Sword Master of Joseon - Chapter 520
Only Ranovel
520. Chapter 63. hit from behind (3)
‘It’s not that I don’t understand your feelings, but there’s no need to push yourself too hard. All you have to do is proceed as planned.’
He clearly read Ohson’s thoughts and tapped his shoulder again… Ohson realized what that meant and bowed his head slightly.
Ohson was of Japanese descent and was the second captain after Pyeongdojeon. And not from anti-Japanese origins, but from Tsushima Japanese prisoners of war.
In the past, during the conquest of Tsushima Island, a significant portion of the warrior class was killed by Yeonorang, but he was lucky enough to surrender and survive.
Therefore, he also had a desire to make a merit as a representative of the Japanese community.
However, what was more important was that I had a goal of becoming a real captain.
The Navy still had more people than ships, and sailors were working on land or traveling on ships in the north.
The mainland’s waterways could be handed over to the private sector, but in the north, there were no merchant families with that much capital yet, and the government needed to be involved in order to manage the new city smoothly.
So, if I could accumulate meritorious achievements in this war, wouldn’t my chances of becoming the captain of a newly built battleship increase?
The best thing for a naval commander is to become the captain of a battleship.
There was no way Park Moo-yang, the fleet commander who managed the captains, did not know the feelings of the captains, so she was advising them not to overexert themselves like this.
“The survey is going well, right?”
“of course. Fleet commander. Don’t worry. “Compared to the northern waterways, the rivers are insignificant.”
“hmm…”
Despite Park Moo-yang’s concerns, Oh-son gave his answer without hiding his confidence.
The river was longer and larger than expected, and there were many places where the river’s width was arbitrary due to poor waterway construction. But is it really as bad as the rivers of Joseon or the North?
Compared to the rivers of Joseon and the North, which overflowed in the summer and dried up in the winter, the rivers that maintained a roughly constant water volume were quite easy to deal with.
“Didn’t you bring the ship equipped with artillery just in case? Even if you go upstream, there won’t be any major problems.”
“That’s right.”
Muyang Park nodded slightly, recalling the hard work she had done in Geumju and Yeonsan Port.
Even though the rivers are easier than the rivers of Joseon, a river is a river anyway. Therefore, it was impossible to predict what dangers would arise from boarding a battleship built for use at sea.
Aside from the problem of salvaging it if it unluckily runs aground, the river is so clogged that other battleships cannot move.
Therefore, battleships were replaced with flat-bottomed shipping ships, and as a result of the experiments, they received a fairly good evaluation.
Actually, it was a natural thing to say.
People of this era may not be able to imagine, but isn’t the ship itself a modified version of the panokseon of the future, with the bow and stern sharpened?
Since the Panokseon was originally built to be used as a military ship, there was no problem at all with using it with artillery on it.
Park Mu-yang, who had clearly let go of her concerns at Oh-son’s cool answer, looked down at Nanha again and opened her mouth.
“Anyway, I didn’t know I’d end up here.”
“Captain Fleet, haven’t you seen the Yangtze River?”
“That’s true, but I can’t imagine coming to the Nan River, let alone the Haihe River.”
“Yes… that’s true.”
Ohson also nodded while answering.
Originally, in history, Park Mu-yang would have died during the conquest of Tsushima Island, but in current history, the world is small and he wandered around the southern seas.
However, in the attack on Bukjirye, I wondered if the navy would be mobilized other than the landing in Tianjin… I never thought it would come to Nanhe.
It’s something to see and live in this world for a very long time.
“Even we were surprised when we first heard of the plan… so maybe Bukpyeongbu didn’t expect it either, right?”
“It certainly will.”
Orson nodded in strong agreement.
Nanha is the eastern region of Bukjikrye. It is a river that runs through Yeongpyeongbu with Sanhaegwan at the end.
It is a river that originates in the Mongolian grasslands, makes a big bend, turns around, passes through the Yeonsan Mountains, and flows out into the Bay of Bohai.
In the original history, wasn’t the Qing Emperor’s villa, a summer resort, built under the royal family? The Qing Emperor took a boat from his summer retreat and returned to Beijing via the river.
However, in this era, the Nanha was an important yet unimportant river. Since the Tang Dynasty, there has never been a major war along this river.
“Bukjikrye. No, the best strategic point and top priority in defending China is defending Shanhaiguan.”
“That’s right.”
When attacked by immigrants from the northeast. If the Shanhaiguan is not breached, there will be no fighting in Nanhe. On the other hand, if Shanhaiguan is breached, it is much more efficient to block it in Bukpyeong rather than fighting along the long river.
