"Mr. Nanzhou promoted the Sacho Alliance, Edo opened the castle bloodlessly, and the king was renewed, creating unprecedented vitality for Japan, and the father of the Restoration, which is well deserved." Yoko Shimazu recalls the first time she saw Saigo Takamori as a child, and she clearly remembers the love in Saigo's eyes when he saw her.

"Mr. Nanzhou is talented, responsible, and dedicated to the public, but it's a pity...... The mind is too straightforward, the act is too wishful thinking, and it can start and not know how to finish, just like ...... now" Yoko Shimazu sighed, "Mr. Nanzhou, when you started the army, did you ever think that it would be like today? ”

Yoko Shimazu said, her eyes falling on the name of Toshiaki Kirino next to Saigo Takamori's name.

"Now some people say that this war is not the war of Saigo Takamori, but the war of your Kirino Toshiaki, in my opinion, I am afraid that it may not be ......" Shimazu Yoko picked up the piece of paper with Kirino Toshiaki's name written on it with her finger and looked at it, "As a general of the first army, you command the army to charge into battle, for your strengths, and planning far-sightedness, it is not your ......"

She put the piece of paper in her hand aside, and her eyes fell on the words "Lin Yiqing" on the piece of paper.

"In this war, you are the one behind the scenes." Yoko Shimazu said, putting the piece of paper with Lin Yiqing's name on it behind the piece of paper with Saigo Takamori's name written on it, "If it weren't for you, Mr. Nanzhou would probably not even be able to get out of Kyushu, and he wouldn't be able to support it for so long, if it weren't for you, Mr. Nanzhou might not be alive now......"

"Who are you? What is your purpose when you came to Japan from Qianguo? Yoko Shimazu stared at Lin Yiqing's name. Why did you get involved in a war for the Japanese? ”

"I've never noticed you before. I thought you were just a military instructor hired by Mr. Nanzhou. But when I read about you in the newspapers, I realized that you are by no means just an instructor! Yoko Shimazu said to herself, "You have not only trained a group of elite soldiers, but you have also won the respect of the Kagoshima samurai, so that they willingly obey your orders, you are the true leader of the Southwest Warrior Army!" ”

"You increase their sense of honor and pride, and you also deepen the antagonism between them and the government. The soldiers you trained took root in the Satsuma army like seeds, making the scale of this war larger, and Satsuma, which originally did not have much naval strength, also because your men infiltrated the government navy and captured the ironclad ships that originally belonged to the government navy, making the Satsuma navy more powerful than the government navy! ”

"Everything you have done is to enable the Southwest Shi Clan to defeat the government, without you, the Southwest Shi Clan would never have thought of this, and would not have been able to do this. It will not be so many victories and occupy the southwest half. Confront the government! And also block the Lucian attack! ”

"But what are you doing all this for? Do you really want Mr. Nanzhou to replace the government and establish a new government? ”

"What is the purpose of your doing? What exactly would be in it for you? ”

Yoko Shimazu seemed to be asking Lin Yiqing, and she seemed to be asking herself.

It was only at this moment that a look of confusion appeared in her eyes.

Her eyes wandered back and forth on the map, and at this time, the wind blew open the window, and a cool breeze blew in, blowing the pieces of paper on the desktop to the ground, but somehow, only the piece of paper with Lin Yiqing's name written on it was still firmly glued to its original position.

The huge map was presented in front of Yoko Shimazu, who suddenly straightened up from her chair.

Her gaze was fixed on the position of Qianguo, and then nervously swept over the vast land of Russia, and finally returned to the position of Japan.

"Qianguo...... Lucia...... Japanese ......" she murmured, a strange brightness in her eyes.

"Original...... You are for the sake of Qianguo, and at the moment of weakening Japan's ......", she found the answer.

"Asia, among the three most powerful nations, there can only be one hegemon......"

"If Qianguo wants to become a hegemon, it is necessary to make Japan no longer a threat ......"

"This time it was not only Japan that was weakened, but so was the mighty Lucia...... Lucia is now fighting against Turkey in the West, and is again mired in the war with Japan in the East, and when this war is over, she is afraid that within ten years, she will no longer have the strength to compete with the Qianguo...... In this way, Qianguo can become the hegemon of Asia......"

"That's what you're fighting this war for, isn't it? ……”

Yoko Shimazu took out a copperplate portrait of Lin Yiqing cut out of a newspaper from a book, and the portrait showed Lin Yiqing with a delicate appearance, heroic spirit, and a pair of eyes with a resolute light.

"I finally know your secret......," she chuckled, "is this what the Empress Dowager of Qianguo wants you to do?" But why do I feel that the whole country, whether it is the queen mother, the emperor, or those ministers and governors, can't think of such a plan? ”

"It can't be them! But...... If it weren't for them, who would have asked you to go to Japan to do this? ”

"Did you want to do it?"

"So...... You...... Probably the person I'm looking for...... Someone I've been looking for......"

