Chapter 1837 Delaying time

Although the Independent Regiment is good at fighting in the mountains, more than 2,000 multinational coalition forces scattered in the mountains and forests have to deal with the tens of thousands of Qing troops in the mountain valleys. Takahashi Nan will not arrogantly think that in this situation, the opponent can be easily defeated.

Therefore, his current tactics still plan to focus on harassment and delay the Qing army's actions as much as possible.

The officers sent by Annan to this unit have all received training in the Haihan Army, so there are no compatibility problems in communication, command system and tactical style, and they can be directly commanded by Takahashi Nan. The Portuguese are a little more troublesome.

Unable to seamlessly connect with the Haihan Army like the Annan Army, Gao Qiaonan gave the leader Xi Mang the power to act independently, but still reminded Xi Mang to keep a distance when engaging the Qing Army to avoid being caught by the Qing Army.

surrounded.

As for the weak North Korean army, considering that most of the battles took place in rugged and mountainous terrain, Takahashi Minami did not even intend to use the North Korean troops as cannon fodder and did not plan to use them on the battlefield in an organized manner to avoid being panicked.

The North Koreans disrupted their position. Except for the guides assigned to the grassroots units, the remaining North Korean troops were dispatched to the rear to take charge of logistics tasks.

Since the Qing army invested a lot of manpower, the construction of the wooden bridge across the river in the valley was progressing very quickly. Gaoqiao Nan was unwilling to delay it any longer, so the battle started two hours after the coalition forces arrived at Xiangshan. However, Gao Qiaonan's first

The target was not the main force of the Qing army camped in the river valley, but the group assigned to the task of felling trees.

Almost at the same moment, the sound of musket shooting rang out from many places in the Xiangshan Valley, and several logging teams were attacked from the dense forest. Although some Qing soldiers who were not afraid of death tried to fight back using the logging tools in their hands.

, but before they could even see the enemy, they were knocked to the ground by bullets fired from the forest.

In order to ensure work efficiency, the Qing army did not use captured Koreans as lumberjacks, so that they did not need to allocate more manpower to act as guards. However, this arrangement was advantageous to the coalition forces. As long as they saw people cutting down trees, they would

Just open fire directly, and there is no need to worry about accidental damage and dissatisfaction of the North Korean officers and soldiers in the army.

In just a short moment of fighting, the Qing army was caught off guard and lost nearly a hundred men. The survivors had to give up the work at hand. In this situation, it was more important to escape from the woods to save their lives. However, the reaction of the Qing troops outside the forest was reversed.

It was relatively fast. In a short period of time, several thousand troops were assembled to set up a temporary defense line. They even brought out a few small cannons and pointed them at the mountain forest where the accident occurred, preparing to meet any enemy troops that might appear.

But how could Gao Qiaonan give up cover and rush out to engage the Qing army in a head-on battle? After achieving their initial goal, the coalition forces immediately terminated the battle on their own initiative and returned to a latent state.

The Qing army waited for a long time and saw no further movement in the forest. They also expected that this might just be a harassment operation, so they sent a small team into the forest to investigate. As expected, the enemy troops had long since disappeared without a trace.

This hit-and-run strategy caused a headache for the Qing army, which was not good at fighting in mountains and forests. The most effective cavalry in the formation was completely useless in this special environment, and only cold weapons were dispatched.

The infantrymen entering the mountains and forests seemed to be bringing food to the enemy. Although there were many soldiers of Orion origin in the Qing army, they were familiar with the mountain and forest environment, but in large-scale battles, individual bravery was almost impossible to change the situation of the battle.

The trend, on the contrary, will attract concentrated fire because it is too prominent.

However, the task of building a bridge to cross the river was urgent. The Qing army only stalled for a moment before sending logging teams into the mountains and forests again. The difference was that this time the Qing army no longer allowed the logging teams to disperse. Instead, they designated an area and consisted of two thousand people.

Several infantrymen were on guard duty at the perimeter, while the logging team was operating under armed protection.

Of course, such warning was not enough to deter the coalition forces watching in the mountains and forests. Not long after the Qing army resumed work, the coalition forces in the forest launched another attack on the Qing army. However, the instructions received by the Qing army were very clear, that is, to try their best to

Guard the perimeter of the logging area to prevent enemy troops from shooting the logging team at close range to ensure a continuous supply of wood for projects in the river valley.

