Chapter 1832 Dilemma

Since the battle took place almost on Haihan's position, Haihan could no longer wait for the Qing army to send out men to collect the corpses. He could only deal with the piles of Qing corpses on his own.

Due to the large number of corpses, it was too late to dig a big pit to bury the corpses outside the base. The generals made the decision after a brief discussion. A movable fortification made of sandbags at the front of the Haihan Army's position was opened by civilians.

, then several flatbed carriages drove out of the position and arrived at the battle site along the passage cleared by the Qing army's artillery fire. The civilians responsible for transporting the bodies grabbed the hands and feet of the corpses and threw them onto the carriages together with all their strength, waiting for the pile to be filled.

After the carriage, the carriage turned around and headed south back to the base - all Haihan can do now is to transport it to the sea for processing, which is simply to throw it all into the sea to feed the fish.

Among them, there were many wounded soldiers from the Qing army who had not yet expired. The Haihan Army had already established standards for dealing with this. Those who tried to resist and were seriously injured by gunshot wounds to the torso, or those who were injured in the feet and were unable to move, would be directly replaced by replacement guns.

This will prevent you from wasting resources and causing trouble by treating prisoners. Senior officers who wear armor and can easily identify themselves can relax the standards appropriately. After all, it is possible to get some valuable intelligence from their mouths.

Seeing so many corpses piled outside the position, most of the civilians who were assigned the task of moving the corpses turned pale and trembled. Although they were happy with the victory achieved by the Haihan Army, they still couldn't help seeing such a tragic scene.

They can't help but feel fear. Some people have strong physiological reactions. When they see a group of crows jumping around on the pile of dead bodies and starting to eat the corpses, they can't help but go to the side to retching.

"Do you think the Qing Army will try again today?" Wang Tom asked Qian Tiandun who had just returned from the forward position.

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "It's hard to say, but the possibility is very small. Their biggest loss today is actually not the soldiers who died at the door, but the artillery and artillery. According to the information we got from the previous interrogation of the prisoners of war, the Qing army's

The artillery brought to North Korea at this time was only more than a hundred artillery pieces and a thousand artillery troops. After today's battle, they have lost at least more than one-third of their artillery troops. I think Huang Taiji may not have the courage to take the rest.

All the artillery troops are here."

Qian Tiandun's judgment is based on the existing intelligence and past combat experience. Artillery is inherently an elite branch, and the Qing army's artillery is even more difficult to train, because with the cultural level of the Manchus, it is really difficult to master the skills required.

Due to the calculation of artillery combat skills, more than half of the artillery force today is still the surrendered Han soldiers recruited in previous years. Even if the Qing Dynasty has been able to cast its own artillery, each of these veterans will lose one if they die. It will be difficult to replenish qualified soldiers in a short period of time. The emperor must have

Tai Chi is also having a big headache about this.

If the Qing army wants to continue to attack the Haihan position, it must first consider whether it can still withstand the corresponding battle losses. The losses in the previous battle did not bring the expected results for the Qing army. If the Qing army still adopts the same strategy in the future,

If the attack method is used, the battle situation will inevitably repeat the previous trend.

Wang Tom said: "If the Qing army doesn't plan to make a desperate move here, then I'm afraid they will change their mind soon."

"Can't sit still? Why don't you take the fleet and set off first?" Qian Tiandun asked jokingly.

According to the battle plan drawn up by the two men, Wang Tom would command the navy to rush north to intercept and kill the defeated Qing army. However, judging from the current situation of the Qing army, defeat is definitely a defeat, but there should still be a considerable gap between defeat and defeat.

On the plain north of the Datong River base, there are still tens of thousands of Qing troops on standby, and they will probably not voluntarily evacuate for a while.

Of course, Tom Wang knew that Qian Tiandun was joking with him, so he grinned and said, "Don't worry, it's not easy for the Qing army to escape with tens of thousands of people."

The Qing army entered the DPRK with tens of thousands of troops, but the more mobile cavalry only accounted for about a quarter. The remaining troops, which were mainly infantry, naturally could not march at the same speed. Waiting for the Qing army to decide

When evacuating North Korea, these troops of different arms and commanders may not be able to coordinate during the march. The naval fleet led by Wang Tom may not be able to keep up with the Qing army's cavalry, but it will definitely be much faster than the infantry.

