After paying the price of a new round, the South Vietnamese army finally felt the edge of the coalition position, but at the same time they also realized that the North Vietnamese army, which appeared on the seashore like a god general, was not easy to deal with, and was not only heavily equipped with sharp muskets, but also artillery with amazing lethality. If you want to defeat the enemy here, you can't rely on traditional infantry alone.

At noon on the same day, the observation post on the top of the hill reported the latest discovery: several foreign devils had appeared in the South Vietnamese army. Although these men were dressed in South Vietnamese army uniforms, they were still exposed in the binoculars. After analysis, the command believed that this was probably the instructor or commander of the musket unit of South Vietnam, and it was estimated that he also appeared here as a "military adviser" or something like that, just like the "Haihan military adviser" who provided military assistance to North Vietnam. The purpose of these foreign devils at this time is self-evident, it must be to observe the combat table of the North Vietnamese musket unit and prepare for the next battle of the South Vietnamese musket unit.

"If you go back and catch those foreign devils, you have to interrogate their origins!" Mu Shabai was very excited when he learned that the target appeared: "Find out where their nest is, and take advantage of the fact that we have ships and soldiers, and go over and serve him a pot!"

"Don't get too excited, we don't have enough supplies and capacity to support frequent large-scale maritime maneuvers. Harugong poured cold water on him at the right time.

Although the Ministry of Shipping provided full support to the expeditionary force this time, the cost of maneuvering along the coastline for a long time was still considerable, and there was also a risk of supply if it was too far away from the North Vietnamese-controlled area. Moreover, the Haihan militia has less training for amphibious operations, and if the boat ride is too long, it will severely affect the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. In order to allow the soldiers to maintain sufficient physical fitness to participate in the battle after landing, the command also specially transported the combat troops to the island near the shore one day earlier, the purpose of which was to give them one day to recover. In the overall combat plan formulated by the headquarters, the basic operational policy of "harassing and attacking with small units and garrisoning and attracting large units" was also taken as the basic operational policy this time, and it was not prepared to directly send large units to areas behind enemy lines.

During the confrontation between the South Vietnamese army and the coalition forces, Qian Tiandun and his special operations company had already arrived at Zhengjiang again by boat. The "Exploration" slowly ascended along the river bank and arrived at the confluence of the tributaries of the upper reaches of the Zhengjiang River at noon.

The two waterways, one in the north and one in the north, converge here, the one in the north is the main channel of the Zhengjiang River, and the other in the south crosses the Hengshan Mountains and reaches the coastal plain south of the Hengshan Mountains. Most of the South Vietnamese army's supplies were supplied through the Guò waterway, which crossed the Heng Shan and sent to the banks north of the Zheng River. The target of the special operations company this time is to effectively strike at the supply fleet on this waterway and temporarily block the supply line of the South Vietnamese army.

At the fork in the river, the Discovery turned into the southern tributary and continued upstream. The river here is much narrower than downstream, at its widest point of nearly 200 meters. However, this is very much in line with the operational needs of the "Discovery" and the special combat team, and the guns on the ship and the muskets of the special combat team can completely cover the entire river, which can make full use of their own weapon advantages.

After two hours of marching into the tributary, we have entered the Yokoyama area, and continuous hills and mountains have begun to appear on both sides of the river. According to the information obtained from previous interrogations of the prisoners, the South Vietnamese army did not place defenders on both sides of the river, because until now they believed that the North Vietnamese did not have a strong enough water force to invade the area.

Qian Tiandun's special operations company disembarked at a river channel that bent at 90 degrees, and began to build fortifications on the slope of the bank. The width of the river was only one hundred and thirty or forty meters, and the boats that came up could not observe the scene on the river until they turned the sharp bend, and by the time they found that they had been intercepted, they had no time to flee.

