The sound of "boom, boom, boom" cannon resounded on the sea surface at the entrance of Edo Bay, and more than 30 warships, large and small, began to clear the batteries on the shore at their own fixed points, and the various batteries in Yokosuka were suddenly plunged into a storm of dense bullet rain, and the main gunners of the navy were no longer the chicks of the Penghu battle, and they did not know how many rounds of live ammunition they had fired.

The defenders on the Yokosuka Fort had never experienced a war, and they were also negligent in practicing on weekdays, one of the artillery accuracy of this year was too poor, and the other was that it was rare to fire a cannon for decades, who had the heart to practice? Moreover, they were attacked by a surprise attack, without the slightest psychological preparation and pre-war preparations, and suddenly hit by such a dense rain of bullets, all of them panicked, where could they still care about fighting back, and they could not fight back at all.

After a round of shelling, as long as the defenders on the fort can still run and are not frightened stupid, they are all holding their heads and running around, where can they still take care of the spirit of bushido, and talk about the spirit of bushido with the artillery, it is not asking for a dead end.

To their great horror, in a short period of time, the second round of shells whistled again, and those who moved a little slower did not even have a chance to escape for their lives.

After three rounds of shelling, all the battleships stopped shelling, and more than a dozen batteries in Yokosuka were shrouded in smoke, and the entire sea and shore were silent.

After observing for a while, Shi Shibiao gave the order, divided into two teams, and alternately passed through the Uraga waterway.

After the herald retreated, Yinxiang asked: "General Shi, this place is very dangerous, hold this only access to the waterway, don't worry about the Japanese people coming back and reoccupying this place to cut us off?" ”

"The Thirteenth Master's worries are not unreasonable." Shi Shibi said in a deep voice: "However, we are short of manpower, and we divide our troops to guard, which is easy for the Japanese to take advantage of, and it also weakens our forces to attack Edo. Moreover, although this place is prominent. However, it is necessary to deploy heavy artillery, and at least a dozen heavy runs can threaten our fleet, not to mention whether there are good heavy artillery in the Japanese country, it is not easy to carry heavy artillery, and when they deploy the heavy artillery, our fleet is afraid that it has already taken Edo. ”

Yinxiang nodded, Shi Shibi was worthy of being a veteran, thoughtful.

Fu Anding continued: "General Shi arranged it this way. The Marines benefited a lot, and the Dean had pointed out that the concentrated use of artillery could have unexpected results, and that the Marines had thought that they would not have a chance to try it until they had to go to Europe, but now it seemed that they could test the power of cluster artillery fire in Edo. ”

As soon as he heard this, Lin Wei became interested, and immediately asked, "What did the dean say?" Why haven't I heard of it? ”

"This was taught by the dean on the ship when he went south with the dean, and you were in the South Seas at that time." Fu Anding said as if offering a treasure: "Listen to the dean's tone. The power of the cluster artillery fire is full of lethality, and this time let the Japanese people taste what it is like first. ”

Edo Castle.

The assistant minister of the young monarch received the news from the clipper. I can't believe my eyes, a fleet of more than sixty warships, more than half of which are Western warships? The golden dragon flag on a red background, the naval battleship of the Qing Kingdom! This is impossible, how could the fleet of the Qing Kingdom suddenly appear in Edo Bay?

The Qing people went crazy, and actually attacked Edo with heavy troops at this time, how many troops could more than sixty ships carry? Twenty thousand or thirty thousand? Just such a small number of troops dared to come to Edo. Wouldn't that be self-defeating?

Arai Kimi, who was also the minister who assisted the young monarch, also hurried over at this time, and after bowing and taking his seat, he said in a deep voice: "The Qing navy has invaded Edo in a big way. You must be prepared, and I hope that Your Excellency will treat it carefully. ”

"Why should Baishi-kun have the prestige of the enemy." Mabe Quanfang shook his head disapprovingly, and said: "Edo's millions of people, with a single order, can gather hundreds of thousands of people in an instant, how can the Qing Navy District 20,000 or 30,000 people contend with." As he spoke, he quickly wrote a warrant, and after using the seal, he shouted to the outside: "Come, send an order to the Edo sailors to resist and prevent the enemy from coming ashore." ”…,

"Hey." The guard bowed down and took the warrant and turned away.

Although Arai Junmei was born as a ronin, she was no different from a literati, and she was puzzled by this, and said in surprise: "Your Excellency, isn't this order forcing the four thousand sailors to a dead end?" ”

"Bai Shijun is proficient in Sinology, don't you hear the sentence Ci is not in charge of the army? Do you think the water master is still useful? The room said lightly: "Their greatest value is to delay time for me, and they must buy time for me to gather people." As he spoke, he quickly wrote a warrant with his pen, and then got up and said, "I have to go and gather the retainers (the standing army of the shogunate) to set up defenses, and go outside the city to recruit samurai and organize men." ”

The news of the invasion of the Western fleet had spread rapidly in Edo, and for a time all kinds of rumors were flying all over the sky, some said it was the Portuguese, some said it was the Spanish, and some said it was the Dutch, and the size of the fleet also skyrocketed from dozens to hundreds, and the soldiers and horses became more and more outrageous, from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Many people also swore that they faintly heard the dense cannon fire on the outskirts of the city, and that it had been peaceful for more than 100 years, and that Edo, which had never been affected by the war, immediately fell into fear and panic, and that for Japan, a war with an army of tens of thousands of people was already a large-scale war, and a foreign invasion of hundreds of thousands of people was unimaginable, that is, the two largest Mongol invasions.

