Chapter 1829 Nowhere to start

Before setting off from Pyongyang, Huang Taiji had actually expected that the terrain of this battlefield would be unfavorable to his side. After all, the Haihan people had chosen this place months in advance. They had made various moves to confuse the Qing army some time ago, and secretly gathered a large number of soldiers.

The people were working hard to build strongholds, and then arranged for the Korean army to abandon their defenses north of the Datong River, making it clear that they planned to fight the Qing army here. The Haihan people always make plans before acting, and they must be able to assume such a posture.

Relying on this, he sent out reconnaissance cavalry to explore the terrain. In fact, he just wanted to try his luck to see if the Haihan people would miss anything in the defense line, but the situation seemed to be worse than he expected.

Not only were the trees cleanly cut down near the Haihan stronghold, but there were not even large stones on the ground. The nearest place where stone could be quarried was six or seven miles away from the Haihan defense line. It was obvious that the surrounding area could be used

All kinds of natural materials for offensive and defensive operations have been collected by Haihan early. If the Qing army does not have wood and stone to use, the tactical methods that can be used will be greatly limited, and the difficulty of attacking this line of defense will inevitably rise sharply.

Although the two small rivers on the east and west sides of the Haihan position are not too wide, there are no water vehicles available in this place. To carry out an armed swim against the gunfire from the other side, it may be more difficult for the Qing army who is not good at water skills.

A frontal attack on the Haihan position was even more terrifying, so it was not included in Huang Taiji's options.

Therefore, the only offensive direction left for the Qing army was the northern defense line, but this was obviously a situation that Haihan had planned for a long time ago. It was not difficult for Huang Taiji to imagine that Haihan had deployed many powerful killing methods on this line of defense.

, waiting for the Qing army to send it to the door. Azig lost hundreds of cavalry here before. Realizing that this place was not easy to break, he hastily withdrawn his troops and did not try to attack again. However, Huang Taiji came here in person to understand the surrounding environment.

After that, he actually had the same idea as Azig, thinking that this place was a killing array deliberately set up by Haihan.

Even if the Qing army has an absolute advantage in terms of military strength, the offensive area where troops can be deployed on this battlefield is too narrow. And facing the Haihan position with a large number of guns and artillery deployed to launch a dense charge, the consequences will be so tragic. This has been seen many times in the past.

It has been verified in this battle.

If Seoul is taken as the goal of entering Korea, the Qing army has almost completed half of its journey, and retreating at this time will naturally not be an option for the Qing army. Even if Huang Taiji and most of the Qing generals do not want to fight with the sea,

The Han army once again staged a head-to-head confrontation, but it was even more impossible for them to accept the method of retreating without a fight on the banks of the Datong River. They would fight a dozen anyway.

However, since the presence of the Haihan Army had already delayed too much time in the advancement process, the Qing army did not have to rush to grab this day and a half on the bank of the Datong River to launch an attack. Huang Taiji collected environmental information

After studying for a long time, I finally decided to be a little patient and spend more time to figure out the deployment of the enemy's defense line, and then try to find reasonable and effective tactics to launch an attack.

Wang Tom returned to the Datong River base by boat at almost the same time as the main force of the Qing army arrived. He had learned through radio contact that the main force of the Qing army had left Pyongyang and headed south. He knew that it must be attacking the base downstream, so he sent Portugal and

Annan's fleet stayed near Pyongyang to assist the North Korean Navy in defense, while he hurried back with the fleets of the Haihan Navy and the Fujian Navy.

Wang Tom came back with his troops not to take credit from Qian Tiandun. At most, he just wanted the Marine Corps to participate in the defense of the base. What he was more concerned about was the reaction of the Qing army after hitting a wall at the Datong River base.

According to the battle plan designed by the command before the war, after Haihan succeeded in blocking the Qing army at the Datong River base, the coalition fleet would detour from the sea and rush to the Qingchuan River and Daning River basin in the north to intercept again those who wanted to return to the north.

The Qing army. Considering that there are a large number of cavalry units in the Qing army, in order to achieve the best combat effect, the coalition fleet must arrive at the scheduled location before the opponent, so Wang Tom brought the main force of the fleet back to the Datong River base early.

