The fourth update, please, is there still a monthly pass?

Boom Boom Boom ......

On the side of the Russian battleships that were lined up on the sea, rows of large and small fires suddenly flashed! Hundreds of small black dots were spat out, tumbling and whistling through the air, and crashing into the rows of wooden houses in Osaka's castle town. These shells are so-called arson shells, which are actually ordinary solid shells that are heated on a furnace fire and then fired. The hot projectiles smashed into the roof of the Japanese wooden house, and soon ignited the wooden building materials or furniture with the high temperature. The flames burst out, first in the dots, and then in pieces. From the flat roof of Osaka Castle (the Osaka castle tower was destroyed by lightning in the early years), the area close to the coastline is already a sea of fire, and several huge fireballs are rising from time to time!

"Baga! Our artillery positions were hit! Sakuma Zoyama, who was standing on the top platform of Osaka Castle, shook his body when he saw this scene, and almost fell. Those fireballs were Hochsky grenades filled with A-oil explosives, and they were detonated!

It turned out that in order to ambush the Russian fleet, Sakuma Kozan ambushed more than a dozen 32-pounder guns in warehouses in the port area of Osaka, and as soon as the Russians approached to start the landing, these cannons would immediately fire. However, the accuracy of firing grenades from a 32-pounder cannon is poor, and the range is not as far as that of a solid bullet. So I had to wait for the Russian fleet to get closer before firing, and who knew that the Russians actually shot Osaka Castle Town with arson......

"That explosion is ......," Putiyatin said unknowingly, as he had just given a casual order that had saved his fleet from a catastrophe. The wooden sail battleships of this era could not resist the bombardment of 32-pound Hodchsky grenades filled with A-oil explosives, and only one Hodchsky grenade hit, and the entire battleship would be blown to pieces!

"A gunpowder storehouse?" A Russian naval officer beside Putiyatin was a little uncertain.

"Perhaps." Putiyatin did not associate the fireballs with the Hodchsky grenade.

Because the Russian Navy is not equipped with flowering shells filled with A oil explosives - for the Navy. This flowering bullet seems to be a double-edged sword. In the event of a shipwreck or accident in battle, it is likely that the ship will be destroyed and killed. So the conservative Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Navy, Duke Menshikov, did not purchase the A-oil bomb produced by Jason-Churchill.

"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General. Almost, right? If you don't want to turn Osaka's castle town into ruins, the shelling was enough for the Japanese to appreciate the power of the Russian Navy. The Russian naval officer seemed to think that setting fire to the city was a bit "inhumane", after all, there were a lot of tender and delicious Japanese girls there!

"Well, that's pretty much it." Putiyatin nodded and smiled, "Those Japanese wooden houses really can't afford to burn, and if they continue to burn, there will be nothing...... Herald, the landing operation begins now! ”

On the roof of the HSBC building in Osaka Castle Town, the three-leaf aoi flag, which symbolizes the Tokugawa family, has been raised (this flag is now the military flag of the shogunate army). Saigo Takanaga was holding a telescope and staring at the Russian fleet on the sea. He rushed from inside Osaka Castle with a capable command after the Russian fleet began shelling. He commanded the 1st Division in the ambush of the Russian landing force from this place closer to the front line.

Around the HSBC building, countless men carrying katanas and spears have gathered, all of whom are samurai and ronin who live in Osaka's castle town. After seeing the Tokugawa family's three-leaf aoi flag, they rushed from all over Osaka Town to listen to orders, and they all rolled up their sleeves and prepared for a big fight.

"Who are these people?" It was the first time Shi Dakai had come to Japan, and he didn't know much about the inside story of Japan, when he suddenly saw men with knives and spears gathered like a tide, and he was immediately surprised.

