The Hai Han Military Commission had already drawn up a detailed operational plan on how to command the militia troops to attack Hue, the capital of South Vietnam, from sea to land, and the General Staff had also conducted many exercises on the defensive measures that the enemy might take in the process, basically taking into account all kinds of situations. The South Vietnamese navy no longer has much money, and it will not be able to play too many tricks, and how can the Haihan side not be wary of such traditional tactics as fire attack. Although Wu Sen and his colleagues had already made up their minds to die, Haihan's side did not intend to give them a chance to die on the battlefield right now.

After the two fleets from Sanya and Heitu Port met off the coast of Hue, they directly formed a formation and sailed into the mouth of the Xiang River, but the fleet did not rush to the upper reaches of the sea, but quickly docked on the north bank of the Xiang River and began to drop personnel and various war materials from the ship.

Qian Tiandun and the special operations battalion of Heitu Port led by him were the first to land and set up two lines of defense on the periphery of the landing site. The men began to set up camp on the riverbank in accordance with the steps they had already practiced.

For the officers and men of the South Vietnamese Navy who were preparing to launch a desperate attack upstream, this move by the Hai Han militia was undoubtedly a great surprise to them. In the perception of Vu Sen and other South Vietnamese officers, whether it was a surprise attack on Dong Hai or an attack on Hoi An, it was like a thunderbolt sweeping away obstacles on the surface of the water and immediately launching an attack on targets on land. The Hai Han militia, which had absolute superiority on the water, suddenly gave up this combat method and chose to attack by land, which made the South Vietnamese naval army a little unsure of how to deal with it for a while.

"My lord, can we fight in this way?" Seeing that Wu Sen had stood at the bow of the ship for a long time without making a sound, his own soldiers stepped forward and asked softly.

"Hit ...... How can this be fought!" Wu Sen came back to his senses from his contemplation and immediately became angry: "You didn't see that they have already arranged so many small boats on the periphery, even if we kill them now, it will be difficult to rush to their warships!"

Haihan's fleet this time was not only a large warship with powerful firepower, but also a number of small ships suitable for inland navigation were specially modified by the Ministry of Shipping, and they were towed here by large ships. These small boats, which are equipped with two sets of power systems for sailing and oars, are more flexible and more suitable for daily patrol and vigilance and some low-intensity transportation tasks on the Xiangjiang River, which is only about 300 meters wide. Of course, the weakness of this kind of ship is also more obvious, that is, the lack of fire intensity, because the hull is too small, the ship is not equipped with heavy weapons such as artillery, and the fire attack can only be achieved by rifles. In the ever-changing battlefield environment of the river, the actual lethality of the rifles on board is very limited.

While the large ships were docking, a dozen or so small boats had already formed a formation on the river to cover the landing site from the periphery. Although the number is small, it is already an insurmountable obstacle for the South Vietnamese naval division, which lacks major generals.

The South Vietnamese naval division now has only 50 or 60 ships in total, and there are only about a dozen ships arranged at the mouth of the Xiangjiang River, and it is very difficult to bypass the interception of the opponent's small boats on the not wide river, and Wu Sen is not half sure about this. Wu Sen was not afraid of death, but if he could not injure the opponent's big ship, then the sacrifice of such a suicidal charge was too unworthy.

"Continue to monitor the enemy's movements, quickly send someone back to Hue City, and inform the chief soldier of the situation here!" Wu Sen hesitated for a moment, and finally gave the order.

If he had dozens of ships in his hands now, Wu Sen would probably immediately order an attack, leaving no time for the opponent to land calmly. But more than half of the dozens of boats left by the South Vietnamese Navy were still in the vicinity of Hue City upstream, transporting people and supplies on both sides of the Xiang River. Gathering the ships of the naval division to launch an offensive is not something that an officer of Wu Sen's level can call the shots, all he can do is to report the situation and wait for his superiors to judge the battle situation before giving an order.

