October 15, 1874. Hakodate.

"If you get rid of the Hokkaido rebels, you can get land in Hokkaido. His Majesty the Emperor personally promised that no taxes would be collected for three years. Only 30% of the tax will be collected for 20 years. Gentlemen, for Your Majesty's sake, forward! Ryota Miyagi shouted at his men. At this time, the naval guns of the British Navy and the Japanese Navy were firing fiercely farther along the shore. The rumbling cannon sound makes Ryota Miyagi's voice even more full of exciting charm. The Meiji government troops, who were already boiling with blood amid the sound of artillery, responded in unison, "Kill!" ”

The landing site can be selected according to the needs, and the target to be conquered after landing is selected early in the morning. Hakodate was targeted by Japan's Meiji government forces. The defensive positions on the shore have long been ravaged by naval guns, and although there are still sporadic troops continuing to resist in the defensive positions, this resistance has to face dozens or hundreds of times the enemy, and the defenders are only carrying out their will to fight.

Lieutenant Ryota Miyagi led his squadron towards the front and began to advance, and as they passed the enemy position, the troops paused slightly. The soldiers, led by the detachment leader and squad leader, searched the position and the corpses on the ground. It is important to note that the core purpose of such searches is not the greed for money. Instead, search for available guns, ammunition, and equipment.

More than a dozen soldiers of the Republic of Ezo were killed by a 7-inch artillery shot, and their bodies were not very complete. The rubber shoes on their feet were taken off by the Japanese soldiers, and several pairs were divided by the officers. They took off their straw sandals, which had been soaked at the time of landing, and put on their feet these shoes, which were expensive in the Japanese market. The rifles, mostly broken, were also collected and carried on the backs of the soldiers who were responsible for carrying the baggage. The belongings found by the soldiers were managed by Ryota Miyagi's cronies, which was the rule of the Japanese army, "distributed uniformly after the war". Only the bullets found were evenly distributed among the soldiers.

After clearing the battlefield, the troops moved on. The Republic of Ezo had only set up two thin positions on the shore, and there were not many opportunities for the Meiji government forces to scavenge. The Miyagi squadron was in the vanguard, and their mission was to go around to the rear of Hakodate and completely encircle Hakodate. On the coast behind Miyagi's squadron, a large number of small boats traveled between the transport ships and the landing ground. More Meiji government forces were landing, and the Japanese troops, who were eager to advance in formation, hoped to catch up with the battlefield as soon as possible and get their booty.

Colonel Zhou Xinhua, commander of the Chinese Dispatch Army, strode into the Ministry of National Defense in Sapporo, the capital of the Ezo Republic. Reinforced concrete skeleton, brick walls, prefabricated slab floor. These industrialized products are different from the refined style of Japan. However, Japanese people are Japanese after all, and they can make tricks on the basis of such straightforwardness and simplicity. The inside of the building has wooden floors, and when you walk on it, you will feel different from the outside. The delicate wood grain and pure white walls also have a bit of a contrasting taste. The white wall is not a simple white wall, there will be a picture frame hanging every other paragraph, and inside the frame is either the handwriting of a big man or the painting of an officer. The military department, which was supposed to be a serious killing, immediately appeared to have a cultural atmosphere.

Every time he sees these, Zhou Xinhua often thinks of the Nanjing Ministry of National Defense Building, with its tall floor space, terrazzo floor, and only various bulletin boards on the plain white walls. On the door is a sign composed of a completely uniform font and icon. The kind of uniformity, the kind of orderliness, the kind of calm and serious that puts efficiency first. Zhou Xinhua felt the powerful power contained in it, as well as an awe-inspiring feeling.

When the young Japanese soldiers saw Zhou Xinhua, they saluted him one after another. After some low-ranking female officers saluted Zhou Xinhua, they often blushed slightly and bowed to him with Japanese etiquette. After Zhou Xinhua responded politely, the female soldiers still stood aside with a slight red face and let Zhou Xinhua pass first.

Zhou Xinhua directly entered the conference room on the third floor, even if the window was wide open, the conference room was still full of smoke. The officers of the Ezo Republic Defense Force almost every man had a cigarette in his hand, and everyone was arguing fiercely about the future strategy.

“…… Hakodate must not be left behind! The commander of the First Army, Toshikata Toshimi, said loudly.

Without waiting for others to answer, Zhou Xinhua also said loudly: "Hakodate can't be defended!" We fought them in the mountains behind, with the main line of defense set up on the line from Otaru to Muroran, and when the heavy snow closed the road, we could prepare for next year's counterattack. ”

At this time, everyone had noticed that Zhou Xinhua, the commander of the Chinese dispatch army, came in, and Hijikata was not angry because of Zhou Xinhua's opposition, he said in surprise: "Zhou Jun, you have come back from Hakodate?" ”

Zhou Xinhua nodded to Hijikata Suizo, and then beckoned to everyone in the conference room, he didn't sit down, he directly pointed to the map and began to say, "The British fleet is concentrated in the sea outside Hakodate, and with the support of the British naval guns, Hakodate can't last long." ”

The Japanese archipelago is shaped like a silkworm, and Hokkaido is undoubtedly the head of the silkworm, and the southern part of Hokkaido is the neck of the silkworm. This neck is a thin neck, and it is a protrusion from the entire Hokkaido region. The terrain here is narrow, and if the Meiji government forces land from behind, the defending forces may be cut off from the waist. The line from Otaru to Muroran that Zhou Xinhua said is the division of the entire head and neck of the silkworm. By setting up the main line of defense here, you don't have to worry about the possibility of the enemy moving troops at sea and attacking from behind.

