During the days when he led the combat engineer unit to accompany Lin Yiqing's father-in-law, Kirino Toshiaki, to the southwest, he didn't want to return to Natsumi all the time, so that every time he fought, he tried to be as perfect and extreme as possible, the purpose was to bring her supreme glory when he triumphed.

It is precisely for this reason that wherever the Satsuma army went, "destroying the city walls, like revealing a piece of tile", the government army was terrified, and in just three months, the 20,000 Satsuma army led by Kirino Toshiaki swept through 14 prefectures in southwestern Japan and occupied all of them.

Although Yusaku Uehara and the sappers have received extremely high honors and rich rewards, in the eyes of Yusaku Uehara, none of them can compare to the shallow smile of Natsumi when she welcomed her return.

Natsumi, wait for me......

"Captain, our army is retreating backwards, and the Lucians are rushing up." Assistant Shojuro Fujimoto's voice interrupted Yusaku Uehara's thoughts.

Yusaku Uehara's expression froze, and he forcibly suppressed Natsumi's figure and focused his attention on the battle in front of him.

At this time, the Gatling machine guns at the front embankment were constantly firing, and the Russian soldiers who rushed up fell one after another, and suddenly, the whistling sound of shells breaking through the air came, and then the explosion of "boom" sounded, and the Russian shout of "Ula" came from the pontoon bridge.

Yusaku Uehara carefully observed the position of the riverbank, where a Gatling gun held the pontoon bridge over the river, making the narrow passage of the pontoon a hell for the attackers. But as a result, the key target of the Russian artillery has of course become here.

However, the Gatling gun was strategically positioned to dig a large inclined tunnel in the embankment. To the east, the mouth of the pit was piled with cloth bags filled with sand. Another layer of door panels was built over the position. A layer of sand was tamped on the door panel, and then a layer of cotton cloth was laid, and then a layer of sand was piled up, and finally a layer of wooden planks and tamped sand. Such a machine-gun fortification, unless the Russian army erected a 75-millimeter caliber cannon on the embankment on the other side of the river more than 70 meters for direct fire, it was simply impossible to knock out this firing point.

The setting of this firepower point is one of the masterpieces of Yusaku Uehara's subordinates.

The Satsuma people are good at building fortifications, and Lin Yiqing is training the cadets of the Marine Academy. It was in this battle that this specialty of the Satsuma people was carried forward, and it was in this battle that this place appeared.

Uehara Yusaku remembers very well that Lin Yiqing taught them that at a distance of 200 meters, artillery is no match for machine guns at all, and the gunners of the Satsuma Army shoot very accurately. But whether the Russians understand this or not, it is difficult to say.

Yusaku Uehara can't see it. It was in this small machine-gun position that a Satsuma officer and three soldiers squatted behind the machine guns, shooting, supplying ammunition, directing the firing range, and standing by to replace them at any time.

The Gatling guns fired an insurmountable stream of fire on the pontoon, and the Russians had to lie on the iron deck of the pontoon bridge after rushing a few steps, advancing inch by inch, but more and more corpses accumulated on the bridge deck, and blood flowed everywhere. Soon, the Russians' two-day build-up of vigor was knocked out, leaving behind a dozen bullet-riddled corpses, and one by one they turned around and crawled back to the other side of the river.

"Enemy artillery fire!" The officers in the position heard the whistling of shells in the air and roared loudly.

Only then did the machine gunners stop firing and duck down, and the Russian artillery screamed obediently.

Under the fierce artillery fire of the Russian army, which was far more fierce than when the Russian army attacked, the Satsuma officers and soldiers who did not have time to withdraw from their positions curled up in the bomb shelter, holding their guns, covering their ears, and some of them were laughing loudly, regardless of whether the companions around them could hear it or not, anyway, it was enough for their voices to overwhelm the explosion of the Russian artillery shells. It was not the first time for them to have fought such a battle, it was very interesting, and it was easier than the previous battles with the government army.

