In the Kanto Plain, the center of the most industrial, agricultural, and densely populated area, the flag of the Honshu Mixed Brigade fluttered in the wind.

Mixed into brigade infantry regiments, artillery battalions, cavalry battalions, formed a tight military formation.

A mile away, there was the 60,000 troops of the shogunate who were arranging their troops, and I saw them launch dozens of artillery pieces and place them in the front of the army.

The black hole of the cannon was aimed at the dense military formation of the mixed brigade.

Solid bullets fired horizontally are not inferior to shotguns in any way. With such a shell, it can push a bloody path through a dense enemy army.

However, the mixed brigade also had it, and they placed hundreds of 125-mm siege cannons in front of the formation, the same with the muzzles flat, aimed at their own military formation.

Other howitzers are placed behind the formation.

Wang Wenyue looked at the Japanese people who were arraying and stared at their gunners.

I saw that my gunner was extremely unprofessional, and he was very jerky about the application of artillery, and he even swaggered the artillery in front of the formation.

Just when Wang Wenyue found out that the artillery was about to be prepared, he immediately ordered: "All fire!" ”

"All fire!"

"All fire!"

The gunners of the hundreds of 125-mm siege guns in front of the battle received the order and directly lit the fuse with the fire fold in their hands.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

In a series of explosions, the artillerymen covered their ears and flashed to the back, the muzzle flame splitter erupted with dazzling fire, and the cannonballs pushed straight towards the shogunate's military formation.

Hundreds of balls of light shot directly into it, and suddenly launched a bloody road in the shogunate army formation, crushing the Japanese people who blocked the advance of the cannonballs one by one, and the cannonballs rushed out dozens of meters in the shogunate army formation, and then exploded with a 'boom', and the surrounding Japanese people fell in a pool of blood.

Some of the artillery in front was hit by shells that bounced directly up several meters high. Some of the shells were ignited by Mars, and there was a violent explosion in front of the formation.

These hundreds of siege guns allowed the shogunate army to recover heavy losses, but what followed was an even more terrifying blow.

On the Kanto Plain, the commander of the infantry regiment of the Honshu mixed brigade shouted loudly, only to see 200 75-mm howitzers, 150 125-mm howitzers, 10 200-mm howitzers, and 20 rocket launchers firing en masse.

Overwhelming artillery bombardment and a rain of rockets rained down on the Tokugawa shogunate's dense military formations.

Boom Boom Boom ...... Boom Boom Boom ...... The explosions continued!

The artillerymen and rocketeers were like playing a game, desperately prevaricating ammunition into the barrels, and then firing them to saturate the army.

The 60,000-strong army of the Tokugawa shogunate, suffering heavy casualties under such dense firepower, had no room for resistance, and their artillery was completely destroyed shortly after the Honshu mixed brigade opened fire.

In the rumbling explosion, those shogunate warriors were blinded for a moment, not to mention those ordinary soldiers.

The blow lasted two minutes, and each gun fired an average of two shells.

"Stop firing, the cavalry battalion charges, the infantry battalion advances." Wang Wenyue ordered.

"Stop firing, stop firing!"

"Cavalry battalion, charge!"

"Infantry battalion, get on the bayonet, advance!"

A loud roar rose one after another in the military formation of the mixed brigade, and the four thousand cavalry rushed out of the military formation at this moment and killed the chaotic shogunate army.

There is no suspense! The Tokugawa shogunate was defeated.

The army, which had been extremely chaotic by artillery bombardment, could withstand the four thousand cavalry that rushed in, and the unorganized infantry was like a flock of lambs to the slaughter in front of the cavalry.

However, the cavalry battalion did not slash and kill indiscriminately, but drove away the routed troops, and charged the unrouted enemy army, making the enemy army even more chaotic.

The saber crossed, and the head flew.

The 4,000 cavalry were in a no-man's land in the shogunate army, and the chaotic shogunate army was completely unable to resist them, and the result was only more chaos.

Behind the cavalry battalion, the infantry regiment had pressed up, and the cavalry battalion continued to charge forward, intercepting and killing the fleeing shogunate soldiers, in order to annihilate the enemy army to the greatest extent.

The shogunate army was torn apart by cannons and iron hooves, and they scrambled to flee. Only a few samurai were still desperately resisting, but most of them joined the rout.

The infantry regiment that followed quickly engaged in the final battle on the chaotic battlefield, either captured or killed, and dealt with the samurai and soldiers of the shogunate.

