Chapter 2135

For the Hirado Domain, this sudden war was probably the most serious change since the establishment of the port. The performance of the Hirado Domain army, which has always been proud of, was not ideal in the war. It is said to be the most powerful in the country.

The Hirado navy, one of the best, has not reflected its due value in the warships it has vigorously built in the past two years. Instead, it has stayed far away from the frontal battlefield, making the local people who have high hopes for it secretly angry.

, believed that the Hirado Navy should bear greater responsibility for the defeat.

However, the Haihan Army did not think that the reason why the Hirado Navy chose to hide was simply because they were afraid of fighting. Shi Diwen was more willing to regard it as a choice to preserve strength. The day before yesterday, an old warship was sent to Hirado.

After testing the strait, the other party should have clearly understood how big the gap in strength between the two sides is. It is definitely not a wise move to jump out to a decisive battle with the coalition fleet at this time.

If the opponent intends to avoid fighting, there are countless coasts along Kyushu Island where they can hide, and it will not be easy for the coalition fleet to find the Hirado navy in the unfamiliar waters nearby.

In desperation, the coalition forces could only concentrate on clearing the land area first. The search of the several square kilometers of mountains and forests north of the city continued until the next day. Although several vassal troops were eliminated, they still could not catch them.

to Tagawasuke and other key figures. According to the prisoners' confessions, Tagawasuke had not appeared since yesterday afternoon. The command headquarters could only conclude that this person had most likely secretly left Hirado Island at night.

"Looks like we have a hard time doing business this time!" Qian Tiandun couldn't help but feel a little depressed after listening to the battle report sent back by the arresting front line.

In terms of strength, the coalition forces certainly had an absolute advantage and basically left no chance for their opponents to make a comeback. However, the target person was never arrested, which made it difficult to achieve the goal of this combat mission. The battle was won, but the goal was not achieved.

The effect will naturally be greatly compromised because of this.

Shi Diwen was not in a much more relaxed mood than Qian Tiandun. This time, the navy dispatched two fleets, one in the south and one in the north. Their strength was even enough to fight a national war with Japan, but when they arrived here, they punched the cotton.

They never fought against the opponent's main force from the beginning to the end. Shi Diwen dispatched two flagships the day before yesterday to pursue the old warships of the Hirado Navy. In fact, it was just killing a chicken with a knife, and did not give full play to the power of the East China Sea Fleet.

Of course, Shi Diwen also wanted to take the fleet to the coast of Kyushu Island to slowly search for the whereabouts of the enemy, but doing so might further expand the war situation and prolong the time for the fleet to perform combat missions in Japan. As a naval general, he could not

Regardless of the huge increase in military expenditures that will result - the Executive Committee may not be willing to pay for unplanned actions.

"Let's report it to the executive committee first. I think Sanya should prepare a corresponding plan for the current situation." Shi Diwen didn't come up with any better solution to this. It's not that he couldn't think of it, but that he could think of it.

Methods cannot be implemented on one's own initiative, and further authorization from the Executive Committee is required.

On the sixth day of the eradication operation, the Executive Committee received the latest battle report from the Hirado front line. The content of this battle report was not a victory report, but that the Haihan Army's local operations had reached a stalemate, defeated the enemy, and occupied Pingda.

households, but failed to eradicate the main target.

Whether to continue to stay locally and expand the search area to the Kyushu area until the target person is captured, or to close it once it is built and withdraw the troops to save unnecessary military expenditures, the executive committee needs to make an idea now.

.But not surprisingly, the executive committee once again had differences of opinion regarding the next direction of action.

Yan Chujie, who almost single-handedly started this war, naturally did not want it to end hastily. He insisted that the purpose of sending troops was to completely solve the hidden dangers caused by the Eighteen Shiba Party, but the current military operation in Hirado has obviously not yet

can achieve such an effect.

"This operation must arrest the Tagawa father and son!" Yan Chujie said firmly: "Since we have spent so much effort organizing the expedition, how could we give up halfway! Retreating troops now will leave an opportunity for the opponent to make a comeback, and it will also be a waste of military expenditures.

What a waste!”

