Chapter 280 The Sword Pointed at Japan (Xiliu) Naval Battle Begins
What kind of news does it mean to Gao Pragmatic that the Japanese navy sneaked out of Busan and headed for Sacheon or Okpo?
Of course it’s good news! It’s not just good, it’s great.
The fact that the Japanese navy would take such action only shows one thing, that is, they have almost no idea about the distribution of the force of the Japanese-Japanese fleet. If you want to be more precise, then you can also say that: the Japanese navy mistakenly thought that the forces outside Busan Port were
The fleet is the entire strength of the Japanese and Japanese fleets.
However, in fact, the Ping-Japan fleet was divided into two parts from the beginning, one part was the navy of the Ming Dynasty to aid Korea, and the other part was the maritime trade alliance's expedition fleet.
Although the fleet provided by the Shanghai Trade Alliance is nominally called the Expedition Fleet, in fact it is a force that exceeds the Ming Army's aid to Korea Navy, and its degree of regularization is actually higher than that of the Ming Army's Aid Korea Navy.
This expedition fleet has one second-class battleship, two third-class battleships, five first-class cruisers, six second-class cruisers, and forty-six armed transport ships, a total of sixty ships, including fourteen professional battleships.[
Note: In the previous article, the number of first-class cruisers was written as four, which is corrected here.]
However, due to the need to blockade the Port of Busan, Gao pragmatically reorganized the two fleets as soon as he arrived in Sacheon. To put it simply, he mobilized some ships from the expedition fleet and organized them into the naval fleet. Specifically, all
Six second-class cruisers and 12 armed transport ships, a total of 18 warships, all from the Beijing-China Beiyang Fleet.
To a large extent, the Japanese army in Busan Port discovered that these warships appeared in the Ming army's blockade fleet, and then they determined that they were unable to leave the port to fight. As a result, they stayed in the port for a period of time, relying on iron ropes to seal the port.
The eight Keihua No. 2 guns brought by Japan but originally obtained through smuggling were used as coastal defense guns for defense.
However, one thing that needs to be explained here is that it is indeed impossible for the Ming fleet to block the sea outside Busan Port around the clock. This is true, but the Ming fleet does not have to retreat too far and rush out of the harbor every day. "
work".
Why? Because the topography of Busan has a very interesting feature, that is, there is a large island outside its port, called Jeeyeongdo. Later, South Korea simplified its name and changed its name to Yeongdo.
The area of this island is not small, nearly 12 square kilometers. After the Korean economy developed in later generations, it developed well. It even had the National Ocean University, the Fisheries Promotion Institute, the Maritime High School, and advanced shipbuilding companies such as Hanjin Heavy Industries, which played a role.
The "mother" role of South Korea's shipbuilding industry.
However, Jueying Island was still almost an uninhabited land at this time, especially after it was occupied by the Japanese army. The Koreans in a small village on the island had long been killed - the reason was that this place could easily be used to observe Busan Port.
It may have been used by the North Korean Navy. As a result, the North Korean Navy did not take advantage of it, but the Ming Navy did.
At this time, the Ming Navy lacked experience in foreign operations, but after Gao Pragmatic assigned eighteen pure Jinghua-type warships to Chen Lin, the blockade fleet had a lot of offensive experience - such as the rapid construction of temporary
Piers, temporary berths and simple breakwaters, etc.
Due to the large number of people in the Ming Navy, with the guidance of the Beiyang Fleet, the construction speed was very fast, and everything needed for a short-term station was built in just four days. Since then, the Ming Navy has
On the island, a glaring confrontation began with the Japanese navy in Busan Port.
It was precisely because the island was so close to the port that the Japanese navy figured out the Ming army's action patterns from observations during this period, so they dared to accept the task of containing one force and sneaking out of the port.
But they obviously made the wrong choice. They thought that all Ming naval forces aiding Korea were stationed on Jueying Island. They had no idea that there was one second-class battleship, two third-class battleships, and five first-class cruisers in Sichuan Port at this time.
, and thirty-four armed transport ships.
To put it bluntly, even if all the Japanese naval forces were rushing towards the fleet, they would definitely not be a match for this Sea Trade Alliance fleet.
Gao pragmatically judged that unless Chen Lin, Deng Zilong and others all seriously neglected their duties, the Japanese navy fleet coming now cannot be the entire force in Busan Port. Therefore, as long as we are prepared, we will not be beaten.
If it were a surprise attack, then the Japanese navy would have no chance of winning.
The only question now is whether it is necessary to annihilate this fleet.
