The defeat of the Yamashita battlefield that was attacked by the sneak attack was decided, but for the Yamasha battlefield on the mountain, the decision-makers of the Satsuma Domain, such as Shimazu Hisamitsu and Saigo Takamori, still refused to give up, and hurriedly dispatched troops and horses to guard the temple gate, and the wounded infantry commander Okubo Ritsu also went into battle again, personally leading the army to guard the road up the mountain, in a vain attempt to use the terrain to block the attack of the Wu army, and persisted until the routed Yamashita army made a comeback and regained the battle situation.

Not to mention, because of the condescending advantage, and because the Wu soldiers were too unfamiliar with the terrain in this area, the Japanese army used the constantly throwing rolling stones and dense bullets to resist the Wu army's offensive, and really blocked the attack of the Wu army for a period of time. However, Huang Yuanbao, a general of the Wu army who personally commanded this surprise attack, adjusted his tactics in time, and while violently bombarding the Japanese positions with grenadiers, he organized the army to launch a surprise attack from both sides of the mountain road to the top of the mountain with sentinels as a unit, and quickly reversed the situation.

In the dark night, the soldiers of the Wu army who scattered and attacked continued to press the Japanese defense line, and the Japanese army with an elongated battle line continued to shoot at the bottom of the mountain, but because the sky was too dark, the hit rate was too low, and the Wu army could not stop the advance of the Wu army at all, and when enough troops were hoarded on the front line, the soldiers of the Wu army immediately threw a large number of grenades at the Japanese position, completely bombing the Japanese position, and then took the opportunity to rush into the Japanese position to fight a hand-to-hand white-knuckle battle. As a result, it was only at this time that Huang Yuanbao once again waved his division to launch a charge, head-on on the road up the mountain.

The Japanese army who refused to give up was still shooting at the foot of the mountain, but because the defensive position had been in chaos, the momentum was not as good as before, and the soldiers of the Wu army took the opportunity to charge forward in twos and threes, and opened the way to attack the temple gate of the Thousand Eyes Temple with bitter acid grenades, and Okubo Ritsu personally led the army to guard the steps of the temple gate, roaring hoarsely, forcing the Japanese soldiers to step up their shooting to resist the enemy, and also achieved some effect for a time. However, when the Wu army hurriedly concentrated a few grenadiers to bombard the steps of the temple gate, the Japanese soldiers guarding the steps were still quickly defeated, and Okubo Ritsu himself was killed by grenadier shells, and the Wu army directly attacked the gate of the Thousand Eyes Temple and began to exchange fire with the Japanese troops guarding the gate.

The situation has become more and more bad for the Japanese army, afraid that the Wu army will turn himself into Oda Nobunaga second after surrounding the Thousand Eyes Temple, and Shimazu Hisamitsu, who cherishes his life, has no choice but to hurriedly organize the temple army to prepare to escape from the back door, but at this time, Shimazu Tadashi, who has always been obedient to his biological father's words, did not know where a courage came out, not only for the first time categorically refused Shimazu Hisamitsu's order, but also openly stated: "I will not leave!" I'm going to stay here and wait to meet with General Wang Fu of the Qing people, and I'm going to personally negotiate an armistice with him to save our Satsuma Domain!" ”

Wu Jun has directly stated that he wants to support Shimazu Tadayoshi to take power, and of course Shimazu Hisamitsu will only leave his son for Wu Jun to use if he is stupid, so Shimazu Hisamitsu immediately slapped his son in the face, yelling and forcing the attendant to step forward and carry Shimazu Tadayoshi away. Shimazu Tadashi resisted and personally raised his katana to fight with Shimazu Hisamitsu's surname, but except for a few cronies such as Yamoto Matajiro to help, the other attendants all stood on the side of Shimazu Hisamitsu, Shimazu Tadayi had no choice but to break through with a few cronies, but Shimazu Hisamitsu's people quickly surrounded them, and the result was less than two minutes, Shimazu Tadayoshi, who had only learned some flower boxing and embroidered legs, was quickly knocked off the knife, and the person was also pressed to the ground by Shimazu Hisamitsu's attendants.

