Chapter 2141

Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen did not spend much time meeting the envoy from Nagasaki. After all, Tomohiro Imai was just a businessman who came to inquire about information, not an official who came to negotiate on behalf of the shogunate. There was no need to discuss in-depth discussions with him.

topic.

Of course, perhaps the Tokugawa shogunate had already learned about the outbreak of war in the Hirado Domain at this time, but the big shots in Edo City, more than two thousand miles away, must first determine the direction of the situation in the Hirado Domain before they can consider what attitude they should take.

To deal with this emergency, officials will be sent to Kyushu to deal with the matter. According to the estimates of the Haihan military, this step by step process may take more than twenty days. The officials sent by the shogunate arrived in Hirado.

The Haihan Army should have successfully retreated before.

Therefore, for Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen, they were not prepared to contact and negotiate with the shogunate in advance, and the possibility of war was extremely slim. If the Tokugawa shogunate really planned to organize a counterattack, it would not be possible in Kyushu alone.

It may take a month or two to mobilize people and materials from various places. What's more, from the standpoint of the shogunate, as long as the invaders do not continue to expand the scale of the war, but target the Hirado clan that is separatist, then

At this time, sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight is the best choice when the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. There is really no need to go out and wade into this muddy water in person.

The most important thing Qian and Shi are currently worried about is to seize the time to evacuate Hirado Island as soon as possible. This urgency is not only to avoid unnecessary complications, but also to save the cost and material consumption in the process. In Hirado

Every additional day the operation lasts means that the Ministry of National Defense will have to pay tens of thousands more military expenditures, and the pressure on logistics supplies will gradually increase as the operation time increases.

Therefore, in the conversation with Imai Yuki, they stated that all military operations were only against the Hirado Domain, not the shogunate or Japan, and that the Kaihan Army would withdraw from Hirado in the near future and had no intention of occupying land here.

Imai Yuki only stayed in Hirado Port for half a day before boarding the ship and returning with Haihan's official reply. For him, the visit went much more smoothly than expected. Not only was he received by senior officials from Haihan, but also the other party

They also expressed their attitude very straightforwardly. Although they did not elaborate on why they wanted to go to war with the Hirado Domain, Imai Tomuki believed that that was not the point. The Kaihan people had promised not to let the war spread to a wider area.

This is truly valuable news.

In Imai Yuki's view, as long as nothing happens in Nagasaki, it doesn't matter even if the Hirado clan is razed to the ground by foreign enemies. What's more, based on what he saw at Hirado Port, the local urban area does not seem to be full of beacon fires.

The tragic situation, and I have not heard of the whereabouts of the feudal lord Tagawasuke and others. Presumably the local fighting situation is not tragic, but the defenders were forced to withdraw from the Hirado city. Besides, the Kaihan people are planning to withdraw their troops. Obviously the war is over, and Nagasaki is also

No need to worry about being affected by the fish in the pond.

The news that Tomuki Imai brought back to Nagasaki will of course also be sent to Edo, and this news will definitely cause some deviations in the shogunate's judgment of the situation in Hirado. It is impossible to predict the extreme treatment that the Kaihan Army will take in Hirado.

Method. Even the shogunate, who wanted to weaken the trade status of Hirado Port, probably never thought of directly erasing it from the map.

In the next few days, naval ships continued to transfer people from Hirado Island to the temporary resettlement point in Seogwipo Port on Jeju Island in batches. After receiving the order, Zhejiang, Shandong, Liaodong and other places have also

Begin to dispatch civilian ships to Jeju Island to perform population transfer tasks.

The Fuzhou Navy, which had obtained the authority to operate, finally had full room to display. Xu Yuzhuo led the fleet like a mad dog and launched a search along the northern coast of Kyushu Island, determined to find the Hirado water force before the Haihan Army issued a withdrawal order.

The main force of the army.

But this goal is not easy to achieve. The coastline in northern Kyushu is winding and winding, and there are many large and small offshore islands. There are many places where more than ten or twenty warships can be hidden, and the Fujian Navy has this problem.

The area was completely unfamiliar, and the search efficiency was not very high. Moreover, Xu Yuzhuo did not dare to completely let down his guard and rush in. If he was ambushed by his opponent, it would really be a joke to the Haihan people.

