Chapter 1236 Rallying Point

Let’s not mention the whereabouts of the British for now. The Johor army found here matches the prisoners’ confessions, and the information about the location and approximate size of the garrison is basically the same. The spies who were captured by Haihan earlier should have died.

It can be saved.

The size of the army of two to three thousand people is not much. What Roger cares about most is not the combat effectiveness of these troops. What he pays more attention to now is how to ensure the logistics of the enemy's troops. After all, the opponent's preset battlefield is on the planet.

Although there is only a narrow strait in the middle of the island, the transportation of materials and personnel is much more complicated than a simple land battle. If Johor plans to go to full-scale war with Haihan, then transportation will be something they cannot get around.

A big difficulty.

To deliver a large number of personnel and materials to Star Island in a short period of time, a large number of ships are required, and this transportation route from land to sea and then to land by sea also tests the military's command and coordination capabilities. Roger believes that

A small country like Johor, which has not had any notable achievements in recent years, has relatively limited military strength and combat experience. It is unlikely that it will be able to smoothly command such a complex military operation. This link is likely to require the assistance of the British.

The British had carried out many armed landing operations in the process of establishing colonies overseas, and their operational experience in this field must have far exceeded that of the Johor Army. According to the prisoners, they were acting as military advisors to the Johor Army. Presumably

We will also help in the field of shipping, which we are relatively good at.

Roger suddenly thought of something, and took out the map to check it carefully. Not far to the east of their current location, there was the mouth of a river, and the river surface in that place was relatively open, and there might be river alluvial deposits.

There is a natural harbor formed by the river. If the Johor Army wants to gather a large number of ships and prevent them from being detected by the seamen on the other side of the strait, then mooring the ships in the mouth of the river is a very good concealment method. And this place is far away from the Johor Army.

The station was not far away, and it was relatively convenient to board the ship for supplies and personnel. The more Roger thought about it, the more it made sense, and he decided to explore the place.

So after the reconnaissance team took a short rest, they set out again to head east. The map Roger had in hand was drawn based on the satellite images stored in the Sanya database, but hundreds of years apart, there will be certain differences in the topography.

, especially in places like estuaries where the terrain changes almost every year, the reference value of maps is even more limited. Therefore, one thing Haihan must do every time he goes to a place is to correct the map at hand.

And this time is no exception. The location of the entrance to the sea is closer than the standard distance on the map. This may be due to the different flow direction of the river, but it also saves a lot of legwork for the reconnaissance team. In the distance

There were still dozens of meters away from the edge of the forest. Roger had already seen vague human activities outside the forest. He immediately stopped the team's progress. After careful identification, Roger discovered that it should be a patrol team of the Johor Army. This

This made him more and more certain of his previous guess.

In order to avoid being exposed by the crowd, Roger asked the others to stop first, and he led the two of them slowly towards the edge of the woods. After confirming that the patrol had gone far, he stuck his head out to observe the situation outside.

On both sides of the river, which is about one mile wide, there are hundreds of sailboats parked densely. However, Johor's shipbuilding technology is obviously still quite primitive. These sailboats generally have small hulls, about the same size as the common fishing boats on Hainan Island. One boat

At most, it can only carry a dozen people. Even so, these boats were collected from many places. It must be extremely difficult for Johor's national strength to recruit so many boats in a short period of time.

Among these small boats, there are also five or six sailing ships with slightly larger hulls and more eye-catching shapes. Roger can confirm at a glance that this kind of Galen ship, which is only owned by Western colonists, is definitely not made by Johor.

Good stuff. After Roger took out his binoculars and observed carefully, he finally saw the drooping tricolor flag on the mast of one of the sailboats. There is no doubt that the British station should be on the nearby river bank.

.

A small cargo dock has been built on the river bank not far from the British sailing ship. You can see that a lot of packaged materials have been piled on the dock. Bamboo sheds have also been specially built to protect against wind and rain. It seems that the opponent is preparing for war.

The work has been going on for some time. There are still some migrant workers on the dock who are constantly transporting materials. However, it is obvious that this method of transportation that relies solely on manpower is very inefficient and is far less efficient than the operation of Haihan Terminal.

Roger soon noticed that there were indeed a few blond and blue-eyed Westerners pointing at the pier. They must be the British who came to assist Johor. Seeing the patrol in the distance slowly turning back, Roger hurriedly

He signaled his two men to retreat with him. The trees on the edge of the jungle were relatively sparse, and when the patrol came close, the three of them could not hide their figures.

The reconnaissance team stayed here for a full two hours, changed several observation positions, and basically confirmed the frequency of the Johor patrol. However, the 500 British militants claimed by the captives have not been confirmed so far.

.Except for a few British-owned sailing ships, the reconnaissance team observed probably less than fifty Westerners.

Roger looked at the time and ordered to return to the station. If he didn't go back, he would definitely not be able to reach the place before dark, and traveling in the dark in the forest was not an easy task. The enemy still had

During the gathering, there is no need to rush to collect all the information in just a short while.

The reconnaissance team returned on a familiar road, marching much faster, and finally returned to the temporary camp before dark. After this day of reconnaissance, the Johor Army's assembly point on the coast has been basically determined, as well as the actual participation of the British.

.However, it has not been confirmed yet how many troops Johor is preparing to actually go into combat, and whether the British have actually sent hundreds of armed personnel to participate in this operation, so they still have tasks to complete in the next day or two.

The temporary camp was extremely peaceful. Not even a ghost was seen all day long. It seemed that there was indeed no human activity in the area. The few people staying at the camp had just had a rest all day, and when they saw Roger leading the team back, they took the initiative

They asked to fight and asked to participate in the next day's action. However, Roger had already planned to let all his men take turns to participate, so he did not reject their request and readily agreed.

