"The Void Fortress is certainly a cursed city, and every army that occupies it will not be able to possess it for long, and even when the next group of enemies attack, the seemingly impregnable fortress will become as vulnerable as a castle on the beach, and your enemies will easily take it in a variety of ways."

The above content is excerpted from "The Middle Line Battlefield of the First Song-Japanese War", by Qiandao Fan.

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The above-mentioned book "The Song-Japanese War" is a very important work, which has played a great role in the study of the battlefield in the middle line of historiography, and has also provided a reference for my memories many times.

However, on the morning of the 4th, Mr. Chishima Sail, a future professional writer, was still a captive tied up by the Five Flowers.

At this time, his face was covered with dust, and his originally well-made feet were covered with white spots, as if he had been stoned.

Well, it was indeed stoned.

When the western wall of the fortress was blown up, Kuril himself was organizing soldiers to defend the city in the city, and then had the privilege of experiencing the power of hundreds of kilograms of ammonium nitrate explosives up close.

In an instant, the sky was dark, and the indescribable force of words pushed through the body, and the majestic wave of air blew up more than seventy kilograms, including the Guzu, like leaves, and rolled in the air several times, and passed out after breaking a wooden pillar.

When he opened his eyes again, there were already several Song soldiers with loaded guns standing in front of him, and the bayonets dripping with blood were hanging over his neck, and there were sticky blood streaks falling down, bringing a disgusting warmth.

The soldiers called out to a man who looked like an officer, and when they saw that they woke up, they squatted down and smiled, and said in Japanese, "What do you call it?" ”

As soon as Qiandao Fan opened his mouth, he suddenly remembered in his heart that the general Ozaki who had captured the Void Fortress before seemed to ask the prisoner the same question, and then casually find a reason to kill him.

Thinking of this, Qiandao immediately became nervous and replied in pure Chinese: "Your Excellency, despicable Qiandao Fan." ”

The officer nodded, and walked away with a smile on his face, as if there was no such thing. Then a Song man who followed the officer pulled the rope and tied up the island, and led him to a makeshift shed, where he was left with the other captured Ashigaru and his ilk.

After waiting for a while, seeing that the Song people didn't seem to have any intention of coming over to wipe their necks, Qiandao was really relieved. He whispered to one of the people next to him, "Hey, why did you lose so quickly?" ”

The man looked at Qiandao blankly, with no spiritual light in his eyes, and looked at Qiandao motionlessly, and then slowly grinned, and a watermark flowed from the corner of his mouth.

"Hey, hey?"

When the man heard that Qiandao had been talking, he closed his mouth and stopped saliva. After a few seconds, he suddenly let out a dry howl: "It's all dead!" All dead! That's the devil's punishment! ”

Qiandao was shocked, and hurriedly looked at a few Song soldiers who were patrolling not far away. Luckily, the soldiers just looked at it and didn't come.

A person next to him said softly: "General, don't ask, he's already crazy." ”

Qiandao looked back, and the man sighed and said, "Lin Jun was on the city wall at the time, but fortunately, the gods blessed him and was not killed by the Ao Song people." It's just that he watched the explosion up close, and more than a dozen iron gunners around him were blown to pieces and fainted at once. Wake up crazy and stupid like a wooden man. ”

Qiandao was silent for a while, and then asked, "What about Doi-sama and Nakajo-kun?" ”

"Doi escaped." The man replied indifferently. "As soon as the Song army rushed into the city, the coward fled."

"Nakajo-sama, he's a warrior. After the Song army entered the city, the lord personally led his subordinates to try to seize the city wall, and then died in battle. ”

Qiandao followed the man's gaze, and at a glance he found that the saber that Nakajo had never left before his death was grabbed in the hand of a big man in red clothes not far away, and he pulled it out from time to time to play with it.

"Lao Kong, Lao Kong, get ready, the Saga army is already lined up outside the city gate, and they are about to go down the mountain."

Kong Youde was interrupted by Fang Wenhai's shouting, and hurriedly stuffed the captured saber to his own soldiers, grabbed his rifle and ran towards him.