The hard work paid off. After several days of searching, the Fujian Navy discovered traces of the enemy in a bay called Qiya Bay about 80 miles away from Hirado Port.

In fact, the reconnaissance ships dispatched by the East China Sea Fleet have arrived in this nearby area before, but because they are not familiar with the environment enough, they have never entered the depths of Kataya Bay. Therefore, it is difficult to find Hirado hiding in a hidden port somewhere in the bay.

Navy warship.

After realizing that Gyozo was exposed, the Hirado navy did not sit in the bay and wait to be beaten. Instead, they raised sails and anchors in a very short time and broke out of the bay in a battle formation. It can be seen that they have also been waiting for a beating.

They are all on guard against their opponents suddenly knocking on their door.

It was obvious that Xu Yuzhuo could no longer let the enemy slip away from under his nose, so he immediately ordered an all-out interception, and the warships of both sides launched a close fight on the sea at the entrance to the Qiwu Bay channel.

In terms of equipment level and combat experience alone, the Fujian Navy undoubtedly has obvious advantages. In addition to some of the warships in the formation being purchased directly from Haihan, more than 70% of the naval guns equipped on the ships are

It is provided by Haihan. In addition, the Fujian Navy has participated in various military operations carried out by Haihan overseas all year round. It has rich practical experience. The naval battle tactics used are also inherited from Haihan and can be fully utilized during the battle.

The power of weapons and equipment.

However, the Fujian Navy was fighting on the road after all, and was completely unfamiliar with the environment here. This somewhat affected the performance of the naval fleet during the battle. Although it discovered the opponent first, it did not have time to occupy the favorable terrain in advance and could only choose to fight with the opponent.

Enemy ships engage in close combat, which greatly reduces the advantages of weapons and equipment.

The main force of the navy commanded by Wei Zhi had been hiding here for many days with a lucky mentality, but in the end they still failed to escape the enemy's search. This also made Wei Zhi's plan to preserve his strength come to nothing. But the only thing that made him feel

Fortunately, the enemy fleet that caught up with us was under the banner of "Xu", and it was obviously the Xu family army from Fujian. Although it was menacing, it was not as desperate as the Haihan fleet.

Almost all the new warships built by the Hirado Navy in recent years are here, and these warships are equipped with several cannons cast by the Hirado Domain themselves. Although their combat performance is limited, their destructive power in close combat is also unparalleled.

Ignore it, so that you can gain something when you open fire with the Fujian Navy.

One side wanted to block it desperately, while the other side wanted to break out of the encirclement. The two fleets began to pour firepower on each other without reservation at the moment of the battle. The roar of artillery kept echoing in the bay, and the knocked-out ship planks and

The broken masts continued to scatter on the sea amidst the miserable cries of the sailors, making the combatants either feel blood boiling with murderous intent, or tremble and feel at a loss. Various hidden aspects of human nature were exposed at the moment of life and death.

Completely released.

This is not the first time Xu Yuzhuo has experienced such a naval battle. A few years ago, when he was just the commander of the Navy, he had a similar battle experience with Shiba Zhi who dominated the Fujian Strait at that time. But at that time

Neither the navy nor the opponent had such advanced warships equipped with multiple cannons. The two sides decided the winner through a relatively primitive boarding battle.

Obviously, the fighting method at this moment is more intense and dangerous. The cannonball will ruthlessly harvest all life on its path, and it will not change in any way because of his special identity. But this makes Xu Yuzhuo feel very excited.

Didn't he bring his fleet all the way to Hirado just to be able to complete such a life-and-death battle at sea?

By defeating the opponent in this way, Xu Yuzhuo can fully appreciate the sense of accomplishment that only belongs to the winner, instead of like before, he could only fight for the Haihan Army throughout the whole process and won the war without even engaging the main force of the enemy.

of victory.

Xu Yuzhuo believed that it was only a victory for the coalition camp, not his personal achievement. The task of defeating the Eighteen Zhiyu Party must be completed by himself, rather than once again relying on the hands of the Haihan people to achieve the goal. If there is no such thing

Obsession, he probably won't rush back with the fleet from Fukue Island.

Wei Zhi, who commanded the Hirado Navy, did not have the same ambition as Xu Yuzhuo. At least at this moment, he no longer dared to think about such an unrealistic goal as annihilating the enemy fleet. Escape from Jiwu Bay first was the first step.

One priority.

