"The Volunteers have been defeated?! More than 1,000 casualties? ”

In Hua Yu's big tent, this bad news shocked him and sprinkled the South China Sea fairy dew in his hand on the ground paved with wooden planks.

Feng Qianli, the infantry battalion officer who came to report the news, was Feng Mofeng's nephew, and he was the most calm on weekdays.

"Young Marshal, originally, the artillery fire at the head of the city only wounded and killed more than 100 people, but the huge panic caused by the artillery fire made this group of ronins trample on each other, pushing and colliding. The Kumamoto defenders dug a large number of dirt pits and ditches in the ground north of the castle, and they could also make a detour when attacking, but when they retreated, the people's hearts were flustered and panicked, so they naturally panicked. One person fell into the pit, and more than 100 people trampled through. Natural casualties are heavy! ”

"These bunch of slaves are really wastewood! If our Nanchu army attacks this city, so many soldiers and horses, even ten Kumamoto castles have already been captured! ”

Liang Kuan on the side pursed his lips and expressed disdain for the defeat of the shogunate army.

"Alas! It's a pity that those ronins, if they are transported to the mines and forest farms in Nanzhong, build bridges and roads, open up wasteland and make iron, they are all good laborers! ”

"Commander Liang, Hugh has to care about its casualties, pass the order, withdraw our artillery brothers first, leave a few artillery pieces on duty, and bombard a few cannons towards the city from time to time!"

Li Huayu glanced at Liang Kuan meaningfully, "Don't forget your messenger!" ”

At the front of the queue of the volunteers, thousands of straw bags were brought in by carts, and the commander of the First Army, Tadayuki Kuroda, and the commander of the Second Army, Tokugawa Yoshinao, escorted thousands of bags of rice to the front of the battle.

The two of them conceded a few words to each other, and Tokugawa Yoshinao, who was the daimyo of the Imperial Three Families, did not give in. Waving the military fan in his hand, "Fill in those dirt pits and trenches!" Whoever throws a bag of soil within the artillery fire of the city will come back and receive a bag of rice! Not much! Ten pounds! ”

"Attack the front and the flanks with all your might, and don't be afraid to retreat! The iron artillery team and the iron cannon at the head of the city shoot to cover, the volunteer team is responsible for stepping forward to fill the trench and dirt pit, the commander leads the general shogunate flag to the battle, and those who dare to take a step back will be killed! ”

Tokugawa Yoshinao's arrangement made the ronin tremble when he heard it, but their morale was boosted. There was a frenzied glint in his eyes. Yes, as long as you rush up and throw a bag of soil under the city, you will have ten catties of white rice to receive, and the big cylinder on the city has also been cast for a few rounds. I don't think I'll dare to cast it again. Why don't you rush up and earn these ten catties of rice at this time?!

In an instant. Another charge of thousands began.

Unlike the last time, the ronin stuck their long knives at their waists and carried heavy dirt bags on their backs. Small strides threw straw bags from pit to fill in the path of attack.

Along the Kumamoto Castle Walls, the Daimyo Daimyo Turret, Iidamaru Turret, Uto Turre, Kanmono Turre, Flat Turre, Northern Eighteen Turre, Higashimaru Turre, Gennoshin Turret, Four Turre, Fourteen Turret, Seventh, and Tanko Turre, each was responsible for one section, and drove the ronin and peasants to rush into battle and fill in the dirt pits and trench traps on the ground. Consumes ammo at the head of the city.

The two commanders, Kuroda and Tokugawa, focused their energies on how to uproot the Toyokuni Temple in the northeast corner of the castle located in the middle of Mt. Tateta, which was built by Kato Kiyomasa, and has now become an important stronghold of the Kumamoto garrison outside the castle, constantly using firepower and troops to carry out flanking and small assaults on the siege troops from the flank, and restraining the rhythm of the attacking troops. Located at the foot of the Hanaoka Mountains in the southwest of the city, the temple ruins and the Hosokawa family are two spiritual temples, and they have become the outer strongholds of Kumamoto Castle.

The Daiho Rouge of the Six Shogunate Artillery Corps was transferred to the foot of Mt. Tachita, and began to slowly move upwards towards the Toyokoku Temple site located on the mountainside, preparing for an artillery bombardment.

