Chapter 2114

If we look at the combat performance of weapons and equipment alone, the Haihan Army does have a clear advantage. However, in the current combat environment of launching an offensive from sea to land, it is difficult to rely on this advantage alone to overwhelm relying on shore fire defense.

The defenders tried their best to resist. After all, the dozens of forts deployed by the Hirado clan on the coast in advance were not just decorations. As long as they entered their range, the warships of the East China Sea Fleet would still be damaged.

Of course, Shi Diwen did not want his troops to become living targets for the enemy to train gunners, so he specifically emphasized the combat distance in the combat orders to prevent any commander from being too hot-headed and sending the warships to Hirado Port.

. He believed that since the opponent had the courage to fire first, it should have deployed quite strong shore defense firepower in the port area. At this time, it was better to try to lure the enemy to expose the firepower points on the shore, and then adjust the tactics according to the specific situation.

Although these gunners of the Hirado Domain have mastered certain combat skills, their combat experience is far inferior to that of their opponents. Even commanders like Lu Yuanlong did not realize the sea attack at the first time.

The true intention of the Han army was to immediately respond fiercely when they saw the East China Sea Fleet forming a battle formation at sea and beginning to bombard the coastline.

Leading the defenders to open fire is exactly what the East China Sea Fleet wants to achieve. The relatively safe engagement distance ensures to the greatest extent that the warships of the East China Sea Fleet will not be attacked by concentrated fire from coastal forts. The height of the mast is responsible for

The observers on the lookout took this opportunity to mark the positions of the forts firing on the shore one by one on the military map.

Although he had already expected the enemy's defensive measures deployed on the coast, the situation after the war still surprised Shi Diwen. The number of artillery deployed by the Hirado Domain near the port far exceeded his expectations. If

As soon as the East China Sea Fleet arrived, it carried out fire suppression on the coast and brought the warships close to the port area, where they would have been ambushed by the enemy.

The feint attack arranged by Shi Diwen was to lure the opponent to expose the defensive arrangements on the shore, while the Hirado clan's full firepower was in the hope of catching the enemy off guard. Even if the Haihan warship could not be sunk, at least the Haihan army would be defeated.

Temporarily give up the idea of ​​storming Hirado Port and landing. However, due to the commander's inexperience, the Hirado Domain's move exposed its own strength in advance. For the Kaihan Army with rich combat experience, the current exchange of fire became more complicated.

It became a successful fire reconnaissance.

The firepower of the coastal defense artillery on the coast is actually not much stronger than the ship-based firepower of the East China Sea Fleet, and even the effective range is almost the same. However, thanks to Lu Yuanlong's careful calculations when deploying the positions of the forts before the war, the firepower coverage at sea was

The range was large enough, so sporadic shells still hit the Haihan warship in the strait during the battle, but the degree of damage was still within the controllable range of the ship's damage control.

The artillery shells fired by the East China Sea Fleet from the other side also failed to achieve ideal results due to the problem of effective range. Even the few artillery shells that hit the target were mostly blocked by the sandbag bunkers outside the fort, making it difficult to cause substantial damage to the fort.

of destruction.

This undoubtedly greatly enhanced the confidence of the Hirado clan. Now with the coastal fortifications, they can fight the invading Kaihan fleet at a 50-50 split, which is much better than they expected before the war.

The way the artillery of this era was loaded made it impossible to fire continuously at a high frequency, and the heat dissipation of the gun body had to be considered. Therefore, the land and sea artillery battle between the two sides in Hirado Port did not last too long. However, the two warring parties

Everyone feels that they have initially achieved their strategic goals and are quite satisfied with the current results. This is a scene that is rarely seen on the battlefield.

But for the East China Sea Fleet, the away battle situation does not allow them much time to rest and recuperate, and as a force responsible for feint attacks, the East China Sea Fleet must continue to create noise in Hirado Port to allow the opponent to

Attention was focused on the warring areas to gain opportunities for the Western Route Army to launch a landing campaign on the western front later.

Although several warships that were hit by artillery shells in the first round of fighting were not seriously injured, they still received orders to withdraw from the front line and prepare for readiness, and their vacancies were immediately filled by alternate warships. After nearly one

After an hour's time adjustment, the East China Sea Fleet once again approached the port area in a fighting formation and took the initiative to fire on the shore.