Otaru and Muroran are both ports, and Muroran is also the steel center of Hokkaido, and its importance means that both places cannot be missed.

"If we hadn't set up troops in Hakodate, how could we have dragged it until the snow closed the road. After all, there's still a month to go! ”

Zhou Xinhua calmly replied: "Letting the troops hold on to Hakodate is just a dead end." In the mountains and coastal areas behind Hakodate, the warriors realized that they did not have no way out, and they did not wait to die in Hakodate like abandoned children. This is good for the battle. ”

Hijikata Suisan was amused by Zhou Xinhua's words, "Hehe! Is there a way out? Where is there any way back? Zhou Jun, if we retreat, we will only have a dead end. ”

This statement is obviously supported by other people, and a small Hokkaido has no way to retreat, and if he retreats, he can only go to the sea. However, Zhou Xinhua has a special identity, and the upper echelons of the national defense force of the Ezo Republic are reluctant to attack him en masse.

Zhou Xinhua said solemnly: "What I mean by retreat refers to tactically retreat. The no retreat that Hijikata-kun said is a strategic retreat. Don't confuse these two things. We are all people who have been on the battlefield, and everyone who has been on the battlefield is afraid of death. Why didn't we run away because we were afraid of death, because we knew that it was useless to be afraid of death, and we had no way out. But this does not mean that there is a reason to force the fighters to a situation where there is no way to retreat tactically and can only fight to the death. In such a situation, the soldiers will think who wants their lives. Is it the enemy? Or the Ministry of Defense? Or are these two sides in collusion and want their lives together? ”

This is true, and the truth is always the most disgusting. Hijikata's original expression was just an argument, but now his expression has become almost hostile. The faces of the other participants were not good, and they could not see much of it.

Zhou Xinhua continued: "I can tell you a piece of information, and I think some people also know. The Shogunate on the opposite side issued land grants to the troops attacking the Ezo Republic. In other words, when they occupy the Ezo Republic, all the fields here will be owned by them. Do you think these people will give us a way to live after they occupy the Ezo Republic? ”

Some people know about it, some don't. The people who know about it are the upper echelons, and they actually feel that this is nothing more than a means of agitation. And those middle-ranking officers who didn't know about the situation heard the news, and their faces turned pale. These people don't think in terms of morale. Land is the most valuable asset, and in the Republic of Ezo, people have been given land to settle down and live a life far better than the Mishima of Japan. Once their land is taken away, they don't even have to think about the possibility of returning to their homeland alive. And even if you can go back to your hometown, will you go to live that precarious life and immortal life again?

"Kill all the fallen army!" A mid-level officer stood up and shouted loudly.

Without any special agitation, the mid-level officers stood up and shouted: "Kill all the fallen army!" ”

By dark on October 17, the troops stationed in Hakodate had retreated to the inner fortress to resist. The Meiji government army adopted a unique military system of detachments, squads, squadrons, brigades, wings, and divisions. The National Defense Forces of the Republic of Ezo adopted a system of squads, platoons, companies, battalions, regiments, divisions, and armies modeled after China.

The 10,000-strong troops of the two divisions defending Hakodate were now reduced to just over 4,000 and were reorganized into three regiments after downsizing. On the other side, knowing that the government forces were extremely brutal, every time they broke through a Ezo Defense Army position, they would strip the captured prisoners and push them to the positions that had not yet been breached and behead them for public display.

Although this brutal action aroused the hostility of the strong enemy of the Ezo Defense Force, it was also unavoidable. When the other side shouted again, demanding that the Ezo Wehrmacht surrender and that no rescuers would arrive, a group of regimental commanders and battalion commanders gathered at the division headquarters to ask when the rescuers would arrive.

The faces of the two division commanders were ugly. Both of them were from the Shinsengumi, and Hijikata told them before the battle that they could only stand to the last soldier in this battle. The implication behind this is that it is impossible to give them any reinforcements. Originally, the two division commanders thought that with 10,000 men and a strong fort, they could hold out for a month.

The reality is not that at all. Under the cover of heavy fire from British naval guns, the Meiji government forces first brought the artillery ashore. Those cannons were used against the fortresses, and the naval guns of the British Navy were used to destroy the outer defenses. The Meiji government army fought extremely fiercely, and theoretically there were millions of troops in the Ezo Republic, not to mention the female soldiers, most of whom were farmers who had only touched a hoe a few years ago. When compared to the enemy, who had quite good combat skills, the troops of the Ezo Republic were inferior. The fortress that can be held for a month is planned to not last long.

Looking at the anxiety, uneasiness, and fear in the eyes of the regiment commander and battalion commander, the division commander also felt uncomfortable. They didn't want to deceive their subordinates anymore, and one of them took a slight breath, ready to say the words "Loyal to the country".

At this moment, the instructor of the Chinese dispatch army reached out and pressed the division commander's shoulder, and the division commander was stunned for a moment, and the words could not be spoken. The Chinese instructor exclaimed: "As long as our dispatch force is still there, when any army is besieged, other troops will come to the rescue!" ”

The Chinese instructors are arranged from division to company, and the Ezo Defense Force is indeed the army of the Ezo Republic, and it is the Chinese Liberation Army that really builds this army. During the battle, the Chinese instructors of various units did not run away first when they encountered danger. These Chinese instructors who personally brought out the troops have been with the troops, and they have suffered many casualties in the brutal battles.

The Ezo Defense Force also knew that the status of Chinese instructors was higher than that of officers of the same rank, and since the Chinese instructors had spoken, everyone had confidence at the time.