Chapter 2142

The battle that took place near the northern coastline of Kyushu only lasted a little more than an hour and was basically over. The Fujian Navy successfully defeated the main force of the Hirado Navy they had been searching for, consisting of 17 warships and seven cargo ships.

Not a single ship in the formed naval fleet escaped from Jiwu Bay, and most of them were sunk or damaged. Only five ships remained relatively intact when captured.

About 400 enemy personnel were captured, half of them from the last few cargo ships captured. According to Xu Yuzhuo's estimate, the number of enemy personnel who died in this battle should not be less than 500, but still

Some fish that slipped through the net took advantage of the chaos to abandon the ship and swam ashore and fled into the inland areas. However, this was harmless and could not change the reality that the main force of the Hirado navy was basically wiped out.

However, the Fujian Navy also paid a heavy price in this battle. Two warships were sunk by the opponent's artillery fire during the battle, and another seven or eight ships also suffered serious damage. They must be rescued as soon as possible.

It just needs to be repaired. Of course, the number of casualties is much better than that of the opponent, but the number of people killed and missing has reached about a hundred, and the price is really not light.

Cleaning the battlefield took far longer than the fighting time. Xu Yuzhuo had to be patient and let the warships search the sea surface in Jiwu Bay again, trying to fish out as many people as possible from the Fujian Navy who fell into the water, even those who had been killed.

personnel, they also have to take their bodies back.

In addition, for several warships that were severely damaged and unable to sail normally, he also needed to make a decision based on their specific conditions. Whether to perform damage control maintenance on site and bring these damaged warships back to Hirado Port, or to decisively abandon the ships and relocate them.

The personnel were transferred to other ships and then returned as soon as possible. But no matter which choice was made, it was not an easy task that could be completed in a short time for the naval fleet that had just experienced a life-and-death battle.

But in any case, the combat goal that Xu Yuzhuo had been thinking about for many days has finally been basically achieved. In this way, even if he evacuates Hirado and returns to Fujian, he will still have a good record to show to Xu Xinsu. Of course, if he can follow the clues and find the hidden place in Kyushu

The senior figures of the Hirado clan here will definitely make a great contribution.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuzhuo decided not to rush back to Hirado Port, but while the damaged warship was undergoing damage control maintenance, he first saw if he could glean some useful information from the prisoners.

Without much effort, Xu Yuzhuo confirmed that the warship he identified was indeed the flagship of Wei Zhi, commander of the Hirado Navy. However, the stranded ship was still burning at this time, and Wei Zhi could not confirm that it was

It seems that it will be difficult to obtain some key information about Zhi's life and death.

At this time, the gunpowder on the warship exploded again, blowing nearly half of the hull into several pieces, making it even more difficult to implement.

Although Xu Yuzhuo felt a little regretful, he did not regret the measures he had taken earlier. If he hesitated a little at that time, he might have allowed the people on the ship to reach the shore and escape. That was the result he was least willing to accept.

Xu Yuzhuo interrogated several people and basically confirmed that this fleet has been hiding in this secret house bay since it withdrew from Shandai Island north of Hirado a few days ago, and these ships are the remaining ships of the Hirado Navy.

All the power.

But the issue that Xu Xinsu is most concerned about at the moment is whether there has been a recent escape of personnel from the area blocked by Haihan in the northern part of Hirado Island. None of these prisoners are clear about it. Xu Yuzhuo is also a little helpless about this. The relevant insiders should all be on that ship.

On the damn flagship, but at this time, there is definitely no way to get the news out of the dead man's mouth.

The failure to trace the whereabouts of the Tagawa father and son was undoubtedly a pity for this operation. After confirming that the damaged warships had restored their sailing capabilities, Xu Xinsu ordered the withdrawal of troops, and the naval fleet gathered its formation.

Return directly to Hirado Port.

At this point, almost all the elite troops of the Hirado Domain were exhausted in this war. Although there are still a few armed personnel under Tagawasuke's orders in the Kyushu Island ruling area, they can no longer affect the current war situation.

The armed strength of the Hirado Domain has also dropped to the lowest point since the establishment of the domain. At this time, any force that covets Hirado will definitely make it difficult for Tagawa Suke to resist.

Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen were both a little surprised when they learned that the Fujian Navy had wiped out the main force of the Hirado Navy in the direction of Kyushu. It was not that the combat effectiveness of Xu Yuzhuo's fleet exceeded their expectations.

Dare to let it act alone, but the place where the battle took place was not particularly far from Hirado. Even the Haihan warship had searched the nearby waters, but failed to find the hiding place of the enemy fleet like Xu Yuzhuo did.

They originally thought that their opponent had gone away to hide in another place, but they never thought that this fleet was dozens of miles away from Hirado.

They saw that several warships had already tilted significantly due to water intrusion when they docked at the dock. From this, they could imagine that the battle situation at that time was definitely not a one-sided suppression. The desperate counterattack of the Hirado Navy also gave the Fujian Navy a hard time.

The teacher caused a lot of trouble.

But in any case, being able to complete the task of searching and annihilating the enemy on his own is definitely an outstanding performance worthy of praise. Even if Xu Yuzhuo later explained to them that he failed to capture the enemy commander alive, no further clues were found about the whereabouts of Tagawasuke and his son.

Both Qian and Shi still spoke highly of the performance of the Fujian Navy.

After destroying this armed fleet, the Hirado clan is temporarily unable to launch a counterattack from the direction of Kyushu Island. The coalition forces no longer need to spend a lot of energy to guard against this hidden danger, and can focus on the personnel and supplies of Hirado Island.

Cleanup work begins.

After nearly ten days of rush transportation, almost all the population in the central and northern areas of Hirado Island were transported to Seogwipo, and all kinds of materials on the island were gradually evacuated. When the last batch of local people were transported

After being put on the ship and shipped, the coalition forces began to carry out the final step.

The coalition forces set up dozens of burning points in the city, and then ignited these burning points made of dry firewood, straw, bamboo branches and other flammable materials one by one from west to east. The fire quickly spread in the city, and

The personnel responsible for setting the fire quickly evacuated to the port after completing the operation. Of course, the official residences located on the highlands to the south of the port area also did not escape the disaster.

On the sea a few miles north of the Hirado Strait, Qian Tiandun, Shi Diwen, Shen Xueyi, Xi Mang and others watched the tragic scene of Hirado city gradually falling into a sea of ​​flames on the deck. The local buildings were all made of bamboo.

Wood was the main building material, and the fire spread very quickly. In just an hour or two, the sky above the entire northern tip of Hirado Island was already filled with flames and thick smoke, which could be seen dozens of miles away.

Compared with this overwhelming fire, the fire that burned down Hirado Castle more than thirty years ago can really only be regarded as a child's play. The situation that Hirado has gradually developed since its opening as a port has basically been eliminated.

This huge fire burned everything in the sky.

The damage that this fire will cause to the Hirado Domain cannot be estimated using simple economic figures. Anyone who wants to rebuild this place in the future will probably have to consider whether it is worth it - even if they can raise the funds to rebuild it.

With the funds required, even if Hirado Port can regain its trade status, it may not be able to withstand another military attack from the outside.

The Haihan people dared to do things extremely well and razed Hirado to the ground with a fire, so who would dare to take the risk and bet that they would not come back in the future?

With trade, the most important economic source, cut off, the Hirado Domain's ruling body will face the problem of insufficient operating funds. It is difficult to say whether the domain can continue to maintain its position.

The people were gone, the money was gone, and the industry was gone. The mess left behind was useless to the troubled Hirado clan. When Tagawasuke returned here a few days later, he saw that Hirado had turned into a scorched earth.

Do you still have the confidence to continue fighting with Haihan?

"Maybe after this fire, the Japanese shogunate will re-examine their foreign policies." Shi Diwen looked at the fire in the distance and said: "Our actions may further accelerate the speed of the shogunate's implementation of seclusion, and they probably won't be interested.

Make a deal with us."

"That's not necessarily the case. It might have the opposite effect." Qian Tiandun said meaningfully: "If they realize that there is an unimaginably powerful civilization outside, they may repeat the actions they took hundreds of years ago.

Countermeasures.”

"Are you saying that the shogunate may send people to study abroad in our country just like it sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty?" Shi Diwen also responded with understanding.

