1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2109
The Fujian Ming army dispatched by Xu Xinsu departed from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou at the same time in mid-April. Naturally, such a large-scale troop transfer cannot be completely hidden from everyone. As for the whereabouts of these thousands of Ming troops, Xu Xinsu said to the outside world that it was in Fujian. Strait and the Haihan Army conduct military exercises together.As for whether the civil and military officials in Fujian believed this statement, he actually didn't care too much. If anyone felt that there was something wrong with mixing with the Haihan Army, they could write a memorial to the court.

For Xu Xinsu, other things can be put aside for the time being, and the signs that the Eighteenth Zhiyu Party is on the rise overseas must be dealt with first.The information provided by Haihan shows that Hirado, Japan is building warships and various weapons on a large scale. The Eighteenth Zhiyu Party obviously wants to use Hirado to make a comeback. This is absolutely unacceptable to Xu Xinsu.

Although Xu Xinsu is now living a pampered life and doesn't need to travel around anymore, but after all, he can't stand the gradual aging year by year, and his body can't bear the requirement of leading troops overseas, so he can only be the commander of the troops under his command. The power was handed over to his nephews and younger generations, and he sat in Fujian to ensure the stability of the rear.

However, before Xu Yuzhuo left Zhangzhou this time, Xu Xinsu had already given him a death order to annihilate the remnants of the Shibazhi Party at all costs, especially those related to Zheng Zhilong. A chance to regain momentum.The consequences of not killing them all back then have already emerged, and this time we cannot make the same mistake again.

So after Xu Yuzhuo's meeting with Shi Diwen, he also put forward the request to wipe out the remnants of the Eighteen Zhizhi Party, but Shi Diwen thought that there would be a lot of difficulties in the actual operation, and it might not be able to achieve the goal Xu Xinsu asked for.

Xu Yuzhuo couldn't win the full support of his allies, so he couldn't help feeling a little depressed, so he asked Shi Diwen for a detailed map of Hirado, and called his officers to study the battle plan together.

"The key point is to block navigation at sea and not allow the target to cross the Hirado Strait and escape to Kyushu. Once we pass the strait, it will be difficult for our troops to go deep inland to pursue the target."

After studying the map, Xu Yuzhuo also had to admit that Shi Diwen's opinion was more objective. It is indeed quite difficult to completely block the escape route of Hirado Island with limited troops, and once the target escapes to the Kyushu area which is very close, then It will be difficult to catch people.

Although both Kyushu and Hirado are islands, Kyushu is the third largest island in Japan with an area of ​​nearly 200 square kilometers, which is equivalent to the area of ​​more than [-] Hirado islands.Most of Kyushu is covered with mountainous and dense forests. As long as the target escapes into these areas to hide, it will be difficult for the Ming army, who is completely unfamiliar with the local environment, to track them down.

"General, our ships are limited. It is very difficult to completely block the waterway at sea. It is better to concentrate our efforts to clear the large and small ports on the coast of Hirado Island and control the ships on the island in the shortest possible time. Perhaps it is better than blocking the waterway. It's more effective."

Xu Yuzhuo's subordinates also had smart people, and they quickly thought of a solution to this problem.This approach is actually not new. Haihan controlled the Liaodong coastline in the north and used such means to prevent the Qing Dynasty from going out to sea.

Although the strength of the Fujian Navy is not as strong as that of the Haihan Navy, it should be no problem to deal with opponents of the level of the Hirado Domain. Warships, but Xu Yuzhuo still has full confidence in his own strength. After all, the Fujian Navy has participated in overseas expeditions with Haihan many times in recent years. He has fought against all kinds of enemies on the battlefield. The navy is comparable.

As long as we can try to control the port of Hirado Island, it can indeed cut off the enemy's escape channel, but there will definitely be certain difficulties in the implementation of this plan. For example, the Fujian Navy, who is not familiar with the local situation, will It is not easy to find every port on the island that can go to sea in a short period of time.Even the detailed map provided by Haihan only marked some main targets on the island, further on-site reconnaissance was needed to confirm the unknown small ports.

