Chapter 1795 Preparations for War

Regarding the military strength of North Korea, the Ming Dynasty probably had the most information. During the Wanli period, troops were sent to aid North Korea to resist the Japanese. Although the coalition forces finally won the war, thousands of Ming soldiers died on the Korean Peninsula.

It can only be regarded as a tragic victory. If the North Korean armed forces could have performed better at that time, the number of casualties of the Ming army would not have been so huge. In the past two years, the Ming Dynasty has been unwilling to let go of North Korea's request for help. Part of the reason is that the Ministry of War believes that North Korea

We are not strong enough to fight side by side with the Ming army, and if we send troops to fight in Korea, we will probably step into a huge pit again, so we simply give up the blame first.

Although Xu Yuzhuo was leading troops in Fujian, he had some internal information from the Ministry of War, so he was not surprised by the performance of the Koreans. After all, even the Ming Dynasty looked down upon North Korea's military level, let alone marching formations and logistics.

Haihan has more stringent security requirements. Xu Yuzhuo understands Wang Tom's anger very well, but he has no way to solve the problems caused by the Koreans' procrastination in preparing for war.

Qian Tiandun's statement was unanimously supported by the coalition generals. They sent troops to follow Haihan to fight in Liaodong purely for their own interests. They wanted to obtain the same trade rights as Haihan through the war to aid Korea, so that they could establish an alliance in Northeast Asia.

Create new trade routes. But if North Korea is too unreliable as a partner, then they will naturally have to weigh whether the price they have to pay in the war is worth it. Especially now that even Haihan thinks North Korea’s reliability is worrying, then they will naturally

Therefore, Haihan followed suit. As long as Haihan decided to withdraw, they probably would not continue to be stationed in North Korea. As for the life and death of North Korea, they actually didn't care that much.

Of course, although Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun have many dissatisfaction with North Korea's war preparations, they will not really let the troops leave immediately. Unlike other coalition forces, Haihan originally sent troops to aid North Korea.

It has a strong political overtone. What the Executive Committee values ​​is whether Haihan's international influence in Northeast Asia can be further strengthened and whether the Qing Dynasty can be prevented from growing rapidly. Diplomacy and trade with North Korea are secondary.

After Wang Tom got over his anger, he decided to observe for a few more days to see if the Koreans' work would improve due to the arrival of the combined fleet. In addition, he also needed to further confirm the enemy's movements in Liaodong and judge the Qing army

Is there a possibility of going south to invade the Korean Peninsula in the near future? If Huang Taiji really intends to attack North Korea during this period, Haihan cannot completely stand by and watch, and must formulate a response plan in advance.

Before the combined fleet went north, the Ministry of National Defense had already issued an order to the Jinzhou garrison via telegram, asking them to investigate the movements of the Qing army in Liaodong. However, since the main force of the navy had already moved south at the end of last year, the naval forces remaining in the Jinzhou area were only

There are less than ten combat ships, so it is difficult to fully launch the reconnaissance operation in the Liaodong area, and the harvest is not great.

Currently, Chen Yixin and Morgan are responsible for the military defense of Liaodong, and the reconnaissance work in the areas controlled by the Qing army is mainly completed by Morgan. He regarded this task as a training subject for snipers and went to the northern coast several times.

The reconnaissance activities were mainly conducted by snipers. After landing, they would go deep into the land for several miles, approach the Qing army's strongholds in a concealed manner, and judge the deployment and mobilization of the Qing army's troops through observation.

However, because this kind of reconnaissance mission that requires entering enemy-occupied areas is extremely risky, and the value of Morgan and the snipers themselves is much greater than military intelligence, the Ministry of Defense strictly ordered them not to go more than 20 miles into the interior, so their actions

The scope is also limited to the vicinity of the coast. Because of Haihan's armed raids on the Liaodong coast in the past two years, the enemy has very few troops stationed near the coastline. Almost all the places Morgan's operations can go are concentrated in the offshore sea.

In the narrow area where the Qing army is located, there is naturally very little effective information. Even if the Qing army mobilizes large-scale troops, it is almost impossible to carry out it in this area, so Morgan has been busy for more than half a month, providing it to the Ministry of National Defense

However, it is still difficult to accurately judge the movements of the Qing army despite the intelligence information.

However, this situation is expected to change with the arrival of the combined fleet in the Yellow Sea. In addition to the navy, the troops brought by Wang Tom also include marines who are good at amphibious operations. In addition, special warfare independents who have rich combat experience in various environments

The regiment is also fully capable of meeting the requirements of reconnaissance operations.

