Chapter 2130
If he could save himself and his property in the flames of war, let alone two pieces of silk, even twenty pieces or more, Yu Chengli would not hesitate to take it out. Recruiting during the war brought many benefits to Hirado officials, and it was far from causing him any physical pain.
Based on his own intuition, he believed that the method proposed by Gonzalez was very feasible. He recalled that when he went to Zhoushan before, he saw many local shops hanging a small red and blue flag outside the door to indicate the identity of the shop owner. Although neither Yu Chengli nor Gonzalez were from Haihan, if they wanted to seek self-protection in times of war and chaos, there was nothing wrong with using this flag to seek temporary asylum from the Haihan Army.
Since it is feasible, just do it. Yu Chengli is in the textile business. In order to provide customers with comprehensive services, he naturally has tailors under his command. It is not difficult to work overtime to sew a few two-color flags. By the way, Gonzalez also did it, too. If you don't charge him a fee, just think of it as a favor to thank the other party for providing this solution.
However, there are many outsiders in similar situations in Yu Chengli and Gonzalez's respective social circles. If such a simple method can be used to protect themselves after the fall of Hirado, it can help a bunch of these people. .
Then the situation in the Hirado war took a turn for the worse. In just a few days, the Hirado clan army on the front line did not send back any good news, and only casualties were brought back in a steady stream. The Hirado Port has been completely blocked by the enemy fleet. The rumble of gunfire from the port area lasted throughout the day. The people in the city could only stay at home in fear.
At the same time, as the "Double Color Flag Life-Saving Tips" slowly spread in some small circles, new comments also appeared in Hirado City, that is, the reason why Haihan attacked Hirado was not to plunder the local area, but to rob the local area. Because there are some irresolvable old grudges between the new feudal lord and Haihan.
There were even some outrageous rumors that Tagawasuke's position as feudal lord came from an evil background, and that the Kaihan people conquered Hirado in order to clear the grievances of the previous feudal lord. However, this kind of rumor has nothing to do with Yu Chengli and others. It is more likely to come from the disgraced retainers who were purged because of their loyalty to the Matsuura family. After all, after Tagawasuke came to power, the interests of many people were greatly harmed. , there are many people who hate Tagawasuke because of this.
But regardless of the origin of these rumors, the current unfavorable war situation has indeed greatly shaken the local public sentiment in Hirado. Some people who were dissatisfied and fearful of the war situation couldn't help but begin to believe the rumors in the market. The officials, represented by Tagawa Suke, were burdened with the dual responsibility of summoning enemies and disadvantages in combat.
When Tagawasuke ordered to seize time to build a temporary defense line in the south of the city, the dissatisfaction among the people had already brewed to a certain extent. Although there are still some people who place their last hope on this not-so-strong line of defense, more people are already very pessimistic about the current war situation and are beginning to think of ways to protect themselves.
People like Yu Chengli and Gonzalez, who were secretly prepared, calmed down at this time, closed their doors and stayed at home waiting for the final result. Anyway, the two-color flag has been prepared. When the Haihan Army enters the city, they will hang the flag at the door as soon as possible to avoid being affected by Chi Yu.
The vast majority of people don't know this method. They have no way to escape from Hirado now. All they can do is try to draw a clear line with the Hirado authorities. This may prevent them from being liquidated by the enemy after the fall of Hirado.
The direct manifestation of this collective sentiment was that passive resistance began to appear among the vassal army and the people. Especially the peasants and soldiers who were temporarily recruited as cannon fodder. Most of these people are local farmers and fishermen in Hirado. During these days of fighting, they also realized that their existence could not change the situation of the war at all, and even the appearance of the enemy Even without being able to see clearly, many people had already fallen into the hail of bullets.
For these farmers and soldiers with almost no combat experience, the fear caused by death in battle and various local rumors make it difficult for them to focus on the battlefield. Once supervision begins to relax, some people will take the opportunity to escape. deserter. And this kind of thing will have serious cascading effects under the current situation. As long as one person escapes, it will inevitably affect more people to follow this approach.
