1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2122
"Gao Hongfu, what measures do you think should be taken now to tear through the enemy's line of defense?"

The enemy and the enemy are clearly strong and weak, Tian Chuansuke had no choice but to withdraw the troops attacking the blockade of Onomura, and could only hold back his anger and ask his subordinates for their opinions.Although the war is unfavorable, he still has high hopes for Gao Hongfu. After all, Gao Hongfu is one of the few infantry commanders in Hirado who have fought against the Haihan army, and his performance so far has been considered calm, and he has not been passive because of the battle situation. It's messed up.

Gao Hongfu replied in a deep voice: "My lord, the enemy's purpose of digging up the official road and building fortifications is very clear. It is to block our retreat to the south when the battle situation is unfavorable. I just observed the enemy's position. It seems that several cannons have already been set up on the ground, and rushing forward will only increase the casualties of our army. To tear through this line of defense, infantry alone is probably not enough. Maybe we need to deploy a few more cannons here, so that we can hope to rely on firepower advantage to repel them."

"Move the artillery over here..." Tian Chuansuke hesitated when he heard this suggestion. Now all the artillery that can be put into battle in the Hirado Domain, except for some of the naval warships, are basically deployed in Hirado Port. In the coastal defense battery.

If not, it would probably be difficult for the Hirado Clan to block the powerful enemy fleet in the Hirado Strait, making it temporarily impossible to land at Hirado Port.If you want to transfer artillery from Hirado Port, three or five guns are probably not enough. At least more artillery than the opponent deploys here is required, but that means weakening the coastal defense forces of Hirado Port. If The enemy fleet stepped up its attack, and the port was a bit mysterious.

And even if it is necessary to transfer artillery from Hirado Port for reinforcements, it will not be a task that can be completed in a short time.The straight-line distance between Hirado Port and Ono Village is indeed not far, but the official road is winding, and the distance is still about ten miles. It is necessary to unload the artillery from the fort first, and then load it with the ammunition and the livestock. It will take at least half a day to pull it to the battlefield in Onomura for deployment.

If the port is reduced by a quarter or a third of the artillery, can it still survive the onslaught of the enemy fleet for half a day?To be honest, Tian Chuansuke didn't have much confidence in this, and if he didn't do it well, he would end up being unable to keep both ends. Therefore, although he also understood that Gao Hongfu's suggestion was feasible to a certain extent, he also realized the hidden meaning behind it. huge risk.

Gao Hongfu saw that Tian Chuansuke was having a hard time making a choice, and he could roughly imagine what he was worried about, so he continued: "If the navy can attract firepower for us at sea, then temporarily removing some artillery from the port will not cause major problems."

Compared with land troops, the Hirado clan has invested much more in the navy in the past few years. Whether it is personnel or equipment, the strength of the navy is stronger.And from the start of the war yesterday to the present, the navy has not even seen a shadow, let alone participating in the war.Although I know that this is part of the battle plan formulated by Tian Chuansuke, it will inevitably make officers like Gao Hongfu who command the infantry of the vassal army uncomfortable. Naturally, I want the navy to come out when necessary to share a little pressure on the hard battle on land. .

As long as the navy can hold the enemy fleet for a day, Gao Hongfu can organize his subordinates to transport the artillery deployed in the port area to this side, and attack the temporary fortifications built by the enemy on the official road.After this level is resolved, the road to the south will be opened, and then the artillery will be transported back to the port area for redeployment.

Of course, the plan may not keep up with the changes. No one dares to express optimism about what kind of battle the navy will face the enemy fleet.It is also possible that as soon as the artillery on this side reaches Ono Village, the navy fleet on the other side will be gone. Even if this barrier is penetrated by then, it will be difficult to change the passiveness of the overall battle situation.

For Tagawasuke, the decision-maker, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy to choose from at the moment. If he wants to open up the road to the south, he must bear corresponding risks and let the troops deployed in other places change their original combat plans to cooperate with the feudal clan. Army battle at Onomura.And the risk that was originally concentrated in this place will also be passed on to other places. If you miss, it will not only be a matter of this place, but it will probably trigger a chain reaction, causing the navy, Hirado Port and the big A series of accidents happened in the three places of Nomura, such a situation may be completely out of control.

