Chapter 2093

For a professional soldier like Takahashi Minami who devotes all his attention to the army, only leading troops to fight can make him truly excited and fulfilled. As for whether the opponent is the Spaniards, the Manchus of Liaodong, or the Japanese, it matters to him

In fact, there is not much difference. Since it has been recognized as an enemy by the Executive Committee, defeating the opponent on the battlefield will count as fulfilling one's duty.

As for whether there are other deeper political considerations for the military operations of the Hirado Domain, that is not a question that Takahashi Minami will ponder. He knows his identity very well, and Qian Tiandun has taught him to concentrate on leading the army for many years.

Soldiers, don't focus on issues that should not be considered by soldiers.

Now that the Ministry of National Defense is not concerned about his Japanese identity and is ready to hand over this combat mission to himself, Takahashi Minami believes that this is also an excellent opportunity to prove his loyalty to Haihan.

Gao Qiaonan took over the errand from Qian Tiandun, and then returned to the regiment headquarters to convene his officers to hold a mobilization meeting to convey the latest arrangements of the Executive Committee and the Ministry of National Defense. Officers above the company level plus the staff department of the regiment headquarters,

They will jointly participate in the formulation of this combat plan, and the preparation and mobilization of various combat materials will also begin at the same time.

However, before formulating a combat plan, officers still need to provide more detailed intelligence information from the fleet that conducts local reconnaissance missions. Another thing that has to be prepared in advance is to determine the frontline supply base. The reconnaissance fleet chose

As a supply port, Seogwipo can theoretically provide the same services to Haehan's armed fleet, but it must first say hello to North Korean officials. After all, the next combat mission will depart from the Taedong River to the island.

The size of the Haihan army in the area must be much larger than the reconnaissance fleet sent there previously.

In addition to Haihan's own troops, this operation will also be notified to Haihan's allies. Based on the principle of voluntary participation, allies can choose whether to participate.

In the two large-scale overseas military operations last year, Haihan's allies sent troops to participate. In the Operation to Conquer the West at the beginning of the year and the Operation to Aid Korea in the middle of the year, the Portuguese, Annan and Fujian Ming armies all sent armed forces of varying sizes.

Participating in the war, in addition to the purpose of training troops and building closer relationships, these forces that sent troops to participate in the war also received more or less certain benefits after the war.

Whether in Manila or post-war North Korea, these participants have obtained permission to do business and trade locally, thus adding at least two more destinations to their overseas trade routes. Moreover, they have the big tree of Haihan to protect them from the wind.

Rain, allies will also have to face much fewer difficulties during the establishment of local commercial institutions.

Will these allies be interested in participating in military operations against the Hirado Domain? Regarding this issue, the Executive Committee has generally consulted the opinions of all envoys stationed in Haihan in Sanya.

First of all, the Xu family of Fujian must definitely take part in related actions, because the affairs of the Hirado clan have already involved Xu Xinsu's mortal enemy Shibazhi, which makes him unable to remain idly by. To put it more seriously, even if Haihan does not launch a military campaign this time

Xu Xinsu will definitely try to eliminate the Shibazhiyu Party, which has the potential to make a comeback, and may even apply for assistance from Haihan and others.

The Fujian side responded exactly like this. Xu Xinsu said that he could send 5,000 navy troops and 100 warships to fully participate in Haihan's military operation against the Hirado clan. As long as the Haihan military finalizes the action plan, Fujian Navy

The army will definitely cooperate fully. The positive attitude shown by the Fujian side even exceeded the two military operations last year. This shows that Xu Xinsu still has a deep obsession with the 18th Zhiyu Party and must get rid of it quickly.

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The troops that Annan Kingdom sent to Korea to participate in the war last year have basically withdrawn to the south. After all, Annan Kingdom is surrounded by Siam, Champa, and Ming Dynasty, which have not been dealt with very much. From time to time, there will be armed conflicts on the land and sea borders. Such

The surrounding environment made it impossible for Annan to deploy his few elite troops overseas for a long time.