Because they know what kind of means the combat sappers will use to deal with the enemy after them.

The commander of this force was the Satsuma samurai Shiro Toshimi, and when he saw the situation on the battlefield, he was relieved that the morale of the troops was still high, and there was no sign of fatigue from a busy day and a night. He had to admire the Yusaku Uehara, who was known as the "devil boy", and arranged the pontoon bridgehead position as solid as a sturdy one night!

As a result, Shiro Bianmi has to worry about the Russian army's determination to attack, when will it be able to withdraw from the front-line positions? Will the Russians see through the traps they have carefully laid?

On the other side, Senior Colonel Serygorov watched the troops retreat with an expressionless face, and beckoned to the artillery commander beside him: "Valery, you can start!" ”

"Tom! Tong! Countless shells exploded one after another on the embankment in the west of the river, and the smoke of gunpowder dispersed over the bridgehead in the west of the river, and from time to time there were shells that fell a little closer to the water column more than 10 meters high on the river surface, and then the river wind blew into a yellow-brown curtain of water that drifted away, so that the major general of the Russian army who was more than 100 meters away from the embankment in the west of the river could also smell the fishy smell of the river.

At the same time, the seven Gatling machine guns equipped by the Russian army were all swinging on the embankment in the east of the river, and the earth-shattering sound of "sudden" shook the entire embankment trembling slightly, and the stream of fire pointed directly at the machine gun fire point of the Satsuma army in the east of the river, completely covering the mouth of the small pit in an instant. The Russian soldiers in gray cloth uniforms of the brigade gathered at the mouth of the embankment east of the river, and only waited for the artillery bombardment to extend to the west before launching an attack in turn.

Senior Colonel Sheregorov kept his telescope fixed on the west side of the river, at the machine-gun position of the Satsuma Army. It was found at the cost of dozens of casualties among Russian officers and soldiers!

After ten minutes of concentrated artillery bombardment, the bombardment line began to extend sparsely, and the Russian artillery commander, who had poor tactics, still couldn't let the artillery of different calibers in his hands form a barrage with great power!

Seregorov shook his head slightly, sighed heavily in his heart, drew his command knife, and silently pointed to the west of the river.

"Ulla! ――”

The Russian soldiers of the brigade rushed onto the pontoon bridge amid frantic drumming. Straight to the west of the pump! At this time. There is no such thing as an evacuation offensive formation. The narrow bridge deck allows a Gatling gun to easily block the passage, so the Russian army can only use their lives to shorten the distance, and attack forward and again with a pool of blood!

Seregorov's hand clenched his binoculars, looked at the firing point that was silently hit by his powerful machine-gun fire, and prayed in his heart: "I hope that the hateful Satsuma people have been destroyed!" ”

Rows of gunfire rang out from the positions of the Satsuma army, each of which cost the Russians seven or eight lives, and many of those who were shot voluntarily fell to the raging river in order not to block the passage of the follow-up troops. And the cry of "Ula" did not disappear because of the blow. Instead, it was shouted even more frantically to the earth.

The Gatling guns of the Satsuma Army did not fire, and the Russian soldiers stepped on the corpses of their partners and pushed forward firmly, and as they approached the shore, from time to time someone screamed and jumped into the river and trudged through the murky waters. At this time, the Russian Gatling guns also shifted the firing range and began to suppress the platoon fire on the Satsuma army's positions, shooting rows of mud flowers on the land soaked by the river.

It worked! It definitely worked!

Senior Colonel Sergorov shouted in a low voice and lowered the telescope in his hand.

"Dear Mikhail, hard work." Major General Ponotkov said.

From the very beginning of the offensive. Major General Ponotkov stood right behind Sergolov, who kept quietly looking at the opposite bank. also observed the performance of his deputy, the front-line commander of the "Russian Volunteer Army". It was only at this time that he suppressed the excitement in his heart and said hello.

