Chapter 280 The Sword Points at Japan (15) The Struggle for Advance and Retreat
In fact, many generals in the Japanese army wanted to ask this question of Mouri Hidemoto. There was more than one reason why they had this question, but one of the important reasons was that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was beaten by Yi Sun-shin in order to strengthen the navy to save the country.
Due to the situation, many heavy artillery originally equipped with the land division were transferred to the navy for transformation and eventually put on ships, which harmed the interests of the land division.
In addition, Toyotomi Hideyoshi also dismantled some shore defense artillery originally used in the port and moved them onto warships. However, the generals of the Army Division did not bother to ask about this because it did not concern themselves.
At this time, whether it was Takatora Toudo or Anji Wakisaka, all the navy generals actually didn't want to answer this question, but they just couldn't do it. After all, Kuuki Yoshitaka was dismissed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi because of his previous failure, and he is no longer in charge.
Japanese navy.
In this way, Toyo Takatora and Wakisaka Anji, the two direct Toyotomi generals, became the two top generals in the navy. If they didn't answer, no one would answer.
Todo Takatora and Wakisaka Anji looked at each other, and finally bit the bullet and said: "Your Majesty Mouri is unaware of something. After the Meiryo naval battle, our navy conducted some tactical reviews, especially a very strict sea cannon bombardment test.
Our army's Anzha ships, Guan ships, Xiaowan ships and several types of Korean warships that were damaged in the naval battle were used as target ships to test the actual combat value of large-tube shelling."
"Oh?" Mouri Xiuyuan asked: "What's the result?"
"The results are mixed." Todo Takatora said with a wry smile: "First of all, it is very difficult for a large tube to hit the target ship at sea. We conducted shooting tests with a single large tube. At a general engagement distance with very little wind and waves, it would take dozens of projectiles to hit the target.
once.
And if about ten large barrels are fired from the side string at the same time, the hit rate will indeed be improved, but it often takes several rounds of salvos to hit once."
Kuroda Ruishui frowned on the side, but he did not speak immediately. Instead, Maori Hidemoto was shocked, staring and said: "Ten large barrels, several rounds of volleys, can only hit once?"
Before Todo Takatora could answer, Ukita Hideie added: "I noticed that Todo-kun also said that this kind of test was conducted at a 'general combat distance with very little wind and waves'.
So I can’t say this from this: This test result means that if the wind and waves are bigger and the combat distance is longer, it will be almost impossible for this big salvo to hit, or...it will take dozens of rounds of salvo fire to have a chance.
Getting a hit, is that it?”
"Based on the test results, I'm afraid this is indeed the case, and the reason why the Navy conducted such a test is precisely because in the Myeongryang Sea Battle, it was clear that our army had far more large cannons than before, but at the end of the review, we found that
, the actual results we achieved through Otsutsuki are very limited." Wakisaka Anji also intervened to answer at this time.
"This is strange. If the large cannon salvoes cannot hit the enemy ships at all, how can we explain that each ship of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance fleet is equipped with a large number of large cannons, and at the same time they also despise joining forces?"
Mouri Xiuyuan frowned and pointed out: "You must not forget that the Sea Trade Alliance completely defeated the Andong Navy in the naval battle in the Northeast. If the big tube is not the key to victory, then what is?
In particular, as far as I know, the performance of the long-established Anton navy in that naval battle can only be described in one sentence, that is, it has no backhand power - how to explain this?"
Before Toudo Takatora and Wakisaka Anji could explain, Kuroda Yusui spoke. He said calmly: "Nothing else, just enough."
"Master Ru Shui, what does this mean?" Maori Xiuyuan didn't react for a moment.
Kuroda Rusui said: "I mean, the Sea Trade Alliance wins because of the extremely large number of large tubes. In this way, even if the hit rate of large tubes in naval battles is extremely low, as long as there are enough large tubes firing at a certain ship at the same time, then
Naturally, the hit rate has been greatly improved.”
Maori Xiuyuan wondered: "Master's words should be correct in theory, but I still find it unbelievable. Master, the big barrel is not an iron cannon. Every time it is fired, a large amount of gunpowder is used. To the side of the Jinghua giant ship,
Considering the number of fourteen large barrels, each of their ships would consume about a hundred kilograms of gunpowder for each salvo.
