1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2125
If the arrest of Tagawa Qizaemon cannot be completed, it will be difficult for Haihan to achieve all the intended goals in the war launched this time. Even if most of the armed forces of the Hirado Domain are eliminated, there will still be people left behind. The aftermath of worry is not perfect after all.

Shi Diwen is still unable to verify whether the information confessed by Shimura Shota is completely true, but he intuitively believes that the credibility should be quite high.And from a rational point of view, it was precisely because Tagawasuke sent Tagawa Qizaemon mother and son out of Hirado overnight that Wei Zhi realized that Hirado was in danger under the Haihan offensive, so he took the risk to try to lure Open the Haihan fleet to relieve the pressure on Hirado Port.If this is not the case, the Hirado Navy can continue to hide in the secret port of Shanda Island in the north, waiting patiently for a better time to fight.

However, the Hirado Navy took the risk of appearing and tried to lure the Haihan Fleet away from the Hirado Strait at a heavy price. Shi Diwen believed that this seemed to prove the opponent's poor skills from the side.If the Hirado Clan still had any big killer moves on the island that were useless, they probably wouldn't release the navy to perform such a death-seeking task.

However, we cannot be completely optimistic about the trend of the battle because of this. It is not clear whether Tagawa Qizaemon, who was sent to Kyushu overnight, is tasked with moving the rescuers. If Kyushu organizes troops to come to rescue Hirado, Size is also a problem for the coalition forces.

Although the armed level and combat capabilities of these Japanese troops are far behind Haihan's, Haihan has no plan to fight Japan in the first place, and further expanding the scale of the war is not Haihan's wish.Moreover, this place has no roots for the Haihan Army. Most of the combat supplies have to be transported from Seogwipo Port in Jeju hundreds of miles away. If the progress of the war is slowed down, the combat pressure of the coalition forces It will become bigger and bigger, and eventually may even be forced to retreat by itself.

Since there is currently no feasible means to immediately capture Tagawa mother and son from Kyushu, in order to guard against the possibility of harming the coalition forces, Shi Diwen believes that the next military operation must be accelerated.

In the afternoon, Shi Diwen took a small boat and landed near Ono Village on the east coast of Hirado Island. Together with him were Simao and Shen Xueyi who were watching the battle on the flagship today.They were allowed to attend most of the combat meetings in this operation, and they naturally wanted to know the next step Haihan would take after today's big victory over the Hirado Navy, so they knew that Shi Diwen was going to fight with Qian Tiandun. They met to discuss the next battle plan, and they all followed.

After Shi Diwen and Qian Tiandun met, they first informed each other of the real-time battle situation on the east and west coasts and on land.When Shi Diwen learned that the main force of the Hirado navy had appeared on the west coast today, he immediately understood why the opponent sent a fleet to the east coast to show off.

"Take more than a dozen ships out as bait, and want us to focus on the Hirado Strait... The opponent is planning to steal your army's back!" Shi Diwen said with a smile: "But they I probably didn't expect that we still have an armed fleet ambushing in the west, but it's a pity that Xu Yuzhuo moved a little slower, otherwise we would have taken both the east and west coasts today, and we might have taken the Hirado navy directly."

Qian Tiandun said: "Judging from the movement on the west coast, I don't think the Japanese wanted to take out the dozens of boats you destroyed as sacrifices, but they just made a mistake in their operation. I didn't expect you to chase them out in one go. Tens of miles away, the result turned luring the enemy into delivering food to your door, allowing you to reap a handful."

Shi Diwen thought for a while, and readily admitted that Qian Tiandun's speculation should be closer to the truth.The main force of the Hirado navy appeared on the west coast to counterattack Boxiang Bay and sneak attack on the logistics supply line of the coalition forces. However, even though there was another fleet attracting firepower on the east coast, this main fleet, which was said to be commanded by the Eighteen Shiba Yudang, was still very strong. Be careful, if you find that the situation is wrong, you don't try to fight at all, but just turn around and run away.