From the arrow-eye holes on the turrets, Kayama Kumori looked down at the castle, and among the ranks of the shogunate army rushing like a tidal wave, the most fanatical were the ronin, all carrying straw bags on their shoulders, shouting hoarsely. These people are all over Japan, and as long as they have money and food, they are the cheapest cannon fodder in the army, "Damn it! Why didn't you cross the strait that day! As long as you scatter some money and food, most of these ronins are in the Western Army, and you can have as many as you want! ”

A fist smashed into the bluestone platform of the arrow eye, and a stream of blood came out of his fingers.

Ignoring the pain, Kayama Jiushou instructed the retainers beside him: "Send a signal to each oar, and the person who fills the trench enters the range of the iron cannon and fires!" ”

"Iron Gunner prepares!"

The shouts of the iron cannon generals rang out one after another.

"Ready"

Amid the sound of metal, the gunners removed the swarthy iron cannon from their shoulders and placed it on the lime wall, the castle tower, and the perforations of the various turrets.

As mentioned above, in addition to the castle tower, Kumamoto Castle has lime walls and various castle towers called turrets, which can not only be used by archers and gunners to shoot at the attacking teams under the castle, but also take into account the problem of shooting blind spots.

"It's a pity that in the first battle of Kikuchi, the iron cannon losses were too large, otherwise there are more than 3,000 iron cannons in the city, why are you afraid of the 100,000 people of the shogunate under the city?"

Seeing that the front line of the shogunate army was less than 100 steps away from the pits and trenches he had dug, Kayama had regrets in his heart. If the iron cannons in the castle had not suffered huge losses in the Battle of Kikuchi River, the more than 3,000 iron cannons alone would have caused the shogunate army to suffer heavy losses under the castle!

The ronin, who had been shouting wildly, rushed into the edge of the city wall full of pits and trenches, and it seemed that the whole north was covered with people. Groups of ronin, who were fighting against dirt bags, struggled to throw dirt bags into the dirt pit, and then quickly turned and retreated, running back and forth on the road. Pushing and colliding with the crowd that kept rushing up behind, the road was densely packed with human heads for a while.

"Let's fire!"

"Put!"

A dull firing of firearms rang out, and the screams in front of the city immediately continued. Although there are not many firecrackers in the city, only a few hundred, they are familiar with the terrain under the city, and they know how far away the pits and moats are from the city. It was used as a target reference when these obstacles were excavated in the day. Those ronins who rushed to the city with heavy straw bags on their backs were too exhausted to dodge. Shrouded in the cannons that had come from the city to form a net of fire, a large area fell on the plane.

"Put it again!"

There were bursts of thunder, and the ronins who had just begun to become panicked were shot down in groups, and many were even shot out.

Seeing it is another self-trampling fiasco.

"Fire!"

Taking advantage of the fact that the gunners at the head of the castle were back to reload the guns, the shogunate's iron guns began to block the arrow-hole firing ports on the castle tower and lime walls to cover the trench filling activities of the ronin.

A dense sound of gunpowder sounded under the city, and puffs of white gunpowder rose from under the city walls, and the projectiles flew out of the gun tube under the impetus of gunpowder, either straight or diagonally. All at once, the firing ports of the various iron cannons were blocked impenetrable.

The first column of firecrackers had just stopped. Behind the volunteers, there was another wave of military fans, and then the second column of shogunate musketeers stepped forward and opened fire on the castle. I only heard a shout from the volunteers, and another trench filling activity began.

In the blink of an eye, the ditches under the city were filled in several lots. The volunteers cheered and threw the bags of dirt on their shoulders into the nearby trenches.

"Put!"

Another sound of guns rang out from the top of the city. A large white cloud of smoke rose quickly behind the lime wall.

It is different from the platoon that has just hit the trench. This time, it was aimed at the shogunate iron artillery team under the castle. The two sides used the Nanzhong iron cannon in their hands to launch a brutal fire with each other.

The strength of the Shimazu army in the castle is that it has a bunker and a small shooting port on the outside and a large on the inside; The shogunate army under the castle was well equipped with ammunition and could be purchased on credit from the Nanchu Army at any time. There is no need to worry about running out of ammunition, and there are many iron cannons, often three or five iron cannons block a firing port.

The two sides were evenly matched for a while, and both suffered heavy casualties, and from time to time an iron gunner was hit by a projectile flying from nowhere, and fell to the ground and died without a snort.

