Chapter 281 Taking the lead

According to the observation of the lookout post on the top of the mountain, the number of troops dispatched by the Nanyue camp this time is about 1,500. This is no longer a patrol team, but a real combat force. But in terms of scale,

, they probably still did not take the enemies appearing on the east coast seriously, and perhaps thought that this was just another sneak harassment by a small group of North Vietnamese troops.

As for the defensive position, the headquarters has arranged for the musketry troops of the North Vietnamese Confederate Army to enter the front-line position. To deal with the unprepared South Vietnamese troops, the command headquarters believes that the musketry-equipped Confederate Army is competent enough. Of course, just in case,

The headquarters still mobilized three companies of the Haihan Militia Regiment in its rear as a reserve force. If the Congcong Army's combat situation is not good, the reserve force will immediately step forward to take over the position. As for the artillery unit, the weapons are still under tension.

It is being assembled and will not be put into use until later.

As for the more than a thousand spearmen that the headquarters requested from Zheng Bai, they would not be used in positional battles for the time being. Harugong arranged these people to the rear and asked them to cut down trees nearby and prepare.

A more complete camp was built on the beach. A total of more than 3,000 people from both sides' coalition forces and civilians were crowded into such a small and open area. If the camp was not properly arranged, it would inevitably cause confusion in the subsequent combat command.

After the South Vietnamese troops came into visual distance, they were also stunned by the defense line that appeared here overnight. But this time the South Vietnamese commander did not make any mistakes again. After being shocked, he immediately sent someone back to the camp to report the news.

, and requested more reinforcements. Based on their many combat experiences with North Vietnam, this line of defense, which is less than a hundred feet wide and no more than five feet high, may not be as easy to conquer as it seems.

More importantly, behind the short village wall, the banner with the word "Zheng" has been displayed, indicating that this force that seems to have descended from the sky is from the opponent from the north. And the opponent has spent a lot of effort to build it here.

The fortifications obviously did not intend to be withdrawn without making a show, and the two sides would inevitably have to fight here.

"Calm down, don't panic, just do everything according to your usual training!" Mu Xiabai lectured them in the formation of the North Vietnamese Confederate Army: "You have received the best training and have the best weapons.

Dealing with these primitive troops will be as easy as chopping melons and vegetables! The only thing I ask of you is to obey orders! No one is allowed to fire at will before the commander gives the order!"

After Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan were transferred from the Cliff Office to the Tushan training camp, they served as instructors in the camp. The officers in the North Vietnamese training troops were generally brought out by them personally. Although they did not get along for a long time, they

There is no confirmed master-disciple status, and the two sides belong to different interest camps, but they have lived in the army for several months, and there is still some comradeship. As Mu Xiabai, he also hopes that North Vietnam will

This trained unit was able to demonstrate its own level in this battle and achieve relatively good results - this is not only an affirmation of the work of the military advisers, but also will allow the North Vietnamese regime to provide more military assistance to the crossing group in the future.

A lot of trust and dependence.

After Mu Xiabai finished speaking, he called Zheng Ting to his side: "Little General Zheng, I will leave it to you to command the next battle against the enemy!"

Zheng Ting looked a little uneasy, but he still raised his chest and responded: "Instructor Mu, please help our army raid the formation!"

The South Vietnamese army did not stay on the periphery for too long, and had no intention of continuing to wait for reinforcements from the camp. Its commander then issued an order to attack. However, from the perspective of Haihan, this attack may be more serious.

Most of them were just for testing purposes - there were only about 300 enemy troops marching towards the defensive line, and they obviously planned to weigh their opponents before making any plans.

"Form up!" Zheng Ting cheered up and issued an order to his troops.

There are more than 1,000 North Vietnamese trained troops, among which the musketeers are organized into five square formations, with 192 people in each combat square. During combat, they are divided into eight rows for rotational shooting, maintaining the continuous firepower output of 24 guns. At this time

Three of the phalanxes were deployed on the position. During combat, the volleys could reach a firepower output of thousands of rounds per minute. The command headquarters believed that with this level of firepower, even if the South Vietnamese army in front of them directly launched a full-scale assault, it would still be ineffective.

