Chapter 2080

This time, two sailfish-class light sailing ships participated in the reconnaissance operation as the main ships. Their speed should be unmatched by competitors of the same level in this sea area. When the weather conditions are ideal, they can easily exceed fifteen knots. This happened almost at the same time.

It is three times the speed of sea-going ships in East Asia.

Of course, this high speed is obtained not only from the optimized design and advanced technology of the hull structure, sail system and other links, but also from the reduction of various devices and facilities on the ship as much as possible, in order to maximize the

Reduce the dead weight of the ship. The price paid for this is not small. First, the crew's riding comfort is basically zero. Second, the small loading capacity makes the sailing ship's sea endurance only about seven days when full. This

This is also the main reason why the fleet must bring two comprehensive supply ships.

In fact, even most of the supplies they obtained in Seogwipo were not carried on the sailfish sailboat. Because of the need to reduce weight, the ship did not prepare conventional cooking utensils, stoves, and fuel. The crew spent most of the voyage on the sailfish.

During this time, you need to drink cold water and eat dry food to survive. However, Haihan's logistics support level has made great progress in the past two years. When performing such special tasks, you can apply for a small amount of self-heating military rations from the munitions department as supplies during the mission.

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When Shen Xueyi followed Yuan Zhi from the exploration-class warship to the sailfish sailboat, he finally understood why the other party previously said that the riding experience of this sailboat was "not so good." In order to reduce weight, there were not even chairs or stools on the boat.

One has to either stand all the time or lie down directly on the deck. Half of the small cabin below the deck is used to store various supplies and fresh water, and the remaining small space can only be used by the crew in turns.

Rest, let alone have the luxury of having a separate cabin to live in.

It would be fine if the boat was slow, but the bumpy feeling after the high-speed sailing boat picked up speed on the sea was something Shen Xueyi had never experienced before. Although he didn't go to sea much, he had never experienced seasickness at sea before.

The situation happened, but after leaving Seogwipo and switching to this swordfish sailboat, I soon felt dizzy.

However, it is too late to change ships at this time. The two supply ships and the two exploration-class warships have already sailed in another direction. If there is no accident, it will take about three to four days before they can meet with these two reconnaissance ships.

The sailboats rejoined at the predetermined location.

Yuan Zhi had no time to take into account Shen Xueyi's feelings at this time. It was impossible to temporarily modify the action plan just because the accompanying North Korean military attaché was seasick. He had to seize the time to complete the preliminary reconnaissance of the Wudao Islands area.

The first target is Fukue Island, the largest of the Goto Islands. The relatively livable flat areas on this island are concentrated on the north and southeast sides of the island, accounting for about one-fifth of the entire island area. However, for the island

Yuan Zhi has almost no specific information on the current situation. Some of the limited information he has comes from a few years ago. Its reliability is doubtful and its reference value is not great.

Fortunately, Haihan's database has a detailed map of this area, and a detailed route was drawn up based on this before the operation. The reconnaissance sailboat would not be blinded when entering this area, and the high speed also ensured that

There will be no other ships in this area that can stop them at sea.

But difficulties still exist. The reconnaissance ship can currently only spy on these islands at sea. Although it has a telescope as an auxiliary tool, it will still be greatly limited by the weather conditions at sea. If the visibility is not good, even if the reconnaissance ship can fly quickly at sea.

It's no use getting up.

Of course, sending scouts to the island for close observation is also a solution, but this method involves great risks and is not Yuan Zhi's first choice at the moment.

The two reconnaissance ships were commanded by Yuan Zhi and Amakusa Shiro respectively. They kept a distance of about five nautical miles from each other and sailed southward from the northern end of Fukue Island along its west coast. Fortunately, the weather conditions these days have been pretty good.

The visibility at sea is at least ten nautical miles, and you can use a high-magnification telescope on the ship to observe the situation near the coastline.

However, the actual implementation effect is not very satisfactory. Although it can be confirmed that there are a certain number of settlers on the island through the observed characteristics of houses, cultivated land, cooking smoke and other characteristics, it is impossible to confirm whether the island has a certain size of settlers based on such long-distance observation alone.

Under the military rule of the Japanese pirate organization, not to mention other detailed information.

