In addition to the one wing stationed in Sakai City, there were four and a half divisions and nearly two wings of police units in and around Osaka Castle, but except for the two wings of the 2nd Haiphong Battalion, the 1st and 2nd Divisions, and the Kataoka Wing, the other teams could only be used as auxiliaries.

Of course, the sailors of the fleet led by Xu Xinsu are also a very effective force. However, Xu Xinsu would not risk letting these sailors go ashore to fight an army, if one was not good, it would damage the navigation ability of the entire fleet, which was more unacceptable to him than the loss of Osaka Castle.

Li Chenfang naturally couldn't help but think about it, and with less than 7,000 fighting troops, he fought a field battle with the army led by Naotaka Jing on the plains favorable to cavalry. But he didn't want to just stay in the city and do nothing, so that the shogunate army and the citizens of Osaka thought he was timid.

After looking at the map near Osaka and studying it for half an hour, Li Chenfang invited Xu Xinsu over and told him about his battle plan. Xu Xinsu suddenly said with some surprise: "What? I heard you right, at this time you are going to lead your troops out of the city to attack Abe's main army? ”

Li Chenfang looked at the map with his eyes, suppressed the excitement in his heart and said: "Abe Shoji Army would never have thought that when Ii Naotaka arrived at Osaka Castle with a large army, we would still be able to sneak attack him, so tonight's Abe Shoji Army must be the most lax night."

According to the information sent back by ships near Hyogotsu, the camp of Abe's Shoji army today should be in the Ashiya area. With Mt. Rokko in the back and Osaka Bay in the south, and an unobstructed plain in front of it, a large group of men and horses will soon be spotted if they appear on the plain.

It was still a few hours before dark, enough for us to transport a wing to the rear of Abe's Shoji Army. Then we took advantage of the darkness of the night to attack the camp of Abe's Shoji army from the rear, and the unsuspecting Abe Shoji army would surely collapse. ”

Although Xu Xinsu felt that this plan was very probable, he still said with some hesitation: "A wing is only more than 900 people, and Abe's main army has 7,000 people, which is seven times the enemy. ”

Li Chenfang looked up at Xu Xinsu and said firmly: "If the Abe Shoji Army can be defeated tonight, Osaka Castle will not only relieve the dilemma of being attacked on both sides, but the soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city can also strengthen their belief in defeating the shogunate army." Otherwise, once the war is cemented, there may not be people who are afraid to defect to the enemy. This is not the Ming Dynasty after all, and without the support of these Osaka citizens, we still have to lose this battle. ”

Seeing that Li Chenfang was so confident, Xu Xinsu was silent for a while, and finally softened his tone and said: "There are still fewer people in a wing, and there are many ships parked in the port now, so you might as well bring a half-wing." I'll have the fleet equip you with a few six-pound guns, so that you can have more firepower when you strike. But can't this be left to someone else? I've always felt that it was not appropriate for you to leave Osaka Castle right now. ”

Li Chenfang thought for a while and said: "Then I will pick six brigades from the wing of the Second Battalion of Haiphong, these people are all trained by me in Daming, and it is easier for me to command them, and I am afraid that others may not be able to make them obey orders wholeheartedly."

In order not to alarm the others, I will leave quietly. I also ask you to take charge of the affairs of the city for me, so that there will be no fluctuations among the soldiers and civilians in the city..."

Li Chenfang summoned Hirano Goro and other confidant generals and ordered them to obey Xu Xinsu's command. He changed into the clothes of an ordinary soldier and went out of the city in the team of the wing commander Zuo Nobutaka, and the two brigades of Matsuura Nobumoto and Numata Kenichi who escaped from Suruga were still repairing on Nakanoshima, and this time they were also taken on the boat by Li Chenfang.

The rice market wharf on Nakanoshima Island was already very spacious, and because of the war, many rice ships are now basking in the sun in the port. Except for Li Chenfang who took a brigade to the Mingzhong parked in the outer harbor, the rest of the personnel all boarded the low Japanese-style thousand-stone ship.

Although the boats were small, they were easy to manoeuvre in the calm waters of Osaka Bay, and the Japanese owners were very familiar with the geography of Osaka Bay, so the trip was a smooth one. Before it was dark, a fleet of two large ships and twenty thousand stone ships arrived at its destination.

As Li Chenfang expected, Abe Masaji put a lot of sentry on the way of the team, but there was no guard behind the team. When his sentry met with Naotaka Ii's messenger and learned that the other party had arrived outside Osaka tonight, Abe Shoji's army was even less vigilant.

When the army began to come ashore, Li Chenfang sent several sentry stints, and these sentry detectives quickly found out the direction of Abe Masaji's camp. The campsite is about 15 kilometers from Mt. Rokko to the north and about 2 kilometers from the area where they have landed.

Perhaps there had been no war for many years, except for a large tent with bamboo and cloth in the middle of the camp, the entire camp did not dig a trench and set up a wall, and standing in the distance, you could observe all the arrangements in the camp without any obstacles. According to the observation of the sentry sentry, there seems to be a shortage of tents in the camp, and many soldiers are camped in the open air around campfires.

Li Chenfang naturally would not have thought that the reason why Abe's Shoji army was so embarrassed was entirely because he not only captured Osaka, but also destroyed the logistics warehouse in Hyogozu. After the Chungcho rebellion, the princes of the Western Kingdom withheld the supplies that Abe Masaji had requisitioned from them for the second time, and Abe Masaji, who was short of supplies, had to leave half of his army in the Chinese region and only carry the feudal army recruited from the Gyeonggi region to the east.