"But it was because you made this war like this, prompting the government to raise a butcher's knife against the Shimazu family, that I lost my parents and my clan...... Should I hate you and stop your plans, or should I help you? ……”

Yoko Shimazu threw away the portrait of Lin Yiqing in her hand, fell on the table, and began to cry.

"Father...... Mother...... Grandfather...... Can you tell me what to choose? ……”

Another gust of wind blew, and Lin Yiqing's portrait was blown by the wind and fell to Shimazu Yoko's feet, Shimazu Yoko's tears fell at this time and fell on Lin Yiqing's portrait, and the paper portrait was immediately wet with tears and stuck to her instep.

Yoko Shimazu looked at the portrait of Lin Yiqing who was wet with tears in a daze, and the wet stains slowly spread on the portrait, in a trance. Lin Yiqing's expression on the portrait seems to have changed. It turned into a smile at her. Those eyes no longer seemed resolute and cold, but were full of warm light, as if they were saying comforting words to her.

Yoko Shimazu seemed to understand something, and she leaned down, gently picked up the portrait, and placed it on the table.

She wiped the tears on her face and looked at Lin Yiqing's portrait. His expression became firm, as if he had changed into a different person.

"If it's all fate, then I choose to accept it." She looked at Lin Yiqing's portrait and said, "I don't think you will let me down." You have created a miracle for the Southwest Shi clan, so create a miracle for me too! ”

Japan, Osaka, Outer Theater.

When Lin Yiqing came to inspect the battlefield, the first stretcher team he saw appeared in the early morning, shortly after the general offensive began. Each stretcher is carried by 3 to 5 men. A stretcher team always has about 20 to 30 stretchers. He was followed by a few samurai escorting the stretcher team and some soldiers who were slightly injured and could get off the battlefield on their own, and there were also one or two paramedics to follow and take care of them.

There is always a quilt on the stretcher. The wounded who are still alive will show their heads. If the quilt covers the entire stretcher, it is a comrade-in-arms who has already died.

On the battlefield, this is how the Satsuma Army dealt with its sacrificed comrades.

If they were killed in defensive battles, their bodies would be gathered in a trench and wait for the second-line troops to return them to their hometowns.

When the samurai attacked the Russian army, if there were comrades or relatives who died, in between battles, they would definitely snatch the bodies of the sacrificed comrades and relatives, sort them out, put them together, and wait for the second-line troops or civilians to send them back.

If the Satsuma army no longer stays in place after the attack, it will have to wait for the follow-up troops to come up and deal with it. But in any case, even if it is a mutilated body, the relatives of the samurai will definitely send them back and bury them properly, and never leave them on the battlefield. As for the samurai who could not be found immediately after their death, the Satsuma Army had a special battlefield cleaning team responsible for finding their bodies.

Of course, there are also people whose bones are left - as the fighting becomes more and more fierce, under the bombardment of Russian artillery, many people have been blown to pieces, and the only such victims are sent back to their hometowns are his relics.

The stretcher teams that accompanied the Satsuma Army consisted mostly of residents recruited from all over the occupied areas at that time, and they also made great sacrifices in the battle against the Russians.

The stretcher teams in front of Lin Yiqing are all composed of local residents in Osaka, and they are all in small teams. When the combat units of the Satsuma Army were attacking the Russian army, they followed behind. They were responsible for carrying the dead and wounded soldiers back to the rear when the troops had passed, and for transporting some military supplies, including supplementary ammunition, dry rations, life-saving medicines and other necessities, to the front when they returned to the front from the rear.

Although there are plain areas around Osaka, there are also many mountains, and in some places the mountains are extremely steep. For every wounded person transported, 3 to 4 stretcher bearers are needed; It took hours to carry a wounded man down a freshly captured hill, and he had to brave Russian artillery fire and government knife squads.

In the early days of the arrival of the Russian army, the stretcher team and the wounded of the Satsuma Army were often attacked by the Russian army and government troops on the way to and from the front line and the rear, and many wounded died in this way, and the stretcher team members also sacrificed a lot.

And from that time, the stretcher bearers were also armed, and with bitter hatred for the Russians, they took part in the battle.

Their transformation from peaceful residents to warriors, Lin Yiqing saw it very clearly.

From the first time I raised my gun and aimed my crosshair at the first enemy to be killed, I believe that every soldier who walks down from the battlefield will feel the same feeling, his heart is racing, panting and nervous.

When a person's comrades or relatives are wounded or killed, his blood will begin to burn, his eyes will begin to turn red, and if there is an enemy opposite him, he will surely shoot all the bullets from his gun at the enemy's body without thinking.

Waiting for an attack is the greatest torture for a person, and when the gun goes off, it is better to attack forward, because all that is thought about is where the enemy will be, how to approach the enemy, and how to destroy the enemy.

From the first time you aim at the enemy, to the last heroic killing, there is a process for every soldier. The process was long and short, but the test of every soldier's heart was the same, and the war completely changed the rest of these people's lives.

