Chapter 3525
Tananoura is located at the eastern end of the Kanmon Strait. There is no dangerous terrain or natural harbor. The terrain is open and flat. The distance from the narrowest point of the channel to Honshu Island on the other side is about the same, only about four miles.
From the attacker's perspective, Tananoura is undefeable and is undoubtedly an ideal landing location.
Even based on the speed of human-rowed ships, the time required to cross the strait here is only half an hour at most. The open beach is also very suitable for the assembly and deployment of large troops after landing.
However, now that a multi-national inspection team has set up camp here, there are two Haihan army battalions and dozens of large and small ships to defend it. Anyone who wants to use this place as a battlefield must carefully consider the consequences of dragging Haihan into the war.
Kaihan also specially brought Sakai Tadaki here before sending him back to the other side of the strait to ensure that the shogunate army could know that Kaihan Army and a multinational inspection team were stationed here to avoid misjudgment by the other party. The shogunate army definitely did not dare to take the initiative to provoke, and they were forced to exclude Tanohura from the attack target.
Whether this arrangement was an unintentional move, or whether it was a deliberate use of the inspection team to share the defense pressure for the Kyushu Allied Forces, all parties will probably have their own opinions.
There was no town in Tanohura originally, and only a few farmers settled there, so it naturally did not have much reception capacity. Therefore, whether they are high-ranking officials from Haihan or political figures from various countries, they can only live in temporary tents when they arrive here, and the conditions are even simpler than the barracks at the Sasebo base.
But everyone knows that they came all the way to this place not for an outing. Even if the living environment is worse, in order to watch the exciting show next, they can only endure it for the time being.
In the temporary camp at Tanohura, the Korean camp occupies a considerable area. King Li Zhen and the crown prince Li Bai, who had just returned from studying abroad in Haihan, were also in the camp at this time.
Although the environment here is remote, it is an international occasion after all, and the king's guard of honor is still indispensable. An eye-catching royal flag was specially set up in the camp to highlight Li Xie's special status.
Li Xie was not picky about the environment here, and he felt at ease after arriving. Perhaps because Li Bai was too young, he was already a little impatient after only one night here.
But his loss of patience was not because of the poor living environment here, but for another reason.
When he came to greet Li Xie early in the morning, Li Bai took the initiative to express his thoughts: "Father, Haihan brought the inspection team to station here. If the two sides don't start fighting, then wouldn't we have to be here?" Keep waiting? ”
Li Xie shook his head and said: "You don't know enough about Haihan's style of doing things. They always make decisions before acting. They must have considered all aspects before making arrangements."
"Do you think they brought the inspection team here to wait for the conflicting parties to start a war? In my opinion, it is the opposite. They have to wait for the inspection team to be in place before the war can begin!"
Li Bai asked in disbelief: "Father, do you mean that Haihan has the final say on when Japan's civil war will start?"
Li Yan said: "After watching the show for so many days, you should also understand that this civil war is actually a big show that Haihan has arranged the script to perform for all countries to watch. Who is the protagonist and who is the supporting role, the story continues and changes, what? Whatever you say or do at any time is based on the script.”
Li Bai said: "Then the Japanese will cooperate with the performance so obediently?" Li Zhi sneered: "You can't accept it! The root of their civil war is that the shogunate and the local government have long-standing grievances. Now that the arrow is on the string, it has to be fired. Is there any Haihan? You have to fight regardless of provocation, it’s just a matter of time.”
"But if they want to win this war, both sides have to rely on Haihan to provide armaments, so naturally they have to follow Haihan's rhythm. When this scene will start, Haihan will definitely give his nod."
After hearing the analysis, Li Bai took a breath and said: "Haihan can actually control Japan to such an extent!"
Li Zhi felt sad and did not take up the topic again. Not only could Haihan control the situation in Japan, but if necessary, Haihan could also cause a civil war to break out in North Korea. Of course, judging from the current relationship between the two countries, the possibility of this happening is only minimal.
However, as Japan's old enemy, Li Zhi must be happy to see Japan suffer such a big fall. He would also be happy to stay here for a while and witness the outbreak of this civil war with his own eyes.
Although Haihan rejected his proposal to let the Korean army participate in the war, he still secretly ordered the country's elite troops to assemble at the Port of Pusan to prepare for a blitzkrieg against Japan.
There are only more than 400 miles from the Port of Busan to the Kanmon Strait. If there is an opportunity, Li Zhen would not mind tearing a piece of flesh off Japan.
In fact, he didn't quite understand. If Haihan's purpose was to overthrow the shogunate's rule, then why the Korean army was not allowed to come down to help in the battle.
After all, compared with the Kyushu local armed forces who have rushed into the army, the strength of the North Korean army, which has been assisted by Haihan all the year round, is obviously higher. If the Korean army can directly participate in the war, it can attack the Honshu area with the Kyushu coalition forces, making it difficult for the shogunate to withstand enemies from both sides.
In this way, even if Haihan does not end up personally, the time and investment required to overthrow the shogunate can be greatly reduced. But judging from the current arrangements, the shogunate does not seem to be Haihan's primary target.
Li Zhi could only understand this as Haihan's intention to sell more arms, so he did not want the shogunate to lose too quickly. But he couldn't help but worry about whether the Kyushu vassals could withstand a war of attrition with the shogunate based on their war potential.
Of course, the vast majority of spectators here will not have as much consideration as Li Zhi. The fundamental reason why they come here is to watch the excitement and take a look at what the expensive Haihan weapons and equipment will do on the battlefield. Performance.
Several other daimyo who had already led their troops to the nearby areas also came to the camp the day after the inspection team arrived here.
Of course, they were not here to meet the inspection team watching the game, but to meet with the executive committee to confirm the timing of launching the operation and the follow-up battle plan.
At this time, the Kyushu Allied Forces have assembled about 15,000 combat troops near the Kanmon Strait. Although this number is far behind the strength of the shogunate on the other side of the strait, the Kyushu Allied Forces have the advantage of fighting at home and are well prepared. The entire winter battle plan was planned, and thousands of Haihan troops were stationed nearby, so the daimyo did not panic because of the upcoming battle.
The opinions given by the Executive Committee are also very clear. If the Kyushu Allied Forces want to defeat the shogunate army, they must make full use of their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, and try not to give their opponents the opportunity to exert their strength advantage.
To achieve this goal, firstly, we must try to avoid large-scale decisive battles on the frontal battlefield, and secondly, make full use of the terrain of the Kanmon Strait to disrupt the mobilization and deployment of the shogunate army. Only by doing these two things can we have a chance to defeat the many with less and the weak with the strong.