in danger, but at this time he couldn't care so much, it was better to escape for his own life. As long as they can escape back to the Qing army camp as soon as possible, the Haihan army will not dare to attack easily. It's just that the results of his training over the past few months have been undone, which really makes Bayano feel a little distressed. Although the combat level of these soldiers cannot meet his requirements, if they really need to replace a new batch of soldiers, the quality may not be better than this. One batch was even worse.
After escaping for about five miles, Bayano could hardly hear the sound of gunshots. When he looked back, there were no enemies chasing him on horseback. He stopped to regroup his team, and one after another he met several Qing soldiers who also escaped on horseback. , and then returned to the camp together.
When Bayano and others rushed back to the Qing army camp, Sun Bing was leading his men to the planned retreat point on the coast. According to the pre-arrangement, at least two warships and two troop transport ships were on standby in the coastal waters. After receiving the retreat signal, they could arrive at the predetermined location to meet Sun Bing within two or three hours.
There is probably no time to rush back to carry the materials in the temporary base, but the personnel staying at the base will deal with the more important items, such as ammunition and personal belongings, as much as possible, and the rest will be destroyed on the spot to avoid being destroyed. The Qing army took advantage. As for things like food and medicine, they are not valuable items in themselves, so it’s just that they can’t be moved away.
The dozens of horses seized from the musketeers were used to transport prisoners and captured weapons. This saved Sun Bing a lot of trouble, as he no longer had to consider whether to give up and take away all the muskets seized at the scene.
Although the performance of these muskets is far inferior to the continuous rifles equipped by the Marines, they are not worthless. If they are sold to North Korea or the Ming Dynasty, I believe both countries will be very interested in it. Sun Bing packed up all the muskets seized at the scene and shipped them back. He believed that he would resell them after verifying their sources in the future, and the proceeds would be able to slightly subsidize the military expenditures consumed by this operation.
Since the retreat route was through mountains and forests, and the number of captured horses was limited, the marching speed was actually much slower than that of Bayano, who escaped back to the Qing army camp.
The general who was in charge of the Qing army camp where the Musketeers were originally stationed was Azige, the king of Wuying County. Although his record against Haihan in the past few years was not ideal, he was one of the few high-ranking generals of the Qing army who could compete with Haihan. Although he was a man with rich fighting experience in the army, he still gained Huang Taiji's full trust, allowing him to serve as the chief general in one of the two camps behind the Jinzhou Fortress's defense line.
Azig suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Haihan Army, so he naturally knew the power of muskets and artillery, so he was also one of the supporters of promoting firearm warfare in the army, but he did not agree with the firearms of the General Han Army Flag. Instead of expanding the size of the army, it is recommended to use Manchus as the team to form a more "pure-blooded" firearms unit.
However, it is easier said than done. It is not easy to form a firearms force. The problem of weapons sources alone has always been difficult for the Qing army to solve. Although Han craftsmen have been able to manufacture their own guns, the production capacity and quality are not ideal, especially in the face of the powerful enemy of the Haihan Army, which makes the Qing's self-made weapons unusable.
The second is the tactical issue of the firearms unit. Although there are a group of former Ming army officers who defected to Houjin in the Han army banner who can teach relevant techniques and tactics, in Azig's view, the tactics they mastered are not advanced enough. The Ming army Even the Qing army couldn't defeat it at the beginning, so how could they expect to use their tactics to defeat the Haihan army, which was more powerful than the Qing army.
The arrival of the Spanish officer Bayano undoubtedly solved to a certain extent the problems that had troubled the Qing army for a long time. The weapons and tactics he brought were much higher than the current level of the Qing army. Azig even felt that what the Spaniards taught had many similarities with the tactics of the Haihan army, and this was what the Qing army should do. development route.
However, the Spaniards were really stingy. The muskets they sent could not even equip an impressive number of troops, and it was unclear when the next batch of weapons would be delivered. Even if the Qing Dynasty was willing to buy them at a high price, the Spaniards had no intention of changing their minds. , this made the Qing generals, including Azig, very disappointed. They even thought that this road would not work. At most, it would only be able to train a group of commanders who knew more about firearms warfare.
According to the Spaniards and the matchmaking middlemen, they went through so much trouble and traveled such a long distance to provide weapons and personnel training to the Qing Dynasty in the name of military assistance. The purpose was to echo the Qing Dynasty from north to south and jointly attack Haihan. Carry out military strikes. But what Azig didn’t understand was that since such a big battle was being carried out, why not supply more weapons to the Qing Dynasty, or simply build weapons manufacturing workshops in the Qing Dynasty so that the Qing army could Expand the size of the firearms force in a short period of time. Even though the Qing Dynasty had clearly stated to the other party that it could spend a lot of money to purchase weapons or manufacturing technology, the other party still refused to let go.
Azig didn’t understand the plight of the Spaniards, and no one would tell him that the Spaniards suffered a huge defeat in 2016. Even the colonial capital was occupied by the Haihan people, and there is currently no large-scale arms sales. ability. But in this way, his enthusiasm for this cooperation project was greatly reduced, and it was difficult for him to agree with the cooperation partner's approach.
