Chapter 1799 Jiulian City

When it first received the request for help from the North Koreans, the Ministry of National Defense thought that it might be too late to send troops to prevent the Qing army from invading North Korea, and that the country would even choose to surrender to the enemy before reinforcements arrived in North Korea. Therefore, the Ministry of National Defense formulated at that time

The combat plan is based on the premise that the Qing army has invaded North Korea, and the bottom line is to ensure that the North Korean rulers can be rescued in time. It does not include controlling the Korean war situation as one of the options. Furthermore, with the scale of troops that Haihan can send to North Korea, the Ministry of National Defense

I don't dare to have such rash ideas.

But after the coalition fleet arrived in North Korea, Wang Tom discovered that although the preparations here were not satisfactory, fortunately the Qing army had not yet taken action, and there was still a certain buffer time for the coalition forces to adjust their strategies. Wang Tom believed that based on the current situation,

Look, the crisis facing North Korea is not irreversible, and there is even an opportunity to gain more benefits for Haihan. And the degree of control over the Yalu River may be a key to regulating the Korean war situation.

Xu Yuzhuo was a little bit behind-the-scenes about the winding intestines in the belly of the Haihan people. However, the Fujian navy and Haihan were in the same camp, and he had trained under Wang Tom, so he would naturally think that this was beneficial to Haihan.

The choice makes sense. As for whether North Korea ultimately chose the Ming Dynasty or Haihan as its suzerain state, Xu Yuzhuo had no grudges. In comparison, Haihan, who was closely related to the Xu family, was much closer than the Zhu family who ruled the Ming Dynasty.

, he personally prefers North Korea to side with Haihan, so that it will be much easier for Fujian to carry out trade with North Korea through Haihan matchmaking in the future.

Before setting off from Jianghua Island, Xu Yuzhuo was warned by Wang Tom, saying that there might be tens of thousands of Qing troops gathering in the upper reaches of the Yalu River, and they must not be careless in the execution of the mission. However, Xu Yuzhuo believed that the disparity in military strength was not actually significant.

It will not bring too much trouble to our own side, because the gap opened by the coalition fleet in terms of equipment is huge, which cannot be made up by force. The previous helpless performance of the enemy cavalry on the river bank also confirmed this. So even if you know

The enemy may have gathered heavy troops upstream, but Xu Yuzhuo still didn't feel much nervous. Even if the situation was unfavorable to his side, he could still retreat to the sea along the same route - for the Qing army, the sea was almost a no-go zone.

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This night's preparation meeting was mainly to unify the strategic awareness of the commanders. As for various possible emergencies, plans were actually made beforehand. However, Wang Tom did not want to spend too much time on the Yalu River because of long nights and dreams.

After tomorrow's reconnaissance activities are over, he plans to lead the fleet back to the sea before making next plans.

The night turned out to be uneventful, and the Qing army was probably self-aware and did not attempt to launch a surprise attack at night. Early the next morning, the combined fleet docked on the Korean side of the river set sail again and headed upstream.

There were Qing army cavalry waiting on the opposite bank of the river for a long time. They looked worried and kept watch all night to prevent the Haihan people from sneaking ashore in the dark. When they saw the warships of the United Fleet leaving the river bank, these cavalry whistled several times.

Then they retreated further away from the river bank, presumably to be on guard against shooting them with cold guns from the boat.

In the next few river bays, there were no more ambushes of the Qing army. It seemed that the other party had clearly understood that the temporary positions could not stop the fleet's actions, and decisively gave up the useless method. Wang Tom was a little curious.

, how the Qing army plans to deal with this fleet that has been thrown into the face.

"Sir, the Wahua Island is right in front of you."

After hearing the report from his subordinates, Xu Yuzhuo looked at the river ahead with his telescope. A few miles away, he could see that the upstream river was divided into two, and there seemed to be a large island in the middle.

Waihua Island is one of the largest islands in the Yalu River. According to the information obtained by the Haihan Military, the island covers an area of ​​about 60 square kilometers. To the south is the Yalu River, and to the north are the Yalu River and Kuei River.

The surface of the river after the rivers merge.

