Chapter 2113

The artillery casting technology currently mastered by the Hirado Domain comes from Western countries. In the early years, when the Shibashiba gained power in the Fujian Strait, they hired military advisors and weapons craftsmen from the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries to try to produce advanced weapons by themselves.

and use Western military tactics to enhance the strength of his armed organizations.

However, to build a new type of organized army, it requires a huge investment of financial resources and time. Shibazhi had just begun such an attempt, and it happened that a powerful enemy, Haihan, emerged in the South China Sea. What happened next has already happened.

As everyone knows, Shibazhi failed to wait for the huge investment in the early stage to bear fruit, and was defeated by the Haihan Army. It was even considered to have been completely destroyed by the outside world.

Although the result of that war was a complete defeat, many members of Shibazhi still fled to hide in various places overseas, with the largest concentration in Hirado, Japan. And among these people hiding in Hirado, some of them had received

The leaders of the new army trained by foreign military consultants not only know how to use new types of muskets and artillery, but also master the corresponding basic offensive and defensive tactics. The new army secretly trained by these people in recent years is exactly what the Tagawa family now has the confidence to fight with.

Haihan has the capital to take a chance.

Lu Yuanlong was one of the people who escaped from Miyako Island that year, and his specialty was that he had systematically learned knowledge about firearms combat and command under the guidance of several foreign military advisers. After coming to Hirado,

By virtue of his qualifications, Lu Yuanlong quickly gained the trust of Tagawa Suke and was appointed as the instructor, responsible for training the new army loyal to the Tagawa clan.

Lu Yuanlong was born an orphan. In fact, there is no real blood feud with Hai Han. However, he has been instilled in him the concept of loyalty to Zheng Zhilong for many years, so the idea of ​​defeating Hai Han and avenging Zheng Zhilong has always been buried in his heart.

.Even while hiding in Hirado, Lu Yuanlong never let this idea go away. He has been waiting for a suitable opportunity, and now that the Haihan people have come knocking on his door again, he thinks that the opportunity to avenge Zheng Zhilong has finally arrived.

Lu Yuanlong actually knew how powerful the Haihan Army was. He also knew that the armed personnel he trained were unlikely to defeat the Haihan Army on a frontal battlefield. However, if the combat goal was only to repel the Haihan Army, Lu Yuanlong believed that

As long as our side is well prepared, we will be able to fight.

Lu Yuanlong's confidence mainly comes from the training effect in the past few years. The combat skills mastered by this new army are not only shooting and firing, but also many new tactics and tactics that can come in handy during the battle. Haihan Army

No matter how powerful it is, Hirado is its home court after all. Making full use of various local conditions to prepare for war can effectively narrow the strength gap between the two armies.

Lu Yuanlong believes that the primary target of the Kaihan Army's cross-sea attack will definitely be Hirado Port, the core area of ​​the Hirado Domain. Kaihan's warships are indeed fierce in firepower, but if a sufficient number of coastal defense batteries are erected,

Perhaps it can prevent the Kaihan Army from landing at Hirado Port, and even if it doesn't work, it can 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, it would be good. The contrast between the strengths and weaknesses of this war is already very different.

The Toto clan does not have much strategic depth to trade space for time, and it cannot allow the fleet to confront the enemy head-on unless absolutely necessary, so defensive measures on the coastline are particularly important.

This happens to be the field that Lu Yuanlong is good at. He once studied with the Dutch and learned the construction techniques and related tactics of bastions and trenches. He also learned artillery tactics from the Portuguese, which can be used in the current situation.

.

Tagawa Suke also trusted his ability very much, so he gave him full responsibility for the construction of the Hirado Port coast defenses. Starting ten days ago, Lu Yuanlong mobilized hundreds of people to work day and night and built three buildings on the coast of Hirado Port.

There are nearly fifty artillery pieces deployed in more than ten forts. If it were not for the limited number of gunners available to him, the number of artillery pieces deployed in the port area could be even higher.

