Chapter 368: The soldiers of the Opium War are approaching Kyoto

The loud explosion in the east of the city shocked Nogi in the west of the city, and he knew that his lieutenant had led the elite to the rear of the squadron.

Just as he was preparing to cooperate with the lieutenant to launch a general attack, the explosions in the eastern part of the city had stopped.

Nogi waited for another half an hour, but he didn't see the Chinese emperor on the north and south wings move, and his heart suddenly sank to the bottom.

He knew that his lieutenant had failed, and the more than 10,000 elites he had brought with him were gone

By this time, Nogi had felt that he had no hope of victory. 100,000 elites, just one day's effort, to the current half of the loss, the only remaining 50,000 soldiers, at the moment people are panicked, and they are already full of fear for the Chinese emperor. Counting on a group of fearful soldiers to fight, Nogi already knew the outcome.

He didn't have any choice, though.

When night falls, take advantage of the cover of night to attack, this is Nogi's last hope.

At night, the Chinese Imperial soldiers' line of sight was lowered and they could only see within a hundred meters, which was conducive to the Japanese charge.

On the battlefield, quietly. On Yamaguchi, the Chinese defenders occasionally fired a few shots, then listened to the reaction in the darkness to determine whether the Japanese had attacked.

At the head of the city, Pang ordered the soldiers to prepare a large number of fireworks, all of which were used to illuminate them. It's just that it has been left there and not used, and in the words of Pang Ji, it is not yet time.

The Japanese army did not launch an attack in the first half of the night, and the ** team of the Chinese emperor on the north and south flanks of Yamaguchi Castle did not dare to be careless.

The artillery also loaded the grenade into the chamber, and the propellant and primer were all installed, and if the Japanese attacked by surprise, the gunner only needed to pull the trigger to enter the battle.

In the first half of the night, the Japanese army chose to rest, and in the second half of the night, the Japanese army quietly dispatched, and the soldiers stepped on the corpses of their comrades, endured the nausea caused by the stench, and slowly advanced.

In the dark night, you can't see your fingers, only the lights of Yamaguchi Castle in the distance. However, no matter how bright the lights of Yamaguchi Castle were, they could only allow the sentries to see the movement two hundred meters away, and they couldn't see anything clearly beyond two hundred meters, so the Japanese army advanced to a distance of less than two hundred meters from the Chinese Emperor's position.

"It's time"

Yao Bin, the leader of the seventh squadron of the Hunter Commando, put down his binoculars and nodded at Pang Ji.

Pang Ji naturally believed Yao Bin's judgment, and only special forces like Yao Bin, who often operated at night, would understand the activities and psychological thoughts of the Japanese army at this time.

Pang Ji waved his hand, and the soldiers in charge of the fireworks quickly lit the fireworks.

Bang bang bang

At the top of the city, fireworks sneered into the sky, and then exploded, blooming one after another shining flowers, bringing a brilliant light to the dark night sky.

On the ground, the darkness quickly retreated into the distance, and the dense figures of Japanese soldiers were suddenly exposed.

"Open the gun"

At the head of the mountain pass city, on the artillery positions of the Chinese Emperor's ** team on the north and south flanks, the fire suddenly flickered, and the thunderous cannon roared.

In an instant, the mountains shook far away, as if the mountains were overwhelmed.

The Japanese soldiers were looking at the fireworks in the sky in a daze, and the slightly more excited Japanese soldiers suddenly understood and hurriedly turned around and fled.

However, before he could run a few steps, he was shot by a grenade and fell into a pool of blood.

The marbles were so dense that there was no way to dodge, and the only chance to survive was to hope that the marbles would not penetrate the body of the soldiers in front of them, or to quickly lie down. However, the Japanese army lacked training in this area, and most of the soldiers could not react and were shot and killed.

At such a close distance, the lethality of the grenade bomb was amazing, and the Japanese soldiers fell in pieces, and flesh and blood flew everywhere.

"Don't go back and keep going"

Drawing on the experience of the day, Nogi organized a team of overseers to slash and kill the retreating soldiers.

If you retreat, you will be a deserter, and you will be killed by the Warlords. Anyway, they were all dead, and the Japanese soldiers immediately turned around and continued to charge.

After the artillery fired, the infantry quickly assembled and regrouped.

In the face of the frantic charge of the Japanese army, the soldiers of the Chinese Empire remained silent and methodically lined up to shoot.

The corpses were piling up, layer upon layer, gradually piling up.

The armies of the Chinese Empire had to make adjustments and retreat to the high ground to strike at the enemy from a high position.

Although there was the light of fireworks in the air, but soon the battlefield was filled with gunsmoke, and the light of the fireworks gradually weakened, and finally it was obscured by thick smoke, and the battlefield suddenly became dark, and the enemy situation could no longer be seen clearly from a hundred meters away.