"But we must also consider the issue of future military expenditures." Schneider took over with a helpless look: "Thousands of people from the army and navy are fighting in Hirado, and the expenses every day are astronomical, and there are also Zhoushan

Both places, including Datongjiang and Datongjiang, have entered a state of war. Especially in Zhoushan, the trade situation has been greatly affected. Every time you go in and out, there is money!"

"We will obtain some war profits from the Hirado area to make up for military expenses." Yan Chujie is very sure about this. The Haihan Army has never been polite to overseas conquests, and usually kidnaps many from the local area after the war.

It has become a common practice that half of this money is put into the national treasury and half is used for military expenses.

Although the final number of property seized by frontline troops has not been calculated so far, Yan Chujie believes that Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen will not let him down, not to mention that Hirado is one of Japan's most important foreign trade ports and the local economy is

The situation is not too bad, and as long as you use a few methods, the harvest will not be bad.

Schneider sighed and said: "But can you give a clear time limit? If you can't catch someone in three to five days, what if you can't catch someone in ten days and a half month? I'm not doubting the capabilities of the frontline troops, but the Japanese archipelago is not

In a small place, they have to hide safely, and we can't dig deep to dig them out! If the scale of the war further expands, it will not be of any benefit to our country. Do we have to fight a protracted all-out war with Japan for this?

Is there no war?"

The problems mentioned by Schneider do indeed exist objectively. Although the purpose of this operation is very clear, due to the hasty preparations before the operation, the plans prepared by the Executive Committee and the Ministry of National Defense were not comprehensive. For example, when encountering the current situation

In this situation, the war was won but the combat objectives were not achieved. Then there was no corresponding plan that the frontline troops could adopt immediately, and they had to send a telegram back to ask for instructions.

Expanding the scope of operations locally will inevitably lead to the escalation of the war. Although Japan's force is not enough to make Haihan feel afraid, once the war process is extended indefinitely, the cost of the war will be borne by Haihan.

It will also increase sharply.

Of course, the Ministry of Defense values ​​the final result of the war. As for how much military expenditures will be spent in this process, that is not the primary issue that the Ministry of Defense needs to consider. But Schneider is in charge of the treasury, but he cannot help but calculate the consequences of the war entering the next stage.

additional expenditures, and it is necessary to measure whether such expenditures will exceed the current fiscal affordability.

"Now is not a suitable time to fight a national war overseas." Tao Donglai expressed his attitude and rejected the idea of ​​further expanding the scale of the war: "For us, the resources required to defeat Japan are too large, but we can expect

The profit is too small, and even if we win, it will most likely be a loss-making transaction, which has little practical significance. I think we should go back to the origin of the problem and think about the purpose of launching this action."

Haihan's purpose in launching this war is of course very clear, which is to eliminate the hidden security risks in the Hirado area, and the center of this hidden danger is the Eighteen Shiba Party and the Tagawa father and son who are currently followed by these people.

In the past six months, there have been many vicious incidents against Haihan in various places. After investigation, the evidence basically points to Hirado. It is absolutely certain that Tagawasuke and his gang are the masterminds behind these incidents. Regardless of whether they are

In order to revive the Shibashiba or make the Hirado clan stronger, Kaihan was determined to eliminate this hidden danger in one fell swoop, so he took forceful action.

The Ministry of National Defense now believes that the military operation must be brought to an end by arresting or eliminating the Tagawa father and son, while the opposition is worried that if it continues, the scale of the war will further escalate and the country will fall into a quagmire of war. These two views

In Tao Donglai's eyes, they are all biased.

"What do you mean, Old Tao?" Yan Chujie has been partnering with Tao Donglai for many years. When he heard him expand on this topic, he knew that the other party probably already had an idea.

Tao Donglai did not beat around the bush and said straight to the point: "The purpose of our military measures is to make the Hirado clan completely lose the ability to confront our country. The best result is of course to capture the Tagawa father and son and all the Eighteen Shiba Yu Party members and destroy them.

The armed forces under their command have completely settled this grudge. But everyone also knows how difficult it is to achieve this result. It is difficult for us to achieve the scheduled goal 100%. So we have to imagine how to achieve the same effect in other ways.