"Yes, one of the cultural traditions of this country is obedience and imitation of the strong. Whoever has a harder fist than him and can beat him will strengthen his own strength by imitating him," Qian Tiandun said.

He said: "They have done this before, and I think they will continue to do it now and in the future. This is their nature. This fire may just burn away the Japanese people's thoughts of resistance and make them realize our

The power.”

Beginning in the seventh century AD, Japan sent nineteen envoys to China over two hundred years, with more than a hundred people each time. The largest mission even had more than six hundred people. These missions were

Elites selected from various fields came to China to learn all aspects of advanced production skills, knowledge and systems, and gradually introduced them to Japan, which greatly promoted the spread of Chinese culture in Japan.

Haihan's strength and advancement have obvious advantages over all countries of the same era. Whether it will make people fear or admire may depend on the personal wishes of the country's power holders.

Although Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen have very different views, they are both situations that may arise.

Shen Xueyi and Ximeng were listening to this discussion beside them, and they couldn't help but feel their hearts surging. General Haihan talked so calmly about the impact of this war on Japan. His profound understanding and far-sightedness were enough to make

They were filled with admiration. At the same time, they couldn't help but secretly rejoice that their country and Haihan were allies with common interests, and there was no need to worry about facing a merciless military attack like Haihan's.

The fire in Hirado lasted far longer than the coalition forces expected. After engulfing the entire city, the fire gradually spread to the mountains and forests outside the city, and then slowly expanded southward. The embers of fire drifted past

After crossing the Hirado Strait, which is less than two miles wide, it ignited part of the mountain forests on the west coast of Kyushu, causing the fire to spread to the northwest corner of Kyushu.

However, at this time, the coalition fleet had already reached the waters near Fukue Island, and they did not know that the fire here was still expanding. Such a fire was far beyond the power of manpower to put out, and the locals could only watch the fire.

Raging everywhere.

It wasn't until three days later, perhaps even God couldn't stand it any longer, that a heavy rain fell from the sky and the fire finally came to an end.

The fire that destroyed most of the Hirado Domain in the 15th year of Kanei, Japan, was later recorded in Japanese history books. In order to distinguish it from the fire that burned down Hirado Castle in the Keicho era, this fire

The fire that lasted more than 30 years was also called the "Haihan Fire". However, because the Kaihan Army that attacked Hirado evacuated all the local people before setting the fire, the fire burned a large area, but there were no casualties.

But very few.

Hirado Port, Japan's leading foreign trade center in this era, was completely destroyed by the fire. Nagasaki Port, which was under the direct jurisdiction of the shogunate, quickly replaced Hirado's trade status and became a new foreign trade center.

As for the replacement of power in the Hirado clan, a series of bloody battles took place within the Hizen Kingdom. Although Hirado, which was burned to ruins, no longer needs much reconstruction, there are still many careerists who hope to inherit it.

Hirado's trade connections and military technology are unparalleled in Japan. However, the Tagawa father and son, who have lost most of their armed forces, do not seem to have the ability to keep these secrets, so many people are targeting them.

.

However, these internal battles in Hizen Kingdom are no longer important to the coalition forces headed by Kaihan. Although they failed to annihilate all the target individuals in this eastern expedition, the strategy of attacking the Hirado Domain and the Eighteen Shiba Yu Party

The goal has been basically achieved, and the opponent's base has been destroyed, leaving almost no chance for the opponent to make a comeback.

The military expenses spent by the coalition forces during the operation were partially recouped through the massive supplies seized from Hirado after the war. In addition, the thousands of Japanese people transported out of Hirado were also a considerable income for Haihan.

Haihan's rate of absorbing immigrants in various ruling areas in the north is slowing down. After these Japanese are distributed and resettled in various places, they can also slightly alleviate local population needs. However, according to Haihan's current civil affairs system, if this group

If you want to obtain Haihan nationality, you still have to go through a period of hard times.

The coalition fleet returning west did not let go of the Goto Islands. It spent three days forcibly gathering the people on each island and transporting them away as trophies. After being plundered by Haihan, Hirado Island and Goto Island

The population size of the island archipelago has regressed directly to the level of centuries ago.
Chapter completed!