Chapter 389: Defeat in one blow

Wu Sen walked out of the Navy Yamen, looked down at the soldier talisman in his hand, and shook his head helplessly. Although he persuaded his superiors last night and got the right to deploy troops, Wu Sen was not happy at all. He spent a lot of words,

Only then did Wu Sen finally get his boss to agree to send ten more ships to him today to go downstream to see if there would be an opportunity to attack the Haihan fleet. However, Wu Sen himself also knew very well that such a large-scale troop mobilization would have a huge impact on the Xiangjiang Estuary.

It is difficult for the fleet to pose a substantial threat.

It is difficult for Wu Sen to have any resentment for his boss's stinginess. This is not because his boss is not aware of the seriousness of the situation, but because there is still a large amount of materials that need to be transported from the south bank of the Xiangjiang River to the city of Hue on the north bank. He can transport more at this time.

Thousands of kilograms of grain entering the city may mean that Hue City can defend the city for one more day. In contrast, sending the limited ships on hand to carry out an uncertain or even futile attack is indeed less cost-effective.

But Wu Sen still refused to give up his plan to attack. He knew that the navy's only chance of victory was to catch the opponent off guard when the opponent's footing was not stable. If the Haihan people completed their preparations, they could advance steadily to the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River step by step.

, if the fighting starts again at that time, there will probably not even be a chance to fight back. By then, the Haihan warships will cut off the Xiangjiang River, which will be equivalent to cutting off the connection between Hue City and the vast area south of the Xiangjiang River, and Hue will be completely destroyed.

It became an isolated city and would be completely trapped in a passive situation. Therefore, even if there was only a slim chance of success in an active attack, Wu Sen was determined to give it a try.

However, the time to assemble the troops took much longer than expected, so that Wu Sen's plan to set off before dawn could only be scrapped. And the finally assembled personnel also made Wu Sen feel a little sad - the full number of combat personnel should be

There were 280 people, but only about 200 people actually gathered at the pier.

Wu Sen did not need to ask what happened. Ever since the news of the failure of the peace talks came out at the end of last year, desertions in the army had not stopped. Quite a few people were dissatisfied with the imperial court's decision to give up on continuing the peace talks and plan to fight to the end with the Haihan people.

With a pessimistic attitude, those in the army who were unwilling to continue fighting for the precarious Nguyen dynasty became deserters one after another, and the navy was no exception.

Wu Sen believed that after he left the Navy Yamen last night, the transfer order had been spread among the Navy. Fighting on the water with the Haihan people was basically a one-way battle for the current situation of the South Vietnamese Navy.

Naturally, there were many people who deserted the mission overnight. In the end, we were able to gather two-thirds of the manpower here, which is already a very good result.

Wu Sen did not give any more encouraging speeches, but instead had people carry the silver box up and handed out two taels of silver to everyone present - this was almost all the possessions he could get his hands on.

In his opinion, those who are willing to stay and join the war at this time do not need any further ideological mobilization. Instead, giving them some money can further stimulate their desire to fight.

After distributing the money, Wu Sen announced the departure, and more than 200 people took eighteen boats, sailed away from the dock on the south bank of Hue City, and sailed downstream downstream.

Wu Sen stood on the deck and let the soldiers around him put on the armor for him. This armor weighed more than thirty kilograms. Wu Sen would not wear it during patrols, but he might have to face it in the next battle.

Wearing armor can provide some protection against the sharp artillery fire of the Haihan people - even if it is just a psychological protection, it is better than wearing no protective gear at all.

At the same time that the fleet led by Wu Sen left the dock of Hue City, Takahashi Nan defeated the South Vietnamese patrol downstream. Therefore, Wu Sen did not know that his opponent was no longer the Haihan warship at the estuary of the Xiang River, but the

The Haihan Militia Army troops are trying to build forts to block the river.

"Don't think that the people of Black Tu Port took credit for this battle in the morning. Let me tell you, our army is the main force in the battle against Hue this time. There are many battles to be fought later. The battle in the morning was just an appetizer.

