Chapter 1145 Dilemma

The soldiers of the Ming Army could not clearly see the movements on the Haihan position from a distance. They saw several gaps in the wall and thought that the opponent was about to come out to fight. They waited cautiously for a long time but there was no movement, so they had to continue marching.

The Haihan artillerymen had already calibrated their firing range two days before the start of the war, and made several hidden distance markers outside the position. There was no need to make sighting calculations before the battle, as long as they waited for the opponent to enter the pre-calculated fire strike range.

That’s it.

Chen Yixin held up his telescope and confirmed that the Ming army infantry had entered the area where the artillery was pre-aimed, and then decisively issued the order to fire. Although the artillery deployed by the military to the mining area this time were all small-caliber artillery, they were equipped with special equipment to deal with dense formations.

After the grapeshot, this small cannon is equivalent to a large-caliber shotgun. The lethality of even a single cannon is no less than that of dozens of muskets.

Every sound of artillery on the Haihan position was accompanied by rows of Ming soldiers screaming and falling to the ground. The copper-covered wooden shields in their hands could be used to block ordinary bows and arrows, but the grapes fired by the artillery

The bullets were absolutely unstoppable. Projectiles the size of soybeans flew over the sky, beating the shields and the Ming soldiers hiding behind them like a hornet's nest.

The infantry on Haihan's side were naturally not idle either. After the artillery started firing, the soldiers immediately fired supplementary shots at the Ming army that had lost the protection of their shields. Under the joint attack of gunfire and artillery fire, they were killed in a very short period of time.

The Ming army inflicted a heavy blow. Of course, this inevitably exposed Haihan's true strength to the Ming army, making the opponents realize how terrifying the enemy they faced this time was.

The gunfire just now made Guo Xingning's eyes pop out. Although he also knew that the Haihan people would be very difficult to deal with, he did not expect that the opponent actually deployed several artillery pieces on the position. The Ming army was caught off guard.

The casualties caused by this shelling were quite heavy. Even with a conservative estimate, Guo Xingning believed that the casualties should have reached three digits.

Although there were several Folan cannons in the Ming army's formation, before they had time to transport them to the firing line and set up gun emplacements, the infantry in front had already been defeated. The artillerymen who lacked cover naturally did not dare to go forward and fight on their own, and could only follow.

The defeated troops dragged their cannon back into the formation.

Guo Xingning's current situation is a bit embarrassing. In less than half a day, his attacks have been frustrated one after another. More than 10% of his combatable troops have been lost. However, he has not been able to gain many actual results and only destroyed part of the opponent's position.

The outer fortifications have not even touched the hair of the Haihan people. Of course, Guo Xingning can urge his men to continue attacking the Haihan position, but he can no longer come up with better means to counter the Haihan people. If he attacks by force, what he will get is

The result is likely to be an even more disastrous number of casualties.

Guo Xingning also wondered. He had a complete set of infantry and cavalry, as well as artillery assistance. They were all veterans who had experienced battles. Logically speaking, it should be easy to deal with a group of armed merchants. Before he came, he had even thought about how to accept it.

The Haihan people surrendered and asked them to get out of Fushan County, but unexpectedly they suffered a bloody blow in the first battle in this wilderness. Guo Xingning was caught in a dilemma whether to continue fighting or to retreat to preserve his strength.

In the situation.

At this moment, the cavalry he had sent out to sweep the retreat hurried back to resume their duties, but their number was reduced by nearly one-third. This cavalry team fought with the Haihan people outside the ancient town, but the result was the same.

Obviously, they did not take any advantage, but instead became a target for the other party. After being shot down by Haihan soldiers, they retreated in a panic. As for the task of opening up the retreat, naturally it could only be temporary.

Forgot it.

After witnessing the battle between his men and the Haihan people just now, Guo Xingning was not so surprised by what happened to this group of cavalry. With the Haihan people's fighting style, this group of people was indeed very dangerous without vigilance.

It is easy for the opponent to be caught off guard. What he is more concerned about now is how many troops the Haihan people have deployed on their back road, and whether they can successfully withdraw to Dengzhou City along the official road.

But the feedback from his subordinates poured cold water on Guo Xingning's head. The Haihan people had obviously calculated the Ming army's movements in advance, and the actions they made in the rear were not harassment at all, but real attacks.