The only end result is delivering food.

The vanguard force of South Vietnam was mainly composed of sword and shield soldiers. They did not rush to charge, but marched slowly, carefully guarding against possible bow and arrow attacks in front. However, they marched from a distance of 500 meters to 200 meters.

, you can almost see the densely packed heads behind the wall of the opposite village, but they have never been attacked by the other side. This makes these South Vietnamese soldiers very uneasy and can't guess what the other side is playing.

At this time, there was a rapid drumbeat from the rear, which was a signal to urge them to advance. These South Vietnamese soldiers had no other choice but to grit their teeth and speed up to rush towards the defensive position on the opposite side.

"Raise the gun!"

Zheng Ting gave an order, and densely packed gun barrels stretched out from three directions of the defensive wall, pointing at the South Vietnamese soldiers rushing over. Zheng Ting did not rush to give the order to fire, but waited until the opponent ran within a hundred meters.

, then forcefully waved the command knife in his hand: "Fire!"

With a crackling sound, a cloud of smoke rose from the top of the defensive wall. After firing, the North Vietnamese soldiers immediately raised their guns and stepped back from the queue, giving their place to the people who came up from the back row.

A dozen South Vietnamese soldiers who charged at the front fell down almost instantly, but at this time, most of the South Vietnamese soldiers had not realized what had happened and still did not stop charging.

"Fire!"

The second row of North Vietnamese soldiers stepped forward and finished shooting, knocking down several more of the charging South Vietnamese troops. Although the firing rate of the matchlock gun was only between 80% and 90%, this firing rate was enough to inflict heavy damage on the unprepared South Vietnamese.

The soldiers inflicted a heavy blow. The wooden shields in their hands could not block the bombardment of musket projectiles at this distance, and the unlucky leading officer was unfortunately shot and fell to the ground in the first round of shooting, making the stormtroopers a

A headless fly.

At this time, some people have discovered that the weapons used by the North Vietnamese army on the opposite side are not the bows and arrows they are used to seeing before, but the frightening muskets - this gunshot, this smoke, is not exactly what the musketeers saw after firing.

?

Before they could recover, the bullets fired by the third row were already flying in the air. Although the muskets exported to North Vietnam by the Cross-Travel Group were performance-castrated monkey versions, their accuracy and lethality within a hundred meters were still quite high.

Strong, as long as a certain firepower density and shooting frequency are maintained, it is basically impossible for a small number of infantry to complete a successful 100-meter charge.

When the first round of eight-row shooting was completed, it only took a little more than half a minute, and the stormtroopers on the opposite side were already in a state of retreat. The South Vietnamese soldiers who were lucky enough to survive behind them had changed from the rear to the front, and did not care about any military orders.

, and ran back desperately.

The North Vietnamese soldiers behind the defensive wall were also excited by such results, and fired another round of shots at the enemy's back. In the end, the number of people who were able to successfully escape the effective range of the musketeers was only about half of the original number.

During this wave of tentative offensives, hundreds of South Vietnamese soldiers were brought down just tens of meters outside the defensive wall.

As the enemy troops retreated, more than thirty North Vietnamese infantrymen rushed out from behind the defensive wall. They were not going to chase down the retreating enemies, but came out to kill and behead the dead and wounded enemy troops in front of the battlefield. The North Vietnamese Army

The way in which the merits are recorded is still the traditional one. This time, it only took a moment to cut off hundreds of heads in one breath. He was definitely the best in the recent battles between the two sides.

Regarding the "barbaric" practices of the North Vietnamese Army, the headquarters held an attitude of neither supporting nor opposing. For practical reasons, the headquarters did not intend to accept the wounded from South Vietnam, which would have a negative impact on its own limited medical capabilities.

It is undoubtedly a "waste". And maybe when the attack reaches the rear, the headquarters will need to ask for some heads from the North Vietnamese and bring them back to Luo Shengdong, Wei Ping and others for military merit.