According to the agreed time, Roger used the radio to contact the Sing Tao base and briefly informed the current progress of the operation. He also did not forget to remind Tan Juren, who was based in Sing Tao, to speed up the preparations for the war. Although the content of the preparations in Johor seemed

Simple, but Roger would not underestimate his opponents in terms of tactics. In the final analysis, it is people who determine the direction of the war, not just the quality of equipment. Advanced weapons and equipment and combat methods can certainly give the Haihan Army

It brings great advantages, but to turn the advantages into victory, the soldiers must work together and fight hard.

In fact, the war preparations at Xingdao Base have not stopped since the day Roger led the army. The various defense facilities built, all daily military training, and the large amounts of food and materials stored in the base have all been completed.

It was to prepare for the war that might come one day. The Haihan Executive Committee took over this choke point and did not expect that this place would always be peaceful. Therefore, after the occupation, it has not invested many resources in commercializing Star Island.

Development may be one of the reasons why the executive committee keeps it secret.

In the next day's action, Marcus, who had stayed in the camp to look after the house the day before, finally took his turn and joined the team that went out for reconnaissance. Roger still followed the action route that had been reconnoitred yesterday and led everyone straight to the Johor Army.

They left for the assembly point. Marcus, who was tall and powerful, walked at the front carrying a three-foot-long machete. The road he opened from the forest was enough for the teammates behind him to pass easily. His dark complexion

Just smearing on some green paint will have enough camouflage effect, which saves a lot of trouble in camouflage. And the backpack he is wearing is one size larger than others. With him in the team, the overall appearance of the team

The combat load can be slightly increased by one level.

When he was still about a mile or two away from yesterday's observation point, Roger ordered to slow down his advance and carefully observed some secret signs deliberately planted during yesterday's evacuation to confirm that the opponent had not noticed that the reconnaissance team had entered and exited here yesterday.

action.

Roger first sent people to yesterday's observation point to confirm whether there was any obvious change in the opponent's situation at the riverbank assembly point, and then led the team to travel from the forest to the upper reaches of the river. The observation point found yesterday was very close to the mouth of the sea

, the nearby area has been carefully observed, and no British camp has been found. Roger believes that if the British really send a large number of manpower, their camp may be located further upstream so that it can be easily accessed from nearby villages.

Get supplies.

Roger's speculation was soon confirmed. After the reconnaissance team moved about two miles upriver, they finally found the important target of the trip, the British camp.

There are also several Galenic ships docked on the river bank here. Judging from the number of sailing ships discovered so far, it is indeed possible that a large number of British armed personnel have arrived here. There are sparse fences outside the camp, separating it from the

The outside world was isolated. Roger observed with a telescope for a while. There were indeed many armed personnel who looked like Aryans in the camp and were practicing in formation. Judging from the matchlocks they were equipped with, they should be British men.

mercenaries.

"These bastards are quite well trained!" Roger murmured while observing the group of people with a telescope. Although the opponent was Haihan's opponent, Roger would not look down on the opponent's strength because of this.

The training level of these mercenaries is not bad. At least the tactical actions they make under the instructions of the officers are very neat. By the standards of this era, they are already quite good.

It is not difficult to estimate the strength of the troops based on the number of barracks and tents in this camp, and the number will not be too different from the number given by the prisoners. Moreover, the British should not have expected that their opponents would send people to lurk here to conduct reconnaissance, so they suspected the enemy.

This kind of advanced operation should not exist, and the calculated military strength has a high degree of credibility.

Of course, just finding the British camp does not mean that the mission has been successfully completed. Roger hopes to confirm the main tactics that the opponent will use in combat by observing the opponent's pre-war training, and preferably also confirm

With the size of the Johor Army trained by the British, it will be more confident to deal with the opponent's next attack.

Judging from what Roger observed, the musketeers were almost all British mercenaries wearing uniforms, while the Johor soldiers were responsible for using spears and shields to provide cover for the senior troops behind them. These are approximately

There are shields more than four feet high standing on the ground. When connected together, it almost provides a parapet that covers most of the body of the musketeer standing behind. The musketeer can even directly place the musket on the top of the shield to complete the firing action.

, and then withdraw to free up space, allowing the musketeers in the back row to take over and continue shooting. If the opponent rushes to a relatively close distance, the spear stretched out between the shields will also have a certain degree of lethality.

This can not but be said to be a relatively smart design. In fact, the Haihan Army has also used similar methods in combat, but it did not use so much manpower. Instead, the small vehicles used to transport supplies on the battlefield were designed to be erected as bunkers.

function in order to save the manpower invested on the battlefield to the greatest extent.

Of course, the operational efficiency of this manpower bunker between the Johor Army and the British is obviously higher and more flexible. Not only can this shield wall move freely left and right before and after the battle, but even if personnel at a certain position are damaged, it can

The loopholes will be filled immediately by the alternate personnel. From this perspective, it is indeed more flexible and convenient than Haihan's vehicle formation bunker.

After Roger understood the opponent's tactics, he immediately began to think about how to crack the opponent's method. If the thickness of the shield is not enough to block the bullets fired by the Haihan rifle, then all this will be in vain. No matter how tightly the shield wall is lined up, it will only be

It's useless. But if this shield is enough to block rifle bullets, then the Haihan Army's inherent tactics may need to be fine-tuned.

If it is the latter case, then the area that can effectively damage enemy soldiers through shooting will be much smaller, only about one-third of the body at most, which requires soldiers to aim more carefully when shooting.

To be precise. But to achieve this, the firefighting distance must be further shortened to ensure shooting accuracy, and this will undoubtedly increase the risks for the soldiers.

Of course, there is another solution that uses force to overcome skill, which is to push out the cannon and aim it at the musket array and blast him to pieces.
Chapter completed!