So, from the perspective of the Bukpyeongbu, there is no need to come up with an operational plan in case Nanha is attacked. This was especially true when it came to defending against the northeastern immigrants who were not accustomed to ships and were weak against water.
“But our country is not a nomadic people that the Chinese dynasties have dealt with so far.”
“…”
With Shanhaiguan intact, would you ever have imagined that the river in the middle would be cut off?
Although we all know that Joseon’s naval power is strong, inertia and inertia cannot be easily erased. Since Nanhe had not been attacked in the past hundreds of years, it would not have been easy to predict that Joseon would mobilize its navy to attack Nanhe.
“Our movements should have been known to Beiping and Shanhaiguan by now… How will they react?”
“Well… won’t you try to drive us out somehow? “Even if it’s just to think about Shanhaiguan.”
“okay. “It will happen.”
Park Mu-yang recalled the plans made by the military staff and imagined the movements of the Bukpyeongbu.
The cessation of the Nan River meant that Shanhaiguan was isolated.
Of course, Shanhaiguan lives up to its nickname of being the best in the world, and is a place where military supplies and supplies are piled up. It is no exaggeration to say that Yeongpyeong-bu, where Shanhaiguan is located, is an area that has been vested in order to maintain Shanhaiguan.
Nevertheless, the reason why Shanhaiguan is considered the best and strongest gateway is because endless troops and supplies are supplied through Bukpyeong.
However, by occupying Nanhe, the Joseon army cut off the core axis of Shanhaiguan’s defense.
“No matter how much supplies there are, the morale of the soldiers defending will inevitably fall.”
“you’re right. “The fact that A-guk occupied the Nanhe region means that if the circumstances arise, A-guk can land in Yeongpyeongbu and engage in a siege to the west of Shanhaiguan.”
Another problem is west of Shanhaiguan. The inner wall of Bukjirye is lower and weaker than the eastern wall where Jinjinmun is located.
Since Shanhaiguan was initially a gateway to block immigrants from the northeast, it naturally placed emphasis on the eastern direction and could not possibly place emphasis on the western direction, which is inward. Moreover, unlike the original history, the renovation of Shanhaiguan had not been completely completed in this era.
“Even if we have no intention of siege…”
“Shanhaiguan will have no choice but to prepare for that. Furthermore, since they are still under constant artillery fire, they must have requested reinforcements from Bukpyeong. “If we find out that the reinforcements cannot come…”
“Morale will drop even more.”
Park Moo-yang and Oh Son tried to predict Bukpyeongbu’s reaction by throwing words at each other as if they were playing baduk.
“So, the Bukpyeongbu has to push us out of Nanha in some way.”
“That’s true, but Cheonjin Port would have fallen by now, and Bukpyeongbu would have noticed. In reality, the Bukpyeongbu would be sending troops to Tianjin and recruiting them…”
“With our sudden appearance, there must have been a shortage of troops. “Then what should I do?”
Park Moo-yang grinned as she said that, and Oh-son also smiled as he looked at her.
“Of course, shouldn’t we gather up the troops and even the barons in the south and send them over?”
“I guess so.”
“but. “Couldn’t we send the troops defending Bukpyeong?”
“well…”
In response to Oh-son’s question, Park Mu-yang became speechless.
Even if you think about it, it’s honestly unclear what will happen. Bukpyeong-bu also has severe factional fighting, so it is clear that they do not want to exhaust their troops… but on the other hand, what does faction have to do with the fire in the ground?
“It doesn’t matter, right? “If we send troops from Bukpyeong, we will recruit other troops to Bukpyeong.”
“hmm…”
In the end, wouldn’t the Bukpyeongbu be the addition of the Cheonjin Port and Nanha front lines to the existing Shanhaiguan front line?
The problem is that Bukpyeongbu is a battlefield guided by Joseon and cannot avoid the front line.
If you give up the siege of Tianjin Port, Tianjin will be captured, and if Tianjin is captured, the door to Beiping will be wide open.
If you give up the rebellion, the Joseon army will attack Shanhaiguan on both sides and capture Shanhaiguan.
In the worst case, the Joseon army could jump over Shanhaiguan and attack Beiping directly.
You could give up attacking Shanhaiguan from the east and land in the west through the Nanhe River, and conversely prevent Shanhaiguan’s large army from coming to rescue Beiping.
You could even mobilize all your troops and attack Beiping first, ignoring Shanhaiguan.