Therefore, although these Qing troops were unable to resist the stray bullets fired from the mountains and forests, they did not dare to retreat without authorization. They used tree branches as bunkers, huddled up and waited for the enemy to approach before looking for fighters. Although many Qing troops were shot down during this period

However, with the dense natural bunkers around them, most of the Qing troops successfully avoided the cold shots in the forest.

Now the problem has returned to the side of the coalition forces. In a dense forest environment, facing an enemy with obviously superior strength, if they advance rashly without strict organization, it is easy for the Qing army to close the fighting distance and form a close fight.

In this situation, the advantages of the coalition's weapons and tactics will be greatly weakened. Once they get into a fight, they may be quickly surrounded by the Qing army. At that time, the passive party will become themselves.

But if the Qing army does not adjust its response, it will be difficult to pose a threat to the logging team hundreds of meters away in the current environment. As long as the Qing army can drag out this situation for another day and a half, let the river valley

If the bridge here can be built, giving the main force a channel to retreat to the north of the Yangtze River, then it will be cost-effective even if another 1,800 people die in this forest.

The coalition forces that have been pursuing this point have almost given up all their heavy weapons. At this time, there is no need to expect tactics such as artillery to open the way. If they want to open up the situation, they can only adopt more risky tactics.

Although the independent regiment is good at fighting in mountain and forest environments, it only means that when it takes the initiative, it can use guerrilla warfare in the forest to defeat the opponent. However, if it is forced to take the initiative to shorten the combat distance due to the situation, it can focus on launching an offensive in one area.

, then opponents with rich combat experience will soon notice this change, which means they will face the risk of their opponents launching a counterattack.

Of course, the independent regiment is not unable to fight tough battles, but with the current strength of the troops, the commander must weigh the pros and cons of how much sacrifice will be required to fight the Qing army, and whether the combat objectives can be achieved.

Time is limited, if you delay for a moment longer, the Qing army will have a better chance of retreating. Looking at the sky in Gaoqiao Nan, it will be dark for at least two or three hours, although the Qing army may not be able to retreat after dark.

Stop the logging project, but at least then the coalition forces will have more opportunities to get close to launch a surprise attack. And as soon as tomorrow, the second and third battalions of the independent regiment should be able to arrive nearby. By then, the increase in troops will have a better understanding of tactics.

There are also more choices, and you may not suffer a loss if you open up a battle array and confront the Qing army head-on.

Gao Qiaonan quickly straightened out his thinking, and at least delayed the Qing army's crossing of the river until tomorrow, and the phased goal was to make it difficult for the Qing army to continue logging operations before dark. Although he was now actively pulling out and fighting with the Qing army,

Military battles will inevitably result in certain battle losses, but the possibility of achieving combat objectives is still high.

After weighing it up, Gao Qiaonan issued a new combat order, launching attacks in three directions against the logging areas protected by the Qing army, with the goal of preventing the opponent from logging, but he needed to be careful to pay attention to the enemy's movements.

, to avoid getting into a close fight with the enemy. Takahashi Minami knew very well that once a fight entered, the speed at which the Qing army invested troops in the combat zone might make it too late for the Qing army to escape and evacuate the battlefield, which would be very dangerous for the Haihan Army.

operation.

As soon as the battle started, casualties began to appear on the coalition side. When the Qing army realized that the fighting distance had shortened to the point where they could launch a counterattack, they decisively began to jump out of their hiding places and shoot arrows towards the sound of gunfire in the forest.

Arrow——This is also the only long-range attack method currently available to the Qing army.

When the Qing army fired arrows, they may not have seen the location of the target. To a certain extent, they relied on luck to hit the target, but the base number could not be matched. If seven or eight arrows shot after a gunshot, there would always be a blind cat.

Hit a dead rat.

It’s just that the coalition forces no longer care about so much. Since they have received the order, they must carry out the tactics. Although shortening the combat distance will increase the combat risks of coalition soldiers, the corresponding hit rate and killing efficiency will also increase.

, Qing soldiers who want to use trees as cover will not be able to hide so easily when the distance is shortened. Most of the rifles equipped by the coalition forces are made in Haihan, and their shooting hit rate within 100 meters is much higher than that of Qing soldiers.

Bows and arrows, coupled with the astonishingly high firing frequency of the independent regiment's seven-shot rifles, only a few guns can form effective fire suppression over a large area, so the enemy-killing efficiency is still much higher than that of the opponent.

