Chapter 2124

Among the Fujian Navy's fleet going to Japan this time, more than ten are exploration-class and expedition-class export warships that have been purchased from Haihan over the years. These powerful and fast warships are in service in the Fujian Navy

He has been serving as the main force in combat since then, and has performed well in all combat operations, and has won many military exploits for Xu Yuzhuo.

Xu Yuzhuo hopes that this attack on Hirado can continue the Fujian Navy's previous achievements, but the current progress is not too smooth. This is not because of how powerful the opponent is, but because the current battle situation is basically one-sided.

The Fujian Navy has never had a chance to really let go and fight.

Today, after a long wait, the Hirado Navy took the initiative to show up, but the cunning opponent did not rush into Boxiang Bay. Otherwise, it would be easy to get in and difficult to get out. The Hirado Navy might not even have a chance to turn around, and they would be swarmed.

The Fujian navy was blocked in the bay and tried to catch turtles in a jar.

But the opponent only showed his head and immediately retreated when he saw that the situation was not good. Xu Yuzhuo, who had not yet had time to complete the deployment, could only shout that it was a pity. However, he also noticed that the two ships sent by the opponent to explore the way were both from intelligence.

The Chinese warship mentioned is most likely the main force of the Hirado navy hidden behind it.

It's a pity that the two sides were too far apart when they discovered each other. The warships of the Fujian Navy would not be able to catch up with the two ships for a while. At this juncture, the Vey Neng sent by the Haihan Navy to the west coast to assist in the battle was docking at Boxiang Fishing Port.

When the shore was replenished with fresh water, Xu Yuzhuo could only watch the two ships flee as if they were flying.

Qian Tiandun only got the news about noon. He had moved the temporary headquarters located in Boxiang Fishing Port to the vicinity of Onomura's defense line. There is an official road leading to Hirado City and it is very close to the east coast of Hirado Island.

, making it easier for him to command the special operations group's land operations. The west coast was completely handed over to Xu Yuzhuo. Anyway, Boxiang Bay and Furukang Bay in the northern part of Hirado Island, which are the most accessible to the sea, have been blockaded by the Fujian Navy and blocked in

It would be difficult for the Hirado clan troops north of Onomura's defense line to escape from Hirado Island in large numbers by sea.

Qian Tiandun was not surprised by the caution of the Hirado navy, because today there was another navy fleet that appeared north of the Hirado Strait earlier, and also tried to

out of the battle. It's just that this fleet was unlucky. They ran into the East China Sea Fleet, which had already entered a combat position. Moreover, Shi Diwen was determined to use this fleet as a flag sacrifice, so he directly dispatched two flagships to pursue it at full speed, and

This fleet of Japanese warships tried their best to escape, and suffered heavy casualties in the end.

According to the battle report sent back by Shi Diwen before this, the East China Sea Fleet damaged and sunk a total of thirteen enemy ships in this one-sided pursuit battle, and captured three ships, while only two enemy ships were lucky enough to escape the battlefield. However,

The command ship of the Hirado Navy failed to escape successfully, and a total of more than 600 people, including commander Shota Ishimura, were captured in this battle, which can be said to be a fruitful battle.

Regarding the results of the battle on the eastern front, Qian Tiandun had already sent someone to send the news to Xu Yuzhuo, but he could fully imagine that Xu Yuzhuo was depressed by the news. After all, since the war started, the Xu family army had not only burned an empty bomb on Fujiang Island.

The uninhabited shipyard covered the landing of the special forces at Boxiang Bay, but there was no record of success at all.

On the other hand, in the offensive of the Haihan Army against Hirado Island, not only the navy performed well, but the army troops landing from the western front also successfully cleared the ordnance base in Kagawa, successfully cut off the land transportation on the east coast, and completed the peace.

Cutting and encircling the northern area of ​​​​Tojima, and in the process repelled several tentative counterattacks by the Hirado domain army.

Comparing the two, Xu Jiajun can't help but seem a little incompetent. Although strategically speaking, the Fujian Navy is responsible for blocking the west coast of Hirado Island, which is also a very important task. However, the Haihan Army has been fighting with the enemy for two consecutive days.

Engage in battle, but the Navy has not even fired a single shot. Xu Yuzhuo will definitely not be able to accept that the expeditionary force he leads can only behave like an outsider on the battlefield.

