Chapter 2337
But now it is not an easy task for Chen Yixin to launch a large-scale offensive against the Qing army in the direction of Jinzhou. Since Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom took the troops to North Korea last year, the strength of the troops staying in Jinzhou has been very limited. They have even recruited about 2,000 people from the original Dongjiang Town troops to supplement reconnaissance and logistics supplies. Among the troops.
With this kind of personnel configuration, relying on the many fortifications of the isthmus defense line, it is not difficult to keep the Qing army north of the isthmus, but there will be certain risks in taking the initiative to attack the Qing army's defense line.
Chen Yixin knew very well that the combat effectiveness of the troops under his command was definitely not as good as Qian Tiandun's special battle group, and their strength was not enough to clear out the Daheishan area, which was more than 20 miles deep in the north. According to the Marine Corps' reconnaissance behind enemy lines at the beginning of the year, at least tens of thousands of Qing troops were stationed in Dongda Camp at the foot of Dahei Mountain. Even if so many Qing troops did not offer frontal resistance, as long as they all withdrew into the mountains, the Haihan Army would be It was difficult to continue pushing north regardless.
Therefore, Chen Yixin had great doubts about the effectiveness of the proactive offensive. He could only regard the arrangement of Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom as a feint attack to attract firepower, so that the North Korean troops could launch an attack on the Liaodong coast.
However, Chen Yixin is not worried about the morale of the army. The Haihan Army has always used military merit as the basis for promotion. If there is no war, there will be no military merit. Moreover, the combat troops' wartime pay is quite high. Even if they don't get military merit, they will still have money to get it. As for the people who originally belonged to Dongjiang Town, they had an endless feud with the Manchus, so there was no need for mobilization.
But if a war breaks out on the front line, tens of thousands of local civilians in Jinzhou will inevitably be affected by the war. According to the local system, young adults must join the logistics department as civilian husbands during wartime, and the supply of food and other daily necessities will also enter a state of wartime control. Therefore, in order to stabilize public sentiment, propaganda work targeting local people must be carried out as soon as possible.
When Liu Shang received Chen Yixin's summons, he was handling the inventory and storage procedures for this batch of materials shipped from Fushan County. Nowadays, the affairs he is responsible for in the Jinzhou area are not just in the field of propaganda. After the end of the anti-Qing war in North Korea last year, he was transferred to the Datong River Base to be responsible for the resettlement of local Korean refugees. Due to his good work performance during the period, After returning to Jinzhou, he was entrusted with an important task by Chen Yixin and became the local civil affairs officer.
For Liu Shang, the work he is doing now is something he could not have imagined before. He was supposed to have been lurking in Sanya for a long time under the cover of a storyteller, collecting various military and political intelligence about Haihan for the imperial court. However, unexpectedly, he got into Haihan's bureaucracy by a strange combination of circumstances and had a smooth journey. In just four years, his position has climbed from the initial position of grassroots publicity officer to the current position of Jinzhou Civil Affairs Officer.
It was almost impossible for an ordinary person like Liu Shang with no background to advance in the officialdom so quickly in the Ming Dynasty. If he had chosen to lurk in Sanya as a spy, he might have been promoted to Hundred Households in five or ten years. Going up would not only depend on his qualifications and merits, but also on having corresponding connections. But now in Haihan, he has become a civil affairs officer in charge of local people's livelihood. This status is much higher than that of hundreds of thousands of households in name only.
Liu Shang knew very well that as long as he continued to work, there would be opportunities for promotion in the future. There are too many vacant positions in Haihan's bureaucracy, and there are too few qualified officials. For example, a large part of the reason why he was promoted to civil affairs officer in Jinzhou was because there were no suitable candidates here, and there were almost no candidates. People compete with him for this position.
Strictly speaking, he did not even receive systematic civil affairs training when he took office. He was appreciated and promoted by Chen Yixin just because of his good performance in managing North Korean refugees at the Datong River base.
With such a good career prospect, Liu Shang gave up his previous identity long ago and followed Haihan wholeheartedly. As long as Haihan can continue to maintain the current development momentum, he believes that as long as he works for a few more years, he will hopefully become the highest-ranking naturalized official in the overseas territories.
