Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 787: The Battle Falls into Chaos
"Commander, we have just calculated the longitude and latitude. We should be around the northwest side of the Gujaipuri Pass, about ten kilometers away from the Gujaipuri Pass and about thirty kilometers away from Laurkra. Going south from this place, the road forks."
"Well, this is a good place. The dirt on the road is so compacted that we know that there must be baggage trains passing through here frequently. Let's set up an ambush here. By the way, have we been discovered by the locals along the way?"
"Commander, this is a desolate place with many mountains and wild hills. We have encountered more tigers than people along the way. Even if we occasionally encounter a hunter, we have killed them all. Please rest assured."
"Okay, then let's deploy the troops and build fortifications. That bastard Cao Bianjiao made a big splash in South America, and made all the people of our Ming Dynasty give a thumbs up to the Special Forces First Division. This time, we will show everyone that our Special Forces Second Division is no pushover!"
"Hahaha, the commander is right. I went home to visit my family before this expedition. When my folks heard that I was a special forces soldier, they either praised the special forces division for being good men and fighting well in South America. Or they questioned why I was here, saying that all special forces divisions are in America... Damn it, I have been unhappy with the First Division for a long time."
"Then do your best. This time, we must let the people of Ming know that Ming's special forces include not only the First Division but also the Second Division."
On December 1, 1647, when the Ming armies launched a large-scale landing at the same time and Durrenyi finally issued a general retreat order a few hours later, Zuo Menggeng led more than 20,000 special forces and arrived at the main traffic route shared by Gujaipuri and Raulkla.
The Second Special Forces Division's penetration was a success. Next , it would depend on how long Zuo Menggeng and his men could hold out against the hundreds of thousands of enemy troops eager to retreat, so as to buy enough time for Liu Zhaosun to defeat the enemy's rear guard and catch up with the enemy's main force.
…
In the early morning of December 2, in Yangon, Zhu Youdong woke up before the alarm clock rang: not because he had not slept enough, but because of such a large military operation with more than one million troops, as an emperor, he was actually under a lot of pressure and could not sleep deeply at all.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."
"No need to be polite. Has Marquis Zhenyuan had breakfast?"
"I have already eaten."
"You're welcome. Okay, I'll eat, and you can talk."
"Yes." Gu Dali walked to the map of the peninsula and said, "Your Majesty, as of six o'clock this morning, after summarizing the battle reports we received from various routes, the overall situation is as follows: In the northeast, Cao Wenzhao's group reported that the Boris group, which had been blocking him for several months, had begun to retreat. Not only was the number of rear guard troops small, but their fighting spirit was obviously weaker than before. From last night to this morning, he had already broken through two of Boris's lines of defense. The third, or final, line of defense could be broken through tomorrow at the latest.
Fifteen of the 20 divisions of the Luoxiong Group have already landed, and five of them have advanced 40 kilometers to the northeast. The General Headquarters Staff estimates that this group may be able to capture the main force of the Boris Group. "
"Is it possible?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. We have calculated that if Cao Wenzhao's group fails to break through the enemy's third line of defense tomorrow, Boris's group can retreat at full speed. In this way, Luo Xiong's group will not be able to catch Boris's group."
"…It doesn't matter if we can't capture the Ottomans. What I want first is to swallow up all these hundreds of thousands of Europeans. Send a telegram to Rochon and tell him that his 20 divisions should focus on moving north quickly and getting behind the enemy's Dakar group. We can capture Boris's group if we can, but I won't force it if we can't."
"As you wish."
It was Gu Dali who replied, "Yes, I will." Other staff officers were responsible for conveying the order. After receiving Zhu Youdong's signal, Gu Dali continued to raise his baton and said, "Of Huang Degong's 35 divisions, 23 divisions landed completely yesterday. The vanguard troops are divided into two routes, each with five divisions. They will move northwards to cut off the enemy's retreat in Dhaka and Calcutta. The fastest one has already reached 12 kilometers north of Dhaka City and is engaging in fierce firefights with the enemy's outer troops.
Zhang Hong's five marine divisions have all landed and are rushing towards Calcutta. However, the terrain here is rugged and not conducive to moving forward, so they are still about 30 kilometers away from Calcutta and are expected to arrive at the city at noon today.
On Liu Zhaosun's side, the enemy's resistance at the two mountain passes was still tenacious, and there was no hope of breaking through the formation for the time being. However, Zuo Menggeng's Second Special Forces Division had successfully circled behind the enemy. "
"Hmm... the news spread so quickly. It seems that the radio station that Fangshan rushed to build is pretty good."
"Indeed, except for Sun Boya who is too far away and cannot be contacted for the time being, as long as the navy makes a transit in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, Yangon will be able to quickly learn about the battle situation in various places."
"Very good." Putting a fried dough stick into the soy milk and slowly soaking it, Zhu Youdong pondered for a while: "Is the logistics support from all sides still keeping up?"