In Haihan's battle plan, the distance of more than two hundred miles from the Datong River to the Qingchuan River is a section of the Qing army's race against death. In the end, the part of the Qing army that cannot outrun the naval fleet will be defeated if they want to return to Liaodong.

It's more difficult.

As Qian Tiandun judged, the biggest headache for Huang Taiji now is not the number of casualties in this battle, but whether the existing artillery force can still sustain it until the end of the battle, or whether it is worth using the remaining artillery force.

I also bet on it and fight to the end with the Haihan people to have a chance of breaking through the defense line.

Naturally, the generals of the Qing army were unwilling to accept the current war situation. If the Haihan people had not sent troops to interfere, perhaps the army would have successfully advanced to the front line of the Han River and could prepare to bring this war to a successful conclusion. But now it has only advanced to the plan.

Half of the trip, let alone goals like Seoul and the Han River, even the other side of the Daedong River seems out of reach.

To cross the Datong River under the nose of the powerful Haihan fleet is not realistic for the Qing army, which doesn't even have a ship. They have tried various methods, but it is obvious that these methods are not feasible.

There is also a suspicion among the Han people that they are trying to do whatever they want.

But now it seems that the Qing army is not only no match for Haihan in water battles, but also very difficult on land. The confrontation on the bank of the Datong River was brutal. The number of casualties suffered by the Qing army in this battle has even exceeded the total number of foreign wars in the past year. However, the result

However, there is still no hope of breaking through the Haihan defense line, and it is even difficult to judge how many casualties it has caused to the opponent.

After fighting this battle, Huang Taiji realized a little bit. The purpose of Haihan's formation on the bank of the Datong River was not only to prevent the Qing army from crossing the river south, but also to use this battlefield to consume the Qing army's effective strength.

His intention was in it. His reason told him that he should decisively withdraw his troops now to avoid greater losses, but the idea of ​​"unwillingness" was also constantly wearing away his reason, making it difficult for him to use a calm mentality to make the most favorable decision for his own side.

A favorable decision.

The mentality of other generals was also similar to that of Huang Taiji. They mobilized a large army to go to North Korea this time with the attitude that they were bound to win. They did not even regard Haihan's intervention as a real trouble at first. But if they return now

Looking back at the course of the war over the past few months, Haihan's initial move to be tough and then soft on the Yalu River must have been intentional.

Just imagine if Haihan had used the Yalu River as a defense line to build a position at that time, it would not have been easy for the Qing army to cross the river there, and it might even have caused the war plan to go to Korea to be aborted. But Haihan was in a wonderful situation

At the right time, they chose to voluntarily withdraw from the Yalu River and give the Qing army the access to North Korea without reservation. At that time, it seemed that they had picked a big advantage. The army could successfully cross the river and enter North Korea without fighting to the death. But looking back now, this is clearly the case.

Haihan's move was to lure Qing troops into the DPRK.

After the Qing army enters the DPRK, how many conditions will Haihan put forward and how much benefits will he get from DPRK? This is probably what will happen. Just the military base on the bank of the Datong River will cost the DPRK.

Only the resources could be built up in such a short period of time. And the Haihan people basically enjoyed the advantage of the home field here. They were waiting to fight the Qing army who had traveled a long distance, so they naturally had an advantage.

The Qing army mobilized troops to launch a war, but so far it has not even regained its capital, and North Korea has lost several cities in a row, and it must have a gold-eating beast like the Haihan army. Life must be very difficult. Thinking about it this way, Haihan seems to be the one

The biggest winner of this war was the Qing army. Not only did they make a lot of money in Korea, but they also took advantage of the situation and went to Liaodong and kidnapped a large number of people, benefiting from both sides.

After understanding the reason, the anger of the Qing generals was even more difficult to calm down. Why did we fight for life and death, but let the Haihan people take advantage? If we just retreat in despair, then wouldn't this mission be in vain?

One trip consumed countless amounts of money and food, and caused thousands of casualties. In the end, it did not even have the proper deterrent effect on North Korea. Who can be willing to swallow this cowardly attitude?

Azig made a suggestion to Huang Taiji: give up the attack on the Haihan stronghold, fight and retreat northward, but do not withdraw the troops after retreating, and take the land in northern Korea as his own first. This way, it is not in vain.

One trip.

"But do you know how many soldiers and horses will be stationed in North Korea to do this?" Huang Taiji asked expressionlessly after hearing this.

