Chapter 2118
Or because the continuous artillery battle at Hirado Port effectively "prevented" the enemy fleet from landing, even if Tagawasuke learned about the enemy's landing on the west coast, he did not intend to directly abandon Hirado Island. A base that has been operating for many years. He still believed that he could rely on the advantage of playing at home to continue dealing with powerful enemies from thousands of miles away on the island.
However, out of caution, Tagawasuke immediately summoned Tagawa Nanaemon and prepared to arrange for him to leave Hirado first. He knew very well who the Han leaders and staff under his command were really loyal to. Defeat would not be a disaster for the Hirado clan, but if something happened to his adopted son, the Hirado clan might really fall apart.
As long as Tagawa Nanzaemon is preserved, even if the Hirado clan temporarily loses the war, or even if Tagawa suke himself dies on the battlefield, there will eventually be a figure with enough weight who can gather the remaining power under his command after the war and defeat Tagawa. The family's dominance was maintained.
"Shichizaemon, you will leave here with my guards later and take a boat to a secret location. Wei Zhi's people will send you and your mother to Kyushu, which is safer than Hirado." Tagawa Suke tried to keep his tone calm Be calm and avoid the other person feeling that you are panicking.
However, Tagawa Nanzaemon was already precocious and had a relatively good understanding of the causes and consequences of this battle with the Kaihan Army. Of course, he knew that the opponent the Hirado Domain was going to fight this time was very powerful and he might lose to it. And Tagawasuke wanted to send himself away from Hirado, which obviously showed that he was not optimistic about the prospects of this war and was preparing to arrange an escape route for himself.
"Father, do you think we are going to lose even before the Kaihan Army sets foot on the Hirado Domain's land?" Tagawa Nanaemon asked in confusion.
"I was careless. The enemy took advantage of our offensive to deal with Hirado Port and secretly landed at Boxiang Bay in the west. I sent Kojiro to lead the troops to repel the enemy, but he failed." Tagawa asked after seeing him. , and no longer intend to hide the truth from him. If the current situation is not explained clearly, it will be difficult for him to preside over subsequent affairs even if he is sent to Kyushu.
Tagawa Nanaemon said: "Then let's gather the troops to fight the enemy. If my father wants to send me away from Hirado to avoid disaster, won't it make the feudal lords feel cold?"
Tagawa Suke said solemnly: "We will definitely fight, but you can't help if you stay in Hirado. Instead, we need to dedicate manpower to protect you. I believe you also know that one of the reasons why the enemy attacked Hirado is I want to get rid of you from the world, so I can't let them catch you on the island. Don't worry, the feudal lords will definitely agree to this arrangement. After all, most of them were once your biological father's subordinates and friends. It's impossible. Sitting back and watching will put you in a dangerous situation. If you leave Hirado, the people who stay here will be able to calm down and fight the enemy to the death, understand?"
The reality is cruel, but the truth is just as Tagawa Suke said. Tagawa Nanzaemon must leave here in order to reduce the pressure on the Hirado Domain to resist foreign enemies. And because of his special status, leaving Hirado at this time will not cause opposition or resentment from the feudal lords. There are definitely far more people in the Tagawa clan who agree with this arrangement than those who oppose it.
"Hurry up and leave. I don't know how much time I can buy you. For our Tagawa clan and the Hirado clan, you must live well!" Tagawasuke waved his hand and said: "Go, hurry up and leave!"
"Please take care of yourself, father!" Tagawa Nanaemon knows that his adoptive father has made up his mind. It is useless to say more here. On the contrary, more people may die trying to buy time for him to escape. The only way is to follow the arrangements. The current optimal solution. He lay on the floor and kowtowed deeply, then got up and walked out without looking back.
Tagawa Nanzaemon did not ask unnecessary questions such as whether Tagawa Suke would find a way to break out of Hirado Island, nor did he inquire about how to reunite after the war. He knew that from this moment on, he must truly begin to fulfill his duties as the successor to the feudal lord. Responsibility. If Tagawa Suke unfortunately dies in the battle of Hirado, then he will naturally become the next lord of the feudal lord and will take revenge as his future life goal.
