Chapter 3529
Chapter 3529
Chapter 3529
When the commander of the shogunate army noticed that this battlefield had successfully established a landing point on the other side of the strait, he decisively reported to Tokugawa Ietsugu who was supervising the battle, and asked him to concentrate the troops here to launch an assault and further expand the landing site in order to seize the commanding heights on the other side as soon as possible.
The purpose of the shogunate army's five-pronged offensive was to disperse the limited strength of the Kyushu coalition forces, find a weak point in the defense line to break through, and achieve the combat goal of landing across the sea. But now that there is a breakthrough point, it is also a very reasonable on-the-spot adjustment to concentrate firepower to open this gap.
Tokugawa Ietsugu agreed to this request without hesitation. The reason why he arranged to launch the cross-sea offensive in the afternoon was that he hoped to make a breakthrough on the other side as quickly as possible and establish a beachhead before nightfall. Then, he could take advantage of the gap at night when it was difficult to fight and send more troops to the other side.
In the original battle plan, the five-pronged offensive was both a real attack and a feint. As long as one of the attacks achieved a breakthrough, it could be immediately transformed into the main attack direction, and the others would automatically become feints.
The speed of the breakthrough was even faster than he expected. It seemed that the opponent's deployment was not as strong as he imagined.
Delay would lead to changes, and Tokugawa Iematsu does not want to give Hai Han a chance to interfere.
Although Sakai Tadamori brought back news that Hai Han would not directly intervene in the battle between the two armies, Tokugawa Iematsu certainly would not believe such a promise 100%.
At this moment, dozens of Hai Han warships are floating on the sea at the eastern end of the strait, ready to go into battle at any time. This is undoubtedly a huge dark cloud pressing down on the heads of the Shogunate army, and no one can be sure whether this dark cloud will turn into a thunderstorm at some point.
All the Shogunate army can do at this moment is to try their best to take the initiative into their own hands and consolidate the advantageous situation before dark.
The tactical adjustment of the shogunate army was soon noticed by the expedition team near the strait. More and more sailboats flying the flags of various forces under the shogunate were quickly gathering towards the most intense fighting area.
Tao Donglai asked with a worried look on his face: "It seems that the shogunate army is going to concentrate its firepower to attack this place. Is the Kyushu coalition prepared for this situation?"
Shi Diwen seemed confident: "Lao Tao, don't worry, this is part of the coalition's battle plan. The shogunate divided its troops to attack, and the coalition could only cope with it, and it couldn't outlast the opponent in a war of attrition. Only after the shogunate army gathered at the preset battlefield, the coalition would have the opportunity to concentrate on destroying the opponent's living forces."
Ning Qi asked: "But with the deployment of troops and the intensity of firepower on that hill, can they really withstand the full-scale attack of the shogunate army?"
Shi Diwen smiled but said nothing, but judging from his expression, he clearly had full confidence in the coalition's response strategy.
On the other hand, since spectators from other countries basically have no preset positions and do not lean towards any side, they do not have such anxiety when watching the game.
There were rumbling sounds of artillery fire on the battlefield and thick smoke rising from the sea after ships were hit. Such an intense amphibious combat scene was extremely rare for most of the members of the expedition team, and even laymen who were not familiar with military affairs could enjoy the fun.
Although the losses during the crossing were considerable, by evening the Shogunate army had already had several troop transport ships successfully avoid the coastal defense artillery fire of the Kyushu coalition forces and landed on the opposite bank.
After landing, about 2,000 shogunate troops began to attack the artillery forts on the hills. From the coast to the location of the artillery forts, the height difference seemed to be only a few dozen feet, but the shogunate army found that this short distance was not so easy to pass, and the difficulty was even greater than the previous sea crossing landing operation.
This seemingly inconspicuous hill is actually well-defended with numerous defensive fortifications.
Barbed wire, stakes and bunkers made it difficult for the shogunate army to launch an attack. Behind the bunkers, countless muskets and small-caliber cannons firing grapeshot were aimed at them.
The shogunate army that launched the attack from the bottom up could only rely on the shields in their hands for cover, but these shields that were used to protect against bows and arrows could not protect against close-range musket fire.
As the gunfire from behind the bunkers began, the shield bearers of the shogunate army fell down one after another, and those who picked up their shields would fall one after another in the next round of shooting.
It seemed that the Shogunate army had successfully occupied the beachhead and could receive troop transports to continuously deliver troops, but after landing, the troops were constantly killed by the coalition forces, and the front line did not advance much.
And the other bad news is that the Kyushu coalition forces concentrated in this area seem to be increasing. Even the narrow passages leading inland on both sides of the hills have been blocked by the coalition forces.
If the shogunate army wanted to make a breakthrough, it was obviously not practical to rely on the limited landing forces to charge. They could only hope to transport heavy weapons ashore as soon as possible and use artillery to destroy the defenders' bunkers and fortifications.
The shogunate army did prepare a lot of artillery for the battle after landing, but it was not easy to transport these heavy weapons and equipment to the beach without any infrastructure. After several hours of hard work, only about ten artillery pieces were transported to the shore.
By the time the shogunate army finally transported these artillery pieces to the front line, the enemy had already made preparations for shooting and were attacking the shogunate army's artillery units according to the firing range scale measured in advance.
The shogunate army's artillery often only had the opportunity to fire two or three rounds. If they did not retreat in time, they would easily be hit by the Kyushu coalition's artillery shells.
The true battle was fought evenly at sea. Both sides deployed their armed warships to the narrow battlefield of the Kanmon Strait. In the strait, which was only more than 20 miles long, more than 200 warships of various sizes were gathered from both sides.
Many of these warships were produced in Hai Han, and they are exactly the same from their appearance to their tonnage and even to the weapons and equipment on board. The warring parties can only identify each other by flying different flags.
Many officers of the Kyushu Allied Forces' naval forces had received special training at the Sasebo base, so their level of commanding naval battles was slightly better than that of the Shogunate army.
Although the Shogunate army had the advantage in the number of warships, the number of high-level warships produced in Hai Han was similar to that of the Kyushu Allied Forces. Moreover, the composition of the mixed fleet was complex, and it was difficult for the commander to give orders to this hastily assembled subordinates.
Both sides suffered heavy losses in the naval battle this afternoon, with at least dozens of ships sunk or damaged. The entire strait was littered with shipwrecks and floating corpses, and the intensity of the battle had exceeded both sides' expectations before the war.
But the guests who watched the game were very excited, and many of them felt that it was worth the trip to witness such a combat scene with their own eyes.