Then we can roughly calculate how much gunpowder it takes for the Sea Trade Alliance to conduct a naval battle? Everyone knows the price of gunpowder. People like them are not fighting, they are just throwing money into the sea!"
Ukita Hideie frowned and said: "The Sea Trade Alliance is different from us in Japan. The Ming Dynasty should have saltpeter mines, so I expect that their gunpowder cost should be much lower than that in Japan."
"Cost is naturally a factor, but I think the most critical reason may not be this." Kuroda Rushui said with a stern face: "You might as well think about it, since the Anton navy was beaten and almost completely wiped out.
, after a setback, which Japanese navy still has the courage to challenge the maritime hegemony of the Sea Trade Alliance in the past ten years?
Not to mention the entire Maritime Trade Alliance, even the Kanto fleet stationed in Misaki Castle, which Japanese naval force would dare to challenge it? Oh, even His Highness Taige, hadn't he been able to release the 'new fleet' before?
Are you always on guard at Osaka Bay and not easily sent to fight in Kanto?
As for His Highness Tokugawa, he is considered the most powerful daimyo in Japan since Taiko, but Taiko ordered him to recover the two cities of Misaki and Tamana, but he still refuses to do anything.
The Tokugawa Imperial Household said that even if they occupy these two cities, the Kanto fleet can rely on the island of Misaki Castle to hold on to that maritime stronghold. After that, the thousands of miles of Kanto coastal defenses will be opened, and the Maritime Trade Alliance can attack wherever it wants. No matter how strong the Tokugawa army is, it can only
They can be exhausted running for their lives and eventually be dragged down. Therefore, as long as the Kanto Fleet cannot be eliminated, the Tokugawa family will not be able to use troops against Misaki and Tamana.
Gentlemen, this is the reason why the Sea Trade Alliance dared to spend so much gunpowder in a war: in exchange for more than ten years of smooth trade in one war, what a huge benefit it is, how could it be a loss?
On the other hand, with the support of such huge trade income, the Sea Trade Alliance has reduced the number of troops required for gang-hopping wars, and instead fully strengthened the equipment of large tanks. What is wrong with this? Soldiers must be paid monthly, large tanks
As long as the equipment is equipped and there is no war, then you don’t need to spend much money in the future - it’s just for the big drummer to do some rust-proofing and other maintenance.”
Kuroda Rusui's explanation was so detailed that Maori Hidemoto came to his senses and suddenly said: "No wonder, no wonder... I understand. I had always been curious about why the Sea Trade Alliance always sailed in groups and rarely single people.
The ship travels alone.
It turns out that due to the limitations of their tactics, their single-ship combat power is very limited. If you want to use the power of the big cannon, the bigger the fleet, the better."
Ukita Hideie turned the topic back to the navy's statement just now and asked: "Master Rusui, can I understand it this way? The significance of large tube shipments is that there are enough large tubes, and they must be used intensively in wartime to be effective?
Although our navy is currently equipped with a lot of large cannons, it may still be at a disadvantage when facing the Ming Navy or the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance. Therefore, it is better to give up shooting with large cannons and still use the ones that our navy is most familiar with.
Joining forces and joining forces to fight?"
Kuroda Asui did not answer directly, but looked at Toudo Takatora and Wakisaka Anji, and said: "This question needs to be asked for the final judgment of the Navy. I just explained the phenomenon of the Sea Trade Alliance's light ship and heavy ship.
.”
What Takatora Toudo and Anji Wakisaka could say, naturally, they could only express their recognition. Takatora Toudo also added: "In addition to the fact that the number of large tubes is definitely at a disadvantage compared to the Ming army, there is also a very important point: our army is short of gunpowder.
.According to calculations, if we were to engage in a large-barreled artillery battle with the Ming Navy, the existing gunpowder reserves would definitely be seriously insufficient, and the Army would probably need to provide the Navy with at least 10,000 kilograms of gunpowder before we could even try.
"
Upon hearing this, all the Japanese generals shook their heads. Not to mention Mouri Hidemoto, even Ukita Hideie said bluntly: "This is completely impossible. Now the new admiral of the Ming Army Army, Ma Guizheng, is leading an army of 100,000 people."
