After adopting this method, the waterway leading to the Qimu Island trestle can barely remain in use. Icebreakers break the ice every day and night to basically keep the waterway open, ensuring that refugees can continue to be transported.
However, this approach can only ensure the smooth flow of the trestle channel. It does not help much with the more serious problem: the safety of the island.
After Longkou Bay was frozen, Qimu Island was no longer just a sand bank connected to the mainland, but became part of the coast of Longkou Bay. Under the heavy snow cover, it was almost impossible to tell that it was an island.
The small islands near the Bohai Bay are frozen every winter and become undefendable. Similar lessons were countless in the Liaodong War in the late Ming Dynasty. Because the army of the Later Jin Dynasty did not have a navy, they often took advantage of the large-scale freezing of the Bohai Sea.
At that time, troops were dispatched to attack the islands where the Ming army was stationed, and they often won great victories.
The Dongjiang Army has suffered this loss many times, and now they will definitely make full use of this advantage when they are the attackers.
Although Longkou Bay is not frozen thickly and there are still certain gaps between sea ice, it is not difficult for people and horses to walk on it. This makes Qimu Island, which is surrounded by water on three sides and can only rely on spy boats to ensure maritime safety, greatly improved.
's worries.
"During the freeze, our ships lost their ability to maneuver." Lu Yang, who hurried from the Daishuang after hearing the alarm, said, "The warships in the channel can only serve as fixed forts..."
"The power of your five ships firing together is enough." Zhu Mingxia said, "The disadvantage is that it has no maneuverability and can only provide fire support within the channel, and the accuracy is not so good."
Since the island is surrounded by ice, the enemy may not choose the sand embankment as the only attack channel. They are likely to bypass the ice and launch an attack on Qimu Island.
As a result, all facilities on Qimu Island may face direct attack from the enemy.
"I'm not too worried about the enemy being able to invade. Our biggest weakness is the refugee camp - it's the weakest fortification, and there's a backlog of almost 10,000 people inside. Once a war breaks out, it will be very difficult to handle if the refugee camp blows up."
Lu Wenyuan frowned.
The refugee camp also has walls, towers, and artillery, but there are too many refugees inside. Once they encounter a fierce siege, it will be difficult to "emotionally stabilize" them. What's more, the refugee camp itself is the weakest in defense, and many places
It's just an earthen embankment and a wooden fence. It's more of a prison and control measure than an external defense measure.
The eyes of several people were cast on Zhu Mingxia. As the chief officer of the northbound detachment, defensive operations were naturally his responsibility.
Zhu Mingxia said: "It doesn't matter. The enemy may not be able to land on the island under our firepower. Even if they can land on the island, we can defeat them before they start an siege."
He paused and said, "Not to mention we have a lot of pots and jars on the island. It would be quite troublesome for them to rush up to the island and break some of them."
Zhu Mingxia believed that his troops were quite sufficient and had enough firepower, so there was no need to trap the fortifications. His plan was for Xiang Yong and a small number of troops to hold on to each fort. He led four infantry companies to form a mobile defense on the island, and cooperated with
The artillery on the forts and battleships will attack the enemy in that direction and drive them off the island directly.
"The enemy will move slowly when they come over the ice. We use artillery to continuously bombard their marching column. I'm afraid they won't be able to hold on until they reach the edge of the island." Zhu Mingxia said, "Don't worry, the enemy will definitely be defeated. That's all.
It’s a bit difficult to capture more prisoners…”
"If you take any more prisoners, this place will become a hell on earth..." Lu Wenyuan shook his head repeatedly. "Just drive them away."
Chen Sigen said: "It doesn't matter how many prisoners we capture. The key is to beat the rebels to pain, otherwise they will not know what to do."
At present, they divided their labors. Lu Wenyuan was in charge of the overall work in Qimu Island Village, and Chen Sigen was responsible for guarding the willow edge. Zhu Mingxia led three companies to conduct mobile defense, and Lu Yang returned to the fleet.
The security forces of the Northward Detachment and the Shandong Advance Column all slept in their clothes, with their weapons never leaving their hands. All sentry posts were set up with double posts. Zhu Mingxia pulled out all the cannons on the island and installed gun emplacements - in the past, in order to prevent "terrorism",
Some of the artillery were only equipped with gun emplacements and no cannons were installed.
Immediately order each kitchen to cook, boil a lot of water and make dry pancakes - the battle may last for a day. Just eating dry food is not enough, and once the enemy lands on the island, it will be very inconvenient for each camp to cook and boil water.
Therefore, reserves must be made in advance.
Zhu Mingxia asked Lu Yang to dismantle a few more typewriters from the battleship and strengthen them with wicker edges. He also installed several naval short guns in stock onto the wicker edge bastions.
"Isn't my fort too well-armed?" Chen Sigen couldn't help but object. "Now the roads to the island are open in all directions, so the enemy doesn't have to attack from the wicker edge..."
