Chapter 3539
For several commanders of the Kyushu Allied Forces, the past few days were probably the most proud days in their lives.
For as long as they can remember, the shogunate has been aloof, demanding everything from local vassals and imposing many restrictions. For such lucrative projects as foreign trade, the shogunate kept the management rights in its own hands and only allowed the Kyushu vassals to open business stores in Nagasaki Port, which was directly under the shogunate's jurisdiction, to make some scraps.
On the one hand, Kyushu is not allowed to get involved in cross-border trade that can make a lot of money. On the other hand, the tax standards of the Kyushu region are raised every year to weaken the economic strength here.
Before receiving the support of Haihan, all the resistance in the Kyushu region was in vain, and could not even cause a splash.
But the situation is very different now. The armed strength of the Kyushu vassals is no longer what it used to be, not to mention the strong support of Haihan standing behind them.
The shogunate army, which had seemed invincible in the past, was now firmly blocked by the coalition forces across the strait, and had not taken advantage of the coalition forces in many battles.
On the contrary, the coalition's cross-sea operations have been very fruitful. They have successfully attacked many port cities under the shogunate's control and seized a large amount of resources through these operations.
Although Haihan warned several daimyo, reminding them not to be too happy because the real test has yet to come, it is obvious that the daimyo are very satisfied with the victory achieved at this stage, and even a little too proud.
After hearing the news that his fleet had successfully raided Hiroshima, the Satsuma clan's daimyo Shimazu Mitsuhisa even held a banquet in the camp to celebrate.
The Tsushima army that had successfully plundered Ogi Castle, the seat of the Choshu feudal lord, had quietly separated out a dozen ships under the instruction of Daimyo Yoshima, and packed up all the plundered materials and personnel and sent them back. To Tsushima Island.
Naturally, these small actions cannot escape the surveillance of the Haihan Executive Committee, but in the face of this behavior of popping champagne at halftime, the Executive Committee has no good solution.
The vision, insight and personal qualities of these famous figures were only at this level. To win a battle, they had to show off. If they were expected to remain restrained and low-key, it would probably be more difficult than directing a battle.
Relatively low-key is Hosokawa Tsunato of Kumamoto Domain, but this may also be related to his young age, and he has not yet had time to be infected with the rustic emperor habits of other daimyo.
Internal strife broke out in the Kumamoto clan last year. Hosokawa Tsunato was placed under house arrest for a time and almost lost his status as a daimyo. In the process of regaining his power, the Kumamoto clan also suffered considerable damage to its strength due to internal strife.
Although Hosokawa Tsuna later showed the Kumamoto clan's determination by sending troops to occupy Nagasaki, among the coalition forces, the Kumamoto clan was still lagging behind the stronger Satsuma clan.
In addition, Hosokawa Tsunato was too young, and the other daimyo were not willing to sit on an equal footing with such a half-year-old boy, and they did not pay much attention to his opinions when discussing battle plans. Therefore, the Kumamoto clan did not have much say in the coalition. Most of the time, it only cooperated with the actions of other companies, and it was difficult to win the opportunity to act alone.
However, Hosokawa Tsunato's situation actually allowed him to win more support from Haihan. The Ministry of National Defense even specially dispatched several combat staff officers to the Kumamoto Army in the name of military advisors.
This kind of support may be due to Hosokawa Tsunato's young talent, or it may be to balance the forces of the Kyushu Alliance. In short, the Kumamoto clan has benefited a lot from being silent.
And Tsunato Hosokawa was probably grateful for this special care. He was the only one among the daimyo who really listened to Haihan's warnings and reminders. He neither celebrated grandly nor rushed to win the victory these days. , but quietly let the troops seize the rest between wars and prepare for the next round of combat missions. His cautious attitude not only gained more appreciation from Haihan, but also proved the value of the Kumamoto clan in the subsequent war.
Just three days after the coalition forces successfully attacked Hiroshima, the shogunate army launched a new round of offensive again.
This time, the shogunate army did not choose to attack the iron plate of the hilly position. Instead, they targeted the coastal plain on the side of Kyushu Island at the western end of the Sekiguchi Strait.
Compared with the attack point chosen by the shogunate army in the first round of offensive, the sea here is more than ten times wider, and the risk of being intercepted by the Kyushu Allied Fleet during the crossing is also greatly increased.
But the seaside plain here is more than ten miles wide and deep, which is more suitable for the assembly and formation of large troops after landing. Moreover, there are almost no commanding heights on the coast, so there is no need to worry that the landing troops will be hit by top-down fire from high places.
Tokugawa Ietsuna had previously chosen the hilly area with steep terrain as the main direction of attack because the narrow straits there facilitated the projection of troops and could be broken in one attack. He thought it was a loophole, but he never thought of getting into the pocket planned by the Kyushu Allied Forces. After several days of tossing and losing thousands of people, no breakthrough was achieved.
Therefore, after learning from the pain, Tokugawa Ietsuna decided to change his thinking and seek areas where it was difficult for his opponents to densely defend as the main direction of attack. He would first send large forces to Kyushu Island and force his opponents to engage in a decisive battle on the frontal battlefield.
As for the transportation risks caused by the increase in the width of the strait, Tokugawa Ietsuna, after comprehensive intelligence from all aspects, believed that the number of his opponent's warships had also been greatly damaged after many days of fighting, and it was impossible to organize a large-scale attack as he did at the beginning. There was a naval battle.
The shogunate army has assembled medium and large ships from more than half of the country. The quality may not be very high, but the absolute number is definitely far ahead of its opponents. It has every opportunity to project a large number of troops to the coastal plain on the other side in a short period of time.
Although there were many signs before the shogunate army launched the operation, the Kyushu Allied Forces, which had won consecutive victories, still did not pay enough attention to this, believing that the other party might still be feigning an attack to lure their own troops to divide their troops for defense.
It wasn't until the shogunate army suddenly dispatched hundreds of sailboats on the sea more than ten miles wide one morning that the Kyushu Allied Forces realized that this feint attack had turned into a real cross-sea offensive.
The performance of the coalition fleet that hastily responded to the battle was not ideal. When facing many targets at sea, the limited firepower on the ship was insufficient.
The shogunate army has suffered successive setbacks recently, and has long been holding back its energy to compete with the coalition forces, and has a very strong desire to fight. Almost all of the advanced warships purchased by the shogunate from Haihan over the years were put into battle, in order to take advantage of this wave to consume as much of the maritime armed forces of the Kyushu Allied Forces as possible.
The inspection team at the other end of the strait did not receive the news until two hours after the war started, and organized the guests to board a ship and rush to the battlefield more than 20 miles away.
However, it is precisely because of such emergencies that the steam power system on the Haihan ship also had the opportunity to be displayed.
The white-smoking fleet passed through the strait at high speed, making it extremely easy to spot and unlikely to be accidentally attacked by the warring parties.
Zhoushan, the flagship of the East China Sea Fleet, was the first to arrive at the scene of the incident at a high speed of fifteen knots, carrying a large number of people who were eager to watch the excitement.