Going south, the land division is under huge pressure, and the gunpowder reserves may be insufficient. How can we allocate so much to support the navy? Absolutely not, absolutely not."
It's interesting to say that due to the influence of highly pragmatic butterfly wings, the Japanese Navy at this time actually saw the development direction of the world's navies, especially the development direction of maritime armaments, more than two hundred years earlier. It was only limited to Japan's national power. They ultimately failed
Be able to make correct choices or changes accordingly.
In fact, let alone Japan, if it had not been for the emergence of high pragmatism, even if the Ming Dynasty had earlier contact and had a naval battle with the Western Navy, the naval battle thinking of the Ming Dynasty would not have changed very quickly in the original history, and even left many consequences for later generations.
One impression is that the Ming Dynasty Navy was conservative in thinking. Although they clearly saw the direction of naval development, they were still stubborn and unwilling to make progress.
In fact, this idea is problematic. The Ming Dynasty was an important period when the gap between Eastern and Western military technology began to widen, and it was also an era when Western learning spread to the east. After Jiajing, Japanese pirates, pirates, and European forces successively and continuously intruded on the Ming Dynasty, so in response to
To meet the needs of coastal defense, the Ming Navy actually experienced two technological and tactical changes.
The first time was during the Jialongwan period, centered on the introduction of Folang cannons; the second time was during the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods, centered on the introduction of red cannons. These two changes also brought corresponding tactical adjustments to the Ming Dynasty Navy
.
Before the second revolution, the order of importance of the naval battle tactics of the Ming Dynasty was still burning ships and "using ships to plow" as the most important. In naval battles, sinking pirate ships was the first, followed by beheading and capturing prisoners.
As for the use of cannon to injure people and destroy ships, it is rare.
However, by the beginning of the 17th century, the Dutch successfully came east because they won the Western naval competition. Their ships had more guns and more power than the Portuguese ships. After several conflicts, the Ming Dynasty also understood their performance characteristics and specialized in them.
It is called the "Red Yi" cannon.
On the southeastern coast, where the coastal defense problem is the most severe, the Ming Dynasty Navy quickly applied red cannons to coastal defense warships, and broke through the limit on the number of large artillery-equipped warships. Specialized "畕ships" appeared, and broadside guns were also derived.
Technology, this is already very close to the artillery tactics of European ships.
Since the Chongzhen year, pirates and official ships have been equipped with multiple red barbarian cannons. In the naval battle of Heliaoluo Bay in the Ming Dynasty in 1633, the large warships of the Ming army were equipped with 16, 20, and 36 cannons respectively.
Later, Hans Putoman, the governor of Taiwan in the Netherlands, recorded this: Zheng Zhilong's warship was "built according to the Dutch model. It is a large and exquisite, well-equipped sailing ship and fleet. It is also equipped with a part on the ship that can be towed and equipped with ring bolts.
Double-deck cannon".
In the battle to annihilate Liu Xiang in 1635, Zheng Zhilong's warships "can carry twenty-four gunmen per ship, and when the cannon fires, it splits the clouds and penetrates the waves, forming a formation of soldiers."
Of course, at that time, it was not common for warships to be equipped with more than a dozen or even thirty-six Hongyi cannons. First, the Hongyi cannons were very heavy and equipped with more than a dozen or even dozens of cannons, which was very difficult for warships.
The size requirements are relatively high; secondly, the original Ming Dynasty's cannons and Hongyi cannons are technically inherited, so it is likely that the Ming Dynasty warships mixed Hongyi cannons and cannons.
In addition to the increase in quantity, the supporting equipment of the Ming Dynasty naval artillery was also gradually improved at that time. The initial equipment of the gun or red cannon was placed on a wooden frame, with mud, chaff, and straw spread under the wooden frame to buffer the recoil.
However, as the number of large artillery increased, the Ming Dynasty Navy also began to have gun carriages, portholes, gun holes, artillery decks, etc., and even warships with double-decker artillery decks appeared.
