Chapter 3527
While Tokugawa Ietsuna and his army were hesitant, the Kyushu Allied Forces across the strait took the lead in taking action.
As expected by some people in the inspection team, Kaihan mobilized troops to bring the inspection team to the Kanmon Strait for the purpose of observing the Japanese civil war. It is impossible to wait here for the warring parties to slowly adjust their tactics, or even evolve into a long-term confrontation. .
Most of the guests on the inspection team are political figures from various countries. Everyone's time is precious. Many people are eager to watch the fun and then go back to their homes. After completing the previous process, the real drama should begin.
The Kyushu Allied Forces, which took the lead, did not rashly carry out a cross-sea landing in the Kanmon Strait, but chose another target.
After all, there are tens of thousands of shogunate troops stationed on the other side of the strait. Even if the forced landing is successful, the leading troops will immediately be surrounded by the army.
The Kyushu Allied Forces had limited forces and could only try to avoid a war of attrition with their opponents, so they simply bypassed the strait area where the shogunate had assembled heavy troops and chose a coast twenty miles northeast of the strait.
Most of the materials sent from the Choshu Domain to the Strait front line by land had to pass near this coast, but the defensive measures deployed by the shogunate army here were much weaker than those on the Strait front line.
The Kyushu Allied Forces launched an offensive at dawn and approached the target in a large circle from the sea. They landed successfully without much effort. They then attacked a nearby grain storage warehouse and stole the grain that had not been transferred to the front line.
Although the shogunate troops who received the warning quickly rushed to the rescue, they still failed to prevent the Kyushu Allied Forces from rushing in and out quickly. They even set a fire before leaving, burning all the supplies and food that they could not take away. Got clean.
The billowing smoke caused by the fire could be clearly seen even at the expedition camp in Tananoura.
In this small conflict, the shogunate side only lost a few dozen people, and most of them were just personnel sent by the Choshu clan to guard the warehouse and escort supplies. The transportation routes were quickly restored after the departure of the Kyushu coalition forces.
The loss was not too great, but to the shogunate, it was tantamount to a slap in the face, which made Tokugawa Ietsuna very angry.
Under the pressure of the army, the Kyushu Allied Forces actually dared to take the initiative to attack. This robbery obviously vetoed the possibility of any peace talks and declared the beginning of the war.
Although the inspection team watching the battle on the south bank of the strait was not able to witness the battle in person, the relevant battle reports obtained afterwards were very detailed - the two coalition generals responsible for commanding the operation came to the inspection team's camp in person and respectfully He respectfully reported the combat process to them in detail.
This kind of treatment indeed far exceeded the expectations of the members of the inspection team, and it also gave a deeper understanding of Haihan's control over this war.
After listening to the battle report, the inspection team understood why they were not arranged to watch the battle on site.
This small-scale military operation is aimed at destroying the opponent's logistical support. There is no big scene of the two armies fighting. It is indeed of low viewing value. There is no need to risk going to the scene to watch the battle.
After the report by the coalition generals, Shi Diwen gave another reassurance to the guests who were eager to watch the battle: "From today on, the Kyushu coalition will continue to implement such actions until the shogunate takes the initiative to launch a frontal offensive."
As soon as these words came out, Haihan's position was basically clearly stated.
Haihan is obviously very aware of the battle plan of the Kyushu Allied Forces. This is of course most likely because Haihan himself is one of the makers of the plan.
This combat plan targeted the shogunate's shortcomings, and the purpose was to force the opponent to enter the preset battlefield of the Kyushu Allied Forces. Many people immediately thought that if the Kyushu Allied Forces had Haihan's support, it would be difficult for the shogunate army to win this expedition.
Just as Shi Diwen said, the Kyushu Allied Forces attacked in all directions in the following time, launching a raid on the shogunate's logistics supply line on a larger scale.
This kind of combat method usually does not have immediate results, but for the shogunate, which almost devoted all its efforts to promote this crusade, it was an unbearable burden.
Organizing logistical supplies for tens of thousands of people is an extremely difficult task. In order to prevent the armed fleet of the Kyushu Allied Forces from intercepting them at sea, a considerable part of the supplies can only be transported to the front line by land.
Nowadays, these offshore land routes are no longer safe, which means that tens of thousands of troops on the front line may fall into the dilemma of interrupted supply lines at any time.
In order to ensure the safety of the supply line, some troops can only be allocated to deal with the opponent's harassment war, but this measure cannot fundamentally solve the problem.
If this continues, the longer the confrontation between the two sides continues across the Taiwan Strait, the greater the logistical pressure the shogunate army will face.
Although the shogunate army's combat plan has not yet been adjusted, due to the situation, it cannot be delayed any longer.
The narrow Kanmon Strait creates good conditions for crossing the sea and landing, but it also makes all war preparations unobstructed.
With the help of Haihan, one afternoon the Kyushu Allied Forces detected that the shogunate troops on the other side were gathering at the narrowest point of the strait, and a large number of ships were also approaching in this direction.
This was an obvious signal to launch a cross-sea operation, and then the Kyushu Allied Forces began to gather naval and land forces here to prepare to intercept the shogunate army.
After receiving the news, Shi Diwen immediately notified the inspection team and arranged for them to enter the strait on a warship of the East China Sea Fleet to watch the battle.
Regarding the arrangements for watching the battle, Haihan had already informed the shogunate through Sakai Tadaki. However, in order to prevent the warring parties from accidentally attacking each other, all Haihan warships that went to sea deliberately hung eye-catching super large two-color flags on their masts to identify themselves.
The Haihan Fleet was parked on the sea at the eastern end of the strait, less than ten miles away from the narrowest point of the strait where a battle might occur. This position will not affect the warships of both sides entering and exiting the strait, and it is also convenient to observe changes in the entire battlefield situation.
Almost everyone in the expedition group had a pair of telescopes, and the ship's side near the strait was crowded.
Seeing the warships from both sides of the war pouring into the strait, the war was about to break out, and the spectators watching the battle were very excited.
After being deceived by Haihan to travel across the ocean to come here, the trip was not in vain. Now we can see the long-awaited show.
Not only the foreign guests of the inspection team, but also the vast majority of the people who came here to watch the battle had never witnessed a land-sea battle involving tens of thousands of people.
The armed conflicts Haihan encountered in Sanya in the early days were all small-scale, and the truly fierce large-scale combat operations were almost all overseas. Only a few generals could directly participate in them. Those in Haihan's hometown could only deal with them afterwards. He learned about the combat process from the battle report, and rarely had the opportunity to face the battlefield directly.