Specific to the current environment, Liu Wei's future promotion opportunities were in the hands of his boss Chen Yixin, so after receiving the order, he handed over the work at hand to his deputy and rushed to the headquarters as quickly as possible to report to Chen Yixin.
Winter training operations are arranged almost every year, and can be regarded as a routine task for the Jinzhou garrison every year. During this period, the civil affairs department is responsible for publicity and material dispatch, so Liu Shang is no stranger to these matters. After hearing Chen Yixin explain the situation, he agreed immediately.
"This year's operation is somewhat special and may last until the end of the year. When you publicize it to the public, you should pay attention to emphasizing the time issue of local military control." Chen Yixin added.
Liu Shang heard this and said: "Has it lasted for so long? Could it be that we have to take the initiative and destroy the Qing army's Daheishan defense line?"
He has stayed in Jinzhou for a long time and interacts with the troops every day. He has mastered a lot of military knowledge without a teacher and has a certain understanding of the external environment. Judging from previous winter operations, they generally lasted three to five to seven days, with various training subjects being rotated through, achieving the effect of actual combat training, and it was almost time to withdraw the troops.
But if this year's action is to last until the end of the year, it will take more than a month. This action arrangement is obviously different from the situation in previous years. In Liu Shang's view, the only plausible possibility is that the garrison is preparing for a big fight.
Chen Yixin said with a smile: "The Daheishan defense line is not that easy to fight. With the troops currently stationed in Jinzhou, we probably can't defeat it. But what we have to do is to be prepared to fight our opponents for a month."< br>
Liu Shangdao: "If the period is one month, then the local material reserves may still be insufficient, and food and medicine will need to be replenished."
Chen Yixin said: "There will be ships arriving in the next two days. The things you mentioned will be replenished in time, so don't worry. I need you to explain the necessity of this operation to the people, so that everyone in the local area can do their best. Provide support for this year’s winter operations.”
Liu Shang had received special training on how to use propaganda methods to get the people to cooperate with the government's various arrangements during the war. This matter still needs to be focused on the big picture and start on the small side. First of all, we must emphasize the justice of the war. It is a conquest of barbarians by civilized people and a necessary measure for the Haihan Kingdom to safeguard its own interests, so that the people will have a sense of responsibility and pride in this. Then we will focus on the role that the people can play during the war. Give specific propaganda explanations of their functions, such as why young men and women should be recruited to serve as civilian husbands, why war controls should be implemented on food and other materials, etc.
Of course, in actual operation, there are countless details to deal with, which are far more complicated than this basic framework. However, it is no longer time for Liu Shang to fight alone. He also has a group of eloquent propaganda officers under him who can help him deliver propaganda content to every village and town at a faster speed.
After Liu Shang received the task, he immediately held a meeting when he returned to his yamen to deploy the propaganda work, and clearly requested that the work be completed within three days so as not to affect the military's major operation. News that another war with the Qing army was about to begin soon spread among the local people. Most people were very optimistic about the prospects of the battle and believed that the Haihan Navy would undisputably defeat its opponents. There are extremely few people who truly realize that this may be a different operation than in previous years.
On November 10, various heavy weapons belonging to the garrison began to gather on the front line. All units of the Jinzhou garrison also canceled their vacations and began to enter the final stage of combat preparation.
On November 11, Haihan suddenly expanded the strength of the patrol north of the isthmus defense line by five times, and used this as a means to temporarily block the Qing army's activity space in the middle zone and cut off its access to A source of intelligence on the movements of the Isthmian Defense Line.
On November 12, the Haihan Army occupied a small hilltop called Dongshan on the north shore of Dalian Bay during the night. This Dongshan is already outside the isthmus defense line, and is still six or seven miles away from both sides' positions. However, because it is adjacent to Dalian Bay, the Haihan Army can advance and attack, and retreat and defend. If it is not possible, it can be withdrawn from the sea. , which can be regarded as occupying a valuable military target.
In fact, the battle around Dongshan had been a repertoire of the Jinzhou garrison's winter training before this. Since the Qing army did not set up defenses on this hilltop far away from its own defense line, the Haihan army was able to capture it relatively smoothly each time, but the Qing army would also launch a siege and force Haihan to retreat on his own. After Haihan occupied Dongshan, he actually had no motivation to push the front northward. There would often be a stalemate for several days, and after a few rounds of small-scale battles between the two sides, Haihan's army would abandon this place and retreat to the isthmus defense line.