However, in the eyes of the Haihan side, no matter how the opponent reacts, it cannot prevent its own side from implementing the battle plan step by step. Tons of war materials were constantly hoisted ashore, and migrant workers pushed large flatbed trucks back and forth, under the command of the foreman's brass whistle, to transport all kinds of supplies and ammunition to the material storage area that had just been planned. Another group of migrant workers is leveling the foundations and driving load-bearing wooden piles into the earth to build a temporary warehouse for supplies. In the construction of temporary bases, the logistics department has accumulated enough experience after many operations, and a large number of prefabricated parts have been used to construct both warehouses and barracks, although this will greatly increase the pressure on the transportation chain, but the precious time that can be gained on the front line is very worthwhile.

"Stop!" Takahashi raised his left hand, which was clenched into a fist, and motioned for the team behind him to pause. He pulled out a simple hand-drawn map from his backpack and began to check the terrain around him to confirm his location.

This is a new map that he received from the operational staff headquarters after he arrived at the mouth of the Xiangjiang River and landed, and the content is the topography of the area from the mouth of the Xiangjiang River to Hue City. The 30-mile area of Linhai is all plains, there are no obvious landmarks on the map, and the only reference is probably the Xiangjiang River next to it, and the nearest marching route from the mouth of the Xiangjiang River to Hue City is along the Xiangjiang River. In addition to finding out the route of the march for the follow-up large troops, the reconnaissance team led by Takahashi Nan also had to choose suitable locations along the way to set up a stronghold near the river, and blockade and control the river from the river bank, so as to reduce the defensive pressure on the downstream garrison.

After coming to North Vietnam, Takahashi Nan also learned a lot from Qian Tiandun, and learning to read military maps was one of his new skills. This is by no means easy for a person with almost zero foundation, and just understanding the scale on the map took Qian Tiandun half a month to teach him. Takahashi himself wanted to give up this painful learning process at one point, but when Qian Tiandun told him that this was a necessary skill for future promotions to senior officers, Takahashi decided that he would have to master this advanced technique no matter what.

Throughout the second half of last year, most of Takahashi's energy was devoted to training in field reconnaissance subjects. Now he can not only read maps of various scales, but even complete simple map drawing work himself, so Qian Tiandun will rest assured that he will be responsible for the task of going out to reconnoitre.

Based on the actual comparison, Takahashi Minami believes that although the description of the terrain and landforms in this map is very sketchy, the accuracy is very high, far exceeding the level of mapping that the special operations battalion can master. According to Takahashinan's knowledge, the reconnaissance unit assigned by the Haihan militia in Annam only has a reconnaissance company under the special operations battalion, but this map is obviously not the work of the reconnaissance company, and it is difficult to imagine how the staff headquarters in Sanya drew such a detailed and accurate topographic map. However, from another point of view, this seems to once again show the tall image of the executive committee's omnipotence and invincibility of the militia army, and for this kind of natural thing, Takahashi Minami did not think about it further.

According to the map, Takahashinan judged that his current position was seven or eight miles away from the landing site, and in front of him was a small river of a tributary of the Xiangjiang River marked on the map, about thirty to forty meters wide. Of course, this kind of thing does not need to be worried about by Takahashinan, since this small river is marked on the map, the staff must have prepared the corresponding river crossing plan and tools.

What Takahashinan needs to do is to confirm the terrain here and choose the most suitable location for the follow-up troops to cross the river. In addition, since the surface boats needed to cross the river must come up from the downstream, the control of the river surface from the tributaries to the mouth of the Xiangjiang River has become a combat objective that must be completed. Takahashi Minami used his thumb to make a simple judgment that the width of the river here is only about 200 meters, and it also has a certain arc, and it is impossible for the ships going down to have too fast speed on this section of the river, and if a fire blockade line is set up on the shore, it is completely possible to control the river surface -- the shotguns equipped with the army artillery are enough to sweep the opponent's small fishing boats into pieces at this distance.