After a few hours of fierce fighting, the Japanese gradually approached, and the two sides were less than thirty or forty meters apart, relying on muskets. The artillery fire from the high places no longer dares to shoot at close range, for fear of accidentally killing their own soldiers, and if they shoot from a distance, they will not be able to see the enemy clearly because of the smoke and darkness, and they do not know the lethality situation, and they are not even clear whether there is an enemy in the dark.

The cannons roared, the guns rang out, and the fighting on the battlefield became extremely cruel. The Warlord Team organized by Nogi forced the Japanese soldiers to fight to the death, and the madness of the cauldron was really frightening. Rao is the soldiers of the Chinese Empire, who killed countless people, all felt that their scalps were numb.

Bang bang bang

The rows of muskets were still firing in an orderly manner, but it could be seen that after several hours of fierce fighting, the soldiers of the Chinese Empire reported a slight slowdown, fatigue surged, and the interval between platoon gun shots became longer and longer.

At the head of the city, Pang Ji frowned, at this time he could no longer observe the situation on the battlefield with a telescope, and ran back and forth on the two legs of the signal soldier.

The enemy forces are getting closer and closer, and the other party's charge at any cost seems to have a significant effect at this time.

The darkness of the night and the thick smoke had severely affected the use of firearms in the Chinese Empire, and the enemy had to be stopped.

"Pass the order, and after ten minutes, the regiments will stop firing and organize cavalry to launch a counterattack"

At this time, the elite of the Japanese army had been lost, and there were less than 30,000 people left, who were already frightened birds. The 74th and 75th Divisions had a total strength of 20,000 troops, and if the remaining garrisons and artillery were removed, and the cavalry of 10,000 men was organized to launch a countercharge, the chances of victory were extremely great.

Ten minutes later, the artillery carried out a saturation barrier strike on the distance, cutting off the strength of the Japanese middle and rear units. Forcing the Japanese army to isolate about 10,000 people, at this time, the infantry phalanx of the Chinese Emperor ** moved left and right, dodging the cavalry passages one by one, and then the cavalry battalions of each regiment took the lead in rushing out of the phalanx and killing the Japanese army.

In the formation of infantry divisions of the Royal Chinese Imperial Army, each regiment had a cavalry battalion. As an infantry division, all soldiers in the division must be able to fight on horseback, but the emphasis is on foot firearms. However, the natural enemy of the infantry division is the cavalry, and the infantry division is often affected by climatic conditions, so in order to prevent accidents, the infantry division retains a cavalry battalion with strong combat strength, and this cavalry battalion focuses on cavalry combat. In peacetime, the cavalry battalion was simply not used, so the Imperial Army specially equipped the infantry division with a cavalry division. Cavalry battalions will only come into play when infantry divisions are fighting alone and run into difficult problems.

The cavalry battalions were not formed independently, but were scattered among the regiments, and at most they were mobilized by cavalry companies in peacetime, and were only combined in large-scale cavalry battles. Therefore, in ordinary times, the infantry division is a pure infantry division, but it uses war horses as a means of transportation. It is easy to cause miscalculations to the enemy.

The passage of the infantry phalanx was opened, and the various cavalry battalions quickly attacked.

The war horse galloped wildly, jumped out of the smoke of gunpowder, and suddenly appeared in front of the Japanese army, which immediately caused the Japanese army to panic.

As the cavalry warriors arrived, the iron hooves trampled, the swords slashed left and right, and the tactics of man-horse integration were brought into full play.

As an excessive branch of the lancers, the infantry division can conduct both infantry and cavalry operations, and in later terms, the infantry division of the Chinese Empire is a multi-arm mixed division.

The cavalry rushed to kill, which immediately disrupted the pace of the Japanese army's attack, which was already very close to the infantry position of the Chinese Empire, and was about to rush in for a melee in one go, but was disrupted by the sudden cavalry.

The Japanese army's various phalanxes attacked for a whole day, and they did not see the cavalry of the Chinese Emperor's ** team dispatched, so at night, in the Japanese army's phalanx, the spear team of the cavalry was replaced by sword and shield soldiers, ready to engage in close combat with the Chinese Emperor's ** team.

In this way, the various phalanxes of the Japanese army were suddenly rushed away by the cavalry, and as soon as the formation was scattered, the commander could no longer control the soldiers, and the soldiers could not hear the order, and their fears suddenly rose, and they immediately scattered and fled.

After the cavalry battalions of each regiment rushed out, the remaining infantry of each regiment, except for those who remained behind, all the others got on their horses, drew their swords, and then rushed out to kill.

The cavalry battle in the dark night could not be stopped, and they continued to rush forward regardless of a single qiē until they rushed to the rear of the Japanese army, and then regrouped and fought back.