After the special operations company landed on the shore, the "Discovery," which had successfully lost weight, also appeared to be much lighter, cruising back and forth on the river and waiting for fighters.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the small detachment sent back the message that a convoy of seven ships was heading downstream. The displacement of these ships is around thirty or forty tons, which is completely small compared to the "Discovery", and judging by the draft of the ships, the ships should be fully loaded with cargo. Qian Tiandun immediately ordered the assembly and informed the "Explorer" to prepare for battle.

The hapless fleet had just sailed across the river when they saw a strange-looking ship appear in the river ahead. Before they could come to their senses, the big ship had already shown its claws violently.

Compared with yesterday's record of missing three rounds, the gunners of the "Discovery" today were holding back their efforts to save face, and in the second round of shelling, two shells hit the head ship of the South Vietnamese fleet at a distance of 50 meters, making two large holes in its side. As soon as the river swarmed in, the hull of the boat soon tilted.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the fleet behind hurriedly leaned towards the west bank, trying to avoid this strange ship that fell from the sky. But what they didn't expect was that there were also enemy troops in ambush on the west bank. Under the fire of more than a hundred flintlock muskets, the crew on the deck of the head ship was swept away in ten seconds, and the ship that sailed to control it quickly rushed headlong to the west bank of the river.

The entire river was just over 100 meters wide, and these South Vietnamese ships could not avoid land strikes from the west coast if they wanted to avoid the heavy fire of the "Discovery". Soon, two more ships were damaged and began to capsize under the attack of land and water, and another ship saw that the situation was not good, and took the initiative to lean to the west bank and chose to surrender. The two boats at the back tried to turn around and flee upstream, but the river here is a sharp bend, and the river is narrow, so how easy is it to turn back?

The Discovery quickly caught up and quickly picked up the two ships. The whole battle lasted only half an hour, and the seven South Vietnamese ships were sunk, wounded and surrendered, capturing more than 30 people, none of them managed to escape the ambush circle, while the casualties on the Haihan side were zero, and the opponent did not even have time to make a decent resistance.

After a brief count, it was found that the ships were carrying grain. After directing the captives to transfer some of the grain to the riverbank, the special operations company mercilessly scuttled all the boats on the riverbank.

The interrogation of the captives turned out to be a little rewarding, and the captain of one of the ships voluntarily confessed that a convoy of troop transports would pass through here later to fight for the north bank of the river. As a result, the special operations company, which had just come down from relaxation, hurriedly regrouped and prepared for the next wave of battles.

More than an hour later, another fleet of five ships arrived at the bay, and it was also attacked head-on by the "Discovery" without any suspense. However, this time the troop carriers clearly had some counterattack capabilities, and a number of archers on each ship rushed onto the deck to launch a counterattack against the "Discovery" and the special operations company on the shore.

This time the good fortune could no longer shelter the Haihan militia, and one soldier was shot directly through the neck by a cold arrow, becoming the first fighter to die in this cross-sea operation. In addition, three soldiers were injured by arrows, and two crew members of the "Discovery" were unfortunately injured by arrows, but fortunately none of them were life-threatening injuries.

After the Discovery damaged two ships and caused them to roll, the other three ships had already rushed downstream under fire. Qian Tiandun issued an order to the "Discovery" to pursue them, so as to destroy these ships on the river.

So the "Exploration" slowly turned around on the river, and then pursued all the way until the last boat sank the Zhengjiang River, but it was not certain whether any of the people who fell into the water would swim across to the north bank of the Zhengjiang River. Only 37 of the five South Vietnamese troop carriers were captured, and according to the results of the surprise trial, the flotilla transported more than 500 combatants, most of whom were sent to the bottom of the river to become water ghosts.

As the commander of the sabotage battle behind enemy lines, Qian Tiandun was not very satisfied with this result. Although the two operations did effectively kill and wound the enemy's personnel and strike at the opponent's limited water transportation capacity, judging from the course of the operation, this special operations unit, which had a huge firepower superiority, did not achieve the expected results. Although the fire fired from the shore by the musketeers was effective against the deck crews of the enemy ships, the damage to the ships was almost zero, and they could only scratch their boots.

