Chapter 2117
Know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger. The collection of military intelligence is undoubtedly of extremely important reference significance for the commander's decision-making during the battle. For this reason, Haihan even sent a fleet to Hirado to perform reconnaissance missions before the war, with the purpose of collecting as much information as possible. Understand the local military situation.
However, the Hirado clan has obviously not done enough in this area. Although they have tried every means to deploy many secret strongholds along the coast of the Ming Dynasty in the past two years, Japanese officers like Tagawa Kojiro have never fought against the Haihan army. Therefore, there is still a lack of sufficient attention to this opponent regarded as an old enemy by the Eighteen Zhiyu Party, and the relevant intelligence information they have is still very one-sided.
If Tagawa Kojiro could have more contact with the Han leaders under Tagawa Suke and obtain more information about the Haihan Army from them, he should know that the weapons, equipment and tactics of the Haihan Army are not what he imagined. It would not be a wise decision to confront him on the battlefield.
Before the musketeers led by Tagawa Kojiro completed their formation, more than ten people had been shot dead by the Kaihan Army's fire. When these vassal soldiers mustered up the courage to form a fighting formation despite stray bullets, they became a living target with a huge target. There is no armor protection on these soldiers, and only a handful of them wear leather or bamboo armor. However, this type of armor, collectively known as tōmaru, only has a certain protective effect against cold weapons, and its defense against musket bullets is almost none.
The twenty samurai who were mobilized to assist in the battle were equipped with iron mail armor called large armor. Such equipment was already considered luxurious in a small place like Hirado, but it still could not completely withstand the lethality of bullets.
So Tagawa Kojiro then witnessed with his own eyes how the elite feudal army he brought was defeated by the enemy's intensive shooting in an instant. In the past, he had only heard about how powerful the Haihan Army was, but what exactly was it? Hearing and witnessing the powerful method brought completely different feelings.
The soldiers of the feudal army were like the rice harvested by farmers every summer, constantly falling under the gunfire in the chaos, but the few shots fired by the musketeers were of no avail and could not interrupt the enemy's offensive at all. Several samurai tried to take the lead in the charge and use close combat to change the current unfavorable situation. However, they had no chance to rush in front of the enemy. The furthest ones could only rush out less than ten feet, and both men and horses were shot. fell down.
This kind of battle scene is completely different from the training Tagawa Kojiro has received. In his mind, gun battles are not so fast-paced and highly lethal. He believes that he is capable of fighting Haihan, but this belief Zhi seemed to immediately turn into a vulnerable chicken and dog in front of the opponent's gun.
When the feudal soldiers participating in the battle realized the fact that they would all die here if they did not retreat, the retreat was inevitable. Even though Tagawa Kojiro drew his samurai sword with a ferocious expression and threatened everyone not to retreat, he still It was difficult to stop more and more of his men from turning around and fleeing back.
Tagawa Kojiro was very sad and angry. His dream of becoming a famous general was shattered in a short period of time by a group of enemy troops who had not even prepared a combat formation in a hurry. The weapons in the enemy's hands were obviously muskets, but they seemed to be somewhat different from the weapons used by his musketeers. They just kept firing and effortlessly defeated the vassal army they led.
Others can choose to retreat and escape, but Tagawa Kojiro cannot. Before setting off from Hirado City, he had already boasted to Tagawa Suke that he would go to Haikou to destroy the enemy troops who landed at Boxiang Bay and bring their heads back to Hirado Port for public display. But now it seems that whether it is to destroy the enemy troops or bring back the heads, it is probably difficult for him to complete it. Even returning to Hirado Port may have become a luxury.
Whether it was because of his pride as a samurai or the promise he made to his boss Sukeki Tagawa, Tagawa Kojiro was unable to turn around and run away like his subordinates when the situation was bad. Even if the war situation is beyond control, he still must fulfill the responsibilities of a commander, which is to fight to the end.
"Sons of the Hirado Domain, follow me and charge into battle to kill the enemy!" Tagawa Kojiro raised the katana in his hand and decided to lead the charge himself to restore morale. If he died in battle, it would at least be better than fleeing back to Hirado Port in embarrassment.