After the large troops of the Fujian Navy arrived at Zhujiajian Island, they took a full seven-day rest.The reason why they stayed on Zhujiajian Island for such a long time was mainly because they were waiting for the Northern Route Army from North Korea to arrive.Due to the limited conditions of Seogwipo Port, it is difficult to turn it into a qualified military base in a hurry to provide logistical services for the upcoming Northern Fleet and special forces. Some temporary modifications have been made to the port facilities to meet operational needs.

In this way, the date of dispatching troops can only be postponed later.However, the generals also seized this rare buffer time to further improve the action plan so that their troops could prepare for the next battle.The only more troublesome thing is that the two groups of people in the north and the south cannot communicate in a timely manner. They can only communicate through daily telegram contact. The efficiency can be imagined. Agreement was reached.

The delay due to local reasons in Seogwipo was more or less beyond Hai Han's expectations. Although the battle plan did not make major changes because of this, it also left more time for the opponent to prepare for the battle.During this period, the Northern Fleet sent a second wave of reconnaissance fleet from Seogwipo, but the target area was mainly the waters of the Goto Islands, and they did not risk sending people to land for reconnaissance, so they did not know about the power change that occurred in Hirado Domain.

When the time came to the beginning of May, the troops from the north and the south were ready to stop, so the coalition forces began to move according to the agreed time.This time, the military operation against the Hirado clan was named "Eradication of Roots" under the suggestion of the Fujian side, which means that the goal of the operation was to eliminate the Eighteen Zhiyu Party hiding in the Hirado clan.

The East China Sea Fleet on the South Road set off first because the starting point is far from the destination, and the Fujian Navy hiding on the east coast of Zhujiajian Island also set off on the same day. After the two fleets met in the northeast of Zhoushan Island, Slowly heading towards Japan in a mixed formation.

In this coalition fleet, the Fujian Navy, which came from afar, accounted for the majority, with more than 100 large and small sailing ships, which was twice as many as the number of ships dispatched by the East China Sea Fleet.However, when it comes to the average tonnage of warships, Haihan is far ahead, especially the two majestic-class warships with a displacement of nearly [-] tons. Their huge hulls are even more eye-catching in this mixed fleet.

Xu Xinsu has tried several times to buy majestic-class warships from Haihan in the past few years. He also knows that it is not realistic to buy new ones, so he offered to buy a ship with a certain number of years of service. Declined on the grounds of meeting the needs of the Navy.Haihan didn't even talk about the price further, which was obviously pointing out to Xu Xinsu that the Majestic-class battleship is still not included in the export list and is not for sale.

Of course, Xu Xinsu's family is not the only one who has such plans. An Nanguo also made the same request to the Haihan Executive Committee, trying to buy a Majestic-class warship as the flagship of the Annan Fleet, but he also failed to achieve his goal. .

Haihan's refusal of the purchase requests from these two parties is not just because of the risk of leakage of advanced shipbuilding technology. Indeed, most of the reasons are because the construction progress of the majestic class cannot keep up with the speed of Haihan's external expansion, and it is not enough for its own use. Of course not. Will consider exporting.

However, it is said that the Ministry of National Defense and the shipbuilding organization are already studying the improved model of the majestic class. If these allies want to buy it, they may have to wait until the new model of the majestic class enters service before the old model will be included in the export list.Moreover, the majestic-class warships for export will definitely be weakened. For example, the steam system on the ship will not be preserved, and it will be completely dismantled before the handover, and only a pure sail-powered version will be handed over to the buyer.

As far as the known information is concerned, there is no Japanese warship that can compete head-on with the Majestic-class warships. Even the Chinese-style warships that are being built in Hirado are only one fifth of the tonnage of the Majestic-class warships. One or so, the strength of shipboard firepower is even more incomparable.

But for the sake of stability, the two fleets dispatched a total of three Majestic-class warships in this operation. The combat power represented by these three warships alone is actually enough to defeat most of the armed fleets in East Asia in this era.Haihan mobilized such a strong combat force to participate in the battle, also in order to be able to steadily win the navy of the Hirado domain during the battle, and at the same time prevent other armed forces from the direction of Kyushu to support Hirado.