It was necessary to cut off the retreat route of the Ming army. According to what his subordinates saw, there were at least two to three hundred Haihan soldiers in the area, occupying favorable terrain. There were even several Haihan armed sailing ships on the seashore as water cover. Guo Xingning and his group were

If you want to return to Dengzhou City, you will have to go through a fierce battle.

Fortunately, Guo Xingning was quite cautious. He studied the map carefully before setting off and made solid preparations. Although the official road along the coastline was cut off by the Haihan people, he still remembered at least two roads that crossed the mountainous area and returned to Dengzhou.

The route to the city is just rugged, and it will take more than twice the marching time to return to the base camp. Of course, the premise of this plan is that the Haihan people will not come out from their stronghold to pursue, otherwise how the situation will develop remains unclear.

It is difficult to judge. After all, the Haihan people still have an unknown number of cavalry on hand. If they seize the opportunity to pursue them, it will be a trouble for the Ming army. As for where this cavalry is now, Guo Xingning has no idea.

No idea at all.

At this time, Guo Xingning had realized that the opponent's pre-war preparations were far better than his own. He had simply set up a trap and waited for his team to exploit it. Judging from his action of transporting troops from the sea to cut off his own retreat, the sea was

The Han people obviously did not intend to defend the mining area, but wanted to fight a war of annihilation and try to wipe out their own Ming army in Fushan County.

At this time, the casualty situation has been roughly calculated. More than 130 people who had just rushed into the formation failed to retreat. Most of them had died on the spot. The few wounded who had lost the ability to move could not escape from the battlefield.

We've recaptured it. In addition to the heads lost along the way, the current casualty situation is still within a tolerable range, but after suffering repeated setbacks, morale has become unsustainable.

And this is not the most terrible thing. Guo Xingning discovered that until now, apart from knowing that the enemy has cavalry and is equipped with firecrackers and artillery, Guo Xingning seems to have no other valuable information, including how many troops the opponent has, how to deploy them, and who is responsible for them.

He didn't know anything about his command, but the other party started approaching for reconnaissance soon after he left Dengzhou City, and he had a clear picture of his own troop strength and movements. In this situation of information asymmetry, Mingming

It is not surprising that the army suffered successive setbacks.

His own strength and movements have been exposed early, but his opponent has always been hiding in the fog, making it impossible for Guo Xingning to figure out his strength. This passive situation is already very dangerous. Guo Xingning has now put away all his chances.

and looked down upon him, and began to think about how to get out of this mess.

At this time, the atmosphere on Haihan's position was relatively relaxed. The several waves of offensives by the Ming army just now failed to really threaten Haihan's defense line. The price paid for Haihan's attack so far was only some ammunition.

, there have been no casualties in terms of personnel, and the degree of damage to the position is still tolerable. According to Chen Yixin's estimation, even if the Ming army's cavalry came out in full force, they probably would not be able to destroy the fortifications outside the Haihan position.

It was cleaned up. This means that it is basically impossible for this Ming army to attack the Haihan position from the front.

"Okay, okay, it's easier than expected." Morgan finally sat down to rest at this time and took a sip of the hot tea he had just made. The last battle he commanded was against the local indigenous tribes in Miaoli, Taiwan. The opponent's

His strength was far inferior to that of the regular army of the Ming Dynasty in Shandong. Although he said it was easy, when he was commanding the battle just now, he never sat down for a second.

"Look, it's worth stopping work for three days to repair the fortifications, otherwise these bastards would probably just rush up and kick the door down!" Tian Yeyou said proudly.

Due to the limited labor force in the mining area, the military originally did not want to build such a deep three-dimensional defense fortification. However, Tian Yeyou believed that since it was necessary to build a semi-permanent defense line in one step, he persuaded the military to allow all other infrastructure projects in the mining area to be completed.

They stopped and spent three days to build the defense line. Now it seems that this decision was obviously very wise. The Ming army's offensive was completely blocked from the defense line, and it also left room for the firearm attacks that the Haihan army was good at.

enough space.

This Chen Yixin has also withdrawn from the first line of defense to meet with them to discuss the next plan of action.

"I see that the Ming army has no intention of attacking anymore. It's time for us to take the initiative." Chen Yixin suggested: "There are still our infantry and cavalry to the north of the enemy, so we can just attack them from the north and the south!"

