Chapter 2120
When people talk about Hirado in Japan, what immediately comes to mind is that in addition to the unique local foreign trade environment, another famous "specialty" is the Hirado navy.
The Hirado area is located at the western end of the Japanese archipelago, relatively far from China and the Korean Peninsula. Because of this unique geographical advantage, Hirado Port has gradually become an international trade port connecting Japan and the outside world. The prosperous maritime trade has created a developed navigation and shipbuilding industry for Hirado. On this basis, the Hirado navy, established by local powerful men, is naturally among the best in Japan.
For a long period of time, the Goto Islands area under the jurisdiction of Hirado was the base camp of Japanese pirate armed forces. The combat experience of these Japanese pirates who went to the Korean Peninsula and the eastern coast of the Ming Dynasty to burn, kill and loot was gradually adopted by Hirado. It was absorbed and utilized by the navy, so the combat effectiveness of the Hirado navy was far stronger than that of the navy armed forces in other parts of Japan that were built behind closed doors.
In the past few years, a large number of the Eighteen Shiba Party members fled to Hirado to hide, bringing more advanced military technology here and further enhancing the strength of the Hirado navy.
Today's Hirado naval force is no longer entirely based on Japanese warships such as Anzha and Kanfune. The armed Fukufune brought by Shiba Shiba have become the main warships in service in recent years. Due to hull design problems, most Japanese warships can only operate in offshore areas. The armed Fuchuan not only has a larger range of activities and faster speeds, but can also be equipped with Western-style artillery on board, and its combat effectiveness is far better than that of Japanese warships.
Although the cost of building an armed ship was much higher, this was not a big problem for the wealthy Hirado clan. What's more, after the upgrade of the Hirado navy, it will also play a very direct role in future external expansion. The early military investment will definitely be able to obtain sufficient returns, and everyone in the Hirado clan is extremely optimistic about this.
Compared with the cost of shipbuilding, the real major expense is actually personnel. After the scale of the navy expanded, it was necessary to train a large number of sailors who could master the sailing skills of sailing warships, as well as gunners who could skillfully use artillery on the ship. The sailors on the Anzhai ship who could only operate the oars were still difficult to do these jobs that required professional skills, and a lot of investment had to be made. We need the financial resources to train them for a long time. Moreover, the military pay of these people can no longer be paid according to the standards of low-level sailors, and the daily operating expenses of the navy will also increase a lot.
However, despite certain financial pressures, the Hirado Domain still gritted its teeth and significantly upgraded its naval equipment in just a few years. It now has nearly twenty new warships equipped with artillery. Although this kind of armed force is still far behind the Shibazhi in its heyday, it can already be claimed to be the strongest naval force in Japan.
Of course, the so-called strongest title is actually only for Japan's domestic level during this period. If the scope is enlarged to the surrounding areas, the Hirado Navy can probably only bully countries with relatively weak maritime armed forces such as North Korea and Ryukyu, and there is still a gap with the Ming Dynasty Navy. As for Haihan, there is no comparison at all. Whether it is the East China Sea Fleet or the Northern Fleet, their overall strength is far superior to the Hirado Navy.
Wei Zhi, who was the commander of the Hirado navy at this time, was born in Hachishiba. However, when he was in Hachishiba, he was just a small leader with five ships under his command, but now he has become the leader in charge of the Hirado Domain's three thousand ships. A senior officer of the army holds the power of life and death. This is a situation that he would never have imagined a few years ago.
Wei Zhi was able to get the opportunity to command the Hirado navy, of course, not just because he had led troops in Shibashi. Between 1630 and 1633, he participated in many combat operations, and his opponents in these operations were almost all the Haihan Navy and the Fujian Navy under Xu Xinsu. Although he did not achieve any dazzling results in these battles, these experiences did allow him to accumulate rich combat experience.
Compared with the Shiba Shiba, which has a large number of armed sailing ships, when Wei Zhi first arrived in Hirado, he believed that the navy here could only be regarded as a paramilitary organization at best, and its professionalism was not even as good as civilian armed forces like the Shiba Shiba. The military and navigation skills he mastered far exceeded the level of the Hirado Navy. After showing his abilities to Tagawasuke, he was quickly recommended to the feudal lord by Tagawasuke and entered the Navy. Responsible for daily training.
With the secret support of Tagawa Suke, Wei Zhi spent several years gradually taking control of the Hirado Navy, and through his position, he cultivated a group of subordinates in the Navy who took orders from him. After Tagawasuke overthrew the Matsuura clan and came to power, Wei Zhi naturally replaced the navy generals who were originally loyal to the Matsuura clan and became the commander of the Hirado navy.
