The 1st Marine Regiment has a strength of 5,600 men and is also assisted by the heavy artillery company of the division.
In front of them, Incheon obviously had no intention of surrender and planned to defend to the end.
Jin Wensheng opened the arsenal and distributed all the weapons he could find to the defenders. He also recruited the people in the city to assist in the defense.
All together, there are more than 2,000 troops.
His biggest reliance now is the city wall of Incheon.
As a large city, Incheon's city wall is almost the same as that of Hanyang. According to Jin Wensheng's expectation, it can still be relied upon for defense.
Miao Guangxian and Zhao Xianbing did not use their troops blindly, but carried out detailed reconnaissance on Incheon.
"Our strength ratio is two to one. The city wall of Incheon is relatively strong. Even with heavy artillery, it cannot be completely destroyed. Therefore, when attacking, I warn everyone to be careful and don't lose your life here."
As the most powerful army in this era, the Xia Army attaches unparalleled importance to the lives of its soldiers.
Anyway, it is much stronger than the opponent, so there is no need to sacrifice the lives of the soldiers in vain.
Zhao Xianbing pointed to the mountains south of the city.
"The city is close to this mountain ridge. If we can capture it, we can suppress the city's defense from a high position."
Miao Guangxian picked up the telescope and took a closer look at the mountain.
"The defenders in the city also know that the place is important, and they should have deployed heavy troops. If they want to attack, concentrate two battalions, move the heavy artillery over, and capture it quickly with a thunderous force."
"I agree."
Miao Guangxian and Zhao Xianbing summoned all officers above the company level to conduct combat deployment.
"The first and second battalions took the approach of advancing from east to west to capture the mountain ridge. The third battalion controlled the west and north of the city, and the fourth battalion controlled the east of the city. Taking advantage of the time when the first and second battalions were attacking, they dug trenches and approached the city wall."
Regarding how to attack a city, the armies of this era have actually mastered the key.
That is to dig trenches and shorten the attack distance.
The Qing army did this when they attacked Daling River City, and the Xia army used the same method this time when they attacked Incheon.
At eight o'clock in the morning, the sky was bright and the vision was completely clear, and the Xia army's attack began.
The first battalion came from the west side of the mountain, the second battalion came from the east side of the mountain, and the heavy artillery company was deployed on the south side of the mountain.
The mountain range south of Incheon City is in the shape of an east-west line. Heavy artillery is deployed on the south side and can hit any corner of the mountain.
Jin Wensheng certainly knew that this mountain range was the key to defending the city, so he sent Guo Chengzai to personally guard it.
With the arrival of spring, everything revives, and the vegetation on the mountains begins to become dense. The North Korean army is hiding among them, intending to use the rugged and complicated terrain to defend itself.
The attack speed of the 1st and 2nd Battalions was not very fast, and because of the narrow terrain, they could not put all their troops into the battle at once.
Moreover, in such a place, the infantry cannot form an array and can only attack and advance in skirmish formation.
"Slow down! Slow down! Find a bunker first and observe clearly before moving forward."
Xu Guodong, commander of the 1st Battalion and 1st Company, kept shouting at the top of his lungs, reminding the soldiers not to rush in.
Enemies may be hidden in any corner of the dense jungle and ravines. In order to reduce sacrifices, no matter how cautious you are, you can't be too cautious.
The soldiers of the first company all hunched over, loaded their bullets, and groped their way up the mountain.
When the cover was in place, the remaining soldiers began to move upward.
But no matter how careful you are, sacrifice is inevitable.
A loud bang was heard, and two soldiers were knocked to the ground by the explosion and turned into bloody gourds.
Their comrades rushed forward immediately and dragged them back.
"There are mines, let the engineers come up."
The Xia army soldiers immediately spread out and aimed at any suspicious places.
At this time, three or four groups of well-protected soldiers rushed up from behind, even holding tall shields in their hands.
After they came to the front, long iron rods stretched out from the gaps in the shield and kept rubbing against the ground in front of them.
After a while, explosions sounded one after another, and the landmines laid by the North Korean army were detonated.
In the middle of the rocks above, Guo Chengzai saw with his own eyes the Xia army's fighting style.
He waved his hand and pointed towards the engineers clearing mines. Immediately, a sharp archer quietly came up to him, half of his body was revealed from behind the tree, and the bow in his hand was fully drawn.
He was looking for an opportunity, waiting for the archer's body to reveal his fatal part, and would immediately open his bow and fire an arrow.
boom!
A cloud of white smoke suddenly rose.
The magic archer didn't have time to shoot the arrow in his hand, and his forehead was covered with flowers.
Guo Chengzai was startled and looked towards the place where the smoke was coming from. He never thought that someone was hiding in that place.
The other Korean soldiers were also frightened and stood up one after another, trying to shoot at that place with arrows.
But this time they were all exposed and were immediately fired upon by the Xia army's musketry.
In the blink of an eye, more than 20 North Korean soldiers were killed on the spot. The injured screamed wildly, which was extremely terrifying in this dark dense forest.
"General, the enemy is coming."
After being reminded, Guo Chengzai discovered that Xia Jun was moving very quickly and had already surrounded their position from both wings.
"Quickly retreat to a higher place."
The first defensive position of the North Korean army only lasted for half an hour before it was captured by the Xia army.
Guo Chengzai retreated backwards, trembling with fear.
He had never seen the Xia army's fighting style before, and they had too many firearms.
Xia Jun's muskets fired far and accurately, leaving the North Korean army with little room to perform even at high altitudes.
No one dared to show his head.
But if the head is not exposed, there will be no way to shoot arrows, throw stones, or even shoot.
If you don't do this, how can you defend yourself?
Although he tried his best and laid mines on the way up the mountain.
However, this crude mine had no technical content in Xia Jun's eyes and was quickly cracked.
The Xia army's heavy artillery was finally deployed and began to cover the middle part of the mountain top with shooting.
The power of heavy artillery is very powerful, and the explosion of each shell can cover a range of thirty to forty meters.
The North Korean army's fortifications on the mountain are also temporary and very crude, and cannot withstand such a bombardment.
Not only that, high explosives also caused fires, rendering the highest point of the mountain untenable.
Guo Chengzai was filled with grief and anger.
Obviously the army in his hands did not suffer too much loss, but the mountain could no longer be defended.
In desperation, he had to retreat to the city.
"Sir, Xia Jun is acting strangely, and I'm afraid Incheon won't be able to defend it. Why don't we wait until night and let's break out."
Guo Chengzai finally became a little scared and made suggestions to Jin Wensheng.
Unfortunately, Jin Wensheng did not agree.
"I am the envoy of the Incheon Protectorate. I have the responsibility to defend the territory. How can I leave? General Guo must not damage the morale of the army. Guard carefully. As long as we are united as one, Incheon will be fortified."
Seeing Jin Wensheng's stubbornness, Guo Chengzai was helpless and filled with sadness.