The sound of artillery was thunderous, and six big Buddha Lang machines opened fire one after another to bombard the Fengguo temple traces on the mountainside of Litian Mountain, and the distance of 300 steps was the best range of the big Buddha Lang machine gun.

Six cannonballs weighing about ten pounds roared towards the Fengguo temple ruins, and in a series of loud bangs, several gaps appeared in the temple wall smashed by heavy iron balls, and the soldiers of the Shimazu family who were stationed on the temple wall flew blood and flesh, and the stumps and broken arms were accompanied by broken bricks and stones flying everywhere. The big iron balls on the ground that were frozen hard and slippery got the best conditions to play, and after falling into the courtyard, they bounced and rolled vigorously in all directions, increasing their lethality several times.

"Ahh

"Boom!"

A cannonball shot into the temple, and immediately rolled open a flesh alley, with remarkable lethality.

Several Shimazu soldiers who had been hit by the shells and had their arms, calves, or feet taken away by the tremendous impact were rolling on the ground in pain and screaming in pain.

"Kill!"

With the shogunate general Matsudaira Nobutsuna waving a military fan, more than 10,000 shogunate troops once again launched an attack on Kumamoto Castle.

"Brother Feng. Do you think they'll be able to storm the city this time? ”

"Returning to the Liang command, I think it would be good if they could touch the city wall. As far as I can see, at least a third of the pits and trap trenches have not yet been filled, and rushing to them at this time will undoubtedly be filled with human lives! ”

"To bet or not to bet? Twenty silver dollars. I bet they won't make it to the city. ”

"That's good! I'll bet thirty dollars, and I bet that they won't be able to rush to the city! ”

Hearing that the two guys behind him regarded the scene of the bloody fight in front of him as a gamble, Li Huayu couldn't help but feel a little itchy.

"You say, 'Why are you urging like this?' Isn't it okay for those people to completely fill in the pits and ditches before attacking the city? ”

Liang Kuan and Feng Qianli glanced at each other and couldn't help but smile.

"Young Marshal, this is the sinister part of these dwarfs' ghost tricks!"

"Those ronins are the so-called rangers in my Chinese classics, since ancient times, they are chivalrous and forbidden, and on weekdays, this generation is wearing swords and swords in the countryside and the market, once something happens, they immediately draw their swords against each other, which is a disaster. This is one of them. ”

Ronin affect local law and order and disrupt social order, which Huayu has been hearing since he landed in Japan, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but nod his head and say yes.

"Second, since the Battle of Sekigahara, most of the old divisions of Shikhei Hideyoshi, the former Wa Kingdom, have been transferred, and many people have been defeated and died. The strength of the Western Army was greatly weakened. can't afford to raise so many parts, so this generation has become a ronin. ”

"Therefore, what Matsudaira Lao did today is just to use the hands of the Shimazu army to slaughter these ronin, so as to relieve the pressure on the Tokugawa generals in the future."

"It is estimated that after today, the volunteer team composed of ronins has been frustrated and is unable to attack, and then it will be the turn of those daimyo's troops to attack the city!"

I listened to my two officers' analysis of the battlefield shape. couldn't help but make Li Huayu smack his tongue. There is a sense of ruin. It turns out that fighting on the battlefield is not only to face the enemy, but also to calculate the friendly troops and cannon fodder in your own camp. Maximize your own benefits as much as possible!

Now, Li Huayu has figured out why his father wants his brothers to read historical records, Zizhi Tongjian, and old and new Tang books. There is also a year of reading bamboo books.

But. Read more than 10,000 books. It's not as profound as traveling thousands of miles, if you don't go to this country for a while, how can you know that the swords in front of you and behind you must be on guard?

As if to prove the words of Liang Kuan and Feng Qianli. The volunteers who had just rushed through a few trenches were once again bombarded by artillery fire from the city.

This time, the birchama Kumori, who commanded at the head of the city, was even more ruthless. After putting the Volunteers into the best range of the Big Franc, he saw that the striker was within the effective range of the iron cannon before giving the order to fire.

The Big Franc machine has a great advantage in the speed of the cannon, and after cooling and cooling, the gunners who have loaded the five guns have also been restored, and the operation of the Big Franc machine is smooth. However, in the space of a minute, several rounds of artillery were discharged.