Moreover, these fort fortifications are not just about digging a hole or piling up earth bags. Lu Yuanlong calculated the position of the artillery and the shooting angle of each fort based on what he had learned in the past to ensure that the firepower output of these forts could cover as much area as possible.

area, and at the same time, it can form cross fire, making it difficult for enemy warships from the sea to approach the coast and attack the fort.

Although the rush to prepare for the war did not allow Lu Yuanlong to organize and build the strongest stone forts, he still managed to strengthen the defenses of these forts. Based on the experience he had learned from the Westerners, Lu Yuanlong asked the civilians to move the loose forts.

The sand and soil are packed into sacks and then built into a two-foot-thick arc-shaped protective wall around the fort. Although this kind of fortification cannot guarantee 100% resistance to artillery shells flying from the sea, according to previous tests, it can

It can withstand the bombardment of small-caliber artillery from a hundred feet away.

On the periphery of some 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 distance at sea.

In addition, Lu Yuanlong also asked Tagawa Suke to issue an order to have all the places where iron can be made in the Hirado Domain work overtime to cast cannonballs, and the processing tasks of making gunpowder raw materials were also assigned to the families of ordinary people, so as to prepare as much as possible

Ammunition. He knew very well that it was still difficult to ensure victory over the opponent with the number of artillery currently deployed, but if the ammunition reserves were sufficient, intensive shelling could be used at least at the beginning of the war to dissuade enemy warships trying to invade Hirado Port.

Lu Yuanlong even wanted to persuade Tagawa Suke 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 navy commander Wei Zhi, who

Zhi believes that cutting off the enemy's supply line from the sea is the real way to force the opponent to retreat. All the new warships built in the past two years use artillery as the main weapon. If all the gunners on the ship are transferred to the shore to fight

, then 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 naval force does not have enough ability to cause trouble to the opponent, then the huge investment in naval construction will be wasted. Even if Lu Yuanlong can defend Hirado Port, without the naval cover, the enemy will

The fleet can still confidently bypass Hirado Port and complete the landing.

After some weighing, Tagawasuke also felt that both sea and land battlefields must not be abandoned in order to have any hope of winning the final victory of the 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.

Wei Zhi led the navy to hide somewhere and wait for the right opportunity to attack.

When the Kaihan fleet flying the red and blue flags appeared in the Hirado Strait, it meant that the war had begun for Lu Yuanlong. As for whether the Kaihan people would pay homage first and then go through the process of declaring war on the Hirado Domain, Lu Yuanlong was no longer interested in this.

Have no hope.

Yesterday, news came back from Fujiang Island via flying pigeons. The enemy troops had landed there, and it seemed that those who came ashore to fight were not the Haihan Army. Judging from their military uniforms and flags, they should be the Xu Jiajun from Fujian.

Shibazhi and the Fujian Xu family were sworn enemies from the beginning, and this time the Xu family army participated in the operation. For the Hirado clan, of course, there was no possibility of negotiating terms and peace before the war started.

There is no need to go through the motions of declaring war. Unfortunately, the amount of information that the flying pigeon letter can carry is very limited. What is the battle situation on Fukue Island, how many men, horses and ships the enemy has left in the area, etc., are not mentioned in detail in the message sent back.

and.

However, when the Haihan warship arrived at Hirado Port, Lu Yuanlong still ordered to fire two cannons first. This was not entirely to warn the Haihan warship not to approach anymore, but to send a signal to the entire Hirado Port to inform

The war has begun for everyone. Now we must abandon all illusions and fight the invading enemy with all our strength.

Although the two Haihan warships approaching the port had observed the enemy forts firing on the coast, they did not notice that there were actually many well-camouflaged forts on the coast that had not yet been activated.

When the two ships tried to use their firepower advantage to continue approaching the port and launch attacks on the two forts that had just opened fire, the rumble of cannons rang out from several different locations on the coast, and several shells flew towards the unidentified

At least one of the two warships on guard had a direct hit on the hull.

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. He thought that these officers under his command were still a little impetuous. They knew that there were artillery deployed on the coast and planned to forcefully attack without conducting sufficient reconnaissance.