"Your Majesty, speaking of this, it's really not good. For this large-scale battle, in addition to the navy's transport ships and the merchant ships requisitioned in the early stage, we urgently requisitioned a batch of ships last month. At present, there are more than 5,000 transport ships running between Yangon and various places on the east side of the peninsula. The landing point on the east side of the peninsula is relatively good, but the key is that so many ships are pouring into Yangon Port to load food, weapons, and ammunition... The reason why there are still 17 divisions floating on the sea is because the people are on the ships, but their equipment is still in Yangon..."
"I know that the officials and workers at the port have been working extremely hard in the past month, but we are at war now, and we have to grit our teeth and persevere no matter how hard it is. The heavy workload is not an excuse for huge mistakes, Fang Zhenghua."
"The servant is here."
"You go to the port in person and tell those Burmese and Mon workers that I sympathize with their hard work and will double their wages. But if the mistakes that Marquis Zhenyuan mentioned just now happen again, I will kill the person in charge!"
"As you wish."
After Fang Zhenghua left in a hurry, Zhu Youdong said, "At present, our supply of materials, I mean, the materials shipped from the mainland can still keep up, right?"
"No problem, Your Majesty. Whether it's food or other supplies, there is plenty of stock."
"That's good." After swallowing the soft fried dough sticks, Zhu Youdong stood up and looked at the map: "This battle depends on how many fish we can catch when we close the net. If too many fish escape, it will be really difficult to fight."
…
At 7:00 a.m. on the 2nd, a skirmish had just ended about 20 kilometers north of Dhaka. On the battlefield, which was still filled with the smell of gunpowder, hundreds of bodies of Ming and European soldiers were scattered all over the place.
"Captain, we have finished counting the battlefield. One hundred and thirty-five of our troops were killed in this battle, and two hundred and sixty were injured, both minor and serious. One hundred and eighty-three white people were killed, and three hundred and seventy were captured, all of them were injured."
"Huh~" He exhaled a puff of smoke, threw away the cigarette butt in his hand, and stood up: "Leave a platoon behind to take our seriously wounded soldiers with the lightly wounded to the division field hospital behind. Other brothers, follow me and keep moving forward!"
"yes!"
The land where the entire Bengal people live is generally a large Ganges Delta. The Ganges mainstream and many of its tributaries basically flow out to the sea in this area. Therefore, this place is crisscrossed with rivers of all sizes, and various ponds and swamps are densely covered. With such terrain, although the rainy season here has ended, artillery, especially heavy artillery, still has difficulty moving here.
Therefore, in order to speed up and get ahead of the enemy to block their retreat, the Ming army troops that landed first left the artillery behind. Not only that, due to the forced march, the non-combat troops' hospitals, civilians, and craftsmen gradually fell behind.
Fortunately, their opponents were desperately retreating to avoid being surrounded, so they either blew up or discarded all kinds of cannons. Therefore, both sides were mainly equipped with light weapons at this time.
From the afternoon of the 1st, the two sides entered a competition of leg strength and speed. The contestants in this competition, together with the two sides, were nearly two million people - with such a large number, naturally there were not many commanders who could effectively control all the troops. Therefore, after a night of rapid march on the 1st, in the early morning of the 2nd, whether it was Luo Xiong and Huang Degong on the Ming side, or Frederick and Cristiano on the EU side, they all helplessly discovered that the marching formation of this group was completely messed up.
Then, the two sides started racing and fighting all the way in this water-rich area of Bangladesh!
It was really a chaotic battle. It was very likely that the Ming soldiers suddenly found a group of enemy soldiers in front of them while they were advancing rapidly. Then they opened fire. And the EU soldiers were also very likely to find that the road ahead was blocked by Ming soldiers during their retreat, and then there was another fierce battle...
As the great-grandson of Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Tongchang, who was only 26 years old this year, led his infantry regiment and had advanced more than 60 kilometers northeast since landing in Chittagong, encountering three battles along the way. Of the 3,000 soldiers in the regiment, more than 1,000 had been killed, wounded or left behind .
"Captain, the division headquarters called and asked where we are."
"How the hell do I know where we are? This damn place is so dark that you can't even catch a tongue! Call me back, I should be 15 kilometers northeast of Dhaka."
After a while, the signalman came running over again: "Commander, the division commander ordered us to move westward, not north."
"What? Aren't we going to block Boris's retreat?"
After muttering this, he quickly adjusted himself: "That's right, ten birds in the bush are worth a bird in the hand. Instead of trying to catch Boris who is more than a hundred kilometers away, it is better to stop the enemy in Dhaka City. Okay, identify the direction , we go west!"
"yes!"
Not only Zhang Tongchang's troops, but also the entire Bangladesh battlefield became increasingly chaotic from the afternoon of the 2nd due to the mutual interweaving and cutting of the troops of both sides. Although the battles occurred frequently, the scale of the troops of both sides was mostly at the regiment and battalion level. Soldiers of both sides, without heavy weapons and almost no shelter, fired at each other with submachine guns and machine guns. This way of fighting meant that although there were not many broken limbs or pieces of flesh torn by shells on the battlefield, the casualties of both sides were rising rapidly!
