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"Miss, you probably haven't heard about what happened in Kumamoto Castle, have you?" One of the ship's owners said, a terror in his eyes.

"All I've heard is that Kumamoto Castle seems to have been breached in less than a day......" Iwasaki Yuka hesitated for a moment and whispered.

"Yes, miss." The shipowner said, "You may not know that Kumamoto Castle at that time also had more than 10,000 defenders waiting for it, and the castle defense was extremely strong, and the attacking Satsuma thief army was only 10,000 people, but it fell in one day......"

When the shipowner said this, he could not hide the panic in his eyes.

"I heard that it was a heavy snowfall that day, and then the walls collapsed inexplicably, so the thieves took advantage of the situation to rush in, and Kumamoto Castle fell because of this." Another shipowner interfaced.

"Some people say that the gods are protecting Mr. Nanzhou......" someone said.

When everyone heard this, somehow, they all stopped talking and stopped talking.

"How did you leave Nagasaki?" After a long while, Iwasaki Yuka asked.

Several shipowners looked at each other, and one of them hesitated for a moment and replied, "We are ...... Released by the Satsuma Thieves. ”

"They...... Unleashed everyone? Iwasaki Yuka was stunned.

"Yes, miss." One of the shipowners nodded and replied, "After our ship was confiscated, they asked us to join, but we didn't want to be stigmatized as traitors, so we refused on the pretext that our family might be implicated, and they didn't force it. Instead, we signed a pledge not to go to war, and gave us money and passes. Let's go home. ”

"I see...... Iwasaki Yuka asked in surprise, looking at the men in front of him. If there are travel expenses and passes, why is everyone like this? ”

"We ...... On the way, we ran into the counterinsurgency army, and they took us as spies for the Satsuma thieves. A look of resentment flashed in the eyes of one of the shipowners, "Later, after confirming our identity, they released us, but they robbed us of all the money and belongings we were carrying. ”

"We went through many hardships along the way, and we easily came to Osaka, and we wanted to see His Excellency the President, but I didn't expect His Excellency the President to ......," said another shipowner, trying to suppress the look of disappointment on his face. He bowed to Yuka Iwasaki, "However, I'm very happy to see Miss here and be entertained by Miss Iwasaki!" Thank you very much! ”

Hearing his words, the other boat owners also bowed to Iwasaki Yuka, and Iwasaki Yujia bowed silently and returned the salute, and the guest and host were relatively speechless for a while.

At this moment, a muffled thunderous sound came from outside the window. It scared everyone.

Iwasaki Yuka and the shipowners looked out of the window and saw a large cloud of black smoke rising in the distance near the harbor.

"Fighting...... Has it begun? ......" Iwasaki Yuka's face turned pale and clenched his hands. Asked softly.

"Yes, miss." One of the ship's owners said with a worried face.

"It's dangerous outside right now, so don't go out. Stay here! Iwasaki Yuka tried to calm himself down, and said to the shipowners who could be her father and uncle at their age.

"Thank you, Miss!" The shipowners understood that Iwasaki didn't want them to be captured as strong men. All said gratefully.

At this time, neither the owners nor Iwasaki Yuka himself could have imagined that they would be in Osaka. What kind of days to live.

During Japan's Warring States period, Osaka was a battleground for soldiers. After entering the Toyotomi administration, Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Osaka Castle on the land of the former Ishiyama Honganji Temple, with Osaka as the central city of his rule. In the first year of the Meiji era, Osaka officially opened its port, and the former Kawaguchi Residence was established in the Kawaguchi area for foreigners to live in. Foreigners brought the latest Western culture with them, and Osaka began to enter the modern era. After the Meiji Restoration, Okubo Ritsu proposed to move the capital of Japan from Kyoto to Osaka, but it was rejected for various reasons, and the new Meiji government finally moved the capital to Tokyo. However, this did not affect Osaka's status as an economic center. The fact that the new Meiji government set up a mint and an artillery factory in Osaka shows that Osaka still enjoys an important position. Among them, the Osaka Mint was the largest mint in the world at that time.

At this time, outside the port of Osaka, the wind was calm and calm, and there was a sense of slaughter.

At noon, the sea fog began to rise, and suddenly, a ship appeared in the distance, apparently from afar and acting in a strange way.

As a result of the sea fog, visibility on the sea surface began to deteriorate, and neither the Japanese fishing boats approaching the harbor nor the foreign merchant ships heading out to the open sea were able to notice the new vessel.

If the visibility is better, people will notice that the mast of this ship is fluttering with the eye-catching Satsuma Domain's "Cross Maru" military flag!

Soon, several more ships of similar caliber appeared. At 11 o'clock, several Satsuma warships merged into a group.