It wasn't until the Musketeers won a complete victory in the ambush operation and successfully destroyed the Haihan Army's cavalry patrol that the Qing army's top brass realized again that it was possible to defeat the Haihan Army by relying on this cooperation project. As a result, the team that regained attention once again received more resources, invested more manpower in establishing a reserve team, and provided Bayano with more generous personal treatment. However, Azig never expected that Bayano, who had high hopes, would arrange training activities away from the main camp on a whim. As a result, the musketeers team, which had just improved, was almost completely destroyed in the sudden attack.
After Bayano hurriedly fled back to the camp with the remaining subordinates, he did not go to see Azig first, but asked someone to find another translator. Otherwise, he would not be able to communicate with him at all. Azig communicates. Fortunately, the middleman left two translators in Liaodong. Otherwise, after the translator died today at the gunfire of the Haihan Army, Bayano would have to be a talking mute.
Azig also thought that Bayano returned to camp much earlier than expected. When he applied to go out for training, he expected to spend a whole day, but he slipped back shortly after noon. But before he had time to ask about the training results, he heard the bad news brought back by the other party.
"The Haihan Army actually came here!" Azig couldn't sit still after hearing this: "Give me the order to have Erhe and Etenyi assemble their troops and prepare to set off!"
Azig immediately ordered two Jia La soldiers and horses, intending to wipe out this daring Haihan army. The place where the Musketeers were attacked was not the usual range of activities of the Haihan Army. They dared to appear in the area between the fortress defense line and the Qing army's camp. It seemed that the Haihan Army was at ease to cause trouble.
However, after Azig finished ordering his troops, he did not act impulsively. Instead, he asked Bayano again about the details of the battle. The focus was on the opponent's troop size and weapons equipment.
When Bayano mentioned that the weapons used by this Haihan army were repeating rifles, the corner of Azig's mouth couldn't help but twitch. He has been dealing with the Haihan Army for two or three years, and naturally knows that this is a high-end musket that only a few elite units in the Haihan Army are qualified to equip. According to the information he has, the Haihan troops equipped with such repeating rifles should all be stationed in North Korea recently. However, there is no trace of the activities of these troops in Jinzhou. How come they suddenly appeared on our own defense line? rear.
Azig's first reaction also did not consider that the target of this Haihan army was Bayano's musketeers. Instead, he believed that the location of its appearance might be related to its mission, such as launching an attack on the fortress defense line from the rear to destroy the existing Some defensive strongholds and so on. After all, it was only decided two days ago that Bayano would take the team to training, and very few people knew about this arrangement in advance. It is unlikely that anyone would betray the whereabouts of the Musketeers to Haihan.
This is not because the Haihan Army arranged measures to mislead the Qing army. In fact, no one could have imagined that the Haihan Army had been lurking around here for more than half a month. The reason for taking action in that mountain col was not an accidental collision with Bayano's musketeers, but a surprise attack after a long period of surveillance and observation and control of their movement patterns.
Time, place, and environment were all the best opportunities for Sun Bing's team to take action, but for the Qing army with asymmetric information, this battle was more like an emergency, and it did not take the matter to a higher level. Think about it in a deeper way.
But in any case, Azig cannot sit back and watch a Haihan army do whatever they want in this area and then escape unscathed. Even if the opponent is the terrifying force known as Haihan's Ace Army, the Qing army must attack decisively at this time. If we can severely damage the opponent after this, or even annihilate the Haihan Army, then the loss of our own musketeers will not be in vain.
But there is a new question at this time. After the battle, it is obviously impossible for the Haihan army to stay where it is and wait for the Qing army to come and suppress it. So which direction will they go next? Azig looked at the map. He had to make a judgment based on the local geographical environment.
The location where the battle took place was to the north where the Qing army camp where Azige was located, and to the south and east was the sea. If the Haihan army continued to march toward the southwest inland, it would be the Daheishan fortress defense line under the control of the Qing army. These major military landmarks are certainly no secret to the Haihan Army. After all, the two sides have been fighting for a long time. It is easy to learn this basic information from the prisoners of war.
If the other party wants to continue to stay in this area, they must either head inland or retreat to the mountains and forests along the coast. The first option is undoubtedly to dance on the tip of the knife, because there are not many places where they can hide their whereabouts. Once discovered, they will be attacked by the fortress defense line and the Qing army camp. In that case, they will have great potential. There might not even be a chance to escape, but Azig didn't think the commander of the Haihan Army would make such a stupid mistake.
Azig thought that since the other party had appeared, he would probably not go further inland. He could only retreat to the mountains and forests to hide, or even return directly to the sea. From this point of view, hiding in the mountains and forests near Jinshitan is the most likely. But to seal off and search such a large mountain forest, and considering the level of combat effectiveness displayed by the opponent, it is estimated that the strength of the two Jia La is still a bit tight.
In order to be on the safe side, Azig ordered two more Jia La troops to be added, and sent people to notify the fortress defense line, asking the garrison there to strictly monitor the passage into the inland areas to prevent the Haihan army from mixing. Entering Daheishan and lurking. Although this possibility is not too great, since the other party dares to come near the camp, no one dares to guarantee whether the Haihan Army will take more bold actions in the future.
The camp was very close to the mountains and forests on the coast of Jinshitan, so there was no need to make much preparation. The Qing soldiers could set off immediately after taking their weapons, so the troops were assembled very quickly. While Sun Bing's troops were still trekking through the mountains and forests, the first Niu Lu who was the first to be assembled by the Qing army had already stepped out of the camp.
(End of chapter)