The "Discovery's" artillery fire was certainly fierce, but the gap created by the slow firing frequency was enough for the opponent to take advantage of the opportunity to slip over the river. Of course, the lethality of solid shells against personnel is indiscriminate and killing in one hit, but the effect of hitting ships depends on luck in a certain way. The last troop carrier to be sunk had only begun to leak and slow down after at least seven or eight shots, and the effect of the blow before that was nothing more than a few transparent holes in its hull, which did not affect its sailing performance at all.

In addition, after two successive blocking battles, even if the roar of artillery fire did not come too far, the opponent would definitely notice the abnormality if there were twelve ships missing in one day. Qian Tiandun estimated that in order to save this precious lifeline, the other party would start to clean up this river the next day at the latest. Judging from the course of today's operations, the combat capability of this special operations unit is still insufficient in dealing with an enemy with a large difference in strength. After discussing with Sun Changmi, Qian Tiandun decided to temporarily evacuate this water area and return to the vicinity of the sea mouth to carry out activities.

Qian Tiandun's judgment was indeed correct, although the artillery fire did not disturb the South Vietnamese army in the distance, but the loss of contact between the two fleets in succession for no reason quickly attracted the attention of the South Vietnamese army. In the evening of the same day, South Vietnamese patrols patrolling along the banks of the Truong River found several bodies of drowned bodies near the shore, and after examination, it was found that they were members of the missing fleet.

If it is the capsizing and sinking of one ship and two ships, it can be explained as an accident, but the two fleets of twelve ships and hundreds of people disappeared silently on the Zhengjiang River, and this must not be taken as an explanation for the accident. The top brass of the South Vietnamese army also realized that this was most likely an invasion by the North Vietnamese through the Guò waterway, and tried to use this method of warfare to disrupt their own logistical supply lines.

So in the following day, the South Vietnamese army organized thousands of people to comb through this water supply line along the banks of the Zheng River, and found a large number of corpses of South Vietnamese soldiers in the rivers along the river. But what disturbed South Vietnam was that the unseen and untouchable opponent had never been found, and seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Of course, the "Discovery" did not disappear into thin air, but just returned to sea early. In order not to be blocked by his opponent in the upper reaches of the Zhengjiang River, Qian Tiandun decisively chose to avoid it temporarily. On the contrary, in the early morning of a day later, the "Discovery" appeared on the coast of Donghai, 15 nautical miles south of the Zhengjiang River.

Before the dozens of South Vietnamese soldiers guarding the pier could figure out what was happening, they noticed numerous muzzles sticking out of the large ship that had broken into the harbor. After a flurry of gunfire, the special operations company chose to land directly at the pier.

"The first row guards the dock, the second row follows me to the warehouse to see if there is anything that can be moved, and the third row ...... Three platoons to burn all those ships!" After Qian Tiandun landed, he quickly issued a combat order: "Act quickly! We will evacuate in 20 minutes!"

Most of the supplies brought by the South Vietnamese army from Hue Province first arrived at Dong Hai, and then continued to the front line in the north by land and water, so the warehouses built on the shore stored a lot of supplies, including poultry and other meat.

The reason why the special operations units dared to land and fight here was also because they learned from the prisoners that the South Vietnamese camp in Dong Hai was quite a distance from the port, and because the South Vietnamese army did not have the ability to project troops by sea, and the transportation of troops was basically by land, there was no large garrison near the Dong Hai harbor, and the defense of the port itself was relatively sparse.

The defenders quickly organized a counterattack, but the charge of these unarmored infantry was simply futile in the face of the flintlock muskets. After leaving behind more than thirty corpses, including the commander, the defenders finally dispersed in a hurry and gave up the idea of retaking the docks.

