Chapter 1005 The first battle of the first Korean division
The only lesson humans learn from history is to never learn a lesson.
Although they clearly knew that Xia's navy was powerful and could find a place to land at any time, the Qing coalition forces still did not fortify the coast.
The operations of the North Korean Second Division were extremely smooth.
After the Fifth Regiment captured Gaocheng, the Sixth Regiment captured Tongchuan, the Seventh Regiment captured Wonsan, and the Eighth Regiment captured Hsingnan.
The entire east coast of the Korean Peninsula is completely open to the North Korean Second Division.
In fact, the Qing coalition forces were also a little unjust.
It's not that they haven't learned their lesson at all, but that the available troops have been used to their limit. The coastlines on the east and west sides of the Korean Peninsula are extremely long, and even hundreds of thousands of troops may not be able to completely defend them.
Moreover, they thought that the Xia army had no extra strength, so they took a chance and hoped to achieve a breakthrough on the frontal battlefield.
In mid-May, Xianglan Banner, together with Mobei Mongolia, began to launch an offensive on the northern front.
The leader of this direction is Nurhachi's eleventh son Babuhai. Compared with the other brothers, although he is younger, he is equally brave and good at fighting.
In view of the fact that the 1st Marine Regiment was guarding the river, Babuhai focused his attack on the 1st North Korean Division after repeated weighing.
He established a grain and grass base in Yeoncheon and then divided his troops into two parts.
The east is heavy and the west is light.
Mainly attack on the east road and feign attack on the west road.
The reason for this strategy is that there is only one passable road along the Dongduchuan line. Now it has been completely cut off by the North Korean First Division, and several miles of complete fortifications have been built.
If they attack here, the Qing army will definitely suffer heavy losses, and they may not be able to capture it.
On the contrary, although the roads in Pocheon on the eastern front are also rugged, the ground is wide and there are many passable places, which is conducive to the deployment of troops.
Similar to his idea, Li Yuanlao and Qiao Feng also put their main forces on the Pocheon front line.
Moreover, in order to avoid giving the Qing army an opportunity, they even abandoned Pocheon City and placed their defenses at the exit of the valley in the south.
Further south from here is the plain area.
Once the Qing army rushes out, everything up to the Uijeongye government will be undefeated, which means Hanyang has opened its door.
However, Li Yuanlao and Qiao Feng were full of confidence and unanimously determined that they could definitely defend this place with the weapons in their hands.
Because the Mobei Mongols were a new force, Babuhai asked them to take the lead.
When the battle began, Babuhai discovered that the Mobei Mongolian fighting method was completely different from his understanding.
I saw that these Mongols got off their horses easily, and they seemed to have no discomfort with fighting on land.
In addition, they also brought many camels.
These camels didn't know what they were carrying, so they walked slowly.
When the cloth on the hunchback was lifted, the Qing army couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
The weapons brought by the Mongols turned out to be artillery pieces.
Although these artillery pieces are small and far from being compared with the Qing army's general artillery, their large number far exceeds them.
Babuhai was puzzled.
In his impression, these Mongolians were more primitive and barbaric than the Manchus. They had only played mounted archery on horseback, so where did they get the artillery?
He did not believe that the Mongols had the technology to forge cannons.
Gunbu didn't mean to hide it either.
"The Choros made a deal with the Rakshasa people who came from thousands of miles away and bought these artillery pieces. These are really good things, so we also traded some."
Hearing that these artillery pieces came from Mongolia in Oirat, Babuhai's mood did not feel any better.
Nowadays, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties have long unified the Mongolian grasslands. Whether it is Mobei Mongolia or Southern Mongolia, they all bow to the Manchu Qing.
There is only one exception, and that is Oirat Mongolia.
That is, the Wala people.
These Mongols had already moved to the Western Regions, thousands of miles away from Liaodong. The Qing Dynasty's influence was not yet able to influence there, so naturally they could not get the surrender of the Oirat Mongols.
Now that we see that these Mongolians who do not accept the king's rule have actually obtained firearms, I am afraid that they will definitely become bigger in the future.
Fortunately, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is still trapped in a corner of Liaodong and does not need to consider the problems of the whole world for the time being.
Babu Hai watched the Mongolians take the artillery from the camels, assemble it, and push it to the front, and then he thought of something.
"Gunbutaiji, after this battle, please contact the Rakshasa people on behalf of the Qing Dynasty."
Now the Manchus and Qing Dynasties have fully realized the importance of firearms.
Especially in the battle with the Xia army, if they don't have firearms, they are no match for them.
Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty had worked very hard to forge muskets and artillery, not only the quality, but also the quantity was far inferior to that of the Xia army.
They desperately need a source of firearms.
The Rakshasa artillery brought by Mobei Mongolia gave them hope.
Gunbu happily agreed.
Although Mobei Mongolia's attitude toward the Manchus was not as close as that of Monan Mongolia, they were also aware of themselves.
I know that with the strength of Mobei Mongolia, it is completely unable to compete with the Manchu Qing.
Anyway, the Manchu Qing's control over Mobei Mongolia was much looser than that of Monan Mongolia, and the two sides were in a state of tacit understanding. Therefore, it was not a bad idea to act as the middleman.
The artillery was ready, and the Mobei Mongolian attack began.
The rumbling sound of cannons filled the Mongols with unprecedented courage, as if they felt the great glory of Genghis Khan again.
Under the cover of artillery, they howled and rushed towards the Xia army's position.
The cowardly Southerners will definitely tremble under their butcher's knives.
But when the Mongols rushed closer, they were all dumbfounded.
At the very front of the Xia Army's position, I could see some strange iron ropes tangled together, stretching endlessly. Even the front and rear were more than fifty steps wide.
This was the first time the Mongols saw the barbed wire fence. Although they did not yet know the use of these things, the Mongolian artillery shells hit it and did not cause any damage except for the rattling noise.
This made the Mongols suspicious.
They rushed forward, raised their scimitars, and struck down hard.
What the barbed wire fence gave them back was still making random noises, and then it returned to its original state.
Seeing that the bombardment of artillery and the slashing of swords could not cause damage to the barbed wire fence, the Mongols used brute force to break the barbed wire fence.
Not surprisingly, they were all stabbed to the head and bleeding.
At this time, the North Korean Second Division's counterattack began.
In the trench behind the barbed wire, with sharp whistles, rows of soldiers suddenly stood up and aimed their percussion guns at these Mongolians who had no idea how to avoid them.
The trenches of the Korean Second Division are very distinctive.
When you enter, you will find that it is in the shape of a staircase.
The frontmost area used for shooting is the highest.
As long as the soldiers stood up, the earth wall would just reach their chests.
From the back, it begins to descend step by step, and the lowest level is two meters high.
The advantage of this is that the trenches are wide and high, providing good shelter from solid shells.
Because the flash cap gun is a muzzle-loading gun, there must be enough space when loading, so the trench must be dug wider.
However, if the trench is too wide, shells falling into it and rolling around will cause serious casualties.
So after many battles, the Xia army came up with such a stepped trench.
Here, soldiers can still form a three-stage shooting array.
The soldier who needs to shoot goes to the highest point, fires and then retreats. He has enough space to complete the reloading without delaying the shooting of subsequent soldiers.
Now, the Mongols began to face the Xia army's tactics.