Tagawa thought about it for a long time, and after weighing it for a long time, he still couldn't make up his mind to completely overthrow the battle plan he made before the war.After all, in his opinion, the situation is not yet at its worst, Hirado Port has not yet fallen, the enemy has not dared to directly attack Hirado City from land for the time being, and the naval forces are still not exposed in the open sea.In the final analysis, he still has a certain fluke mentality, thinking that the situation has not deteriorated to the point where he needs to take risks and spend all his wealth to fight the other party to the death.

Of course, Tian Chuansuke didn't intend to let the Fan army attack the enemy's line of defense in Ono Village regardless of life and death. it is good.

And Sun Zhen, who spent the whole night here supervising the work and barely closing his eyes, saw that the Hirado Army only made a tentative attack and then retreated back, almost jumping out of the trench right now. Swearing at the other party is useless.

In order to prevent the opponent from gathering heavy troops to attack this line of defense during the day, Sun Zhen urged the civilian husband and his men to strengthen the line of defense overnight, reckoning that it should be able to defend against a thousand-person attack, and then wait for the enemy to attack on a large scale and teach them a good lesson .But I never thought that the opponent would be very cautious. Seeing that the fortifications here have been expanded a lot compared with yesterday, they actually gave up the attack, which made Sun Zhen, who had waited until now with red eyes, very upset.

Compared with Sun Zhen, who was unsuccessful in his pursuit of the battle, Shi Diwen found that he seemed to have changed his luck. Today, the offensive on Hirado Port just started, and a reconnaissance ship sent a firework signal from a place north of the Hirado Strait, and an unknown armed fleet It is heading south, and its direction of travel should be the Hirado Strait.

"There's meat to eat!" Shi Diwen couldn't help but cheer up after receiving the news. He knew that the person who came was most likely the Hirado Navy Fleet.Although I don't know where this fleet was hiding yesterday, it seems that the other party can no longer just sit back and watch the Haihan army attack Hirado Port from the sea unscrupulously.

However, Shi Diwen also considered that the purpose of the other party's appearance might just be to lure him away from the Hirado Strait in order to reduce the defensive pressure on Hirado Port, so he decided to hold back and wait for the other party to take the initiative to approach.

For this trip to Japan, Shi Diwen took the two flagships of the East China Sea Fleet equipped with steam power systems with him. To Port bombardment.This is because Shi Diwen does not want these two precious flagships to be injured by the coastal defense guns of Hirado Port, and secondly, it also means that these two flagships with the most powerful firepower and the fastest speed will serve as guards on the periphery.

Now that the opponent has appeared, it is time to use these two flagships.Shi Diwen ordered the Weisheng and Weibang ships to enter the combat state, all the combat personnel were in place, the boiler began to fire and preheat, and the sails were slowly raised.

Simao, a Portuguese officer, and Shen Xueyi, a North Korean officer, were watching the battle on the VIA at this time. They were also very excited when they saw Shi Diwen give the combat order.They knew that the Haihan fleet's attack on the other side of Hirado Port was just a feint attack, so the artillery battle yesterday did not show all their abilities, and at this time Shi Diwen was going to use his flagship to participate in the battle, which meant that the Haihan people had to start It's serious, and this is one of the main purposes of watching the battle with the army.

Regarding the situation of the Japanese warships and armed fleet, Simao had provided Shi Diwen with a lot of information before the war, and this was also a little compensation for the Portuguese to Haihan when it was inconvenient to send troops.Therefore, Shi Diwen still has some points for the combat effectiveness of the Japanese fleet. If the Hirado Domain did not have a batch of Chinese warships secretly built, then the original Japanese warships alone could be said to be invincible in front of the Haihan fleet. machine.

But regardless of whether the Hirado navy came out in full force today or only dispatched some warships to distract himself, Shi Diwen did not intend to let go of this opportunity.He intends to rely on the firepower and speed advantages of the Majestic-class battleship, and take the initiative to attack the opponent after he enters a distance where it is difficult to turn around and escape, so as to accomplish his best in one battle.

"General Shi, the ships they dispatched are the Anzhai Ship and the Guan Ship. It seems that they intend to continue to hide their strength." After Shen Xueyi confirmed the enemy ship on the distant sea through the telescope, he immediately informed Shi Diwen of his discovery .

Shi Diwen laughed and said: "They want to play tricks, so that's up to them. We don't care so much, just give the enemy a trick to lure us to attack? Then I will attack and show them!"