Regarding his biological father, Zheng Zhilong, he actually didn't have much emotion at all. After all, not long after he was born, Zheng Zhilong decided to adopt him to the childless Tagawa Suke, who was his uncle. To put it into perspective, he was actually raised by his mother and uncle, and his biological father had never met at all. So in Tagawa Shichizaemon's mind, "father" is actually his adoptive father Tagawa Suke, and his biological father is just his mother's dead husband, nothing more.
However, in the past few years, many Han people came from the Ming Dynasty. It is said that they were powerful figures who once took orders from their biological father Zheng Zhilong. Tagawa Nanzaemon originally had no interest in these people, but his adoptive father told him that these people were willing to be loyal to the Tagawa clan, but the premise was Designate him as the heir to the power of the Tagawa clan, because these people believe that the property left by Zheng Zhilong should be inherited by his only son, so they want to try to make Tagawa Nanzaemon the most powerful person in the Hirado clan - just Starting from becoming the next head of the Tagawa clan.
Of course, when Zheng Zhilong arranged for these people to flee to Hirado, it is difficult to say whether he already had the idea of occupying the magpie's nest in the future.
But even if these people did not make such a request, Tagawa Nanzaemon knew that his adoptive father would leave the position of head of the family to himself, because there was no one to compete with him within the Tagawa clan, and he was the only heir. However, because this relationship can also win over a group of people to work for his adoptive father, of course he is also happy to see it happen. Therefore, he accepted all these Han subordinates from the Ming Dynasty according to Tagawasuke's arrangement.
While these people regarded him as their young master, they also played a great role in promoting the development and growth of the Tagawa clan and even the Hirado clan. They brought resources in many fields such as military, navigation, trade, intelligence, and connections. These are all good things that the Hirado clan wanted and could not have in the past. It is precisely because of the advanced technology brought by these people that the Hirado Domain has a firearms force, an armed fleet, a trade volume that doubles every year, and news channels and partners located at home and abroad.
Various resources were continuously concentrated into the Hirado Domain, and under the operation of these people, they turned into huge wealth and military strength, making the Hirado Domain stronger at a speed visible to the naked eye. If the Kaihan people hadn't suddenly jumped out to interrupt, in a few years the Tagawa clan would probably not have stopped at controlling the Hirado Domain, but would have further expanded outwards and annexed the entire Hizen Kingdom in northwest Kyushu, becoming a more powerful nation. The local name.
But now with the sudden arrival of the Haihan Army, it seems that the Tagawa family's good luck can only stop here temporarily. If they can't pass the Haihan test, they won't have to think about who to annex in the future, let alone In compliance with the requests of these remaining Eighteen Zhi parties, troops were sent to avenge Zheng Zhilong and other Eighteen Zhi leaders. Keeping Tagawa Nanzaemon is more important than keeping Hirado Domain at the moment. These Han leaders will naturally not object to Tagawasuke sending him to Kyushu to escape the war. They may even think that Tagawasuke is too slow and should start the war. Send the young master to a safe place beforehand. Watching his adopted son walk out firmly, Tagawa Suke let out a sigh of relief. He knew that after this farewell, there would be no chance of seeing each other again, but if this was fate, he could only accept it calmly. He has been a feudal lord under the Matsuura clan for many years, and has seen many scenes of fighting and killing, and he does not have much fear of death. As long as he can arrange his posthumous affairs in advance, it is not a big deal even if he dies in battle. .
As the lord of the Hirado Domain, you have the responsibility to protect your territory. If you can't even protect your own territory, then you can die. But Tagawasuke can die, but the Hirado clan cannot die like this. As long as Tagawa Shichizaemon is still there, no matter whether it is the Tagawa clan or Hachishiba, there will still be a chance to make a comeback.
"Come here, get my armor!" Tagawa Suke ordered angrily. In fact, he hasn't fought in person for a long time, but this does not affect his confidence in his fighting ability. I think he was also a fierce general back then. If he hadn't made many military exploits for the Matsuura clan on the battlefield, how could he have become the number one retainer of the Hirado clan? Even a figure with great influence in East Asia like Zheng Zhilong also had great influence on the Matsuura clan. His relative appreciated it and was willing to adopt his biological son to him.
Although the enemy troops have landed on the west side of the island, Tagawasuke still believes that the situation has not deteriorated to an irreparable point. In addition to the more than 3,000 feudal troops summoned from the entire Hirado Domain in advance and assembled near the Hirado City area, an equal number of peasant soldiers were temporarily recruited from the private sector a few days ago. No matter how you think about it, they should be able to fight with their opponents. right.
