Time turns back slightly, back to the moment when the two sail battleships of the Wu army set sail and were about to join the artillery battle of Kagoshima. Seeing that the Wu army dispatched the sail battleships that were powerful in the artillery battle, and found that the Wu army's sailors had repeatedly divided their troops to play the tactics of adding fuel to the taboo of naval warfare, Shimazu Hisamitsu, who was very proficient in naval warfare, immediately made up his mind and shouted: "All the artillery is ready, and the sail battleships of the Qing people will take aim immediately after entering the firing range, and fire together when they see the signal!" No matter what tricks the Qing people want to play, give me one or two sail battleships first! ”

"Artillery ready! All cannons ready! Aim at the big ship of the Qing people, see the signal, and fire immediately! All artillery ready! ”

Orders were issued layer by layer to the front line, and they were quickly passed to the fort at the gate of the Japanese army, and when they heard the order, a Japanese boy soldier who looked to be only eleven or twelve years old not only did not panic, but shouted excitedly, "Finally it's our turn!" The mountain of sluggishness, whether you can build a meritorious career or not is up to you! Aiming at the gunboats of the Qing Kingdom, I guarantee that after you finish a shot, I will be able to send you a cannonball immediately! ”

The Japanese gunner who partnered with the boy scout who carried the cannonballs was a young man in his early twenties, who looked a little honest, carefully observing the sailing speed and channel of the Wu army's sail battleship and did not speak, and did not pay attention to the overly excited boy soldier. Another Japanese soldier who helped with the ammunition, a young soldier who was only fifteen or sixteen years old, shouted, "Little guy, calm down, don't disturb the mountain!" Hit a moving target at sea, it is important to observe the enemy's speed and channel, don't distract him! Again, watch your step, you're about to trip over the bucket! ”

The boy boy soldier playfully stuck out his tongue and quickly took a few steps back away from the bucket used to extinguish the remaining sparks in the barrel, and then complained to the young soldier: "Dongxiang, don't call me a little guy all the time, okay?" It's not like I don't have a name. ”

"You're meant to be a little guy." The young soldier replied coldly, holding his portable waist card and said: "If you want me to call your name, you can do it, as long as you don't drag us back in this battle, I will only call you by your name in the future, and no longer call you little guy." ”

"Don't drag the mountain back!" The boy scout retorted unconvinced: "During training, I carried shells faster than you, and the mountain even praised me. ”

"That's because you can only use stupid strength and can't load gunpowder, so Dashan encourages you to carry more shells."

The boy soldier's even more cold answer made the boy soldier very angry, and when the boy soldier argued loudly, the young man who was with them opened his mouth, "Don't make any noise, give me peace." ”

The boy soldier closed his mouth helplessly, and the young gunner continued to carefully observe the navigation of the Wu army's sail battleship, raised his right thumb from time to time, closed one eye and measured the distance with the Wu army's battleship with triangulation, estimated the sailing speed of the Wu army's sail battleship, and observed the wind direction of the flag fluttering very carefully.

Finally, Wu's sail battleships still drove within the range of the Japanese batteries, turned the huge hull with difficulty against the wind and waves, and confronted the enemy with the guns of the dense gunboards. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the young gunner first quickly calculated the distance from the sail battleship of the Wu Army, adjusted the muzzle and angle of fire, and then said confidently: "I dare to bet on a month's worth of Yulu that my first shot will definitely be able to hit the gunboat of the Qing people!" ”

The boy boy soldiers and the boy soldiers nodded together, all full of confidence in the confident promise of the young gunner, but their eyes were firmly fixed on the Japanese command post behind the side, and when they saw the conspicuous command flag finally waved, the boy soldiers and the boy soldiers shouted together: "Big mountain, open the cannon!" ”

The young gunner lit the lead with a torch with his own hands, and led several of his assistants to retreat together to avoid the recoil of the artillery, and the lead shred into the cannon body with a cry of joy, and then, as if a huge thunder suddenly exploded, the cannon trembled, and the solid cannonball came out of the chamber and bombarded the Wu battleship along the low-level trajectory unique to the cannon. At this moment, the honest face of the young gunner suddenly became extremely serious, the young soldier clenched his waist card, and the boy soldier was so nervous that his hands were clenched into fists, and his palms were sweaty!

"Onboard (Hooray)! Onboard! ”

The young gunners, the young soldiers, and the boy soldiers suddenly cheered together, and they clearly saw that the shells fired by the young gunners actually hit the building of a Wu army's sail battleship, and the fragile defense of the ship was blown into sawdust, and the body of the building was shattered, revealing a large hole in the blink of an eye. Seeing this, the gunners of several other guns on the battery also gave a thumbs up to the young gunners and praised: "Well done Dashan, sluggish mountain!" ”

The Japanese army is not only a young gunner, but many other Japanese gunners are also doing a good job, because this sea area happens to be the place where the Japanese army has been training for a long time, and the hit rate of the Japanese artillery who is familiar with the wind direction and water flow is surprisingly high, and forty new guns that joined the battle and more than a dozen Japanese guns that fired at the same time combined to bombard down, and about ten shells accurately hit the sail battleships of the Wu army, causing huge losses and casualties to the Wu army's battleships, so it was not only the thunder of joy on the fort at the gate, The other Japanese batteries were also filled with joy, and the slogans on board resounded through the sky, almost comparable to the sound of artillery.

