Chapter 2094
Based on the past experience of the Haihan Navy fighting against the armed sailing ships under Shiba Shiba, it is not difficult to judge that a warship of this tonnage will have a crew of about a hundred people. The standard warship that has been discovered by the reconnaissance fleet in the area around Hirado Island is currently There were already more than ten ships, and there were several warships under construction in at least three shipyards. From this, Yuan Zhi deduced that the number of personnel for this armed fleet secretly formed by his opponent was at least a thousand people. above.
It's hard to say what level an armed fleet of this size is in Japan, but if it can be fully equipped, its combat effectiveness will definitely exceed that of the naval forces stationed in most coastal states of the Ming Dynasty. Its combat effectiveness must not be underestimated. Fortunately, this armed fleet has not yet been fully formed. If the Haihan Army takes action as soon as possible, it should be able to block it in Japanese waters.
As for whether there are secret bases similar to those discovered by Yuan Zhi in the Goto Islands, Hirado Island and Kitakyushu area, there is no definite answer for the time being. But there is no doubt that the Hirado Domain's preparations for this far exceeded Haihan's imagination. If it were not for on-site inspections, it would be difficult to predict that this small Hirado Domain in a remote area of Japan could have such a big plan.
Because the reconnaissance operation in this bay was delayed, the rendezvous between Yuan Zhi and Amakusa Shiro was more than half a day later than originally planned. Amakusa Shiro's reconnaissance of Jungtong Island did not yield similar results. After the two of them combined, they decided to return to Seogwipo Port on Jeju Island to replenish supplies and wait for new instructions from their superiors.
Haihan's war preparations are not only carried out on the North Korean side. In the Ministry of National Defense's troop dispatch plan, the Zhoushan garrison in Zhejiang will also participate in this operation.
In terms of distance, the voyage between Zhoushan, Zhejiang and Hirado is about a quarter closer than traveling from the Datong River base to this area. The reason why the Datong River base, which is located farther away, is to send troops during the reconnaissance operation is mainly because the elite naval forces are currently in the north, and Wang Tom is also stationed at the Datong River base. Such a large-scale military operation is naturally led by Wang Tom. Directly commanding operations is safer.
However, as one of the earliest fleets stationed overseas, the Haihan East China Sea Fleet stationed at Dinghai Port in Zhoushan is also very powerful. Although the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas have been relatively peaceful in recent years, there are not many situations that require the Zhoushan garrison to take real action, and there are few opportunities to make meritorious deeds. However, thanks to the huge benefits brought by the prosperous maritime trade in this region, the East China Sea Fleet has quietly grown in strength in recent years. There are already four Majesty-class warships alone. This is also the most Majesty-class warship among the naval forces stationed abroad. The fleet with the largest number of battleships.
The reason why we can still have so many top-level warships without fighting is certainly not because the Ministry of National Defense has any preference for Shi Diwen, but because Haihan's business conditions in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are quite good, and a considerable part of them are military industries—— For example, the entire Dinghaigang port area. Of course, the Ministry of National Defense will not allow the revenue generated by these military industries to be used for other purposes, and a considerable part of it is used as military expenses for the Zhoushan garrison.
Shi Diwen also used these military expenditures quite boldly. He only used a small part of them on infrastructure and personnel expenses, and most of them were used to expand the size of the East China Sea Fleet, including the purchase of warships. . In the past two years alone, the East China Sea Fleet has acquired a total of more than ten warships, large and small, and its military strength has increased by more than 2,000 people. In fact, even part of the garrison at the Datong River base was transferred from the East China Sea Fleet.
The Ministry of National Defense gave Shi Diwen such great authority mainly because of Zhoushan Island's unique strategic geographical location. This is the only military port under the control of Haihan between the Shandong Peninsula and the Fujian Strait. Next to it is Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the most prosperous areas of the Ming Dynasty. The entire Hangzhou Bay and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are under the supervision of the East China Sea Fleet. Naturally, a powerful force is needed. Only the naval fleet can control the situation. For example, several large-scale military exercises held near Hangzhou Bay in recent years have achieved excellent results. At least there is no clear voice against Haihan in Zhejiang officialdom.
In addition, there are North Korea, Japan, Ryukyu and other countries in the East China Sea. Although these countries have no conflict of interest with Haihan for the time being, and North Korea has even formed an alliance with Haihan, maintaining necessary military presence is still of great significance to Haihan. Whether it is rushing to aid North Korea or attacking Japan, the East China Sea Fleet is undoubtedly the first choice for carrying out such military missions.