"Your Excellency, General!" Seregorov immediately stood up and raised his hands in salute.

"Be proud of the warriors of His Majesty the Great Tsar! With them, what else could the Russian Empire not do!? Be proud of yourself, Mikhail! It is an honor for you and me to command such a resilient and courageous army. ”

"Yes!" Sergorov bowed again, and after the salute, he slowly waved his command knife to the waiting follow-up troops with an emotional gesture.

Another shout of "Ula" resounded in the sky, and a large number of Russian troops poured up, shocking and bewildering the military observers of various countries who came to watch the battle.

They had never seen that the Russians had launched a charge and had sent so many people.

Also shaken was Yusaku Uehara, the captain of the Satsuma Combat Engineer who was hiding in a shelter, who was now watching the Satsuma army retreating from the front-line position, and the waves of gray people swarming up the stairs of the embankment.

The diminutive Russians, like many Japanese, had an instinctive fear of the brutal and savage Russians.

In the battle that took place a few days ago, although the Russian army's attack was stopped by the Satsuma army, the Satsuma army also paid a considerable price -- in close combat, even the Satsuma samurai, who were good at fighting with the "sword drawing team", and the Russians, who were a lot taller than themselves, also seemed to have some difficulty in facing the Russians.

Just now, he saw a backward Satsuma samurai cut off the wrist of a Russian soldier who was two as tall as him, but he was immediately kicked by the Russian soldier and flew into the air, and after he landed, before he could stand up, he was stabbed in half by the Russian with a bayonet, and then picked up like a doll......

"Captain, can you start?" Shojuro Fujimoto asked anxiously on the side, and next to him were two combat sappers who were about to set up a line to detonate.

"No, wait!" Yusaku Uehara tried to calm himself down, and by this time the Satsuma Army had completely withdrawn from the first-line positions, and he estimated the speed of the Russian army's advance and the number of people pouring into the inside of the embankment, as well as the time it would take for the Russians to rush to the second-line positions. These Russian troops are enemies that must be eliminated to the maximum!

The gray waves of men rushed into depth with a tireless cry, spreading out to the left and right flanks at the same time, and until this time these tough Russian soldiers had not fired their rifles, and perhaps their only combat action was to rush into the opponent's position and end the battle with bayonets.

A volley of gunfire rang out on the left flank of the second line of the Satsuma Army, which was the direction of the Russians' first attack. Then, a volley of gunfire rang out on the right flank.

These gunshots indicate that the Russian army is only 200 meters away from the second-line positions, and also indicate that the time has come to detonate the mine array.

At this time, Yusaku Uehara was extremely calm, he calculated the time, and shouted loudly: "First round." Initiation! ”

A combat sapper immediately closed the thread in his hand. Another combat sapper pressed the switch on the bronze battery. A flash of blue lightning flashed in the hands of the combat sappers wiring the wire.

In an instant, countless explosion points shining with yellow-white fire suddenly bloomed in front of the second-line position, and a strong vibration was transmitted from 200 meters in a wave trembling manner, and the white gunpowder smoke flew out with yellow-brown muddy water, and countless explosions converged into an earth-shattering loud bang, like Thor's hammer falling from the sky, to smash everything in heaven and earth!

The front-line position of the Satsuma Army instantly became a purgatory on earth.

Hordes of gray figures were shattered, flew, and cut down. More people were stunned by the sudden thunder, completely forgetting what they were doing here, and forgetting to shout "Ula", but watched their partners in front of them be swept away by the inexplicable shockwave, and their souls were scattered, they involuntarily turned and retreated, completely losing the momentum of the charge just now, even their officers.

The gray crowd automatically gathered together in the direction of the breach in the embankment, crowded in front and back.

"Second round, detonation!" At this time, Yusaku Uehara's heart was extremely hard. He knew that this explosion would completely destroy the remnants of the enemy who were gathered together!

"Boom!"