With such a cautious performance, it is obvious that the commander of the Hirado Navy has not made up his mind to fight to the death with the coalition forces, so there is no reason for the fleet responsible for luring the enemy on the eastern front to die in vain. The testimony obtained was consistent.From this point of view, the fact that the East China Sea Fleet was able to achieve this record in the morning was indeed due to Shi Diwen's decisive decision, so that the naval fleet that was originally only planning to go around the Hirado Strait was beaten to the north. .

Qian Tiandun continued: "But that kid, Tian Chuan...what's the matter."

"Tagawa Shichizaemon." Takahashi Minami reminded softly.

He has been standing by Qian Tiandun's side, even though he is fully qualified to have his own chair in this level of combat conference, he still insists on the habit of many years, pretending to be an adjutant, insisting on standing and participating in the meeting.

Of course, as the head of his special operations regiment, it is not easy for other naturalized officers who are comparable to his rank and position to sit down, so in the meeting tent, except for Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen. Besides, only Xi Mang and Shen Xueyi, who were observing as military observers, were sitting, and everyone else stood in unison.

Suddenly, Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "This person fled to Kyushu. It is estimated that it will be difficult for us to catch him this time. The top priority is to try to solve the matter on the side of Hirado City as soon as possible. If we can If we wipe out the vital forces of the Hirado Domain Army and wipe out the other Eighteen Shiba Remnants, even if one Tagawa Shichizaemon escapes, there probably won’t be enough strength to make a comeback.”

Shi Diwen said: "The leader of the navy captured today, he gave a list of important figures in the Hirado Clan, which can be combined with the information we have so far to find clues in the subsequent arrest process."

Through the reconnaissance operations on the Hirado Domain before the war, Amakusa Shiro has collected a list of local important figures in the Hirado City area for the purpose of arresting targets when attacking the Hirado Domain.After that, there was a coup in Hirado. After Tagawasuke came to power, he first purged a group of retainers who were loyal to the former lord, and then supported a group of his own subordinates. Therefore, the list of important people has actually been changed during this period. There have been changes, and the list obtained by Shi Diwen through interrogation is undoubtedly more time-sensitive.

Shi Diwen handed over the transcribed list to Qian Tiandun. This list not only included the names and positions of the target persons, but also specifically marked who were from Shibazhi. It can be seen that Shi Diwen was interrogating the captives today. A lot of thought was spent in the process.

Qian Tiandun carefully looked at the contents of the list. It listed more than [-] people including the current feudal lord Tian Chuansuke, all of whom were civil and military officials in charge of various affairs.Among them, the special personnel with marked backgrounds accounted for more than half of the total, which shows how much Tian Chuansuke relied on these Eighteen Zhiyu Party.In time, it is not impossible for these people to turn the Hirado clan into the second Shibashiba.

However, they were too hasty. If they stayed in hiding for a few more years, stayed in Japan and slowly recruited troops to expand their strength, trying not to let Haihan notice its existence, maybe they would indeed have the strength to actively provoke Haihan in the future, but now Before he was fully fledged, he had already been recruited by Haihan Xu Jiajun from Fujian and came to his door.The strengths of the two sides are distinct. No matter whether Tagawa Nanazawaemon is finally caught or not, in fact, the possibility of Hirado's comeback is very small.

"Since the opponents have already started to run away, let's launch a general attack as soon as possible, so as not to have long nights and dreams, and extra troubles will arise, and it will take a little longer for Tian Chuansuke to lead people away." Qian Tiandun expressed his opinion after reading the list. Opinion: "It's getting late today, all ministries should prepare, and launch an attack tomorrow morning!"

"Then I'll show my true skills tomorrow and not save my strength!" Shi Diwen was planning to take advantage of the victory after winning a big victory today, and even agreed to Qian Tiandun's proposal.

The East China Sea Fleet's offensive on Hirado Port has not been at full strength, but deliberately used this method to drag the opponent so that the army can calmly carry out the landing.The East China Sea Fleet maintained pressure on Hirado Port, and the Hirado Army did not dare to easily transfer the artillery deployed in the port to other battlefields. This also reduced the operational risk of the special operations group in disguise.

Although Shi Diwen said that he must show his true skills, it will still be difficult for the navy to attack Hirado Port. Although the coastal defense guns deployed by the Hirado Domain in the port have limited performance, they can still attack the sea at close range. The Han warships caused relatively large damage, and this would be unnecessary battle damage for Haihan.Therefore, it is Qian Tiandun's special operations group that will actually take on the main task next. As long as they attack the Hirado port area from land, the coastal defenses to resist the landing of the Haihan army from the port will not be attacked by themselves. broken.