The fleet of the Hirado Navy came slower than expected. The two flagships of the East China Sea Fleet finished their battle preparations without haste, while the opponent's ships were still slowly advancing.But there was no way around it. The Anzhai boat had only one sail, and more than half of its power in battle was provided by the crew rowing oars. It would not be an exaggeration to describe its maneuverability as a turtle.

The commander of the Hirado Navy who was responsible for carrying out this task of luring the enemy was Shota Ishimura, who was originally an officer serving in the Hirado Navy.And the reason why he was not purged by Tagawa after the night of the Hirado fire was not because he was so talented, but because he was originally the internal agent of the Tagawa clan who had been inserted into the navy, and the object of allegiance was the Tagawa clan, not the The original feudal lord, Matsuura Takanobu.

Shota Ishimura could not be said to have any outstanding military talents, so after Tagawasuke took over, it was not he who took over the navy, but Wei Zhi, a Han officer whom Tianchuansuke relied on even more.Although Shota Ishimura was a little dissatisfied, he also knew that Wei Zhi's ability was indeed superior to his own, so he could only accept the arrangement to be Wei Zhi's deputy.

But what he didn't expect was that it was nothing more than being a deputy. When it came time to fight, he was assigned an extremely difficult task, asking him to take these old warships to the Hirado Strait to lure the enemy.Although Shota Ishimura's command ability is average, he is not stupid. Of course he knows that this job is very dangerous, and there is a high possibility that he will never return. Wei Zhi entrusted him with this difficult job, and went to take a new type of warship to the west coast to sneak The opponent clearly wants to use him as a stepping stone, and this arrangement really annoys him immensely.

But during the war, military orders were like mountains, and he couldn't refuse to carry out the tasks assigned by Wei Zhi, so he could only bite the bullet and attack today.Ishimura Shota thought that if he could return to Hirado safely after the war was over, he would definitely complain to Tian Chuansuke about Wei Zhi's insidious means of deliberately suppressing him.

The task given by Wei Zhi was to lure the main force of the enemy fleet away from Hirado Port. Ishimura Shota knew that if he rushed into the Hirado Strait rashly, he would be looking for a dead end, so he deliberately slowed down the speed and headed south. If the fleet found himself rushing out of the strait, he would immediately order to turn east and try his best to escape.

But this is not easy, the Haihan fleet seems to ignore its own existence, even though the reconnaissance ships on the northern sea have already released firework warning signals, those warships are still bombarding Hirado Port leisurely.Shota Ishimura saw that he could not achieve his goal, so he could only continue to march south cautiously. He only hoped that the Haihan Fleet would take action soon, otherwise it would be difficult to escape from the battlefield when the distance between the two sides was too close.

It was about a mile away from the entrance of the northern end of the Hirado Strait, and it was about to sail into the range of the Haihan Fleet. Ishimura Shota finally couldn't bear it, and ordered to immediately change direction and head east.If they didn't turn around again, the dozen or so ships of the Navy would have rushed straight into the Haihan fleet.

At this time, the Haihan Fleet finally moved, and suddenly bursts of black smoke burst out from the two largest battleships at the same time, and then began to slowly march north, heading towards the Hirado Navy.

Shota Ishimura had heard Wei Zhi introduce the characteristics of the Haihan warships before, and he also knew that apart from being equipped with a large number of cannons, the largest No. The speed will increase to a very terrifying level, and this is one of the fatal shortcomings of the Anzhai boat.

"Accelerate! Accelerate!" Ishimura Shota immediately realized this dangerous signal and ordered to move forward at full speed.

The full speed of the Anzhai ship mainly depends on the sailors on the lower deck desperately increasing their paddling speed, but these dozens of oars alone can't compare with the surging power provided by the steam engine on the majestic warship.Although the people on the Anzhai boat tried their best, they could still see that the distance between the two sides was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Send a signal and ask the ships behind to stop them!" Seeing this, Shota Ishimura was also confused and tried to let other ships cover his ship from the battlefield, but if the commander's ship is taking the lead in fleeing, how can we expect Are the other ships willing to stay on the battlefield and fight hard?

Sure enough, after this order was issued, it was not well implemented. Almost all the ships followed Shota Ishimura's ship and turned eastward, trying to escape from the pursuit of the two big ships behind.

(End of this chapter)