The sudden strong attacks launched from several directions indeed disrupted the Qing army's deployment, because the previous actions of the coalition forces to retreat after a wave of harassment made the Qing army think that this was just a spying behavior by a small group of troops, but they did not expect that there was an ambush in the mountains and forests.

There were more than 2,000 enemy troops armed with live ammunition. Even if the troops were divided into three groups, the intensity of their firepower output was definitely not something that these Qing troops dispersed in the forest could withstand.

However, there are also a very small number of Qing soldiers who hold back until the coalition forces advance closer before jumping out of their hiding places and using swords and guns to fight close to home. However, the effect of this method of combat is very limited, and those who can hide until the end are often

As a single soldier, it is difficult to form a sustained combat effectiveness. However, when the coalition forces advance, they mostly use squads as a unit. Even if one or two people in the lead are unable to withstand the Qing soldiers due to a sudden incident, the companions next to them will immediately attack.

Come to the rescue and cull the fish that have slipped through the net together.

Takahashi Nan quickly realized that the Qing army's defense line was not as strong as he expected, and the number of troops invested was not too much. He quickly commanded the troops to break through the defense and kill the logging team first, and take away as much of the Qing army's logging tools as possible.

After all, although the army would have some logging tools such as large axes and saws, they could not have too many - this was also the main reason why the Qing army dispatched logging teams with a limited scale.

When they realized that the troops sent to the forest had not successfully defended the defense line, the Qing army quickly sent additional troops to the logging area in the forest. Three thousand Qing troops poured into the forest about ten minutes after the war started. Just this action

After a little delay, their logging team had received a fatal order not to evacuate. At this time, there were already many casualties. What's more, the enemy troops who retreated immediately after successfully attacking took away some of their logging tools.

When Huang Taiji heard the news, he was furious and ordered to gather all the remaining logging tools and adjust the original logging arrangements. Just when the enemy launched a surprise attack, Huang Taiji thought of a safer way, that is,

Use the existing rafts to send some people to the other side, and then cut wood on the other side to complete the construction of the other half of the bridge. He did not believe that the Haihan people could set up defenses on both sides of the Qingchuan River at the same time. As long as they had one more day to complete the bridge,

Tens of thousands of troops can quickly retreat to the north of the Yangtze River and escape the pursuit of the Haihan Army.

Gao Qiaonan, who retreated to the forest, first confirmed that the Qing army had not launched a pursuit, and then asked each department to count the battle damage and rescue the wounded. In the previous short confrontation, the coalition forces had lost nearly a hundred people, and there were as many as 300 lightly and seriously wounded.

There were only a few others left, which also shows that the Qing army was not a soft persimmon to be pinched in close combat.

However, judging from the combat effects, this assault battle basically achieved the combat goal that Takahashi Nan expected. It destroyed the Qing army's logging team and the number of Qing soldiers wounded and killed should be around a thousand. Although there is a certain

Fortunately, the battle damage and results were within the acceptable range of Gaoqiao Nan, and the Qing army did stop logging operations in this area. It seemed that they were going to find another way.

The Qing army's move of using rafts to cross the river did not escape the surveillance of the coalition forces, but Gao Qiaonan did not realize the true intention of this move at the first time. Until it was getting dark, the Qing army still did not send out the logging team to resume work. Gao Qiaonan

Qiaonan suddenly understood the Qing army's plan.

Gao Qiaonan's response strategy was very simple and crude, that is, he personally led some troops to swim across the Qingchuan River overnight and went to the other side to eliminate the Qing army's logging team and delay their bridge construction progress.

The riskiest part of this plan is not the battle with the Qing army, but the night crossing. Although the river here has narrowed to less than a hundred meters, completing the crossing and regrouping at night is still extremely risky, even for an independent regiment.

It is not easy for such an elite unit. At this time, he actually missed the existence of the Marine Corps. After all, almost all of the soldiers in that unit came from the navy, and their water resistance was much better than that of the soldiers of the Independent Regiment.

In order to avoid being noticed by the Qing army, Gao Qiaonan led hundreds of selected soldiers to go downstream first, wrapped all the guns and ammunition with rain-proof tarps, fixed them to several temporary small rafts, and then used water-based

The best soldiers control the direction of the raft in the water, and then reissue their weapons when they reach the other side. In this way, the swimming soldiers can focus on their own swimming direction and physical distribution, without worrying about the problem of guns and ammunition entering the water.

After everything was prepared, these hundreds of people went down to the Qingchuan River in the dark night and swam quietly to the other side.
Chapter completed!