The cavalry battalion was divided into ten teams and pursued the defeated Yue army separately.

The pursuit continued until the end of the day, when the cavalry battalion returned and changed their horses twice, and unscrupulously pursued the shogunate army on this vast Kanto Plain.

The infantry battalions also mounted their horses and pursued the shogunate army. The shogunate army was hunted down like lost dogs and fled in all directions.

Their two legs can't outrun four legs at all, but it is naturally impossible to wipe out the shogunate army on this plain.

When the day came, the various groups returned one by one, each bringing back many prisoners.

Wang Wenyue counted the losses overnight and found that there were more than 200 dead and wounded, most of these dead and wounded were caused by the desperate counterattack of those samurai before they died, and some of the shogunate samurai were wearing the same plate armor as the Shandong army, some were bought from Shandong, and some were obtained from the Dutch.

This made Wang Wenyue so distressed that he couldn't sleep that night, and the only thing that made him happy was that there were a large number of Japanese prisoners of war, and those ordinary shogunate soldiers were caught up by cavalry in the rout, and there were few resistors, most of them surrendered on their knees. After a chase and killing, nearly 20,000 Japanese were captured.

Plus the blown up, shot, stabbed, hacked, to say the least, most of them have been annihilated, but we will have to wait until the battlefield is fully cleaned up to draw conclusions.

The next day, Wang Wenyue reorganized his troops and horses, leaving 1,000 cavalry to drive the Japanese to clean up the battlefield, and he led it to kill Edo.

…… The commander Itakura Shigemasa, who had escaped by chance, sat down on a hill with a sudden shout, pulled out the samurai, stabbed him in the stomach, and then used all his strength to cross everything and wash away his humiliating defeat with the proper behavior of a samurai.

In Edo Castle, Matsudaira Nobutsuna ran into Oku in a hurry, and Tokugawa Iemitsu was preparing for xxoo in Oku, when he saw Matsudaira Nobutsuna rushing in, he said angrily: "Nagashiro, what have you done?" ”

"General, it's not good, the Ming army is coming." Matsudaira Nobutsuna panicked: "Before the minister could go to the overseer, Itakura Shigemasa was defeated by the Ming army, and only five or six thousand people fled back. ”

"Now!" Tokugawa Iemitsu's eyebrows jumped, and he suddenly got up and yelled at Matsudaira Nobutsuna: "What about Itakura Shigema? ”

"Itakura Shigemasa has broken jade." Matsudaira Nobutsuna bowed his head and said. Tokugawa Iemitsu learned that Itakura Shigemasa had committed suicide, took a deep breath, his anger gradually subsided, and asked worriedly, "How much did the Ming army lose?" ”

"The Ming army did not suffer much losses, and did not cause any meaningful damage to the Ming army at all." Matsudaira Nobutsuna said eagerly: "General, the Ming army has already killed Edo, and their artillery is very fierce. There are only 10,000 warriors in the city, I'm afraid I can't resist the Ming army, general, you better go! Just let me stay in Edo and resist the Akito......"

"It's just 20,000 Ming troops, how can this general escape, with the walls of Edo, it is enough to support the arrival of reinforcements from all over the country." Tokugawa Iemitsu rejected Matsudaira Nobutsuna's suggestion, "You immediately contact the Dutch and ask them to send warships to clear the Ming ships in the harbor." ”

"Hello."

Matsudaira Nobutsuna bowed his head heavily, and then retreated.

After a while, Tokugawa Iemitsu summoned Inaba Masakatsu and ordered Inaba Masakatsu: "You send an envoy to ask the Akito why they are attacking us, and warn them that if they do not withdraw from the Kanto region immediately, the shogunate will mobilize a large army from all over the country to encircle and suppress them." ”

"Hello."

…… From Yokohama to Edo, it was only a hundred miles away, but Wang Wenyue's mixed journey was slower, and he only advanced more than fifty miles in a day, mainly because of the slow pace of the artillery battalion.

The ten 200-mm guns brought out had to be pulled by sixteen horses. Another twenty heavy artillery pieces remained in Yokohama, and fifty 125-mm howitzers were also left in Yokohama.

The cavalry went out in all directions, broke down one village after another, and then captured the Japanese in the villages, and sent special escorts to Yokohama, where they could be transported back to Shandong after the fleet arrived again.

