1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2113
The artillery casting technology currently mastered by the Hirado Domain comes from Western countries. When Shibazhi gained power in the Fujian Strait in the early years, he hired military consultants and weapon craftsmen from the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries to try to produce advanced weapons by himself. And use Western military tactics to enhance the strength of armed groups under your command.

However, to build a new type of army, it will require a lot of financial resources and time, and Shibazhi has just started such an attempt, which coincides with the emergence of a powerful enemy, Haihan, in the South China Sea.What happened later is well known all over the world. Shibazhi was beaten by the Haihan army without waiting for the huge investment in the early stage to bear fruit, and was even thought to have been completely destroyed by the outside world.

Although the result of that war was a crushing defeat, many members of Shibazhi still fled to various places overseas to hide, and Hirado in Japan was the most concentrated among them.And among these people hiding in Hirado, there are also some leaders of the new army who have received training from foreign military advisers. The new army that has been secretly trained in the past few years is the capital that Tian Chuan is confident to fight with Hai Han.

Lu Yuanlong was one of the people who escaped from Miyako Island back then, and his specialty was that he had systematically studied firearms combat and command under the guidance of several foreign military advisers.After coming to Hirado, Lu Yuanlong quickly gained the trust of Tagawasuke by virtue of his qualifications, and was appointed as the coach, responsible for training the new army loyal to the Tagawa clan.

Lu Yuanlong was born as an orphan. In fact, there is no real blood feud with Haihan, but he has been instilled in him for many years to be loyal to Zheng Zhilong, so the idea of ​​defeating Haihan and avenging Zheng Zhilong has always been buried in his heart. .Even when he was hiding in Hirado, Lu Yuanlong never let this thought go away, he was always waiting for a suitable opportunity, but now that the Haihan people came to his door again, he thought that the opportunity to avenge Zheng Zhilong had finally come.

Lu Yuanlong actually knew how powerful the Haihan army was. He also knew that the armed men he trained were unlikely to defeat the Haihan army on the frontal battlefield. As long as one's own side is fully prepared, it can have the power to fight.

Lu Yuanlong's confidence mainly comes from the results of training in the past few years. The fighting skills mastered by this new army are not only about firing guns, but also more new tactics and tactics that can be used in battle.No matter how powerful the Haihan army is, Hirado is its home field after all. Making full use of various local conditions to prepare for the battle can effectively narrow the gap in strength between the two armies.

Lu Yuanlong believes that the primary target of the Haihan army's cross-sea attack will definitely be Hirado Port, the core area of ​​the Hirado Clan.Haihan's warships are indeed fierce in firepower, but if a sufficient number of coastal defense turrets are erected, it may be possible to prevent the Haihan army from landing at Hirado Port, and even delay the opponent's invasion of Hirado Port.

For the Hirado Clan, the longer the battle is delayed, the greater the possibility of repelling the opponent, even if it can be delayed for an extra day or two.The contrast between the strength and weakness of this war is very different. The Hirado Domain does not have much strategic depth to realize space for time, and it cannot allow the fleet to confront the enemy head-on unless it is a last resort. Therefore, the defensive measures on the coastline are particularly important. important.

And this happens to be the field that Lu Yuanlong is good at. He once studied under the Dutch, learned the construction technology of bastion and trenches and related tactics, and once learned artillery tactics under the hands of the Portuguese, which happened to be able to play a role in the current situation. .

Tagawasuke also had great confidence in his ability, so he entrusted him with full responsibility for building the coastal fortifications of Hirado Port.Starting ten days ago, Lu Yuanlong mobilized hundreds of civilians to work day and night, built more than [-] forts on the coast of Hirado Port, and deployed nearly [-] artillery pieces.If it weren't for the limited number of gunners under his command, the number of artillery deployed in the port area would be even more.

Moreover, the fortifications of these forts are not just a matter of digging a hole or piling up earth bags. According to what he has learned in the past, Lu Yuanlong has calculated the position of the artillery and the shooting angle of each fort to ensure that the firepower output of these forts can cover as much as possible. At the same time, it can also form crossfire, making it difficult for enemy warships from the sea to approach the coast and attack the fort so easily.