After reaching an agreement to establish diplomatic relations and trade relations with North Korea, most of Annan's troops have withdrawn. The personnel remaining in the north are now made up of officials, businessmen and a small number of officers who are in the Haihan Army as military observers. Even if

The Annan Kingdom is willing to participate in this operation, but it does not have the ability to send troops for the time being. To mobilize troops from Annan to participate in the operation again would be too fussy. Afterwards, there may not be enough benefits from the local area to serve as the Annan Army's support.

reward.

The Portuguese still have several armed warships stationed in North Korea's ports. In their words, they are to protect the Kingdom of Portugal's commercial interests in North Korea. But Haihan knows very well that this is just an excuse used by the Portuguese. Their purpose

Probably because they want to use Macau's operating methods to seek a piece of territory in North Korea. However, the North Koreans are more wary of Westerners. Although the Portuguese also contributed a lot to the aid operation to North Korea last year, they did not

Like Haihan, you get a semi-permanent military base, but only the power of trade.

The Portuguese have always been happy to participate in Haihan's overseas military operations, but Japan is probably an inconvenient target for them. The Portuguese still have a functioning business office in Nagasaki, and several Portuguese merchant ships still go there every year

Japan's ports carry out trade. If Portugal joins the war, its trade relations with Japan will probably come to an end. For Portugal, it is likely that the gains outweigh the losses by sending troops to join the war.

Thomas, Haihan's envoy in Sanya, was indeed very vague on the matter, saying that the matter may need to be coordinated with the Portuguese Business Council in Macau, and then it must be reviewed whether the northern combat troops have met the conditions for war. In addition, before the war begins

Before, they had to try to notify the Portuguese expatriates in Nagasaki and Hirado to evacuate in advance to avoid being involved in the war. With these many conditions listed, it was clear that they did not want to go to war, but Portugal

People would definitely not reject Haihan's invitation directly, so they could only achieve their goals through detours through tactics.

The Executive Committee did not show any dissatisfaction with the vague attitude of the Portuguese. After all, the Portuguese did not know that their short-sighted behavior would not help preserve their trade qualifications in Japan. According to the original history, the Tokugawa Shogunate completely banned the Portuguese from entering.

This should be the situation that will happen in Japan within the next one or two years. When the time comes, the Portuguese will look back at their decision and will probably regret their previous soft-heartedness.

After such a round of questioning, the only one who was truly willing and able to send troops was Shiba Zhi's old enemy Xu Xinsu. However, this result was basically within the expectations of the Haihan military, so it could not be said to be a disappointment.

As an old partner who completely copied the Haihan military system, the Fujian Ming Army was one of the few allied forces that could maintain a tacit understanding with the Haihan Army on the battlefield. It was relatively easy to cooperate with them in carrying out combat missions.

In the past few years, the two armies have jointly dispatched troops no less than ten times, and they have accumulated rich practical experience in this regard. Xu Xinsu made it clear that as long as there is a war with Shibazhi, the Fujian Ming Army will fight at any time.

Willing to cooperate with the Haihan Army's actions.

At this time, the reconnaissance fleet in Japan had completed its operations in Nagasaki and was heading west again to the waters of the Goto Islands.

Amakusa Shiro also stayed in Nagasaki for three days. During this period, in addition to having contact with Portuguese merchants, he also entered Nagasaki City and learned in detail about the local trade status and some information related to the Hirado Domain. However, this was

Shiro Tokiamakusa and Yuan Zhi did not know that the senior officials of the Ministry of National Defense had fabricated a telegram drafted by them, allowing the Executive Committee to decide to initiate military operations against the Hirado Domain in a very short period of time.

According to their action plan, before returning to Jeju Island, the fleet will also conduct a more detailed close-up reconnaissance of the Goto Islands area to confirm whether there is an armed fleet hiding in the dark nearby. Found in Hirado

After those two shipyards and armed warships, they became increasingly worried that the Goto Islands, originally the home base of Japanese pirates, had been secretly controlled by the Hirado clan, and stationed some maritime armed forces here to avoid outside attention.

However, there are quite a few small harbors along the Goto Islands for anchoring, and it is not easy to search this area. After discussing with Yuan Zhi, Amakusa Shiro decided to divide the two reconnaissance ships into two groups, one from the east and one from the east.

Search the island coastlines of the Goto Islands in each direction, and then rendezvous at the predetermined location. The key targets of the search are the two islands with the largest area and the longest coastline, Nakadori Island and Fukue Island.

