Chapter 3546
"What! So expensive? Can the price be discounted? Sorry to bother you!"
After sending away another customer who came to inquire, Bai Kesi couldn't help but reveal a helpless smile on his face.
After the previous fierce artillery battle ended, people came to the door one after another and asked Bai Kesi, who was in charge of Haihan Ordnance Industry, about the extremely long-range coastal defense artillery in the Kyushu Allied Forces Formation.
Anyone who sees this kind of large artillery that is so powerful and can fire far will have the idea of buying a few of them. However, after learning about its high price, many people immediately backed down.
We can’t blame them for being stingy. Due to the complicated manufacturing process, the price of a coastal defense gun is ten times or even dozens of times that of an ordinary field gun. And because of its large gun body, it has poor maneuverability and is not suitable for combat operations. There are not many environments, and they can often only be deployed in important ports or passes, and special fort facilities must be built for them.
The use of forts set up in the field as field artillery like the Kyushu Allied Forces is only an operation under special circumstances and is not suitable for other countries to follow.
In comparison, for the same cost, it is of course more cost-effective to buy a few more field guns with stronger maneuverability and more flexible deployment.
Countries that have sufficient funds to purchase large coastal defense artillery are often larger countries that have both coastal defense needs and specialized artillery establishments, such as Annan and North Korea. Even if a small country squeezes out its money to buy this thing, it will probably not be able to use it. Instead, it will probably waste its military expenditure.
The number of coastal defense artillery installed by the Kyushu Allied Forces is actually very limited, and the transportation is very inconvenient. The five troops put together can only deploy a total of ten coastal defense artillery on the position. Being able to rely on these cannons to achieve the record against the shogunate army just now was actually a bit of luck.
Although Baikes failed to successfully sell the coastal defense artillery, he was not discouraged. In his opinion, these customers had just lost interest in the coastal defense artillery, but their desire to purchase would soon be transferred to other types of artillery.
Regarding the casualties of the shogunate army in this battle, Tokugawa Ietsuna ordered to strictly block the news. Therefore, Haihan was unable to know the details at the first time. He could only roughly judge that some senior generals in the shogunate army were injured or killed in the bombardment. , causing the command system to fail, and there was a period of chaos during the retreat.
Based on his estimates while watching the battle, Haihan believed that the casualties of the shogunate army should not be less than 3,000. In particular, the artillery units that broke out first and then moved behind should have suffered extremely heavy casualties.
As for the casualties of the Kyushu Allied Forces, statistics were quickly reported to the Haihan military.
In today's battle, the coalition lost more than 400 combatants, and more than half of the casualties occurred in the subsequent pursuit battle. Judging from the forces deployed by both sides in the battle, this casualty was simply negligible.
Eight artillery pieces of the coalition forces were destroyed by the enemy during the artillery battle, but compared to the tragic artillery losses of the shogunate army, this was considered a very high battle loss ratio.
Winning such a happy victory after holding back for many days also boosted the morale of the coalition forces. The Lord of Tsushima Domain, Mune Yoshizhin, even took the initiative to ask for instructions whether he should pursue the victory and drive the shogunate army back to the other side of the strait.
"They went crazy after winning a battle. They really didn't take the tens of thousands of people on the opposite side seriously!" Yan Chujie couldn't help but sigh after seeing the document sent by Zong Yizhen. Tao Donglai said: "A small country with few people has limited vision and knowledge. In their minds, they are either quick defeat or quick victory. I think we should let them try. When they hit the wall, they will naturally know to turn back."
Shi Diwen muttered: "I'm just afraid that they will rush too fast, hit too hard, and be injured too seriously. When the shogunate army launches a counterattack, it will be the coalition forces that cannot hold on. Don't forget, everyone, The coalition's combat troops only have such a small number of troops. In a war of attrition, they will definitely be unable to defeat the shogunate."
Yan Chujie also nodded and responded: "I also think that taking the initiative is not a good strategy at this stage. Holding the position firmly and slowly wearing away the superior strength of the shogunate army through defensive warfare is the most suitable strategy for the coalition forces."
Tao Donglai said: "But if this happens, the war situation will inevitably enter a stalemate stage again, and there may be a lot of complaints from the inspection team."
Shi Diwen said: "The inspection team has seen almost everything. If they want to leave, let's arrange to send them away! For foreigners who still want to stay here to continue watching the war, we should also consider letting them bear their own expenses. ”
Tao Donglai and others had no objection to Shi Diwen's proposal. The purpose of arranging this cross-country study tour has basically been achieved, and the publicity effect is worthy of the funds spent. There is no need to spend more money to invite dignitaries from various countries to travel here at public expense.
As for the hundreds of time-travelers who came here specifically to watch the excitement, it is obvious that these people's attitude is that most of them will not leave. They had been waiting for thirty years for such a rare opportunity, so naturally they wanted to stay and enjoy it.
For these time-travelers, the cost is not a problem at all, but if they miss this good show, there may not be a next time.
However, to the surprise of the Executive Committee, after notifying the inspection team of this arrangement, many foreign dignitaries expressed their willingness to bear the expenses themselves and continue to watch the game here for a period of time.
It seems that this head-to-head confrontation made the inspection team regain the fun of watching the battle, especially the new use of unconventional weapons such as coastal defense guns on the battlefield, which is a brand new concept for many people.
The warring parties did not disappoint the audience. The next day, the shogunate took the initiative again. However, after suffering a loss yesterday, the shogunate army also learned a lesson this time and took the initiative to stop when they were three or four miles away from the coalition position, and did not risk stepping into the strike range of the coalition's coastal defense artillery.
The coalition forces were probably full of confidence because of yesterday's victory. They did not follow Haihan's advice to stick to it. Instead, they sent a group of troops, mainly musketeers, to leave their positions and set up a posture to fight the shogunate army. Over move.
But without the cover of the fortifications, the combat effectiveness of both sides was immediately brought back to the same level. The coalition forces failed to gain an advantage again in this round of fighting. After losing hundreds of people, the coalition commander, seeing that the situation was not good, quickly ordered a retreat and repelled the shogunate cavalry who tried to cover up the attack with artillery fire.
At the same time, the reserve troops formed by the Kyushu vassals before the war also arrived in the Northern Kyushu region.
Most of the soldiers in these reserve forces were civilians who were recruited after the civil strife on Kyushu Island last year. They had basically no combat experience before. Although they had undergone several months of crash training in the past winter, as rookie troops who had never set foot on a battlefield, the Kyushu vassals did not dare to send them into battle at the first opportunity.
Now that the battle with the shogunate army has lasted for about a month, it is also time for the main battle troops to get a chance to rotate and rest.