The reconnaissance ship observed more situations in two flat areas on the southeast coast of Fujiang Island. Not only are there settlements, but also two small fishing ports and some small sampans were found in the bay between the two areas.

Ban was fishing at sea. However, there has been no trace of the cargo ship or merchant ship that the Haihan military expected to find so far.

It only took half a day for the two reconnaissance ships to circle most of Fujiang Island, but the information obtained was extremely limited. However, this was basically what Yuan Zhi expected. They did not stop at Fujiang Island and continued

Look north to observe the situation of the other four large islands.

According to the military's predictions, if there are still a large number of Japanese pirates in the Goto Islands area, then special ships like armed sailing ships may be found near the five main islands. But they spent two days surrounding the Goto Islands.

Although it was spinning around, no other boats other than fishing boats were found operating in the nearby waters.

Three days later, the two reconnaissance ships rejoined the other four ships of the fleet near an uninhabited island in the northwest waters of the Goto Islands. While completing rest and supplies, Yuan Zhi and Amakusa Shiro also had to meet to discuss the next step.

action arrangements.

"It seems that the situation is different from what we expected. It is so peaceful here, and it doesn't smell like a Japanese pirates' lair at all." Yuan Zhi had to admit that his judgment before setting off was somewhat wrong.

Amakusa Shiro was relatively calm, and he did not argue with Yuan Zhi's judgment at the moment: "When we return, we can arrange a reconnaissance on the island to confirm the situation here. If the Japanese pirates here are really silent and disappear, then

I think it’s more likely to be coopted.”

The existence that can incorporate the Japanese pirate armed organization is of course very likely to be a more powerful pirate group, and the Shibazhi in its heyday obviously meets such conditions. Even after the Shibazhi was defeated by Haihan, they scattered and fled.

The Eighteen Shiba Party members who have gone to various places still have a certain degree of strength. If they receive official support from the Hirado Domain, it is not impossible to incorporate the Japanese pirate armed forces in the Goto Islands.

Yuan Zhi nodded and said: "If this is the case, the Shiba Shiyu Party has expanded its armed strength, the Hirado clan has expanded its sphere of influence, and these people can also complete some non-public tasks when necessary."

"For example, the Ming Dynasty organized civilian armed forces to fight against our country, or even enter our country to attack certain important targets." Amakusa Shiro immediately listed two possibilities.

Some time ago, a series of strongholds disguised as commercial institutions were seized along the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty, where many desperadoes were lurking. Where did these brave and ruthless people come from? It was also investigated by Haihan afterwards.

One of the key points.

The Japanese pirates who were originally entrenched in the Wudao Islands were not all Japanese. There were also many Koreans and Han Chinese from the Ming Dynasty. The intelligence department also suspected that a considerable number of the personnel deployed on the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty by the mastermind behind the scenes had

He had the experience of fighting desperately, so he encountered almost desperate resistance when he was arrested.

As for the private armed forces of salt merchants that were previously exposed in Yangzhou, although the guns involved were from Spain, the personnel behind the training of these private armed forces may be directly related to the 18-year-old Zhiyu Party currently under investigation.

The original action plan was to go to Hirado Island and Nagasaki as soon as possible after conducting preliminary reconnaissance on the Goto Islands. These two places were the real focus of the trip. Although there was no substantial gain in the Goto Islands,

But it will basically not affect the follow-up action arrangements. After Yuan Zhi and Amakusa Shiro took it together, they decided to stick to the original plan and try to verify the situation on the Goto Islands when they return.

Shen Xueyi also attended this meeting as a military observer. However, his current physical condition is extremely poor. He can only observe but does not have enough energy to participate in the discussion. It is really not easy for him these days. As long as the reconnaissance

When the ship speeds up or the sea conditions are bad, it is easy for him to get seasick. The food he eats is often vomited out before he has digested it due to seasickness. After a few days, the person is so weak that he cannot stand.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to stop for a meeting, Yuan Zhi persuaded him to leave the reconnaissance ship temporarily. Shen Xueyi no longer insisted on following the ship. Next, he would transfer to an exploration-class warship with relatively better conditions - he was chartered.