For example, it is recorded in "Military Records": "There are gun holes on the left and right sides of the lower deck (main deck) of the ship, maybe thirty or twenty places, and red barbarian cannons are placed. Each gun weighs 2,300 to 400 ribs, with a
The wheels are mounted on them to facilitate the advancement and retreat of charges. These cannons are arranged one on each ship, or six or eight, on the left and right; the remaining holes are also lined with cannons with one thousand ribs and five hundred ribs, and those with five hundred ribs are necessary.
The square is heavy and does not jump, and the feeding end is straight."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Zheng Chenggong’s watercraft cannons are also arranged in layers, with battlements on top, surrounded by towers, covered with iron leaves, and hung with leather curtains.
A wind gate was cut in the middle to use the cannons and crossbows.
What's even more interesting is that the double-layer gun deck technology was not only used in the southeastern coastal areas, but also penetrated into the inland rivers. According to "Ping Wu Lu", in 1674, Wu Sangui rebelled and built "three layers in the middle and two layers in the upper and middle"
It is a large river warship with thirty-six gun positions on each side and twenty-four oars on each side of the lower deck. It can move very fast.
As the number of artillery continued to increase, bombardment tactics gradually matured. In August 1627, Zheng Zhilong and Yu Zigao's troops fought in Jun'ao, Fuzhou. Zheng Zhihu used a bucket-head cannon to penetrate the Ma Shengchuan of the Ming Navy and set fire to the gunpowder barrel.
In June 1628, Zheng Zhilong and Yu Zigao fought again in Xiamen. The Ming army's Sun Xiong ship was sunk by Zheng Zhixiong's cannons. In the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, Zheng Zhilong destroyed Liu Xiang in Tianwei Yang, Guangdong. Both warships were sunk by cannons.
Multiple ships.
In May 1661, Zheng Chenggong launched a naval battle with Dutch warships in the Taijiang waters. The Dutch warship "Hector" exploded and sank first, and then the Chinese ships came close to the "S. Grafland" and "Egret" No. 2
At the stern of the ship, the Zheng Army soldiers fired cannons at the decks and cabins of the enemy ships, and the Zheng Army also used fire to attack the ships.
In this battle, the role of shelling ships and shelling people has become very prominent. The traditional burning of enemy ships still plays an important role, but the most commonly used jumping ship battle in the past has never appeared again.
In 1680, during the battle of the Qing army to regain Haitan, Wan Zhengse's warship "launched a salvo of artillery fire and sank sixteen pirate ships." In 1683, during the Penghu naval battle, artillery tactics became more important, and muskets were fired first in sea battles.
"There is no better way to burn an enemy's ship than fire, and a better way to destroy an enemy's ship than a cannon."
At that time, many large and small warships of the Qing army were damaged by cannons, and eight Zheng's artillery ships were sunk by the Qing army's naval guns.
During this period, the tactic of naval gunfire was also developed. According to "Taiwan Foreign Records", "In any water battle, when they see each other, they will fire their heads. When approaching, they may fire their guns on the left; turn the rudder and fire their guns aft.
"Fire the right gun again" - look, is this highly consistent with the broadside salvo tactics of European battleships at that time?
However, although bombardment tactics gradually matured, the situation of using naval guns to decide the outcome had not yet appeared at that time. In general naval battles, diverse shelling, plowing, burning, jumping ship, hand-to-hand combat, etc. were still conventional tactics.
.
Even in the Battle of Penghu, where bombardment tactics were most widely used, the Qing army used fire barrels and fire pots to burn 18 Zheng army artillery boats, 36 big bird boats, 67 sailing boats, and 5 foreign ships converted into warships.
Far more than the mere eight that were sunk by naval guns.
Putting the Qing army aside, let’s look at another question: compared with Europe at that time, what level was the Ming Navy at?
In Europe, especially along the Atlantic coast, in the last few decades of the 15th century, with the advent of the Age of Discovery, European ships had broadside guns that could sink enemy ships.
In the 16th century, with the maturity and development of broadside gun technology, naval warfare characterized by ramming and forced boarding was gradually replaced by the tactics of broadside gun salvos.
In the 17th century, a fierce naval arms race took place. Various new types of warships continued to emerge, the gunfire became more and more fierce, and the speed of warships became faster and faster.
