At 20 o'clock in the evening of October 17, 1875, after pacifying the officers of the Hakodate Defense Force, the chief instructor of the Hakodate Defense Force, Gao Yubao, said to the Japanese troops who had regained at least peace: "Prepare to break through!" ”

The two division commanders were stunned, but the regiment commanders and battalion commanders all showed joy. Under the fierce shelling of the British naval artillery, the days of the day became more and more difficult, the division commanders had their own considerations, and the regimental commanders and battalion commanders no longer wanted to be shelled by the sea.

"Break through from the northwest, there will be receiving troops." Gao Yubao pointed to the map and told the route of the breakout.

"Why break through here?" Division Commander Qing Shui couldn't help but ask.

Gao Yubao replied: "Our fortress has several cannons that can shoot in this direction, first hit this place with artillery. Rescue forces outside will attack according to our shelling positions. There is a big chance of rushing out from here! ”

Division Commander Qing Shui did not object to this battle plan, he hesitated for a moment before raising the question he was most worried about, "What about the fortress?" ”

"Blow it up! The fortress is burning! Gao Yubao replied categorically.

Division Commander Qing Shui was taken aback by this order, and he hurriedly shouted, "There are a lot of things that can still be taken away." ”

"You only have rifles, bullets, Gatling guns, nothing else. When we start to retreat, the artillery will blow up, and everything else will be doused with gasoline and burned. Leave nothing for the Fallen Army! Gao Yubao gave a clear instruction, and after he finished speaking, he said: "Take the wounded away!" Hurry up and make a stretcher now! ”

Listening to Gao Yubao's order in a vicious tone, the regiment commanders and battalion commanders all kept silent. In fact, they are more in favor of this kind of decision, carrying heavy baggage and not running fast at all, and breaking through requires the fastest speed.

"But......" Commander Takahashi was frightened. If the fortress is captured and all the people are killed, then forget it. Gao Yubao's order was to destroy the valuable equipment of the Ezo Defense Army with his own hands before the troops broke through. Now that supplies and equipment are scarce, what will happen when you abandon so many things in order to escape?

Gao Yubao was originally only a deputy regiment commander, but after serving in the dispatch army, he commanded two divisions of troops. When he was in the Liberation Army, there were many truths that the military academy always had to teach, and he, like most commanders, listened to them, and there was no loss in listening to this kind of truth that should have been done twice. After commanding the army in the Ezo Republic, Gao Yubao realized that this thing is not common in all countries in the world. The simpler the more basic the truth, the less common it is.

"We are here to fight, and the purpose of war is to win the war. If we continue to fight according to the current situation, the result will be that we will definitely lose. There are no weapons to recreate, and there are no more people, and there are a bunch of weapons left to use for fart! Retreat is not to run away, to retreat is to be able to continue the fight next time. Now I command you to prepare for a breakout at once. Execute it now! Gao Yubao explained the truth that it was considered nonsense in the Liberation Army, and the more he spoke, the more angry he became, and he almost yelled at the end.

This roar worked, and the Japanese regiment commander and battalion commander immediately obeyed the order and went back to prepare. The two division commanders, Shimizu and Takahashi, watched silently as their subordinates carried out the order, without stopping or following up.

Gao Yubao was quite disappointed in his heart, and there were many quarrels in the Guangfu Army, and the purpose of the quarrels was how to better complete the task. A quarrel like this is not possible, because it is impossible for the Liberation Army to throw its troops on the beach and let the ships bombard them and let the enemy surround them. This does not conform to the basic laws of war.

Behind Hakodate was the mountainous area, allowing the enemy to occupy Hakodate, and the Ezo Defense Force took advantage of the mountainous terrain to defend layer by layer, exchanging space for time. In addition, taking advantage of the terrain of the mountainous areas, small units were sent to infiltrate the rear of the enemy attacking the mountainous areas to carry out mobile warfare. Whether or not this tactic can be carried out well is a question of the ability of the commander and the combat training of the troops. Tactics suitable for the battlefield are not adopted at all, that is, the concept of war of this army is too low.

Everyone is an officer, and Gao Yubao also knows the worries of the two division commanders Qing Shui and Gao Qiao at this time. He softened his tone and said to the two division commanders: "I will take all the responsibility for this retreat, and the two of them performed very dutifully in the battle, and I will never put the responsibility for the failure of this battle on your heads." ”

This is what the two division commanders Shimizu and Takahashi want to hear, Gao Yubao and the others are just instructors, if they really put the responsibility on the Japanese commander, the Japanese commander has no choice. Judging from past experience, the Chinese instructors are extremely responsible people, and they have not yet done such a thing. The two division commanders, Shimizu and Takahashi, could only pray in their hearts that the Chinese instructors could be consistent.

The preparation lasted for more than an hour, and all but the important documents were burned. The troops made magazines, and other bedding and other things were piled up inside the fort. More than 50 barrels of gasoline as ignition can also be spilled at any time. The cooking class stepped up to cook so that everyone could eat hot food before departure.

After several years of training, the troops of the Ezo Republic have basically all the military training they should have, and at this time, they are just asking everyone to continue to work according to what they will carry out on peacetime.