"Domain Lord! Eight grid tooth road! Let go of our feudal lords! ”

The loyal Yamoto Matajiro tried to come to the rescue, but several samurai with good skills firmly blocked Yamoto Matajiro, Shimazu Tadayoshi saw helplessness, and had to struggle and yelled: "Yamoto-kun, go find the Qing people and ask them to save me!" Tell them that as long as there is a truce, I can agree to anything! ”

The loyal Yamoto Matajiro still refused to give up, but after seeing that Shimazu Hisamitsu's people had raised their muskets at him, Yamoto Matajiro had no choice but to quickly break through the window and flee to the outside of the temple, Shimazu Hisamitsu's attendants were in hot pursuit, and Shimazu Hisamitsu slapped Shimazu Tadayashi in the face and roared: "Yaga! I knew you wanted to be Yoshiryu Saito! ”

Roaring, the furious Shimazu Hisamitsu once thought about whether he should kill his own son directly, but considering the current situation of the Satsuma Domain, it is necessary to gather people's hearts to preserve hope, if he kills Shimazu Tadashi, the honorary lord of the domain, the Satsuma Domain will be completely torn apart, Shimazu Hisamitsu is still very helpless to dispel this idea, and chose to give his own son another slap, roaring: "Tie it up, carry it away!" ”

If the Wu army can have sufficient troops, can completely encircle the mountain range where Seneye Temple is located, or can be more familiar with the terrain around Kagoshima, and preemptively arrange for an army to set up an ambush on the road that Shimazu father and son must pass to flee north, then the Wu army is very likely to wipe out the top of the Satsuma domain. But it's a pity that the Wu army did not have these two advantages, so after hurriedly escaping from the back door of the Thousand Eyes Temple, Shimazu Hisamitsu and Saigo Takamori and others relied on their familiarity with the terrain, and before dawn they fled to the Ishiki branch that was farther away from the coast and the terrain was more precipitous. Completely missed the opportunity to take the opportunity to wipe out the top management of the Satsuma Domain.

But Wu Jun was not without other gains, and he unexpectedly caught a big fish of great value - Shimazu Tadayoshi's pro-confidant Yamoto Matajiro! After escaping from the Thousand Eyes Temple with his wounds, Yamoto Matajiro was very lucky to escape the Japanese army's front and chase and flee into the mountains and forests, and put down his weapon before being shot and killed by the overly vigilant Wu soldiers, showing his surrender to the Wu soldiers. Then because of the language barrier, although Yamoto Matajiro failed to indicate his identity at the first time, but because of the relatively exquisite clothes on his body, he was escorted to a temporary prisoner of war camp for interrogation the next day, and with the help of a Japanese sinologist who volunteered to act as an interpreter for Wu Jun, Yamoto Matsujiro was soon received by Huang Yuanbao, the commander of the Wu Army's land division, and let Huang Yuanbao know Shimazu Tadashi's request to Wu Jun.

Then, of course, Yamoto Matajiro was quickly escorted back to the Wu army fleet to be personally interrogated by Wang Fu, but Wang Fu's focus was not on the name of the Satsuma Domain given to Wu Jun by Shimazu Tadashihaku, and he just asked directly through the translator: "Do you know when Shimazu Hisamitsu's reinforcements will arrive?" Which way to get to Kagoshima? How many troops are there? ”

"I know, when I accompanied the feudal lord to a meeting, I heard from the gang of traitors in Saigo about this."