Dozens of shells whizzed by, constantly falling into the formation of the volunteers, dozens of shells went, crackling, beating limbs flying, flesh and blood stumps, accompanied by the shells landing, screams and exclamations continued, countless ronins who were still shouting for the battle, in the blink of an eye, broke their hands and feet, turned into a pool of flesh and blood, and the city was a mess everywhere.

If only the big Buddha Lang machine fell, with the help of the big Buddha Lang machine, the iron artillery team under the city was a little panicked, and the iron gunners in the city were desperately pouring bullets and rain down the city.

"This battle can't be fought, withdraw quickly......"

One of the leaders of the volunteer corps was frightened by the sight of such tragic casualties, and waved his flag and long knife in his hand and shouted.

There were dead people everywhere in front of him, human organs and limbs smashed open by cannonballs, and there were former samurai who were shot and then cried on the ground, and not far away, the iron cannon oars on the head of the city were still spraying projectiles into the city, and from time to time there was a faint beating of fire at the firing port. Behind him, the cannonballs of the big Buddha machine kept jumping back and forth, smashing the formation of the volunteers, and seeing the invisible wall made of cannonballs, he was even more frightened, and he yelled at the people around him regardless of it.

Taking advantage of the reloading interval after the big Buddha Lang machine on the head of the city, the ronin of the volunteer team retreated to the pre-departure position in one go.

This charge cost nearly 2,000 lives, and most of those who did not return were still tossing and calling under the city, begging for someone to save him.

A somewhat dumb fellow, covered in mud and dust, crawled out of a trench, supported his body with a half-broken spear, and stood up with all his strength, and staggered to this side.

Feng Qianli put away Liang Kuan's signature with some pride, and looked at the battlefield filled with the smell of fireworks and corpses from afar, "Young Marshal, do you want them to go over and pack up their injuries and send them to our camp?" It is also good to be sent to Nanzhong as a coolie in the future. This group of people is estimated to be killed in the future, and they will not dare to go to the battlefield! ”

Here are the volunteers who have suffered heavy casualties, but there have captured the Fengguo Temple ruins. Pulled out the Shimazu military stronghold in the north of the city.

Matsudaira, Tokugawa Yoshinao, Kuroda Tadashiyuki and others, who were triumphant, heard about Li Huayu's construction, and immediately ordered people to report to the castle, and packed up the wounded soldiers and sent them to the Nanzhong military camp for medical treatment.

As the sun set over the sea, the day's battle ended.

Both the city and the city seized the time to repair the fortifications, heal the wounded soldiers, and count the losses.

"How many people have been sent?"

Looking at Liang Kuan, who was covered in blood and dirty, Li Huayu was a little concerned, this was the key to completing the task assigned by his father.

"Damn! These dwarves are so ruthless! Today's two sieges threw more than 4,000 people in one fell swoop! And that's not even counting the samurai of the daimyo families! ”

"Sent to our camp and asked the military doctor to check it hastily, there are about 1,000 people who can be cured and will not leave disabilities, and about 6 or 700 people who are disabled but still have the ability to work. The rest depends on their Amaterasu God to bless them! ”

"Excellent! Send a batch of ammunition and cloth to Matsudaira Laochu! Sue him, this is the ammunition that our army supports him for counterinsurgency, and a reward for the meritorious soldiers below! Tell him that we will provide artillery support every day in the future, and we can also contribute to the treatment of wounded soldiers. ”

"Also, order people to go to the volunteer corps everywhere, send some food and wine, and tell them that if they don't plan to live in their hometown after the war, they can go to Nanzhong."

There were heavy casualties in the city, and life in the city was not easy.

"The second large barrel exploded because of the overheating of the cannon chamber, and several gunners ascended to heaven. Forty-seven iron cannons were lost, and two iron cannons were damaged and destroyed, and I am afraid that they will not be able to be used. Gunpowder, shells, and projectiles were consumed, and more than 900 soldiers were killed or wounded. ”

In the castle tower, Nabeshima Katsushige and Kayama Hisamori broke out in a cold sweat as they listened to the casualty figures reported.

This is only the first day of the war, how can such huge losses be sustained? How can we negotiate the surrender of the shogunate after inflicting huge casualties on the shogunate army?

"Order someone to sneak out of the castle to Kagoshima Castle and ask the lord for help! Ask him to prepare reinforcements, prepare ammunition! ”

The next day, the siege continued! (To be continued......)