Chapter 3542
Time has arrived in mid-April in the blink of an eye, and the main battlefield of the civil war has moved to the western end of the Kanmon Strait, a coastal plain on the coast of Kyushu.
Both sides need time to gather troops on this battlefield, so the frequency and scale of recent battles have also been reduced, which made the inspection team who came specially to watch the battle quite boring. After watching the live battlefield for many days, it was difficult to arouse their interest in the daily small-scale armed conflicts involving hundreds of people.
However, most people are still waiting patiently. After all, the conflicting parties have gathered tens of thousands of troops here in the Kanmon Strait, and they will eventually have to decide the winner on the frontal battlefield. Many people have made up their minds and are waiting to watch this showdown before considering returning home.
In order to ensure that he could have a panoramic view of the entire battlefield, Haihan chose Mount Adachi on the east side of the plain as a viewing point.
To this end, taking advantage of the opportunity between the two sides to mobilize troops during this period, the Haihan Army engineers cut down a large number of trees on the hillside and set up a stepped temporary viewing platform.
There is a height difference of about 30 to 40 feet between this viewing platform and the sea level. It can have an unobstructed view of the plains below the mountain. It is only six or seven miles away from the southern hills where the Kyushu Allied Forces set up their camp.
The only troublesome thing is that the expedition team's camp is located at the foot of the mountain, and it is not easy to go up to the high observation deck. Especially for elderly travelers, this journey is quite taxing on the knees. .
After discovering this problem, they could only ask the military craftsmen to hurry up and make a batch of sliding poles so that the dignitaries who came to watch the battle could be lifted directly up.
Of course, both warring parties would not be happy about Haihan's grand construction of an observation deck. After all, no one would be happy for such a major combat operation to become a trick in the eyes of others.
But at the same time, they all understood that if they did not show their full ability on the battlefield, they would probably lose Haihan's material supply. With the shrewdness of Haihan people, they will never choose to support a loser.
After days of transportation, the shogunate army has assembled nearly 50,000 troops on the Linhai Plain. Although there are still 20,000 to 30,000 troops on the other side of the strait, most of them are logistics troops, and almost all combat troops that can actually fight have been transported here. , planning to have a showdown with the Kyushu Allied Forces.
The Kyushu Allied Forces, in accordance with the pre-war deployment and Haihan's instructions, stopped taking the initiative to advance after gathering on the hills on the south side of the plain. Instead, they relied on the mountains to set up defensive positions and waited for the shogunate army to attack.
This hill is not the small hill like when the two sides fought at the east end of the strait. It is part of a large mountain range covering an area of hundreds of square kilometers. If the battle situation is unfavorable, the defenders can retreat into the forest and rely on this The vast mountain ranges dealt with the shogunate army.
Of course, the shogunate army can avoid this place and attack other places first, but since they know that the Kyushu Allied Forces have assembled here but avoid attacking, firstly, it will affect their own morale, and secondly, it will further prolong the war process, which will have a negative impact on the shogunate. It's definitely not the best choice.
Taking this opportunity to eliminate the main force of the Kyushu Allied Forces and preventing the opponent from organizing large-scale resistance seems to be an effective way to shorten the war period.
If you include the time it takes to mobilize troops from all over the country, this war has lasted for two months. Every extra day, the shogunate has to bear huge military expenditures and material consumption. If this civil war does not end for a few more months, it will be difficult for the shogunate to sustain itself even if it does not lose on the battlefield.
The start of this head-on confrontation came quietly at dawn one day. The shogunate army assembled a large number of troops from the seaside camp and slowly advanced towards the Kyushu Allied Forces' position.
The shogunate army did not deliberately hide their whereabouts, nor did they choose a furious attack. There were no obstacles blocking the line of sight between the two armies. Any attack involving more than a hundred people would be difficult to hide from the other side's surveillance. After receiving the news, the expedition team's camp immediately sounded the rally call. However, the guests did not need to take the risk of entering the battlefield. They only needed to ride the sliding pole to the observation deck on the mountainside to have a panoramic view of the battlefield.
This was probably the first time that the spectators saw that the shogunate army had sufficient space to form their formation, but the actual situation made the spectators slightly disappointed.
The composition of the shogunate army was too complicated, and there was almost no joint training before the war, so they could only form arrays according to the original organization of each group of troops. The formations ranged from large to small, from square arrays to linear arrays using muskets, and Some troops are a mixture of infantry and cavalry, and the speed of assembly of each unit is also different.
Although it cannot be said to be a mob, in the eyes of the guests who have seen the Haihan Army fighting, it is not much different from a piece of loose sand.
Fortunately, the shogunate army had a lot of troops. After all the troops were deployed in formation, they occupied a large area on the plain. With all kinds of military flags fluttering, the momentum was indeed not weak.
But when the shogunate army began to advance forward, the formations of the various units immediately became scattered again, making Haihan's big bosses shake their heads.
"The shogunate army is at this level, and I think it is not as good as the new army compiled and trained by North Korea and Annan." Tao Donglai expressed his opinion without hesitation.
Yan Chujie echoed: "It's no wonder that Li Zhi has always been eyeing Japan, and this time he actively requested to send troops to intervene. It seems that he is also determined to defeat the shogunate army."
Ning Qi said: "If the Kyushu Allied Forces are drawn out and formed into a formation, I wonder if they will be similar to the Shogunate Army."
Shi Diwen said: "After all, there are only five Kyushu coalition forces, and they will definitely be much more organized than the shogunate army."
Ning Qi asked: "Can the Kyushu Allied Forces block the shogunate's offensive later?"
Shi Diwen said: "Don't worry. Since the Kyushu Allied Forces formed the army, the subject they have practiced the most is positional defense. In today's competition, the shogunate army will definitely not be able to take advantage!"
Yan Chujie put it more bluntly: "Not only can't we take advantage, the shogunate army is going to hit the wall today!"
Haihan participated in almost the entire formation and training of the Kyushu Allied Forces, so the top military officials were also very aware of their combat effectiveness.
Considering that the Kyushu vassals will inevitably face pressure from the shogunate's army after the uprising, the training direction of the Kyushu Allied Forces is to focus on defense. Almost half of the artillery purchased from Haihan in recent years has been gathered on the hill position here. In terms of quantity and caliber, they are definitely far superior to the shogunate army on the opposite side.
For the artillery units of the Kyushu Allied Forces, the tactic of advancing in formations like the Shogunate Army was basically the same as a fixed target. As long as the artillery fire strikes hard enough, it can cause large-scale damage to the enemy in a very short period of time.
The shogunate army was obviously unprepared for the artillery attack they were about to encounter. They still arrayed themselves in a more traditional way, without taking into account the large amount of long-range firepower hidden in the mountains and forests opposite.