If it follows the normal development trajectory, the Hirado clan will continue to build warships to expand the scale of its naval force in the next few years. At home, it will try to annex the Kyushu region to the east. Overseas, it will have conflicts of interest with the Qing Dynasty, Spain and other countries, and some countries in the Ming Dynasty that have conflicts of interest with Haihan. The forces in Tu continued to cooperate and slowly accumulated strength before going to war with Haihan and the Xu family in Fujian.
However, due to various reasons, the Hirado Domain prematurely attracted the attention of the outside world, causing the Haihan Army to organize a cross-sea expedition at all costs. Wei Zhi and the Hirado Navy had to organize a cross-sea expedition before reaching the ideal state. You have to go to the battlefield to face a powerful enemy that far exceeds your own strength.
However, Tagawasuke also knew that the navy was the biggest reliance of the Hirado clan. If the navy were to fight the enemy first, there would be no way out if they lost. The opponent could calmly stage a game of catching a turtle in a urn on Hirado Island. . Keeping the navy will keep the possibility of stealing the opponent's retreat from the sea at any time. If the war goes unfavorably, the navy will still have the opportunity to help important people leave Hirado Island.
Therefore, in the stage of formulating the battle plan, Tagawasuke did not intend to let the navy go up front to respond to the enemy. Instead, he asked Wei Zhi to lead the navy to ambush outside and wait for a suitable fighter opportunity before attacking. If the war on Hirado Island goes well, then the navy can safely stay away from Hirado Island to cut off the opponent's supply line. If the war is tight, the navy will have to assume the function of an escape channel when necessary.
Both Tagawasuke and Wei Zhi believed that even if the enemy was powerful, it would be unlikely to capture the Hirado Port area that had been prepared for war within a day or two, so they chose Hirado Port as a temporary hiding place for the navy. Thirty miles to the north is a place called Shanda Island.
The Shanda Island covers an area of about fifteen square kilometers. On the north side of the island is a harbor that is similar in size to Boxiang Bay. The hydrological conditions are also quite good, making it very suitable as a temporary base for the navy fleet. This place is only half a day's flight from Hirado Port, and there is still time for reinforcements at critical moments. Moreover, the harbor is facing north, and the enemy's range of activities at sea is unlikely to reach the north of Shandai Island. The chance of discovering the Hirado navy is very small.
Of course, Wei Zhi didn't just hide the fleet in this secret bay. After the East China Sea Fleet entered the Hirado Strait, Wei Zhi also sent several speedboats to monitor the enemy's movements from a distance on the sea at the northern end of Hirado Island. If the enemy tries to send ships to disperse them, the ships will evacuate in two directions: east and west, so as not to lead the enemy to Sanda Island.
And if some signals with special meaning are emitted from the island, these clippers will also act as messengers, transmitting the frontline news back to Shandong Island as soon as possible. Wei Zhi himself was on one of the ships. He believed that only by observing the fighting with his own eyes could he make an accurate judgment on the battlefield situation. The artillery battle that started in the morning reminded Wei Zhi of the scene when the Haihan Army and the Fujian Navy jointly attacked Penghu. Although the enemy did not seem to have as many warships launching attacks in the Hirado Strait this time, the impact of this artillery battle was The intensity is no less intense. The defenses of Hirado Port were actually able to compete with their opponents. This was indeed a situation that Wei Zhi had never expected beforehand.
"This guy Lu Yuanlong can do it!" Wei Zhi thought that his colleagues commanding operations in Hirado Port had such an outstanding performance. At the moment, he was itching to get ready and wished he could lead his army to fight against the Haihan people.
However, Wei Zhi was not dazzled by the idea of making great achievements. He knew very well how difficult it was for warships to attack land targets. Although the Haihan Fleet seemed to have nothing to do with the coastal defenses of Hirado Port, if If the opponent is replaced by one's own fleet, the battle situation may be very different. Moreover, the Haihan fleet did not attack with all its strength. There were always several warships waiting outside, obviously wary of sneak attacks from the sea.
Wei Zhi has no doubt that if the Hirado Navy appears outside the Hirado Strait at this time, the attacking Kaihan Fleet will immediately give up attacking the port and give priority to fighting the Navy fleet - or that the Hirado Navy will be used as a It is more accurate to hit the target first.
Under the current situation, it was obviously irrational to choose to show up and fight Haihan, so Wei Zhi still only observed and did not order any measures to participate in the war. But in the afternoon, he noticed a black smoke signal rising somewhere in Hirado Port, which notified him that he had to take certain actions according to the planned plan.