The deafening loud bang sounded again, as terrifying as if the sky had collapsed! More dirt was kicked off by denser explosives. Form a gray curtain barrier with a radius of more than a mile, composed of a combination of yellow-brown muddy water and white gunsmoke! The more intense shock wave caused a large part of the embankment at the west end of the pontoon bridge to collapse with a bang, and many Russian troops who were passing through were buried directly into the earth and rocks. At the same time, the Gatling gun position on the embankment, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly resounded with a roar of "Tutu".

Tomimi-Juro slowly stood up from the bunker, endured the saltiness of the gastric juice that was churned by the shock wave, pulled out his pistol, and walked forward with a "snap". Beside him, and behind him, Satsuma officers and soldiers armed with rifles, bayonets, and samurai swords.

The muddy water that was blown up into the sky only then fell like raindrops, and the flesh and blood of the Russian army fell on the body of Shiro and his subordinates, and their black and blue clothes were stained with yellow-brown muddy water and a little bit of blood red.

This is the blood-fire purgatory of the Russians!

Everywhere there were cascading corpses, mutilated limbs, broken weapons, and a disgusting stench of blood and gunsmoke mixed into my nose. Many of the Allied officers and men of the Satsuma Army vomited all the way along the way - many of them were unable to adapt to such a battle for the first time, but no matter what, none of them turned back, but took firm steps towards the front-line position they had just abandoned.

The remnants of the very small number of Russian troops were killed by the bayonets of the Satsuma Army rifles and hacked to death with samurai swords in a state of confusion, and the Russian troops who were still in a daze on the pontoon bridge did not notice at all.

Soon, the Gatling guns of the Satsuma army began to strafe, and the Russian soldiers screamed and were hit by the dense bullets of the Gatling guns and fell into the river, and the people who were lucky not to be hit only then reacted and ran backwards without their lives, but before they could run far, the fatal bullets caught up with them and knocked them down one by one.

The Satsuma Army's Hexi position engulfed nearly 3,000 Russian troops in less than ten minutes!

Such a result made Toshiro and his subordinates dare not believe it even if they witnessed it with their own eyes!

On the other side, the smiling faces of all the Russian commanders froze, gradually turning into a look of surprise, and then into a frustration that they wanted to deliberately suppress but still surfaced.

"Damn Satsuma!"

Colonel Sergorov, pale-faced and trembling, gritted his teeth and cursed, at this time he forgot to order the artillery to block the fire, and he forgot to order the officers to reorganize the battle sequence, but he finally understood: he was defeated by the Satsuma army, just like the officers of the Japanese government army, whom he despised so much! It's just that he didn't know that the explosion just now was not caused by the cannon.

Major General Ponotkov looked at Sergorov with a blue face for a long time, he could tolerate the failure of this offensive, but he could not tolerate the panic and irritability of an officer of the Russian Empire when he lost! He summoned his staff officers and gave a loud order: "The whole army is on the defensive, and the rest of the divisions are transferred to the direct command of Colonel Antonov, and do not attack until more artillery arrives!" ”

The major general's orders fell into Sergorov's ears word by word, making his hands and feet cold at once. This order represents the deprivation of his post as front-line commander and the bleakness of his future in the field of military command......

At this time, Gentaro Kodamama, who was watching the battle on the hillside, saw this scene, and his face suddenly turned pale.

"Kodamama-kun, enemy ...... Was a giant artillery used? How can it be...... Hit so accurately? Shinagawa, the staff officer standing beside him, was also dumbfounded, and asked incoherently.

"It's not artillery, Shinagawa-kun." Gentaro Kodama shook his head slowly and sighed, "That's the damage caused by a large area of ambushed mines!" ”

"What? Kodamama-kun? Landmines, you say? Shinagawa listened to Gentaro Kodama and was even more surprised. (To be continued......)

PS: Ask for collection! Ask for recommendations! Ask for a subscription! Click! Ask for a commuter pass!