Facing Europe's powerful ships and cannons, the Ming Dynasty's navy was generally consistent with Europe in the direction of change, but it was later. The Ming Dynasty only began to use missiles, divine flying cannons, and powerful weapons on warships in the 16th century.
For heavy artillery such as long-range artillery, the Hongyi cannon began to be used in the early 17th century, using broadside artillery technology and shelling tactics.
But more importantly, the Ming Dynasty Navy’s ship gun reform showed an obvious technological preference of “heavy on powerful guns and light on strong ships”, that is, naval gun technology changes frequently, which is consistent with the rhythm and direction of European naval gun changes, while ship technology changes
Slow and limited changes were mostly the result of artillery needs, and no fundamental changes occurred.
The progress of firearms is linear, so after the introduction of European artillery, China's traditional gun-making technology only needed limited improvements to adapt. Therefore, Ming Dynasty technicians have always followed the footsteps of the West in artillery technology. However, shipbuilding technology
It's just the opposite.
First of all, the sails of Chinese and Western sailing ships are incompatible. This has been said before. Affected by the rotation of the earth, the winds on the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean are gentle and there are very few marine wind disasters. The requirements for the wind performance of ships are extremely high, so European ships
There are often huge and complicated sails.
The west coast of the Pacific Ocean, where the East China Sea and the South China Sea are located, is very windy and dangerous, and is greatly affected by the maritime monsoon, with heavy rains and strong winds and other disastrous weather occurring frequently. Therefore, Chinese seagoing ships have developed hard sails that are convenient for quickly shortening the sails and sailing to avoid danger.
However, European sailing ships have always been opposed to soft sails and square sails, which are complex and difficult to control.
Secondly, the control systems of Chinese and Western sailing ships are difficult to be compatible. The safety factor of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean is slightly higher, and the controllability requirements of the ship are not high. The sails only provide power and do not affect the direction of the ship.
The East China Sea and the South China Sea are numerous islands, covered with reefs, dotted with archipelagos, and intermittent islets along the coast. They are actually very much like an inner lake. In addition, due to the impact of the maritime ban, foreign trade has shrunk, so the destination for maritime freight is usually the surrounding coastal areas.
Mainly, it is generally no more than Malacca, so the time for sea trade to complete a sailing cycle is relatively short, and supplies are relatively convenient.
The above characteristics of multiple islands and reefs and short voyage distance made it neither necessary nor convenient to build large ships. Instead, small and medium-sized ships were flexible to maneuver, easy to avoid, and suitable for the multi-island and reef environment, so they became the mainstream of sea-going ships in the Ming Dynasty.
Finally, there are huge differences in structure between Chinese and Western sailing ships. European ships are mainly engaged in long-distance cross-sea voyages, with long sailing cycles and inconvenient supplies. Large ships are often required to ensure supplies for long voyages and profits for a single voyage. In addition, sailing in sea areas
The safety factor is high, and its ships are mainly horizontal compartments with large cargo capacity.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The East China Sea and the South China Sea are bumpy and unstable, and the cargo carried on the ship is mainly bulk solid cargo such as fish, ceramics, rice, salt, etc., which is very harmful to the ship.
Stability requirements are very high - among other things, ceramics are very delicate. Therefore, Chinese seagoing ships have adopted dense transverse compartments that can fix and divide cargo, facilitate cargo transfer, improve ship stability, and function similarly to containers.
structure.
As a result, European sea-going ships, with their complex sails and large and difficult-to-manage features, not only had no technical advantages in Southeast Asian naval battles and short-distance trade, but instead became fatal flaws.
In previous confrontations, the Sudanese regimes in Southeast Asia often used Lankan paddle boats to gain an advantage over Portuguese ships. The navy of the Ming Dynasty was often able to use this to control the enemy, taking advantage of the shortcomings of "large and difficult to move" ships to attack with fire.
Using flexible tactics such as boarding ships, we achieved victory over European ships.
Sea-going shipbuilding is one of the most complex industrial categories in traditional society. It involves a wide range of areas, has a long production chain, and is technically difficult. There is no doubt that all links are interdependent and restrictive.
European ship technology and Ming Dynasty ship technology belong to two independent technical systems. Each has a very mature technical system that meets the needs of navigation. Each has a high degree of dependence on the environment and a large difference in technical traditions. It is difficult to learn from each other.