The first contact battle ended with a resounding victory for the North Vietnamese. According to the calculation of the infantry team who came out of the camp to behead their heads, the Communists killed 125 enemies in the battle just now and captured 17 others - these prisoners were all

They were very minor injuries, and those who were more serious and unable to move were treated on the spot. If North Vietnam did not now need a large number of people to be delivered to the crossing group as a condition for the army to attack, most of these prisoners would not have a chance to survive.

The only wounded soldier on the North Vietnamese side was because he was too nervous and repeatedly reloaded ammunition, which caused the barrel to explode. He blew up all over his face and lost one of his hands. However, such an episode quickly happened.

The joy of winning the first battle was forgotten. How could there be any dissatisfaction with the casualty rate of more than 1:100?

"Good fight." Mu Xiabai, who witnessed the whole process, affirmed Zheng Ting's command and the performance of the North Vietnamese Army, but there were still some unspoken subtexts in his heart - within a hundred meters of distance

After firing two thousand rounds of ammunition, they were able to knock down more than a hundred people when the opponent was unprepared. It seemed that the combat effectiveness of the musketeers was still relatively limited.

Of course, it would be biased to attribute such results only to the formation of musketeers. The North Vietnamese Army used muskets for the first time in combat. The matchlocks they used had shortcomings in terms of firing rate, loading speed and accuracy, as well as their opponents.

The timely retreat had a certain impact on the final result. If it were an army with more combat experience, this record would definitely improve.

After the South Vietnamese army suffered such a frustrating loss, they did not dare to challenge again, but immediately sent a second group of sergeants to return to the camp.

"Base, base, this is Lookout Post No. 2. I have good news for you. The hornet's nest has been popped!" Roger was lurking in a tree on the top of a hill in the south, observing the South Vietnamese Army camp from above with a telescope.

The situation was reported to the headquarters at the foot of the mountain through the radio.

The North Vietnamese Army massively landed on the coast southeast of the camp to build fortifications, and an unknown number of musketeers appeared. When these two news reached the South Vietnamese Army camp, they immediately aroused a strong reaction.

According to the previous battle situation, the generals of the South Vietnamese Army believed that it was a certainty to capture the mountain defense line within five days. For this reason, they were already studying the issue of how to continue marching north after breaking through the mountain defense line. But they never wanted to see it.

The North Vietnamese Army, which seemed to have no ability to resist, actually made a move to cross Chencang secretly, land on its own side, and set up camp as if they were going to fight. What confused them the most was how the North Vietnamese Army suddenly had possession of it.

A musketry unit?

The South Vietnamese side had been secretly planning for two years to establish a musketeer unit, and it took half a year to form an army. It was not until the counterattack in the first two months that they showed their fangs, causing the North Vietnamese army to retreat in succession. Ordinarily, under such circumstances,

, if the North Vietnamese Army had similar troops, they would have been fighting on the front line of Zhengjiang long ago. Why did the defenders here have to work hard for a month and only show up now?

It’s not that the South Vietnamese Army didn’t have spy spies in the north, but they had never heard of any news that the North Vietnamese Army had firearms units. The only information they knew was that two to three thousand reinforcements seemed to have arrived from the north a few days ago. But in South Vietnam

In the eyes, such a small amount of reinforcements can no longer affect the course of the war - of course, this view excludes the possibility of musketeers.

The location where this North Vietnamese army appeared was not unusual. According to the South Vietnamese military's previous investigation, the beach area was not large and could not accommodate a large number of troops to land. It could only accommodate a few thousand people at most.

But no matter what, the South Vietnamese Army must not sit back and watch as a North Vietnamese armed force threatens them from behind. Otherwise, even if they take down the mountain defense line, they will not be able to continue marching north with peace of mind. After a simple balance, the generals in the South Vietnamese Army will

I decided to remove the nail in my back first and then think about attacking the mountain defense line.