Courage is something that can support people to accomplish feats beyond their abilities, but it will also be slowly worn away by time and environment. When you give up for the first time, courage will dissipate little by little.

When Wei Zhi was still a member of Shibazhi, he had already retreated once and did not stay in the south to share life and death with his companions. He always told himself that he came to Hirado for revenge and endured the humiliation. As long as he was prepared, the time would come.

Naturally, there will be opportunities to retaliate against the Haihan people and the Fujian Xu family. But a few days ago, when he saw the densely packed enemy warships in Gujiang Bay, he involuntarily chose to retreat again. Afterwards, when he learned that he had been sent to pacify

Ishimura Shota, who lured the enemy into the Tokai Strait, was almost completely wiped out. He was even a little lucky that he made the decision to retreat.

Wei Zhi believed that his evacuation was to preserve his strength, so that the Hirado clan could still maintain a flexible maritime force, and after that, he successfully assisted some people to evacuate Hirado Island. His motives were understandable, but time and time again

After retreating once, Wei Zhi gradually lost the courage to fight his opponent. So when he saw the Fujian Navy coming to attack today, his first reaction was not to fight to the death with his opponent, but to break out of Qiwu Bay as soon as possible.

Survival has unknowingly become Wei Zhi's combat goal. If he fights against a strong enemy with this mentality, he may be able to escape again and again with good luck, but it is absolutely impossible to defeat his opponent.

.

Based on this mentality, the combat morale of the Hirado navy comes more from the desire for survival, rather than a strong desire to fight like their opponents. When the purpose of the battle is to escape rather than win the battle, the battle situation will be

There is not much suspense about the trend.

Although at the beginning of the battle between the two sides, the warships of the Hirado Navy were still able to deal a certain effective blow to the Fujian Navy, but the battle soon began to favor the side with stronger strength and more determined fighting will.

Objectively speaking, the gap between the two sides in terms of weapons and equipment is not so large that it is insurmountable, but the gap in the technical and tactical levels of the combatants is obviously larger. The Fujian Navy, which has a lot of actual combat experience, can calmly fight under heavy artillery fire.

Maintain the intensity of firepower output in the environment, and many sailors of the Hirado Navy have never experienced such a big scene. In the rush, the combat efficiency will inevitably be reduced a lot.

In order to prevent the Hirado navy from escaping, the navy warships, which originally had the advantage in equipment, did not hesitate to use collision to complete the interception. Then, under the cover of the cannonballs opening the way, the sailors used the ancient method of jumping gangs to close the attack.

Fighting at a distance.

Although this crude combat method is not efficient, it can fully stimulate the combat potential of the soldiers. Face-to-face fighting is ultimately much more exciting than a firefight with firearms twenty or thirty feet away.

When more than ten warships from both sides collided at the entrance and exit of the Wuwu Bay, which was less than a mile wide, the channel leaving the bay was blocked. Even if Wei Zhi wanted to escape, he could not let the war captain get his wings and escape from the Wuwu.

Fly out of the bay.

The only thing he should do now is to give up the idea of ​​​​escape, lead his men to fight to the death with the Fujian Navy, and maybe fight to get a chance of survival.

But unfortunately, some things have slowly created inertia in Wei Zhi's mind, affecting his judgment of the situation. When he found out that he could no longer escape from the sea, the first response strategy that came to his mind was not how to get through the blocked area.

Instead of escaping from the sea, they chose to land on the shore, trying to give up the fleet in exchange for a chance of escape.

But his intention was soon discovered by Xu Yuzhuo, who was experienced in combat. Xu Yuzhuo had been paying attention to this warship flying the signal flag to command the Hirado Navy for a long time. He judged that the enemy commander should be on this ship.

Seeing that the other side was showing signs of leaving the battlefield, Xu Yuzhuo immediately commanded his flagship and another warship to quickly outflank the warship, sandwiching the warship that was trying to leave the battlefield, and then opened fire to violently bombard it.

Although the ship was also trying to fight back, after taking more than a dozen shells in succession, obvious water leaks appeared in the belly of the ship. The hull began to slowly tilt and sink, and finally ran aground on a shoal less than a hundred feet away from the coast.

.At this time, the kerosene bombs thrown from the navy warship had ignited the upper deck of the ship. The wind helped the fire, and soon the stranded warship turned into a big fire.
Chapter completed!