Chapter 2133
To be precise, Tagawa Suke's adopted son Tagawa Shichizaemon is Kaihan's main target in this operation. Judging from the information currently available, it can be confirmed that this person is the biological blood of the leader of the Shiba Shiba Zheng Zhilong. At the same time, he is also the loyal target of the Shiba Shiba remnants who have gathered in the Hirado Domain in recent years. If this person could be captured or killed directly, it would be the most effective blow to the remaining forces of Shibazhi. As long as this spiritual totem is gone, even if the Eighteen Zhiyu Party escapes the current disaster, it will be difficult to form a joint force again.
But according to the results of Shi Diwen's interrogation of the captured Hirado navy officer yesterday, Tagawa Nanzaemon should have fled Hirado Island and hid somewhere in Kyushu. It is estimated that it will be difficult to find traces of him in a short time. .
With the primary goal unable to be accomplished, what the Kaihan Army can do now is to eliminate other factors that may cause trouble as much as possible, such as capturing the enemy chief Tagawasuke as soon as possible, wiping out the existing armed forces of the Hirado Domain, or even completely destroying it if necessary. The existing trade environment of Hirado Port is to prevent the possibility of the 18th Shiba Party coming back.
"Since the battle yesterday afternoon, the enemy has begun to fight independently. However, my judgment at that time was that the enemy lacked advance preparation and combat experience for urban street fighting. I ignored that this may mean that the enemy has lost complete command. System reasons.”
Gao Qiaonan was reporting to Shi Diwen on the changes in the battle situation that began yesterday afternoon. He had received the battle report on the results of his troops' attack on the highlands, which forced him to re-examine his views on the battle situation yesterday and take corresponding responsibility for his errors in judgment.
As the commander of the ace unit of the special operations group, it is indeed rare for Takahashi Minami to make errors in judgment during combat missions, but this may also be related to objective factors such as lack of intelligence and not commanding such urban street fighting for too long. . It's just that Takahashi Minami didn't intend to shirk responsibility and honestly stated his mistakes.
As a naval general, Shi Diwen couldn't blame Gao Qiaonan for problems in his command. It was better to leave such household matters to Qian Tiandun. Moreover, Takahashi Minami reported it on his own initiative, so he could only encourage Takahashi Minami to urge Takahashi Minami to step up his efforts to arrest the enemy chief, Tagawasuke.
In fact, there is no need for Shi Diwen to emphasize this matter again. When Gao Qiaonan realized his mistake, he immediately mobilized troops to continue clearing out the uncontrolled urban areas. However, Takahashi Minami already had a vague premonition that the enemy troops were losing ground in the city's response to the battle, and there were obvious signs of losing their command system. This was most likely because the leader headed by Tagawa Suke had quietly absconded yesterday.
If Tagawa and his son didn't catch any of them, even if some property was looted in Hirado after the war, they still couldn't cover up the fact that the operation failed. However, it seems that there is still a possibility of remediation, but the action must be faster and not leave more time for the opponent.
After yesterday's cleanup, more than half of the urban area has actually fallen under Haihan's control. However, so far, the Haihan Army has not obtained Tagawasuke's whereabouts, so it is difficult to make targeted deployments. Fortunately, Haihan's current offensive has compressed the enemy's activity space into a relatively small area. Strengthening the blockade of this area will also help to hunt down the target persons.
In addition to the army, the navy has also further strengthened patrols along the northern coast of Hirado Island to prevent ships from approaching the coast to pick up people. However, this kind of patrol can only be effective during the day. Even if the East China Sea Fleet and the Fujian Navy have dozens of warships gathered on the east and west coasts of Hirado Island, it will be difficult to completely block the coastline at night. Previously, Tagawa Nanzaemon was picked up by a boat sent by the Hirado navy at night, taking advantage of such a loophole.
The clearing operation in Hirado City in the morning further confirmed Takahashi Minami's concerns. The resistance actions of the Hirado clan army seemed even less organized than yesterday. There were even people in a certain neighborhood who were still resisting, while other militants took the initiative. They came out and surrendered. Obviously, there were obvious differences in their camp due to the lack of unified command.