Regardless of whether it was a real attack or a feigned attack, the vassal troops defending Hirado Port did not dare to be careless at all. Once the Kaihan infantry was allowed to land at Hirado Port, these forts deployed against the sea would soon lose their due role.

It will be difficult to defend the city at this time.

Therefore, in the face of Haihan's shelling from the sea again, the forts on the coast could only respond decisively and did not dare to leave the opportunity for Haihan's warships to approach the coast.

At the same time, Shi Diwen also ordered all the reconnaissance sailboats in the fleet that are known for their speed to be dispatched and deploy warnings at the north and south ends of the Hirado Strait to prevent the Hirado Navy, which has not shown up so far, from taking the opportunity to find a way out.

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An artillery battle on land and sea of ​​this scale was a brand new experience for Shen Xueyi, who was watching the battle with the army. He also led the army to cooperate with Operation Haihan in the anti-Qing campaign last year, but he had never experienced such an artillery attack.

Scene. Compared with the Qing army that invaded Korea last year, the artillery of the Hirado clan seems to be more powerful, and it seems that it can even fight against the Haihan fleet.

Shen Xueyi was not very clear about the old grudge between Haihan and Shibazhi, but he had roughly heard the rumors that the Hirado clan had secretly sold weapons to the Qing army before that. It is said that Haihan was based on the weapons captured from various channels.

Weapons were traced all the way to the source of the Hirado clan, and then it was discovered that the person behind the scenes was the old enemy Shiba Shiba, and this war was impossible to fight.

At this time, seeing the strength displayed by the Hirado clan army in the battle, he seemed to understand why the Haihan people would insist on attacking this place across the sea at all costs. If the artillery made in this place was allowed to flow into the hands of the Liaodong Qing people,

The consequences are really unimaginable.

Shen Xueyi silently weighed the strength of his country's army in his heart, and then had to regretfully admit that if the North Korean fleet came to attack this place, it would definitely be impossible to fight. I am afraid that seeing the momentum of the fire defense on this shore, he could only stay where he was.

We turned around and headed back home. After all, the Korean warships simply did not have the powerful firepower to attack the land. If they tried to force themselves up, they would only end up eating artillery shells.

He also listened to the Haihan Army's combat readiness meeting last night and roughly understood that today's offensive was both virtual and real. Shi Diwen's fleet was just a feint attack, but he still looked forward to the East China Sea Fleet's performance in the battle at Hirado Port.

, and by the way, also learn what tactics to adopt when being blocked when launching an attack from sea to land.

In the past two years, North Korea has spent huge sums of money to build an armed fleet. The main potential threats it targets are the Qing Dynasty in the north and Japan in the south. The main warships and weapons and equipment of the fleet need to be imported from Haihan Kingdom, so now even North Korea

In maritime combat operations that do not directly involve troops, attachés like Shin Xueyi will accompany the Haihan Navy in the name of military observers to inspect and evaluate whether the equipment of the Haihan Navy is suitable for North Korea's combat needs. This time Haihan attacked Hirado.

Fan's military operations and the performance of the navy may directly affect North Korea's equipment purchase orders in the future.

From a high place near the ruins of Hirado Castle, Tagawa Suke was looking solemnly at the fierce battle scene near the harbor. Tagawa Shichizaemon was standing behind him, with an expression on his face that was a bit excited, after all, it was so fierce.

This was the first time in his life that he had witnessed the battle scene.

"Shichizaemon, have you noticed that the enemy has only sent about one-third of its warships to participate in the battle, and the largest warships have not yet gone into battle." Tagawa Suke said in a deep voice.

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Tagawa Shichizaemon nodded and responded: "Father, those large ships should be the main force of the enemy's army. They have been watching from the rear. Perhaps they are on guard against the sudden attack of the Hirado Domain's navy."

"Yes, they are waiting, waiting for the navy fleet to fall into the trap. Attacking Hirado Port is not their real purpose at the moment, but they want to use this to lure us to use all means. Let me ask you, if such a situation is caused by

You take command, how are you going to respond?" Tagawasuke was very pleased with his adopted son's acumen in the military field, and simply asked him an out-of-the-box question.

Tagawa Nanzaemon thought for a moment and then responded: "The naval forces must not show up at this time. We need to wait until the naval forces break through the port defenses and start landing, and then launch a surprise attack. Maybe we can have the power to fight."

Tagawasuke smiled happily and said: "As expected of me, a child of the Tagawa family, this strategy is indeed good. But even if our navy can seize such an opportunity to launch an offensive, it is still possible to defeat this armed fleet on the sea battlefield.