But Qian Tiandun couldn't care less about the feelings of his allies at the moment. Since the Hirado clan chose to shrink its defense line rather than take the initiative to break out, what he has to do is to further tighten the encirclement, continue to advance the front to the north, and actively seek to fight with the enemy.

Enemy troops engage in battle.

For Shi Diwen, who had won a great victory in the morning, he was feeling both joy and sorrow at the moment. He was naturally happy that he successfully captured the Hirado Navy fleet, but he was worried that this fleet was not the Hirado Navy fleet.

The main force of the navy, although the opponent suffered heavy losses, it did not seem to be to the extent of being damaged. The navy still had to continue to be wary of sneak attacks that the opponent might launch at any time.

In addition, how to hold the hundreds of prisoners captured in today's battle is also a troublesome problem. The place temporarily occupied by the Haihan Army does not have an environment suitable for concentrating a large number of prisoners, regardless of whether all these prisoners are executed or

Release is not a feasible option for Shi Diwen.

Before finding a better detention environment, Shi Diwen could only order all these navy personnel to be detained in the cabins of the captured three Anzha ships. Only a few military attachés such as Shota Ishimura were detained in isolation to facilitate their detention.

He launched a arraignment.

After the battle, several of the warships that had sorted out returned to the Hirado Strait. However, because the pursuit just now consumed a lot of money, these warships did not immediately join the bombardment of Hirado Port, but first

Sail southward into the more open sea, and then transfer supplies with the supply ship.

Although the two majesty-class battleships are majestic in battle, their combat methods also have shortcomings, that is, they rely heavily on logistical material support, such as coal, fresh water, ammunition, etc., all of which must be carried out according to the amounts consumed in previous battles.

Supplement. If materials cannot be replenished in time, the combat effectiveness will inevitably be greatly reduced.

However, at this time, the East China Sea Fleet has completely controlled the waters on the east coast of Hirado Island, so there is no need to worry that the enemy will seize this time to raid the warships that are being supplied. Shi Diwen also took advantage of this time to be interrogated immediately.

Captured commander Shota Ishimura.

In view of the cowardice shown by his opponent in the previous confrontation, Shi Diwen believed that this person would not have a too firm stance, so he did not choose to fight with the opponent out of wits, but prepared to use simple and crude methods to make the opponent surrender.

.

"If you cooperate with us, I will keep you alive and give you freedom. If you want to be a hero and prove your loyalty to the Hirado Domain, then I will make it happen for you. I will execute you before the sun goes down today, and you will be treated as a hero."

Let all your subordinates carry out the execution. Maybe some of your subordinates will take the initiative to cooperate with us by then, what do you think?" After Shi Diwen finished speaking, he motioned to the translator to explain his words to Shota Ishimura.

Shota Ishimura did not express his position immediately after hearing this, but Shi Diwen noticed that his face had turned pale, and it was obvious that he had been greatly affected by this arrangement.

"I don't have much time to wait for you to think about it slowly. If you refuse to speak, then I will give this chance of survival to your deputy. We have arrested hundreds of people and come back, there will always be someone who is willing to speak." Shi

Devin stood up from his chair and said, "You'd better make a decision right away. My patience is limited."

Of course Ishimura Shota would not doubt whether Shi Diwen could keep his word. Now that the power of life and death was in the opponent's hands, he gave an order to kill not only his own life, but also the hundreds of people who were captured together.

It’s not surprising. He also wants to bargain with the other party, but that requires sufficient capital. And now he is not sure how much the other party already knows and what kind of information he intends to dig out from his mouth, so it is basically impossible to negotiate terms.

There is no way to talk about it. Instead, you may expose your own shortcomings or make the other party completely lose patience.

Although Shota Ishimura was loyal to Tagawasuke, he did not want to be executed as a prisoner by his opponent in this war. He believed that he fell into this situation not because of lack of strength, but because he was tricked by Wei Zhi. If Hirado could be defeated

The navy's warships are evenly distributed, so that one's own team can have a few decent warships, which will at least have a chance to escape from the battlefield without being captured by the opponent.

Now that it was clear that he was being used as a victim, Shota Ishimura believed that this was the fundamental reason why he had no chance to display his strength. If he was executed by the Haihan people because of this, it would be really unfair.

"I will cooperate with you, but I want to get out of here alive!" Shota Ishimura thought about it, but finally succumbed to Shi Diwen's threat. Save his own life first. As for where to go after the war is over, that will be decided at that time.

