Chapter 285: Escape

"The rebels had never used this kind of catapult on the battlefield before." Zheng Ting said to several Hai Han officers in front of him: "In the past, they used to focus on bows and arrows, supplemented with a small number of artillery as a means of long-range attack. This is the first time I have seen such a catapult."

Yan Chujie and others nodded slightly, which also proved their view from the side - these trenchers are probably also the technology provided by the military advisers of South Vietnam, and their purpose is to supplement the long-range attack methods to attack the coalition defense line. There were not many artillery in the South Vietnamese army, and they made these trenchers for several days after the truce, probably hoping to be used with the artillery to destroy the coalition's defense wall in the shortest possible time. However, the opponent did not expect that there were not only four cannons behind the defense wall of the coalition position, but more than forty!

Some of these artillery were monkey-version artillery exported to North Vietnam, including the four small cannons used a few days ago. In addition, the Expeditionary Force also brought several original Haihan cannons, and if necessary, they could even dismantle the naval guns from the "Exploration". So many artillery were even difficult to lay out on the defense line just two hundred meters wide, so the artillery arranged on the defense line only accounts for half of the total number.

If the South Vietnamese army only launched an attack with limited artillery, the coalition forces would also play the trick to the end, exposing only a few cannons to PK the opponent, and slowly knocking off the opponent's artillery with the advantages of range and accuracy. But since the South Vietnamese army had come up with a catapult to supplement the long-range firepower shortage and threatened the safety of militia soldiers, the coalition forces could no longer hide it, so they simply showed their fangs and attacked them while the South Vietnamese army had not regained their taste.

The South Vietnamese Army did not expect that after so many days of fighting, there were so many killing weapons hidden on the opponent's position. After a rumbling gun, the catapults in the South Vietnamese formation were hit by artillery shells one after another. As for the limited number of artillery pieces, they were even named after the coalition artillery fire, under the concentration of fire by the coalition artillery, they were even named after them.

Faced with such a situation, the commander of South Vietnam was not so stupid as to continue to attack, but immediately ordered the rear team to change to the front team and all the members retreated. The musket force in the South Vietnamese army retreated before it even showed its front.

"General Yan, please ask for your duty to pursue me!" Zheng Ting saw that the war had only been incense, and the South Vietnamese army could no longer withstand the artillery fire. Seeing that this situation was planned to withdraw, it would be a pity if he didn't grasp such a great battle situation. He quickly asked Yan Chujie for his order.

Yan Chujie naturally would not object to this suggestion. Now that the opponent's tricks have exposed his firepower in advance, it is not easy to use this battle to annihilate the opponent's musket troops, but the coalition forces have been preparing for this for so long, and at least some interest must be collected. The command center did not forget to notify the mountain positions in the north and cooperated with the coalition positions to launch a counterattack against the South Vietnamese army.

So two months later, the North Vietnamese Army finally had the opportunity to launch an active counterattack on the battlefield. The garrison troops of the two positions launched an attack from the east and north directions to the retreating South Vietnamese Army. For the South Vietnamese Army, the situation in the north was slightly better. After all, the North Vietnamese Army stationed in the mountainous positions had reached the end of its strength, and now it did not have much strength to fight a counterattack. However, the army chasing from the east gave the South Vietnamese army a headache. Almost all musketeers fell behind not far or near. As soon as the troops behind the South Vietnam stopped, they also stopped. Then a row of guns made the troops rush over the back. If they were going to rush over and fight hard, there were spear soldiers lined up in neat square formations next to them. It was a desperate way to fight.

The only thing worthy of the South Vietnamese Army's gratitude was that their camp was not far from the battle site, and the large troops could retreat to the camp in one go. As for the heavy equipment such as shields, catapults, etc., no one could care about it when escaping, and they were all abandoned on the battlefield.

The North Vietnamese Army, which only had infantry, was not overwhelmed by the temporary advantage and directly attacked the South Vietnamese Army's camp. The counterattack troops in both directions stopped at about four or five hundred meters away from the enemy camp.

With communication tools that surpass the times, although the two troops were separated by a South Vietnamese camp, their actions were very synchronized. After rushing the South Vietnamese troops back to the camp, they began to station and rest on the spot, as if they were preparing for the next attack.

But after half an hour of nervousness, the coalition forces did not launch an attack. Instead, many civilians began to dig trenches in front of the formation, and seemed to be preparing to build fortifications and set up camps. Especially the coalition forces in the east quickly removed the defense wall behind and transported it to the front to rebuild, allowing the Nanyue Army to see how to build a stable defense wall in the shortest time.

Just an hour later, even the artillery was transported to the newly opened front line and began to enter the newly dug gun position one by one, and the guns were aimed at the Nanyue Camp. The terrain here is much wider than the previous coalition positions. The artillery that was not used before can be spread out and scared the Nanyue Army.

The North Vietnamese army in the north did not have such sharp methods, but with its large population and powerful force, it quickly stabilized its position. The civilians in the rear began to transport timber continuously, and drove deer forts to resist horses on the position and digged the trenches in front of the formation.