After setting the general direction, the next step is to deploy specific combat plans for each unit.At present, there are two battalions of the Special Operations Regiment stationed in Ono Village, and they will serve as the main force to attack the city of Hirado north along the official road.The other battalion of the Special Operations Regiment stationed near Boxiang Bay will pass through the forest north of Hirado City, launch an offensive from north to south, and form a north-south attack with the troops starting from Ono Village.However, due to the limited marching environment of the Northern Route Army, it is difficult for heavy weapons such as artillery to move with the army.

The Fujian Navy, which is in charge of the west coast, will continue to carry out its current mission, defending Boxiang Bay so that the Hirado Navy will not have the opportunity to launch a counterattack.This probably wasn't good news for Xu Yuzhuo, but if the Hirado Navy was not wiped out, the coalition forces would not dare to be careless for a day, and still had to reserve enough maneuvering power to prevent the opponent from suddenly coming out at a certain moment.

At the end of the meeting, Simao reminded the two Haihan generals again, hoping that they would protect the local Portuguese people after breaking through the city of Hirado, and avoid them being directly involved in the war as much as possible.

Although the shogunate had restricted the Portuguese from leaving Hirado before that and could only go to Nagasaki to engage in foreign trade activities, in fact there were still some Portuguese who had settled in Hirado for a long time and did not choose to leave.And these people are more or less secretly continuing to carry out trade activities, which is still of relatively important value to the Portuguese colonial authorities.

Since Haihan has long made it clear that he will not occupy Hirado after the war, the Portuguese colonial authorities believe that keeping the local Portuguese people will help them obtain more benefits from the local area after the war, not only economic benefits, but also There may be benefits from the political field, such as some promises and concessions from Hirado officials who are eager to implement post-war restoration and reconstruction and stabilize the foreign trade market, so that Portugal can obtain more trade shares and special treatment from Hirado .

If you think about it further, the purpose of Haihan's trip is to attack the Shiba Zhiyu Party and the Hirado clan officials who colluded with it. Power vacuum.Perhaps the Portuguese colonial authorities can take advantage of this gap to support pro-Portuguese candidates to take over Hirado.

Of course, to take measures in such a sensitive area, Simao had to find time to communicate with the two Haihan generals individually.If he failed to get the approval of the Haihan people, then Simao would not dare to do such an operation without authorization, lest he offend his allies.

In contrast, Shen Xueyi has no special mission. There are no North Korean businessmen in Hirado, and there is no real interest in North Korea. Shen Xueyi does not need to give special protection to someone in this place, or Fight for some kind of special treatment for North Korea.With nothing to do, Shen Xueyi was also happy to watch from the sidelines, concentrating his mind on studying the tactics of the Haihan Army.

However, he also noticed that even if he attended the Haihan Army's combat meeting, it was difficult to simply imitate the tactics it adopted.The Haihan Army can control a large area with an organization similar to a platoon or a company, but this is difficult for the North Korean army. Once the combatants are dispersed, it is unlikely that the Haihan Army can guarantee combat effectiveness.

Due to various reasons, Shen Xueyi was not among the first batch of military officers sent by North Korea to study in Haihan, but he had a special background. If he was only thinking about his future career, there was no need to travel thousands of miles to Haihan to get this gold plated.However, after staying in the Haihan Army for a long time, Shen Xueyi gradually felt that his knowledge was insufficient, and he could not fully understand and comprehend the essence of the Haihan Army's tactical command system.He knew that these things could only be learned by studying in Haihan Country, so it seemed that he had to find a way to arrange them.

In the afternoon of that day, the Haihan army stationed in Ono Village advanced about three or four miles northward.The purpose of taking this kind of action was mainly to test the scope and strength of the enemy's defense, but the Hirado Army did not make a tough resistance, but only sent a few hundred people symbolically to try to stop the Haihan Army with bows, arrows and muskets. However, such measures obviously cannot deter the well-informed special forces.

(End of this chapter)