1890 King of Southeast Asia

At 3:00 p.m. on July 30, because they did not receive the order to end the mission, the Nanhua Marine Corps launched an attack on Le'an County, Wuding Prefecture on time.

It is better to say that it was a simple landing than an attack.

The landing point chosen by Nanhua was in the northernmost part of Le'an County, on the mudflats beside the estuary of the Guduma River.

There are only some farmlands and mudflats here. With the river estuary as the center, there are only seven or eight villages within a radius of five kilometers, and there is not even a town. The Qing Empire did not set up military forces here.

It took half an afternoon until the evening, when the Nanhua Marine Corps built a temporary dock and landed successfully.

Beach landing is the most dangerous and vulnerable time for the Marine Corps. When the Marines set foot on the mudflats, the artillery support of the warships must be extended backwards.

The Marines had to attack the enemy's fortifications with light weapons on the empty beach. Generally speaking, the Marines would suffer huge casualties and might not achieve results.

Such as the Normandy Landing, which was packaged as a turning point and touted by public intellectuals.

The Allies deployed more than 1,200 combat ships, more than 4,000 landing craft, more than 5,000 transport ships, and 13,700 aircraft. Before the official landing, the Air Force also carried out long-term strategic bombing on Germany.

The Allies also carried out comprehensive strategic deception on Germany, making the German army firmly believe that the landing site was Calais. Before the official attack, the Air Force also bombed Calais.

There were only a few old, weak, sick and disabled divisions in Normandy, and some puppet troops. The Allies were completely crushed in terms of strength.

What was the result?

There were 15,000 Allied soldiers in the first batch of landing operations. After climbing onto the beach, 4,900 American soldiers alone died, and a total of more than 7,000 people died, a death rate of 1/2.

Nanhua has also conducted many beach landing simulation operations, that is, confrontation exercises, with the coastal defense forces facing the Marines. When the coastal defense forces were at an absolute disadvantage, the Marines also suffered more than 30% casualties.

The navy controlled the Bohai Strait, and time was on Nanhua's side, so Zhao Jiaxing wanted to choose a safe and convenient landing point.

"Report to the headquarters, the landing of the Marine Corps is complete, and the rest is the Army's business... a wasted trip." Zhou Hong grinned.

The landing lasted for most of the afternoon, and no enemy was seen. He came to escort the landing troops without firing a single shot.

"There is half of the fuel left. After the army lands, we have to escort the fleet back. The fuel is not enough, so we have to go to resupply." The first mate took the material reserve list and didn't care about not getting any credit.

The Beiyang Fleet stayed in the port honestly, so where was the navy in the Qing Empire? How much merit could be gained by fighting the army? It's better to be peaceful like this, just as a training.

"Where is the supply ship waiting for us?" Zhou Hong yawned and looked at the watch. It was seven o'clock in the evening, and the army transport ship arrived. He had to work overtime tonight.

"Commander Xu took over half of the dock and asked us to go to Lushunkou to replenish supplies."

"Got it, wait for the fleet to move together."

…………

At 3 a.m. on July 31, the personnel and equipment of a brigade of the Nanhua Army were unloaded at the temporary dock, and the field fortifications and temporary camps were built.

On August 1, a brigade of the Marine Corps and a brigade of the Army were mixed into an independent detachment and began to expand outward.

On the afternoon of August 1, Haixing County welcomed a battalion of Nanhua.

"Scout report."

"Speak!" Battalion Commander Li Zhengbiao was looking at the map on the ridge.

"Report to the battalion commander, the city wall of Haixing County is about nine meters high, with earth cannons on the wall, and there is a battalion of training troops in the city, the barracks are in the southwest corner, and there are more than 40 yamen runners in the three shifts..." The scout reported the intelligence he had heard.

The scout just went into the city to drink a pot of tea, spent a silver dollar to ask the waiter, and the waiter explained the situation in Haixing clearly.

"Is there anything special about Haixing? A battalion is stationed there." Li Zhengbiao looked through the telescope and the map again and again.

The guards in Haixing County began to panic. It seemed that they had discovered them and were driving them away and closing the city gates.

Li Zhengbiao could not find the strategic value of this place. Why could a battalion be stationed there?

"The training army is not a regular army. It is equivalent to a militia, but it is a full-time militia. It is recruited and trained by the local area. The weapons, equipment and military pay also come from the local area.

The central government gives a certain subsidy, and the combat effectiveness is uneven." The instructor saw that Li Zhengbiao's expression was getting more and more serious, and he knew that he had not done his homework.

Li Zhengbiao is a Chinese in Southeast Asia and does not understand the complicated military system of the Qing Empire.

"Militia? But we only have mortars, and the city walls are not easy to deal with! Should we request fire support?" Li Zhengbiao nodded, but he was in trouble again when he looked at the city walls.

"I don't think it's necessary. The Qing Empire only has a certain fighting will in the new army. First, bombard, then persuade surrender, and then try to attack. If the attack is blocked, then request support." The instructor thought about it and shook his head.

He is an immigrant, his father is a Green Camp soldier, he was fourteen years old before immigration, and he knows the fighting power and fighting will of ordinary soldiers in the Qing Empire.

