For the whole day of May 3, the battlefield on the central front maintained an eerie state of calm.

Nearly 4,000 Karatsu Ashigaru survived the brutal positional battles remained in the two lines of defense they occupied, motionless in the face of the hard earth fortresses, maintaining a boring sit-in situation, and only a few ninjas sent from Edo were still fighting our scouts for control of the mountains and forests.

However, from the night of the 3rd, the pressure on the war ninjas of the Iga school increased significantly, and the Saga scouts trained by the Aosong people began to be dispatched in large numbers. These warriors, who had been transformed from mountain hunters and ronin, were particularly familiar with mountain combat, and with the addition of cod liver oil and carrots in recent days, night blindness, which was widespread among Japanese people at that time, was largely cured, so they were not left behind in the face of ninjas.

It was not surprising that Toshimori Doi was surprised that the Ao-Song people began to fight for control of the two wings. He clearly sensed that Tang Jinfan's will to fight was declining, and perhaps breaking the two lines of defense of the Song army consumed too much of their energy. Now is the time when their attacking momentum is at its lowest, and if the opponent wants to fight back, this is a good opportunity.

On a macro level, it's almost impossible to completely hide your strategic intentions – unless our adversaries are a little stupid. In fact, the General Staff had always believed that the two Japanese slaves, Toshimori Doi and Kentaka Terasawa, could perceive our purpose.

But so what, the old Japanese feudal army of the big warlords coaxed the small warlords had all the shortcomings of the feudal army, and the defects in command were more serious than those of the ordinary old army. Even if their feudal lords and governors sensed danger, such a bloated and demoralized army would not be able to respond in time.

So when the melancholy in the hearts of the Doi people became more and more intense, the time quietly came to the early morning of the 4th, the moment to kick off the counteroffensive.

I woke up at 4 o'clock, and at 5 o'clock I was already in the open space northwest of the hard-earth fortress to inspect the 1st Battalion of the Japanese Dispatch Army of the Wehrmacht and the 2nd Battalion of the Dongjiang Army, which was commanded by Kong Youde.

In fact, our army was scheduled to attack the Void Fortress and launch a counterattack not only that, but also a full regiment of more than 1,200 Saga troops. However, they didn't need to prepare to go up the mountain now, so they didn't gather here.

I first saluted Captain Fang Wenhai, the commander of the first battalion, and then looked at Kong Youde, who was standing in front of me like an iron tower. This big man who was a miner now has a little dark face, and I don't know if he has an opinion about me or if the sky is not bright.

I grinned and raised my hand to pat his arms, not dwelling on his disrespectful affairs.

"Do you have faith?" I looked at the two of them and asked with a smile.

Fang Wenhai leaned on his feet with a "snap", and his heels made a crisp crashing sound: "Report to the chief, you must complete the task!" ”

Seeing that I turned my gaze to myself, Kong Youde slowly raised his hand to his ear: "Kong Youde, you must complete the task." ”

I nodded, took a step back, and said, "In that case, I won't say anything more." Two, let's go, bring victory to the motherland! ”

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An army of more than six hundred people began to ascend the mountain.

Unlike the Karatsu Domain's attack on the Void Fortress, the mountain path from the Hard Dirt Fortress is smoother and the distance is longer, so it takes longer to move forward. In the night battle that took place last night, the Scouts had cleared the ninjas who were trying to occupy the path, so the troops could march with torches without worrying about someone shooting arrows in the woods.

This was the first time that the Wehrmacht had carried out a non-defensive mission on a battlefield in Japan, and to be honest, I was very much looking forward to their performance.

From the chat with the staff officers accompanying the army after the war, I can probably restore the whole process of the battle.

The first was a half-hour forced march. The troops of the two battalions, divided into four columns, marched in silence in the flickering light of the fire, without the slightest sound of speech along the way, only the gradual sound of breathing that reminded the people in the ranks that this was not a hazy dream, but a march to the battlefield.

At half past five, the troops had already arrived at the position where the siege was scheduled to be launched. Captain Fang Wenhai, who led the team, announced that he would rest on the spot, and then walked to the front of the position with his staff officer and used a telescope to observe the fortress more than 400 meters away.

