Of course, there is a reason for building a city near the coast. If an enemy army comes to attack a vassal city, it can often only launch an offensive from the sea. The defenders can not only observe the enemy's movements on the sea, but also during the enemy's landing. Quickly dispatch troops to attack the beachhead troops.
Even if they shrink the defense within the vassal city, they can still maintain pressure on the beach from a high position, making it difficult for the opponent to gather heavy troops on the coast.
Of course, the premise of this tactic is that the opponent's armed ships do not have long-range strike firepower and cannot directly threaten the vassal city. They can only send troops to the shore first and then launch an offensive against the vassal city.
The Satsuma Army has received amphibious landing warfare training provided by Haihan, and can use purchased weapons and equipment to launch artillery attacks from the sea to cover the landing of troops. This is already considered a rare elite in Japan.
Shi Diwen carefully watched the amphibious landing process of the Satsuma Army. Although he seemed not very skilled and the deployment of the beachhead seemed a bit sloppy, he finally completed the troop projection from sea to land relatively smoothly.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa asked cautiously from the side: "Master Shi, do you think there are any shortcomings in the Satsuma Army?"
Shi Diwen responded: "Amphibious landing requires extremely high coordination capabilities between the army and the navy. It requires frequent practice to become familiar with the entire combat process. We did not arrange resistance measures for the defenders in this exercise, so it seems that it is still There were no major problems. The Satsuma army still had to strengthen its assembly and positioning after landing. ”
Shimazu Mitsuhisa quickly ordered the attendants next to him to write down what Shi Diwen said word for word. This kind of advice from the senior generals of the Haihan Army is not easy to get. Write it down first and then digest it slowly. You will definitely gain something from it.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa continued to ask: "Master Shi, how does the performance of the Satsuma Army compare to the Korean Army and the Annan Army?"
Shi Diwen smiled and thought that Shimazu Mitsuhisa was quite thoughtful and was already thinking about the strength of himself and other Haihan allies.
However, North Korea and Annan copied Haihan's military system in full. Almost all the younger generation of officers and generals were trained by Haihan. Weapons and equipment were also purchased in large quantities from Haihan. Many elite troops practiced together with Haihan's army and even fought together. The opportunity is not comparable to the current level of Satsuma Domain.
However, in the current atmosphere, it is not good to say something to attack the opponent. Shi Diwen could only cough dryly and said: "The situation of Satsuma Domain is different. Lord Shimazu does not need to compare with other countries. At least in the Kyushu region, Satsuma Domain The strength is definitely second to none.”
Be obedient, Mitsuhisa Shimazu is also a smart man, and he naturally understands what Shi Diwen's almost prevaricating answer means. However, he was not too disappointed. After all, the area and population of Annan and North Korea were far beyond the Satsuma Domain. Moreover, they had defected to Haihan much earlier than him, so it was reasonable for their military strength to be higher than that of the Satsuma Domain.
Over time, the Satsuma Domain will have stronger economic strength, and of course it will have the conditions to form a more powerful military force... Of course, the premise is that the Satsuma Domain must first seize the opportunity and defeat many opponents, including the shogunate, in Japan The archipelago needs a larger control area.
Seeing that Satsuma Domain's landing force had basically reached the beach, Shi Diwen also wanted to show off his skills to open Shimazu Mitsuhisa's horizons, so he ordered the Zhoushan to adjust its gun muzzle again and fire at the fake city on the coast.
So Shimazu Mitsuhisa saw a scene that shocked him again. The shells fired from the Zhoushan flew directly to the fake city two miles away from the coast, and accurately hit the bamboo-frame castle tower.
This shooting distance is much farther than when we shelled the target ship at sea yesterday.
"It turns out that this is not bragging, it can really hit such a distance!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa could now confirm that the effective range of the large naval gun on the Zhoushan was indeed as Shi Diwen introduced before, and it was enough to hit it. Several miles away.
At such a fighting distance, the Haihan Army's long-range firepower is enough to make the enemy despair.
Thankfully, Satsuma is now Kaihan's partner rather than his opponent. Mitsuhisa Shimazu seemed to understand why when the Tagawa family of the Hirado domain was attacked by the Kaihan army, it was declared destroyed in just a few days, while the other nearby domains did not dare to intervene to aid the Tagawa family. Home.
With the strength of the Haihan Army, no matter who went there, the result would have been the same, just putting food on the table.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa then thought that the shogunate remained silent on the collapse of the Hirado clan, and even later lost Sasebo Bay and was rushed into Edo Bay by the Kaihan fleet. It must have been because of the fact that the shogunate was not determined to fight Kaihan without mercy. He had a clear understanding of the strength of the enemy and ourselves, and he simply did not dare to fight Haihan on a frontal battlefield, so he chose to accept the conditions proposed by Haihan with humiliation.
Shimazu Mitsuji couldn't help but feel excited when he thought about this event. How majestic it was to be able to make the shogunate suffer such a huge loss! If the Satsuma Domain can also force the shogunate to make concessions like this, then the process of conquering Honshu should be much smoother.
Shi Diwen could not have guessed that Shimazu Mitsuhisa would think of such a far away place. Seeing that Zhoushan's shelling had hit, he ordered a ceasefire. His purpose is just to show his strength and achieve the effect, there is no need to continue to waste ammunition.
After all, it took the Satsuma clan a lot of time to build the fake city. If it was destroyed by a bombardment, the subsequent exercises would not be able to proceed.
The Zhoushan's bombardment was a minor episode, and the exercise was slightly interrupted for a moment, and then continued as planned.
The Satsuma Army quickly surrounded the false town, then set up artillery and began shelling the target.
It has to be said that Satsuma Domain's understanding of artillery battles is still relatively weak. From the beginning, they set up a position only a few dozen feet away from the false city.
Although this distance is beyond the attack range of bows and arrows, if the defenders also have more powerful artillery, then the Satsuma clan's position is likely to become a fixed target in the eyes of the defenders.
Shi Diwen pointed this out to Shimazu Mitsuhisa and reminded him that in actual combat, unless there is definite intelligence indicating that the defenders do not have long-range weapons, the artillery must not be allowed to advance so rashly. The cavalry should first be used to test the firepower of the defenders, and then choose the appropriate one. Set up artillery positions at a distance.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa immediately summoned the military attache who was commanding the battle and gave him a severe reprimand.
Shi Diwen smiled and said nothing. This military attache was one of the personnel trained by Haihan. He must know the basic rules of artillery operations, and the possibility of making low-level mistakes is very low.
The reason why the position was set up at such a close distance was probably to ensure shooting accuracy, and this was probably an order given by Mitsuhisa Shimazu who wanted his troops to perform well.