There are actually two main things that Shi Diwen wants to know. One is the battle plan of the Hirado Navy, and the other is the location of its secret base outside Hirado Island. The first thing is of course not something ordinary people can know.

, only commanders like Ishimura Shota can grasp the details, so he still has relatively high intelligence value to Haihan.

But the combat plan that Ishimura Shota had was limited to part of what Wei Zhi revealed to him. He knew that Wei Zhi would lead a team to the west coast to look for fighters, but what kind of tactics would be used and where would the attack target be? Wei Zhi

But no clear information was told to him. Of course, this was not entirely because Wei Zhi wanted to hide it from him, but because the enemy's activities on the west coast were unknown, it was naturally difficult to formulate a detailed combat plan in advance.

Take one step at a time in action.

As for the hiding place of the Hirado navy, there really is nothing to hide, because all the captured personnel have this information. No matter how hard Ishimura Shota bites his tongue, others will still confess. But Ishimura Shota also

I know that Wei Zhi will probably not stay on Shanda Island anymore. After all, as long as the navy goes out to join the war, that location will no longer be a military secret.

However, under Shi Diwen's repeated questioning, Shota Ishimura was able to elicit another valuable piece of information, that is, the naval commander Wei Zhi had quietly picked up Tagawa mother and son from Hirado Island last night and sent them to

Hidden in a secret place somewhere in Kyushu. As for where this place is, let alone Ishimura Shota, even Wei Zhi doesn't know the specific location. He is just responsible for sending Tagawa mother and son to a local fishing port, where someone else will arrange the follow-up.

itinerary.

This is also a handover method specially arranged by Tagawa Suke to ensure the personal safety of Tagawa mother and son in an emergency. Although it is a minimum measure, it really comes in handy. If not, this hiding place may be passed through Wei Zhihe

Word spread from Shota Ishimura, and eventually the Haihan people followed the clues and came to arrest him.

This news made Shi Diwen feel a little frustrated. This time Haihan went to Japan to fight with great fanfare. Of course, the purpose was to wipe out all his opponents, especially the Eighteen Zhiyu Party and their descendants, which Haihan was trying to eliminate.

object.

Through the reconnaissance of Hirado by Yuan Zhi and Amakusa Shiro before the war, Kaihan has mastered the information about Tagawa Nanzaemon and listed him as one of the targets that must be captured. For this reason, the relevant departments also specially asked Amakusa to

Shiro cooperated with the painter to draw several portraits of Tagawa Nanzaemon in advance so that various troops could jointly arrest this person after they captured Hirado.

But I didn't expect Tagawasuke to be so alert. The coalition fleet had just started to use its methods on Hirado Island, and he had already sent Tagawa mother and son out overnight to escape. At this time, all the arrangements Haihan had made in advance were in vain.

If you want to find the mother and son again, you have to go to Kyushu Island to search slowly, or you can only wait until the Hirado Castle is captured alive and then directly interrogate the person involved.

But no matter which solution it is, it will be very difficult in Shi Diwen's view. Kyushu Island is not a small place like Hirado Island. It has a land area of ​​more than 30,000 square kilometers, which is slightly larger than Hainan Island.

, the island is divided into nine countries: Chikuzen, Chikugo, Bunzen, Bungo, Hizen, Higo, Hyuga, Satsuma, and Osumi, and the Hirado Domain is just one of the territories of Hizen Country.

To search and arrest two people in such a large and unfamiliar area may mean that the coalition forces must first fight a big war with the countries on Kyushu Island. Even if the coalition military strength is enough to defeat these small countries, the materials and resources consumed will

Time will put great pressure on the logistical supplies of the coalition forces. Once the other side has a buffer time, the war is likely to escalate further, and the opponent will change from the Hirado Domain to the entire country of Japan.

Haihan's original intention of launching this war is getting further and further away.

It seems even more difficult to expect to know the whereabouts of Tagawa Nanzaemon through interrogating Tagawasuke. It is obvious that Tagawasuke hopes to keep this adopted son, so that even if the Hirado Domain is defeated or even Tagawasuke dies in the battle, the Hirado Domain will be able to do so in the future.

There will still be the backbone for a comeback. Under this premise, I am afraid that even if Shi Diwen resorts to his old tricks of threatening Tagawasuke with death, it is unlikely that the other party will give in.
Chapter completed!