Yamoto Matajiro's answer made Wang Fu overjoyed, and when Wang Fu hurriedly asked for details, Yamoto Matajiro recalled and replied: "The Father of the Nation has two reinforcements, one is the naval fleet led by our shogunate's warship, Katsukaishu, with five steam gunboats and three steam carriers, and some sail warships, with a strength of about 3,000 people. The other support force was a land division led by the deacon of the Choshu domain, Katsura Kogoro, with a strength of 8,000 men, and there were no steam gunboats, but there were many sea ships to transport troops. These two reinforcements are acting together, preparing to land on Kyushu Island first, and then move separately, the Choshu Domain will directly reinforce Kagoshima by land, and the Shogunate Navy will take the sea route to Kagoshima Bay to reinforce and be responsible for dealing with your fleet. ”

"And where are they going to land?" Wang Fu hurriedly asked again.

"Eguchihama." Yamoto Matajiro replied truthfully, and according to Wang Fu's request, he directly pointed out on the map the location of the Eguchihama, which was only more than 40 miles east of the Ishiki Branch.

The rare fighter plane was placed in front of Wang Fu, but what made Wang Fu extremely worried was that the Eguchi Shore that Yamoto Matajiro had explained was on the west coast of Kyushu Island, and the Wu army fleet, which had been anchored in Kagoshima Bay, had to bypass most of the South Kyushu Peninsula and go to the west coast of Kyushu Island if it wanted to attack the Eguchi Coast. So after thinking about it for a long time, Wang Fu slowly asked: "When will Shimazu Hisamitsu's reinforcements arrive at Jiangkoubin?" ”

"If it's fast, it's the morning after tomorrow, and it should be before the night after tomorrow at the latest." Yamoto Matajiro continued to answer truthfully, and said: "This time will not be wrong, because just last night, Shimazu Hisamitsu sent someone to contact the reinforcements, and asked them to arrive at Eguchihama within the day after tomorrow. ”

Wang Fu nodded slowly, and then thoughtfully instructed: "Mr. Yamoto, you go down to rest first, Mr. Gongxiang, you and Mr. Yamoto are old acquaintances, so please trouble you to accompany Mr. Yamoto to eat on my behalf, so that you can entertain him and not be lazy." ”

Commanding, Wang Fu quietly glanced at Gong Cheng, Gong Cheng nodded knowingly, and hurriedly asked Yamoto Matajiro to go down to dinner with a smile on his face, but as a result, Gong Cheng and Yamoto Matajiro had just left, and Wang Fu immediately issued two orders, the first was to let the fleet immediately start preparing to sail, and the second was to invite his adviser Aspen and the captains of the two British armed merchant ships accompanying the battle, and consult them in person about the possibility of attacking the riverside.

In a moment, Aspen and the others were invited to Wang Fu, and Wang Fu didn't talk nonsense with them, he immediately gave a general introduction to the situation, and then asked their opinions. As a result, Aspen and the others did not rush to answer, but first discussed in a low voice in English for a while, and then Aspen replied: "Wang, it is not impossible for your fleet to rush to the shore of the river mouth to prepare for ambushing the Japanese fleet before the morning after tomorrow, but we dare not guarantee that your fleet will be able to do it." ”

"Why?" Wang Fu hurriedly asked.

"Because of the monsoon." The captain of an armed British merchant ship replied: "It is now the end of August (Gregorian calendar), the southeast wind in Japan has gradually weakened, and the northwest wind is gradually rising, plus your fleet is not familiar with the route, and cannot sail day and night, and you have four old sail battleships, if you are unlucky enough to meet the northwest wind, it will be difficult for you to get to the battlefield on time and suddenly surprise the Japanese monkeys." ”

Wang Fu nodded silently, just continued to calculate in his heart, and Aspen next to him reminded: "Wang, I have to remind you, is this information of yours accurate?" If this is a false information deliberately given to you by the Japanese, and an ambush was arranged in advance on the side of the river, to trick you into ambushing you, your fleet may suffer? ”

This is also what Wang Fu is most worried about, but at this time, Gong Cheng sneakily came to Wang Fu again, and reported: "Wang Junmen, I have been tempted, it should be true to see the situation, that Yamoto Matsujiro has no traces of fraud, it doesn't look like a spy." ”

"Can you guarantee that you must not be a Japanese spy?" Wang Fu asked worriedly.