The Japanese in the fortress have noticed this group of uninvited guests. With the help of the rising sun, Captain Fang could see the Japanese ashigaru on the castle wall running fast like frightened ants, and the well-dressed samurai holding swords or spears looking at the area with a cold expression.

"Which part is defending the Void Fortress?" Fang Wenhai asked.

"The army of squire generals from Edo: Thousand Islands, Nakajo. There is also a legion led by Doi's kinship, Doi Alcohol. ”

Looking at the fireworks rising from inside the Void Fortress City, Fang Wenhai couldn't help but laugh: "Look, you lit a fire for help so quickly, are you so unconfident in yourself." ”

The staff officer reminded: "According to calculations, in about thirty minutes, the enemy's reinforcements will arrive. ”

Captain Fang nodded, estimating the progress in his heart. He put the binoculars back in his waist bag, clapped his hands and stood up, and said to Kong Youde, who was also observing the fortress on the side: "Major Kong, get ready to start." ”

At 5:47, the offensive officially began.

This siege is destined to go down in history because it is the first time that ammonium nitrate bombs have been used in real combat... And in the first battle, it was shown to be far more effective than black powder.

Fang Wenhai's department did not carry artillery in this siege, or did not tow the artillery in charge. The only weapons they have with a caliber larger than 20mm are a few unconscionable cannons that have been converted from tin barrels.

Such a super-low-tech weapon has no accuracy at all, and it is normal to hit a deviation of five or six meters at a distance of two hundred meters. In past wars, the Unconscionable Cannon was mainly used to create noise and smoke, and its actual lethality is beyond words.

The Wehrmacht artillerymen carried their cannons to a distance of 200 meters from the fortress, which was the effective distance of the artillery equipped by the Karatsu Domain at that time, and any further advance could provoke the defending army to open fire.

So the gunners slowly assembled the cannon in front of the hundreds of ashigaru on the wall, aimed the frighteningly large muzzle at the wall, and put a medicine bag inside.

"Prepare for shelling!" The head of the artillery team, Second Lieutenant Liu Zhiguo, an artillery second lieutenant who graduated from the Jeju Army School, shouted to the infantry who were protecting the artillery group nearby.

It was only when the soldiers, who were holding rifles to prevent the defenders of the city from coming out to attack, covered their ears that Second Lieutenant Liu lit the propellant.

With a loud bang, a black medicine bag flew out of the smoke and fell in an arc to the city wall.

The ashigaru on the city wall couldn't help but stick out their heads to look down, and saw that the medicine bag was just smoking, and there was no other effect at all, and they were glad that it was a squib.

Liu Zhiguo lay on the ground, his eyes looked at the city wall from the edge of the helmet, counted down a few seconds in his heart, and then pressed down the helmet and closed his eyes.

Then he felt the whole world shake, like a hundred elephants running by. The violently shaking ground pounded on his chest, and a feeling of nausea almost made him vomit his undigested breakfast.

Suddenly a loud thunder on a sunny day came immediately, Liu Zhiguo snorted, and his eardrums were noisy for a while, and it took him a long time to get used to it.

When he opened his eyes, he felt some pain in his body, but he was hit by flying stones, dirt or something. His eyes were round as he looked at the ruins two hundred meters away, the walls that had stood there a dozen seconds ago had long since disappeared, leaving only a single piece of rubble.

"Ahh He turned to the gunners. Due to his temporary deafness, he spoke in a particularly loud voice, "What just happened?" ”

One of the gunners also pulled his throat and replied: "Two flashes!" There are two flashes of light there! After the shell of the conscienceless cannon exploded, it detonated the explosives stuffed into the city walls! The entire city wall was blown up! ”

Liu Zhiguo wiped a handful of dust from his face, and was about to shout, when a burst of screams reached his ears.

"Kill!"

"For the sake of the Great Song, move forward! Comrades! ”

Hundreds of infantrymen, armed with rifles with bayonets, formed a dense line and began to sprint, led by the officer. The army flag fluttering in the wind sounded fiercely, emitting a golden glow in the rising sun.