Chapter 2340
Chen Yixin was standing on the wall of the isthmus defense line at this time, using a telescope to observe the fighting situation between the two armies in the wilderness. Although the current battle situation is that the Haihan side clearly has the upper hand and has caused a lot of casualties to the Qing army, Chen Yixin did not show a happy look on his face.
At this time of year, artillery units with poor mobility were deployed to the fields outside the positions, and in order to hide their tracks, infantry units were not arranged to protect them nearby. This was actually a very risky approach. If the Qing army had dispatched larger cavalry units, , this artillery unit may not be able to escape unscathed after a sneak attack on the opponent.
However, the Qing army had suffered more defeats than wins in this area in the past two years. Chen Yixin also made such a bold deployment because he was sure that the opponent would not directly invest heavy troops while being blocked from battlefield reconnaissance methods. Facts have proved that this risky move was successful in actual combat. The Qing cavalry was attacked by two rounds of close-range artillery fire with almost no defense. Han's artillery positions launched a counterattack.
But this strange move can only be used once on the battlefield. Now that the Qing army discovered that there is a hidden artillery position here, they will naturally not repeat the same mistake. Setting up such a hidden position would take two or three days of construction at the fastest, and a lot of migrant workers would have to be invested. Judging from the current reaction of the Qing army, it may be difficult to completely block the opponent's reconnaissance methods, and it probably won't be possible anymore. Find another place to copy this tactic.
The killing effect on the Qing army was not Chen Yixin's main consideration in making this deployment. He hoped to mislead the Qing army's judgment and make the Qing army think that the main force of the Haihan Army would come out from the isthmus defense line and directly attack Daheishan. After all, Haihan's artillery units have already left their original positions, which can be regarded as a very obvious attack signal.
If the Qing army makes such a judgment, then in order to prevent the Haihan army's attack, the garrison troops in the east and west camps of Daheishan will not be easily transferred elsewhere in the near future, thereby achieving the purpose of containing the main force of the Qing army with a feint attack. But Chen Yixin was not very sure whether this wave of fighting could achieve the desired effect.
The two armies have been fighting on this front for more than two years, and have engaged in no less than a hundred armed conflicts, large and small. It can be said that they know each other well, and it is not easy to form effective tactical deception. Since Azig was very careful to send only one cavalry to test the situation and did not rashly mobilize large troops into the battlefield, the routine designed by Chen Yixin may not be able to deceive him.
Chen Yixin did not dare to risk the few hundred cavalry he had on hand, so the Haihan army did not pursue the fleeing Qing cavalry too far. They only followed behind them symbolically for a while and then took the initiative to stop.
Zhu Chen led his team slowly back to the place where the battle had just taken place, covering the retreat of the artillery while checking the enemy's casualties. However, this time he did not dismount his sword and chop off the head. It was not due to his own military exploits. He would not have reached out. What's more, many of the dead and injured Qing troops were torn into pieces by the close-range shelling just now, and there may not be any left. A complete head.
But the battle was not completely one-sided. In the process of luring the enemy deeper, Haihan's side also lost more than a dozen riders, and even Zhu Chen's team also lost one person. However, compared with the casualties of the Qing army, the losses of the Haihan army were indeed at an acceptable level.
In just a short moment of fighting, hundreds of Qing troops were knocked down by the overwhelming grape bombs. Such a killing efficiency would indeed make people feel desperate. It is difficult to have the determination to charge when facing a position composed of artillery.
Some soldiers walked slowly among the corpses, using the bayonets on their rifles to kill the people and horses who were still alive. The artillerymen skillfully hitched the artillery cart to the packhorse and began to evacuate the position. The mobility of these artillery pieces was extremely poor in snowy conditions, and if they were to be left in the wild overnight, troops would have to be stationed nearby for protection. Therefore, Chen Yixin simply ordered the artillery troops to be withdrawn within the defense line.