In addition to the elites of these two Haihan armies, the other three armies of the coalition are also eager to try. For them, as long as they have the Haihan army acting together, they can go nowhere in the world. Even if they have traveled thousands of miles to the north, they have to fight with their opponents.

Only after recruiting and training troops can we consider that this journey was not in vain.

During the meeting at the coalition command headquarters that night, Xu Yuzhuo took the lead in proposing to participate in the next reconnaissance mission, and said that the troops he brought could fully serve as landing arrow troops to explore the way for the Haihan Army. This meant that Xu Yuzhuo's troops were

To take the initiative to take over the riskiest part of the landing reconnaissance mission shows how determined he is.

But from another perspective, this also shows that Xu Yuzhuo has great confidence in the combat effectiveness of his troops. He is not afraid of running into enemy troops in enemy-occupied areas.

The intention of allies to prove their strength.

Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun knew very well Xu Yuzhuo's intention to earn this performance. The Xu family in Fujian has become stronger and stronger in recent years, and has gradually no longer contentedly guarding the three-acre land at the door of their home. Although it was hindered by Mingchen's

Due to his status, he is not yet able to raise a flag for rebellion, but his thoughts of outward expansion have already become active. During his previous participation in the Haihan National Day celebrations in Sanya, Xu Yuzhuo made it clear to the executive committee that the Xu family intends to expand outside Fujian.

Seeking cooperation with Haihan on a large scale, not just limited to trade or military fields, the Xu family wants to follow Haihan's example and open up their own colonies overseas.

Of course, Xu Xinsu also knows that this approach actually competes with Haihan. If the Fujian Xu family wants to make gains overseas, they still have to cling to Haihan's thigh for a foreseeable period of time. So if they want to gain overseas

To colonize, you must first let Haihan recognize your strength. To do this, the battlefield is undoubtedly the most suitable environment.

From the perspective of Haihan, the Ministry of National Defense is naturally happy to see the results. As for whether the Fujian Xu family will compete with Haihan in the fight for overseas colonies in the future, the military is relatively optimistic and believes that the Fujian Xu family will compete with Haihan in the future.

The growth of the Xu clan can be used by Haihan. According to the opinions of some generals, the Fujian Xu clan can send troops in the name of the Ming Dynasty when necessary to facilitate Haihan's overseas operations.

For example, although this time the troops were sent to aid North Korea, although it was organized by Haihan, there were Ming troops among the coalition forces. This gave the North Korean king an excellent reason to convince the domestic opposition. After all, even the sovereign country had already sent troops. , what other reason does North Korea have to choose not to fight but to beg for peace?

Xu Yuzhuo wanted to perform in Liaodong so that Haihan would pay more attention to the strength of the Fujian Xu family, and Haihan also hoped to use the special status of the Fujian Ming Army to make North Korea better cooperate with his combat plan. The two sides hit it off. Of course, the mutual trust and tacit understanding established by the two sides' in-depth cooperation over the years is also an indispensable part of the reason why General Haihan was willing to let the Fujian Ming Army join this risky mission.

"Then please make preparations, General Xu. We will set off from Ganghwa Island and head north in three days." Wang Tom has already made up his mind. Regardless of whether the Koreans have made significant improvements in war preparations in the past three days, they will target the Qing army's reconnaissance operations. All must be carried out as soon as possible to avoid delaying the fighter opportunity. Although Haihan has a detailed map of the Yellow Sea area, many places still need to conduct on-site inspections before the war. As a commander, only he can have a clear idea and formulate a more appropriate plan. tactics.

The person under the greatest pressure at this time was not the commander of their expeditionary force, but Kim Sang-hyun, who had a bad encounter with Wang Tom. As the leader of the main war faction in North Korea, Kim Sang-hyun was undoubtedly disappointed with the arrival of the coalition fleet. He had high hopes and believed that this should be the biggest help for North Korea to escape the crisis of national annihilation. However, he did not expect that General Haehan was not so easy to deal with. He almost left Ganghwa Island just because of the poor preparations for war.

Of course, Kim Sang-hyun also knows that his side does have some imperfections. For example, the port terminal of Ganghwa Island is completely unable to cope with the entry of a huge coalition fleet. But there are certain objective reasons. From Li Xi’s visit in Sanya It took about five days to mobilize Haihan's reinforcements and receive the news in North Korea. He also spent several days arguing with the peace faction in the court to persuade the king to decide to fight the Qing army. , and then recruited civilians to formulate a construction plan for the expansion of the port, prepare various building materials and tools, and transport the personnel and materials to the port of Ganghwa Island. The coalition fleet has already arrived in Zhoushan. Naturally, it is too late in the few days left. Expand the original port facilities to the standards required by Haihan.