The main force is moving to Le'an, Dengzhou, and Cangzhou, and the field artillery has been taken away by them. If they want to wait for the artillery to come, it will take two or three days. They can't wait here for three or two days.

"I know the soldiers of the Qing Empire. As long as the front is not a new army, they can fire artillery to test it. Only those who can withstand the artillery without collapsing need to pay attention to tactics.

Just use mortars to test it. The range of 82mm mortars is three kilometers. Try it first. If it doesn't work, arrange the attack plan." The instructor saw that Li Zhengbiao was unmoved and knew what he meant.

"Okay! The mortar platoon will try to hit a quarter of the base." Li Zhengbiao nodded.

Although his name contains the word "Biao", he is very steady and does not like to do things that he is not sure of. He will just use artillery shells to test it. Mortar shells are cheap anyway.

This is not an isolated case. Most of the army brigades that landed this time are people like him. After all, their initial mission is to replace the Marines to defend the landing site.

After receiving the order, the mortar platoon immediately set out, set up artillery positions about 3,000 meters away from the city wall, and set up mortars.

The troops that landed this time were all lightly armed. The maximum caliber of field artillery was 105mm howitzers, and there was only one six-gun company. The regimental 76 guns were all looted by the main force.

There is a 152mm self-propelled artillery battalion later, but it is still floating on the sea. At present, the battalion-level support firepower is only mortars.

Tongtongtong...

The sound of the mortar is relatively crisp, and the movement is not loud, but the firing rate is fast.

Three 82mm mortars fired at a rate of 8 rounds per minute for 4 minutes, and 90 shells flew over like this, aiming at the city gate tower.

Li Zhengbiao held up a telescope and assessed the damage.

He saw clouds of smoke rising, and the dust covered the area of ​​dozens of meters around the city gate. The explosion sounded for a long time before reaching his ears.

"Wait a moment." The instructor also observed with a telescope.

Ten minutes passed, and the dust raised by the shells had dispersed. The city gate tower was already broken and there was faint black smoke coming out. It should be that the shelling caused a fire.

"The shelling is over, why can't I see a single figure? Is there a bunker here?" Li Zhengbiao looked sore, but he didn't see anyone.

"If I'm not mistaken, the people have already run away." The instructor was a little unsure, after all, the last time he saw the Qing Empire soldiers was more than ten years ago.

He still remembered those Green Camp soldiers who didn't flee even when frightened by the bandits' black powder bombs, but more than a decade had passed, so there couldn't be any changes, right?

"Report! The scouts found a group of enemies fleeing through the west gate, mixed with a large number of civilians, and the reconnaissance platoon could not effectively stop them." The telegraph operator shouted suddenly.

Li Zhengbiao was a little uncomfortable, looking at the empty city wall, and then at his own side which was intact.

"Is this the battlefield? Why is it different from what I thought?"

...

The magistrate of Haixing took the lead, followed by the county magistrate and the county lieutenant, followed by the three squads of yamen runners and some of the county lieutenant's trusted training troops, and in the middle were their family members and relatives, a total of more than a thousand people, running wildly towards Cangzhou.

Before the county magistrate ran away, he also sent cavalry to deliver letters everywhere, and as soon as the bombardment ended, he ran away.

The news was placed in the Shandong Governor's Office the next day, which roughly meant that an army of about 10,000 people attacked Haixing County by surprise, and hundreds of cannons fired at the same time, and the artillery fire lit up half of the sky.

The magistrate of Haixing County led the county lieutenant and the officers and soldiers of the whole county to fight a bloody battle with the enemy, killing 1,000 enemies and suffering heavy losses. They had to withdraw from Haixing County.

Before the governor had time to dispatch troops and figure out who this unknown army was, Cangzhou and Dengzhou sent a telegram for help, and Nanhua launched a large-scale attack.

"Why? The enemy has a large army approaching, and I haven't received any useful information. Where did they come from? Why are they here? Why are they us?" The governor was furious.

He was afraid and even more hateful. He hated why Nanhua didn't go north and attack Zhili Prefecture, so that he wouldn't have to take responsibility.

He hated it, but he still had to do what he had to do. While sending a telegram to the central government for help, the governor reprimanded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for not even telling him to start the war.

He wanted to reprimand the Beiyang Navy, but he was also a Beiyang faction, and he couldn't quarrel internally at this time, otherwise Beiyang would not tolerate him.

…

On August 2, Zaifeng, who was celebrating his ability to resist the "blackmail" pressure from Nanhua, received news that Nanhua had landed in Wuding Prefecture on July 30.

"Invasion! This is naked invasion! How can we tolerate this? Fight! Gather the new army and fight this group of traitors, let them see how powerful we are!" On August 3, Zaixun shouted at the court meeting.

"The Bohai Strait has been blocked, Lushunkou has been blocked, the navy has lost its power, Nanhua may land in Tianjin at any time, but we have lost the source of weapons and weapons." Lord Yuan glanced at Zaixun sideways, as if he was looking at a fool.

"We will discuss this later." Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Prince Qing interrupted them.

"The most urgent task is to quickly contact Nanhua and Western countries and stop the war first."

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