"Ready, fire!"

Under his command, more than 140 light and heavy artillery pieces of various types belonging to the artillery wing of the artillery wing of the Guards Division and the former deputy general of the Shenji Battalion of the three major battalions of the southern capital were responsible for suppressing the fire of the Japanese troops in Hengshan.

Earlier, the operational staff officers of the 1st Wing had already conducted on-the-spot surveys and mapping of the Yokoyama area, and the artillery wing had obtained relatively accurate surveying and mapping data, so although only solid iron bullets were fired, the damage to the Japanese troops was limited, but it also damaged many fortifications built by the Japanese army.

"Lord, the artillery is not good, let's let the sappers come!"

An Guosi, the first person in the imperial army's explosives technology and a direct mentor of Wei Gonggong, was very dissatisfied with the work of the artillery wing, believing that if his engineer wing was in charge, he could completely destroy the Japanese fortifications before lunch.

Of course, Gonggong Wei knew that sapper blasting was more effective than the current artillery attack, but he was still willing to waste some shells and medicine by artillery.

This is because he needs artillery to be able to get more actual combat training and better use the tactic of "infantry and artillery coordination" in actual combat.

In March, the Artillery Wing and the Fourth Infantry Wing conducted an actual combat exercise in Taichung, during which several soldiers were hit by their own artillery shells due to a miscalculation of the "security community."

After the incident was reported by the Guards Division, Chief of Staff Jiang Xifeng, who remained in the Taipei Guard, presided over a detailed investigation of the incident and informed the whole army.

At the same time, the results of the report were also sent to the father-in-law of Wei, who was in Liaodong, and the father-in-law's reply at that time was: "The casualties during the exercise prove that there are many problems within the imperial army, but the number of actual combat drills must not be reduced because of casualties, on the contrary, it must be increased." Sweat more in peacetime, and only in wartime can you shed less blood. ”

With the spiritual instructions of Gonggong Wei, the base camp and various units were reassured, and several exercises of the scale above the wing were carried out one after another.

The Combined Fleet also drew dozens of ships and organized two beach landings and offensive and defensive exercises together with the Guards Division.

As a result of the many exercises, this large-scale expedition to the Ryukyus was well coordinated by land and sea, which reduced the landing time and greatly improved the transportation efficiency.

"The navy has the strengths of the navy, the army has the strengths of the army, where the navy cannot reach, the army can reach out, and where the army cannot step over, the navy can cross it. Therefore, the officers and men of the navy and land should closely unite under the common banner of the imperial army and contribute to the prosperity and strength of the emperor. ”

On the day of mobilization, Gonggong Wei ordered the navy and army court to study in solidarity and mutual assistance for three days, and planned to implement a regular rotation system of naval and army officers, so as to eliminate some signs of disharmony between the navy and the army at present and avoid the unstable factors that may arise in the future after the imperial army grows stronger.

"War is not something that the Navy can do on its own, and it is not something that the Army can do on its own. In the same way, both artillery and sappers have their own roles, and they cannot be considered useless because of their poor performance. ”

Gonggong Wei said to Anguo Temple.

"If the flowering artillery can be successfully developed, the sappers are not qualified to consider themselves stronger than the artillery." Cao Wenyao, commander of the Guards Division, said.

Gonggong Wei nodded, the power of the flowering shell is definitely greater than that of the solid shell, both the destructive power and the lethality will be unheard of by the officers and soldiers, and its appearance will also greatly change the history of mankind.

It is a pity that although the development of the flowering bomb has been carried out by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and is regarded as a key project, it has received strong support from the maritime yamen with funds and manpower, but there are two technical problems that are difficult to solve.

One is the problem of the fuse, and the other is the problem of the strength of the shell.

The flowering shells were necessarily hollow and a combination of casts, so the existing barrel could not withstand the pressure generated at the moment of firing.

The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has tried many times, but all of them failed with a blast.

Due to the delay in the development of flowering shells, the artillery currently equipped by the imperial army, navy and army can only fire solid iron bullets.

There is still a long way to go to break through these two technical problems. No matter how advanced and wonderful Wei's thinking is, the actual technical conditions cannot meet his needs.

You can't become fat in one bite, weapon innovation is by no means a brilliant idea that can be generated instantly, and Gonggong Wei is very optimistic about it.

In the distance, artillery fire stopped.

The death squad led by Michiyu Akashi launched an attack on the Japanese troops on the ridge after the artillery stopped, and this death squad composed of the original Japanese army invading Taiwan and the Taiwan volunteers were all wearing iron armor and holding long knives, and in the sharp whistle, they shouted from the starting place and rushed to the ridge.

Most of the Japanese troops in the Hidaka Department of Kayama were the armed forces of the Japanese Satsuma Domain, and most of the soldiers were coastal bandits recruited by the Satsuma Domain and peasants who had lost their land, so the military discipline was very poor, but the combat effectiveness and the will to fight were quite strong, much like the Japanese who harassed the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty.

Their weapons and equipment are not advanced, except for the iron spear team of hundreds of people in the main formation of Huashan, the rest of the soldiers are equipped with a weapon called "gun", which is similar to the spear used by the Ming army, but there are differences. Most of the officers' equipment was mainly naginata knives for slashing, and the overall equipment lagged behind the imperial army for at least thirty years.

However, they operated in the Ryukyus for several years, and the soldiers generally had a strong endurance, and because they knew that they had no way out, they were very stubborn, and because they occupied a favorable position, they built the first wing several times and paid hundreds of casualties in the imperial court.

It was also in consideration of the possible casualties caused by the trapped beast that Gonggong Wei ordered the formation of a death squad.

Michitomo Akashi, who also had no way to retreat, led a death squad to break through the two lines of defense of the Japanese army one after another, several miles deep, and then the 1st and 3rd Wings that followed quickly advanced, cutting the Japanese army in Yokoyama into several units. The strands were not connected to each other, could neither echo nor gather, and the balance of battle quickly tipped in favor of the Imperial Army.

At noon, Kojima Taro, the Japanese commander of Miyakojima, was killed behind a boulder, and the remnants of three or four hundred Japanese troops hid on all sides of the mountain range, and were searched out and exterminated by the Guards Division one by one.

In the end, after paying 368 casualties, the Imperial Army completely captured Miyako Island, killing and wounding more than 800 Japanese soldiers, and capturing about 300 Japanese soldiers and more than 100 Japanese soldiers.

After consulting with Wei's father-in-law, Sanada Ichiro drove the men to a slope lined with cliffs on both sides, and then ordered some of the recruits in the wing to stab the captives with spears.

After knowing that they could not survive, most of the Japanese soldiers and their families chose to jump off the cliff.

Under the setting sun, one figure after another fell from a height, making the third son of the Ryukyu king, Shangxian, and the official Cai Jin, who were watching the battle, unbearable.

Gonggong Wei wiped his dusty cloak with a handkerchief, and instructed Shang Xian to send someone to Yaeyama to persuade him to surrender to Mount Huashan, and said in a firm tone: "Tell Grande Monk that if they don't surrender, the imperial army will burn all the jade as soon as they arrive, and all men, women, and children will be killed, and no one will be left." ”