After nightfall that day, Wei Zhi ordered his ship to sail to a coast somewhere at the northern end of Hirado Island. According to the pre-plan, he had to arrive here the night he received the signal to pick up the important people evacuating from the island. It is definitely impossible for the feudal lord Tagawasuke to escape at this time, and there are only a few people on the island who can enjoy this kind of treatment. Before Wei Zhi arrives, he can already roughly think of who he will pick up on this trip. .
When they were approaching the coast, Wei Zhi asked someone to put down the boat and boarded the boat himself to pick up the people from the shore. After the boat docked, Wei Zhi asked someone to light two lanterns, and soon several people rushed over from the shore.
"For my humble duty, see you, Madam, and see you, Young Master!" After Wei Zhi saw the visitor clearly, he immediately knelt down on one knee to greet him.
"Uncle Wei, thank you for your hard work. Get up and talk!" The visitors were none other than Tagawa Shichizaemon and his mother Tagawa Matsu. The mother and son followed Tagawasuke's arrangement and evacuated Hirado Island from here at night. Although Tagawa Nanzaemon considers himself a Japanese and is not very interested in the great cause of recovering Shibashiba, he does not have any ill feelings towards these Han leaders who are determined to regard him as their young master. Privately, he takes the initiative to treat him as a junior. Treat each other with status.
Of course, this attitude is different in the eyes of Wei Zhi and others. It is not only approachable, but also the trust shown by these old people who once served under Zheng Zhilong. This is what Wei Zhi is willing to do in the Hirado Domain. One of the main reasons for effectiveness. Even if only the Hirado clan does not have Shibazhi in the future, it will ultimately allow Zheng Zhilong's bloodline to be passed down extremely well.
Wei Zhi stood up, helped both Tagawa mother and son onto the boat, and then had a simple handover with Tagawa Suke, who had escorted them here, and immediately ordered the boat to leave the place.
After returning to the ship, Wei Zhi first arranged a cabin for the mother and son to rest, and then ordered to sail to Kyushu in the east overnight to carry out the order issued by Tagawa Suke and send the mother and son to a place to temporarily escape the war.
Wei Zhi was not in a hurry to ask Tagawa Shichizaemon about the battle situation on the island at this time. In fact, Tagawa Suke decided to send the mother and son away less than a day after the battle. This arrangement already speaks volumes. If Tagawasuke hadn't felt that Hirado was in danger of being lost, and even the sea passage might be cut off by the enemy, he probably wouldn't have rushed to inform himself to pick them up overnight.
Wei Zhi felt that this seemed to be somewhat inconsistent with the battle situation he had observed at sea during the day. At least the Haihan Fleet had not shown any signs of landing in Hirado Port. However, the people who escorted Tagawa mother and son previously claimed that the enemy troops had landed at Boxiang Bay. It seemed that the enemy did not gather all their forces on the east coast, but used a trick to secretly cross Chencang while attacking Hirado Port.
Wei Zhi felt a little aggrieved. Before the war, he had advised Tagawasuke to be careful of enemy surprise attacks on the west coast. However, Tagawasuke believed that the opponent should try to shorten the combat time without understanding the topography of Hirado Island. In the end, The prudent approach is of course to concentrate on attacking the core area of Hirado Port and reject the proposal to fortify the west coast at sea.
Of course, Wei Zhi also understood that Tagawasuke was worried that if the navy really ran into the enemy's main fleet on the west coast, it might be wiped out by the opponent in one fell swoop. After all, if the enemy puts its main attack direction on the west coast, the navy fleet will definitely not be able to resist it, and may even be locked up in Boxiang Bay and Gujiang Bay and beaten. When the time comes, it will be unable to stop the enemy from landing and lose the navy fleet. Not a good deal. Whichever is the lesser of two evils, the most important thing is to keep the navy first.
However, Wei Zhi was inevitably a little frustrated when he heard the news that the enemy troops had actually landed on the west coast. Judging from his past experience with the Haihan Army, once a large number of the opponent's troops land on the island, it will be difficult for the feudal army to stop the opponent on the frontal battlefield. It is no wonder that Tagawa Suke is eager to kill the mother and son. People were sent away.
How long can the vassal army on the island hold on without naval support from the sea? Wei Zhi was not optimistic about this. He planned to send Tagawa mother and son to the local area, and then immediately return to Shanda Island to gather a navy fleet and try to relieve the pressure on the island's defenders.
(End of chapter)