The Japanese army was not satisfied, and before the cheers stopped, the boy boy soldiers, like many Japanese artillerymen, raised heavy shells and prepared to reload, and after someone picked up a stick wrapped in cotton cloth and dipped it in water to extinguish the embers in the barrel, the young soldiers immediately lifted the gunpowder and poured it into the barrel, and the boy soldiers loaded the shells, and the young gunners loaded the lead with their own hands, aimed at the Wu battleship they had hit before, and fired again, and miraculously hit the side of the Wu battleship again, and the boy soldiers cheered again, "Dashan, good fight!"

"Less nonsense, move the shells quickly!"

The young gunner scolded loudly, but there was a happy smile on his honest face, but at this moment, the young soldier suddenly shouted: "Dashan, look, the steam gunboat of the Qing people is moving!" ”

The young gunner turned his head when he heard the sound, but before he could see the situation in the distance clearly, the steam fleet of the Wu army three miles away had already spewed out white smoke one after another, and then the roar of the artillery also came, and the young gunner was suddenly taken aback and exclaimed: "Fire so far away?" Can the artillery of the Qing people hit so far? ”

"Whew!"

The whistling and falling shells told the young gunners a cruel truth - the gunwales of the Wu army's steam gunboats could indeed hit so far! Moreover, the young gunner also saw with his own eyes that after a Wu gun's shell hit the other side of the battery where he was, it suddenly exploded when it landed, and then erupted a large area of flames, instantly engulfing several Japanese gunners who happened to be next to him, and the young gunner suddenly shouted in despair, "Blossom shells!" The flowering cannonball of the legend of the Southern Barbarians! ”

Not only the ordinary black powder flowering shells, the young gunners were stunned to see that after the two Japanese gunners who were on fire rushed out of the sea of fire, they rolled and threw on the ground screaming, and their companions also carried water in time to extinguish the fire, but the flames of the two Japanese gunners were burning more and more, no matter how much water was poured on the earth, they would not be extinguished, and the screams and cries of the two soldiers on fire became more and more miserable, but the fire was still raging on them, burning their bodies and limbs curled up and refused to extinguish. The air was also filled with the characteristic stench of burnt human flesh, as well as a strange pungent smell.

"Help! Help me! Help me! ”

When the young gunners turned their heads to look at the young gunners who had just woken up from a dream, they saw that the Japanese batteries such as Tempozan and Tenbado were already on fire, and a huge fire was ignited, and on the Sakurajima Fort on the other side of the sea, the violent explosion of Japanese artillery was heard.

"Mountain!"

The young soldier suddenly pounced on the young gunner with a gust of wind and pressed the young gunner to the ground, and then immediately after, the young gunner heard the sound of the cannonball breaking through the air above his body, and the explosion of the cannonball hitting the back of the fort. The young gunner also suddenly shouted in despair, "How is it possible? How could the artillery of the Qing people fight so fast? Hit so accurately? ”

The screams were useless, and after successfully figuring out the firepower arrangement of the Japanese army, the steam gunboats of the Wu army no longer made any reservations, and only fired at the Japanese artillery one after another, and accurately bombarded the enemy with a powerful picric acid shell, and because it was a fixed target, and it was not as unlucky as the British fleet in the Sath-British war in the storm, the hit efficiency of the Wu army's shells was quite high, and in less than 20 minutes, the Wu army hit the Japanese battery more than 30 times, As a result, three Japanese artillery pieces were killed, killing and burning more than 50 Japanese gunners, almost instantly surpassing the British fleet's record in the Sath-British War, and bombarding several Japanese batteries to the point that they were on fire everywhere, thick smoke filled everywhere, and the ground shook as if the end was coming.

I'm stunned! The Japanese army was stunned! In the face of the fierce firepower that has never been seen before, the Japanese army from the commander to the front-line commander to the middle-level generals are at a loss, and they don't know how to deal with such a situation. Attempts are made to reverse this passive situation by force.

After the initial shock, fear and panic, the young gunner, who was called the sluggish mountain by his companions, was loyal to his duty, and was still working hard to return fire, desperately bombarding the sailing warships of the Wu army within the firing range, and his assistants, the young soldiers and boy soldiers, were also as loyal as him, although they were panicked and confused, they were still working hard to carry the shells and help the young gunners load the shells to bombard the Wu army.