Haihan deployed his troops in advance to cut off the Ming army's retreat. Of course, it was not for show. Since this time he wanted to fight, Haihan's army was determined to eat this Ming army. After gaining the upper hand, Chen Yixin was already a little restrained.

Can't stand it any longer.

The only troublesome thing is that in order to make the defense line impregnable, the defense fortifications built north of the mining area did not leave an attack channel in advance, so the Haihan Army had to go around from the east if they wanted to attack, which would take almost two miles more.

Only then can we go around to the frontal battlefield in the north.

It was precisely because of this that the Ming army found a glimmer of hope. While the Haihan commanders were still discussing whether they should take the initiative to attack immediately, Guo Xingning had already made a decision in advance.

Due to the war in Dengzhou, strong men have become a scarce resource, and the people have a serious lack of trust in the government and military. It is difficult for foreign generals like Guo Xingning to recruit local troops. If they fight too hard here, their strength will be greatly reduced.

, when the time comes, his status as a general will probably become a nominal position with no soldiers available, just like the officials.

The experience of fighting the Haihan people this time was very important information for the Ming army. Guo Xingning believed that Dengzhou Prefecture and even the Shandong Dusi must understand the true situation of Haihan, otherwise he would send troops to deal with Haihan next time.

Most likely you will still suffer a big loss due to lack of sufficient information.

Whether it was for the sake of the overall situation or to ensure his future status, Guo Xingning believed that he must evacuate this place immediately. As for the Fushan Copper Mine, Guo Xingning couldn't care less about it now. Zheng Fan wanted it so much.

Let him bring his own people to grab the place.

Guo Xingning knew that he was being attacked from both sides. If he delayed too much, his troops would be stuck here and unable to move. Before the Haihan people took the initiative to launch an attack, it was of course the best time to move forward with the Thirty-six Strategies.

Already.

Guo Xingning did not choose to go back to the original route and confront the Haihan army in the rear. Instead, he ordered the army to turn west and directly enter the mountainous area. He planned to go all the way west through the mountainous area, and then turn to Dengzhou City in the northwest to reach Dengzhou City in the northwest.

Avoid the Haihan Army in the north that is waiting to intercept us. This march route is nearly half longer than the one we came from, and most of it is marching in mountainous areas. The return journey will undoubtedly be much harder than the one we came from. But this is the only route,

In order to get rid of the opponent's pursuit as quickly as possible.

There was nothing wrong with Guo Xingning's plan, and he had accurately grasped the timing of the retreat, but what he never expected was that the Haihan people actually deployed a small group of elite troops in the mountainous area west of the mining area. Although this elite group only had less than two hundred soldiers

, but they were led by Gao Qiaonan, a general in the Haihan Army and the commander of the special operations battalion.

Chen Yixin asked Gao Qiaonan to lead a team of people to ambush outside the mining area. The original purpose was to interfere with the Ming army's offensive operations when necessary, and to coordinate with the strongholds in the mining area to coordinate with each other. However, the intensity and effectiveness of the Ming army's attacks

Gao Qiaonan did not receive the order to attack, so he witnessed the Ming army's successive setbacks in the mountains and forests.

When he saw the Ming army suddenly breaking camp and marching towards the west, Takahashi Nan seemed to have taken stimulants and immediately issued combat orders to his soldiers. Although the opponent's strength was four times that of the troops led by Takahashi Nan.

Five times as much, but Gao Qiaonan is confident. After all, the terrain nearby is the mountainous jungle environment that the special operations battalion is best at. In this kind of field operation, the combat effectiveness of the special operations battalion will have an environmental bonus effect.

.

Guo Xingning's sudden withdrawal really made the Haihan Army somewhat unprepared. After Chen Yixin observed this movement through the telescope, he could only helplessly shake his head and sigh: "It's still a step too late!"

After Tian Yeyou heard what he said, he quickly stepped forward and picked up the binoculars to look around. He sneered and said: "These guys have a very sensitive sense of smell! It depends on whether they are lucky enough to escape!"

Morgan made a cross on his chest with his hand and said sincerely: "Takahashi Nan will greet them well. We just need to send people to follow behind to collect the bodies."

Guo Xingning, who was on horseback in the distance, suddenly shivered. He looked up at the sky and saw snowflakes falling slowly from the sky. The first snow in the Jiaodong Peninsula in the seventh year of Chongzhen came so quietly.

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Chapter completed!