Chapter 1243 It’s not that simple

Papong, as the general of the Johor Army, is not very satisfied with the arrangement of the division of labor for this battle. He believes that the Johor Army constitutes the main force of the joint forces of the two countries, and the main battlefield is also on the territory of Johor. In any case, it should be led by the generals of the Johor Army.

He came to serve as the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces. This command power should not be handed over to the British. However, the fact was not as he wished. The British officer Hogg finally obtained the command authority recognized by the Johor royal family, while Ba Pong could only sit second in the coalition forces.

Top chair.

Although he was a little aggrieved, Papon finally accepted the arrangement with the overall situation in mind. He also expected that Hogg would definitely take credit during the battle in order to gain a greater say for the East India Company, but

The elite of this coalition army are the five hundred mercenaries under Hogg. He cannot overstep his authority to command Hogg's men. Naturally, he cannot take over Hogg's job as a forward. The opponent rushes towards him with the elite of the coalition army.

To the south, he could only lead a large group of infantry and slowly follow behind with food, grass and baggage.

Of course, Ba Peng also understood that the key to winning this sneak attack lay in the speed of the troops. There was nothing wrong with Hogg's tactic of leading the elite troops to attack first, but he thought that he might not even be able to get through with the large troops if he rushed over slowly.

I can't even drink something hot, and I can't feel better. According to the British man's arrogant temper, he can at most leave tasks such as cleaning the battlefield to himself, which makes me very angry just thinking about it.

Ba Pong wanted to march quickly with his troops, and maybe go to the battlefield to fight hard, so that he could report his merits and rewards to his superiors afterwards. But unfortunately, the road from the north to the south of the island was long, and there were no decent roads, so the baggage was

Transportation is extremely inconvenient. In many places, it is even necessary to carry large items of materials by hand and shoulder. The march speed cannot be increased at all. As a last resort, he can only let the civilians transporting artillery, grain, grass and other baggage move forward slowly, and he takes part of it with him.

The main force quickened its pace.

However, when he was still several miles away from the forward troops, Bapen met the soldiers sent back by Hogg to deliver the order, asking him to speed up his march and rush to the fighting area for reinforcements.

"Reinforcement?" Bapen couldn't help but taste the meaning of this order. He didn't believe that Hogg accelerated the march just to get a bite of meat for himself. The only reason for doing so could only be that the war was not going well. The troops led by Hogg

The troops are unable to suppress the enemy, so they need support so urgently.

Ba Peng quickly asked a few more questions, and sure enough, the messenger said that Hogg had launched two offensives and was blocked, and he had not yet invaded the Haihan village. Ba Peng almost laughed out loud on horseback. The British guy called the coalition forces

As the commander-in-chief, he rushed forward to grab the credit, but in the end he was met with failure. In this way, all his scheming plans became a joke. Let's see how much face he will have to show off his power in front of him in the future.

However, after Bapen laughed at Hogg in his heart, he did not take this emergency situation lightly. He immediately ordered a rapid march to the battlefield. He knew very well that his battle plan was to use sneak attack tactics to break through Haihan before he could react.

Even if its defense line cannot conquer its stronghold for the time being, it must at least capture the villages where immigrants live and capture a group of prisoners to coerce the Haihan officials into submission. However, Hogg is commanding elite coalition forces and cannot even attack the village. This is

It's really unjustifiable. If it wasn't for Hogg's on-the-spot command making a major mistake, it was because the Haihan Army's strength far exceeded their expectations and it was impossible to implement the combat plan smoothly.

Hurrying slowly, it still took nearly an hour from the moment the news was received for the troops led by Ba Peng to meet up with Hogg's men. Before Ba Peng could dismount, he noticed Hoge's mercenaries.

The mood was not high, and most of the people's faces were gloomy. It seemed that they were indeed frustrated on the battlefield. Soon Hogg came to meet him and informed him of the previous battle with the Haihan Army. The translator

Relayed to Papong.

The more Bapeng listened, the more surprised he became. If Hogg had not deliberately concealed any major mistakes, then the most likely reason is that the Haihan Army was already prepared for the arrival of the coalition forces, and there were no defensive loopholes for sneak attacks. Change

In other words, the coalition's attack this time may have hit an iron plate. This is the last situation that everyone wants to encounter before sending troops.

