In fact, many generals in the Japanese army wanted to ask this question of Mouri Hidemoto. There is more than one reason why they have this doubt, but one of the most important reasons is that in order to strengthen the navy and restore the situation that was defeated by Yi Sun-shin, Toyotomi Hideyoshi transferred many heavy artillery originally equipped to the land division to The navy carried out modifications and finally put them on ships, which infringed on 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, neither Takatora Toudo nor Yasuji 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 due to his previous failure and is no longer the leader. 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 doesn't know 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 North 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?" Maori 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 a 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, so you can only hit once?"
Before Todo Takatora could answer, Ukita Hideie added: "I noticed that Todo-kun also said that this kind of test is still conducted at a 'general combat distance with very small 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 large salvo to hit, or...it will take dozens of rounds of salvo fire to have a chance. Getting a hit, right? "
"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 during 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." Anji Wakisaka 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 the gang?"
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 historic Anton Navy in that naval battle can only be described in one sentence, that is, it had no backhand power - how to explain this? "
Before Toudo Takatora and Wakisaka Anji could explain, Kuroda Rusui 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. The side of the Jinghua giant ship is In terms of 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 does the Sea Trade Alliance spend to conduct a naval battle? Everyone knows the price of gunpowder, but if they are like this, they are not fighting, they are 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 that time the Anton Navy was beaten and almost completely wiped out. , after the collapse, 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 their 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 keep the 'new fleet' in Osaka Bay on constant alert before, instead of easily sending it to Kanto for a battle?
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, and 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 Misaki Castle Island to hold on to that maritime stronghold. Then the thousands of miles of Kanto coastal defenses will be opened, and the Maritime Trade Alliance can attack wherever they want. No matter how strong the Tokugawa army is, it can only They can be tired of 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: One war in exchange for more than ten years of smooth trade, what a huge benefit it is, how could it be a loss?
On the other hand, with the support of such huge trade income, what is wrong with the Sea Trade Alliance reducing the number of troops required for gang-hopping wars and instead focusing on strengthening large cannon equipment? Soldiers have to pay monthly stipends. As long as the equipment is equipped and there is no war, then there is no need to spend much money in the future - it is just for the operators to do some maintenance such as rust prevention. "
Kuroda Rusui's explanation was very detailed. 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 alone. The ship travels alone.
It turns out that due to the limitations of their tactics, their single-ship combat power is very limited. If they want to unleash 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 Nishui, can I understand that 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 barrels, 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 barrels and still use the weapons that our navy is most familiar with. Join forces and join 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 have just explained the phenomenon of the Sea Trade Alliance's light ship and heavy ship. .”
What Takatora Toudo and Anji Wakisaka could say were naturally only acknowledgments. Todo Takatora 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 that our army is short of gunpowder. According to calculations, if we really go to fight with the Ming army navy For a large-barreled artillery battle, the existing gunpowder reserves must be seriously insufficient, and it is likely that the Army Division will need to provide at least 10,000 kilograms of gunpowder to the Navy before it can be tried."
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 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 more than two hundred years earlier, especially the development direction of maritime armaments. It was only limited to Japan's national power. They ultimately failed. Be able to make the right 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. People have the impression that the Ming Dynasty Navy is conservative in thinking. Although it has clearly seen the direction of naval development, it is still stubborn and unwilling to make progress.
In fact, this idea is problematic. The Ming Dynasty was an important period when the gap in military technology between the East and the West began to widen. It was also an era when Western learning spread to the East and flourished. After the Jiajing period, Japanese pirates, pirates, and European forces successively and continuously intruded on the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of coastal defense, the Ming Dynasty Navy actually experienced two changes in technology and tactics.
The first time was during the Jialongwan period, centered on the introduction of Folang machine guns; 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 southeast coast, where the coastal defense problem is the most severe, the Ming Dynasty Navy quickly applied Hongyi cannons to coastal defense warships, and broke through the limit on the number of large artillery-equipped warships. Specialized "熕ships" appeared, and broadside guns were also derived. Technology, this is already very close to the artillery tactics of European ships.
Starting from the Chongzhen year, pirates and government ships began to be equipped with multiple red barbarian cannons. In the naval battle of Heliaoluo Bay in Ming Dynasty in 1633, the large warships of the Ming army were equipped with 16, 20 and 36 cannons respectively.
Later, Hans Putuoman, 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 that can be towed, with ring bolts, Cannon on double deck."
In 1635, during the battle to annihilate Liu Xiang, Zheng Zhilong's warships "can carry twenty-four gunmen per ship, and with the sound of the cannon, they split the clouds and penetrated the waves, completing the formation of the enemy."
