,!
What kind of news is it for Gao Pragmatic that the Japanese navy sneaked out of Busan and headed to Sacheon or Okpo?
Of course it’s good news! Not only good, but great.
The fact that the Japanese navy would take such actions only shows one thing, that is, they have almost no idea about the distribution of power of the Japanese fleet. If we want to be more precise, we can also say this: the Japanese navy mistakenly believed that the fleet outside Busan Port was the entire strength of the Japanese fleet.
However, in fact, the Ping-Japan fleet was divided into two parts from the beginning, one part was the Ming army's navy 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 Korea Navy, and its degree of regularization is actually higher than the Ming Army's Aid Korea Navy.
This expedition fleet has one second-level battleship, two third-level battleships, five first-level cruisers, six second-level cruisers, and 46 armed transport ships, a total of 60 ships, including 14 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 Sichuan. To put it simply, some ships were mobilized from the expedition fleet and incorporated into the naval fleet. Specifically, all six second-class cruisers and 12 armed transport ships, a total of 18 warships, all from the Beijing 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 Army fleet to block the sea outside Busan Port around the clock. This is true, but the Ming Army Fleet does not have to retreat too far and rush out of the port every day. " work".
Why? Because the topography of Busan has a very interesting feature, that is, there is a large island outside its harbor called Jueyingdo. Later, South Korea simplified its name and changed its name to Yeongdo.
This island is not small, with an area of nearly 12 square kilometers. It developed well after the Korean economy developed in later generations. It even has advanced shipbuilding companies such as the National Ocean University, Fisheries Promotion Institute, Maritime High School and 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, all 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. May be 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 series 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 berth was built in just four days. From then on, the Ming Navy navy began a glaring confrontation with the Japanese navy in Busan Port on the island.
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 the Ming Dynasty's aid navy was stationed on Jueying Island. They didn't know 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 the Japanese naval forces were all 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 naval fleet coming now cannot be the entire force in Busan Port. Therefore, as long as we are prepared, we will not be beaten. A surprise attack, then the Japanese navy should 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 lone 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 perhaps surrendering, which would save a lot of trouble and the Ming army would also suffer less losses.
Not to annihilate? Well...not annihilating doesn't mean turning a blind eye, it's better to make an emergency landing. The more the strength of Japan's navy declines, the more it will be able to act as it pleases 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 an opportunity to trade off, 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." Gao 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 considered to have completed the pre-war preparations. Next, he had to go back and 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 only needed to return to Japan.
This is like the Japanese coming to a Korean house, 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, but he will never forget it. 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 whether to accept the surrender of Kuroda Army and what conditions he should put forward as test questions, asking 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 a Japanese strategy in the future, a big victory now will be very helpful in frightening Japan and will greatly help advance the strategy.
Gao Qi still focuses on the political and economic considerations, believing that whether or not to fight the Japanese navy mainly depends on how Kuroda Nishui previously explained the task 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 just to pick up the defeated Japanese army and it is the retreat left by Kuroda Rushui, then it depends on whether they accept the black Tian Jun's surrender.
If you are willing to accept the surrender of the Kuroda Army, then this navy army can also be let go. He did not believe that doing so would be enough to deter Japan, but believed that it would help divide and dismantle all forces in Japan. As for 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 can even be said to be feared. Not to mention that the Japanese army now has no courage to fight the Ming army in a fair field battle. They even dare not fight the Ming army in a field battle even with three times the strength advantage. This is proof.
Therefore, Gao Qi believes that it is no longer necessary to rely on a battle of annihilation to deter Japan, because the Battle of Biti Pavilion has already achieved this result - although that battle cannot 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. However, Gao Wuruo believes that this kind of fear is different from the Japanese Army's fear of the Ming Army. The difference is that the Army is really afraid on the battlefield, while the Navy is just because its scale is obviously inferior to the Ming Navy. Therefore, they did 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, this incident has been going on for some years, and the deterrent effect may have declined 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, Japan at this time 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 capabilities were good. If the Ming Navy's navy outside Busan Port was not too large and all of them were big ships (in the eyes of the Japanese army, small morning boats were considered big ships, so the Ming army did not have small ships in their eyes), they would actually be very likely to leave the port. A battle.
Gao Wuruo believed that if this was the case, then his side also needed 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 having Yi Sun-shin at sea is great. In the face of absolute strength, all luck is in vain.
This time, Gao Jingshi agreed 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 come and 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 strategy is not complicated at all. It can even be said to be a very traditional strategy: first send three to four armed transport ships and pretend to be sentry ships cruising ahead. After encountering the Japanese navy, these three or four armed transport ships took advantage of their tonnage advantage and came forward to provoke them, but they had to deliberately pretend to be provocative... and so on.
After he finished speaking, Gao Pragmatic was very satisfied and approved the battle plan. Then he 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 formations dispatched were all Jinghua's ships, a total of four ships. They were ordered to set off half an hour in advance and cruise several miles apart in the southeast direction.
Such a wide distance is obviously not a battle formation, but a search formation, which is also consistent with their camouflage as a sentinel ship. There are many islands along the southern coast of North Korea, which are intertwined with the coastline. This is not suitable for large-scale naval battles, but it is very convenient for four ships to search at a distance.
However, no trace of the Japanese navy was found until they arrived at Okpo Bay, which gave the temporary commander of the decoy fleet and the captain of the "Guriyama" Gao Lichuan a headache. It will be night in more than an hour, and the light will become very poor. According to the original plan, they will have to station at Okpo, and the fleet will replace them with four other ships - this is to prevent them from getting tired. over.
Yupo City should now be occupied by the Kuroda Army. 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 that does not have many artillery. However, this situation is always a bit strange. Gao Lichuan does not want this. He still hopes to finish this naval battle before tonight.
While I was feeling depressed, 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 specific number of enemy fleets 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 started to prepare for the bombardment step by step according to the method that has been trained for many years, including the relevant personnel getting into position, opening the cannon cover, transporting the powder boxes and projectile boxes into place, 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 and repair ships at any time.
The first formal naval battle on the Korean battlefield for the "Jingluo Guards" of the Japanese-Japanese Fleet is about to begin.
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