The cable telegraph was dismantled and thrown to the place where it was ready to be blasted, and these things could not be taken away, and there was no need to cheapen the Meiji government army. Although the Liberation Army was distressed, they did the same with the wireless telegraphy in Hakodate. The parts were completely disassembled, smashed with a hammer, and the pieces were thrown on a large piece of the ground. Such secrecy must not be allowed to foreign countries.

At 22 o'clock in the evening, the troops began to eat. Try not to do strenuous exercise within half an hour after eating, which is also the minimum combat knowledge.

At 23 o'clock sharp, the troops continued to make their final preparations, and the artillerymen on the battery began to fire fiercely. Not only the direction of the breakthrough, but also the artillery on the black sea also opened heavy fire. The purpose of this was to keep the enemy unaware of the movements of the Ezo Defense Forces.

Not long after the cannon fired, the Meiji government forces surrounding Hakodate suddenly came under attack from the east, and a force attacked along the coast and carried out a night attack.

At first, the defenders of Hakodate did not realize that friendly forces had appeared, and the reasons were very realistic and nonsense. Whether it is the Mishima Islands of Japan controlled by the Meiji government, or Hokkaido, which is controlled by the Republic of Ezo, the main weapons of both sides are Chinese rifles, or more precisely, old Chinese rifles. Just listening to the sound of the rifle, there is no way to tell what is going on over there.

The old arms trade has always been one of the largest transactions in the world. The Franco-Prussian War brought about great military progress in the world, and the German rifle, as well as the Chinese rifle that was imitated by Germany, was widely praised as a weapon used by the victors. The production of rifles in Germany was short, and it was far from being eliminated. After seeing the new rifles, the old rifles of other countries have no market. So the old Chinese arms became popular among those countries that wanted to be able to improve their equipment.

In mid-1873, China first reached an agreement with Turkey. Four hundred thousand refurbished rifles were sold to Turkey at an absolute conscience price. Japan's Meiji government also took a fancy to China's second-hand rifles, which China refused to sell to the Japanese government. Britain became a three-way trafficker. It asked Turkey to buy it, Britain paid for it, and then Britain sold the rifles to the Japanese government.

It wasn't until two red and one green flares were raised from the east in a row that the Hakodate guards knew that the Ezo Defense Forces had not abandoned them. The two division commanders, Shimizu and Takahashi, were reinvigorated, and they immediately suggested that the defending troops break through to the east and merge with the troops who had come over to break through the encirclement network.

Of course, Gao Yubao couldn't tell the two division commanders, Qing Shui and Takahashi, but that was not what the telegram said. He said firmly: "We still maintain the original plan, and now that the fight has started, do you think the Fallen Curtain Army will not gather troops in the east?" To fight a war is to attack it unprepared, and to take it by surprise! ”

At 24 o'clock in the morning, when the fighting in the east became more and more intense, two red and one green flares were fired from the fortress of Hakodate. The Ezo Defense Forces stationed in Hakodate immediately began to break through in a northwesterly direction, and just as they pounced on the positions of the Meiji government forces that had been ploughed by the shells, two red and one green flares were raised two kilometers from them. The Ezo Wehrmacht was overjoyed, and they never expected that there would be troops in front ready to attack the enemy.

Under the front and rear attacks, the defense line of the Meiji government army was broken through in an instant. The Hakodate defense troops poured out of the breach. Before the rear team set out, the sappers ignited the guide ropes, and after a while, there was a loud explosion from the fortress's battery, and then a series of explosions at the fortress walls. The accumulation of flammable materials was ignited, and the entire fortified area was soon on fire.

By the time the big explosion began at the fortress, the two division commanders who had taken the lead had already broken out of the encirclement. Hearing the dull sound of the explosion, the two couldn't help but stop and look back. The huge light of the fire reflected the desperately retreating Hakodate defense troops, and the men in the middle of the ranks carried stretchers, and the lightly wounded were supported by their comrades, passing through the fierce fighting as fast as possible. On the positions on both sides of the passage, the Ezo Wehrmacht set up Gatling guns and fired ferocious fire at the Meiji government forces in the dark.

In order to save the besieged troops, the Ezo Defense Force also made a bloody investment. The Gatling gun itself is already not cheap, and the cartridges for the Gatling gun are even less cheap. It's not bullets that shoot out like water, it's money. The abandoned fortress was even more expensive, and the baggage and artillery inside the fortress were even more expensive. And all this is to give up when you say give up, just to save the besieged troops. If they hadn't seen this with their own eyes, the two division commanders would never have believed it was true.

has brought such a big loss, what kind of fate will he face when he goes back? The two division commanders, Qing Shui and Takahashi, were both uneasy in their hearts. However, they did not stop there, and no matter what, the force of 5,000 men broke through. Chinese instructor Gao Yubao is right, as long as he can live, he will have a chance to continue fighting. If the war had ended with the victory of the Ezo Republic, the momentary setback would have been only a twist in the middle of the victory.

Turning around, the two division commanders Qing Shui and Takahashi commanded the troops to follow the receiving troops outside and quickly rushed into the mountains and forests.