Takahashi Minami personally went to the front line to interrogate several officers of the Hirado domain captured today, but these people could not tell the whereabouts of Tagawasuke. The last time any of them saw Tagawasuke was before dark yesterday, and there was no news today. These officers could only follow Tagawasuke's previous deployment and continue to deal with the Haihan Army in small teams in the city. According to the instructions they received, as long as the Haihan Army can be held back for more than two days, the situation will turn around. As for whether this turn of events refers to reinforcements or other changes, these prisoners do not know.
Takahashi Minami believed that it would be difficult for the Hirado clan to immediately mobilize reinforcements from elsewhere in such a hasty situation. This statement is more likely that Tagawasuke appeased people and tricked these people into fighting desperately to delay time so that he could have a chance to return from the island. Get out.
By noon, the Haihan Army had basically completed the clearing of the city, and so far neither Tagawasuke nor his infantry commander Gao Hongfu had been found. This is obviously not a normal situation.
At this time, Qian Tiandun finally entered the city. He first met with Shi Diwen at the temporary headquarters in the port area, and then listened to the latest battle report together.
"According to the information we have on the enemy's strength, our army should have wiped out two-thirds of the infantry units of the Hirado Domain and more than 80% of the peasant soldiers in the past day and a half, but we still have not captured the target. Character." Takahashi Minami looked solemn, knowing that the possibility of catching Tagawa Suke was shrinking, but he didn't have a good solution to this.
Qian Tiandun asked noncommittally: "Have you tried to get information from the local people about Tagawasuke's whereabouts?"
Takahashi Nan was stunned for a moment, and responded honestly: "I only had time to interrogate a few captured enemy officers, but did not investigate the people."
Qian Tiandun said: "When I rode into the city just now, I saw homemade two-color flags hanging outside some shops. It seems that some people in the city are not repelled by our arrival, and they have even made preparations in advance. Whether they are trying to protect themselves or really want to welcome us, I think these people should be able to provide us with some help.”
Gao Qiaonan responded quickly: "I understand the humble position! I will send someone to do it immediately!"
In fact, Gao Qiaonan also saw what Qian Tiandun said, but he was only thinking about the operation to clear the city. He only thought that these people's actions were to avoid being robbed of their property by the Haihan army, and did not think about these self-made Haihans in detail. What is the stance of the people who support the two-color flag? After listening to Qian Tiandun's prompts, he vaguely realized that there seemed to be channels for collecting information, and immediately organized people to visit the people one by one with the double-color flags hanging at their doors.
Of course, Takahashi Minami also did not forget that there was a large area of uninhabited forest north of Tasuke Bay, and dispatched an infantry battalion north to clear that area. If Tagawasuke and his elite men had not escaped from Hirado Island, they would have had no choice but to hide in the mountains and forests.
Yu Chengli had barely slept for two nights in a row. As the sound of gunfire got closer and closer to the city, he inevitably became more and more nervous. Even though he had sewn several two-color flags in advance, he was still a little worried about the chaos. Sometimes rebels would come and loot.
And although these two-color flags are life-saving talismans, when to hang them up is also an extremely delicate issue. If they are hung up early, if they are seen by the vassal troops in the city, they will definitely be treated as spies; if they are hung up late, they may be The rebels would regard their shop as a piece of fat and rush in to rob it. By then, it might be too late to take out the two-color flag prepared all night long. This important moment was related to his family and his life. Yu Chengli never dared to leave it to his subordinates. No matter how exhausted he felt physically and mentally, he still insisted on controlling this critical moment personally.
In fact, yesterday afternoon, he had already seen the Haihan soldiers swarming on the street through the crack in the door, but at that time he did not dare to open the door to hang the flag, lest he be directly shot to death by the Haihan soldiers as a resistance element. Just in case, he ordered someone to take a few two-color flags and stand them in the yard. If the Haihan Army suddenly rushed in, he would rely on these to save his life.
He waited anxiously until dark, but no one rushed into the shop as he feared. In fact, the Haihan Army's attention was focused on wiping out the Hirado clan troops in the city, and they had no time to conduct house-to-house searches, let alone rob the property of wealthy local merchants.
Yu Chengli was worried that the feudal army would counterattack at night, so he did not dare to hang up the flag that night. It was not until dawn the next morning that he confirmed that there were more and more Haihan troops on the street, and then he saw the opportunity. He opened the door carefully and hung the prepared two-color flag. After hanging it up, he took a special look at Gonzalez's store next door. Sure enough, the two-color flag had also been hung up, so he felt a little relieved.
