Chapter 3531
Chapter 3531
Chapter 3531
Yan Chujie spoke highly of the performance of the Kyushu coalition forces during the battle today. Although the coalition forces were on the defensive, they fought tenaciously, firmly defended the hilly positions on the coastline, and always maintained suppression of the shogunate army's landing site.
But this praise did not make the daimyos look relieved. Such a record was achieved at the cost of a large number of casualties and material consumption. With the financial resources of the Kyushu coalition, they could not sustain a battle of this intensity for too long.
The daimyo of Fukuoka Domain, Kuroda Mitsunori, said, "Lord Yan, my Fukuoka Domain only has thirteen Hai Han warships in total, and we lost four of them this afternoon. If we continue to fight like this, in a few days all the main battleships of my fleet will be gone!"
The daimyo of Tsushima Domain beside him, So Yoshizane, said angrily, "Lord Kuroda, you're complaining about losing only four ships, but what do you say about Tsushima Domain defending the entire western front alone today? The shogunate army launched five attacks, three of which were in Tsushima Domain's defense zone. In just one afternoon, I lost more than 800 people!"
The Tsushima clan did fight extremely hard in today's battle with the shogunate army. The coalition forces concentrated their main forces on the main battlefield where the strait was the narrowest. The strait to the west, which was more than 20 miles long, was almost entirely defended by the Tsushima clan alone.
Although the shogunate army quickly adjusted its offensive after the war broke out and turned several other attacks into feints in order to concentrate fire on one place, it was still very difficult for the Tsushima clan to deal with three feint attacks at the same time. It had to send almost all its troops to the battlefield to barely maintain the front line.
The total number of troops dispatched by the Tsushima clan this time was only about 4,000. In the fighting this afternoon, more than 800 people were killed or wounded, and several warships were destroyed. This was already an extremely heavy blow to them. No wonder Souji was so angry.
In Zong Yizhen's opinion, if the other feudal lords could provide timely assistance and help share the pressure, the battle would not have been so difficult, and he would not have lost so many troops.
The other daimyos obviously did not agree with So Yoshizane's complaints, because the fighting in the main attack direction of the shogunate army was more intense, and the coalition forces suffered greater casualties and losses.
The Satsuma clan's daimyo Shimazu Mitsuhisa even believed that if his troops exchanged defense zones with Tsushima clan, their combat performance should be better than Tsushima clan's.
Yan Chujie quickly stopped the argument. He finally understood that although these families had nominally formed a military alliance and jointly sent troops to fight against the shogunate, it was obvious that their ideological coordination was far from enough. Each of them had their own little calculations in mind, and problems were exposed when they encountered setbacks.
Yan Chujie's previous praise for the coalition forces was not just polite words. In fact, Hai Han was not particularly confident that the coalition forces could withstand the first round of attacks from the shogunate army today. They had even made preparations to immediately step in to mediate once the defense line was breached by the shogunate army in order to buy buffer time for the coalition forces.
However, the coalition forces not only held the defense line, but also fully implemented the plan formulated before the war, allowing the shogunate army to concentrate its firepower on attacking the hilly positions, thus avoiding a situation where the shogunate army broke through all fronts.
As for the losses suffered during the battle, Yan Chujie believed that they were within an acceptable range, but when it comes to each company, the data may not be balanced, and naturally some people will feel dissatisfied.
"Everyone, the current situation of the war is basically under our control. I think you should focus on the next battle instead of rushing to compare which side has suffered greater losses."
"I hope you all don't forget that the war has already begun, and there is no turning back. If you don't want to be liquidated by the shogunate after losing the war, your only way out is to defeat the shogunate, even if it means sacrificing all your wealth."
"The loss of the coalition forces is equivalent to the loss of your family. If the coalition forces are gone, then you can forget about saving your family business! Only by abandoning all selfish thoughts can you unleash the full strength of the coalition forces!"
Yan Chujie scolded everyone with a stern face, and when he saw that no one dared to argue in front of him, he turned the topic back to the battle situation. Some people might still be dissatisfied, but they did not dare to show any dissatisfaction in front of the number one person in the Hai Han military. Otherwise, Yan Chujie only needed to tighten his fingers a little and block the supply of combat materials, which would be enough to make them very uncomfortable.
What's more, what Yan Chujie said was right. Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Now there is no other way but to defeat the opponent. Otherwise, if they are defeated and liquidated, it will not just be the loss of their own troops, but a catastrophe for the entire clan.
The coalition forces have little time to rest, perhaps only a few hours before dawn. The coalition forces must use this time to clarify the next tactical deployment.
At present, the shogunate army has established a beachhead on the coast on the Kyushu side, but is temporarily constrained by the firepower suppression from the hills and highlands and is unable to advance.
The shogunate army will certainly increase its efforts to send troops to this gap. How to make good use of this gap to bleed the shogunate army and prevent it from dividing its troops to attack other places is the main problem that the coalition forces currently have to face.
At this time, the guidance provided by Hai Han was particularly important, because this set of combat plans itself came from Hai Han's idea.
Only by concentrating the shogunate's crossing sea forces in a small area could the Kyushu coalition forces block the enemy's frontal offensive and, with the help of the pre-deployed defense lines, continuously eliminate the enemy's manpower.
For this tactic to succeed, the coalition forces needed to have a large number of guns and ammunition to resist the continuous landing of the shogunate troops. The secret agreement reached between Hai Han and the coalition forces included this part of the assistance.
During the battle to resist the shogunate's attack, Hai Han would provide the coalition forces with the weapons and equipment they needed, using its equipment advantage to offset the opponent's military advantage.
Of course, such assistance is not free. The equipment and ammunition provided by Hai Han can be recorded first, and the various vassal states will pay it back in installments after the war is over.
According to the intelligence currently available, the shogunate army's degree of firearms was limited, with only about one-tenth of the troops equipped with muskets and artillery. The proportion of firearms in the Tokugawa family's direct troops was slightly higher, but it did not reach a quarter.
About half of these firearms were purchased from Hai Han, so their combat performance was not unfamiliar to the coalition forces that were equipped with the same weapons.
But in comparison, the coalition forces with fewer troops have equipped themselves with more new weapons.
In Tsushima and Satsuma, two feudal domains that had cooperated with Hai Han relatively early on, the proportion of infantry units equipped with muskets had almost reached one-half, and the number of artillery pieces had reached an average of one piece per every three hundred men.
Even the Saga clan, which cooperated with Hai Han relatively late, had a higher proportion of firearms in its troops than the elite troops of the Tokugawa clan.
However, during the first day of fighting, Hai Han asked them not to expose their advantage in weapons too early. They only needed to maintain the suppression of the Shogunate Army's landing forces and not interrupt their sea crossing and landing operations. This was the only way to cause continuous bleeding to the opponent.