The shogunate's cavalry suffered heavy losses in shotgun fire. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In fact, the morale of the shogunate army was already very low. The shogunate army saw the collapse of the 40,000 soldiers and horses in front of them after being slaughtered in the distance, and saw the death of the elder Sakai Tadakatsu in battle, and they were already trembling. The firepower of the Tiger Division was unprecedented, and the shogunate army had no confidence in winning the battle.

Although the battles between the Japanese daimyo were in the tens of thousands, the casualty rate was never high. Often, when one side has the upper hand, the other side collapses. Li Zhi's Tiger Ben Division had so far killed nearly 10,000 shogunate troops, a casualty that the Japanese soldiers had never endured.

However, as the shogunate continued to advance, Li Zhi's butcher's knife became sharper.

More than 10,000 cavalry rushed forward another hundred, and Li Zhi's riflemen using smokeless gunpowder opened fire.

At this time, Li Zhi put out a three-row round-firing formation, with 5,000 people on each side of the formation, and three rows of soldiers on each side, each with more than 1,600 people in each row. When the shogunate's cavalry rushed to a distance of 200 meters, more than 1,600 people in the first row aimed at the Japanese and fired bullets.

Sixteen hundred rounds of bullets swept by, and nearly a thousand cavalrymen were covered with blood and fell off their horses with screams.

However, before the cavalry could react, the infantry behind came up and fired again. The soldiers in front crouched down to reload after shooting, and the soldiers in the back aimed at the galloping Japanese cavalry and pressed the trigger.

Thousands more fell from their horses and fell like punching bags on the icy ground.

The morale of the cavalry collapsed in an instant.

Such a one-sided war was terrible, with artillery and rifles firing in turn. The cavalry rushed forward with their heads smothered like this, and they were all gone. Although those who are qualified to fight on horseback in Japan can at least be called low-ranking samurai, these low-ranking samurai are also human beings, and they will also value their lives and will not charge into hell.

The cavalrymen turned their horses in panic and fled in both directions, struggling to stay out of range of the riflemen.

More than 10,000 cavalry turned into routs and scattered on the battlefield.

But they were still worthy targets on the run, and while the first two rows of soldiers crouched down to reload, the third row of riflemen aimed at the fleeing Japanese cavalry, knocking them down one by one from behind.

This pursuit made the fleeing cavalry even more panicked, and they even lost their minds and rushed into the array of infantry behind. It seemed that only by rushing into that thick infantry phalanx could Li Zhi's cannons and muskets not hurt himself.

Li Zhi rode on his horse, observing the fleeing cavalry.

But to his surprise, the collapse of more than 10,000 cavalry actually led 35,000 infantry behind.

Hundreds of panicked cavalrymen rushed into the phalanx of the shogunate infantry, not being stabbed to death by the infantry's spears. The same trembling shogunate infantry seemed to have lost their fighting spirit, and let these cavalry crash into their ranks. Then with a bang, all the 35,000 shogunate infantry that had not been engaged in battle were routed.

The weapons of the Tiger Ben Division were too terrifying, and the 35,000 foot soldiers saw the massacre-like battle scene in front of them, where did they dare to rush forward to send them to their deaths? Since 15,000 cavalry could not defeat the rifle and artillery array of 20,000 men, how could 35,000 infantry be able to fight?

Without the cavalry sweeping formation, the 20,000 Ming troops could stand in a row and shoot at the Japanese army, and I am afraid that all the Japanese troops would not be able to rush up if they were all shot to death.

Moreover, the Ming army may not have the ability to fight hand-to-hand, and even if it can rush forward, it may not be able to win.

The shogunate's foot soldiers are not stupid, no matter how you look at it, this battle has no chance of winning.

For the soldiers of the shogunate, who were half-peasants and half-soldiers, they did not receive any honor or reward for dying in a war without any chance of winning. The Japanese soldiers lost their fighting spirit, and regardless of the howling of the samurai in the formation, they fled behind with their weapons in hand.

Without waiting for Li Zhi's army to press up, the 35,000 foot soldiers had already turned into a rout, and they fled to the east.

In this battle, the shogunate army was defeated.

Tokugawa Iemitsu sat on the small stool of the general with a pale face, speechless.

The 120,000-strong army was defeated under Osaka Castle, and Li Zhi won a complete victory.

The invaders of the Ming Dynasty defeated the guardians of Japan, what conditions will this invader put forward next? Will Lee Sik attack Edo Castle directly?

On the battlefield a few miles away, Li Zhi's army pressed towards the Tokugawa family's main position.

Tokugawa Iemitsu suddenly stood up and hurried to the front of the samurai who were in charge of the mounts. He grabbed his horse and stepped on. With a flick of the whip on his horse, Tokugawa Iemitsu took the lead in escaping.

Hundreds of horses woke up from a dream, and hurriedly rode to catch up with Tokugawa Iemitsu, who had fled alone, and went up to protect the high-ranking "Shogun Seiyi".

As soon as Tokugawa Iemitsu left, the horse-seal "golden fan" that was high in the Tokugawa main camp was pulled out, and he fled east after Tokugawa Iemitsu. Suddenly, everyone on the battlefield knew that Tokugawa Iemitsu had fled.

Watching the shogun gallop on horseback, the daimyo and generals who remained in the camp were like ashes. Tokugawa Iemitsu, the shogun, is really ashamed. As the leader of all the samurai in Japan, he had no sense of samurai honor.

Date Tadamune, the lord of the Sendai Domain, suddenly burst into tears, fell to his knees with a pop, and shouted hoarsely, "Lost!" Japan was defeated! ”

The other daimyo looked at the soldiers fleeing on the battlefield, and they also had mixed feelings, and many of them also shed tears.

Japan was defeated, and the 120,000-strong army was easily lost to Li Zhi. For the first time in more than 1,000 years, Japan has been defeated by a foreign enemy.

Date Tadamune cried profusely, knelt on the ground and said loudly: "This time, no matter what conditions Li Zhi proposes, the shogunate must agree, and there must be no more war with Li Zhi!" ”

The other daimyo sighed, but no one objected to Date Tadamune's words.

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Li Zhi stood in the middle of the Chinese army, looked at the shogunate army that retreated in a panic, and smiled.

Zhong Feng said with a smile: "Division commander, now that the Japanese shogunate army has been defeated, should we go to Edo in one go?" ”

Li Zhi shook his head and said, "The Japanese people are hostile to the invaders, and we can't directly rule this island country. So even if we overthrew the shogunate, we wouldn't have much to gain. If we support a vigorous prince to become the new shogunate, perhaps this energetic prince will gather strength to resist us. ”

"Let's put forward the conditions first, and see if the Tokugawa shogunate agrees."

Zhong Feng said with a smile: "This time we have won a big victory, but we have to extort a good sum of money from the shogunate." ”

Li Zhi thought for a while and said, "This time, we not only want Osaka Castle and Japan to open several major ports for trade, but also ask the Japanese shogunate to compensate us with 10 million taels of silver." Japan has a population of more than 10 million, and each Japanese will pay us one or two pieces of silver. ”