"They are samurai from Osaka, and they gathered after seeing Tokugawa Mitsuha Aoi." Zheng Yongyi is Japanese, he explained to Shi Dakai. "There are many dojos and schools in Osaka Town, all run by samurai and ronin. There are also many ronins who are working as bodyguards for merchants, and some even become evil parties, but after all, there is still a samurai heart, and now that the country has been invaded by foreign enemies, they spontaneously gather here to prepare to fight the enemy under the command of the shogun! If the banner of the Tokugawa family does not appear, I believe that with tens of thousands of warriors in Osaka Town, the Russians will not succeed! ”

"That's right." Of course, Shi Dakai didn't believe in this kind of big talk, although the little man below looked quite bluffing, but it was not an organized army after all, and it would probably be scattered after a row of guns.

However, Saigo Takanaga did not think that these Osaka samurai were a rabble, and dozens of officials of the Osaka Office and staff officers of the shogunate army were sent to gather men under the banner of Mitsuha Aoi.

"Lord Saigo Takanaga, a staff officer of the Shogunate of the Banner Shogunate, was ordered to supervise the battle here, and now I need to gather the members of the team and help put out the fire, do you have anyone who is willing to serve the country?"

"I'm willing!"

"Swear to kill the thief!"

"Kill all the white ghosts!"

"Respect the king!"

"Japan onboard! Onboard! Onboard ......"

The response of the mountain and tsunami sounded, and Shi Dakai, who was standing upstairs in the HSBC building, saw this scene, and his face immediately changed. Such drumming was also made by Chinese scholars, but those Chinese scholars did not have the ability to draw swords and kill thieves, at most a few small sums of money to organize a militia group, and let the villagers and villagers be cannon fodder. But the Japanese samurai went up and cut people by themselves. This is probably the biggest difference between the elites of the two countries, right? The Chinese elite does not use their hands but does not use their hands, while the Japanese elite use their words and hands, and there is no need to trouble the peasants in the matter of cutting people.

At this time, in the port of Osaka, small wooden boats carrying Russian marines had already docked. Because of the incendiary bombardment, the wooden houses near the pier were first set on fire, and now they are burned black, and the fire is still spreading in the direction of Osaka Castle. Most of the shogunate troops who were ambushed near the pier had already evacuated, and some of the slower ones were burned to death.

So the landing went very smoothly, and more than a thousand Russian GIs swaggered onto what seemed to them a mysterious and undangerous land. Such a thing is all too familiar to the military men of European countries, where rich cities, corrupt ruling classes, numb people, and vulnerable armies seem to be able to conquer a country with just a few cannons at the gates of the opposing country.

Of course, the situation in Japan may be a little more troublesome. When he conquered the Ryukyus, he fought a tough battle in Shuri Imperial Castle. It is expected that the Japanese samurai of Osaka Castle will also be stationed in the oriental-style castle, but Osaka Ichicho is still a naked girl who is at their mercy.

"Your Excellency Lieutenant General, you have successfully landed!" The chief of staff of the Russian Pacific Fleet put down the binoculars in his hand and said to Putiyatin with a smile, "It seems that this rich city has been conquered by Your Excellency...... The British and the Yankees will regret not making this trip. ”

Originally, the small British and American fleets in the East also planned to go to Japan, but I don't know why they retreated at the last moment.

"Probably the Ming Dynasty exerted its influence, right?" Putiyatin muttered, compared with Japan and India, the Ming Empire is obviously an alternative, an Eastern country actually imitated the European system, and did it well.

"Your Excellency Lieutenant General, look there, the Japanese seem to have put out the fire." The chief of staff looked at the fire that was being extinguished in the distance and raised the telescope again, "It seems that there are still many Japanese people gathering over, it seems that there are tens of thousands, not like more!" ”

"The Japanese? Is it a samurai? Putiyatin frowned, raised a monocular, and saw a row of shiny bayonets, and several streets leading to Osaka's port area were patches of shining bayonets. Is that...... The shogunate's new army!? Didn't they go to Kyushu? Have we been fooled? ”

Putiyatin turned his head sharply and looked at Komatsu Kiyoyu under the guard of several Russian sailors, this short Japanese man was pale, his forehead was full of sweat, and the corners of his mouth were flowing red liquid, seeing Putiyatin's stunned expression, Komatsu's face showed a smug expression, and then his legs were weak and he fell to the ground! (To be continued......)