"Burn everything you can't take away!" Qian Tiandun gave the order mercilessly. After destroying this port, it will take at least ten days and eight days for South Vietnam to rebuild this supply point, and the supply of tens of thousands of people in front of it will definitely be greatly affected during this period.

More than 10 warehouses and more than 20 boats on the entire wharf were all burned down by the special combat team that morning. By the time the South Vietnamese troops, who were miles away, came to the pier out of breath, the place had already turned into a sea of fire, and the special operations troops who had taken the opportunity to loot had already set sail and left Dong Haigang.

After the "Discovery" sailed out of the open sea for more than 10 nautical miles, you could still see the billowing smoke rising from the direction of Dong Hai Harbor when you looked back. Sun Changmi handed over the ship to Xie Chun to control, and went to the deck with Qian Tiandun to count the spoils of these raids.

First of all, all kinds of swords, guns, bows and arrows, armor and helmets, these things are definitely not eye-catching for the Haihan militia that uses standard equipment, but they can be given to the North Vietnamese army as a personal favor in the future.

The second is all kinds of food supplies, due to the limited loading capacity of the "Explorer", the looting in Zhengjiang and Donghai did not actually take away too many supplies. More than a tonne of grain was loaded onto the ship, and then some live poultry was used to supplement the meat. Since there were no means of preservation on the ship, Qian Tiandun's original idea of slaughtering a few more pigs and bringing them on the ship could only be abandoned. But even so, in the next three or four days, it can basically ensure that all the combatants will have meat to eat.

Finally, two boxes of silver ingots were found on the ships fighting for the river, about 5,000 taels of silver, which were estimated to be the military salaries of the front-line combat troops. During the battle on the side of Donghai, the soldiers also searched for nearly 1,000 taels of silver and a small amount of copper ingots from various sources. As for the iron money in small denominations, it was not recovered as trophies at all.

Since the Black Earth Port has also implemented negotiable coupons as the main circulating currency, there is no channel for the use of silver coins in the local area, so no one has been found to take advantage of the chaos to embezzle the spoils of war for the time being. Moreover, in the combat discipline announced by Qian Tiandun before going to war, it was clearly stipulated that anyone who was found to have hidden silver coins on his body after the war would be treated as embezzling war spoils, and his status as naturalized citizens would be revoked, and he would be demoted to a prisoner of re-education through labor, and he would be punished in a re-education through labor camp for at least two years.

"The harvest is okay! After two or three days, there will be several thousand taels of silver, and a few more fights will be enough for your company for a year's expenses, right?" After counting the loot, Sun Changmi got up and patted the dust stuck to his body: "Why don't we continue to go south and grab it all the way?"

"That's not good. Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "From here to the south, it takes almost a day's trip to Guangzhi, and Guangzhi City is located inland, dozens of miles away from the sea, so we don't need to take such a big risk." The purpose of our operation is to interfere with the opponent's supply lines, and there is no need to increase the combat radius. We will now return to the coalition positions and report the situation of the two days of operations to the headquarters. ”

"Listen to you!" Sun Changmi patted Qian Tiandun on the shoulder and went back to the bridge. Qian Tiandun's command in the past few days has fully proved his military ability, and Sun Changmi also knows that he is not a professional, and it is better to listen to the opinions of professionals in making decisions in this kind of combat direction.

During the two or three days that the special combat team was fighting in the south, the South Vietnamese Army did not stop attacking the positions of the coalition forces, but it never sent the mysterious musket unit to participate in the battle. Command believes that this may be due to the suspicion of the opposing military advisors about their defensive tactics and fortifications, and has been trying to confirm their military strength and disposition. After all, the attrition of field warfare and positional warfare are two different things, and as long as the opponent's brain is not burned out, he will not use field tactics to attack his own increasingly solid defensive positions.

Secret battles on the north and south ridges became more frequent, and it seems that the South Vietnamese had also noticed the advantages of the two commanding heights, and tried to send additional troops to take these two strategic points with a panoramic view