After receiving the order from Sanya, Shi Diwen immediately ordered the cancellation of all vacation arrangements for the Zhoushan garrison, and all officers returned to Dinghai Port to stand by. For the East China Sea Fleet, there are not many opportunities to get such combat missions. It must seize the opportunity to perform well to be worthy of the huge investment in recent years.
"Currently, the executive committee has only given out goals. The specific action plan will be jointly formulated by the East China Sea Fleet and the North Korean military base stationed at Datong River. As for the Navy, our East Sea Fleet will serve as the main force of this operation. In principle, I will give priority to the deployment. Troops that were not dispatched last year will participate in this combat operation.”
Shi Diwen's intelligence briefing greatly excited the senior officers present. For them, the annual routine exercises in Hangzhou were far from reducing their desire for war. They could only train the Ming Dynasty Navy as an imaginary enemy. Last year, some members of the East China Sea Fleet were deployed to participate in the wars in Manila and North Korea, but most of them could only wait for the plum blossom to quench their thirst, and did not get the chance to fight at all. And this time Shi Diming stated that he would give priority to the troops that did not participate in the battle last year, which was tantamount to giving military honors to these officers.
Regarding the secret operations of the Eighteen Zhiyu Party along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, the Zhoushan garrison also participated in the investigation before the end of last year, and dispatched elite troops to work with the Ministry of Security to destroy the salt merchant musketeers in Yangzhou, which had already begun to take shape. Although the fighting process at that time was fierce, it was actually just a child's play for the military. If he hadn't been worried that sending troops into the Ming Dynasty would cause a diplomatic incident, Shi Diwen would have sent troops to Yangzhou to completely wipe out the salt merchant groups from Shanxi and Shaanxi. Cleaned.
Therefore, when the follow-up investigation traced the clues to Japan and confirmed that this series of events had a major connection with the Eighteenth Party Committee, Shi Diwen was not particularly surprised. After all, he had previously determined that the Spaniards were attacking the local tycoons in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. When it comes to selling arms, it is obvious that the Han people are playing a role in the process. Shibazhi was very familiar with the southeastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, so it was easy to complete such an errand.
The executive committee named the Shiba Shiyu Party who was hiding in the Hirado Domain of Japan. This was a perfectly normal decision in Shi Diwen's opinion. He actually didn't know that there had been a dispute in Sanya over whether to directly use military means to eliminate hidden dangers, but as a senior general guarding overseas, of course he looked at the problem from the military's standpoint. What Shibazhi did Since what he did has posed a threat to Haihan and may cause unpredictable losses to Haihan, of course he must attack him mercilessly.
The relevant combat plan needs to be formulated in consultation with the Datongjiang base, but since the troops are divided into two groups to go to Japan, local preparations in Zhoushan can be started first. Such a large-scale operation requires a large number of personnel and materials. After the meeting, the heads of the combat troops and logistics departments began to organize and prepare for the war.
In addition to the East China Sea Fleet's own preparations, Shi Diwen also has another task to complete, which is to prepare a temporary port for the Allied forces participating in this operation so that they can complete the rendezvous before setting off together. Get to your destination.
However, this task is familiar to the Zhoushan garrison. When the coalition forces rushed to the Korean battlefield last year, several coalition forces from the south briefly rested in Zhoushan. This time, the Allied forces are actually only the Fujian Navy. Without foreign forces such as Annan and Portugal, a lot of trouble can be saved in terms of communication and coordination.
Due to the large number of ships coming and going at Dinghai Port, and considering the need for confidentiality, this temporary port to receive the Allied fleet was not located on Zhoushan Island, but was located in a bay on the east coast of Zhujiajian Island next to Zhoushan Island. If they had not made a special trip from the sea to this place, it would be difficult for ships passing by Zhoushan to discover that there is a natural harbor here. And this place is only about half a day's sail from Dinghai Port, so it's easy to contact him in time if anything happens. Taking into account Xu Xinsu's initiative to dispatch 100 warships and 5,000 sailors this time, Shi Diwen also specially arranged to stockpile a batch of grain and grass on Zhujiajian Island in advance to prepare for the Fujian Navy's operational needs. Although he also expected that the Fujian Navy would definitely prepare the supplies needed for the war, whether to do this or not would mean two different attitudes to the Fujian side. The other side would definitely be more willing to see the performance of the Zhoushan authorities. Have a positive and friendly attitude.