Firstly, it supports the army's operations, and secondly, it can immediately go to sea and rush to the north when the situation becomes clear. Even if the effect of this may only shorten the operation time by half a day, it may have a completely different effect during the actual combat.

It worked.

"Huang Taiji has calmed down this time!" Wang Tom put down the telescope and said to Qian Tiandun next to him: "You said they arrived this morning, but they haven't launched an offensive all day long. This is not like what they did in the past.

Fighting style!”

"If you suffer too much, you will naturally learn to be smart." Qian Tiandun seemed very calm about this, and explained to Wang Tom the reconnaissance operations carried out after the Qing army arrived here. The several watchtowers built by Haihan were not

It was no use. It was difficult for the Qing cavalry to hide from Haihan's surveillance every move they made on the plains outside the base.

After listening to the introduction, Wang Tom nodded and said: "They probably need some time to figure out how to attack, so we have to find a way to put more pressure on them."

There were many ways to put pressure on the Qing army, but the commanders did not intend to risk their troops to go outside the defense line to provoke the Qing army. They had better ways to urge the Qing army to launch an offensive as soon as possible.

Liu Shang had already rested, but suddenly a messenger came and delivered an order from the headquarters, asking him to immediately gather three thousand civilians and bring their work tools to the northern border defense line for construction. Liu Shang was a little confused after receiving this order.

Yesterday evening, he received an order from the headquarters because the Qing army would soon arrive nearby, so all the civilians on the construction site were ordered to evacuate. But today, after the Qing army arrived, the two armies had not started fighting. Why, another one came from the command center, which was completely opposite.

The order also required overnight construction. Could it be that there has been a secret war in the north?

However, the construction of the defense line was a military secret, and it was inconvenient for Liu Shang to ask the messenger what happened on the front line. He quickly summoned a few of his subordinates and assigned them tasks. Although this order came from the command to Liu Shang

, but he did not need to do the actual organization and implementation. He had a group of helpers to run errands. However, it was already dark at this time. Three thousand civilians had to be organized from the camp by the river, and then passed through the entire base to the northern border defense line.

It also requires a lot of hard work.

Liu Shang was a little curious about the battle situation on the front line, and was a little worried about the temporary arrangements for this night, so he personally led the team to the northern border defense line to hand over to the military, hoping to learn about the current battle situation. He is now with Gao Qiaonan and other senior officers

The relationship between them is quite good, so it is not difficult to get some news.

It was not just Liu Shang and other civil affairs officials and the three thousand civilians who were temporarily organized who could not sleep peacefully that night. Huang Taiji, who had already gone to the tent to rest, was also put off by the military intelligence report from his subordinates.

On the Haihan position in the south, a large number of fires began to be lit after nightfall, and the entire defense line gradually lit up. At first, the Qing army responsible for surveillance thought that this might be a way for the opponent to prevent their own night attacks, but soon

I found that things are not that simple.

There was a large flow of people on the Haihan position, but these people were not soldiers with live ammunition, but civilians holding various tools. They seemed to be expanding and reinforcing the fortifications outside the position. The Haihan position was under construction overnight. This kind of move

The amount of information contained was huge. The subordinates who discovered this situation did not dare to make decisions without authorization and immediately reported it to Huang Taiji.

When Huang Taiji heard such news, he naturally did not dare to neglect, and quickly dispatched two teams of elite cavalry to go south again to confirm the new movements on the Haihan position.

If the news is true, then there must still be some weak links in the defense fortifications on the Haihan position, which is why the Haihan people are so eager to organize construction overnight. Of course, Huang Taiji is also well aware that the Haihan people are full of tricks.

What you heard may not be the truth. You must know that just over two months ago, the Haihan fleet voluntarily withdrew from the Yalu River. At that time, there were rumors that Haihan had fallen out with North Korea and gave up military assistance to North Korea. But from this time on the banks of the Datong River

Judging from the scale of the military base, the original rumors were obviously false, and the Haihan people were just trying to cover up their real battle plan.

Of course, it is possible that the arrangement of this overnight construction was done deliberately by the Haihan people as a pretense to lure the Qing army to launch an offensive. The Qing army could ignore this, but regardless of whether there were real loopholes in the Haihan position or they were deliberately using it to lure the Qing army.

If thousands of people are working day and night, it will undoubtedly make the already difficult-to-break defense line stronger.