This island is historically regarded as an important place closely related to the beginning of Lee's Korea. In 1388, the Goryeo general Li Chenggui was ordered to unite with Mongolia to attack the Ming Dynasty, which had just been founded. However, because Li Chenggui believed in serving the great doctrine, he did not

Instead of being ordered to attack Liaodong, he sent his troops south to Kaesong, King of Goryeo, deposed the King of Goryeo, executed the ministers who were pro-Yuan, and proclaimed himself king in 1392. Two years later, Li Chenggui moved the capital from Kaesong to Seoul, and has been there ever since.

The Li Dynasty continues to this day.

When Li Chenggui started his rebellion, it was on Waihua Island. Today's North Korea also comes from a bold decision made by Li Chenggui more than two hundred years ago. Therefore, this place is special to North Korea.

However, at present, North Korea has not deployed a full-scale garrison on Waihua Island. Only a small number of North Koreans have settled on the island. Once a war breaks out, this island, which is only separated by a river from Jiuliancheng, will probably be the first place to bear the brunt.

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According to the information provided by North Korea, the seat of Uiju is near the river bank on the north side of Wihwa Island, and there are no more than a thousand troops stationed there. If a war breaks out on the border, such a small number of troops will probably only be able to resist symbolically at the beginning.

The coalition forces would not place their hopes of resisting the Qing army on the Korean border troops.

As of the time when the coalition fleet arrived at the mouth of the Yalu River, there had been no news that Waihua Island had been captured by the Qing army. This was good news. It allowed the coalition fleet to choose a route from both sides of Waihua Island without worrying that the island had already been captured.

With the Qing army setting up an ambush, you can safely enter the direction of the Suihe River - Jiulian City is located on the north bank of the intersection of the Suihe River and the Yalu River.

About two hours later, a signal flare was fired from the deck of the Fujian Navy warship, the leading force. It exploded in mid-air and released red fireworks that could be seen for miles. This action was communicated to the main force of the fleet behind through the signal flare.

The information agreed upon in advance——An unusually large dock facility was discovered on the river bank.

One of the results of Wang Tom's discussion with the officers last night was that if the Qing army gathered a large force near Jiulian City, it would most likely choose this section of the river as the path to cross the river and enter North Korea. The army's military camp on the shore could

Built in an inland area beyond the view of the river, the ferry can also be hidden in a more hidden tributary upstream. However, if tens of thousands of troops want to cross the river to fight, there is one project that must be completed in advance, and that is

It is a dock facility.

This is a hurdle that cannot be bypassed no matter what. If people and materials want to pass through the Yalu River quickly, there must be an efficient port and relatively complete dock facilities. Is a dock on the river bank an ordinary fishing port or a specialized one?

The military dock can be distinguished at a glance.

Of course, if it were Haihan who implemented this river-crossing battle plan, there would be some tricks to cover the sea. For example, it would take a relatively short time to build a pontoon bridge at the narrowest part of the river, and allow people and horses to cross the river directly on the bridge.

This can save a lot of trouble. However, the Qing army, which is not good at water warfare and lacks ships, probably does not have such technical strength at present, and can only choose the traditional transportation mode of ferry to complete the army's crossing of the river.

The discovery of the vanguard basically confirmed the predictions of Wang Tom and other generals. The Qing army had built dock facilities in this section of the river in advance that exceeded the normal scale. The most reasonable explanation is probably that the Qing army was going to carry out cross-river operations here.

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However, the North Korean side did not provide this key information to Haihan beforehand, which made Wang Tom a little confused. Logically speaking, the place where the Qing army built the dock is only across the river from Waihua Island. If the North Korean side did a little reconnaissance work

, in fact, it is not difficult to obtain such detailed information, but the North Koreans either ignored the importance of this intelligence information, or they deliberately concealed it from Haihan. No matter which case it was, Wang Tom could not understand this.

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About half an hour later, the dock facilities on the river bank also caught Wang Tom's sight. He didn't even need a telescope to see clearly the trestles, cranes and warehouses on the bank, extending upstream along the river bank.

, at least about one mile in scope. Given the tense relations between the Qing Dynasty and North Korea, it is obvious that building a dock of this size on the border will not be for civilian or commercial purposes.

But what is a little strange is that this is obviously a large riverside pier that can accommodate hundreds of ships, but the entire pier area is empty, and not even a sampan can be seen on the shore. The only reasonable explanation is that

The Qing army has transferred all ships away from this place in advance. The reason is self-evident, of course, to avoid the coalition fleet that swaggered into the Yalu River yesterday.