The Haihan soldiers who died on the battlefield in this battle have also been carried back on horses. Soldiers serving in Jinzhou will arrange their funeral arrangements in advance. They can choose to be buried in a nearby military mausoleum after they die in battle, or have their cremated bones transported back to Sanya for burial. But no matter which one is chosen, the memorial tablets of the fallen soldiers will be enshrined in the Martyrs' Shrine in Sanya and become heroic figures respected by the people for generations.
Zhu Chen stood for a moment in front of his companion's body to express his condolences, but his mood actually did not fluctuate much, and there was not even much sadness. Because the patrol team has been active on the front line for a long time and had many encounters with the Qing army, it has become the unit with the highest casualty ratio among the Jinzhou garrison. Zhu Chen himself has experienced several serious injuries and narrowly escaped death. If he had not been lucky, Well, he might as well have been turned into a tablet in Valhalla.
Zhu Chen has seen casualties like this too many times. A soldier shrouded in horse leather can be regarded as a worthy death. What's more, the country has given pretty good pensions to soldiers who died in battle, and they will not leave much behind if they sacrifice themselves for the country. regret. A person like Zhu Chen, who had no worries at all, took life and death very lightly. He had already killed enough Qing soldiers. If he had not taken the safety of his brothers into consideration, his fighting methods might have been even more radical.
Later that day, Chen Yixin listened to the battle report about today's battle with the Qing army. Compared with the previous battles for control of the Jinzhou Isthmus, today's confrontation can only be regarded as a small conflict. Although it caused three-digit casualties to the Qing army, Chen Yixin also understood that this loss was not significant to the Qing army. Serious, far from breaking the bones.
After listening to the battle report, Chen Yixin then listened to Liu Shang's report on logistics. Three thousand civilians have been organized locally to be on standby for transporting baggage, building fortifications, etc., and the relevant combat materials are basically in place, which is enough to support the Jinzhou garrison to fight several major battles.
As for the next action plan on the Jinzhou Isthmus, Chen Yixin decided to depend on the reaction of the Qing army. If the other party continues to send small groups of people to explore their movements as before, then according to the previous deployment, use cavalry patrols to defeat the other party's spies and continue to keep this area invisible.
But if Azig resolutely sends more troops to clear the fog on the battlefield, then the Haihan side will probably have to restrain themselves and retreat to the isthmus defense line to hold on. On the other side of Dongshan, Chen Yixin decided to defend for a few more days in order to contain the Qing army in Dongda Camp.
Compared with the troops stationed in the Datong River in North Korea, there is indeed a certain gap in the combat effectiveness of the Jinzhou garrison, and the strength is not enough to implement the operational plan of actively advancing northward. There are indeed not many ways to contain the nearby Qing troops. Perhaps after all this trouble, we can only buy the friendly forces in Datongjiang two or three days, but for Chen Yixin, this is the best that the Jinzhou garrison can do.
Chen Yixin looked at the time. If there were no accidents, Qian Tiandun's special operations group should have landed somewhere on the Liaodong coast by this time.
Just as Chen Yixin thought, near the coastline four hundred miles away from the Jinzhou Isthmus, Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom were watching the landing of troops on the nearby coast on the flagship Wei Neng.
Although the Liaodong coastline close to North Korea is hundreds of miles long, there is actually not much population in the area near the coastline, and there are only a few large cities, towns and counties, so there are not many targets for them to choose from. According to the action plan agreed upon by Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun, this time they plan to clean up all these targets.
The first target they chose for attack was Donggang Town, located near the estuary of the Yalu River. The livelihood of this small town is mainly based on farming. The permanent population is only about a thousand people, mostly Han people. There are only officials and tax collectors stationed in the town by the Qing government, but no troops. Rather than not paying attention to the value of this place, it is better to say that the limited output here cannot support an army stationed for a long time. For this kind of almost undefended target, it is certainly not the first time that the Haihan Army has patronized this place, but this time it is different from the previous casual plundering operations. The two commanders intend to completely evacuate the town.
For this reason, in addition to dispatching combat ships, the Navy also mobilized all troop transport ships from the Datong River base to participate in this operation. A troop transport ship can carry more than three hundred people. In a small place like Donggang Town, only four or five ships can transport all the people.