It is human nature to be afraid of death, and people who talk about fighting all day long are bears on the battlefield. Everyone was afraid until the cannon fired, and the cohesion of the troops was maintained by the officers. Sometimes a little care and comfort can soothe the hearts of the military. The last officers soldiers want to see are those who can sing loudly. These are the people who do the bad things on the battlefield. Among the Japanese government army and the Russian army. There are actually many such people. But in the Satsuma Army. But there are very few.

Most of those people have been cleared from the battlefield by Russian artillery fire.

In a recent battle with the Russian army, both sides used hundreds of artillery pieces of various calibers to bombard each other, and both dispatched tens of thousands of soldiers who were only 18 or 9 years old, and the whistling of rifles and Gatling guns in their hands, the firing of bullets like hailstones, and the rumbling explosions of explosive packets. The sky-high flames illuminated every mountain. Some of the houses in the city were burned to the ground, and at night they were filled with fire, like daylight, and during the day they were full of smoke and red.

Those who usually sing high tunes, at such times, are hiding, but the relentless artillery fire does not let them go, because on the battlefield, there is still hope for survival in fighting hard. And blindly hiding, there is only the end of death.

Lin Yiqing still remembers. Hide the blood splattered on the walls by the fears, the stumps by the roadside ditches, the blood and rain in the craters.

Except for them, the rest of the people only think about "fighting" in their minds!

For people who have not been on the battlefield in person, they have a lot of hypocrisy, but the reality of the battlefield will tell them that either kill or be killed, soldiers have no more options on the battlefield.

Lin Yiqing couldn't remember which "great sage" said: "While war forges the enthusiasm and dedication of life and death, it also forges indifference, cruelty and wildness, and the two are unified, unified in the goal of defeating the enemy." ”

Lin Yiqing knew that this war not only changed the future direction of the three countries and the fate of countless people, but also changed himself.

Lin Yiqing came to a high ground, and the Satsuma officer in charge of the command, Ado Sogoro, immediately greeted him.

"How's it going here?" Lin Yiqing asked.

"This is a key point of transportation, and in order to recapture this place, the Lu army has concentrated all their artillery in the vicinity and fired artillery here." Sogoro Ado replied, "But it was the government army, not the Lucia army, that attacked yesterday. ”

"Oh." Lin Yiqing nodded, this new situation was actually expected by him.

After the arrival of the Russian army, the Japanese government originally thought that the Russian army had strong troops, advanced weapons and equipment, and it would not take long to defeat the Satsuma army, but it did not expect that the Russian army, like the Japanese government army, would be bloodied in front of the iron plate of the Satsuma army, and in less than two months, the casualties of the Russian army exceeded 20,000 people, which greatly surprised the Russian government.

Lin Yiqing came to a hidden observation post and carefully observed it with a telescope.

This area should have just gone through a terrible battle, and in this land of projectiles, a large number of shells were poured on both sides. There are more than 500 corpses of Russian and government troops that can be counted at the front of the position, not counting those who were snatched and dragged away and blown to pieces by artillery fire. Anyway, there are all kinds of stumps scattered all over the mountains. Red, white shards and liquids splattered all over the stones and branches.

The corpse, soaked white by the rain, quickly turned from white to green and then to black under the scorching sun. The heat caused the corpses to blow up and burst one after another, followed by a terrible stench of corpses.

Lin Yiqing was familiar with the smell of corpses, he knew that it had actually become faint now, the smell of corpses when they first began to decompose, not to mention eating, the soldiers who had just entered the battlefield wanted to vomit all day long, and even their heads were stinging. But after a few days, you can't smell anything.

"How many times did they attack?" Lin Yiqing asked.

"After the loss of this place, the Lu army transferred a regiment of troops in an attempt to recapture the position. They organized two strong attacks in one day, and in the end they were repulsed by our troops, and it was estimated that the number of dead and wounded was in the thousands. "But then again, these ghost animals don't eat for nothing. Their artillery had already calculated the position of every river, creek, path, and mountain pack long before the battle, and often when our troops entered a certain place where the position had been calculated, their shells would come at them. Yesterday, two squads of our army's 'Gancheng Team' strayed into the ambush circle of the Lu army, and were shelled by the artillery of the Lu army on the high ground in the south, suffering more than 30 casualties. Then, when the stretcher team went out to rescue the wounded, the Lu army fired another cannon here, and the stretcher team suffered another eighteen casualties, and at once our side suffered almost fifty casualties. ”

"This shows that the enemy's tactical level is also rising." Lin Yiqing nodded.

"What's more, the Lucians will definitely retaliate with artillery fire for their lost positions. On the day of the attack on Beishan, at the moment when our army captured the Beishan Heights, although there were still Lu troops in the trenches and tunnels resisting stubbornly, their artillery did not care about the life or death of their infantry, and a burst of artillery came wildly, and our army sacrificed more than a dozen comrades, of course, there was no Lu army left on the position. Sogoro Ado said again. (To be continued......)

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