Enjoy the separate cabin originally provided for the captain. After several days of suffering at sea, he was finally able to lie down on the bed and have a good sleep.

After stopping for a short rest to replenish supplies, the fleet continued eastward to Hirado Island. Hirado Island is a long and narrow island with an area only about one-tenth of Jeju Island and half of Fukue Island. It really doesn’t count.

What a big place to go to.

The Hirado Domain, which is ruled by the Matsuura family, is not limited to Hirado Island. Iki Island northeast of Hirado Island and the Northern Matsuura Peninsula in Kyushu are all under its actual control. Starting about a hundred years ago, Matsuura

The family opened Hirado Castle as a free port and encouraged merchants to conduct smuggling trade between Japan and the Ming Dynasty, making Hirado an important port for Japan's foreign trade.

Wang Zhi, the most famous pirate merchant in this area at that time, once proclaimed himself "King Hui" in Hirado, organized Japanese armed pirates to attack the coast of the Ming Dynasty many times, and threatened the Ming Dynasty to open the sea ban. However, this man was only famous for ten years.

After many years, he was trapped by Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang in 1557, imprisoned for two years and then executed.

The Portuguese also came to Hirado when Wang Zhi was at his most prosperous, and brought Nanman trade and Chechidan culture to Japan. However, the development of the Portuguese in Hirado was not smooth. After some unpleasant conflicts, the Portuguese

People chose to leave Hirado and move to Nagasaki for development. However, the Portuguese’s European counterparts, the Spaniards and the Dutch, came to this area about half a century later, and lagged far behind in the initial stage.

The first to be eliminated were the Spaniards who were eager to preach in Japan. In 1624, the Tokugawa Shogunate announced a ban on Spanish merchant ships entering Japanese ports. For a period of time thereafter, Spanish merchants could only maintain a distance from Japan through some unconventional channels.

By 1633, Haihan conquered the Spanish stronghold in Taipei and drove the local Spanish colonists out of Taiwan Island, basically cutting off the last bit of trade between the Philippine colonial authorities and Japan.

Portugal's current relationship with the shogunate is becoming tense, but it still retains commercial institutions in Nagasaki, so regarding the local situation, the Haihan Intelligence Department also managed to obtain some information from the Portuguese. If it were not the purpose of this reconnaissance operation

It is still a secret. The Haihan military could actually invite the Portuguese to participate and dispatch Portuguese merchant ships to provide excellent cover for reconnaissance operations.

As for the situation in Hirado, Yu Yao had already informed Hans, the Chief of Staff, when he visited Taiyuan Port in Taiwan. However, Hans himself did not know the actual situation in Hirado and the information he knew.

They are all descriptions from Dutch businessmen, and there are inevitably many distortions.

Hirado Port is located in the northeast of Hirado Island, across the sea from Kyushu, and the narrowest point of the strait is only one mile. This special terrain will also be a big trouble for the Haihan Fleet. If these warships appear like this

In the strait, it is difficult not to attract the attention of the locals. But if you look at it from another angle, this may also have the effect of knocking the mountain and frightening the tiger. However, whether this effect is good or bad is still very unclear at the moment.

It is difficult to have a clear prediction.

However, considering the purpose of the reconnaissance operation, the military ultimately did not adopt such a radical method in the action plan and chose a relatively clumsy but less conspicuous method to conduct reconnaissance and monitoring of Hirado Port.

Similar to the method used during the previous reconnaissance on the Goto Islands, the supply ship and the warship responsible for force cover will be anchored at an uninhabited island at the southern end of Hirado Island, and two swordfish reconnaissance ships will sail between Hirado Island and Kyushu.

The two ships will not go directly to Hirado Port. They will operate in the relatively open sea south of Hirado Port during the day, and then go north to the vicinity of Hirado Port at night in order to maximize the

Hidden tracks.

If ships in Hirado Port come and go frequently, then trying to hide their whereabouts in this way is actually just deceiving themselves. Therefore, this action plan still has a certain gambling nature. If their whereabouts are exposed too early, they will probably have to end it hastily.

The reconnaissance operation in Hirado has been completed. The only thing that is relatively safe is that even if their identities are exposed, the two reconnaissance ships should have no problem in protecting themselves and escaping.
Chapter completed!