Although the rush of preparation time prevented Lu Yuanlong from organizing and building the strongest stone forts, he still managed to strengthen the defenses of these forts.According to the experience he had learned from Westerners, Lu Yuanlong asked the peasants to put loose sand into sacks, and then build a two-foot-thick arc-shaped protective wall around the fort.Although this kind of fortification cannot guarantee 100% resistance to shells flying from the sea, according to previous tests, it can already withstand the bombardment of small-caliber artillery hundreds of feet away.

On the outskirts of some of the forts, Lu Yuanlong also used various means to camouflage them, hiding the forts behind various shelters. As long as they did not actively fire, it would be difficult to observe the existence of these forts from a long distance away from the sea.

In addition, Lu Yuanlong also asked Tian Chuansuke to issue an order to make all iron-smelting places in the Hirado domain work overtime to cast cannonballs, and to assign the processing tasks of making gunpowder raw materials to the families of ordinary people, and to prepare as many as possible. ammunition.He is very clear that it is still difficult to ensure the victory over the opponent with the number of artillery currently deployed, but if the ammunition reserves are sufficient, at least at the beginning of the war, intensive shelling can be used to dissuade the enemy warships trying to attack Hirado Port.

Lu Yuanlong even wanted to persuade Tian Chuansuke to give up the plan of using the navy fleet as a reserve force, and transfer all the gunners in the navy to land to participate in the defensive battle.However, this suggestion was strongly opposed by the commander of the navy, Wei Zhi. Wei Zhi believed that cutting off the enemy's supply line from the sea was the real way to force the opponent to retreat, and all the new warships built in the past two years used artillery as a The most important weapon, if all the gunners on the ship are transferred to the shore to fight, the combat effectiveness of the navy will be greatly reduced, and the threat to the enemy's supply line will also be greatly reduced.

If the navy does not have enough capabilities to cause trouble for the opponent, then the huge investment in the construction of the navy before that is equivalent to being in vain.Even if Lu Yuanlong could defend Hirado Port, without the cover of the navy, the enemy fleet could still swagger around Hirado Port to complete the landing.

After some weighing, Tian Chuanjie also felt that the two battlefields of land and sea must not be given up, and only then could he hope to win the final victory of this war. Therefore, the final battle plan was for Lu Yuanlong to organize a defense at the port with artillery as the main means of attack, and Wei Zhi led the navy to hide somewhere and waited for a suitable opportunity to attack.

When the Haihan Fleet flying the red and blue flags appeared in the Hirado Strait, it meant to Lu Yuanlong that the war had begun.As for whether the Haihan people will go through the process of declaring war on the Hirado clan first, Lu Yuanlong has no hope for it.

Yesterday, there was news sent back from Fujiang Island by flying pigeons. The enemy army had landed there, and it seemed that it was not the Haihan army who went ashore to fight. Judging by their uniforms and banners, they should be Xu Jiajun from Fujian.

Shibazhi and the Xu family of Fujian were unending enemies at the beginning, but this time the Xu family army participated in the operation. For the Hirado clan, of course, there was no possibility of negotiating a peace before the war. There is no need to go through the motions and declare war.It is a pity that the amount of information that Feige can carry is very limited. The situation of the battle on Fukue Island, how many troops and ships the enemy left there, etc., were not mentioned in detail in the news sent back.

However, when the Haihan warship arrived at Hirado Port, Lu Yuanlong ordered to fire two cannonballs first.This is not all to warn the Haihan warship not to approach any more, but to send a signal to the entire Hirado Port, telling everyone that the war has begun, and they must throw away all illusions and fight the incoming enemy with all their strength.

Although the two Haihan warships near the port area had already observed the firing enemy artillery batteries on the coast, they did not notice that there were actually many carefully camouflaged artillery batteries on the coast that had not yet been activated.

When the two ships tried to continue approaching the port by virtue of their firepower superiority, and launched attacks on the two forts that had fired just now, the sound of rumbling guns rang out from several different places on the coast, and several shells flew towards the unsuspecting. At least one of the two warships on guard hit the hull directly.