! Cheer up and keep an eye on the river! If anyone lets a boat go, don’t say I’m causing trouble for Yu Tiezhu!" Yu Tiezhu was cheering his men up at this time. That morning

The limelight was stolen by Takahashi Minami in the First World War, and his men were somewhat dissatisfied. After all, the First Battalion of the Militia was also a direct descendant of the ace directly under the Military Commission. How could the gang of savages in Black Earth Port gain the upper hand?

"Company commander, please don't brag. Last year, we sent troops to Annan twice. In both cases, the Navy was not the main force. Those people in the Navy only look at people with their nostrils. How can we, the Army, have a chance to shine!" Someone was there at that moment.

He complained aloud, sounding like a veteran with some experience.

Yu Tiezhu responded: "This time is different from last year. Hue City is not close to the sea. Even if the big ship comes along the Xiang River, it can only be used as a movable fort on the river. This task of siege will eventually have to be

Our army will complete it! We are the main force in the battle against Hue this time, and the navy is only allowed to wash our feet!"

Yu Tiezhu's merciless complaints aroused applause from his subordinates. For these army soldiers, the various treatments received by the Navy after its establishment did make them jealous. The military budget allocated to the Navy by the Executive Committee was obviously higher.

More than the Army. You must know that the cost of building an "Exploration-class" warship is already more than the military expenditure of a reorganized company for one year. The Navy builds more than a dozen ships at a time, and the larger "Exploration-class" warships are also built day and night.

The construction of new ships has been stopped. Four ships are currently in service, but a huge keel has been erected on the slipway of the Victory Port Shipyard, and there is no sign of stopping. In order to seize the time to build more warships

, the Victory Port Shipyard even reduced the number of slipways for building cargo ships from the original four to two, and prioritized the freed slipways for the construction of naval ships.

Looking back at the Army, although it was heard in May last year that the "Hai Han Ordnance Industry" had produced a new rifle whose performance was much better than the Type 28 flintlock rifle equipped by the militia, it was not until August that troops were dispatched to Hoi An.

At that time, the militia began to install new guns on a small scale, and the entire army's replacement speed was even slower. It was basically replacing new weapons at the rate of one company per month. It was not accelerated until the end of the year when it was decided to send troops to Annan.

The speed of replacement has increased. As for artillery, except for the launch of large siege mortars with astonishing caliber, basically no new products were released throughout last year. Of course, naturalized civilian officers like Yu Tiezhu do not know the details of the military industry department.

In the R&D and production process, what they saw was that the naval guns used by the navy were constantly being modified and improved. Every warship launched was equipped with one, and even the gunners were assigned to the navy first.

In fact, it only took a year for the militia to separate the navy. Many of the officers of the two armies are familiar with each other. There is not much resentment between the two sides, but there is definitely a feeling of dissatisfaction with each other. Army soldiers like Yu Tiezhu

The officers have also been holding back their energy for a long time and want to use actual achievements to enhance the reputation of the Haihan Army.

According to the command's battle plan, the Army will not continue to march south for the time being. Instead, it will conduct reconnaissance and complete the blockade of the river as its main combat tasks. On the position where Yu Tiezhu is located, in addition to the first battalion of the militia he leads,

In addition to the second company, a full artillery company with a total of twelve artillery pieces was deployed.

Ten of the twelve artillery pieces are used to block the river surface, and the other two are set up on both sides of the pontoon bridge on the tributary river to block the pontoon bridge passage. If necessary, aim at the pontoon bridge and fire two rounds to isolate the enemy from the river.

In the south. Under normal circumstances, this lineup is enough to withstand a thousand-man enemy force attacking simultaneously from both land and water. What Yu Tiezhu can be sure of is that the South Vietnamese Navy will not completely give up reconnaissance from the Xiangjiang River easily.

Even if he had the opportunity to launch an attack, the order he received was to use artillery fire to intercept all ships coming from upstream - simple, crude, but the Army's favorite combat method.