As for the actual combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army, neither side of the coalition has any experience, and the intelligence they have are all rumors from other countries. However, the Haihan Army is known as the undefeated force in the South China Sea, and even strong players such as Portugal and the Netherlands have fallen victim to it.

With the experience in hand, the coalition forces naturally did not dare to underestimate this opponent, so when formulating the battle plan, they operated from the beginning with the idea of ​​​​avoiding its edge and attacking its unpreparedness, and tried to avoid a head-on confrontation with the Haihan Army as much as possible.

Both Hogg and Bapong agreed to launch an offensive from the land route. One of the reasons was that Haihan's stronghold was closer to the south coast of the island, and the area to the north was a populated area. It was obviously easier to attack the villages in the north first than to attack the stronghold.

If you pinch this soft persimmon, you will be basically invincible. During the landing, the coalition forces found no signs of Haihan activities nearby, and thought that their actions had been concealed from the public and did not let the Haihan people notice it at all. However, Huo Huo

Ge has already suffered a loss as soon as they played here. This is obviously not a coincidence.

In two short battles, the troops commanded by Hogg had lost more than 40 people, and more than 30 wounded people had been withdrawn. This was almost a tenth of the forward troops lost.

However, the result was that they did not even touch the edge of the village. The Haihan soldiers did not even form a formation to fight. They just hid in the house and fired black guns, and they had already repelled the coalition offensive. Hogg's face was ashen.

One by one, it was obvious that he was extremely angry about this but could do nothing about it.

After a brief communication through a translator, the two decided to launch another offensive before dark. If they couldn't get in this time, they could only withdraw their troops for the night and wait until tomorrow to make plans. Of course, they didn't want to wait until after today's battle.

, the battle line still remains at its current position. If the opponent is given one more night to deploy troops, then when they launch the offensive again tomorrow, they may encounter more fierce resistance than today.

In order to avoid a worse situation from happening, even if it is known that the Haihan people have been prepared before the war, they can only bite the bullet and launch an offensive. After a short rest, the large troops brought by Ba Pong began to assemble and prepare.

Cooperate with Hogg's mercenaries to launch the last wave of offensive today.

This time the coalition forces dispatched thousands of people, and the direction of the attack was still the weak area between the two villages. After checking the terrain of the battlefield, Bapen agreed with Hogg. It seemed that this was the only place on Haihan's defense line.

It seems to be an easier place to attack. The place is too small to accommodate too many people. As for the silent villages on the east and west sides, who knows how many Haihan soldiers are ambushed in the villages?

Bapen originally wanted to go out in person to supervise the battle, but Hogg stopped him after knowing his plan: "Let your lieutenant go, and you stay behind to observe the enemy's fighting methods."

Although Ba Peng was a little confused about Hogg's intention, he thought it would do no harm to him. He sent his deputy general to supervise the battle. If he broke through the Haihan defense line, he would still be credited with the victory, so he nodded in agreement immediately.

"Business is here again!" Roger heard the sound of drums coming from the fields outside. He immediately jumped up from his chair, grabbed the telescope and moved it to the observation hole in front to look out.

The coalition forces in the distance have completed their assembly and are slowly advancing to their side to the beat of the drum. Judging from the scale, it is obvious that they have invested much more troops than the previous two exploratory attacks. In addition to the British three-color rice

In addition to the Chinese flag, Roger also discovered the green flag representing the Kingdom of Johor. There is no doubt that not only the mercenaries brought by the British to the battlefield this time, but also the Johor Army who just arrived on the battlefield.

"The formation is quite decent, and this British guy is not a freeloader." An expert said. The first thing Roger paid attention to was the marching queue of the Johor Army. Since the British provided military assistance to it, it must be

It also includes those who help Johor train musketeers. This queue at least looks neat from a distance, but I don’t know what the combat capabilities of these Johor soldiers who have never used muskets on the battlefield are.

"Cheer up, everyone! It's getting late, and when this battle is over, the opponent will probably withdraw his troops. Fight them off, and we'll have enough chicken, duck, and fish for dinner later!" Roger loudly cheered for the soldiers around him.

.Although the defenders are waiting for work, these soldiers have been in combat mode since receiving the news early in the morning. Their spirits have been in a state of high tension throughout the day, and people will definitely feel tired.