The panicked people were mostly civilians and merchants, as well as women, old and weak, but the samurai and ronin of Edo were all excited as if they had been beaten, and the war, for them, meant an opportunity, which meant this opportunity to get ahead, and as the peace went by, Edo was becoming more and more prosperous, but their days were becoming more and more difficult.

The samurai of the shogunate and the children of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, were born to be soldiers, not engaged in production, and enjoyed many privileges, and the samurai of the shogunate were also not all born with a fortune, they implemented the primogeniture inheritance system, only the eldest son could inherit the family business and enjoy the fortune, and the children of the samurai family other than the eldest son became ronins and needed to go out on their own to make a living, of course, most of them made a living by martial arts, and war was their best means of making a living.

As a result, when they heard of the invasion of Edo by an unprecedented Western fleet, the samurai of Edo rushed to their respective homes, while the ownerless ronin flocked to the walls of the main mansion of the Tokugawa family.

When Mabe Kanbo's own brother Mabu Kushika rushed out of Honmaru Castle and saw that both sides of the main road were already crowded with ronins, he immediately stopped his horse and shouted: "More than 20,000 people of the Qing Navy have invaded Edo, and the Shogun has an order to gather 30,000 samurai with weapons and equipment to assemble in the south of the city and resolutely destroy the invading enemy." ”

"Resolutely destroy the invading enemy!"

"Resolutely destroy the invading enemy!"

A group of ronins immediately shouted loudly, seeing the opportunity quickly, they hurriedly ran to the south of the city, there were no hundreds of thousands of enemies as rumored, only 20,000 enemies, and the general's mansion only summoned 30,000 ronins, and if it was too late, I was afraid that there would be no chance.

*

The Nanyang Fleet drove all the way through the Uraga waterway, and after traveling for more than half an hour, not even a small fishing boat was seen, and the admirals could not help but be greatly surprised, didn't Edo have a naval division with a size of about 4,000 men? It's all coming to the doorstep, and you should always come out to say hello, and it's impossible to be indifferent.

Could it be that the information is wrong? Yinxiang ordered someone to call Cheng Kezheng and Cai Wen, who were familiar with the situation in Edo, and after the two of them greeted him, he asked at the head: "Is there a sailor in Edo Bay?" ”

Cheng Kezheng hurriedly replied: "Back to His Royal Highness the Thirteenth Prince, there is indeed a sailor of 4,000 people, last year their general died of illness, this year the new general succeeded to the throne, the lower officials came to Edo, and they were escorted by sailors in and out of Edo Bay. ”

Shi Shibiu's expression sank when he heard this, the scale of the 4,000-man sailors was not small, and he did not show up for a long time, although it was not much of a threat to the fleet, but it always made people feel uneasy, and he was distracted at any time, and he groaned slightly, and then he asked: "How far is the most suitable port for landing?" ”…,

"General Hui Shi, you will have two quarters of an hour to enter the fairway." Cheng Ke bowed and said.

Shi Shibi was silent for a moment, and then said in a deep voice: "Order, stop advancing, search the nearby sea area, send a reconnaissance ship and five warships from the Ryukyu Prefecture into the port to investigate the situation, and use the bird boat to report quickly." ”

Fu Anding was the captain of the Marine Corps, and he was not very familiar with the situation of naval warfare, and when he heard this order, he asked Lin Weidao beside him in a low voice: "Why do you want to stop?" ”

Lin Wei glanced at him and said softly: "There are a hundred and ten sailors with a scale of four thousand people, and the waterway into the port is narrow, and it is not allowed to turn around, and the formation is expanded. ”

At this time, Yinxiang said: "General Shi, is the delay in showing up by the Japanese Navy Division intended to delay the time for us to land, so that Edo has enough time to transfer troops and generals and calmly deploy defenses?" ”

Shi Shibiao nodded and said: "This should be the purpose, but the current enemy situation is unknown, the number of warships of the Japanese Navy Division should not be small, rashly entering the port, it is not conducive to the artillery to play the advantage of long-range attack, and it is also necessary to prevent the opponent's fire attack, our warships can not afford to lose." ”

"We came straight to Edo in order to take the Japanese by surprise, and the delay was too long, but it was exactly what they wanted." Yinxiang groaned: "Can the troops be divided into two routes, all the way to hold the waterway mouth, all the way straight in, and land at the port." ”

"The Thirteenth Master has a very good strategy, but you have to find out the situation of the port first." Shi Shibiao said in a deep voice: "If the enemy ship is hiding in the harbor, we are also at a disadvantage. ”

Yinxiang nodded secretly when he listened, the old fourteen had a good vision, picking Shi Shibi to lead the Nanyang Fleet, he really didn't lose his eyes, he was cautious, assertive, don't look at the ease of getting along on weekdays, once he fights, he can stick to his own opinions.

Cheng Kezheng interjected at this time: "General Shi, the channel of Edo Port is very wide, and the harbor is wide enough to open up the formation. ”

Shi Shibiao nodded, but he didn't say anything, everything has to wait for the navy's reconnaissance ship to return, it's one thing to not believe in outsiders, outsiders' eyesight and judgment are not the same as the navy, how can they be gullible?

At this moment, an officer came in and reported: "Report to the general, I have received a report from the flag that the main force of the enemy's naval division has been found in the northeast." ”