Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 709: The So-called Substitution
On the night of August 11, Gustav was so exhausted that he did not sleep well all night.
Of course, he was in no mood to find the "ugly but humble" Siamese woman to warm his bed that night: the war had developed to this point, and the Chinese layout was very clear. The enemy had hit more than 600,000 troops, and they were surrounding him from the northwest, northeast, and east, trying to surround and annihilate him.
Fortunately, our side had a good battlefield forecast and started to retreat southward instead of eastward five days in advance. This is how we avoided being surrounded by the enemy.
However, although he was not trapped in the encirclement, the recent war situation did give Gustav a headache: in the south, the two Chinese princes led the kingdom's army to fight very tenaciously. Although the enemy's number, equipment and even combat skills were much worse than ours, we could not devote all our strength to the 400,000 pursuers in the north. Therefore, at this moment, our main corps still had not entered Bangkok, and could not get in touch with the navy.
On the other hand, in the northwest of the main corps, three divisions of reinforcements were late! Damn, that's what we're talking about now, European unity. If any general in the Swedish army that I commanded before dared to neglect his duties like this, bang! He would be shot dead!
At eleven o'clock that evening, Duke Alvaro sent a telegram to Gustav: the headquarters had already set out from Chiang Mai.
At 11:30, another telegram arrived: We were intercepted by a small number of Chinese troops and our troops are fighting hard.
00:40: The enemy's defense is strong and our army is unable to break through the defense line. The rear is pressed by the enemy's superior forces.
1:20: Danger! Danger! Our troops have been surrounded. Please support us with the main corps.
3:50: Many of my defenses have been taken. I have decided to fight to the last moment. Long live the Alliance! Long live His Majesty Philip!
And then nothing happened.
After receiving the last telegram from Duke Alvaro, Gustav was so angry that he smashed the table in the war room: "Three divisions, more than 40,000 people, and just over four hours. Just resisted for more than four hours?"
In fact, in the battle at dawn on the 12th, the three European divisions were not completely wiped out in just four hours: the British and Polish divisions led by Duke Alvaro were indeed thrown into chaos by the Ming army's attack during the march. However, the German division responsible for the rear guard in Chiang Mai City resisted tenaciously until seven in the morning. It was not until Duke Alvaro was pushed to the front that he gave the division commander an order to stop resisting that they laid down their arms and surrendered.
That's right, the Duke who claimed to fight to the end for His Majesty Philip surrendered: when Li Dingguo's battalion penetrated all the way and reached the vicinity of his headquarters, he surrendered very simply. At that time, let alone the German division's organized resistance. Even the British and Polish divisions, although their organization was disrupted, did not completely give up the fight.
There is no way. Among the children of noble families, there are outstanding ones and there are also scumbags. But if you don't go to the actual battlefield, who knows who is the scumbag?
In short, although the Ming Dynasty's grand counterattack seemed to have failed strategically, it was able to swallow up the three divisions of the enemy at once, which was considered a sweet treat. Cao Wenzhao, who was stationed in Guilin, finally received good news in the past month.
However, he received good news. On the night of the 12th, Gustav also received good news.
"Your Majesty! We have finally contacted the navy. They have arrived off the coast of Bangkok. The fleet led by the Duke and the Barcelo is bombarding the enemy forces in the city of Bangkok!"
"The Duke? Has he been re-commissioned?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. According to the naval communications officer I just contacted, the Alliance's new shipyard in Mumbai is already capable of repairing 10,000-ton warships."
"Great! This is really good news. Call Louis (Grand Conde) at the front of our army and ask him to increase the intensity of the attack!"
"yes!"
And on the other side.
"Your Highnesses, it is enough to fight up to this point. Now, while the enemy in the north has not yet completely surrounded me, Your Highnesses, please follow me and break out to the east."
In Bangkok, Lieutenant General Zhang Hong, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Marine Corps, faced the two princes Zhu Gongyao and Zhu Youjian and once again asked them to retreat.
As two princes who were more accomplished in the late Ming Dynasty in the original plane of history, their performance in this battle was really amazing: at the beginning, with only 30,000 weak soldiers, they blocked the enemy's hundreds of thousands of elite troops for three days. These three days bought precious time for the arrival of Zhang Hong's three divisions. If it weren't for their hard work, Bangkok would have been lost long ago.
However, after fighting for so long, it was finally time to retreat.
"Alas, we failed at the last moment. If we can hold on for another five or six days, the entire encirclement in the north will be formed again. By then, the enemy's main force of more than 400,000 will be completely surrounded by us!"
"Your Highness, a plan is just a plan after all. The enemy commanders are all veterans. It is common sense for them to see through our plan and take countermeasures. In short, your Highnesses should pack up quickly and follow me. Although your princes and their families have already gone to Guangxi, before the start of this battle, the emperor repeatedly reminded me to ensure the safety of your two highnesses. So, please don't make it difficult for me."
"General Zhang, you are worrying too much. Although Zhou and Tang have lost all their territory, the Ming Dynasty is still there, and the day when the two countries will be restored is not far away. The situation is not hopeless yet, and we don't want to die heroically at this moment."
"Yes, let's retreat. Let's see how long the Western bandits can continue to be rampant."