Abe Masaji and his subordinates felt that as long as they passed tonight, whether they would join up with Ii Naotaka to get help tomorrow, or directly plunder the villages on the Osaka Plain, they would finally have a solution to the shortage of supplies.

Just when the soldiers of Abe's Shoji Army fell asleep with a sweet dream, Li Chenfang finally arrived at the northwest high ground of Abe's Shoji Army's camp with six brigades and more than 1,600 people. Looking at the bonfires dotted in front of him, Li Chenfang roughly judged the camping ground of the other party's entire army.

Abe Masaji's big tent was located in the middle of the camp to the north, just on a sloping field. The entire campsite stretches from northeast to southwest, with a length of about 1,000 meters and a depth of about 4 or 500 meters. The sides of the camp protrude slightly forward, protecting the center of the camp.

Of course, for Li Chenfang's current position, the other party is equivalent to exposing his ass to himself, waiting for him to kick it hard. After understanding the situation in the camp, Li Chenfang looked up at the sky, and ordered the troops to rest in place first, and then called the six captains and the gunner commanders assigned to him on the ship to discuss the raid plan together.

The three six-pound guns unloaded from the two warships were lighter * guns, with a gun body length of 12 meters, and the total weight of the gun carriage was about 370 kilograms. The live ammunition weighs 225 kg, the standard charge is 045 kg, and the angle of fire is 820 meters at a 5-degree angle.

Although the high ground where they were located was only seven or eight hundred meters away from Abe Masaji's camp, it was purely up to heaven to see where the shells would fly when they could not calibrate the firing points at night when they could not calibrate the firing points.

The explanation of the gunner's commander let Li Chenfang know that this night attack still had to rely on the strength of the Second Battalion of Haiphong after all. After some discussion, the final plan for the raid was finally decided.

Matsuura Nobumoto's brigade attacked the enemy's left flank and attacked the enemy's central tent from west to east; Numata Kanichi attacked the enemy's right flank, attacking the enemy's central horde from east to west; Zuo Xinxiao led two brigades, and after the enemy's flanks were disorganized, they attacked the enemy's center in one go.

Li Chenfang himself took the last two brigades as a reserve, and if the enemy army was scattered on all fronts, he would go forward to pursue. If the enemy holds his ground, he will retreat in response to the retreat. Three guns were tested for firing support.

In order not to alarm Abe's army, Li Chenfang's troops marched extremely slowly, because when they arrived at this high ground and rested, it was already about 2 o'clock in the morning. By the time Matsuura Nobumoto and Numata Kane's first or two teams of men and horses had their own activities to the designated positions, it took almost an hour.

Therefore, when Li Chenfang's troops officially attacked, it was already about four o'clock in the morning, and it was the time when the soldiers of Abe's second army were asleep. Nobumoto Matsuura, Ken Numata, and one or two teams of men and horses have been touching the inside of the camp and have not been found.

Matsuura Nobumoto, who entered the camp, first signaled his subordinates to reactivate the bonfire on the side, and then ordered his subordinates to pick up the firewood burned in the bonfire and light it around, opening the prelude to the attack.

Abe Masaji, who had finished his business, didn't fall asleep until midnight, and just as he was asleep, he was suddenly awakened by a shout. Abe Masaji, who had just opened his eyes, but was still confused, soon heard a rush of footsteps and walked over, and then someone rushed into the big tent with a torch, which immediately made Abe Masaji jump.

When he realized that it was his own guards who rushed in, he breathed a sigh of relief. But then the other party reported to him in a panic that someone had attacked the camp, and Abe Masaji came to his senses completely. He tore through his clothes and hurriedly put them on, and then ran out of the tent, not bothering to put on his shoes.

Standing on the slope, Abe Masaji suddenly became furious when he looked at the flames burning on both wings and the soldiers running around like flies. He first said to the several generals gathered around him: "Don't panic, everyone, the enemy army can't have many people, and no one has reported back to the sentinels we put in front, so this is definitely not Osaka's army, it is probably a small force that fled to the Rokko Mountains at the beginning, as long as everyone goes back to stabilize their subordinates, these enemies will flee..."

Before Abe had finished speaking, he heard a screaming sound flying from the sky, extinguishing the bonfire used for lighting in front of everyone, and some sparks were splashed on people, and some people couldn't help but scream. The soldiers who had just calmed down a little couldn't help but retreat now.

I don't know where the attacking army came from, but it certainly won't be the remnants of the army who fled to Mt. Rokko, because the other side has artillery. Behind the roar of the cannon was the sound of fighting and platoon guns coming from the northwest. Unlike the melee on the east and west flanks, the attacking army from the northwest was in good order, and some of the small forces that had just been assembled in the center were quickly crushed.

Seeing that the enemy army was about to rush to the location of the Chinese army's big tent, and from time to time there were shells flying in the sky that were difficult to distinguish the landing point, the retainers and subordinates around Abe Masaroji finally couldn't continue to calm down, they grabbed Abe Masaki, who still wanted to hold on, turned around and fled towards the eastern plain.

Originally, there were still some soldiers in the battalion who spontaneously resisted, but with the flight of senior generals such as Abe Masasa, the morale of the entire army suddenly fell to the valley. The soldiers began to flee in all directions, some fleeing into Mt. Rokko, others following Abe's fleeing men, and many more surrendered.

By the time the sky was turning white, Abe's army of 7,000 was gone. It was almost noon, Abe Masaji arrived at the camp of the Naokaka army of Ii with more than 100 remnants of the army, panting. The news of the defeat brought by Abe Masaji made Naotaka Ii extremely annoyed, and now he not only can't attack the city with all his strength, but has to guard against the Osaka rebels attacking him from behind.