The special forces landed in Donggang Town without encountering any resistance. After landing, the cavalry quickly circled to the north of the town and blocked the roads leading from the town to the inland areas.
The soldiers then went from house to house and began to clear out the people in the town, driving them to the seaside to board ships. As for the few Manchus here, the Haihan Army will not let them go either. Although these Manchus are not suitable for resettlement in Jinzhou as immigrants, there is no problem in transporting them to Shandong for mining.
During this period, a few Manchus tried to resist, but the Haihan Army would not show mercy at this time. Anyone who resisted would be punished as enemy spies and directly executed.
After several troublemaking Manchus were executed in public, the remaining people became much more honest. Although the Han people did not know where they would be transported, at least they would no longer be exploited and ravaged by the Manchus. For them, this was an excellent result.
After completing the sweep of Donggang Town, the special operations group did not return to the ship, but continued to move westward. According to the information we have, there is a Changshan Town with a slightly smaller population more than ten miles west of Donggang Town.
So two hours later, Changshan Town quickly fell into the control of the Haihan Army in the same way. Then the entire town was emptied and all the people were taken to the beach to board the ship. In just one morning, about 2,000 immigrants were successfully harvested.
"We should have taken such action a year or two earlier." Wang Tom said with emotion: "It is too easy to obtain populations from these places!"
Qian Tiandun smiled and said: "It may not have been so easy two years ago. When we sent troops to sweep the Liaodong coast, how could we dare to risk going deep into the interior? The landing force was far from enough to pack up an entire town like we do now. Go.”
The sweep of the Liaodong coast has become a routine task every year since Haihan occupied Jinzhou. However, as Qian Tiandun said, at that time, the foundation of the Haihan army was not stable and they did not dare to send too many troops into the interior. There is not enough transportation capacity and materials to support such operations, so although there are gains every time the Liaodong coast is raided, it is impossible to uproot populated areas like now.
Using elite units such as special operations groups and the Marine Corps to perform this kind of mission may seem a bit overkill, but in fact, because these elite units are better able to execute orders, their operational efficiency will also increase. If they really encounter a situation that requires the use of force, their response will be more secure.
That afternoon, the special operations group continued to march westward about ten miles inland from the coastline, and successively captured Beijingzi Town and Yiquan Town. The populations of these two towns are not large, but there are more than a thousand people in total.
It was already dark when the people of Yiquan Town were rushed to the beach to board the ship. The special operations group chose to camp near the shore and continue to sweep westward tomorrow. The three thousand captive people who had already boarded the ship were transported overnight to Jinzhou, four hundred miles away, where they would be given a new life.
Early the next morning, the special operations group continued on the road, conquering Huangtukan Town and Gushan Town. Among them, near Gushan Town, the Haihan Army finally encountered the first group of Qing troops in two days.
This Qing army only had about 200 people. After only a symbolic resistance, it was quickly defeated by the special forces. More than 40 people were killed or wounded. Most of the others were captured, and only a few escaped on horseback. There was a huge disparity in combat power between the two sides. The special operations group did not lose any manpower, only a few people were injured.
This Gushan town is already thirty miles away from the coastline. Gaoqiao Nan can only detach a company of people to escort people to the seaside to board ships.
After solving Gushan Town, the special forces troops divided into two groups, one heading to Bodhisattva Temple Town in the southwest, and the other heading west, with the goal of Lizifang Town more than 20 miles away.
According to the sweeping method adopted by Haihan at this time, although there will definitely be places that are missed, at least 70% to 80% of the population in these areas will be relocated. Based on the local agricultural cultivation level, if so much labor is suddenly reduced, thousands of acres of cultivated land will soon lose output, and this loss will continue to expand.
For the Manchus, what they lost was not only the thousands of farmers who farmed and fished, but also the materials and wealth they continuously created through their production activities. Moreover, if we want to move Han people from other places to make up for the population loss in these places, it will cost a lot of money.
(End of chapter)