Very little."

Tagawa Nanzaemon frowned and said, "Then how should we deal with it?"

Tagawa said: "Avoid its edge and attack it unprepared. The more the enemy fleet wants to seek a decisive battle in the Hirado Strait, the less we can provide them with such an opportunity. We still have to stick to the previously formulated combat plan and take the enemy's

The supply line is the target of attack. Once the enemy's supplies are cut off, it will be difficult for them to maintain the huge consumption of such cross-sea operations for a long time, and the fleet will inevitably retreat on its own initiative."

Tagawa Nanzaemon recalled the content of the combat readiness meeting he had attended before, and immediately agreed. However, due to the limited military information they had, it was difficult for the father and son to imagine that Kaihan's real main attack direction was not Hirado Port, and the East China Sea Fleet actually only took out

It is not that simple for the Hirado Domain navy to take the back route and cut off supplies if they use five points of force to fight the coastal forts. As long as the navy shows up, it is hard to say who will take the back route and who will take the back route.

While a fierce battle was already underway at Hirado Port, the coalition fleet composed of the Fujian Navy and troop transport ships carrying the special operations group was also heading north.

Compared with the east coast of Hirado Island, except for Shiki Bay at the southern end of the island, the west coast only has Hoshika Bay and Furue Bay connected to the north of the island, which are more suitable for building large ports or serving as anchorages for fleets. Others

Most of the areas are mountainous areas near the sea, and the rocks on the coast are rugged, making it impossible for ships to dock. This has reduced a lot of trouble for the Fujian Navy in clearing the route. Basically, there is no need to worry about enemy warships setting up ambush in hidden places on the coastline.

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Qian Tiandun was not idle on the road, and continued to deduce the landing site and subsequent combat plans on the map with Gao Qiaonan. The special operations group has rich experience in performing amphibious landing missions. Although this is a completely unfamiliar territory,

This is not a big deal for the special battle group. What really makes Qian Tiandun and Takahashi Minami more wary is the weapons and equipment possessed by the Hirado clan army.

The intelligence collected so far has basically confirmed that the Hirado Domain has the ability to produce its own weapons, and the performance of these self-produced weapons is enough to pose a threat to the Haihan Army. Qian Tiandun has no doubt that the Hirado Domain has an established system.

The armed forces have installed these standard weapons. Although their actual combat effectiveness is doubtful, he does not want to use his elite troops to verify the strength of the enemy's army.

"If you encounter an enemy armed with muskets and artillery, you must remember to maintain a fighting distance so that you can give full play to the performance advantages of the weapon. Use fire suppression flexibly and do not give the enemy a chance to complete the engagement during the engagement." Qian Tiandun deployed.

In fact, the tactics of the navy are similar to those of the navy. They require the troops to engage in battle with a more cautious attitude to avoid unnecessary casualties due to rashness.

The enemies with the highest ratio of firearms and equipment encountered by the Haihan Army before this were actually the colonial armed forces of the Netherlands, Spain and other countries. Among the armies of East Asian countries, only the Ming Army had a fixed establishment of firearms troops. Although Japan in this era

There are also muskets introduced from the West, but most of them are still the most primitive matchlock structure, with very limited combat effectiveness. A situation like the Hirado clan's situation where foreign forces prompted them to update their weapons can actually be regarded as what happened after the time traveler came to this time and space.

One of the butterfly effects.

Because of this, Haihan currently does not know how many muskets and artillery the Hirado domain army is equipped with, and it is difficult to confirm even a rough estimate. Although Qian Tiandun is confident about the final victory of the war, he does not hope that

The ace unit he led capsized in a ditch in the small area of ​​Hirado Domain, so he specifically told Takahashi Minami to be careful of his opponent's armed forces.

Of course, there are not many tactics that the firearms troops of this era can use. Considering that the opponent's firearms manufacturing technology and related tactics should have been learned from the West, it is completely possible to copy the past combat experience against Western colonial armed forces.

Gao Qiaonan responded loudly as always. Anyway, as long as it was an order given by Qian Tiandun, he would complete it without any compromise. As for how many troops the opponent has and whether they are setting up an ambush on the island waiting for his arrival, Gao Qiaonan has no idea about this.

He is not worried. He is convinced that with the strength of the special force, the battle will be as devastating as before, leaving no chance for the opponent to make a comeback.
Chapter completed!