At ten o'clock in the morning, a loud arrow suddenly flew from the river bank about two miles south of the outpost position of the Haihan Militia, which immediately attracted the attention of the sentry. The loud arrow came from the Black Tu Port Special Operations Force on a forward reconnaissance mission.

, according to the pre-agreed signal, a sounding arrow means that a ship is coming down from the upstream. Yu Tiezhu immediately ordered all personnel to enter the combat position, and the artillery was loaded with ammunition in advance.

Wu Sen, who was still on the river upstream, naturally noticed the loud arrows flying out of the trees on the bank. He couldn't help but tense up and ordered the ships to pay attention to the enemy troops that might appear on the river bank. However, he could only be more vigilant.

These ships are rarely equipped with long-range weapons and cannot effectively attack enemies on the river banks.

However, the opponent was far more arrogant than Wu Sen expected. After traveling a few miles downstream, the ship leading the way sent a signal indicating that there were traces of enemies on the river bank, and began to slow down the speed of the boat. Soon Wu Sen also

I noticed the enemy troops on the river bank in front of me. It was obvious that the enemy had no intention of concealing their tracks. Hundreds of sand and earth bags were built on the bank to form a low wall about ten feet long and three feet high, with several dozen in the middle.

Although he still couldn't see clearly what was behind the low wall at the crenel, Wu Sen could already estimate what his opponent would place behind the crenel.

"Charge over!" Wu Sen did not hesitate for too long before giving the order. If the Haihan militia were blocked in this place where there was no way up or down, and they just returned without success, then the South Vietnamese Navy would probably have the last breath of their hearts.

It was all spent. No matter what, Wu Sen had to take a chance. Maybe the Haihan people just built this temporary fort on the river bank to scare people. There was nothing behind the fortifications made of sand bags that he was worried about.

However, the reality was far more cruel than expected. When we were still about thirty or forty feet away from the Haihan position on the shore, black barrels protruded from the crenels, pointing towards the river.

"Disperse the formation!" This was the last solution that Wu Sen could think of. Apart from hoping to use a dispersed formation to reduce the density of the opponent's artillery fire, he really had no other options available.

Yu Tiezhu, who witnessed the changes in the formation of the South Vietnamese navy on the shore, just sneered and ordered the artillerymen at each gun position to start aiming at their respective targets and prepare to fire.

When the artillery on the shore began to fire, Wu Sen desperately found that any tactics were in vain in the face of absolute fire suppression. The boat closest to the river bank was strafed by raging shotguns at a distance of about ten feet.

The body and the crew were directly torn into pieces, and disappeared on the river almost instantly. The ship a little further away also failed to escape from this storm-like blow, and the entire river was shrouded in

It is within the range of the artillery, and there is no shelter at all to provide cover and shielding. Such a target has no operational difficulty for the artillery on the shore.

The South Vietnamese navy on the river had no other option but to desperately move toward the other side of the river. However, this struggle had no practical effect. The shotguns used by the Haihan militia did not need to be very precise.

To take aim, you only need to aim at a general direction and then fire. A shotshell with a huge killing area is enough to cover a large area at a distance of two hundred meters. Therefore, although the rate of fire of the artillery on the shore is not high, it is still enough to cover the river surface.

Kill the ships one by one.

The most terrible thing is that these ships are also equipped with a large number of ignition materials. As long as they are hit by cannonballs, even if they are swept to the side, they will be ignited immediately. The crew members who are lucky enough to survive have no other way except to dive into the water to escape.

, and soon there was a pile of burning wreckage on the river.

Wu Sen, who was holding the battle at the rear of the fleet, almost had his blood vessels burst after witnessing this process. Although he knew that his pitiful lineup was probably no match for the Haihan militia, he did not expect that the strength gap between the two sides was so large.

.With only a dozen or twenty cannonballs, the fleet he had worked so hard to organize was beaten to pieces.

Just when Wu Sen was about to give the order to continue charging forward, the soldiers behind him rushed up to hold him down and stripped off his armor. Wu Sen shouted angrily: "What are you doing!"