By noon, the sound of artillery had completely subsided, and occasionally sporadic gunfire could be heard from a distance, but it was obvious that the resistance of the feudal army was very weak, and it seemed that the war was about to end. But even so, he felt that the Haihan Army would not retreat so easily, and it seemed that something else would happen.
Yu Chengli ate lunch anxiously, and then found that his instinct came true - a group of Haihan soldiers came to the door and asked to search the store.
"Boss, you don't have to worry. We just want to make sure there are no dangerous people hiding in your store." After the officer leading the team discovered Yu Chengli's Han identity, his attitude was quite friendly. Of course, this behavior is more likely to be It comes from the two-color flag that Yu Chengli hung up just this morning.
Yu Chengli hurriedly responded: "The military master clearly knows that ordinary people have always run small businesses honestly and will never harbor bad people!"
After Yu Chengli finished speaking, he spread his hands and handed a piece of silver to the officer leading the team, and said in a low voice: "The military master has worked hard to hunt down the criminals. Please accept the kindness of the common people!"
The officer leading the team saw that Yu Chengli was sensible, so he didn't refuse. He put the silver ingot into his pocket, nodded and said, "Boss, can you tell me what's going on with the two-color flag at your door?"
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Seeing that he had received the benefits, Yu Chengli felt a little more at ease, and immediately explained: "The grassroots people have been fortunate enough to visit Zhoushan Dinghai Port before, and they still remember the prosperity of the place, and they also know that the Haihan Army is an army of justice. This is This is a cross-sea expedition to the Hirado clan. It must be that there are evil people who are doing something unjust. Of course, the grassroots must be on the side of justice. The two-color flag was prepared temporarily by the grassroots to show their intentions to the Haihan army. "
Yu Chengli didn't care. He first talked about the relationship between himself and Haihan, and then made up a reason that didn't sound too outrageous. This should be able to deal with it.
The officer nodded and said: "The boss is interested. Now the boss has an order to ask all the heads of households in the city who have hung the two-color flag to come and ask you about anything. Since the boss loves Haihan, then why not invite him?"< br>
Yu Chengli was shocked. The purpose of hanging the two-color flag was to avoid trouble. Why was he being taken away? The forbidden area in the military was not a place where he could just go. If anything happened, he would not be able to escape. Moreover, if people go there like this, they will inevitably think that they have some special relationship with the Haihan Army, which may not be a good thing for their local operations in the future.
Yu Chengli then touched another ingot of silver, took it out and handed it over, and said in a low voice: "Master, please do me a favor. Common people are timid and fearful. You will never dare to go to this military camp."
The officer smiled, accepted the ingot of silver, and said to him: "It's not impossible not to go, but you have to provide me with some useful information so that I can go back and deliver the mission."
"News? I wonder what news Master Jun wants to know?" Seeing that things were still improving, Yu Chengli hurriedly asked the other party, but he was already prepared to be ripped off.
The officer said: "It's very simple. Provide the whereabouts of local big shots, such as Tagawa Jie and Gao Hongfu. If you can provide useful information, I guarantee that nothing will happen to your shop up and down, inside and outside." Yes.”
"This..." Yu Chengli did not expect that the request made by the other party had nothing to do with money, and he was speechless for a moment: "Common people... have been at home these days and don't know the whereabouts of these big shots. Please forgive me, Lord Military! ”
"Think about it, think about it again, if you can't think of it, I can only ask you to come with me first."
The officer's tone could not be described as harsh, but when Yu Chengli heard it, he felt that it was extremely important. He did not want to be taken to the military camp for questioning, but although he knew Tagawasuke, he could not say that he had any special relationship. What's more, this was wartime, so how could he know Tagawasuke's whereabouts.
However, from the request made by the other party, Yu Chengli can roughly determine one thing, that is, the Hirado clan army has been defeated, but Tagawasuke and Gao Hongfu have not been caught by the Haihan army so far, so where will they hide?
Yu Chengli was so anxious that he really remembered something and said to the officer quickly: "The common people know a place, but they are not sure whether these gangsters will hide there. If the information is inaccurate, I hope the military master will not blame you!"
(End of chapter)