Not to mention the large-scale southern troops, as long as the Northern Fleet assembled at Seogwipo Port has much fewer dispatched ships than the Allied Fleet in the south, it still paralyzed the local port for a while.The Northern Fleet set off two days later than the Allied Fleet, and the meeting point of the two fleets was the first attack target, which was located on Fukue Island at the southern end of the Goto Islands.

When Yuan Zhi of the Northern Fleet came here for reconnaissance in the early stage, he had already discovered a shipyard and port hidden in the bay. From this sign, it can be confirmed that there must be a certain number of members of the Eighteenth Zhiyu Party on the island.According to the combat plan, the Fujian Ming Army will be responsible for the attack on this secret stronghold.

According to the scheduled time, the two fleets rendezvoused on the sea [-] miles west of Fujiang Island, and then the Fujian Navy divided more than ten warships, and the East China Sea Fleet divided four exploration-class warships to cover and carry a thousand ships. The troop carrier of more than two hundred Ming army musketeers went to the target area to land.

Such a large-scale fleet appeared near Fukue Island, and it was difficult to hide from the surveillance measures on the island.A few days ago, Hirado sent a warning message, requiring the islanders to step up inspections of the surrounding waters, and try to report as soon as possible if there is any enemy situation.

The alarm signal used by the people on the island was a very primitive method. Not long after the coalition fleet appeared at sea, thick black smoke rose from a certain mountain on the coast of Fukue Island, and it rose to a height of hundreds of feet after a while. It can be seen from miles away.Before the ships responsible for landing operations arrived at their destination, the people on the island had already received warnings of incoming foreign enemies.

But the people on the island couldn't predict how powerful the offensive they were facing. Even if they had observed in advance that an armed fleet was approaching the local area, it was still difficult to organize a decent resistance immediately.

With the disparity in the armed forces of the two sides on the surface, going to sea for a decisive battle is undoubtedly an act of suicide, so the people on the island can only choose to defend the island on land, but the area of ​​Fukue Island is more than [-] kilometers, and there are two Hirados. The island is so big, it is impossible for the people on the island to quickly transfer to a certain point to complete the assembly, so even if a fleet is seen heading towards the secret base on the north side of the island, it is impossible to reinforce the local area in time .

When the troop carrier was about a hundred feet away from the shore, it encountered armed resistance from the shore, but the strength of this resistance was also very limited, only about a hundred people, and the weapons used included bows, arrows and muskets.It was difficult for the attack of the resisters to cause personal injury to the protective troop carrier, but because they actively exposed their position, they summoned the warships on both sides of the troop carrier to counterattack.Several ships bombarded the targets on the shore with bow guns, and quickly dispersed these resisters who were not determined to fight.

The troop carrier landed smoothly on a gentle coast about two miles away from the entrance of the secret bay. in deep water, and then wade ashore.

During this period, the resisters who were repelled by the ship's artillery fire appeared again, trying to prevent the landing of outsiders, but this time they were rewarded not only with the artillery strikes from the warships, but also with the musket fire of the landing vanguard.After dropping several corpses, the resisters retreated inland again, leaving the landing site behind.

Although the resistance from the island was not strong, due to the relatively narrow terrain of the landing site, it was difficult for the troop carriers to reach the shore all at once, so the landing speed was not ideal.It took about an hour for more than 1000 Ming troops to transfer from here to the shore.But the good news is that during this period, several attempts by the resisters were repelled without any suspense, and the casualties of the Ming army were only in single digits, far less than those of the opponents.

After completing the assembly on the shore, the infantry began to march inland, and their goal was the shipyard in the harbor.

According to the map, the location of the target is not far away, as long as you pass through the large farmland by the sea, you will be there.However, after entering the inland, the warships at sea can no longer provide fire support for them, so the next battle can only be played by themselves.

The farmland here is still dominated by rice planting. At this time, the spring planting has ended, and there are large seedling fields as far as the eye can see. There is no need to worry about a large number of enemies setting up an ambush nearby.

(End of this chapter)