Chapter 1797 Entering enemy-occupied territory

The reason Wang Tom gave made Jin Shangjiu dumbfounded, and he immediately realized that his question was simply asking for humiliation. But at the moment, North Korea was seeking help from Haihan, and Jin Sangjiu did not dare to refute Wang Tom out loud, and could only respond with a dry smile.

Said: "General Wang is really good at joking. In fact, Korean men are as brave as the Han people. We fought side by side with the Ming army to resist the invasion of Japanese pirates and had heroic achievements. If General Wang is willing to let our army perform, I believe he will

Won't be disappointed!”

Tom Wang responded expressionlessly: "Your army will definitely have the opportunity to fight in battle. I hope their performance will not disappoint me then!"

Due to the many problems exposed in North Korea's war preparations, Wang Tom did not dare to have high expectations for the performance of the North Korean army, and did not even allow North Korean generals to participate in the recent combat preparation meetings. In Wang Tom

It seems that in history, the North Korean army was defeated by the Qing cavalry in a single wave. It is really difficult for people to have confidence in its combat effectiveness. Perhaps North Korea's rapid retreat has many underlying reasons, and it is not just a problem of the army's combat effectiveness, but

Wang Tom did not have time to figure out the basis of this at the moment, so he could only minimize the chance of the Koreans being held back during the war by arranging their troops.

Regarding General Haehan's "arrogant" attitude, Jin Sangjiu had actually experienced it many times on the way from Zhoushan to Ganghwa Island, and he could only smile bitterly and regard it as ridicule. But if you think about it on the bright side, Haehan

The Han generals were willing to take the lead and go to the Qing Dynasty to carry out reconnaissance missions. This was better than letting North Korea send troops to complete such a dangerous mission.

Of course, as a North Korean official, Kim Sang-jiu still hopes in his heart that his country's troops can gain recognition and appreciation from the Haihan people through their heroic performance on the battlefield. However, considering the strength of the opponent, this will inevitably result in a large number of casualties.

The cost may even affect the stability of the country's rule in the future, and North Korea will definitely not be able to withstand this kind of torment, which makes him very conflicted.

Who doesn't want his motherland to become stronger? Of course Kim Sang-jiu also thought that if his country's army could live up to its expectations and give the enemies in the north some suffering, they might not have to pray to gods and Buddhas to go around asking for reinforcements to come to North Korea to help in the war. It's a pity.

This possibility is almost zero for North Korea. The Qing Dynasty only announced that it would teach North Korea some lessons. The entire North Korean officialdom from King Li Jian down was panicked. Calling for reinforcements almost immediately became the only option, even if

Kim Sang-heon's faction, which advocated a decisive battle with the Qing army, did not place all its hopes on its own army.

Wang Tom did not have the energy to take into account Jin Shangjiu's feelings at the moment. He was very concerned about the reconnaissance operation to be carried out. As soon as he had time, he called Xu Yuzhuo to his side to give him instructions. The Fujian Navy took the initiative to take the lead this time.

For the mission, Wang Tom was somewhat worried that Xu Yuzhuo, who was inexperienced in fighting the Qing army, would have problems in on-the-spot command, so he deployed a detailed action plan to Xu Yuzhuo in advance before arriving at the destination.

Based on the hydrological conditions in the lower reaches of the Yalu River, it is not a big problem for the warships dispatched this time to go upstream from the estuary to Jiulian City. However, after the Majesty-class warship with the largest hull enters, it will have to do so on a river less than one mile wide.

The U-turn may be slow. Wang Tom was worried that the Weigian-class warships would affect the operational efficiency of the entire fleet when they turned around on the Yalu River. After careful consideration, he decided to leave the Weign-class warships at the estuary to guard the retreat.

Among the ten warships dispatched by the Fujian Navy, there are four exploration-class warships and one expedition-class warship exported by Haihan. The other five are traditional Fu ships. Although they are not too large, they are

The fleet is built according to the military system of Haihan Navy. All captains have received military training from Haihan. Several of them have even participated in several joint military operations including the Battle of Manila. For Haihan Navy's tactics,

I am relatively familiar with the command system.

It was precisely because the combat system of the Fujian Navy and the Haihan Navy was in the same line and could better implement the designated action plan that Wang Tom made an exception and allowed Xu Yuzhuo to lead his troops to serve as the vanguard in this operation. However, the Fujian Navy was responsible for

The main task was river reconnaissance and hydrographic survey. The actual task of landing and entering the Qing-occupied areas would still be completed by Haihan's marines.

