1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2130
If he can preserve himself and his property in the flames of war, let alone two bolts of silk, even if it is twenty or more, Yu Chengli will take it out without hesitation. There are many benefits for Hirado officials to be recruited during wartime, and it is far from causing him pain.

With his own intuition, he thinks that the method proposed by Gonzalez has strong feasibility.He remembered that when he went to Zhoushan, he saw a small red and blue flag hanging outside the door of many shops in the local area to indicate the identity of the shop owner.Although Yu Chengli and Gonzalez are not from Haihan, if they want to seek self-protection in times of chaos, there is nothing wrong with using this flag to seek temporary shelter from the Haihan army.

Since it's feasible, let's do it.Yu Chengli is in the textile business. In order to provide customers with comprehensive services, he naturally has tailors under his command. It is not difficult to work overtime to sew a few two-color flags. If he doesn't charge him a fee, it should be regarded as a thank you for the favor of the other party for providing this solution.

But Yu Chengli and Gonzalez still have many outsiders in similar situations in their respective social circles. If they can use such a simple method to protect themselves after the fall of Hirado, then they can help a group of their own people .

And then the Hirado battle situation took a turn for the worse. In just a few days, the Hirado army on the front line did not send back any good news, only the casualties were transported back in a steady stream.And Hirado Port has been completely blocked by the enemy fleet, and the rumble of guns from the port area continued throughout the day, and the people in the city could only stay at home in fear.

At the same time, as the "Secrets of Life-Saving the Two-color Flag" slowly spread in some small circles, new opinions appeared in Hirado City, that is, the reason why Haihan attacked Hirado was not to plunder the local area, but to Because there is some old grudge between the new feudal lord and Hai Han that cannot be resolved.

There are even some outrageous rumors that Tian Chuansuke's position as feudal lord came from a wrong path, and the Haihan people conquered Hirado to clear up the grievances of the former feudal lord.However, this kind of rumor has nothing to do with Yu Chengli and others. It is more likely to come from the lost retainers who were purged because of their loyalty to the Matsuura clan. After all, after Tagawasuke came to power, the interests of many people were greatly damaged by it. Therefore, there are quite a few people who hate Tian Chuansuke.

But regardless of the source of these rumors, the current unfavorable war situation has indeed greatly shaken the local folk sentiment in Hirado.Some people who were dissatisfied and fearful of the trend of the war also began to believe the rumors on the market involuntarily.The officials, represented by Tagawasuke, shouldered the double responsibility of summoning the enemy and being disadvantageous in combat.

When Tian Chuansuke ordered to seize the time to build a temporary defense line in the south of the city, the dissatisfaction among the people had already brewed to a certain extent.Although there are still some people who place their last hope on this not-so-solid line of defense, more people are already very pessimistic about the current battle situation, and they are starting to think of ways to protect themselves.

People like Yu Chengli and Gonzalez, who were secretly prepared, calmed down at this time, shutting their doors and guarding at home waiting for the final result.Anyway, the two-color flag has been prepared, and when the Haihan army enters the city, they will hang the flag at the door as soon as possible, so as not to be affected by Chiyu.

The vast majority of people do not know this method. They have no way to escape from Hirado now, and all they can do is try to draw a clear line with the Hirado authorities, so that they may be able to avoid being liquidated by the enemy after the fall of Hirado.

The direct manifestation of this collective emotion is the phenomenon of passive resistance among the army and the people.Especially the farmers and soldiers who were temporarily recruited as cannon fodder. Most of these people are local farmers and fishermen in Hirado. It is impossible to see clearly, and many people have fallen in the hail of bullets.

For these peasants and soldiers who have little combat experience, the fear of death in battle and various local rumors make it difficult for them to focus on the battlefield. Once the supervision begins to relax, some people will take the opportunity to sneak away deserter.And this kind of thing will have serious collateral effects under the current situation. As long as one person escapes, it will inevitably affect more people to follow suit.