The advantage of annihilation is that the enemy of Busan has completely become a lonely force. Considering Toyotomi Hideyoshi's current state, it is impossible for him to temporarily detonate troops - especially the Baku navy - to come for a decisive battle. So as long as this Japanese navy is annihilated, in
The Japanese army would have a higher chance of recognizing the reality and surrendering, which would save a lot of trouble and the Ming army would also suffer less losses.
What about not annihilating? Well... not annihilating does not mean turning a blind eye. It is better to make an emergency landing. The more the strength of the Japanese naval forces declines, the more they will be able to act as they please against Japan in the future.
And if they are forced to land, they can continue to strengthen their own strength. When the time comes, they can be dispersed and organized into the Japanese expedition fleet. Not to mention how much practical effect they can play, at least they can build up their momentum.
Crash landing is a trade-off opportunity, and with Gao's pragmatic and consistent style, he is obviously more inclined to do this.
"Inform Gao Shengyi of my judgment that the Japanese navy is about to attack, and order him to prepare for the battle. The primary goal of this battle is to forcefully land the Japanese navy. If this goal cannot be achieved, the enemy fleet is also allowed to be annihilated."
Pragmatically, he made a decision and immediately issued the order.
The Gao Shengyi he mentioned was the captain of the flagship "Dongchang". After Gao pragmatically adjusted the formation of the Japanese fleet, Gao Shengyi temporarily served as the commander of the Sichuan Squadron.
Gao Pragmatic did not understand naval battle command and had never participated in the formulation of naval tactics. Therefore, for him, the issuance of the order was the completion of pre-war preparations, and he would then have to consider whether to accept the surrender of the Kuroda Army.
In fact, Gao Pragmatic felt that the conditions proposed by the Kuroda Army were not surrender at all, but rather repatriation. After all, according to this method, the Japanese army did not need to disarm at all and could only return to Japan.
This is like the Japanese coming to a Korean home and smashing and looting, and then Ming's father came out to seek justice, but in the end he just slapped the Japanese and told him to go back. Not only did he not break one of the opponent's legs, he would be remembered forever.
The Japanese didn't even ask the Japanese to compensate for the damage to Korean people's homes. Is this reasonable?
For the purpose of training and training, Gao pragmatically raised the question of whether to accept the surrender of Kuroda Army and what conditions he should put forward if he accepted it, and asked Gao Wuzheng, Gao Wuruo and Gao Qi's uncle and nephew to think and answer.
Gao Wuzheng's point of view is still the same as before, saying that since they dare to come, we should fight. According to him, since there will be Japanese strategies in the future, a big victory now will be very conducive to deterring Japan, which will greatly help
Conducive to the advancement of the strategy.
Gao Qi still focused on the political and economic considerations, believing that whether or not to defeat the Japanese navy mainly depended on how Kuroda Yomizu had previously explained tasks to the Japanese navy.
Gao Qi believes that if the purpose of this naval force is to surprise Sichuan, then it should be resolutely annihilated; if their purpose here is only to pick up the defeated Japanese army and is the retreat left by Kuroda Ruishui, then it depends on whether they accept the black army.
The surrender of Tian Jun.
If he is willing to accept the surrender of the Kuroda Army, then he can also let this naval force go. He does not think that this will not be enough to deter Japan. Instead, he believes that it will help divide and disintegrate the various forces in Japan. As for
When talking about shock and deterrence, annihilating 100,000 Japanese troops is a deterrent. Isn’t the forced landing of 100,000 Japanese troops a shock?
In the final analysis, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army has been generally recognized by the Japanese army, and it can even be said to be feared. The Japanese army now does not have the courage to fight a fair field battle with the Ming army. It even dares not fight the Ming army in a field battle with three times the strength advantage. This is
Clear evidence.
Therefore, Gao Qi believed that it was no longer necessary to rely on a battle of annihilation to deter Japan, because the Battle of Biti Pavilion had already achieved this result - although that battle could not be said to be a victory for the Ming army.
Gao Wuruo once again took a relatively middle-of-the-road answer. He believed that the current Ming army has indeed achieved the advantages Gao Qi mentioned in terms of land warfare. The Japanese army has indeed tried its best to avoid field battles with the Ming army on land, but at sea it is still
A little worse.
Is the Japanese Navy afraid of the Ming Navy? Judging from the fact that they stayed in Busan Port as soon as they were blocked, they are still afraid. But Gao Wuruo believes that this fear is related to the Japanese Army's fear of the Ming Army.
The difference, the difference is that the land army is really afraid of fighting on the battlefield, while the navy is just because its scale is obviously inferior to that of the Ming navy, so it does not dare to fight easily.
Of course, if there are other reasons, then Jinghua's annihilation of the Anton Navy in Japan still had some impact on them. However, it has been some years since this incident, and the deterrent effect has probably been reduced a lot.
.