Zhoushan Island has long been stocked with war rations, but whenever a major operation comes, the military will still try to purchase food on the market as a supplement, and this time is no exception. Zhoushan Island issued an order for 100,000 kilograms of grain to Ningbo grain merchants, which also made well-informed people smell something different from usual.
Most of these orders were placed by He Li's rice store. The quartermaster who handled the matter was an old acquaintance with He Li. However, when He Li asked why he wanted to buy a large amount of grain in March, the quartermaster said It was because he was keeping things in mind and avoided talking about it. He Li expected that there must be some reasons why it was inconvenient to disclose it.
So he quickly informed his brother He Xiao of the news, and He Xiao also tasted it and quickly informed his boss Qu Yutong of the news.
Qu Yutong has been dealing with Haihan for several years. When he heard that the Zhoushan authorities were purchasing large quantities of grain again, he had actually guessed 70% of the truth. He just didn't dare to confirm who Haihan planned to deal with this time, and was slightly worried. This is a follow-up to the Yangzhou incident last year.
At the end of last year, Haihan made a big fuss in Yangzhou, causing more than a hundred local casualties. When Qu Yutong heard about the situation in Yangzhou, he was very worried that Shi Diwen would use this as an excuse to fight. Later, Daming and Haihan both tacitly agreed not to pursue what happened in Yangzhou. Qu Yutong met with Shi Diwen, and the other party did not mention the matter again, which made him think that the matter should be settled. However, the Zhoushan authorities suddenly purchased grain. Judging from past experience, this was clearly a signal to mobilize troops. Qu Yutong thought about it and couldn't think of anyone else in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who had offended Haihan recently. He couldn't help but compare this with The Yangzhou incident was linked together.
"Go to Zhoushan Island as soon as possible, meet General Shi, and find out what the situation is." Qu Yutong knew that this kind of thing could be big or small, but he had to seize the opportunity, otherwise Haihan would remain silent. If you take action, you will inevitably become passive.
But Shi Diwen also thought things through very carefully. Before He Xiao left Ningbo, Shi Diwen had already sent a handwritten letter to Qu Yutong's home, asking him not to misunderstand the recent measures of the Zhoushan authorities to purchase military supplies. . Shi Diwen did not explain the real reason for the purchase in his letter, but he reassured Qu Yutong that Haihan would not launch large-scale military operations in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in the near future.
This official explanation made Qu Yutong feel a little relieved. After all, with the relationship between him and Shi Diwen, there was no need for the other party to write a special letter to deceive him. But he thought about the tone of Shi Diwen's letter, and it seemed that he did not deny that the Zhoushan garrison would take action, but the destination was probably not local.
"Could it be that the situation in the north has become tense again?" Qu Yutong couldn't guess the intentions of the Haihan people, so he could only speculate based on his own understanding.
Qu Yutong also knew that the Haihan army had been confronting the Qing army in Liaodong for several years. Last year, the two armies fought in North Korea for several months. Although the final result was that the Haihan army won, the Qing army was just forced to Withdrawing from North Korea to Liaodong seems to have not damaged our vitality. If a large-scale war breaks out between the two countries in the north again, it is impossible to say that the Zhoushan garrison will have to go north for reinforcements.
Qu Yutong's speculation was reasonable, but he never expected that the actions of the Zhoushan authorities were really a follow-up to the Yangzhou incident last year, and their target was not in the far north, but in Japan to the east of the East China Sea.
Qu Yutong and his staff are not the only ones who have noticed the unusual movements of the Zhoushan authorities. In Ningbo, a place where people are mixed, there are still many thoughtful people who have noticed some purchase orders issued by the Zhoushan authorities in the past two days.
"The Haihan people not only bought grain, but according to our investigation, they also ordered a batch of canvas, more than two hundred pieces of gauze, and a considerable amount of medicinal materials. Usually such purchases occur in a concentrated manner before the Haihan people prepare to launch foreign troops. ”
In a certain house in Ningbo City, a man in black was reporting the situation to another old man who looked like a businessman sitting on the Taishi chair.
The old man asked: "Have there been any changes in Haihan's various institutions in Ningbo City? For example, people left the city in batches, or a large number of unidentified people entered them."
The man in black bowed and responded: "We have not yet discovered the conditions mentioned by the shopkeeper. It seems that we are not planning to attack the local area."
(End of chapter)