So when the Hirado domain army lost its defense line in the south of the city and retreated to the city to reorganize its troops, the domain officers were shocked to find that the degree of attrition was far beyond expectations, especially those loosely organized peasant soldiers. That's more than half missing. Of course, it was impossible for so many people to die on the southern defensive line. Many people must have taken advantage of the chaos during the retreat to sneak away.
Although the northern end of the island blocked by the Haihan Army is not particularly large, in addition to the urban area with thousands of households, there is also a mountainous forest area several times larger than the urban area, and the feudal army cannot divide it further at this time. Manpower was deployed to capture these deserters. The enemy forces in the south might arrive at some point, and the feudal army had no way to retreat at this time. They could only organize defenses in the city as soon as possible for a last-ditch effort.
When Tagawasuke saw the smoke signal rising from the old site of Hirado Castle, he felt very complicated at the moment. He always believed that he had kept a low profile for so many years, accumulated strength bit by bit, worked hard, and finally waited for the opportunity to rise to the top. He thought that after kicking out the Matsuura clan and taking over the Hirado clan, he would be able to make great plans and run the Tagawa clan into Kyushu's No. 1 clan. He belongs to a famous family, but he didn't expect that he would be at his peak right after his debut. This feudal lord's position was not even warmed up before he was attacked by a powerful enemy.
Looking at the current situation, Tagawa Suke had to admit that the possibility of a comeback was no longer high. Even the delaying tactics he had envisioned before the war were completely ineffective, and it was completely difficult to cope with the opponent's offensive rhythm. The Hirado clan wanted to rely on the advantage of fighting at home to delay the opponent's logistical supply and retreat on its own. Now it seems that everything is just a unilateral imagination of Tagawa Suke and his staff, and they simply failed to fully estimate the opponent's strength.
The situation is over, and Tagawa Suke must also start thinking about how this matter will end. The simplest thing is of course to lead his troops to fight to the end. As a feudal lord, he can die on the battlefield to defend his own interests. At least he can leave a good reputation and lay the foundation of public opinion for Tagawa Shichizaemon to take over the Hirado Domain in the future.
Tagawasuke had made such a plan before the war began, but as the war progressed, his thoughts slowly changed.
He had to consider whether the family fortune he left to Tagawa Nanzaemon would be enough to support the Hirado Domain if he fought to the end with the Kaihan people and consumed all the domain troops and his own elite in this war. A comeback? Is it possible to ensure that this family fortune will be successfully passed on to the adopted son, and will not be taken away by other powerful people from Kyushu who are halfway out?
Before the war, Tagawa Suke assessed the consequences of the war and believed that the Hirado Domain would lose part of its armed forces, but it should still be able to ensure that the Hirado Domain's trade environment and political status would continue after the war. However, the actual fighting situation was far more severe than the expected result, and he could only make a worse estimate of the future direction of the situation.
"Sir, our reserve team only has more than 800 people available!" Gao Hongfu's report pulled Tagawasuke out of his thoughts. He was not too surprised when he heard this number. He nodded and said, "Look. There are still some loyal and brave men who have not escaped and are willing to live and die with us! Then distribute weapons to them as soon as possible and integrate them into the vassal army to participate in the next battle!”
Gao Hongfu did not dare to continue to explain that most of the more than 800 people were peasant soldiers who had withdrawn from the defense line in the south of the city in formation. Because they were moving in sync with the feudal army, they had no chance to escape. Several other groups of vassal troops had been crippled, and the peasant and soldier reserves assigned to them had already fled.
There is not much surplus of the vassal army's standard weapons that can be issued to these farmers and soldiers. It is unrealistic to expect them to play the same role after replenishing the vassal army. In addition, the morale of these farmers and soldiers has been extremely low. Even if they can be forced to participate in the war, it is difficult to expect these people to perform bravely on the battlefield. Better than nothing was Gao Hongfu's evaluation of the combat effectiveness of these people. His intention to report to Tagawasuke was to remind him that there was a serious shortage of combatable soldiers, but Tagawasuke seemed more willing to look at this problem in a good direction.
At this time, the Haihant regiment was less than a mile away from the city, and the main force was resting near the southern defense line of the city. Although the combat effectiveness is obviously higher than that of their opponents, the soldiers still have to stop to rest, eat and recover their physical fitness. The logistics department prepared meals in Onomura, and then used carriages to pull them to the front line and supply them to combat troops.