Shi Diwen, who was watching the battle on the deck of the battleship in the distance, couldn't help but frowned when he saw this. The officers under Xin Dao were still a little impetuous. They knew that there were artillery deployed on the coast, and they planned to force them without sufficient reconnaissance. Eat, but don't want to think that since people can deploy two cannons, can't they deploy ten, twenty, or even more?

The reconnaissance report obtained by Shi Diwen before did not mention that there were fortifications and other coastal fortifications built on the coast of Hirado Port. It seems that this is because Amakusa Shiro, who was in charge of going ashore to reconnaissance of the enemy at that time, was an idiot and didn't notice it at all. The opponent's defensive deployment, either was that when Amakusa Shiro was operating in Hirado, these forts did not exist, and they were temporarily built only recently when preparations began.

Considering Amakusa Shiro's military experience and his knowledge of the local area, Shi Diwen thinks that the latter situation is more likely.From the point of view of time, the opponent obviously didn't have much time to prepare for the battle. Being able to build some forts in Hirado Port to resist landing was probably the ultimate means they could take.

Under such circumstances, it must be very irrational to launch a landing rashly.If the Haihan army wants to land in Hirado Port, then these coastal defense forts must be resolved first, and an artillery battle between land and sea will inevitably break out.As for coastal defense turrets with ship-borne firepower, there is no doubt that the latter has an advantage.

The navy's naval guns were not originally designed for land attacks. Occasionally, they can make do with providing near-shore fire cover for infantry when they land or evacuate, but confronting coastal defense forts is not their forte.And regardless of the performance of the artillery, the defensive capabilities of wooden ships are naturally not comparable to those on the shore. A slightly stronger fort will not be easily bombarded by solid shells, and it is difficult for even a strong warship to be completely destroyed. Blocks projectiles flying within effective range.

Shi Diwen quickly understood the opponent's combat intention, which was to keep the enemy out of the port so that the coalition forces could not enter Hirado Port for landing.He also has to admit that this kind of combat thinking is indeed very targeted. Assuming that the coalition forces have limited offensive forces and can only concentrate on attacking Hirado Port here, it will indeed be a headache for this shore defense force.

However, the East China Sea Fleet's attack on Hirado Port led by Shi Diwen was originally a feint attack to lure the enemy. To Port puts pressure on it and draws out the Hirado domain navy fleet hidden in the dark.And the greater the movement made by the East China Sea Fleet in Hirado Port, the easier it will be for the Fujian Navy and the Special Forces to land on the west coast of Hirado Island.

Of course, if the Hirado Clan can accurately detect the strength of the coalition forces, they may also be prepared for the coalition forces to land on Hirado Island from other places.However, Shi Diwen believes that the Hirado Clan does not have such capabilities. When passing by the Goto Islands yesterday, the main force of the fleet did not appear near the islands, but deliberately took a detour from the sea to avoid being caught by the islands. Hostile forces observed the true size of the fleet.

However, the Hirado Clan, who lacked accurate information, learned that the coalition forces had separated some troops to stay on Fukue Island to fight. Hugang.

"Make the battle bigger, so that all the firepower on the shore will be exposed." Shi Diwen sensed Hirado's combat intentions, but he didn't intend to stop there, but wanted to take this opportunity to act more realistically, so that The opponent believed that Hirado Port was the target of the attack.

However, thinking of the opponent's deployment, he added another sentence: "Be careful to keep the combat distance, and don't rush in!"

The harbor of Hirado Port is extremely small, and with the tonnage of the warships of the East China Sea Fleet, it may be difficult to turn around if a few more ships rush in.So he specially ordered one more sentence to prevent the front-line commanders from underestimating the enemy and making mistakes.

As a result, an artillery battle between land and sea began in Hirado Port. The warships of the East China Sea Fleet formed a long snake formation in the north-south direction outside Hirado Port, and bombarded the harbor.

If you calm down a bit, it is not difficult to find that the position of these warships is almost at the edge of the effective range of the naval guns, and the shells fired rarely hit the fort on the shore, but the gunners of the Hirado Domain obviously have too little combat experience and are not Unaware of this insidious method, Dang even fired with all his strength, trying to give the enemy some pain.

(End of this chapter)