Eat, but don’t think about it. Since people can deploy two cannons, why can’t they deploy ten, twenty, or even more?

The reconnaissance report that Shi Diwen received before did not mention that there were forts and other coastal defenses built on the coast of Hirado Port. It seems that Amakusa Shiro, who was responsible for going ashore to reconnoiter the enemy's situation at that time, was a fool and didn't notice it at all.

The opponent's defensive deployment was due to the fact that these forts did not exist when Shiro Amakusa was operating in Hirado, and they were only temporarily built recently when preparations for war began.

Taking into account Shiro Amakusa's military experience and his knowledge of the local area, Shi Diwen believes that the latter situation is obviously more likely. Judging from the time point, the opponent obviously does not have much time to prepare for war.

Being able to build some forts in Hirado Port to resist the landing is probably the ultimate measure they can take.

Under such circumstances, it would definitely be very irrational to launch a rash landing. If the Haihan Army wants to land at Hirado Port, these coastal defense forts must be dealt with first, and there will inevitably be an artillery battle between land and sea.

Explosion. When it comes to using ship-based firepower against coastal defense batteries, there is no doubt that the latter has the advantage.

The navy's naval guns were not originally designed for land attacks. They can occasionally provide nearshore fire cover for infantry during landing or evacuation, but bombarding with coastal defense batteries is not their specialty. And forget about the artillery.

Regardless of performance, the defensive capabilities of wooden ships cannot be compared with the forts on the shore. A slightly stronger fort will not be easily destroyed by solid shells, and no matter how strong a warship is, it will be difficult to completely block it effectively.

Artillery shells flying within range.

Shi Diwen quickly understood the opponent's combat intention, which was to keep the enemy out of the port and prevent the coalition forces from entering Hirado Port for landing. He also had to admit that this combat idea was indeed very targeted. Assuming that the coalition forces were

The offensive force is limited and can only be concentrated here to attack Hirado Port, so this kind of shore defense firepower will indeed be a headache.

However, the East China Sea Fleet's offensive against Hirado Port led by Shi Diwen was originally a feint attack to lure the enemy. On the one hand, it was to test the defense methods and strength of Hirado Port, and on the other hand, it was to see whether it could defeat Hirado Port.

To exert pressure on Hirado Port, draw out the hidden Hirado Domain navy fleet. The greater the noise the East China Sea Fleet makes in Hirado Port, the more the Fujian Navy and special forces will launch landing operations on the west coast of Hirado Island.

Easy to get.

Of course, if the Hirado clan can accurately detect the strength of the coalition forces, they may also prepare 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. He passed by the five islands yesterday

When the islands were built, the main force of the fleet did not appear near the islands, but took a special detour from the sea in order to avoid being observed by the hostile armed forces on the islands as to the true size of the fleet.

However, the Hirado clan, which lacked accurate information, learned that the coalition forces had separated some troops to stay on Fukue Island to fight. Such information could easily lead to misjudgment of the force to attack Hirado Island, thinking that the coalition forces might concentrate their forces to attack Hirado Island.

Port.

"Make the formation bigger so that all the firepower points on the shore are exposed." Shi Diwen noticed the Hirado clan's combat intention, but he did not intend to stop there, but wanted to take this opportunity to act more realistically, so that

The other party believed that Hirado Port was the target of attack.

However, he thought about the opponent's deployment, so he added: "Be careful to keep the fighting distance and don't rush in!"

The harbor of Hirado Port is extremely small. With the tonnage of warships like the East China Sea Fleet, if a few more ships rush in, it will be difficult to turn around. If they are beaten by the opponent's shore defense firepower in the harbor, it is no joke. So.

He still gave one more instruction to prevent the front-line commanders from underestimating the enemy and making mistakes.

So an artillery battle between sea and land 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 are a little calmer, it is not difficult to find that the position of these warships is almost at the edge of the effective range of naval guns. Few of the shells fired can hit the shore forts. However, the gunners of the Hirado Domain obviously have too little combat experience, and

Unaware of this insidious method, Dang even opened fire with all his strength, trying to inflict some suffering on the enemy.
Chapter completed!