Of course, at that time, warships equipped with a dozen or even thirty-six Hongyi cannons were not common. One is that the Hongyi cannon is very heavy and equipped with dozens or even dozens of cannons, which requires a relatively high size for the warship; the other is that the original firing cannon and Hongyi cannon in the Ming Dynasty are technically the same Because of the inheritance relationship, the Ming Dynasty warships were likely to have a mixture of Hongyi cannons and hair-fired cannons.
In addition to the increase in quantity, the supporting equipment of the Daming Navy artillery was also gradually improved at that time. The initially equipped muskets or red barbarian cannons were placed on wooden frames, with mud, chaff, and straw spread under the wooden frames to buffer the recoil. However, as the number of large artillery increased, the Ming Navy also began to appear gun carriages and portholes. , gun holes, gun decks, etc., and even warships with double gun 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 Hongyi 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 one for each ship, or six or eight, arranged on the left and right; the remaining holes are also lined with muskets with one thousand ribs and five hundred ribs, and those with five hundred ribs are necessary. The side is heavy and does not jump, and the bullet feeding end is straight."
Zheng Chenggong's cannons on watercrafts were also arranged in layers, with battlements on top, surrounded by towers, covered with iron leaves, hanging leather curtains on the outside, with wind doors cut in the middle for firing crossbows.
What's more interesting is that the double-layer gun deck technology is not only used in the southeastern coastal areas, but also penetrates into the inland rivers. According to "Ping Wu Lu", in 1674, Wu Sangui rebelled and built a fort with "three floors in the middle, thirty-six gun positions on the upper, middle and left floors, and twenty-four oars on the left and right sides of the lower floor. It moved very quickly." Large river battleship.
As the number of artillery continued to increase, artillery tactics also gradually matured. In August 1627, Zheng Zhilong and Yu Zigao's troops fought in Jiangjun'ao, Fuzhou. Zheng Zhihu used a bucket-head cannon to pierce the Ming Navy's Ma Shengchuan and set it on fire along 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 cannon. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong destroyed Liu Xiang in Tianweiyang, Guangdong. Many warships on both sides were sunk by artillery.
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, Zheng Jun soldiers fired at the enemy ship's deck and cabin, and Zheng Jun also used fire to attack the ship.
In this battle, the role of shelling ships and people has become very prominent. The traditional method of burning enemy ships still plays an important role, but the most commonly used method of jumping off ships and boarding battles has never appeared again.
In 1680, during the Qing army's battle to regain Haitan, Wan Zhengse's warship "fired a salvo of artillery fire and sank sixteen pirate ships." In the Penghu naval battle in 1683, bombardment tactics became more important. In sea battles, muskets were used first. "There is no better way to burn an enemy's ship than fire, and there is no better way to destroy an enemy's ship than cannon."
Gu Qiu
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 with 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 the left gun; turn the rudder, and fire the tail gun. "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 occurred at that time. In ordinary naval battles, a variety of shelling, plowing, burning, jumping ship, hand-to-hand combat, etc. are 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 cannon ships, 36 big bird ships, 67 sailing ships, 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 first: 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 forcibly boarding ships 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 artillery, the Ming Dynasty Navy was generally able to keep in line with Europe in the direction of change, but it was later. The Ming Dynasty only began to use heavy artillery such as Faji, Shenfei cannon, and Weiyuan cannon on warships in the 16th century. It was not until the early 17th century that the Ming Dynasty began to use Hongyi cannon, adopting broadside cannon 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 pace and direction of European naval gun changes, while ship technology changes Slow and limited changes were mostly the product 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, it has been said long ago that the sails of Chinese and Western sailing boats are difficult to be compatible. Affected by the rotation of the earth, the winds on the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean are gentle and gentle, with very few marine wind disasters. The wind performance of ships is extremely demanding, so European ships often have 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. It is greatly affected by the oceanic monsoon and has a high incidence of disastrous weather such as heavy rains and strong winds. Therefore, Chinese maritime ships developed hard-sailed fore-and-aft sails that were convenient for quickly shortening sails and sailing to avoid wind and danger, while they have always been opposed to European sailing ships' soft sails and horizontal sails that were complex and difficult to control.
Secondly, the control systems of Chinese and Western sailboats are difficult to be compatible. The safety factor of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean is slightly higher, and the ship's maneuverability is not required. The sail only provides power and does 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, and the destination of 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 navigation 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 structural differences between Chinese and Western sailing ships. European ships mainly engage in long-distance cross-sea voyages. The voyage cycle is long and supply is inconvenient. Large ships are often required to ensure supplies for long voyages and profits from a single voyage. In addition, the navigation sea area has a high safety factor, and its ships are mainly horizontal compartments with large loading capacity.