But it is a pity that their loyalty and hard work only brought a monstrous disaster to themselves, after discovering that the Japanese artillery in this position was still firing, there were two Wu army steam gunboats of the gunsoft guns turned the muzzle, concentrated fire to cover the young gunner's gate battery, picric acid shells fell one after another, not only the young gunner's other companions suffered heavy casualties, but the companion boy soldier who was less than 12 years old was also cut off his right arm by a piece of shrapnel, and the shrapnel was not gone, and then pierced into the side chest of the boy soldier, The boy scouts didn't even have time to scream, and fell directly into a pool of blood.

"Gonbei! Gonbei! You hold on, hold on! I'll take you to the doctor right away! I'll take you to the doctor right away! ”

The boy soldier pounced on the boy boy soldier like crazy and helped him up to check his injuries, but the boy soldier immediately saw in despair that the shrapnel had been deeply inserted into the side chest of the boy boy soldier and straight into his lungs, and the blood was like a spring water, constantly spurting out of the wound and the boy soldier's mouth, completely staining the upper half of the boy soldier's body.

The boy boy soldier was not completely out of breath, and tried to raise his left hand with difficulty, as if he wanted to touch the young soldier's face, but the hand was just halfway up and fell, and at the same time, the boy soldier's head was tilted, his eyes were open, and he stopped breathing forever, and the young soldier also cried out in despair, "Quan Bingwei!" Gonbei Yamamoto! O my brother! ”

"Dongxiang, there's no time to take care of the guards! Come and help me! ”

The young gunner, who was trying to extinguish the sparks of the cannon barrel, yelled, and when the young soldier saw that the situation was urgent, he had no choice but to cry and put down his companion, rushed up to pick up the gunpowder and help the young gunner charge, and someone next to him shouted, "Dashan Yan! Come on! The artillery of the Qing Kingdom is eyeing the fort at our gate, leave the cannon alone, run! ”

glanced at the person who shouted, and found that it was not his boss, the young gunner did not pay attention, but quickly went to install the lead, and the young soldier struggled to raise the shell into the muzzle, but at this time, a bitter acid cannonball of the Wu army was whistling and flying, and it just hit the feet of the young gunner and exploded, the young gunner was crushed on the spot, not to mention, the cannon that had just been loaded with gunpowder was also detonated, and the huge wave of air directly lifted the young soldier into the air and fell off the fort heavily.

With a plop, the young soldier's body fell on the sand, and in the dying struggle, the young soldier tried to touch the waist card on his body, but as soon as his fingers touched the blood-stained waist card, the young soldier stopped moving forever, and on the blood-stained waist card, there were seven neat and upright Chinese characters engraved - Wang Yangming in his life!

The whistling shells are still constantly smashing into the Japanese batteries, and huge sparks continue to splash on the Japanese batteries, and countless Satsuma Domain soldiers who are about to become famous in Japan after the Meiji Restoration and even shock the world are like being in an iron fire hell, constantly being killed and burned, wounded and injured, and buried in a daze under the fierce artillery fire that should not have appeared on the Japanese mainland in history, and countless Restoration talents who can help Japan move towards the road to rise also fell at the starting point, and died in the claws of the Wu army before they could do evil. Hundreds of future pillars of the Japanese army died and could no longer realize the so-called Greater East Asia co-prosperity that they dreamed of in the future. The sound of artillery and explosions came and went, like a mourning song for Japan's restoration.

Desperate Shimazu Hisamitsu finally remembered to give up the fort, but after the Japanese batteries all gave up the counterattack, the Wu army still did not stop the shelling, after the fleet moved forward, the gunboats of the Wu army began to bombard the Jikenkan factory area of the Satsuma Domain, all kinds of large and small shells roared to the ground one after another, and the industrial area of the Satsuma Domain, which was already capable of producing steam engines, quickly turned into a sea of fire, and countless Japanese industrial workers who had been trained tragically died under the brutal shelling of the Wu army. Shipyards and industrial research institutes were also engulfed in flames and gradually fell into disarray.

The matter is not over, through the triangulation method found that the main city of the Satsuma Domain, Kagoshima Castle, is also within the coverage of the army's artillery fire, the Wu army fleet divided the artillery fire, began to bombard Kagoshima Castle indiscriminately, Kagoshima Castle and the castle town quickly appeared in the fire, the Japanese inside and outside the city jumped chickens and dogs, crying and screaming in all directions, the puppet lord of the Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Tadayoshi, was also forcibly dragged down the castle tower by Yamoto Matajiro and other cronies, and fled to the Seneye Temple in the distance in embarrassment according to Shimazu Hisamitsu's request. However, until this moment, Shimazu Tadayoshi didn't dare to see what he saw in the castle tower as true, and kept muttering, "How is it possible? How can the Qing people be so powerful? How can it be? How could the Zhennan King of the Qing Kingdom be so powerful? ”