Kim Sang-hyun believes that he has asked the relevant domestic institutions to operate at full speed to ensure that the Hae-han fleet can move to Ganghwa Island as soon as possible, but the degree of completion is obviously far from qualified in the eyes of the Hae-han people. But Kim Sang-heon is also quite aggrieved. Who could have expected that the Haihan fleet would be so large in scale and arrive so quickly? The reception banquet originally prepared had to be canceled because Wang Tom did not want to attend, but Kim Sang-hyun did not forget to tell the officials waiting at the banquet They all cursed like crazy. For the current plan, we can only order the local construction workers to work hard day and night. If the existing port conditions cannot be improved after three days, then the responsible officials and foremen at all levels will All of them were able to delay the discussion of state affairs.

As for the other alternative locations requested by Haehan, it is not that North Korea is unwilling to hand over these places to Haehan to station troops, but that most of the places chosen by Haehan are far away from nearby cities, and some are even uninhabited. In this area, it is impossible to build camps and ports that can accommodate thousands of people in a short period of time, so we can only deal with it first and arrange the base of the Navy and Han Army on Ganghwa Island, which has relatively good basic conditions. This is just a compromise. The arrangement obviously did not satisfy General Haihan, and was regarded as a sign that he had no intention of fighting with the Qing army. Kim Sang-hyun, who came all the way from Seoul to receive the Haihan people, had to cry out that he was wronged.

The next morning, thousands of Korean civilians came to the port and started working to expand the existing wharf facilities. The most urgent thing at the moment is to build a trestle at the port that can dock the Majesty-class warships. Hundreds of thigh-thick logs were placed at the port.

The seaside was processed by carpenters into a pointed shape, and then the villagers worked together to erect it and nail it into the seabed offshore to serve as a support for the trestle. However, due to the lack of large-scale construction machinery, only human shoulders and hands were needed to lift it, and the construction speed was slow.

Not ideal.

Almost all the officials on Ganghwa Island came to the port to supervise the work, and the foremen spared no effort to direct the work of the civilian workers. Unfortunately, what Haihan valued was not the degree of their hard work, but the actual operational efficiency.

"If the domestic construction efficiency is used as a standard line of ten points, then I think the North Koreans can only have five points at most." After watching on the dock for a while, Qian Tiandun shook his head and came to the conclusion: "With this construction speed,

, even after three days, we will not be able to build a dock capable of docking the Majesty-class battleship."

"It will take at least five to seven days." Wang Tom agreed with his view: "This has to be the premise that everything goes well. If God is not kind, or there is some construction accident in the middle, it is hard to say how long it will take.

.”

"Before departure, Yan Chujie said that the battle with the Qing army was a five-nation coalition, but now I feel that four nations are enough. With the performance of the Koreans, I don't really want to fight side by side with them on the battlefield." Qian Tian

Dun made no secret of his thoughts.

"There isn't even a decent port... This war is not going to be easy to fight!" Wang Tom also felt a little frustrated. He was originally full of enthusiasm for this military operation to the north, but the actual situation in North Korea made him feel frustrated.

A basin of cold water. The Haihan Navy is stronger when it is strong, but its reliance on logistics is no less than that of the army, and even more so in some aspects. If there is not a well-equipped supply port behind the war zone, then

It is bound to greatly affect the performance of Haihan Navy on the battlefield.

In the afternoon of that day, there was finally a piece of good news. The first batch of two thousand taels of gold promised to be paid by North Korea for military expenses to Haehan finally arrived at Ganghwa Island earlier than expected, and Kim Sang-hyun personally came to meet him.

Wang Tom completed the handover calculation. The money was originally provided to Haihan in the name of departure fees, but because the North Korean envoy did not have so much money on hand, the payment could only be postponed until the combined fleet arrived in North Korea. But in fact

All the expenses for the fleet dispatch were advanced from the temporary budget allocated by the Ministry of Finance, and then deducted from the gold. Therefore, as soon as Wang Tom arrived at Ganghwa Island, he insisted on recovering the money first to avoid the Ministry of National Defense's military expenses.

There is a big hole in expenses.
Chapter completed!