“No matter what happens, Bukpyeongbu cannot give up, so there is only one conclusion. “We need to select troops stationed elsewhere and deploy them here.”
“yes.”
No matter how much Park Mooyang and Oh Son tried to think, it seemed impossible for the Bukpyeongbu to find another solution.
“So, this means that a fight will eventually break out over this river… How many Jins have you destroyed so far?”
“Except for the small ferry port, we burned Akjeongjin, Nanjujin, and Geonanjin. “That place is the geonjinjin now.”
“I guess I’ll have to go back now.”
“yes. “First of all, I think we should move to a place where it is easy for the enemy to cross.”
Their primary goal was to occupy a village located at the mouth of the Nan River, then travel up the Nan River and create a camp along the Nan River. The plan was to burn all the gun ports.
That way, whether they come from Beiping or Shanhaiguan, each other’s troops will not be able to easily come and go.
The secondary goal is now to stop the enemies trying to cross the river.
‘Even if you put everything else aside, you will be expecting that if the Mountain Sea Pass is breached, our troops will come flooding in like a flood.’
No matter how close Tianjin and Liaodong are, there is a world of difference between transporting troops and supplies by ship and moving them by land. In particular, the Bukpyeongbu must have known that the Joseon army had a lot of cavalry, and they must have been certain that the cavalry would pour out once Shanhaiguan was breached.
‘I will somehow try to prevent Shanhaiguan from being surrounded on both sides… I will definitely find the crossing point, protect it, and try to link up with Shanhaiguan.’
Muyang Park was once again confident that the operation plan she had heard in advance would proceed as is.
The width and depth of the rivers vary widely, and the port they burned was a large port that the Bukpyeongbu had frequently used before.
As it is a large port, the river is naturally wide and the water is deep. Even the fishing boats were burned down, so it would be impossible to cross here with bare hands.
So, why not try to find a place where the river width and water depth are shallow and try to cross? As we went upstream, we made thorough surveys, so we knew all the places that could become battlefields.
“Move.”
“yep!”
Oson quickly nodded, and as soon as he could give an order to the navigator, the watchman on top of the mast quickly changed the flag and transmitted the flag signal.
A Joseon battleship that occupied Nanha. To be exact, the number of armed transport ships was as many as 20. However, it is not possible to patrol and occupy the entire long river with only 20 ships at most.
The group of four ships moved up and down the river at a distance, and the actual scouting force was separate.
Army cavalrymen scattered like dandelion seeds in Bukjikrye.
As always, a special forces battalion, a military reconnaissance unit that roamed the enemy lines ahead of anyone else, was scattered here in Yeongpyeong-bu.
“Company commander. “Do you see it over there?”
“hmm…”
The company commander, who was eating dried fish, turned his gaze to the cloud of dust that the platoon leader had pointed out in the distance.
Like most of Bukjikrye, Yeongpyeongbu also had an endless plain.
Of course, there are big and small mountains… but compared to mainland Joseon and the north, where there are mountains in front and behind wherever you go, it’s almost like they don’t exist.
One special forces company was gathered on a low mountainside that could be called a hill, and was looking out over the entire surroundings.
Even from a low mountain like this, the view is clear and unobstructed, making it the perfect place for scouting.
“How many do you think there will be?”
“Aren’t they sending out reconnaissance too? “Wouldn’t it be roughly equivalent to a critical mass?”
“White Tiger Team?”
“yes. You said that the 2nd Company captured the scouting party. You said that’s how many troops there were, right? “Shanhaiguan’s cavalry is useless in a siege anyway, so we’ll send them here to scout.”
“hmm.”
After the special forces dispersed and landed on the coast of Yeongpyeong-bu, they occupied the fishing village and forcibly relocated all the village residents.
They swept down the coast and gathered together in a mass in a fishing village downstream of the Nan River, and then immediately wandered around the vast plains of Yeongpyeongbu between the Nan River and Shanhaiguan.
The intention was to not let the enemy know how many troops had landed, and to demoralize and overload the people of Yeongpyeongbu by making them flee to Shanhaiguan.
At most one battalion. “How much can we do with five hundred cavalry?” It may seem tempting, but to put it the other way around, it’s a whopping 500 cavalry.
They are enough to trample on a decent village, and a city with walls, whether low or high, can easily cause chaos if you even threaten them.
As a result, everything went according to plan, and now it has been three days since we attacked Nanha.
Both Shanhaiguan and Bukpyeongbu were aware of the situation here and were trying to determine the location and troops of the Joseon army by sending out scouts.
On the other hand, the special forces were also scattered by company, taking time to deal with the scouts.