Nogi was commanding the supervising team to block the retreating Japanese soldiers, but when he saw the Chinese Emperor's ** cavalry rushing to kill, he was immediately shocked, and secretly scolded himself for being dizzy, and he forgot that the other party could not only fight with muskets.

However, at this point it was too late for anything. The war horses galloped wildly, and many Japanese soldiers were directly hit by the war horses and trampled to death. War horses and warriors jumped out of the darkness one by one, slashing left and right, as terrifying as the undead knights of hell.

The sound of shouting and screaming, instead of the sound of gunfire, has become the main theme on the battlefield.

The cavalry warriors of the Chinese Empire attacked like a sea of mountains and seas, and they were unstoppable.

With Nogi's overseers scattered, the Japanese could no longer raise any will to resist and fled one after another.

Soldiers who show their backs to the enemy are the fastest to die on the battlefield.

The war horses rushed up, and between the rise and fall of the war knives, the Japanese soldiers flew with flesh and blood, and died countless tragic deaths.

The defeat was like a mountain, and Nogi looked at the scattered army in despair, sorry for Tokugawa Iemitsu's trust and high hopes for him, and finally killed himself with a sword.

By dawn, the elite of the Japanese army had been wiped out. The elite of 100,000 Japanese troops was wiped out in less than a day, on the one hand, it interprets the strength of the Chinese Emperor's ** team, and on the other hand, it proves that hot weapons have formed an absolute advantage over cold weapons.

The Japanese soldiers who fled back reported the situation to Tokugawa Iemitsu at the front.

When Tokugawa Iemitsu heard this, he was so angry that he vomited blood, regretting that his excellent general Nogi was killed, 100,000 elites were killed, and his back road was cut off, and hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops in Kameoh Mountain were in danger.

A great retreat was imminent, but Tokugawa Iemitsu was still looking forward to defeating the opposing Korean army, and that was his last glimmer of hope.

However, on the same day, the Chinese Empire began a large-scale propaganda war against the Japanese army, and the news of the death of Nogi's 100,000-strong army was reported to the Japanese troops at the front. At the same time, the news of the fall of Yamaguchi Castle was also given to the other party. At this moment, the Japanese troops on the front line suddenly became discouraged and irritable, and deserters had already appeared in many barracks, and the army mutiny was about to break out.

Under these circumstances, Tokugawa Iemitsu suddenly gave up the idea of continuing the fight and hurriedly organized a retreat.

After learning that the rear of the Japanese army was cut off and there was a lack of supplies, the Korean servant army launched wave after wave of large-scale operations, biting the Japanese army to the death, making it difficult for Tokugawa Iemitsu to retreat.

As a last resort, Tokugawa Iemitsu had no choice but to lose his car to protect the commander, leaving 80,000 Japanese troops to drag the Korean army, while he led the remaining 160,000 or so Japanese troops to quickly retreat.

Tokugawa Iemitsu only had one way to retreat from Yamaguchi Castle, knowing that the regular army of the Chinese Empire in Yamaguchi Castle was strong and had almost no chance to rush through, but he still had to give it a try.

Three days later, Tokugawa Iemitsu arrived at Yamaguchi Castle and launched a large-scale offensive that day, but as with Nogi, he suffered heavy losses and suffered more than 20,000 casualties, but he was not able to get even a step closer to Yamaguchi Castle.

At the same time, the 80,000 Japanese troops who remained at Mt. Kameo were defeated by the onslaught of the Korean army, and the soldiers learned that Tokugawa Iemitsu had abandoned them, and they had no intention of fighting. I was going to escape, but the only food and grass was taken away by Tokugawa Iemitsu, so I had to surrender directly.

Tokugawa Iemitsu learned of the defeat on the Kameoyama front, and he already knew that it was not good, and in a few days, the Korean army would be chasing after him from behind. At that time, there was a strong castle in front of it, and a large army covered it up, and the last trace of Tokugawa Iemitsu's hard work was over.

That night, Tokugawa Iemitsu ordered the whole army to storm the squadron on the northern flank of Yamaguchi Castle, with the aim of opening a passage to escape. At this time, Tokugawa Iemitsu no longer wanted to take Yamaguchi Castle, and only wanted to open a passage to escape.

This was the thought of the entire Japanese army.

The military pressure on the northern flank of Yamaguchi Castle surged, but the three regiments on the northern flank were still able to withstand it and did not allow the Japanese to succeed.

Just when the Japanese army paid huge casualties, but still couldn't open the passage, Japan's Aunt Amaterasu helped, and a torrential rain in autumn suddenly came, which made the muskets and artillery weapons of the Chinese Emperor's ** team out of order.