"Two to thirty thousand is enough." Azig continued to analyze: "Although the Haihan infantry has strong combat power, it does not dare to fight deep inland. It has never wanted to fight mobile warfare with us in North Korea, so it chose

We can set up battlefields near various rivers and water veins. We can do the opposite, abandon coastal areas and capture inland towns. The Haihan people have limited troops and most of them will not dare to follow up. When the time comes, we will slowly look for ways to cross the river.

Opportunity to attack Seoul."

After listening to Azig's idea, Huang Taiji was actually a little tempted. Pulling the battlefield from the river basin near the sea to the inland could indeed effectively limit the enemy's performance. He knew that the rapid delivery of the Haihan Army almost relied on its power.

However, once the battlefield moves inland, the Haihan Army's mobility will be greatly affected, and it may even voluntarily give up entering inland areas.

But there will be some problems in doing so. The Qing Dynasty does not plan to directly annex North Korea at present, because there are indeed not enough troops to guard the huge Korean Peninsula, and there are not enough officials to govern this area, so the Qing army's plan is

Subdue the Korean rulers through war, let them give up diplomatic contacts with Haihan and Ming Dynasty, and respect the Qing Dynasty as the suzerain state. What the Qing army wants is a quick victory, rather than turning this war into a long war of attrition. If it cannot surrender quickly

North Korea, then it can be said that the entire strategy has failed.

Azig's method can certainly allow the Qing army to temporarily gain a large area of ​​territory from North Korea, but North Korea, with the support of Haihan, will definitely not swallow its anger. If it starts to continuously organize counterattacks, the Qing army will continue to be consumed by then.

Haihan should not be affected at all. They only need to stay at the base along the Datong River to ensure that the Qing army cannot successfully cross the Datong River, and then they can send messages to the Koreans.

Going around and around, things seem to be back to the original starting point. If this place on the bank of the Datong River is not captured, the Qing army's overall strategy towards North Korea will be difficult to achieve the expected results, and that means that the military must

The operation, the massive casualties and the countless money and food were all in vain.

Huang Taiji discussed with everyone for a long time and came to the conclusion that the Haihan people must be eliminated first before he could achieve his goal in North Korea. Of course, this solution did not mean the elimination of Haihan's main force. No matter how much Huang Taiji expanded, he would not be able to achieve his goal.

Such an unrealistic goal, he only hopes to capture this Haihan stronghold and force Haihan to withdraw from this area, even if he can retreat to the front line of the Han River, at least this battle can still be fought.

However, in order to learn lessons from today's tragic battle, Huang Taiji did not immediately raise troops again. He decided to spend one more day to allow the troops to fully rest, slaughter all the pigs, cattle and sheep brought here, and punish the combat troops.

Many reward promises were given, and the price for the head of the Haihan army started at twenty taels of silver. If an officer or even a general could be captured alive, he would be rewarded with slaves, land and official positions. Anyway, this kind of empty reward that can stimulate morale should be as good as possible.

Let’s compile some more first. As for how to implement them, we’ll wait until the war is over.

If the next offensive is still unable to break through the Haihan position, then you really need to consider withdrawing your troops and returning home. Although Huang Taiji does not want to admit it, if the battle damage against Haihan is too great, it may affect the Qing Dynasty for a period of time in the future.

In the strategic position of the north, a restless enemy like the Ming Dynasty might take the opportunity to jump out and add insult to injury.

The cleanup of corpses outside the Haihan position lasted until night. It took nearly a thousand people and dozens of flatbed trucks to move all the corpses to the dock on the bank of the Datong River for loading. But so many corpses were

The blood that flowed out has soaked a large area of ​​land, and even a large number of solidified blood clots are floating in the ditch outside the position.

The crows, which had been blown away more than a hundred times, finally landed on the ground after dark. Although there were no dead bodies for them to "enjoy", these crows still persisted in digging out the scraps of meat on the ground with their beaks and claws.

The stump, barely, can be regarded as an end to the hard work of foraging for this day.

Early the next morning, hundreds of civilians were dispatched to the Haihan position. Under the command of the foreman, they began to repair the fortification areas that had been damaged the previous day. It was too late to restore these areas to their complete state, but some temporary countermeasures were installed.

The infantry's fortifications are not difficult. Especially those heavy iron horses, each weighing more than two hundred kilograms, are connected to each other with fasteners. It only takes seven or eight to clear out the Qing army's artillery fire yesterday.

The passage was re-blocked, and the chassis was fixed with ground nails, making it difficult to move it manually.
Chapter completed!