"Did you see the mounted officer with the crescent moon on his helmet? Don't let him run away!" The officer responsible for directing this encounter in the special operations group was Shiro Amakusa, who had visited Hirado some time ago. When he came from After confirming the commander in the enemy formation through the telescope, he immediately issued the order.
However, Shirou Amakusa discovered that instead of running away, the Japanese officer picked up the reins and rushed towards the special operations group. It seemed that he was planning to perform a suicide charge. How could Shiro Amakusa let him get his wish? He quickly ordered not to shoot this man, but to capture him alive if he wanted to.
After Tagawa Kojiro launched a desperate charge, some desperadoes followed him and rushed straight towards the special operations group. But at this time, the Second Battalion of the Special Forces Regiment, which was engaged in the battle, had already set up a defensive line, with hundreds of rifles pointed at them. How could they be allowed to rush straight over?
However, Tagawa Kojiro felt that his luck suddenly improved. He could hear the sound of bullets cutting through the air in his ears, and then the sounds of screams and falling came from the left and right, and he rushed forward one by one. At the front, not even a bullet hit him. Could this be the chosen one?
Seeing that the face of the enemy on the opposite side was gradually becoming clearer, Tagawa Kojiro was even more excited by the adrenaline. He no longer considered that he was the only one still charging at this time. Even if he was going to die here in the next battle, he would have to rush into the enemy's formation and chop off a few heads first.
But when he was still about ten feet away from the enemy formation, this good luck of running through the hail of bullets without being hurt suddenly came to an end. The horse under his crotch neighed sadly, and then fell to the ground, knocking him off the horse. Thrown off the back. When he hit the ground hard, he felt as if all the bones in his body were broken.
Before the dizzy Tagawa Kojiro had time to struggle to get up, he was pinned to the ground by seven or eight hands and unable to move. The place where he had just fallen off the horse and hurt was pressed with such force that he couldn't bear it. He screamed.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, someone stuffed a large ball of something into his mouth, making him whine but unable to scream anymore. This measure was not to silence him, but to prevent the arresting officers from biting his tongue and committing suicide in desperation. After all, the boss has ordered that he be taken alive, so naturally he cannot let the credit he has gained go away, and all kinds of measures must be used.
Before Kojiro Tagawa could react further, someone had already twisted his two arms behind his back and tied them firmly with ropes. Finally, his two legs were not let go and were tightly tied together. After he was tied up, someone grabbed his arms and legs and lifted him directly from the ground. At this time, Tagawa Kojiro had realized that he was captured, and he was anxious and angry. He wanted to struggle, but it was difficult to exert force because his body was suspended in the air. After reluctantly moving a few times, not only could he not break free, but he was even eaten several times on the back of his head. He punched his fist and almost fainted from the punch.
"Is this guy seriously injured?" "Report to the battalion commander. There should be a few broken bones, but there are no gunshot wounds on the body."
"Okay, okay, take him and follow me to see the leader!"
After Amakusa Shiro asked about the injury, he didn't plan to come to trial himself. He first brought this guy to Takahashi Minami to show his merit. As for cleaning the battlefield, he didn't need to do it himself.
Takahashi Minami was actually watching the battle from behind Amakusa Shiro's position. He had just seen clearly that the team fighting with his side had a certain degree of military literacy, relatively uniform equipment, and had mastered the basic tactics of the musketeers. It was obvious that they were Trained regular troops. However, this unit still seemed ill-prepared to face the Haihan Army. The opposing commander actually tried to form a formation within rifle range. Whoever didn't get beaten would get beaten.
It's just that they couldn't figure out the effective range of the Haihan rifle. If their formation was disrupted in a frontal battle and they didn't organize a retreat to regroup, but instead launched a charge, this was even more of a death-seeking move. I think back when the Haihan army fought against the Qing army in the Jinzhou Isthmus in Liaodong, thousands of Qing troops launched a charge and still failed to break through the Haihan defense line, let alone the Hirado domain, which had little actual combat experience.
In Takahashi Minami's opinion, the commander's ability was definitely substandard, but the final charge to the death had a bit of traditional samurai's flavor. Seeing Shiro Amakusa bring this tied-up enemy commander in front of him to claim credit, Takahashi Minami had already expected that he might not be able to extract any valuable information from this person.