Osaka City is located in the coastal area of Osaka Bay in the central part of Osaka Prefecture, and most of the urban area is located on the Osaka Plain. The Osaka Plain is an alluvial plain with flat terrain. About 8,000 to 7,000 years ago, the Osaka Plain was called Kawachi Bay when the water level rose due to the entry of sea water from the Jomon Sea. As the sand spit on the north side of the Uemachi Plateau gradually extended northward, by the middle of the Jomon period, Kawachi Bay had evolved into a lagoon known as Lake Kawachi. In the Kofun period, due to the accumulation of soil and sand transported by the rivers and the artificial development of the lake as arable land, Lake Hanoi almost disappeared and became the Osaka Plain. The Kamimachi Plateau in the eastern part of Osaka City is a high-lying area of Osaka City. The Uemachi Plateau stretches from the area around Osaka Castle in the north to the vicinity of Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine in the south, with a width of about 2 to 3 kilometers and a length of more than 10 kilometers. The northern end of the platform is the highest area in the Uemachi Plateau. The eastern side of the plateau is relatively gentle. On the west side, the highlands are more pronounced and there are many slopes, which is also the origin of the name "Osaka". During the time when the Osaka Plain was still Kawachi Bay, the Uemachi Terrace was a peninsula deep into the sea. Because of its relatively stable terrain, the Uemachi Terrace was the first place in Osaka City where people lived. In order to expand the land area, Osaka has carried out land reclamation many times. Large-scale reclamation of the sea in Osaka began with the development of Nitta in ancient times. A quarter of Osaka's urban area is reclaimed from the sea. The islands off the coast of Osaka City, such as Yumezu, Maishima, and Sekishu, are also artificial islands created by land reclamation. At the entrance of the city, there is a naturally formed haven, the bay is mostly on both sides of the cliffs, the terrain is extremely dangerous, the use of the promontory cliffs protruding in the harbor, as well as the shallow water along the coast, almost everywhere in Hong Kong can be fortified and deployed. Some of the most dangerous locations in the Port of Osaka have been fortified since ancient times, but now they are equipped with new-style artillery. After Nozu Zhentai became the commander of Osaka Town, he built 6 pillboxes on the cliffs around Osaka Port, and built 7 batteries on a lowland on the inner side of the harbor that was easy to land.

After learning that Kumamoto Castle and Nagasaki Port were all in the hands of the enemy, Nozu Zheno anticipated that the Satsuma army might attack Osaka via Tosa, so he built two new forts in the port on the basis of the original ones, and selected an old earthen fort next to the original fort to expand it.

On the whole, the forts, which were equipped with five new guns, were the main force of the entire Osaka Port battery group because of their heavy firepower and long range. Of the three newly built forts, only the one that was rebuilt on the old fort was actually starting to take shape, equipped with three newly purchased 120 mm Krupp cannons, and the other two were not yet completed, so although the natural situation of Osaka Port was excellent, the strength of the outer forts was actually extremely limited.

At this time, the defenders of Osaka Port did not expect that they would have a real battle.

"Sir, it looks like the enemy has strengthened the guards."

On the flybridge of the Satsuma Navy's gunship "Raiden Maru", the captain of the ship, Admiral Nakasa Izuba Shigeto, looked at the government army's fortifications looming in the sea fog in the direction of the coast, and said to Shinohara Kunigan beside him.

"What? Any questions? Shinohara, Kunigan asked rhetorically, not putting down the telescope in his hand.

"According to the intelligence, there are no fortifications where we are going to land." "And now, there are a few more batteries here, do we need to modify our plans and land in another place?" ”

At this time, I was far away and was not able to see where the main battery of the government army was.

"Maybe our intelligence is wrong." Kunikan Shinohara, wanting to take a closer look, but the fog grew heavier and heavier, and soon, everything on the shore became blurry.

"In foggy weather, if we land, the enemy shouldn't find out, right?" Shinohara Kunigan put down his binoculars and asked quietly.

"That's ...... Will it work? Dewa Shigeto looked around and asked with some concern, "With such a fog, we are afraid that we will not be able to see the enemy." ”

"It should be a temporary fortification built by the enemy, don't worry, there is a cover of thick fog, we can just carry out the landing operation." Shinohara Kunigan thought about it and decisively gave the battle order.

"However, if we are shelled, our army will be in danger!" Dewa said worriedly.

"Those are just temporary artillery positions built by the enemy, and even if they use new artillery, our naval artillery fire is completely capable of suppressing them." Shinohara Kunigan looked at the looming Satsuma fleet behind him and said with confidence.

In addition to the original 10 warships "Mt. Fuji," "Raiden Maru," "Ennen-Maru," "Yoharu Maru," "Electric Maru," "Chaoyang Maru," "Kanse-maru," "Daiichi Cho-mao," "No.2 Cho-mao," and "Chiyoda-kata," the Satsuma Navy was also dispatched to the newly captured and repaired "Tokiwa," and the "Panryu-maru," a shallow-water gunboat that had recently been equipped with a new order from Qianguo. (To be continued......)