In the learning situation, they ignore each other and exclude each other.
In this way, the changes in warship technology in the Ming Dynasty were actually the result of the traditional development of ship technology in response to the needs of naval guns. They were just improvements, strengthening or weakening of the original technical traditions, and there was no large-scale conversion to Western methods.
And this is also the reason why Jinghua Shipyard can only try to learn some ideas that are in line with the development trend of future naval warfare, but cannot completely abandon the Chinese warship construction model.
Why does Jinghua insist on producing one type of armed transport ship? Because in the waters of East Asia and Southeast Asia, the size of the armed transport ship can just balance seaworthiness, transportation volume and relatively high combat capabilities. If it is larger, the transportation and seaworthiness will decrease.
No matter how small it is, the combat capability will be insufficient.
In the Jinghua shipbuilding system, above the armed transport ships are cruisers and battleships. These are professional battleships, so the transportation capacity can be greatly weakened, mainly considering combat. And they mainly exist as combat core ships. In actual combat, their periphery will always be
There will be a larger number of armed transport ships accompanying it, so it does not have to worry about the problem of "big ships being difficult to move" in these waters.
To put it simply, the highly pragmatic thinking of naval warfare and the thinking of land warfare are actually roughly the same. Since I can use my physical advantage to crush you, I will fight in a majestic formation: big ships beat small ships, more ships beat fewer ships; big guns beat small guns.
, more cannons are better than fewer cannons.
In short, Gao Pragmatism actually uses a "total war" mentality to formulate various war plans. After all, the size of the Ming Dynasty is here. As long as the internal finance, military organization and other issues are solved, there will be no obvious backwardness in military science and technology.
Then we can rely on the "super-large country", an advantage that Western countries cannot have, to complete the crushing - in fact, this is how Tsarist Russia became Europe's steamroller.
Of course, Gao Pragmatic did not want Ming Dynasty’s technological level to be as backward as that of Tsarist Russia.
In terms of maritime competition, Gao Pragmatic only sees the "Western powers" in the future, and he really doesn't pay much attention to Japan at this time.
But even so, Gao Pragmatic did not forget that the lion and the rabbit also used all his strength. Not only had he started to "cut off the supply" of saltpeter to attack Japan's gunpowder production, he also sent spies to the Japanese navy to deviate from the Japanese warship construction ideas, and did not move.
However, once the naval battle was decided, he planned to annihilate the main force of the Japanese navy in one battle - the Japanese "new fleet" was sent to North Korea before he personally took action. It was precisely with this consideration.
As for Japan’s military and naval generals in Korea, they would eventually come up with a strategy of avoiding artillery battles and insisting on gang-hopping. To be honest, even Gao Pragmatic did not expect it. It can only be said that after the gap in national power reaches a certain level, no matter how you try,
How to be resourceful and brave, but ultimately there is no solution.
The discussion of maritime operations at the Hanyang Military Conference of the Japanese Army finally ended, so the topic turned back to land routes.
Ukita Hideie was worried about the Ming army's one hundred thousand army divisions. He was the general who invaded Korea last time, and he was well aware of the Ming army's combat effectiveness. Therefore, as soon as the topic turned back to the land route, he said: "One hundred thousand Ming army suddenly went south. I
The army's front line was caught off guard and suffered a major setback. The key point at the front of the front line is now Kaesong. Please feel free to express your opinions on Kaesong's defense."
Governor Konishi, who had been almost regarded as a "surrender", ignored the attention of everyone and jumped out again: "Kaicheng is undefeable from the terrain. As for the city defense, there is no need to mention it. In terms of the number of Ming troops,
In front of the huge and terrifying giant barrel, Kaesong City Wall is like a paper window, which can be broken with just one poke.
I think there is no need to hold on to Kaicheng. Instead, we should decisively abandon Kaicheng, withdraw all soldiers to Hanyang, and then see if we can consider fighting a protracted cage battle in Hanyang. The purpose is to try to overwhelm the Ming army's logistics and force them to have to
Withdraw troops.”