Pang Ji pointed to the sky and scolded Amaterasu, but he had to urgently order the six regiments of soldiers on the north and south flanks outside the city to quickly withdraw to the city.

Fortunately, the Tokugawa family was terrified, and when he saw the rainstorm coming, he only thought about escaping, if he ordered the whole army to charge at that time, even if the Chinese Emperor's ** team could retreat with his whole body, he would have abandoned a large number of artillery baggage. However, Tokugawa Iemitsu had no fighting spirit, and when he saw that the Chinese Emperor ** had made way of the passage, he was bent on escaping, so he failed to seize this golden opportunity.

After the soldiers and baggage of the six regiments withdrew safely to the city, Pang Ji breathed a sigh of relief, watching the Japanese troops outside the city frantically pass through the north and south of the city, Pang Ji was angry and funny.

"Do you want to organize a cavalry pursuit?"

"Forget it, poor Kou Mo Chase"

Pang Xi shook his head and gave up the idea of sending cavalry to chase and kill. After all, there are more than 100,000 Japanese troops, including tens of thousands of cavalry, all of whom are Tokugawa Iemitsu's Praetorian Guards, although they are very wolf-bèi, but cold weapon combat is not the strength of the infantry division, so it is better to leave it to the cannon fodder to complete

All the 80,000 Japanese soldiers captured at Guwangshan were beheaded by the Korean servants, for the simple reason that the official document reported to the headquarters of the Eastern Expeditionary Army said that there was no surplus food for them, let alone manpower to guard them.

The Crusade Command did not care about this, and their purpose was to promote the Japanese and Koreans to form a bond that could never be dissolved, so as to facilitate the rule of the empire.

The Korean servant army beheaded 80,000 Japanese prisoners, and not only did not receive any punishment, but was rewarded by the headquarters of the Eastern Expeditionary Army.

More than 200,000 Korean servants were killed on the front line of Guwang Mountain, and their hatred for the Japanese army reached the extreme.

In this regard, the command of the Eastern Crusade Army did not stop it, but chose to acquiesce.

The Yamaguchi Castle massacre lasted seven days, and more than 70,000 Japanese prisoners and more than 100,000 Japanese civilians were slaughtered in the city. The 74th and 75th Divisions also participated in the massacre and looting, but from the beginning to the end, the imperial government did not admit it, and later generations only marked the actions of the Korean servant army of the Chinese Empire.

After the massacre, there were no Japanese men within hundreds of miles of Yamaguchi Castle, and all the women were used as military soldiers, as the *** of the soldiers of the Eastern Expeditionary Army. This matter was also denied by the imperial government, but the Crusade Command chose to remain silent.

After the Korean servant army burned, killed and looted, it again received an order from the headquarters of the Eastern Expeditionary Army and continued to advance. In early September, the Korean servant army occupied Shimane, Donghong, Gangji and other prefectures, and the local shogunate rulers were unable to resist and surrendered one after another.

The Battle of Yamaguchi began in April of the ninth year of Jimmu and ended in mid-September when the Korean servant army approached Hyogo Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, for more than five months, and was the largest and longest battle in the Sino-Japanese Opium War. The battle ended with the defeat of the Tokugawa shogunate and the occupation of western Japan by the Chinese Empire.

In the Battle of Yamaguchi, more than 1.3 million Japanese soldiers and civilians were killed, the main force of the Tokugawa shogunate army was disabled, and the finances collapsed. Western Japan fell completely. The Chinese Empire spent 17.5 million silver dollars on military expenditure, 277 casualties among Chinese soldiers, and more than 270,000 casualties among Korean servants. More than 30 million silver dollars were looted and resources were looted, of which up to 30,000 Japanese military troops were established and placed under the command and management of the Imperial Logistics Department, and their turnover was directly transferred to military spending. For a long time, the Japanese army became the second largest source of income for the Crusade Army, and most of the plunder income of the Crusade Army was transferred to the imperial treasury.

After the Battle of Yamaguchi, the Tokugawa shogunate could no longer remain in power, either financially or militarily. Other shogunate bureaucrats attacked the Tokugawa shogunate and demanded its resignation. Tokugawa Iemitsu knew that he was no longer able to resist the colonial invasion of the Chinese Empire, so Tokugawa Iemitsu returned power to Emperor Kanei.

On October 1, the ninth year of Jimmu, the seventeenth year of Japan's Kanei, after Emperor Kanei withdrew power, he immediately sued for peace with the Chinese Empire. On the 15th, Emperor Shenwu of the Chinese Empire rejected Kanyong's request for peace. In early November, the East China Sea Fleet, the home fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy, shelled Osaka, and the 170,000-strong army of the Imperial Korean servant army approached Kyoto Prefecture, and the Battle of Kyoto broke out. X