Since there were musketeers in the North Vietnamese Army, the South Vietnamese generals, who knew that the musketeers were powerful, decided that they could no longer make small fuss, but had to go to war to directly destroy this stronghold. So the South Vietnamese military camp immediately began to mobilize troops.

It caused a lot of confusion.

The defensive positions of the Haihan Army were not idle either. In addition to the camps being set up in full swing at the rear, hundreds of civilians were cooperating with the artillery and assembling dozens of artillery pieces unloaded from the ships onto the gun mounts.

Yan Chujie was personally responsible for commanding the artillery this time, but before the artillery was stationed in the position, it encountered a small trouble in assembly.

In order to facilitate transportation, the artillery used by the army adopts a detachable base. The gun body and frame can be separated to facilitate shipping and transportation. If necessary, the gun body can be moved directly without the mobile frame.

It was installed on a temporary fort for firing. However, the North Vietnamese civilians who were in charge of unloading the ship during the landing obviously did not understand Hai Han's cargo loading and unloading procedures. They mixed and stacked the unloaded artillery spare parts together, and the Hai Han militia's own version

There were some slight differences in specifications from the monkey version exported to North Vietnam, so the artillerymen had to spend time sorting out the artillery accessories of different specifications from the mountains of supplies on the beach, and then assemble them.

Such a one-point installation delayed at least half an hour, which was simply an accident level for the battle plan formulated by the headquarters. Yan Chujie scolded the North Vietnamese officer in charge of commanding the civilians.

In the end, I had to take advantage of the break in the battle to bring several people from the headquarters to the battle in person to direct the civilian workers to assemble the artillery.

Compared with the busyness of others, the special operations company, which had been in the limelight before, was now doing nothing. According to the original arrangement, the tasks of the special operations company were basically reconnaissance behind enemy lines and surprise attacks.

As for the main task, the headquarters does not intend to leave it to Qian Tiandun's company for tasks such as offensive and defensive battles. After all, formation battles are not their specialty.

So after the official battle began, the special operations company was immediately withdrawn from the firing line by the headquarters, and the latest order given to them was to "rest and stand by."

"Company Commander!"

"What's the matter?" Qian Tiandun looked at the map in his hand, and he could tell that Gao Qiaonan was greeting him without raising his head.

"The combat effectiveness of the Annan people is far inferior to ours. Why does the headquarters let them fight on the front line but arrange for us to rest?" Takahashi Minami seemed a little dissatisfied with the arrangements of the headquarters: "Shouldn't we be the one to demonstrate Haihan's force? I

You think it’s best for us to fight against the South Vietnamese Army! Does the company commander have any other ideas about the arrangements for the headquarters?”

"Squad leader Gao Qiao, as a soldier, it is your bounden duty to obey orders. All Haihan soldiers must abide by the orders of the headquarters, including you and me." Qian Tiandun said to Gao Qiao Nan seriously: "Even if you don't understand

, you must also act according to orders! In our Haihan Army, there will be no such thing as a subordinate trying to overcome the superior. If you have similar thoughts, you'd better put them away as soon as possible! Your current identity is a Haihan soldier, not

Japanese shogunate samurai must know who they want to be loyal to!"

"Yes!" Takahashi Nan quickly responded: "I will serve the Executive Committee for the rest of my life. Please never doubt my loyalty, company commander!"

Seeing that his attitude was quite upright, Qian Tiandun relaxed his tone slightly and said: "In the battle plan arranged by the headquarters, our mission is to fight behind enemy lines, and this is not our position. A few days ago, we took a boat south

The areas we go down to conduct reconnaissance are our next targets."

Takahashi Minami's eyes lit up and he said, "Does that mean we will have other combat missions?"

"Of course." Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "We are not here to catch a few tongues and eliminate one or two patrols and then be done. The combat missions we have to complete next will directly affect the future trend of the war.

But we have to wait until the position here can be stabilized before we can get away and do other things. Don't be anxious, let's take a look at the South Vietnamese Army's combat methods first, which will also be beneficial to our subsequent operations."
Chapter completed!