Chapter 3527
Chapter 3527
Chapter 3527
While Tokugawa Ietsugu and his army were hesitating, the Kyushu coalition forces across the strait took the first action.
Just as some people in the expedition team had expected, Hai Han mobilized a large force to bring the expedition team to the Kanmon Strait for the purpose of observing Japan's civil war. It was impossible for them to wait here for the warring parties to slowly adjust their tactics or even turn the situation into a long-term confrontation.
Most of the guests of the delegation are politicians from various countries. Their time is precious, and many people are eager to watch the excitement and go home. After completing the previous procedures, the main show will begin.
The Kyushu coalition forces that took the lead did not rashly implement a sea landing in the Kanmon Strait, but chose another target.
After all, there were tens of thousands of shogunate troops stationed on the other side of the strait. Even if the forced landing was successful, the vanguard would immediately be surrounded by the army.
The Kyushu coalition forces had limited manpower and could only try to avoid a war of attrition with their opponents, so they simply bypassed the strait area where the shogunate had concentrated its troops and chose a coast twenty miles northeast of the strait.
Most of the supplies sent from Choshu Domain to the Strait Front by land had to pass near this coast, but the defense measures deployed by the Shogunate army here were much weaker than those on the Strait Front.
The Kyushu coalition launched an offensive at dawn, approached the target by making a large circle from the sea, and landed smoothly with almost no effort. They then attacked a nearby grain storage warehouse and stole the food that had not yet been transported to the front line.
Although the shogunate troops who received the alarm nearby rushed to the rescue, they were still unable to prevent the Kyushu coalition forces from escaping quickly. They even set a fire before leaving, burning all the supplies and food that they did not have time to take away.
The thick smoke caused by the fire could be clearly seen even from the expedition camp in Tanoura.
In this small conflict, the shogunate lost only dozens of people, and most of them were just personnel sent by the Choshu domain to guard warehouses and escort supplies. The transportation routes were quickly restored after the Kyushu coalition forces left.
The loss was not too great, but for the shogunate, it was tantamount to a slap in the face, which made Tokugawa Ietsugu very angry.
With the army approaching, the Kyushu coalition forces actually dared to take the initiative to attack. This looting action obviously rejected any possibility of peace talks and announced the beginning of the war.
Although the inspection team watching the battle on the south bank of the Strait did not witness the battle in person, the relevant battle reports they received afterwards were very detailed - the two coalition generals in charge of commanding the operation came to the inspection team camp in person and respectfully reported the battle process to them in detail.
Such treatment was indeed far beyond the expectations of the members of the inspection team, and it also made them more deeply aware of Hai Han’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 kind of small-scale military operation aims to destroy the opponent's logistical support. There is no large-scale scene of fighting between the two armies. It is indeed not worth watching, and there is no need to take the risk to go to the scene to watch the battle.
After the coalition generals finished their report, Shi Diwen gave the guests who were eager to watch the battle a reassurance: "From today on, the Kyushu coalition will continue to carry out such actions until the shogunate takes the initiative to launch a frontal offensive."
Once these words were spoken, Hai Han’s position was actually made clear without any concealment.
Hai Han was obviously very clear about the Kyushu coalition’s battle plan, which was of course most likely because Hai Han itself was one of the planners.
This battle plan was designed to target the shogunate's weaknesses, with the goal of forcing the enemy to enter the Kyushu coalition's pre-set battlefield. Many people immediately thought that since the Kyushu coalition had Hai Han's support, it would be difficult for the shogunate army to win in this expedition.
Just as Shi Diwen said, the Kyushu coalition forces launched attacks everywhere in the following period, launching harassment wars on the shogunate army's logistics supply lines on a larger scale.
This type of warfare usually does not produce immediate results, but it is an unbearable burden for the shogunate, which has almost exhausted the entire country's strength to carry out this campaign.
Organizing logistical supplies for tens of thousands of people is an extremely difficult task. In order to prevent the armed fleet of the Kyushu Alliance from intercepting them at sea, a considerable portion of the supplies can only be transported to the front line by land.
Now that these coastal land routes are no longer safe, it means that tens of thousands of troops on the front line may fall into the dilemma of supply line interruption at any time.
In order to ensure the safety of the supply lines, we can only allocate part of the troops to deal with the enemy's harassment attacks, but this measure cannot fundamentally solve the problem.
If the situation continues to develop in this way, the longer the confrontation between the two sides on both sides of the Taiwan Strait lasts, the greater the logistical pressure faced by the shogunate army.
Although the shogunate army's battle plan had not yet been adjusted, it could not be delayed any longer due to the situation.
The narrow Kanmon Strait creates good conditions for seaborne landings, but it also makes it impossible to conceal all preparations for war.
With the assistance of Hai Han, one afternoon the Kyushu coalition forces discovered that the shogunate army on the opposite bank was gathering at the narrowest part of the strait, and a large number of ships were also moving in this direction.
This was a very obvious signal to launch a sea crossing operation. Then the Kyushu coalition forces also began to gather naval and land forces here, preparing to intercept the shogunate army.
Upon receiving the news, Shi Diwen immediately notified the inspection team and arranged for them to board the warships of the East China Sea Fleet to enter the strait to watch the battle.
Hai Han had already informed the shogunate through Sakai Tadaki about the arrangements for watching the battle. However, in order to prevent accidental attacks from both sides, all Hai Han warships that went out to sea deliberately hung eye-catching and large two-color flags on their masts to indicate their identities.
The Hai Han fleet stopped at the eastern end of the strait, less than ten miles away from the narrowest part of the strait where a battle might occur. This position would not affect the entry and exit of warships from both sides, and it was also convenient for observing changes in the entire battlefield situation.
Almost every member of the expedition team had a pair of binoculars, and the side of the ship close to the strait was packed with people.
Seeing that the warships of both sides were constantly pouring into the strait and the battle was about to break out, the spectators were very excited.
I was tricked by Hai Han into traveling across the ocean to come here, and finally the trip was not in vain. Now I can see the long-awaited show.
Not only the foreign guests of the inspection team, but even among the time travelers who came here to watch the battle, most of them had never witnessed a land and sea integrated battle involving tens of thousands of people.
The armed conflicts that Hai Han encountered in Sanya in the early days were all small in scale, and the truly intense large-scale combat operations were almost all carried out overseas. Only a few generals could directly participate in them. People in Hai Han could only learn about the combat process from the subsequent battle reports and rarely had the opportunity to face the battlefield directly.