In the early morning of August 13, the two kings Zhou and Tang, who were attacked from both sides and could no longer hold on, broke out of Bangkok under the escort of Zhang Hong. Gustav, who was eager to take Bangkok and establish a stable relationship with the navy, had no interest in pestering the Ming army. After taking away the enemy's rear guard, he let the main force break out.
At noon on the 13th, the vanguard of the main EU corps entered Bangkok. While receiving reinforcements from three divisions, they also established a stable connection with the navy. On the 15th, the EU coalition forces, which had rebuilt a new defense line outside Bangkok based on the original defense line of the Ming army, began to switch to defense on the spot. The Durrenni unit, which was responsible for cutting off the entire coalition army, also retreated in great strides and entered the outer defense line of Bangkok.
On the 18th, Lu Xiangsheng's army, which had traveled the longest distance, also arrived in Ayutthaya. The four Ming armies, under the command of Liu Zhaosun, launched a large-scale attack on the enemy's Bangkok defense line. They failed. At this point, Bai Qi's entire battle plan had to be stopped.
The battlefield was quiet, but the troubles of the Ming army had just begun. Under the guidance of the King of Sukhothai, the EU coalition forces plundered all the food rations of the Siamese people along the way as they retreated. As a result, in August, the harvest season, the whole of Siam fell into a terrible famine. The Ming officers and soldiers led by Liu Zhaosun had to save the food in their mouths and take out a considerable part to relieve the people in various places.
When the Ming army took out the military rations for relief, they would inevitably ask for more food to be transported from the rear. However, the transportation capacity of land transportation is always limited. If more food is transported, the ammunition and other things will naturally be reduced. The day for launching another attack will naturally be pushed back .
"Damn it! The enemy's plan to take food from the enemy is so vicious!" On the 20th, the chief commander of the operation, Cao Wenzhao, and the chief of staff, Ma Shilong, arrived at the Bangkok front line and convened a combat meeting for division commanders and above. After listening to the relevant reports, he could not help but slam the table.
"Lao Cao, now the enemy has the help of the navy. Whether it is a long-term garrison or a retreat, they can come and go freely. Although our army is surrounded here, we are not afraid of them rushing out. But I have nearly 600,000 troops stationed here. What is the daily consumption? And what I am most worried about is that they will capture Singapore from the side and rear along the narrow Malay Peninsula."
"Yes, without the cooperation of the navy, our actions are really restricted step by step."
All the big guys looked worried for a moment and couldn't help but take out their cigarettes to smoke. The whole conference room was suddenly filled with smoke and gloom.
After Bai Qi's battle plan failed, the Ming army seemed to have pushed the enemy to Bangkok. In fact, it was quite passive strategically: if the loss of Burma was just a marginal loss, it could be recovered immediately. But Bangkok is the geographical center of Southeast Asia. The whole Southeast Asia, with so many ethnic groups and so many vassal states, all looked at this place.
Why? The Ming Dynasty has mobilized all its troops, including the armed police and the reserve forces, but still cannot defeat the enemy. Then, we need to refresh our understanding of the suzerain state.
When no one could come up with a good solution, Cao Wenzhao reluctantly announced the adjournment of the meeting. However, when everyone left the venue, Gu Dali, the commander of the newly formed 11th Division, stayed.
"What else does Zhenyuan Hou want?"
"The two generals, the chief of staff, and my subordinates, Captain Li Dingguo and Lieutenant Zhang Huangyan, have proposed a plan to solve the current problem. Because it involves many things, I did not dare to put it forward publicly in the meeting just now."
"What's the good plan? Tell me quickly."
"Everyone, Li and Zhang are waiting outside, okay?"
After a while, the imposing Li Dingguo and the bookish Zhang Huangyan came in. They saluted the top generals of the Ming Army. The two looked at each other, and Li Dingguo bowed his head and said, "Generals, our plan is to use a dead person as a substitute."
Everyone present has led troops for many years and naturally knows the original intention of this plan.
The so-called "李代桃僵" originally means that the peach tree was infested with insects, and the insects multiplied and ran to the nearby plum tree. In the end, the plum tree died instead of the peach tree. This saying is used in military affairs to refer to the situation when the enemy and we are in a balance of power, or we are slightly at a disadvantage. In order to turn the tide of the battle, we take the initiative to make certain sacrifices and then win a greater victory.
Everyone understands what it means, but what should we do in this situation?
"Generals, the Western bandits have retreated to the Bangkok area, relying on the numerous rivers and the coastal area to build a defense system that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. But they forgot one thing: Bangkok is the outlet of the Chao Phraya River, and the upper reaches of the Chao Phraya River are now under the control of our army. If our army uses work-for-relief and uses military rations to recruit a large number of Siamese civilians, we can build a river dam about 50 kilometers upstream of Bangkok. After the water is stored to a certain level, the dam will be blown up... This is the rainy season in Siam, and 10,000 tons of river water are roaring down. The 400,000 enemy troops entrenched in the Chao Phraya Delta, not to mention how many will be drowned, but at least most of their defense lines will be destroyed! Moreover, the remaining enemy troops will all be trapped in the mud!"
Seeing the generals' increasingly excited eyes, Zhang Huangyan leaned forward and said, "But if our plan is implemented, the entire delta area at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River will be turned into a swamp, causing huge losses to the people's livelihood. Therefore, this cannot be called closing the door to catch a thief, it can only be regarded as a substitute for a dead person."