"Sir, the war is not going well, so why risk your life? If you take off this armor, you can still escape!" The soldier said as he continued to untie Wu Sen's armor.

"How can we live in vain when we are faced with a national crisis!" Wu Sen yelled sadly. He was really unwilling to be defeated without the ability to resist. There were so many ships and so many lives, and he couldn't even give him a little trouble.

If the opponent creates it, the only loss caused to the opponent is probably just a few dozen rounds of ammunition.

Seeing that most of the ships rushing ahead had been cleared away by the Haihan people's cannonballs, the most conspicuous thing on the river was Wusen's ship. The artillerymen consciously began to adjust their muzzles without any orders, aiming at this conspicuous ship.

Target. After a round of salvo fire, Wu Sen's ship also turned into a ball of fire, burning brightly on the river.

"Write down how many ships you just hit, and report back to the headquarters later!" Yu Tiezhu ordered the officer accompanying the army with a happy face.

For the two companies stationed here, this is undoubtedly a very easy battle. The record of using artillery fire to destroy the South Vietnamese Navy on land is enough to squeeze the navy more out of the attack on Hue City.

Unplanned. The only regret is that it is probably impossible to count the number of enemy troops killed or injured in this battle, and there are no prisoners left alive. The South Vietnamese soldiers who were able to escape the shelling just now have probably swam to the other side.

The river bank escaped.

This battle, which lasted less than ten minutes, destroyed nearly one-third of the ships and troops of the remaining troops of the South Vietnamese Navy. When the news came back to Hue City, probably no more ships would dare to go down the river.

Now it's time to explore the truth. The large cargo ships staying at the estuary can now enter the Xiangjiang River with confidence and boldness, and transport various combat materials directly to the frontline areas through water transport.

Two small boats sent to clean up the battlefield finally captured the South Vietnamese naval officer General Wu Sen who had a lucky escape in the swamp near the other side of the river. Although he was stripped of his armor by his own soldiers and pushed off the boat, he was trapped in the

Unable to escape from the swamp, he eventually became a prisoner of the Haihan people. This was also the highest-ranking person captured by the Haihan militia on the first day of the official war.

Yu Tiezhu originally planned to pry out some information from Wu Sen, but he only received military training and was not good at intelligence work. After two hours of interrogation, except for confirming Wu Sen's identity, he did not find out anything.

Any valuable information. Considering that the prisoner was also a medium-sized officer, Yu Tiezhu did not resort to violence to extract a confession. Instead, he sent someone to escort him to a camp by the sea, where a group of trial experts would

Handle related matters.

In the next two days, Hai Han's position did not continue to advance southward, but remained at its current location. On the contrary, the reconnaissance team south of Gaoqiao was active outside Hue City and basically figured out the areas outside Hue City.

The general scope of that large fortification system. Although Gao Qiaonan also learned a lot of knowledge about building defensive positions during his further studies, this area outside Hue City was still an eye-opener for him, because in what he learned

Among the various defense methods that I have come across, there has never been an area that is so comprehensive. Takahashi Nan spent two days and could not find any obvious loopholes in this area, so he could only draw a sketch and take it back.

For the reference of senior officials in the headquarters.

"These monkeys are very playful!"

After seeing the sketch of the defense fortifications outside Hue City sent back by Gao Qiao Nan, even Yan Chujie couldn't help but complain. Although he has not seen the scene of that position with his own eyes, based on the sketch and the addition of Gao Qiao,

From Qiao Nan's description, Yan Chujie could roughly guess 70% of the local situation. He really didn't expect that the South Vietnamese court had quietly built such a large area of ​​fortifications outside Hue City. It seemed that they were planning to attack Hue City.

The plan will not go as smoothly as previously expected.

Qian Tiandun said with a smile: "No matter how good they are at playing, monkeys are still just monkeys. It can be seen that they have indeed spent a lot of thought on this. They probably hope that this position can hold us back, and then slowly

It will consume our supplies and troops, and finally force us to choose to retreat automatically."
Chapter completed!