If you really want to fight the South Vietnamese Army, the main force of the North Vietnamese Army is probably not very good at winning. After struggling to hold on with a defensive state for nearly two months, most of them have reached their limit. However, the coalition command did not intend to let the main force of the North Vietnamese Army participate in the war. Their task is to pose and put enough pressure on the South Vietnamese Army from the north.

The South Vietnamese Army wanted to move the enemy in the north, but facing the mysterious troops on the other side, no one dared to act rashly at this critical moment and ask about sending troops to attack - the army in the east has at most two or three thousand people, and there are so many muskets and artillery. Who knows what powerful things will be hidden behind the military formation in the north? Maybe once the army goes out, it will fall into the pit dug by the other party.

The generals of South Vietnam already understood that North Vietnam had arranged a huge trap to wait for them to fall into it, but no one could say clearly when the trap began. If North Vietnam had already arranged this situation since the retreat of the line of Zhengjiang Hengshan, the sacrifice was too great. During this period, the North Vietnamese army alone had more than 10,000 people killed and captured. The commander of North Vietnam could not be so stupid as to use such a large bait to fish. Moreover, when the mountain defense line was about to collapse several times, North Vietnam did not see North Vietnam use this large killing force to restore the situation.

But if it was only recently started to arrange, North Vietnam's actions would be too quick. From sending troops from sea, quickly building defensive positions, to their own rear, and raiding and fighting, a large number of new-style troops equipped with muskets and artillery, it would take at least several months to prepare for any of these things. However, North Vietnam's performance seemed to have been ready for annihilation war from sea to land. If this was not a long-planned trap, it would be difficult to explain these unreasonable phenomena.

Even if they had a lot of imagination, it was hard to imagine that North Vietnam, who was in trouble, could actually attract a powerful foreign aid. This foreign aid had indeed spent a lot of time and investment to prepare for this battle. However, whether it was preparation work or the actual combat process, the combat capabilities of this expeditionary force were indeed far from comparable to the other two armies on the battlefield.

The overlap of these contradictions made it difficult for the commander of the South Vietnamese army to judge what kind of battle situation the North Vietnamese side had set up. Although there was a musket force in its own camp, the number of artillery was far less than that of its opponents. If you pull it out and fight hard, it would probably only increase casualties.

The opinions of the "military consultants" from the West in the South Vietnam camp were more direct. At this time, we should not be in love with the war anymore. The army should be arranged to retreat south immediately. These generals in South Vietnam may not have realized what it means to have a large number of artillery in their hands, but the "military consultants" have already felt the signs of failure. However, this opinion has not been adopted by the South Vietnamese generals. They believed that at least they had to look at the next actions of North Vietnam. If they retreated without saying a word, then these two months would be in vain? If they withdraw troops at the end of the battle, who would take the responsibility of avoiding war? Who dares to take it?

Seeing that the South Vietnamese army did not retreat in a hurry, but instead huddled into the camp, the coalition command immediately felt relieved. The officers were worried that they would scare away their opponents after they exposed their strength, but seeing this, the South Vietnamese army did not seem to realize the dangerous situation they were in. They probably still had a certain fluke mentality and thought they could fight with the coalition. Since this is the case, the command will not miss the second opportunity to attack the opponent. If they can grasp it properly this time, the final result may be better than the previous positional war plan.

In the current battlefield situation, the coalition forces blocked the direction of the South Vietnamese army from the northwest and southeast directions. Now, the gap left by the coalition forces in the northeast direction is directly to the seaside, which is equivalent to a dead end. To the west are mountains that stretch for more than ten miles, basically all of them are primeval forests. The only way to live is the retreating road in the south. Although it is still under the control of the South Vietnamese army, it is already within the range of the artillery of the coalition forces.

Of course, if the South Vietnamese army really dares to fight and rush northward, it may also break the defense line of the North Vietnamese army and cross the mountain positions to enter the hinterland of North Vietnam. But even if they rush over, the supply of these tens of thousands of people is still a huge problem. The coalition forces on the back can cut off their long supply line at any time. Moreover, there is another built defense site Yong'an Port thirty miles north of the mountain defense line. As an insurance measure set by the command center, the terrain there is also easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if the South Vietnamese army rushed through the mountain defense line, they would be dragged to the vicinity of Yong'an Port and could not continue to advance northward.

Since South Vietnam chose to defend the enemy, the coalition forces calmly built positions and arranged defensive measures to prevent the South Vietnamese army from launching a sudden counterattack. The command well ordered all the coalition forces to have a meal for lunch to reward them for their heroic battles before this. After lunch leisurely, the command center issued an offensive order against the South Vietnam camp.

At this time, the command center did not intend to continue to hide it, and directly pushed all the artillery to the front line to make its debut. Around forty artillery pieces were fired out of the guns on the front line, and even if they did not fire the artillery, it had a great deterrence. It was not until this time that the South Vietnamese army finally realized that they had missed the best opportunity to retreat.