Therefore, when the Hirado Army lost its defense in the south of the city and retreated to the city to reorganize its troops, the officers of the Fan Army suddenly discovered that the degree of staff reduction was far beyond expectations, especially those loosely organized peasants and soldiers. It's less than half.Of course, it is impossible for so many people to die on the southern defense line. Many people must have sneaked away while taking advantage of the chaos during the retreat.

Although the northern end of the island blocked by the Haihan army is not particularly large, in addition to the urban area with thousands of households, there is also a mountain forest area several times larger than the urban area, and the Fan army can't divide it any further at this time. Manpower was dispatched to capture these deserters. The enemy army in the south might arrive at any time, and the fan army had no way to retreat at this time. They could only organize defenses in the urban area as soon as possible to make a last-ditch effort.

When Tagawasuke saw the beacon signal rising from the old site of Hirado Castle, his mood was also very complicated.He has always believed that he has kept a low profile for so many years, accumulated strength little by little, worked hard, and finally waited for the opportunity to be in charge. He thought that after kicking out the Matsuura clan and taking over the Hirado clan, he would be able to make great achievements and make the Tagawa clan the No. [-] in Kyushu. One of the famous and famous family, but did not expect that debut is the pinnacle, the position of the feudal lord was beaten by a powerful enemy before his ass was even warmed up.

Looking at the current situation, Tian Chuansuke also had to admit that the possibility of a comeback was very small, and even the delaying tactics he had envisioned before the battle were completely ineffective, and it was completely difficult to cope with the opponent's offensive rhythm.The Hirado clan wanted to rely on the advantage of the home field to delay the opponent's logistics supplies and retreat on its own. Now it seems that everything is just the unilateral imagination of Tagawasuke and his staff, and they have not fully estimated the opponent's strength at all.

The general situation is over, and Tian Chuansuke must also start to think about how this matter will end.Of course, the simplest thing is to lead his troops to fight to the end. As a feudal lord, to fight to the death in order to defend his own interests can at least leave a good reputation and lay the foundation of public opinion for Tagawa Nanazawaemon to take over the Hirado clan in the future.

Tagawasuke had made such a plan before the war started, but as the war progressed, his thoughts were slowly changing.

He had to think about whether he would be able to support the Hirado clan if he fought to the death with the Haihan people and consumed all the soldiers and his elite troops in this battle. The comeback of ?Is it possible to guarantee that this family business will be passed on to the adopted son smoothly, and will not be taken away by other Kyushu tycoons who broke out halfway?

Tagawasuke assessed the consequences of the war before the war, and believed that the Hirado Domain would lose part of its armed forces, but it should still be able to ensure the continuation of the Hirado Domain's trade environment and political status after the war.But the actual situation of the battle was far more serious than the expected result, and he could only make a worse estimate of the future situation.

"My lord, there are only more than 800 people left in our reserve team!"

Gao Hongfu's report pulled Tian Chuansuke back from his contemplation, and he was not too surprised when he heard the number, he nodded and said: "It seems that there are still some loyal and brave men who did not escape and are willing to live and die with us! Then distribute weapons to them as soon as possible, and incorporate them into the Fan army to participate in the next battle!"

Gao Hongfu did not dare to continue to explain that most of the 800 people were peasants and soldiers who had withdrawn from the southern defense line in formations, because they followed the vassal army at the same time and had no chance to escape.As for the other teams of feudal troops that have been beaten and disabled, the reserve team of peasants and soldiers assigned to them has already fled in sevens and eighties.

The standard weapons of the fan army do not have much spare to be issued to these farmers and soldiers. It is unrealistic to expect them to play the same role after they join the fan army.In addition, the morale of these farmers and soldiers has been extremely low. Even if they can be forced to fight, it is difficult to expect these people to show any heroic performance on the battlefield.Talking is better than nothing, which is Gao Hongfu's evaluation of these people's combat effectiveness. His intention to report to Tian Chuansuke was to remind him that there is a serious shortage of combatable soldiers, but Tian Chuansuke seems to be more willing to look at this problem in a positive direction.

At this time, the Haihante battle group was less than one mile away from the city, and the main force was resting near the south line of defense.Although the combat power is obviously higher than that of the opponent, the soldiers still have to stop to rest and eat to recover their physical strength.The logistics department made meals in Ono Village, and then pulled them to the front line in a horse-drawn cart to supply them to the combat troops.