After all, the Japanese Navy has made great progress over the years, especially when they obtained the hulls of more than thirty armed transport ships and carried out "iron armor" modifications on them. Although this modification is almost meaningless in Gao Pragmatic's view
, and may even cause many problems, but at this time Japan does not know the direction of development, so they will have a certain mentality of "I have a defensive advantage".
And after they suffered some hardships in the Korean battlefield, they added some artillery to the ship. In this way, the Japanese Navy actually felt that its combat power was not bad. If it were not for the size of the Ming Navy's navy outside Busan Port,
They are too big, and they are all big ships (in the eyes of the Japanese army, small morning boats are considered big ships, so the Ming army does not have small ships in their eyes). In fact, it is very likely that they will go out of the harbor to fight.
Gao Wuruo believes that if this is the case, then our side also needs a big victory at sea to make Japan afraid. By the way, it also allows North Korea to recognize the reality - don't think that it is great to have Yi Sun-shin at sea. In terms of absolute strength,
In front of us, all luck is in vain.
This time, Gao Jingshi agreed more with Gao Wuruo's view and said: "Send someone to reply to Kuroda Rushui and his son, asking them to wait in Yupu to surrender their weapons. As for the subsequent return to Japan, the cabinet department has its own arrangements. By the way, tell him,
There’s no need to wait for the Japanese navy to pick you up.”
I won’t say what Kuroda Rushui’s reaction will be when he receives the news. Sichuan has already taken action.
Gao Shengyi came to meet Gao Pangshi less than an hour later and said that the fleet had made tactical arrangements and came here to report to the master.
The alliance fleet's combat ideas are not complex at all. It can even be said to be a very traditional strategy: first send three to four armed transport ships to pretend to be sentries cruising ahead. After encountering the Japanese navy, these three or four ships
The armed transport ship took advantage of its tonnage advantage to come forward to provoke, but it had to deliberately pretend to be provocative... and so on and so on.
After he finished speaking, Gao Pragmatic was very satisfied and approved the battle plan. He then convened a military meeting and ordered the fleet to go to sea. Gao Shengyi was fully responsible for the command.
Sichuan's fleet is entirely from the Maritime Trade Alliance, with eight warships from Jinghua as the core force, and most of the remaining armed transport ships are provided by various nobles and are under the command of Gao Shengyi, who has high pragmatic authorization.
Although most of the armed transport ships belonged to various noble families, the enemy formation sent out was all Jinghua's ships, with a total of four ships. They were ordered to set off half an hour in advance and cruise in parallel several miles apart in the southeast direction.
Such a wide distance is obviously not a battle formation, but a search formation, which is consistent with their camouflage as a sentry ship. There are many islands along the southern coast of North Korea, which are intertwined with the coastline. This is not actually suitable for large-scale naval battles, but the four ships separated
Distance search is very convenient.
However, no trace of the Japanese navy was found until they arrived at Okpo Bay, which gave the temporary command of the decoy fleet, Captain Gao Lichuan of the "Guriyama" a bit of a headache. It will be night in more than an hour, and the light will change.
According to the original plan, they would be stationed at Okpo, and the fleet would replace them with four other ships - this was to prevent them from being overtired.
Okpo City should be occupied by the Kuroda Army now. Although these people are ready to surrender, they should not control the port. Moreover, the Sichuan fleet has powerful artillery, and it is not afraid of a Japanese army without many artillery. However, this situation is always a bit strange.
Yes, Gao Lichuan doesn't want this. He still hopes to finish this naval battle before tonight.
While I was feeling gloomy, I suddenly heard the lookout on the watchtower shouting: "Report - the 'White Sand Lake' has discovered the Japanese navy. To the south of our formation, seven enemy ships have been found, and they are suspected of being shut down! The enemy fleet is
The exact number is unknown!”
Gao Lichuan suddenly became energetic and ordered: "Sign the signal, our formation will turn to the south as a whole, and face the approaching enemy head on! Each ship will move closer to our ship, the distance between the formations will be shortened to two miles, and the entire formation will be ready for artillery fire!"
After the order was issued, the decoy formation composed of four armed transport ships immediately took action, turning and approaching the formation's flagship "Jiulishan". Each ship also began to prepare for the bombardment step by step according to the method of training for many years, including relevant personnel getting into position, and the cannon cover opening.
The gunpowder boxes and projectile boxes are transported to the appropriate places, etc.
In addition, although everyone did not think that the Japanese forwards could have such powerful artillery to cause losses to themselves, the damage control team still prepared corresponding supplies and was ready to put out fires, repair ships, and other work at any time.
The first official naval battle on the Korean battlefield for the "Jingluo Guards" of the Japanese-Japanese Fleet is about to begin.
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