Everyone responded in unison, and the soldiers who were still resting also grabbed their rifles and stood up, quickly walked to their shooting positions and began to prepare for the battle. The officer in charge of commanding the artillery was a little anxious, and took the initiative to come over to invite the battle: "

Chief, are our artillerymen showing their faces this time?"

Roger patted him on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, if you show your face today, I guess they will have to withdraw overnight. It is better to wait until tomorrow, when the enemy's artillery arrives, and then you will extinguish their last glimmer of hope."

!”

If you use artillery to deal with your opponents today, it will not be difficult to win a big victory. However, it will be dark, and even if you can defeat the enemy, you will not be able to pursue it for the time being. Moreover, the troops that are going to retreat from the sea have not yet launched.

After receiving the news, Roger didn't want the enemy to leave the battlefield prematurely before confirming their progress. Again, the result he wanted was to completely annihilate the opponent, not just repel it.

The words are divided into two parts. Mu Xiabai, who came from the sea for reinforcements, has now sailed into the eastern end of the Johor Strait, but there are still more than ten nautical miles away from the position where the Johor Army crosses the sea. Even if he ordered to advance at full speed, with the current sea wind and sea conditions

From the looks of it, it would take at least two hours or more to reach the destination, and the sky should have darkened by then. Even if Mu Xiabai had confidence in his men, he would not dare to risk launching a landing battle in the dark.

Mu Xiabai had been too full of words before, but now he could not arrive at the target location to launch the offensive as expected. He could not think of any other remedy at the moment. He could only send a telegram to the Xingdao Base to inform him of the current situation.

Tell the truth.

Roger was a bit dumbfounded after receiving the telegram. Fortunately, he held back and did not launch a full-scale attack. Otherwise, the group of enemies who came to the door would have been scared away, and the reinforcements to outflank the retreat had not yet arrived, so this scene would be terrible.

The performance couldn't go on anymore. He immediately sent an order to the two companies ambushing in the wild not to take action for the time being, and to wait until tomorrow to choose an opportunity to enter the battlefield.

Although the enemy's troop input has doubled in this offensive, Roger has previous experience and is no longer nervous. The opponent's offensive method is very simple and limited, and is used to suppress the indigenous armies in Southeast Asia.

That's enough, but if you want to use this to deal with the Haihan Army, which is well-equipped, well-trained, and well prepared for this battle, the existing forces are indeed not enough.

Roger estimated that the opponent would have to invest at least three to four thousand troops on this battlefield at once, and would have to have a large number of cavalry as the vanguard to break through the concave-shaped firepower network he had laid. But judging from the current battle situation and

Judging from the known intelligence, the opponent obviously does not have so many troops to invest, and there is no effective means to break the Haihan line of defense. Simply relying on refueling tactics to attack here is nothing more than increasing casualties.

Roger deliberately slowed down the pace of the battle. On the one hand, he was waiting for reinforcements to outflank the enemy's rear route tomorrow morning, cutting off the possibility of their retreat into Johor. On the other hand, he also used this to give his troops more opportunities to exercise.

He believed that the combat effectiveness of this unit was not bad, but it just lacked this kind of actual combat experience to improve its combat capabilities. Finally, with such a training partner coming to his door, Roger naturally did not want to kill the opponent with one punch, but to let the opponent

Make the best use of everything and act as a punching bag for boxing.

Unsurprisingly, the coalition's third offensive once again fell into a dilemma of fire from three sides, and their counterattack seemed extremely futile. Most of the bullets hit the impenetrable bunker and were unable to harm the enemy at all.

However, relying on the superiority of their numbers, the coalition forces finally advanced to the barbed wire fence area, but it was only then that they discovered that this was an obstacle far more terrifying than the mud pits in the rice fields. The barbed wire fence was full of sharp thorns.

, if you are not careful, you will be stabbed or cut. Although the wound is not big, it is enough to deform the movement of the person. Moreover, these barbed wires are all wrapped around the wooden piles driven into the ground, and they are densely packed and tightly stretched, just like

A large, human-eating net that is difficult to destroy blocks the large army here. Only the machetes and axes in the hands of a very few people can effectively destroy it, but often it is already triggered before even cutting down a few iron nets.

When the opponent's fire came, he was covered in honeycombs in an instant. After several people fell in succession, no one dared to continue to take over this fatal task.
Chapter completed!