The population on the Kanto Plain was very dense, and it was very convenient to capture the Japanese people. However, this kind of density is only relative to other places in the city, and such a population density is very much in Daming.

Those peasants outside the city were good slaves, and their slave surnames were very strong, and most of the peasants did not dare to resist under the threat of force.

The mixed brigade has a cavalry battalion, which is basically on the Kanto Plain, and has established an invincible position, because it is said that there is no cavalry itself, and the mixed brigade in Honshu does not need to worry about being disturbed by cavalry, and when there is no battle, the cavalry battalion can be sent out to perform other tasks.

After two days of marching, the Honshu Mixed Brigade finally reached Edo.

At this time, Edo was already in a state of war, and the shogunate temporarily recruited a large number of young men, issued weapons, and organized a defense on the city walls under the leadership of samurai.

At this time, Tokugawa Iemitsu sent an envoy to Wang's camp, and this envoy questioned Wang Wenyue why he was attacking the shogunate, and threatened that if he did not withdraw his troops immediately, the shogunate would mobilize heavy troops to annihilate them.

Wang Wenyue couldn't help but smile when he heard this, and said in a righteous and awe-inspiring manner: "Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, I have been constantly harassing my country's coastal areas and invading my Ming Dynasty's North Korea. Since your shogunate wants to annihilate our troops with heavy troops, our department is waiting for you at any time. ”

Then Wang Wenyue ordered someone to beat the messenger with a stick.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was furious when he was rewarded, but for a while, he said that the army from all over the country had not yet entered the pass to support, but there was no way to take the Ming army under the city.

The Honshu Mixed Brigade was already on standby outside Edo Castle, and Wang Wenyue ordered the siege on July 2.

The artillery began to roar, and the cannonballs were fired into the castle head of Edo one by one, and the artillery on the castle walls was destroyed, and the artillery of the shogunate ordered to return fire, and it was killed after a few shots.

At the same time, three warships and 10 armed merchant ships also plundered ships in Tokyo Bay. These returning ships all hid in Edo, and Su Buheng also joined the attack on Edo after hearing the sound of artillery coming from Edo.

The castle of Edo is high, five zhang long, but such a height is common in the Ming Dynasty, but it is said to be the strongest city in the city.

After taking out the artillery on the walls, hundreds of siege guns were pushed to the front and bombarded the walls.

The wall was bombarded with white cannons, and after less than twenty minutes, a gap was made. However, Wang Wenyue did not launch an attack.

He found that with his current strength, it was unlikely that he would be able to swallow Edo's piece of fat.

As the central city of Edo, the degree of wealth can be imagined, and Wang Wenyue estimated that if Edo was looted, it would be no problem to grab tens of millions of taels of property.

But what gave him a headache was street fighting, the madness of the warriors, Wang Wenyue was deeply afraid of street fighting, in the absence of pikemen, musketeers with weak armor were extremely vulnerable in street fighting.

Therefore, Wang Wenyue decided to encircle the point and send reinforcements and wait for the follow-up support from Shandong. In the follow-up battle plan, the fleet will continue to send 30,000 villagers to cooperate with the operation when it arrives for the second time.

…… On the eighth day of July, forty merchant ships returned to Qingdao.

At this moment, on the port of Qingdao, 30,000 villagers have been assembled from various tuns, and these 30,000 township warriors are elite reserve forces drawn from tuns and forts in various places in Denglai.

On June 20, Denglai had already posted a mobilization order.

In this mobilization, it was Yuben who wanted to fight, and the young people of Denglai Getun and Fort signed up enthusiastically. They don't want to stay in the tundi as farmers for the rest of their lives, they also want to get ahead like those who join the army, and exchange iron and blood for a better life and the prosperity of the nation.

In Denglai, the idea of getting ahead by joining the army is deeply rooted in the bone marrow.

There has never been an era in history where grassroots soldiers have been treated so highly like Zhao Yan, and there has never been an era where wealth has been distributed so evenly like this army, and the income gap between senior officers and low-level soldiers is not huge.

Therefore, joining the army has become the way out that those young people yearn for, although even if they strive to a higher military position, they will not be able to make a lot of money, but the same is true for others, which is not a shortcoming.

Just like in primitive societies, tribal chiefs felt rich if they had a few clay pots, but in this era, clay pots are only worth a few pennies, and you won't feel rich if you give you a few hundred clay pots.