Outside the castle gate, the 2nd Saga Regiment (the same regiment that Jiro Iwai had previously been) that had just finished repairing was already lined up, and under the leadership of the officer, they faced the mountain road leading to the middle line, and were ready to attack.

After running all the way to the front of the team, Kong Youde saluted Fang Wenhai, returned to the team of the second battalion, personally raised the battalion commander's flag, and then looked at Fang Wenhai with burning eyes.

"All of them! Watch to stay in formation! After receiving the enemy, listen to my command, and after a salvo, the Saga army directly plunges into hand-to-hand combat! The Chinese army reloads its own ammunition and shoots freely! ”

After hearing the earth-shattering "yes" from the team, Fang Wenhai nodded slightly, stood on a boulder and waved his flag: "The whole army is attacking!" Annihilate Karatsu! ”

"Wan Sheng!" "Onboard!"

The black pressure of the 2,000-strong troops began to descend the mountain, looking like a swimming dragon from a distance, and slashed at the tail of the Tangjin army.

And in the second line of defense at the foot of the mountain, Doi, who had just learned the news from his nephew that the Void Fortress had been captured, suddenly had a gray color on his face.

He waved his hand to let the escaped Doi Alcohol roll down, and he sat back in his chair tiredly, looking at Hirotaka Terazawa, who had been silent.

Temple Ze raised his head, his eyes had lost hope, but he still reluctantly spoke: "Break through now, break through." Breakthrough... There is also hope that some people can be lost less. ”

Doi smiled bitterly, the corners of his mouth full of bitterness: "Organize it immediately, the artillery men from Edo must be the first to evacuate, let the iron gunners carry spears again, put on the masks, and use spears when the time comes." ”

"This must not be known to everyone."

Terasawa nodded silently, stood up and said, "Please stay for a while, I will be able to deal with it soon." ”

Doi sat quietly in his chair. Looking at the blue sky outside from the window with blank eyes, for a moment, he felt that he had returned to the present of yesterday, in front of him was the garrison of the hard earth fortress that could not be retracted, and the Void Fortress on the right wing was still firmly in his hands, although he was passive, he was still in a situation where he could attack, retreat and defend, and he didn't have to worry about being wiped out as much as he did now.

And then... He saw Kitajiro running in in a hurry, and he fell on the threshold: "Lord, lord, it's not good!" ... Terasawa escaped with someone! ”

Doi looked at each other steadily, the pressure accumulated in his heart suddenly surged, and he only felt a sweetness in his throat, and the world in front of him was spinning, and he lost consciousness.

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As Terazawa fled north with his cronies robbing the cavalry and the horses of the envoys (Note 1), the morale of the entire Karatsu army suddenly plummeted, and the fighting spirit that could barely be maintained disappeared at all.

Fortunately, Kitajiro was still aware of the blockade, and pretended that Doi himself was still awake, and he went out to inspect the army as a member of Doi's family, and ordered the military to behead several ashigaru heads who were rumored to be running away from Terazawa in public (Note 2), and temporarily stabilized the situation by thunder.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Lord Terazawa personally led the cavalry to reinforce the Void Fortress, how dare you spread rumors that Lord Terazawa is trying to escape!" Kitajiro rode on a horse, holding Doi's banner in one hand and a blood-dripping sword in the other, and scolded sharply, "Void City is still in the hands of our army!" Whoever dares to talk nonsense again, no matter who it is, I will kill it myself! ”

It's just that Doi Alcohol was too embarrassed to escape before, and he himself didn't have a sense of secrecy. Therefore, although Kitajiro forcibly forbade the discussion, the news that "the Void Fortress has fallen and the entire army has been cut off" is still spreading in private, and the more it spreads, the more outrageous it becomes. By the time Doi woke up, the rumor had evolved into "the Ao-Song people had transferred 100,000 troops and surrounded themselves, and no one could escape."

"It's over, it's over." Doi, who woke up, looked at Kitajiro, who was sitting anxiously on the edge of the bed, and a stiff smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"I'm sorry for the trust of the Shogun. Jiro, please excuse me. ”