The East China Sea and the South China Sea are bumpy and unstable, and the cargo carried on board is mainly bulk solid cargo such as fish, ceramics, rice, salt, etc., which requires high stability of the ship. Among other things, ceramics are very delicate. Very. Therefore, Chinese seagoing ships have adopted a dense transverse compartment structure that can fix and divide cargo, facilitate cargo transfer, improve ship stability, and function similarly to containers.
As a result, the complex sails and large and difficult-to-manage characteristics of European sea-going ships 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 galleys 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. Boarding and other flexible tactics were used to achieve victory against 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 large differences 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 is just right to balance seaworthiness, transportation capacity and relatively high combat capabilities. If it is larger, the transportation and seaworthiness will decrease, and if it is smaller, the combat capability will be insufficient.
Within the Jinghua shipbuilding system, above armed transport ships are cruisers and battleships. These are professional combat ships, so their transportation capabilities can be greatly weakened, and their main consideration is combat. And they mainly exist as combat core ships. In actual combat, they will always be accompanied by a larger number of armed transport ships on the periphery, so they do not have to worry about the problem of "big ships being difficult to move" in these waters.
To put it simply, the highly pragmatic approach to naval warfare is roughly the same as that of land warfare. That is, since I can use my physical advantage to crush you, I will fight in a majestic formation: big ships are better than small ships, more ships are better than fewer ships; big guns are better than small guns. , more cannons are better than fewer cannons.
In short, being highly pragmatic 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 problems 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 does 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 for Japan at this time, he really doesn't pay much attention.
But even so, Gao Pragmatic did not forget that the lion and the rabbit also used all their strength. Not only had he started to "cut off the supply" of saltpeter to attack Japan's gunpowder production, and sent spies to the Japanese navy to deviate from the Japanese warship construction ideas, but he also did not move Once the naval battle was decided, he planned to annihilate the main force of the Japanese navy in one battle - Japan's "new fleet" was sent to North Korea before he personally took action. It was precisely with this consideration.
As for Japan’s land and sea generals in North 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 what you do, No matter how clever and brave he is, there is no solution in the end.
The discussion of maritime operations at the Hanyang Military Conference of the Japanese Army finally came to an end, 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 front line of the army was caught off guard and suffered a major setback. The key point at the front of the front line is Kaesong. Please feel free to express your opinions on the defense of Kaesong."
Governor Konishi, who had almost been regarded as a "surrender", ignored the attention of everyone and jumped out first 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, the Kaicheng city wall was like a paper window, which could 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 Withdrawal. "
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 Counterattack, not even defending the city!
Kaesong is one of the three capitals of Korea. It has mountains to the north and rivers to the west. Why can't it be defended? Could it be that in your eyes, field defense is not feasible and we can only wait for the Ming army to reach Kaicheng City and bombard the city? I would like to ask you whether you know how to fight! "
Governor Konishi also sneered in response and said: "Will I fight? What a joke! The mountains to the north of Kaicheng are neither high nor dangerous. The elite Xuanda cavalry of the Ming army will not be hindered by such mountains at all. When the time comes that thousands of their cavalry will 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 iron cavalry with their flesh and blood?
As for the west of Kaicheng, the Licheng River is not a big river. What's more, the Ming army's navy will arrive in an instant. If the navy cannot stop it, it will be the Ming army that blocks the river. At that time, the Ming Army's navy was firing thousands of artillery pieces. Our defense line along the river was facing the giant cannon. Did we have to resist with our flesh and blood? "
Not to be outdone, Kato Kiyomasa responded: "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 cannon formations, what can it do no matter how strong the Ming army's cavalry is? 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 stopped by me. If the Ming army's navy really appears, our army can also retreat beyond the range of its big cannon. If the Ming army's land division crosses the river immediately, our army can fight head-on - at that time our army and the Ming army are entangled. No matter how strong the Ming army's naval firepower is, they can't fight with their own land division, right? Looking at it this way, how can we not defend it? "
Konishi Governor laughed and said: "Kato, how can 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 to the Hanyang City through the Han River!
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? When the time comes, let alone Kaicheng, Hanyang will also be lost. Can you bear the wrath of His Highness Taige? "
Kato Kiyomasa was a pure land general, and he really had never thought about the fact that the Ming army could rely on the Han River to send the army directly to Hanyang City, so he was suddenly speechless when asked by Konishi Yukino.
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." Maori Xiuyuan unexpectedly expressed his position in a rare early manner, 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. Even three cups of coffee in the middle of the night last night could not stop me from falling asleep. After waking up in the middle of the night, I decided that "the mountain is not mine, I will go to the mountain". I simply temporarily adjusted the update time and finished 8K code in one go. I updated yesterday’s and today’s together to avoid falling asleep again tonight.
. Lewen