It's all about contrast.

And the future of joining the army can not only be measured by money, it also represents status, as long as a soldier who enters the front-line army in Denglai, he can be respected wherever he goes. At the same time, there is more glory, which is a fight for the nation.

As soon as the mobilization order is issued, it means that the army is about to be expanded, which is a law summed up by the people of Denglai, as long as they participate in the mobilization, they are very likely to enter the army after the mission.

Almost all of the young people in the tundi reported to the local guards.

After a handsome selection, these 30,000 people were finally selected, most of them were very young, the oldest was only 25 years old, and the youngest was 17 years old.

The young men were trained in the tundi, and after receiving plate armor and spears, they were immediately transformed into qualified soldiers, although these villagers were not currently paid.

After the merchant ship was loaded with supplies, these villagers immediately boarded the ship and took their dreams to Yuben!

…… The Honshu Mixed Brigade was on the outskirts of Edo Castle for nearly ten days, and the cavalry went out every day to plunder the Japanese slaves, and some towns had already been fortified and cleared.

However, this did not stop the captives, and the cavalry battalions pulled in siege artillery and breached the smaller towns one by one, and then sacked them.

These towns are not as gentle as they are in Yokohama. Snatch all the things that are valuable.

As for justice, it has never been said to this island nation. For a nation to rise, it must be built on the flesh and blood of other nations.

On the contrary, the Honshu mixed brigade is quite modest. The soldiers never annihilated the silver women, let alone killed the Japanese indiscriminately, so naturally they could not be compared with the massacre and madness of later generations.

This is a war that has nothing to do with justice, but a war between peoples.

Within ten days, the cavalry battalion captured 50,000 Japanese slaves, but the losses were also relatively large, with more than 100 killed and more than 200 wounded in the attack on the town.

Wang Wenyue had no choice but to rest the cavalry battalion.

These 50,000 Japanese slaves, together with the 20,000 shogunate soldiers captured before, and the goods they looted, were almost enough to cope with the next shipment of merchant ships.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was very worried in Edo Castle, and every indication was that the Ming army had come to Tsumoto largely to loot goods and population, not to bring him to his knees.

At the same time, the strength of the Ming army was also beyond Tokugawa Iemitsu's imagination, and the most terrifying thing for Tokugawa Iemitsu was the long-range firepower of the Ming army.

Every day, Wang Wenyue would order artillery to fire a five-minute salvo at Edo to demoralize the defenders inside Edo Castle. At that time, most of Edo Castle could be hit by the overwhelming shells.

At the same time, what made Tokugawa Iemitsu jealous was the 4,000 cavalry of the Ming army, and if there was any weakness in this book, it was the lack of cavalry.

In that year, it was said that the invasion of Korea was still fought in the mountainous terrain, and it was defeated and retreated by the cavalry of the Ming army, and even more, more than 100,000 troops surrounded the 7,000 Ming cavalry, besieging more than 10 days, and tens of thousands of dead and wounded but still could not destroy the cavalry.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was skeptical for a moment that he would be able to win the war.

The reinforcements that arrived in the ten days were one after another, and the number was small, and most of them were about to collapse at the touch of a button, and because the cavalry battalion was outside on the task of plundering, there were no troops to pursue and kill.

However, the scouts were scouting around all night, and as long as most of the reinforcements of the army arrived, they would be discovered in advance, which was enough for Wang Wenyue to recall the cavalry battalion.

Now that the cavalry battalion has converged with the large army and repaired, Wang Wenyue is even more fearless of the reinforcements of the Tokugawa shogunate, and those reinforcements are just expelled and happy to see the reinforcements of the Tokugawa shogunate united, and then a hammer battle will be done.

On July 16, the Tokugawa shogunate's large-scale reinforcements finally entered the Kannai, and at the same time, samurai from all over the country, including the Daimei, the Daimyo of the Pedigreo, and the Daimyo of the Outer Daimyos, also arrived one after another, gathering a terrifying army of 150,000.

The messengers of the reinforcements rushed desperately to the city, and then shot the book letter bow and arrow into the city.

When Tokugawa Iemitsu learned that 150,000 troops had been assembled in the Seki, he couldn't help laughing and said: "These Ming troops are really stupid, they actually watched our shogunate army assemble, and this time there are 20,000 samurai in our shogunate's reinforcements, even if they attack desperately, they can annihilate all the Ming army." ”

(To be continued)