Because the siege of the enemy had been basically completed, Takahashi Minami did not rush to attack the theater. Instead, he gave his troops time to rest and recuperate. At the same time, he was also waiting for the supply of heavy weapons and ammunition to keep up with the continuous advancement of the front to ensure that the troops could Continue the afternoon battle in 100% condition.
Takahashi Nan listened to the briefing on the battle situation at the temporary headquarters on the front line. The Haihan Army suffered double-digit casualties in the morning battle, but the opponent's casualties were more than ten times higher. Only those found inside and outside the Chengnan Front There were more than 300 enemy corpses. In addition, during the battle to occupy the southern defense line of the city, the Haihan Army also captured more than a hundred enemy personnel, but no important figures were found among them.
However, through the identification of the prisoners, the bodies of several of Tagawasuke's capable vassals were found on the battlefield. Judging from the captured enemy weapons, the standard muskets equipped by the Hirado Domain army are indeed exactly the same as the muskets that Kaihan had previously seized in various places. This further confirms that the Hirado Domain is responsible for a series of previous gun-related cases. The mastermind behind it, and has mastered the mass manufacturing technology of this European-style musket.
"Send the evidence and prisoners to the general as soon as possible." After Takahashi Nan saw the evidence, he knew that this matter was very important to the military. These evidence will be presented to the Executive Committee by the military. appeared in the report to once again prove the need for a military strike against Hirado.
Although the war has been going relatively smoothly so far, for the Haihan military, what they need is not only to win the war, but also to submit an action report to the Executive Committee after the war to truly prove that this is A war that represents justice.
After a brief rest, the special operations group launched an offensive into Hirado City at 2 p.m. The first to bear the brunt was the barricade located at an intersection in the south of the city. This barricade based on an artillery fire did not hesitate to open fire after seeing the appearance of the Haihan Army.
In the morning battle, the defenders were wary of the artillery tactics of the Haihan Army. As a result, the artillery deployed on the defense line was not fully engaged in the battle and they retreated into the city. In the afternoon battle, they had no retreat. This time He planned to strike preemptively.
Even if Haihan cannot be restrained, at least these heavy weapons can be put into battle to show off their skills, instead of just playing the role of spectators from beginning to end.
But the problem was that the defenders did not have enough time to deploy a decent line of defense in the city. The hastily built barricades seemed solid, but there were no supporting barricades deployed around them that could form crossfire.
However, the Haihan Army paid enough attention to this, and deployed four field guns to conduct five rounds of concentrated artillery fire on the barricade. After confirming that the gun position had been destroyed, the infantry was allowed to advance, and also A second clearing operation was carried out using grenades at a distance of thirty meters to ensure that there would be no stragglers hiding in the ruins of the barricades to make secret moves.
This method of fighting once again severely damaged the morale of the defenders, making them realize that even if they set up fortifications, it would be difficult to stop the advancement of the Haihan Army. If you try to gather musketeers on the streets to form a battle formation, it is equivalent to actively providing the opponent with an opportunity to commit massacre.
At this time, Tagawasuke issued a seemingly helpless combat order, asking the feudal army to disband into ten-man squads and fight on their own in the city. However, he also announced that he would increase the reward. For every enemy killed, he would be rewarded with fifty taels of silver.
Although this dispersed the fighting power of the feudal army, it was indeed the only effective tactic in the current combat environment. Only in this way can the complex environment of the urban area be fully utilized to slow down the advancement of the Haihan Army, so that the Haihan Army has to stop and clean every house on its advance route.
So after entering the urban area to fight, the Haihan Army, which had been advancing so vigorously, finally slowed down. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, Takahashi Nan had to order to slow down the advance and first ensure that there were no enemy armed personnel hiding in the dark to attack in the occupied city area.
When the battlefield space becomes smaller, it will be more beneficial to the weaker defenders. They can make full use of their familiarity with the urban buildings and terrain to create more opportunities to take action. The Haihan Army, on the other hand, needs to be extra careful, beware of the gun barrel sticking out of a certain window, or the fanatical samurai who suddenly emerges from an alleyway with a sword.
(End of chapter)