This is not the first time that Wang Tom has led his troops to the Yalu River estuary, but just like the previous times, Waihua Island at the estuary is silent, and there is no trace of human activity on the nearby river bank. Ten members of the Fujian Navy

A warship was at the forefront, taking the lead to sail upstream into the Yalu River.

Wang Tom left his flagship and eight supply ships outside the estuary. For safety reasons, he also left four exploration-class warships. The remaining warships and troop transports, as the main force, were with the front.

The Fujian Navy maintained a distance of about five to six miles into the Yalu River. In this way, if something happened ahead, the Navy could have time to reinforce the Fujian Navy, and the Fujian Navy also had a relatively leisurely retreat space available. Of course, Wang Tom did not

I don't think the Qing army could secretly build a combat fleet and hide it in the Yalu River to lay an ambush.

Originally, for such an operation that went deep into the inland, Wang Tom should have stayed on the flagship and commanded remotely from behind, but he still chose to change the command post to another expedition-class warship and lead the main force to the front line. Although it was a bit risky,

But under the protection of dozens of warships and more than 2,000 soldiers, Wang Tom was convinced that even if the mission did not go smoothly, he would definitely be able to escape unscathed.

In order to save the soldiers' physical strength, Wang Tom did not rush to arrange for the Marines to land ashore. He planned to let the Marines take action after entering the interior.

Lookouts with telescopes were arranged on the sides and masts of each ship to observe whether there were Qing army activities near the river bank. Wang Tom did not expect that his actions could be completely hidden from the enemy's eyes and ears. If the Qing army really

If they chose to assemble their troops in Jiulian City, then according to normal operations, the Qing army would definitely send ranger sentries to the upper and lower reaches of the river bank to isolate possible prying eyes from the other side of the Yalu River and the sea.

After sailing for about ten miles into the Yalu River, a lookout finally discovered several horsemen and horses moving in the distance on the river bank. After careful identification, the lookout found the swords and bows on the horses, which were most likely the Qing army's cavalry.

.

Naturally, such a large fleet of the United Fleet cannot be invisible on the river, so Wang Tom and others soon saw someone lighting up the smoke on the river bank. Based on the current weather conditions, I believe it can be seen twenty or thirty miles away.

Wang Tom can now basically confirm that there must be a certain number of Qing troops stationed nearby, but the scale cannot be confirmed yet.

Jin Shangjiu did not choose to stay on the flagship, but followed Tom Wang bravely. At this time, when he saw the smoke on the shore, he couldn't help but hurriedly asked Tom Wang for advice: "General Wang, the enemy has discovered our whereabouts. This time

Is there going to be a war when we come down?"

"Don't be nervous, it won't be that fast." Wang Tom shook his head and said: "Besides, we are hundreds of feet away from the shore, how will they fight? Let the archers shoot with arrows? That would be good, they can confirm again whether the bows and arrows have a long range.

Our muskets have a longer range!"

Although it was the first time for Jin Shangjiu to follow the Haihan Army to the battlefield, he had seen the daily military training of the local garrison many times when he was in Zhoushan. Naturally, he knew that the range and accuracy of the Haihan muskets were far better than ordinary bows and arrows, and the first two

In several battles on the Liaodong Peninsula in 2001, the Hou Jin army at that time had suffered from the Haihan muskets many times, and they would definitely not easily form an array on the shore. That would be the same as actively acting as a living target. Listen.

After Wang Tom's light-hearted teasing, Jin Shangjiu's nervousness also eased a lot.

The enemy's reaction was basically as expected by Wang Tom. This was not the first time that the Haihan Army had seen such a warning method. During the Haihan Navy's raids on the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula in the past two years, the Jin Army often also

They all use this kind of response method. First, they can promptly notify the garrison at the rear stronghold. Second, they can persuade the Haihan troops who entered the warning area to retreat. However, today Wang Tom does not intend to retreat on his own initiative. He just wants to force the Qing army to take action.

To judge how many troops the Qing army has assembled on the banks of the Yalu River at this stage.

Wang Tom calls this reconnaissance method of proactively alerting the enemy "pressure reconnaissance", which means putting pressure on the enemy to force them to reveal their strength. This method is more or less a last resort. After all, there are many enemies near Jiulian City.