However, due to problems with food supply and order transmission, not all of these farmers gathered near Hirado City, so the number of people Tagawasuke could mobilize immediately was actually less than 5,000. The number of elite troops who actually used firearms, or were equipped with horses, armor, and standard swords and bows, was actually only about a thousand people.
But this has almost exhausted the strongest combat power created by the Hirado Domain. Except for the armed fleet led by Wei Zhi, which is still lurking in the outer sea, almost all the remaining fighting forces of the Hirado Domain have gathered here. .
Tagawasuke still insisted that there could not be too many enemy troops landing on the west coast. His reason was that since the enemy deployed a large armed fleet on the east coast to attack ports, it would inevitably lead to the loss of warships used by the landing troops on the west coast. There won't be too many, otherwise it would be easier to gather together and attack Hirado Port directly.
As long as the port's shore defenses can block the enemy fleet at sea and prevent it from landing at Hirado Port, it should be a feasible solution to concentrate its own land forces to clear out the enemy forces that have landed from the west.
Of course, Tagawa Kojiro's lightning rout has proved that this enemy force that landed on the beach is not a weakling. It will not be easy to defeat or even annihilate it easily. Tagawasuke decided to lead the attack personally to ensure that he would not be defeated by the enemy in one blow. He had previously given Gao Hongfu 2,000 men to rush to the Western Front to intercept the enemy. However, most of the 2,000 men were farmers and soldiers. He only hoped that Gao Hongfu would not make any more mistakes. Even if he could not defeat his opponent, he would at least persist until he could lead him. The main force rushed to the battlefield.
But that is easy to say, but the actual battle situation did not fulfill his wish. More than half of the two thousand men and horses led by Gao Hongfu were temporary peasant soldiers. He did not dare to let these people take the lead. Otherwise, once they were defeated by the enemy in the narrow mountain battlefield, the defeated soldiers would probably flee back. It will disperse the regular army behind.
However, Gao Hongfu was reluctant to directly let the regular army with limited strength take the lead to explore the real situation, so he deployed a small number of peasant soldiers to act as pioneers in the front, with the regular troops following behind, while the remaining peasant soldiers were responsible for rearing and transporting baggage. supplies.
Soldiers who had previously escaped said that the opponent's rifles fired very quickly and did not use formation shooting tactics. They seemed to have no need to stop and slowly reload ammunition. They defeated Tagawa Kojiro's troops with intensive firepower alone. Takahashi Minami listened. After telling these news, I already had some bad premonitions.
As far as he knew, only a few elite troops in the Haihan Army were qualified to equip this legendary continuous musket. If this was true, then the Haihan Army landing from the west coast was probably an ace army with rich combat experience. , rather than a small force that landed from Boxiang Bay for reconnaissance purposes.
When Gao Hongfu led troops in Shibazhi, he had a head-on confrontation with the Haihan Army on the battlefield. He knew very well that the elites of the Haihan Army were not comparable to ordinary musketeers. They were far superior in terms of weapons and tactics. It's not a good idea to engage head-on with them.
Therefore, he did not choose to intercept the opponent head-on on the way from Boxiang Bay to Hirado City. Instead, he commanded his troops to set up ambush in the mountains and forests on both sides of the road, preparing to wait for the opponent to fall into his trap. Although this may not completely defeat the opponent, if it causes relatively large damage to the Haihan Army, it can be regarded as completing part of the mission.
However, the Haihan Army seemed to know his tactics well and did not try to pass through this mountain road quickly. Instead, it patiently sent small teams in various directions to explore the mountains and forests on both sides of the road. In this way, the peasant and soldier troops who were not good at performing lurking tasks were quickly exposed. The Haihan Army still did not rush forward to clean up the area. They immediately retreated after detecting that there were many people lurking in the forest.
"What's the plan of this Haihan man?" Gao Hongfu found that the other party didn't make any advances, and he was a little suspicious at the moment. With Hirado City behind us, it is certainly impossible for the opponent to outflank our back, but if they don't launch an attack in this direction, what opportunity are they waiting for?
"No! South!" Gao Hongfu suddenly realized something, and immediately sent people forward to explore the movements of the Haihan Army.
(End of chapter)