Huang Taiji had a clear idea of ​​why his opponent would start construction after dark. He should be worried that the Qing army would launch an offensive during the day and would not be able to evacuate the large number of civilians from their positions in time, which would lead to chaos in the defense line and weaken the combat effectiveness of the defenders.

After nightfall, due to limited visibility and lack of familiarity with the environment, it was difficult for the Qing army to organize and direct large-scale night attacks.

The Jingqi sent out quickly came back and said that construction was indeed going on on the Haihan position, and that there were at least two to three thousand civilians. In addition, Haihan still deployed a lot of people on the position.

The musketeers and the elite cavalry sent by them had already attracted shots from the opponent when they approached about a hundred feet away. Fortunately, the field of vision was limited at night, and it is estimated that the opponent could not see clearly. These scattered shootings did not cause any damage to these Qing army's elite cavalry.

causing casualties.

Are you just going to sit back and watch Haihan strengthen his position? Huang Taiji's answer is obviously no. Even if this is really a trap set by Haihan, he cannot let the other party build this line of defense stronger and stronger under his nose.

About half an hour later, two thousand-man cavalry teams quietly left the Qing army's position and divided into east and west groups to slowly outflank the Haihan position in the south.

According to the information obtained from previous reconnaissance, there are not only Haogou on the outside of the Haihan position, but also an iron net deployed to prevent cavalry attacks. Therefore, Huang Taiji did not expect these two cavalry to directly break through the Haihan defense line, but let them

They harassed the perimeter with bows and arrows, making it impossible to construct the Haihan position.

Of course, with the light bows equipped by the cavalry, if you want to shoot arrows into the Haihan position, you have to close the distance to about 30 feet, which is actually within the range of the Haihan rifle. If

It was during the day, and this dangerous distance would inevitably cause a lot of casualties to the Qing cavalry. However, there were thousands of civilians on the Haihan position at this time, so it was possible to try this less advanced tactic.

However, the tactics of the Qing army were not without technical content. The cavalry launched a charge at night and carried out a mounted shooting attack during the charge. This in itself showed that the Qing army’s cavalry was well-trained. If it were against other contemporaries,

This kind of combat ability is obviously superior to their opponents, but their opponent is the incredibly powerful Haihan Army. Even if they use this special skill, it is still difficult to gain an advantage in the battle.

Not long after the Qing army's cavalry came out, Haihan's side had already noticed their movements. So Liu Shang, who had just assigned the civilian laborers to various construction sites, received a new order to immediately organize the civilian laborers to withdraw from the position. Liu Shang was really dumbfounded.

, but still immediately carried out the order in accordance with the military instructions. He himself also retreated half a mile with the civilian team and stood by in the safe zone.

Liu Shang had already inquired with the officers he knew before. It turned out that the overnight construction was to lure the Qing army to take the initiative. Now the military ordered the civilians to withdraw from their positions. It was obvious that they had succeeded in luring the enemy. However, the military only asked the civilians to withdraw.

They evacuated their positions and continued to stand by. It seemed that the Qing army might not be launching a large-scale attack, but maybe it was just harassment.

However, he couldn't watch the excitement in peace yet. He had to quickly appease the mood of these civilians. After all, they were being transferred here and there so late, and he heard that the Qing army was attacking outside, which would make these civilians feel uneasy.

Naturally, the military's arrangements cannot be fully disclosed to these civilians, but Liu Shang also has rich experience in handling this situation. After all, when he first captured the Jinzhou Isthmus, Haihan also withstood the intermittent offensives of the Jin Army.

It was common for him to supervise the work while appeasing the civilians while rebuilding the defensive line.

When the Qing cavalry marched near the Haihan position, they responded in advance and basically completed the retreat of the civilians. However, the Qing army still followed the previous instructions and launched a feint attack.

They were greeted by musket fire from the Haihan position, but the hit rate was obviously not comparable to the level during the daytime battle. The Qing cavalry was able to rush close with relatively small casualties, and fired a round at the Haihan position while turning.

Arrows. However, wooden roofs were built over the infantry trenches of the Haihan position, and the damage effect caused by such projectiles was extremely limited.

After a brief and painless confrontation, the Qing cavalry disappeared into the darkness again, perhaps thinking that the night attack had had the effect of stopping the construction.
Chapter completed!