After enduring several days of turbulence on the reconnaissance ship, Yuan Zhi finally focused on a bay on the northern coast of Fujiang Island.

In fact, they had passed by this bay once when they came here, but there was nothing unusual that attracted their attention at that time. Looking towards this bay from the sea, they could clearly see the coastline filled with rocks in the bay.

It didn't look like a suitable place for a boat to dock, so they didn't stay there.

However, when he returned to this place again on his way back, Yuan Zhi discovered through his telescope that a large sailboat had sailed into this bay, and then disappeared without a trace from his sight.

Yuan Zhi knew that this was certainly not a deception, but that there was a hidden world inside this inconspicuous bay. If he hadn't seen a ship sailing in, he probably wouldn't have imagined that this place was not as simple as it looked from the outside.

But the channel width of this bay is less than a hundred feet. If a reconnaissance ship were to sail here, its whereabouts would inevitably be exposed in broad daylight. If there was a target Yuan Zhi was looking for inside, it would definitely alert the snake. And it is so narrow.

Because of the unknown waterway and the unknown environment inside, Yuan Zhi did not dare to sail in in the dark at night.

In desperation, Yuan Zhi could only consider landing reconnaissance, which was relatively easy to implement. The terrain on the east side of the bay was relatively flat, but there were acres of farmland in this area, and landing would easily expose his tracks. The west side of the bay was a mountainous area near the sea, almost

They are all no-man's land, but the coastline is rugged with rocks and there are reefs underwater, so the risk of swimming ashore is very high.

In the end, Yuan Zhi had no choice but to leave this place and go to a fishing village ten miles away. He sent people ashore at night to get a local fishing boat back. Then the next day, Yuan Zhi personally led the team to dress up as local people.

The fishermen drove their small sampans slowly and leisurely into the bay.

The entrance of the bay is due north. When the fishing boat sailed into the bay from the entrance channel, Yuan Zhi knew that he had been deceived by the appearance of this place. The bay was not as small as seen from the outside. It was hidden in the mountains to the west of the entrance.

Behind it is a bay with an area of ​​at least 5,000 acres.

And that's not all. When the fishing boat sailed into this hidden bay, Yuan Zhi discovered that there was another winding channel leading to the east. There was also a large bay there, and there seemed to be some special facilities on the coast.

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When the distance got a little closer, Yuan Zhi discovered that there were clearly several shipyards lined up side by side, and in the shipyards there were several sailboats under construction at different stages of construction.

Yuan Zhi is not unfamiliar with the appearance of these ships. He has seen them once near Hirado Port. If Amakusa Shiro is here, he can probably confirm with more certainty that these are the two shipbuilding sites he built on Hirado Island.

This is the kind of standard warship that every factory has seen. And the shipyard hidden in this harbor seems to have a larger construction scale than the two places in Hirado.

When Yuan Zhi tried to get closer to the shipyard, he discovered that this was not all the waters of the bay. There was another bay extending inland to the southwest of the shipyard. Judging from the color of the water, it should be a river.

The entrance to the sea. And in this most hidden bay, Yuan Zhi finally saw the port and dock, as well as a scene that made his heart beat faster.

In addition to the common large and small fishing boats docked in this harbor, there are also several Chinese warships of the same shape and tonnage neatly moored on the pier. Yuan Zhi suppressed his ecstasy and roughly counted them.

There are as many as eight warships parked here, plus there are four ships under construction in the dock. It seems that this should be an extremely important military base.

If you look down from a high place, this bay with complex topography is actually S-shaped, and the part that can be seen outside the bay may actually only account for about one-tenth of the entire bay. It is very difficult not to go inside.

It’s hard to imagine that this bay actually has so much potential.

Taking advantage of the fact that the fishing boat did not attract the attention of the locals, Yuan Zhi and his men quickly sailed back the way they came. If they were blocked in this bay, even if there were hundreds of warships on the sea outside, it would be difficult to rush in immediately.

Rescued.

Fortunately, they were lucky enough to successfully evacuate to the sea and rejoin the reconnaissance ship. Such a major discovery basically confirmed that Fukue Island was indeed under the direct control of the Hirado Domain.
Chapter completed!