Kato Kiyomasa sneered: "As soon as I saw you jumping out, I knew you didn't have a decent word to say. Taige ordered us to quickly take over the entire North Korea in revenge for being despised and ridiculed by the Tang people. But you are not only afraid to take the initiative to attack or
We don’t even dare to fight back, even to defend the city!
Kaesong is one of the three capitals of Korea. There are mountains in the north and rivers in the west. How can it not be defended? In your eyes, field defense is not feasible and the only option is to wait for the Ming army to reach Kaesong and bombard the city.
?I would like to ask you whether you know how to fight!"
Governor Konishi also sneered and said: "Will I fight? What a joke! The mountains to the north of Kaicheng are neither high nor dangerous. The elite Xuan cavalry of the Ming army will not be hindered by such mountains at all.
When their thousands of cavalry charge into battle, what will our army do to resist them in the field? Do you want the Yamato warriors to defeat the Ming army's cavalry with their flesh and blood?
As for the Licheng River to the west of Kaicheng, it is not a big river, not to mention that the Ming Navy is coming in an instant. If the navy cannot stop it, it will be the Ming Army that blocks the river. At that time, the Ming Navy fired thousands of artillery pieces, and our defense line along the river was
Do we have to fight against the giant tube with our flesh and blood?"
Not to be outdone, Kato Kiyomasa retorted: "Since there are mountains in the north of the city, there are also forests. As long as our army takes the top of the mountains first, stands high in the mountains and forests, and fires with iron cannons, no matter how strong the Ming cavalry is, what can they do? Can they?
Crash through the mountains and forests and rush to our army's formation?
Since there is a river to the west of the city, the Ming Army's Land Division can be blocked by me. If the Ming Army's Navy really appears, our army can retreat beyond the range of its large cannon. If the Ming Army's Army Division crosses the river immediately, our army will meet them head-on.
Just fight - at that time, our army was entangled with the Ming army. No matter how powerful the Ming army's navy was, it couldn't fight with its own land army, right? From this point of view, how could it not be defended?"
Konishi Governor laughed and said: "Kato, how come you only look at the battle from your own perspective? Let me ask you, if the Ming navy really arrived and our navy couldn't restrain it, then why did they only know how to do it?
If Li Chengjiang confronts us, won't they pick up the Ming Army's land divisions on the warships and directly take the sea route to cut off our army's rear?
Let me remind you that it is still dozens of miles away from the west of Kaicheng to the Licheng River, but Hanyang is connected to the sea by a river. The Ming Navy can directly transport a large number of land divisions through the Han River to the city of Hanyang!
Then I ask you, how many elite troops do you need to put along Kaicheng to reach the Ming army going south? After putting so many elite troops in Kaicheng, if the Ming army transports troops directly to Hanyang through the navy, can Hanyang still be saved?
If Hanyang is lost, can Kaicheng be saved? Not to mention Kaicheng, Hanyang will also be lost by then. Can you withstand the wrath of His Highness Taige?"
Kato Kiyomasa was a pure land general and had never thought about the fact that the Ming army could rely on the Han River to send the army directly to Hanyang City. Therefore, he was suddenly asked by Konishi Yukino and was speechless.
Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga had been refusing to deal with each other. Now that they saw that they were being questioned by this guy, they suddenly became so angry that their faces turned red as blood, and they were about to go crazy.
Kuroda Nagamasa originally thought that his father would come out to be the peacemaker, but when he took a peek, he found that his father was frowning in deep thought, so he had to step forward himself, and quickly grabbed Kato Kiyomasa who happened to be sitting next to him, and said: "Your Majesty Kato, please calm down, I will see to this...
…”
"I also advocate the temporary abandonment of Kaicheng." Mouri Hidemoto made a rare early statement, saying: "Hanyang is the most critical point for our army to go north. If the Ming army has the ability to threaten Hanyang, our army must not ignore it and must
We must first ensure the safety of Hanyang before worrying about the rest... Your Highness Ukita, Master Rushui, what do you two have in mind?"
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PS: It seems that adjusting the biological clock is indeed difficult. Three cups of coffee in the middle of the night last night could not stop me from falling asleep. After I woke up in the middle of the night, I decided that "I will go to the mountains if I go." So I temporarily adjusted the update time and finished 8K code in one go.
I updated yesterday and today together to avoid falling asleep again tonight.