As the sun sank in the west, the South Vietnamese naval boats on the river slowly withdrew upstream. Although they knew that the enemy might not be in a hurry to launch an attack by water, the cautious South Vietnamese naval generals did not dare to leave their limited surface forces close to their opponents for the night. Standing in the dense stone iris bushes on the shore, Takahashi Minami coldly watched the opponent's small boat slowly sail upstream, although the two armies had not officially fought each other, but in Takahashi's eyes, these people were almost no different from dead people.

In the early morning of the next day, two flat-bottomed inland river cargo ships with a string of small boats appeared at the fork of the river that Takahashi Minami had reconnoitred the day before. The two large ships were loaded with the supplies, weapons, and sappers needed to build the pontoon bridge and the firing point, and the string of small boats towed behind them were the piers used for the pontoon bridge. As for the combat troops stationed here, they are marching by land through Guò.

It was much easier to build a pontoon bridge on a tributary creek with a gentle flow and a small river surface than to build a floating trestle on the coast, and all the components were standard size prefabricated parts, which were not very difficult to construct without outside interference, and it took the sappers a little more than an hour to erect two five-foot-wide pontoon bridges on the river, which were load-bearing enough for the 48-pounder mortar used in the siege to pass down the bridge deck. At this time, the sky was just getting dark.

At this time, the 1st Battalion and 2nd Company of the militia regiment had also arrived, and after a short rest, the soldiers immediately threw themselves into the work of building a fire stronghold. The direction of this firepower point is not only the Xiangjiang River, but also the pontoon bridges erected on the tributaries, so the firepower output points are divided into two directions: east and south. The soldiers used their sabers to cut off some of the stone irises on the banks of the river that were too overgrown to block the view, and then used sacks of earth to build artillery emplacements and cover the breastwork of the infantry.

"Company Commander Yu, congratulations on your promotion again!" Gao Qiao Nan took the initiative to say hello to Yu Tiezhu, the commander of the second company.

The two of them are also familiar with each other, when Takahashi Minami was working as a coolie in the labor camp, Yu Tiezhu had just enlisted in the militia and had interned in the labor camp for a period of time, and the two had already known each other at that time. Later, Takahashi Nan was appreciated by Ren Liang, and recommended him to join the militia as a soldier, and the two became colleagues. Later, when he participated in the officer's refresher course in Shengli Port, the two became contemporaries, and they could be regarded as classmates.

"Company Commander Gao, rejoice and rejoice!" Yu Tiezhu also noticed that Gao Qiaonan's collar badge had been changed from platoon commander to company commander, and secretly said in his heart that this guy was not slow to rise.

"I've reminded you several times, my surname is Takahashi, not Gao. Takahashi protested.

"Okay, okay, I remember. Yu Tiezhu condescendingly patted Takahashi Minami's shoulder, and responded perfunctorily: "Don't care about this kind of detail...... I always feel uncomfortable in my nose when I come to this place!"

"Probably because it's a stone calamus!" Gao Qiaonan pointed to the dense stone irises by the river and said, "Before I came, I heard from Chief Qian that the reason why this place is called Xiangjiang is because the fragrance emitted by these stone irises does not disperse all year round. ”

"Is it fragrant? I don't think it's probably because I'm used to smelling the fishy smell of the sea!" Yu Tiezhu snorted, and then returned to the topic: "In addition to sending boats to monitor on the water, did the South Vietnamese find any movements on land?"

"I haven't met the South Vietnamese troops since yesterday, and it is estimated that they have heard the news of our attack, and they have all shrunk in Hue City and dare not come out!" Takahashi Nan's face was proud, and his tone was full of disdain for the enemy and strong self-confidence.

"And you're going to go ahead today?"

"Of course, our task is to find out the disposition of the South Vietnamese army, and from here seven or eight miles further south is Hue City, and if nothing else, we will encounter the South Vietnamese army within today's day. When he said this, Takahashi's face did not show any nervousness, but was full of longing for battle.