Because the siege of the enemy has been basically completed, Takahashi Nan did not rush to attack the theater, but gave his troops time to rest and reorganize. At the same time, he was waiting for the heavy weapons and ammunition supplies to keep up with the continuously advancing front to ensure that the troops could Continue the afternoon battle with 100% condition.

Gao Qiaonan listened to the briefing on the battle situation in the temporary headquarters on the front line. The Haihan army suffered double-digit casualties in the morning battle, but the number of casualties of the opponent was more than ten times, which was only found inside and outside the south of the city front. There were as many as three hundred enemy corpses.In addition, in the battle to occupy the southern defense line of the city, the Haihan Army also captured more than 100 enemy personnel, but no important figures were found among them.

However, through the identification of the captives, the bodies of several powerful vassals who were said to be Tagawasuke's subordinates were still found on the battlefield.Judging from the captured enemy weapons, the standard muskets equipped by the Hirado army were indeed exactly the same as the muskets seized by Haihan earlier in various places. The main messenger behind it, and has mastered the mass production technology of this European-style musket.

"Send the evidence and the prisoners to the general as soon as possible." After Gao Qiaonan saw the evidence, he knew that this matter was very important to the military. These evidence will be submitted to the executive committee by the military. It appeared in the report to prove once again the necessity of military strike against Hirado.

Although the war has been going relatively smoothly so far, for the Haihan military, what they need is not only to win the war, but also to submit an action report to the Executive Committee after the war to prove that it is A war of justice.

After a brief rest, the Special Forces launched an offensive on Hirado City at [-]:[-] pm.The first to bear the brunt was the barricade located at an intersection in the south of the city. This barricade based on a cannon opened fire without hesitation after seeing the appearance of the Haihan army.

In the battle in the morning, the defenders were afraid of the artillery tactics of the Haihan Army. As a result, the artillery deployed on the defense line was not fully engaged in the battle, so they retreated to the city. In the battle in the afternoon, there was no way to retreat. This time He planned to strike first.

Even if Haihan couldn't be restrained, at least these heavy weapons could be put into battle to show off, instead of just playing the role of spectators from beginning to end.

But the problem is that the defenders don't have enough time to deploy a decent line of defense in the urban area. The hastily built barricades look solid, but there are no supporting barricades around them that can form crossfire.

However, the Haihan army paid enough attention to this, and dispatched four field artillery to conduct five rounds of concentrated fire on the barricade. After confirming that the artillery position had been destroyed, the infantry was allowed to advance, and the A second cleanup was carried out using grenades at a distance of 30 meters to ensure that no stragglers would hide in the ruins of the barricades and make secret moves.

And this way of fighting severely hit the morale of the defenders again, making them realize that even if fortifications were built, it would be difficult to stop the advance of the Haihan army.If you try to gather Musketeers to form a battle formation on the street, it is equivalent to actively providing the opponent with the opportunity to carry out the massacre.

At this time, Tian Chuansuke issued a seemingly helpless combat order to disband the Fan army into a ten-man squad and fight separately in the city.However, at the same time, he also announced an increase in the reward. Every time an enemy is killed, he can get a reward of 50 taels of silver.

Although this disperses the fighting power of the vassal army, it is indeed the only effective tactic in the current combat environment.Only in this way can we make full use of the complex environment of the urban area to slow down the advance speed of the Haihan army, so that the Haihan army has to stop and clean up every house on the way forward.

So after entering the urban area to fight, the Haihan army, which was advancing all the way, finally slowed down.In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, Takahashi Nan had to order to slow down the speed of advance, and first ensure that there were no enemy armed personnel hiding in the dark to attack in the occupied urban areas.

When the battlefield space becomes smaller, it is more beneficial to the weaker defenders. They can make full use of their familiarity with urban buildings and terrain to create more opportunities to attack.The Haihan army needs to be more careful, beware of a gun barrel protruding from a certain window, or a fanatical warrior who suddenly raises a knife from a certain alley.

(End of this chapter)