Due to too many artillery and insufficient gunners, the command center had to call all the half-baked intern gunners on the "Exploration". Of course, at a distance of four or five hundred meters, the target was to be a military camp that lasted for several miles. Even if you shoot with your eyes closed, you would not be too far away. There were enough intern gunners.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Yan Chujie announced the beginning of this round of offensive with the first shell on the artillery position. Dozens of artillery roared one after another, and even thunder could be heard ten miles away. Under such power, not to mention the South Vietnamese army that was huddled in the camp, even most of the soldiers in the coalition army had their faces changed and they were trembling, and even the militias from Heitu Port were no exception. Only the militias who had been stationed in Shengli Port for a long time were normal, because every time the artillery drill was practiced, the militias generally had to participate in observation in batches to avoid panic on the battlefield due to the sound of artillery. Judging from the current performance, the training arranged by the Military and Police Department was undoubtedly effective.

Zheng Bai also heard the dense cannon sounds coming from the southeast in the position several miles away. Although he had learned the combat plan of the command in advance through Feng Annan, the sound of cannon sounds from the air still made him feel a little inexplicable fear. With such dense artillery fire, the South Vietnamese rebels must have been unable to withstand such dense artillery fire. If he were himself, he might not be able to withstand it either.

The South Vietnamese Army did not have a good life. The first round of artillery fire smashed a piece of the village wall facing the coalition positions, and the shells flew into the camp, which often brought flesh and blood. This kind of power was not something that manpower could resist, so the South Vietnamese Army did not have much desire to resist. Soon the South Vietnamese Army stationed in this area retreated westward, hoping to get farther away from the coalition artillery fire, the better.

After ten rounds, the artillery fire stopped. The gunners at each artillery position recalibrated the shooting angle according to the latest instructions from the command center. The lookout post can easily observe the shooting effect from a high place. Seeing that the Nanyue Battalion has begun to retreat, then it is natural that they will extend the shooting into its depth.

The South Vietnamese military camp received a moment of tranquility, but no one relaxed because of this. Many people's legs and feet were still trembling, and their minds were full of scenes of their companions being torn to pieces by shells just now. Although the number of killings of these hundreds of shells was not particularly large, the effect was amazingly good. With the large camps in the southeast, they quickly fell into chaos after the first round of artillery fire. Under the unilateral long-range fire attack, the generals in the South Vietnamese army had no better way to deal with them except for issuing military orders such as "staying on the position" that have no practical effect.

Soon a new round of extended shooting sent the shells to an area not reached in the first round of shooting, and quickly caused a new round of killing and chaos in the battalion. The South Vietnamese army's response measures were to continue to retreat and avoid the range of the shells as much as possible.

If the South Vietnamese soldiers were facing the unseen lead bullets, they would have the courage to rush, but when faced with such shells that were enough to tear their bodies apart, no one would be able to muster up the courage to charge. Almost everyone was begging not to be hit by the flying shells, and no one thought about how to counterattack.

Of course, the officers were still unwilling to be beaten, but the problem was that it was basically impossible to organize a decent counterattack in such intensive artillery fire. The soldiers were busy rushing to the west to avoid shells, and all the institutions had been disrupted. Even if the officers wanted to organize their subordinates, they could not find anyone.

After three rounds of shooting in a row, the artillery fire stopped. Zheng Bai hurriedly asked Feng Annan why the command center wanted to stop the attack. Feng Annan's explanation made Zheng Bai feel ridiculous-the number of artillery shells was limited, so he had to calculate it.

Feng Annan was not joking with Zheng Bai, but it was the fact that. Among the materials carried by this expedition, the shells alone weighed more than 20 tons, which sounded like a lot, but the artillery brought this time was also quite a few, and when it was spread on each cannon, it was actually only a few dozen rounds. The army artillery was equipped with a little more shells. After two or three days, the "Exploration" traveled south, and the shells were less than half. If the attack was launched at an average frequency of ten shells per hour, it would basically be able to drain the shells in one day, and this was obviously not a situation that the command center was happy to see.

The combat effect the command hopes to achieve is to use artillery bombardment to destroy the opponent's will to resist, rather than use artillery shells to kill each enemy one by one. Artillery is only a long-range firepower force after all, and the final combat mission must be handed over to the infantry to complete.

In the afternoon of that day, the coalition forces did not rush to attack, but continued to dispatch troops and move the positions forward as a whole, and at the same time improve the fortifications on the periphery. The South Vietnamese Army also took advantage of this gap to quickly treat the injured and repair the damaged fortifications. However, before nightfall, the coalition forces took advantage of the setting sun to attack the Nanyue camp, breaking down a large area of ​​the village wall that had just begun, and even the engineering soldiers and civilians who were under construction were in trouble. No one in the Nanyue camp repaired the broken village wall. Only a small number of scattered soldiers were deployed to guard near the gap to guard against the coalition's sneak attack.

"Look at the opponent tightly! Their only chance is to launch a night attack tonight!" Mu Xiabai made a request to the soldiers in charge of early warnings on the periphery, and at the same time, the first and second companies of the militia, which had the strongest combat power, were transferred to the position to be responsible for night guarding.

The South Vietnamese army, who were already anxious to jump over the wall that night, did live up to expectations and launched a round of sneak attacks, but what was greeted was a row of dense lead bombs from the opposite position.

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Chapter completed!