However, the encounter with the enemy army came a little faster than Takahashi Minami expected, and at eight o'clock in the morning, just as Takahashi Minami was gathering his men and preparing to leave, a warning signal was issued from the warning post placed in the south.

"Yo, this is coming!" Gao Qiao Nan asked people to inform Yu Tiezhu, who was still directing the construction of the artillery position, and he led the team to cross the pontoon bridge that had just been erected and came to the position on the south bank of the small river.

The size of the enemy force that appeared in Takahashi's southern field of vision was not large, only two or three hundred people, and it was estimated that it was only a peripheral patrol team from the point of view of the establishment. The leading officer of this unit probably did not expect to find the outpost of the Haihan people here, and after a short period of astonishment, he immediately urged his soldiers to attack.

However, if this small army of pure cold weapons wants to complete the charge and kill the position where Takahashi Minami is located, it is basically equivalent to delivering food to the door. Although the reconnaissance team led by Takahashi Minami was less than half of the opponent's manpower, after completing three rounds of gun firing at close range, the number of people on both sides immediately changed to the same level. Seeing the terrible combat effectiveness of the Haihan militia, the South Vietnamese soldiers quickly switched from charging to fleeing, and fled south in a panic. From the time the South Vietnamese army launched the attack to the time when they turned around and fled, the whole battle did not last more than three minutes, and there were no casualties on the Hai Han side. It is equivalent to the iron pillar hurriedly arrived with two platoons of reinforcements, and Takahashi Minami was already commanding his men to clean up the battlefield.

"*** Dao!" Yu Tiezhu sighed and said: "I don't even give my brother any food left, your appetite is really good!"

"You can't blame me for that. Takahashi Nan said with an innocent face: "I put three rounds of guns, and then these monkeys turned around and ran, and they couldn't even catch up! If the enemies we have to deal with this time are all of this level, it will probably not take a few days to take Hue City!"

"I'm afraid it's not that easy. Yu Tiezhu was not as blindly optimistic as Takahashi Nan, shook his head and said: "Judging from the pre-war preparations this time, the commanders of the General Staff are not sure of a quick victory, and the war materials alone are much more than the previous expeditions to Annan. And this time it has not been delivered, and the fleet will immediately return to Sanya to transport the second trip after unloading the things. In my opinion, I am afraid that this Hue attack will not be completed in ten days and half a month. ”

"That's not necessarily a bad thing, the more we fight, the more opportunities we have to make meritorious contributions. Takahashi couldn't help but tell the truth.

"You don't want this point of view, if the commanders hear it, they will definitely say that there is something wrong with your thinking and attitude!" Yu Tiezhu complained with a smile.

The results of the battle were quickly counted, and in less than three minutes of fighting, the South Vietnamese troops who launched the attack were killed on the spot, and there were more than a dozen wounded of varying degrees of light and severity. Takahashi Minami and Yu Tiezhu each picked a few prisoners with minor injuries for surprise interrogation, and then checked the results of the interrogation, and sure enough, these soldiers were just scattered troops sent to patrol the nearby area. However, from the prisoners' confessions, both of them found a noteworthy information, that is, the South Vietnamese defenders built a vast area of fortifications outside Hue City, and from the time calculation, the construction began almost at the same time as the South Vietnamese sent envoys to Victory Port for peace talks last year, and it seems that the South Vietnamese court also did its homework for this battle early. The quick solution that Takahashi hoped for was basically impossible to achieve. However, the two will not have the slightest doubt about the victory that will be achieved in the end, with the existing combat strength of the Haihan militia, no matter how prepared the South Vietnamese Army is, it will not be able to turn the sky over, it is nothing more than to stretch the process of the battle longer. The operational plan already drawn up by the Central Military Commission and the General Staff Headquarters will continue to be carried out in a step-by-step manner.