Chapter 2080
This time, two sailfish-class light sailing boats 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 in modern times.
Of course, this high speed is achieved 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 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 this kind of sailboat only have about seven days of sea endurance when it is full. This is also what the fleet must bring. The main reason for the two integrated 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 kitchen utensils, stoves, and fuel. For most of the voyage, the crew 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.
When Shen Xueyi followed Yuan Zhi from the exploration-class warship to the sailfish sailboat, he finally understood why the other party had previously said that the riding experience of this sailboat was "not very good." In order to save weight, there wasn't even a chair or bench for sitting on the ship. One had to 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. The remaining small space can only allow the crew to take turns to 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 this 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. However, he soon felt dizzy after leaving Seogwipo and switching to the sailfish sailboat.
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 each other 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's area. However, Yuan Zhi has almost no specific information on the current situation on the island. 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 has a detailed map of this area in his database, 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 the area that can intercept them at sea.
But difficulties still exist. Currently, reconnaissance ships can only spy on these islands at sea. Although they have telescopes as auxiliary tools, they will still be greatly limited by the weather conditions at sea. If the visibility is poor, it will be useless even if the scout ship is fast enough to fly over the sea.
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 maintained a distance of about five nautical miles one after the other and sailed southward from the northern end of Fukue Island along the west coast of Fukue Island. Fortunately, the weather conditions these days have been pretty good. The visibility at sea is at least ten nautical miles. 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 number of settlers based on such long-distance observation alone. Under the military rule of the Japanese pirate organization, not to mention other details.
The reconnaissance ship observed more situations in two flat areas on the southeastern coast of Fujiang Island. Not only were there settlements, but two small fishing ports and some small sampans were also found in the bay between the two areas. board for fishing in the sea. However, there has been no trace of the cargo ship or merchant ship that the Haihan military expected to find so far.
In only half a day, the two reconnaissance ships had circled most of Fujiang Island, but the information they obtained was extremely limited. However, this was basically what Yuan Zhi had expected. They did not stay at Fujiang Island and continued to observe the situation on the other four large islands to the north.
According to the military's predictions, if there are still a large number of Japanese pirates in the Goto Islands area, then special ships such as armed sailing ships may be found near the five main islands. However, they spent two days circling the Goto Islands, but did not find any other vessels other than fishing boats 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 action arrangements.
"It seems that the situation is different from what we expected. It's 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 of a pirate armed organization that can be incorporated is of course most likely to be a more powerful pirate group, and the Shibazhi in its heyday obviously met such conditions. Even after the Hachiba Shiba was defeated by Kaihan, the remaining Hachiba Shiba party who scattered and fled to various places still had a certain degree of strength. If they received official support from the Hirado Domain, it would not be difficult to incorporate the Japanese pirate armed forces in the Goto Islands. Impossible things.
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, Go to the Ming Dynasty to organize 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 Five 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 men deployed on the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty by the mastermind behind the scenes had The experience of fighting desperately was why he encountered almost desperate resistance during the arrest.
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 Eighteen Zhiyu Party currently under investigation.
The original action plan was to head 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 is no substantial gain in the Goto Islands, it will basically not affect the follow-up action arrangements. After Yuan Zhi and Amakusa Shiro thought it over, they decided to stick to the original plan and try to verify the situation on the Goto Islands when they returned.
Shen Xueyi also attended this meeting as a military observer. However, his current physical condition is extremely poor and he can only observe but does not have enough energy to participate in the discussion. It was really not easy for him these past few days. As long as the scout ship increased its speed or the sea conditions were bad, he would easily get seasick. The food that was eaten was often vomited out before it was fully digested due to seasickness. After a few days, people were so weak that they could no longer stand.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to stop for a meeting, Yuan Zhi persuaded him to leave the reconnaissance ship for the time being. 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 a separate cabin originally provided for the captain. After several days of suffering at sea, he was finally able to lie down in bed and sleep soundly.
After stopping for a short rest to replenish supplies, the fleet continued eastward to Hirado Island. Hirado Island is a long and narrow island. Its area is only about one-tenth of Jeju Island and half of Fukue Island. It is really not a big place.
The Hirado Domain, ruled by the Matsuura family, is not limited to Hirado Island. Iki Island to the northeast of Hirado Island and the Kitamatsuura Peninsula in Kyushu are all under its actual control. Starting about a hundred years ago, the Matsuura 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 the area at that time, once proclaimed himself "King Hui" in Hirado, organized Japanese pirate armed forces to attack the Ming Dynasty's coast many times, and threatened the Ming Dynasty court to lift the maritime ban. However, this man only lasted for more than ten years. In 1557, he was trapped by Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang, and was imprisoned for two years before being 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 chose to leave Hirado and move to Nagasaki for development. 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. The Tokugawa Shogunate announced in 1624 that Spanish merchant ships were prohibited from entering Japanese ports. For a period of time thereafter, Spanish merchants could only maintain a distance from Japan through some unconventional channels. trade ties. 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 the Haihan Intelligence Department also managed to obtain some information from the Portuguese about the local situation. If the purpose of this reconnaissance operation was not still secret, the Haihan military could actually invite the Portuguese to participate and dispatch Portuguese merchant ships to provide excellent cover for the reconnaissance operation.
As for the situation in Hirado, Yu Yao had already learned about it from Chief Hans when he visited Taiyuan Port in Taiwan. It's just that Hans himself doesn't know the actual situation in Hirado. The information he knows comes from the descriptions of 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 is also a big trouble for the Haihan Fleet. If these warships appeared in the strait like this, it would be 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, it is difficult to have a clear prediction of whether this effect will be good or bad.
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 anchor at an uninhabited island at the southern end of Hirado Island, and two swordfish reconnaissance ships will sail between Hirado Island and Kyushu. activities in the straits. 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 their concealment.
If ships come and go frequently in Hirado Port, 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 was carried out. The only thing that is relatively safe is that even if their identities are exposed, there should be no problem for the two reconnaissance ships to protect themselves and escape.
(End of chapter)