Sure enough, although Tagawa Kojiro was a little surprised at how the enemy commander could speak fluent Japanese to interrogate him, he still refused to reveal military information about Hirado Port to his opponent. He had already been determined to die when he launched the charge, so how could he choose to betray his master and surrender to the enemy just because he was captured.
Seeing that he was determined, Takahashi Minami didn't want to waste time anymore and slowly tortured him. The purpose of the special forces landing here was to attack Hirado City. The longer the delay, the more variables there would be. It was best to act in accordance with the battle plan as soon as possible. What matters most.
"Okay, our time is precious, and we don't need to waste it here anymore. Captain Amakusa, give him a good time." Takahashi Minami waved his hand and concluded the fate of Tagawa Kojiro.
Although Amakusa Shiro was a little unwilling to deal with this person like this, he also knew that the opportunity to fight was fleeting and could not be delayed, and it was the time to kill people to establish power before the war, so he did not refuse immediately and had Tagawa Kojiro tied up. On the tree, he personally took a rifle and shot the enemy commander in front of everyone.
As a result, the first unit of the Hirado Domain to take the initiative lost the battle without incident. Commander Tagawa Kojiro was captured during the battle and was quickly executed on the spot. At this time, only an hour had passed since he received the order to attack from Tagawa Suke and excitedly led the army to set off from Hirado Port. Unfortunately, he became the first person killed in the Hirado clan in this war. Senior military officer.
The special operations group that landed from Boxiang Bay had a total of three battalions. One of the battalions was led by Sun Zhen. They raided Jingchuan near Boxiang Fishing Port and destroyed the Hirado domain there for smelting steel and casting artillery. of various production facilities. The Second Battalion had an encounter with the hurriedly arriving Hirado clan army during the preparation and assembly after landing, and defeated the opponent relatively easily. The Third Battalion has already detoured to the southeast, rushing to cut off the land passage southward from Hirado City along the east coast. This measure will prevent the enemy from escaping into the inland mountains and forests in the middle and southern end of Hirado Island during the battle.
Once the special operations group completely cuts off the route to the south from the land route, and the East China Sea Fleet blocks its access to the sea in the Hirado Strait, the remaining combat mission is to catch turtles in the urn in the northern area of Hirado Island.
Tagawa Suke was in disbelief after receiving the news of Tagawa Kojiro's defeat. Although he also thought that Tagawa Kojiro might not be a match for the Kaihan Army, he never expected that it would be defeated so quickly. Moreover, according to people who escaped from the front line, the troops led by Tagawa Kojiro were defeated by the enemy almost before they were ready for battle. Tagawa Kojiro himself was also uncertain about his life or death during the battle.
It was not until this moment that Tagawa Suke realized that he might have made a big mistake. The enemy troops landing from Boxiang Bay might not be a small force carrying out harassment missions at all, but shouldering a larger combat mission. Tagawa Kojiro, who was sent to intercept the opponent, was kicked directly onto the iron plate, and a defeat was inevitable.
Tagawasuke was unwilling to understand the enemy force that appeared on the west coast as the main force of the opponent's offensive, because that meant that the entrance to Hirado City was wide open at this time, and it was too late to block the enemy's offensive. The artillery battle between Toko and the enemy fleet at sea would become useless in this case.
Tagawasuke could only pray that the situation on the west coast had not deteriorated to a hopeless point. He immediately ordered Gao Hongfu to lead the main force of 2,000 feudal troops and rush to the mountain path west of Hirado City to intercept the enemy. At the same time, people were asked to check whether the southbound road from the east coast was clear. If the enemy did not cut off the southbound road, but only came to attack Hirado City, they could still try to deal with the opponent on the island.
At the worst possible outcome, they could voluntarily abandon the difficult-to-defend area of Hirado City, conserve their strength and retreat to the mountains and forests to the south, and slowly fight guerrillas with the Haihan Army. The enemy troops came across the sea, and after all they couldn't be slowly wasted on Hirado Island. As long as they could delay the opponent's supply and retreat automatically, it would be considered a victory.
But all the countermeasures he could think of had been deduced by the coalition command in advance. The special operations group did not rush to launch an attack after landing on the west coast, just to cut off its escape route and avoid further complications. Tagawasuke did not choose to flee at the first opportunity, and by the time he reacted, it was already too late.
(End of chapter)