Chapter 3534
Chapter 3534
Chapter 3534
The combat plan that Hai Han formulated for the Kyushu Coalition was mainly strategic, while the specific tactics and execution were controlled by the Coalition itself.
When Shi Chengxin arrived at the Allied Forces Headquarters, he saw several daimyos arguing over whether they should maintain the current tactics and continue to encircle and attack the reinforcements, or take the initiative to attack decisively and eliminate the trapped shogunate landing troops as soon as possible.
Several daimyos viewed Shi Chengxin's arrival as bringing guidance from the Hai Han Executive Committee, so they immediately stopped the debate and asked him to express his views on the current war situation.
Shi Chengxin said: "My Lords, no matter which tactics you adopt, the key is not to allow the opponent time to calmly mobilize troops and deploy tactics. If you wait for the opponent to make a move before responding, you will only become passive!"
Shi Chengxin did not bring any instructions. The purpose of his coming was to urge the Jiuzhou coalition forces to continue fighting and not let the war enter the stage of confrontation so quickly.
As for the specific tactics adopted by the coalition forces, it was not important to him, as long as he could take action as soon as possible. The inspection team's time was precious, and they needed to see more performances from both sides. Even if the coalition forces wanted to stop fighting and rest, they had to wait until the inspection team left.
Of course, Shi Chengxin did not forget to remind them that only by defeating the offensive of the shogunate army could the coalition forces prove that they were strong enough to break away from the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and establish a new country on their own. If the inspection team could confirm this, it would be easier for the coalition forces to gain recognition and support from the international community.
So, under Hai Han’s deliberate urging, the Kyushu coalition ended its brief ceasefire and took the initiative to attack the shogunate army near the hills.
The Kyushu coalition's offensive strategy was different from that of its opponents. Instead of sending infantry to lead the charge, it used small-caliber artillery as the main force of the attack to tear open the opponent's temporary positions.
At this time, the advantage of having Hai Han's full support behind the scenes became apparent. The coalition forces did not need to worry about the consumption of ammunition because Hai Han promised to ensure that the coalition forces had sufficient supply of ammunition during the combat.
In short, enough is enough.
Such treatment rarely occurs in Hai Han’s arms exports.
Of course, this supply was not free, and the coalition forces still had to pay for the ammunition. However, in order to save time in the middle, Hai Han allowed the coalition forces to obtain ammunition supplies on a pay-later basis, and related transactions could be recorded first and settled after the war was over.
For the daimyo, the most urgent task was to win the war. If something could be solved with artillery shells, it would certainly be better than using the lives of soldiers to fill it. The settlement of expenses would be a matter of a long time in the future. If they lost the war, there would be a high probability that they would not need to consider the settlement.
The shogunate army that landed on the Kyushu side had no way to retreat. Seeing that their space for movement was getting smaller and smaller, they could only fight back desperately in an attempt to hold on to this beachhead.
Although both sides deployed limited manpower in this battle, there was constant sound of gunfire and the fighting was quite intense. The guests of the inspection team watched it with great interest.
Firearms and artillery may not be unfamiliar to these countries, but few people have witnessed such a scene in which both sides of the war equipped and used firearms in large quantities. Many time travelers have always believed that the civil war in Japan during the Warring States Period was at the level of village-level fighting, but now it seems that this idea is still a bit biased. In terms of combat mode, the Kyushu coalition army that has received Hai Han training is actually not much different from the auxiliary armies of Annan and Korea. It is just that there is still a big gap in combat experience.
However, some people hold opposing views, believing that it is precisely because the emergence of Hai Han has improved the combat level of both sides that such a fierce battle has occurred. If all Hai Han factors are removed from the war, wouldn't it still be similar to a village-level fight?
At the end of the battle that day, although the Kyushu coalition forces failed to destroy the landing shogunate troops, they did cause heavy casualties to the enemy.
According to the number estimated from observations made from positions high up on the hill, the Shogunate's landing force suffered at least two thousand casualties in the fighting that day, a result that the Allied commanders had not dared to even think about before the war.
The shogunate army was still insisting on transporting troops and combat supplies to this beachhead, but due to environmental constraints, the artillery that could be transported ashore was generally of small caliber, which made it difficult for the shogunate army to rely on heavy firepower to tear through the defenders' defenses, and they couldn't even engage in a direct bombardment of the coalition forces.
Because the coalition's firepower output was too strong, shells kept hitting the shogunate's positions as if they were free. Although the shogunate also tried to set up artillery positions to launch a counterattack, the surveillance on the high hills could see their movements and then instruct the artillery below to attack the unfinished artillery positions on the shogunate's positions.
As a result, the artillery units of the shogunate army were always in a passive position. They could only retreat beyond the enemy's firing range to set up artillery positions, and then retreat the entire front line so that their own artillery could participate in the battle and play a role.
Even so, due to limited ammunition, the shogunate army's artillery is unlikely to maintain an extremely high firing frequency like the Kyushu coalition, and the intensity of firepower output is far inferior to that of the opponent.
After the battle situation of the day was reported to the Mori residence on the other side of the strait, the high-ranking officials of the shogunate finally realized that it would be difficult to achieve the goal of this war to conquer Kyushu.
The number of guns, artillery and warships owned by the enemy far exceeded the data previously known by the shogunate. The enemy had obviously hidden a trick well, causing the shogunate to misjudge the strength comparison between the two sides before the war.
After two days of fighting, it seemed that the shogunate army had successfully opened a gap on the other side, but no substantial progress had been made so far, and the battle line was still near the coastline, not advancing much inland. The enemy took full advantage of this situation and launched attacks on the shogunate army that had landed, and the current statistics on the casualties were almost one-sided.
Tokugawa Ietsugu was extremely dissatisfied with the passive situation caused by the lack of this intelligence. If he did not still need to continue to obtain intelligence from the other side, he would probably have ordered the relevant person in charge to commit seppuku to apologize on the spot.
The one that led the shogunate across the sea was the Owari Tokugawa clan, one of the three great clans. More than half of its elite troops had been lost in the fighting over the past two days.
The shogunate had originally planned to use the tactic of exchanging troops, using elite troops to quickly consume the Kyushu coalition forces, with the weaker second-line troops responsible for harvesting and finishing off the enemy. However, the Owari Tokugawa family's troops were now unable to attack or withdraw, paying a large number of lives but merely consuming the opponent's ammunition, and they were unable to even change defense and withdraw. Their situation was extremely embarrassing.
Tokugawa Ietsugu could not blame the Owari Tokugawa clan for their poor fighting performance, because according to their reports, the number of artillery deployed by the enemy on the battlefield was several times that of theirs, and they were suppressed by firepower from beginning to end during the battle, with no chance of advancing the front line at all.