.”

"The reason why the Hirado clan can manufacture guns and warships, and organize and train new-style armies is that the local area can provide sufficient resources for those ambitious people. Their source of funding, in addition to part of the property left behind by Hachishiba

, mainly from the local trade income of Hirado. If we cannot completely destroy their power structure for the time being, then we might as well think about how to completely cut off their sources of income. Without sufficient financial support, all their actions will be difficult to carry out!

"

"What the Ministry of National Defense is worried about now is that after we withdraw our troops, the Tagawa father and son will come back again. They can continue to operate the trading system of Hirado Port and obtain huge profits from it. In a few years, they can form another army to challenge us. Then

We might as well do things more thoroughly, not only smashing the bowls they eat from, but also demolishing the kitchen, so that even if they survive, they will be reduced to a desperate situation."

"You mean to completely wipe out Hirado? I like this idea!" Yan Chujie expressed his appreciation without concealment. In fact, he had also thought about this approach, but he knew that these words coming from his own mouth would be different from Tao Dong's.

If it is proposed, the effect will definitely be different. The objections are mainly directed at the Ministry of National Defense, and Tao Donglai's stance is more neutral, and the opposition he will encounter will not be too strong.

Of course, the neutral position only refers to the internal affairs of the executive committee, and there is no contradiction with the radical plan he proposed. The effect of completely destroying the local trade environment in Hirado may be better than killing the Tagawa father and son, and the other party will have no sustainable and stable basis.

The source of income will definitely not be able to maintain a large armed force for a long time. Once Tagawasuke's local rule collapses, I believe that the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo will not let go of this opportunity to add insult to injury, and will definitely try to let Nagasaki take the opportunity to replace Ping.

The household's trading status may even change its owner again.

This time, the opposition, including Schneider, raised no objections. Ultimately, what they objected to was the damage to Haihan's economic interests due to the continued war. But if the problem could be solved as soon as possible and good economic benefits could be obtained, then their

The attitude is definitely one of being happy to see the results.

Tao Donglai's opinion means that the military's post-war campaign will evolve into looting. This radical approach seems to have been only used on the Liaodong battlefield in the past period to weaken the Qing Dynasty.

strength. And because Haihan does not intend to occupy the area for a long time, it seems that there is no need to leave any room for such an action.

Of course, in the specific implementation process, there must be more detailed standards. After all, Hirado is not all the official industry of the Hirado clan. There are also a lot of foreign businessmen and people. Although these people are not

Haihan nationals, but considering the issue of international prestige, Haihan is inconvenient to cut these people off like leeks, and can only force them to leave the local area and find another way to make a living.

In addition, when dealing with the local people, we certainly cannot kill them all at once. What Haihan wants is to maximize profits, not to create mindless massacres. Although the local population is not too large, Haihan has always been more merciful in this regard. Domestic

There is a large demand for labor in the overseas colonies, so there is no need to worry about finding a place to resettle the people after they are brought back.

As long as the local trade environment and population base are completely destroyed, even if the Tagawa father and son return to Hirado after the war, it will be difficult for the local area to return to its previous business level, and they will no longer be able to maintain an organized armed force unless they let the remaining

The few remaining Eighteenth Party members returned to their old business and resumed their status as armed pirates. However, if their opponents fell to that point, Haihan no longer had to worry about how much of a threat they could pose to him.

Of course, adopting this extreme method is not without its drawbacks. The transportation of a large number of people and materials will inevitably take more time, and it may even be necessary to dispatch a large number of ships from Zhejiang and the Korean Peninsula to rush for transportation, and in the meantime

In fact, there will be many hidden dangers. For example, the frontline may not have time to conduct targeted investigations to see if there are any dangerous persons hidden among the local people, and the main fleet of the Hirado Navy, which has been hiding, may also take the opportunity to sneak out and attack Haihan's transport ship.

.

But in any case, this solution is definitely much better than the army staying in the area to aimlessly search for the whereabouts of the Tagawa father and son. After a symbolic discussion, the Executive Committee voted by a show of hands and passed this resolution.

And handed it over to relevant departments to start implementation immediately.
Chapter completed!