With the experience and lessons learned in the previous two years, the Qing army knew very well what the consequences of fighting Haihan warships on the water would be, so they should have made a wise decision to move all the ships upstream to avoid the Haihan warships.

.As for the dock facilities that cannot be moved, we can only let Haihan do whatever he wants. Fortunately, it will always be much faster to rebuild than to rebuild the ship.

When Wang Tom saw this posture, he understood what the Qing army was up to. This kind of avoidance of fighting had actually been encountered several times during the navy's previous operations to sweep the Liaodong Peninsula. Wang Tom was not simple.

They thought this was a sign of the Qing army's fear of war. This was actually a choice to preserve their strength. If the Qing army mobilized all its ships at this time to fight against the combined fleet, the result would definitely be one-sided and the losses would be in vain.

A group of ships will also affect their combat plan.

If you continue to look for these hidden ships upstream, you may indeed be able to find them in a day or two. However, if you go too far inland, even with the equipment advantage, the risks that the fleet will have to bear will gradually increase.

Now that it was basically confirmed that this was one of the places chosen by the Qing army to cross the river, Wang Tom decided not to go upstream for this reconnaissance activity. However, how many Qing troops had gathered in Jiulian City, Wang Tom planned to

Want to explore further.

"Slowly approach the dock. If there is an attack by Qing troops on the shore, fire immediately to counterattack!" Wang Tom quickly issued an order, preparing to dock the fleet here and send the marines to land.

There was no solid bunker at this river bank pier. The Qing army knew how powerful it was and did not set up formations here. The warships of the United Fleet approached the river bank one after another, but they did not encounter any resistance. To be precise, there was not even a single person on this pier.

I didn't even see any shadows, it felt like I had arrived at a deserted and abandoned port.

But Wang Tom was already observing the Jiulian City Castle in the distance with a telescope at this time. Although it was just a fortress built on the border, this place had been continuously renovated and expanded by several dynasties, and its scale had indeed become a castle.

It is on the level of a small city. Under the city wall, there is water flowing from the Kui River to act as a moat, and behind it are the continuous mountains. It is not a problem to hide tens of thousands of troops.

Jiuliancheng is only about two miles away from the river. Wang Tom sent the Marines ashore in order to try to attack Jiuliancheng, put more pressure on the Qing army, and expose the forces gathered here.

Several troop carriers carrying the landing force successfully docked, and then the soldiers easily controlled this section of the dock area. Under Wang Tom's instructions, the engineers began to load explosives at some key locations. This trip could not be carried out

When you come here in vain, you should always leave some souvenirs for the Qing army before leaving.

After the three infantry companies of the Marines completed landing, they first searched the warehouses near the dock, but basically found nothing. These warehouses were either empty, or they only stored some ship planks, logs and other materials, and even food.

Didn't see a single grain.

After receiving the report, Wang Tom believed that the Qing army should not be able to empty these warehouses overnight. It seems that most of the food and other combat materials have not yet been fully transported to Jiulian City, so these warehouses have not yet entered the final state of combat readiness.

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Although the Qing army retreated again and again, Wang Tom did not carelessly order the attack on Jiulian City immediately. After carefully observing the city defense, he found that there were many artillery on the top of Jiulian City, which was far beyond the level that a border stronghold should have. He

It was judged that these should be the weapons that the Qing army brought here when they assembled south to prepare for the war in Korea. After the alarm was sent back yesterday, the Qing army deployed these big guys to the top of the city to prevent Haihan from landing here.

Siege the city.

If it was just an ordinary city, Wang Tom must have ordered the attack. Although the Marines were equipped with a small number of artillery, they were still capable of dealing with small and medium-sized fortresses. However, this Jiulian City was where the Qing army gathered, and it was just

There were thousands of cavalry seen yesterday. If the Marines were allowed to advance to the city to launch an offensive, they would be separated from the fire cover from the river. Wang Tom was also a little worried that the other side would release a large number of cavalry to block the Marines' retreat. This

There may be thousands of cavalry hidden behind Jiulian City. If the opponent decides to attack the Marines regardless of losses, then no matter how hard the Marines fight, these few hundred people will not be able to withstand the charge of the large cavalry force.
Chapter completed!