"Your Willow Side will definitely be under the greatest pressure." Zhu Mingxia said to Chen Sigen, "The sand embankment is the most convenient way to enter the island, and the road condition is also the best. The enemy will definitely drive a large number of refugees through the sand dike to directly attack the Willow Side.
When the time comes, I’m just afraid that you’ll be able to kill people with ease…”
Chen Sigen expressed doubts: "Are you so sure?"
"Of course. Let's assume that if you were a rebel general, how would you plan to attack Qimu Island?"
"Since I have a numerical advantage, of course I will attack from multiple directions and force the defenders to divide their forces."
"Yes, it is easy to choose a breakthrough point after the sea is frozen. The best way is to go back to our weak flanks from the sea ice. But it is not easy to march in a roundabout from the sea ice. If my men are big
If most of the refugees are coerced, it is impossible to drive them to carry out such complicated tactical operations." Zhu Mingxia pointed to the sand table, "If I were Mao Chenglu, I would drive a large number of refugees to directly attack the wicker edge from the front to attract our attention.
strength and firepower. Then select elite troops to attack on foot from the sea in a roundabout way."
Chen Sigen nodded: "But if we strengthen the wicker edge like this, isn't it just what they want?"
"If I were an army with the same level as theirs, Mao Chenglu's plan would be a great threat to us." Zhu Mingxia said, "But there is a generational difference between our army and theirs - the Dongjiang Army is not the Tatar's opponent in Liaodong, and it is not the opponent of the Tatars in Qimu Island.
It is not a match for the Fubo Army. On the contrary, Willow Branch will have to bear the attack of thousands of refugees. Prepare more igniters to disperse the cannon fodder as soon as possible, so that a few people will die less."
"I see--"
"I have to remind you of something," Zhu Mingxia said, "Intelligence shows that the rebels have taken a large number of young people, and there are many ordinary people in Huang County - they are likely to use the people as precursors to fill trenches and use them as cannon fodder.
Use ammunition to attack the wicker edge, and you must be able to hold on when the time comes..."
Chen Sigen turned a little pale and clenched his fist: "I know what you mean, don't worry."
Zhu Mingxia arranged the defense, and non-stop directed the personnel of the engineering training team to lead the security forces to the shore of Qimu Island to lay simple versions of directional mines, install barbed wire and lay mines around all the forts.
He ordered that the four infantry companies performing mobile defenses be given double ammunition, including bullets and grenades.
After the arrangements were made, Zhu Mingxia sent out all the special reconnaissance teams and reconnaissance cavalry at hand to keep abreast of Mao Chenglu's movements.
Mao Chenglu's army set out from Huang County on January 21st of the fifth year of Chongzhen, that is, the year of Renshen. The entire army consisted of nearly 10,000 people - more than half of whom were brought under the auspices of the people of Huang County, and some of them were issued with weapons.
Many people were driven to fight without even a stick.
The road was snowy and difficult to travel. Although the rebels obtained a large number of cattle, horses, donkeys, mules and other livestock due to plunder, the army carried six heavy artillery pieces and many artillery guns of different sizes. The march was not fast and did not arrive at the Longkou Bay area until that night.
.
Mao Chenglu didn't even know where the "Deer Village Master"'s village was at first. He only knew that it was probably in the Longkou Bay area. He sent several groups of people to stay overnight on the road before he found out that Zhuangzi was on Qimu Island.
They arrested some more people along the way, and they probably knew that there was a stockade on Qimu Island. A stockade wall was built on the sand embankment, and there were villagers checking in and out, and the guards were very tight.
Mao Chenglu had been to Qimu Island before and knew the general topography. After camping ten miles away from Qimu Island that night, he immediately sent out several groups who stayed overnight to explore the surrounding situation - especially the ice conditions in Longkou Bay.
That night, the special reconnaissance team and the Ye Bu Sushou had a continuous night battle around Qimu Island. Gunshots and screams could be heard from time to time in the dark night. The Ye Bu Suu men were almost completely wiped out and were sent out.
Of the dozens of people, less than seven or eight returned to the camp.
Early the next morning, Mao Chenglu, surrounded by his generals, boarded Longkou Dun on the side of Longkou Bay - from here you can clearly overlook Qimu Island.
Mao Chenglu took out the telescope - which Sun Yuanhua had specially asked the missionaries to buy from Europe - and observed the terrain around Qimu Island.
It can be seen that the sand embankment, the only access to the island, is very strictly guarded. In addition, there are three isolated villages on the island. They all have walls and towers.
Looking at it like this, Qimu Island is not an easy fruit to gnaw on. Mao Chenglu took a breath of air: he found that these villages were all "Xifa piers", which were the red-haired people's cities that Governor Sun had always advocated building in the past. He
As a general, I have also communicated with Sirao of Folangji Gongsha in Dengzhou, and I generally know the tactics of Folangji.
"My dear, this village is difficult to manage." He muttered and handed the binoculars to Chen Guangfu, the commander beside him - he was ordered to lead 3,000 people to reinforce Mao Chenglu and is now a "senior general".^-^^-
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