Chapter 3531
Yan Chujie spoke highly of the performance of the Kyushu Allied Forces during today's battle. Although the coalition forces were on the defensive, they fought very tenaciously, firmly holding the hilly positions on the coastline, and always maintaining suppression of the shogunate's landing site.
But this praise did not make the faces of several daimyo become relaxed. Such a record was achieved with a large number of personnel sacrifices and material consumption. The Kyushu Allied Forces' financial resources cannot sustain it in such an intense battle. too long.
Mitsuyuki Kuroda, the great name of the Fukuoka Domain, said: "Sir Yan, our Fukuoka Domain only has a total of thirteen Kaihan warships, and we lost four of them this afternoon. If we continue like this, we will lose the main force of my fleet in a few days." All the warships are gone!”
Next to him, the Daimyo Yoshizhin of Tsushima clan said angrily: "Sir Kuroda, you have just lost four ships and are already complaining. What should I say to Ma clan who is defending the entire western front alone today? The five-pronged attack launched by the shogunate army. There are three groups in my defense area of Mafan. In one afternoon, I lost more than 800 people!”
The Tsushima clan indeed fought extremely hard in today's battle with the shogunate army. The coalition forces concentrated their main forces on the main battlefield at the narrowest part of the strait. The strait that is more than 20 miles long to the west is almost entirely occupied by Tsushima clan. Defended alone.
Although the shogunate army quickly adjusted its offensive after the war began, turning several other attacks into feints in order to concentrate the fire in one place, it was still very difficult for Tsushima to deal with three feints at the same time, and almost all the troops were thrown into the battlefield. Only then could they barely hold on to the front.
The total number of troops dispatched by Tsuima Fan this time was only about 4,000. In this afternoon's battle, more than 800 people were killed and injured, and several warships were destroyed. It was already an extremely heavy blow to him. No wonder Zong Yi really got angry.
In Zong Yizhen's view, if the other vassals could provide timely assistance and help share the pressure, his battle would not have been so difficult, let alone the loss of so many troops.
The other daimyo obviously did not agree with Muneyoshi's complaints, because the fighting was more intense in the main direction of the shogunate's attack, and the casualties and losses of the coalition forces were also greater.
Satsuma Domain's Daimyo Shimazu Mitsuhisa even believed that if his troops exchanged defense zones with Tsushima Domain, their combat performance would be better than Tsushima Domain's.
Yan Chujie quickly stopped the argument. He finally understood that although these families had formed a military alliance in name and jointly sent troops to fight against the shogunate, it was obvious that their ideological integration was far from enough. They each had their own calculations in mind. Frustration exposes problems.
Yan Chujie's previous praise for the coalition forces was not a polite one. In fact, Haihan was not particularly confident in whether the coalition forces could withstand the first round of attacks by the shogunate army today. He was even prepared to attack once the defense line was breached by the shogunate army. Immediately intervene to mediate and buy buffer time for the coalition forces.
However, the coalition forces not only held the line of defense, but also fully realized the plan formulated before the war, allowing the shogunate army to concentrate their firepower on attacking hilly positions, thus avoiding a full-line breakthrough by the shogunate army.
As for the losses suffered during the battle, Yan Chujie believes that they are within an acceptable range, but when it comes to each company, the data may not be balanced, and naturally some people will feel dissatisfied.
"Everyone, the current war situation is basically under our control. I think everyone should focus on the next battle, rather than rushing to compare which company has suffered greater losses."
< br>
"I hope you don't forget that the war has begun, and there is no turning back for everyone. If you don't want to be liquidated by the shogunate after defeat, the only way out for you is to defeat the shogunate. Even if you lose all your family resources, you must do it This.”
"The loss of the coalition forces is equivalent to the loss of your family. If the coalition forces are gone, then you will not be able to save your family business! Only by abandoning all selfish thoughts can the full strength of the coalition forces be exerted!"
Yan Chujie scolded everyone with a stern expression. Seeing that everyone did not dare to argue in front of him anymore, he turned the topic back to the war situation. Some people may still be dissatisfied, but they dare not show any dissatisfaction when facing the leader of the Haihan military. Otherwise, Yan Chujie only needs to tighten his fingers slightly and jam the supply of combat supplies, which is enough to make him very angry. It feels bad.
What's more, Yan Chujie was right. There was no turning back when he fired his bow. Now he had no other choice but to defeat his opponent. Otherwise, if he was defeated and liquidated, it would not be the loss of his troops, but the annihilation of the entire clan.
There is not much time left for the coalition forces to rest and recuperate, maybe only a few hours before dawn. The coalition must use this time to clarify its next tactical deployment.
At present, the shogunate army has established a beachhead on the coast on the Kyushu side, but it is temporarily suppressed by the firepower of the hilly highlands and cannot move forward.
The shogunate army will definitely increase its efforts to send troops to this gap next. How to make good use of this gap to bleed the shogunate army and prevent them from dividing their forces to attack other places is the main problem that the coalition forces currently face.
At this time, the guidance given by Haihan is particularly important. Because this combat plan itself came from Haihan's idea.
Only by concentrating the shogunate's sea-crossing forces in a small area can the Kyushu Allied Forces block the opponent's frontal offensive, and use the defense lines deployed in advance to continuously eliminate the opponent's effective forces.
For this tactic to be successful, the coalition forces need to have a large number of guns and sufficient ammunition, so that they can withstand the continuous landing of shogunate troops. The secret agreement reached between Haihan and the coalition forces included this part of the assistance.
During the battle to resist the shogunate's crusade, Haihan would provide the weapons and equipment needed by the coalition forces to offset the opponent's military advantage with equipment superiority.
Of course, such assistance is not free, but the equipment and ammunition provided by Haihan can be accounted for first, and then paid in installments by each vassal after the war is over.
According to the current information available, the shogunate's weaponization level is limited, with only about one-tenth of the troops equipped with muskets and artillery. The Tokugawa family's direct line troops have a slightly higher proportion of firearms, but it does not reach a quarter.
About half of these installed firearms were purchased from Haihan, so the combat performance is no stranger to the coalition forces that have installed the same weapons.
But in comparison, the coalition forces with fewer troops have installed more new weapons.
Tsushima and Satsuma, two vassals that had earlier cooperated with Kaihan, had almost one-half of their infantry equipped with muskets, and the number of artillery had reached an average of 300 men per gun.
Even the Saga Domain, which cooperated with Kaihan later, had a higher proportion of firearms in its troops than the Tokugawa family's elite troops.
It was just that on the first day of the battle, Haihan asked them not to expose their weapon advantages prematurely, but only to maintain the suppression of the shogunate's landing force and not to interrupt the progress of their crossing the sea landing, so as to give their opponents Causes continuous bleeding.