But this year, the Haihan Army's occupation of Dongshan was obviously different. A large number of combat supplies were continuously transported into Dongshan by sea that night. There are also some small-caliber field guns that have been disassembled and transported into the mountains on pack horses.
In Chen Yixin's combat plan, Dongshan will serve as the bridgehead for the sudden advance. Since Dongshan is close to the sea on one side, it will definitely be difficult for the opponent to make a clear judgment on how many Haihan troops are deployed in this small mountain forest. If they still plan to besiege this place like they did in the past few years, then Chen Yixin will seize this opportunity to make a big move.
At this time, there had been several snowfalls in the Liaodong Peninsula, and the outdoor environment was very harsh. Whether it was troop projection or material transportation, it was very difficult for Haihan. Fortunately, military training operations like this are organized every year, and all the troops are familiar with it. It's just that it takes a lot of effort to transport heavy weapons such as artillery into Dongshan.
The actions of the Haihan Army did not deliberately conceal their whereabouts, so the Qing Army discovered the strange situation in Dongshan the next day. However, this situation happens every winter, and the Qing army was not too surprised. Azig ordered four Niulu soldiers and horses in the camp, and ordered them to slowly go south to Dongshan, and surrounded them outside as in previous years. Living in this place will not allow the Haihan army on the mountain to have room to move north.
These Qing troops had been dealing with the Haihan Army in Jinzhou for several years, so they naturally knew how powerful they were. The place where they stopped was quite far from the top of the mountain, and they were on the edge of the rifle range of the Haihan Army. Even if they fired, there was almost no accuracy at all. .
But they obviously underestimated the determination of the Haihan Army in this operation. Chen Yixin dispatched the only few snipers in the local area and deployed them all to Dongshan. As long as they identified officers above Niu Luzhen and above, they were free to do so. Shoot and kill.
In order to ensure the efficiency of shooting at long distances, these snipers actually aimed at the same person in each round of shooting. The same observer directed the firing, using multiple aiming and concentrated fire to increase the hit rate.
This time their target was these Niulu leaders. These guys were not difficult to identify. After all, the armor in the Qing army was still a piece of equipment that could not be widely used, and only officers were qualified to wear armor. In the Qing army's formation, which was full of big fur coats, those wearing iron armor and helmets were either Bagala warriors or well-known senior officers, worthy of the bullets rewarded by the Haihan army.
After shooting and killing two Niulu Ezhens in a concentrated fire manner, these Qing troops realized that they had stepped into Haihan's precise fire strike range, and quickly continued to retreat to avoid the risk of being shot.
But they didn't know that the range of a sniper rifle was far beyond that of an ordinary rifle. Even if they retreated a hundred or so steps, they were still within the range. After more than ten people were shot and killed, finally a Qing army named Niu Lu couldn't hold back his anger and launched an offensive against Dongshan.
When they rushed to about a hundred steps away from the mountain forest, they saw dense gun barrels sticking out of the forest, and they didn't know how many Haihan soldiers were hiding in them.
The forty or fifty cavalrymen who rushed at the front were all defeated in the dense gunfire, and the remaining people immediately became divided. Some people immediately turned around and ran away, while some who were not afraid of death continued to rush towards them. Dongshan.
Those who tried to continue the attack undoubtedly became a living target. In just one round of shooting, hundreds of Qing soldiers were eliminated, completely crippling this awesome man.
Seeing that Dongshan's defensive attitude was so tough, Azig certainly could not give in and immediately mobilized his troops to launch a second wave of offensive. This time the Qing army tried to use an outflank approach, attacking the left and right sides of Dongshan respectively. If Haihan divided his troops, their firepower would be weakened.
Azig came up with an intuitive solution. There was nothing wrong with his idea, but the troops Haihan had sent to Dongshan were far beyond his imagination. Even if the troops were divided, it would be difficult to rely on one or two Niulu's attack to break Haihan's defenses.
So after a short rest, the battle continued. The Haihan Army still did not show up, using only intensive firepower to disperse the Qing Army's second wave of offensive, and easily killed nearly a hundred lives on the left and right battlefields.
(End of chapter)