"People's hearts are separated from their stomachs, how dare I guarantee this?" Gong Cheng replied with a wry smile, and said: "But I can guarantee that this Yamoto Gajiro is definitely Shimazu Tadashi's most trusted confidant, not only is he usually inseparable from Shimazu Tadayoshi, but after I ventured to provoke the relationship between Shimazu and his son in front of him, Shimazu Hisamitsu didn't treat me well, and this can prove that he didn't betray me, and his ass was sitting on Shimazu Tadashi's side." ”

"But if he is a spy sent by Shimazu Tadashi himself, then we will be in big trouble."

Wang Fu was still worried, and after Aspen next to him learned about the conversation between Wang Fu and Gong Cheng through an interpreter, he also said in English: "Wang, I suggest that you better not take risks. The strength of your fleet is still only the strength of the fleet of the Japanese shogunate, and even if the fleet of the Japanese shogunate enters Kagoshima Bay, it can only form a diversion effect on your fleet at most, and you dare not fight you head-on, otherwise you have a great confidence that you can directly defeat them. ”

"Headmaster, but I don't dare to let the Japanese fleet hold my back right now." Wang Fu smiled bitterly and said: "If my fleet is pinned down by the Japanese shogunate fleet, and the Japanese land division also successfully arrives in Kagoshima for reinforcements, it will be difficult to directly force Japan to surrender with our land strength alone. ”

When it comes to the interests of his motherland, Aspen, who has always been proud of his British Empire background, also immediately changed his words and said: "Then you can decide for yourself, I won't interfere with you, I can only promise to help you command the fleet to defeat the enemy as much as possible, and it will not affect your tactical decision-making." ”

"General Wang, if you decide to go on an adventure, I'm sorry we can't accompany you." The two British captains were also quick to take their say: "We must be responsible for our crews and sailors, and we must not venture into a sea that is likely to be a trap for the enemy, and fight an uncertain battle at sea, so we cannot participate in your adventure, and at most we can only assist you in navigators and technology." ”

The friendly army slipped away so fast and slippery, which really hit Wang Fu's confidence and fighting spirit, but after thinking about it again, Wang Fu still made up his mind, slapped the table and shouted: "Go to Jiangkoubin!" Eight steam gunboats went, only two sail battleships and some small boats, anyway, the steam gunboats ran fast, even if they fell into the trap of the Japanese invaders, they could get out of the way, two sail battleships and some small sea ships, we can still afford to lose now! ”

"You are indeed very courageous, king." Aspen said approvingly: "I'll go with you and try to help you solve technical problems, if we win this bet, the next battle will be much easier." Kill the Japanese fleet, if you want, you can directly drive the fleet directly to Edo and use artillery to force the Japanese to pay reparations and surrender! ”

After making up his mind, he borrowed a few navigators from British merchant ships who were familiar with Japanese waters, and hurriedly made preparations for a long-distance attack, and at about four o'clock in the afternoon, Wang Fu personally led the main fleet of the Wu expeditionary fleet to set off for water combat. Before leaving, in order to prevent this from being a plan for the Japanese army to sneak attack the auxiliary fleet of the Wu army, Wang Fu was very careful to arrange a contingency plan for the auxiliary fleet to transfer urgently, and arranged some gunpowder ships for backup early in the morning, so as to rescue the emergency at a critical moment.

Wu Lao Wolf said

I'm sorry, because of a momentary negligence, Chapter 657 mistakenly wrote the Japanese shogun as Tokugawa Keiki, in fact, the Japanese shogun at this time in the book should be Tokugawa Ieshige, which has been corrected, I'm very sorry.