Haihan is already a completely unfamiliar area. Although North Korea provides local guides, the guides can at most show the way, but they cannot lead scouts deep behind enemy lines.

For the coalition forces led by North Korea and Haihan, the faster they can find out the Qing army's troop deployment on the banks of the Yalu River, the more time they will have to make adjustments. The most concise and effective method is probably the ""

"Oppressive reconnaissance". So he gave up the traditional method of sending small groups of troops to covertly penetrate into enemy-occupied areas, and directly formed a fleet to penetrate deep into the Yalu River.

If the Qing army sends a small group of troops next, the fleet can choose to ignore it and continue to sail upstream, or send marines to fight ashore to attract the enemy to send more troops to fight. Wang Tom believes that with his own equipment advantages, he can completely

They can come and go freely on this special battlefield on the river. Even in the most extreme situation, the Qing army has assembled tens of thousands of troops near Jiulian City, but they will still be unable to do anything to block the coalition fleet on the river.

If the Qing army is still capable of fighting the Haihan army on land, then it has no power to fight back in water operations. After being continuously swept away for two years, the Qing army basically has few ships left that can undertake the battle.

The combined fleet had sailed upstream for almost twenty miles, but not even a small sampan was seen. Of course, this situation is also very likely because the Qing army has already moved all the ships on the Yalu River.

Gather them together and wait for the battle across the river to be used.

But no matter what the situation is, Wang Tom has made up his mind to at least clean up the section of the river including Jiulian City. If there are still ships on this section of the river that can cross the river, then regardless of the size of the ship, the coalition fleet will

They will destroy them all to delay the Qing army's invasion of North Korea across the river.

Seeing the distant smoke rising across the mountains and fields like a relay, Wang Tom became more and more certain that there was something fishy in the upper reaches of the Yalu River. If the Qing army only stationed a small number of troops in the upper reaches, then this efficient method of transmitting signals would not be of much use.

It has practical significance. It is wise to rush back quietly with fast horses to notify the garrison to avoid Haihan's sharp attack. But now the Qing army's cavalry openly uses smoke to warn the garrison upstream, which is to leave enough time for the garrison upstream to respond. It seems that

The military strength should be of a certain size.

Thirty miles after sailing into the Yalu River, the rangers on the river bank no longer concealed themselves, and began to appear more and more frequently in the sight of the coalition fleet. Wang Tom believed that this was the Qing army repeatedly confirming its offensive intentions and

The size of the force was small, but he was not worried about what traps the opponent could set, and the Fujian Navy, which was opening a path on the river ahead, had not yet discovered the real enemy situation, and still maintained a speed of four to five knots upstream.

After fifty miles of sailing, the scattered cavalry on the river bank began to gather together, and a small cavalry force of hundreds of riders appeared, some openly riding on the river bank with flags to follow them.

Some Qing army cavalry, perhaps too excited or unaware of the power of the Haihan army, rode to the river bank and stopped. Then they bent their bows and arrows on horseback and fired at the Haihan warship a hundred feet away.

The light bows carried by these rangers had a range of only a hundred steps. Even if they were shot at a very high angle, the arrows would still be difficult to reach the warship in the middle of the river. However, their behavior immediately attracted a counterattack from the sailors on the ship.

After a burst of gunfire, a few unlucky guys were shot and fell down from their horses.

In fact, this distance is basically a random hit for the rifles equipped by the navy. However, the dense fire net formed by shooting in groups made up for the lack of accuracy, and after all, several enemies were hit. The remaining

The rangers at the bottom realized that there was no chance for them in this kind of battle, so they could only give up and continue to draw arrows, quickly restrained their shot companions, and then rode away.

After seeing this scene, Jin Shangjiu couldn't help but admired: "As expected of an ever-victorious army, this Qing cavalry is simply vulnerable to your army! If your warships can cruise on this river for a long time, the Qing army will definitely be defeated."

Then you won’t have the courage to cross the river again!”

Wang Tom smiled and did not say anything to attack Jin Sangjiu. It would not be difficult to cruise on the Yalu River for a long time, as long as North Korea could build a military base here in Yiju and help Haihan support a river fleet all year round. But in North Korea's case

In terms of people's work efficiency, even if the project of this military base is approved immediately, it will probably take a year or two before it can be completed and put into use. The current situation certainly cannot afford to wait.
Chapter completed!