Chapter 564: Breaking through Tokyo
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A convoy of several luxurious carriages galloped through the streets of Tokyo, and hundreds of elite palace guards, riding war horses, escorted these carriages. The people in the carriage were none other than Emperor Meiji and Empress Miko, as well as his sons and daughters. After the Imperial Palace was bombarded by the Chinese Navy, the Minister of the Interior, Saigo Shomichi, immediately arranged for someone to forcibly stuff the Meiji Emperor into the carriage, and then sent the Empress, the Prince, and the Inner Prince all into the carriage and took them away from the dangerous place of Tokyo.
Emperor Meiji was very angry at first, but he promised to live and die with Tokyo. But now, he had fled in a carriage, and he felt a deep sense of shame. Several times, he wanted to reprimand the procession to stop and return to the palace. But the sound of the Chinese navy's shelling, which echoed throughout Tokyo, made him a little frightened. As soon as he thought of the bombardment of the palace, he feared that the shells would explode next to him. Although he was the emperor, he was still very afraid of death.
At the thought of this, Emperor Meiji's body couldn't help but tremble slightly. At this time, a pair of warm hands held his somewhat cold hands. Empress Miko began to comfort Emperor Meiji after discovering his strangeness.
"Your Majesty, I believe that the warriors of the empire, they will definitely defeat the people of China!" Empress Miko said softly. Although Empress Miko is already fifty years old, she is very well maintained and looks like a young woman in her early thirties. Instead, it was the Meiji Emperor. He was only forty-seven years old. It's like an old man in the twilight.
"I'm fine! It's just that seeing the people of the empire being ravaged by the people of China makes me feel very uncomfortable! Emperor Meiji said.
"陛xià! God will surely punish these wicked Chinans. Empress Miko said. Perhaps at this time, Japan can only pin its hopes on the ethereal gods.
Pick-up from Tokyo to the outside of the city is very crowded. The residents of Tokyo, after the heavy shelling of Tokyo by the Chinese Navy, realized that they would be in danger if they continued to stay in Tokyo. Therefore, they fled from here. The roads are full of salutes. Japanese fleeing outside the city. Wealthy families can still have horse-drawn carriages, but most of them rely on their legs.
"My lord, there are too many civilians on the road, and the strict zhòng restricts our speed!" The chief of the palace reported to the Minister of the Interior, Saigo Tomichi. The Emperor's carriage was completely blocked by the crowd.
"Yaga! These bastards! Saigo scolded from the road.
"Boom!" At this time, a shell exploded on the side of the road, blowing a house into rubble. The fleeing crowd was frightened. Screaming and screaming. A lot of Japanese people are like headless flies. It was all over the place, and even collided with Emperor Meiji's car.
"Immediately disperse these Diao people, and escort His Majesty the Emperor away first!" Interior Minister Saigo ordered from the province.
"Yes, sir!" The chief of the guard was shocked, and immediately went down to give the order to the emperor to be blocked here, but it was very dangerous! Only by escaping Tokyo can you be safe. He had long wanted to do something to these civilians, but he didn't get the order and didn't dare to do it.
"Get out of the way! Move! "Hundreds of guards, riding Oriental horses, frantically attacked the Japanese blocking the road. The guards brandished their horsewhips and whipped the Japanese civilians blocking the road. In the pain, the Japanese had to get out of the way. Although these Japanese were very dissatisfied, they did not dare to resist. The hierarchy of Japanese society is very strict, although these Japanese civilians don't know who is sitting in the carriage, but looking at the luxurious Cheng dù of the carriage and these fierce guards, you can know at a glance that it is a rich and noble person, and it is not the royal family. Therefore, at most, they can only curse a few words in their hearts.
After dispersing the civilians, the carriage sped up, leaving Tokyo and heading for Kyoto in less than half an hour. During this period, Emperor Meiji did not show anything else, although he saw the guards disperse the civilians. Perhaps in his opinion, it is natural for these lowly civilians to make way for him at this time!
At sea, the shelling of Tokyo by the Chinese Navy continues. The dense shells exploded in Tokyo, and not only the Japanese positions along the coast were shelled, but also the urban areas suffered a lot of shells. The only ones that were not shelled were probably the Minato area. The reason why the Chinese Navy does not shell the port area is to use it when it lands. The facilities in the port area are complete, so you can save a lot of time when you land. Of course, to prevent the Japanese from destroying the port under the dog's rush over the wall.
On land, the 9th and 36th Divisions of the Eighth Army were also marching along the coast towards Tokyo. Along the way, two light cruisers and two destroyers of the Navy were providing them with fire support. Although the Japanese army mobilized troops to intercept them, they still could not slow them down. By the time the navy opened fire on Tokyo, they had already routed two divisions of the Japanese army and captured Yokohama, which was only more than thirty kilometers from Tokyo.
The shelling of Tokyo by the Chinese Navy lasted for half a day, consuming half of the shells of several warships. At this time, a large part of the city of Tokyo had been destroyed by shelling, and the Japanese army's defensive positions had become very dilapidated. In the shelling of the Chinese Navy, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties, and according to statistics, at least tens of thousands of Japanese troops died under the shelling of the Chinese Navy. As for civilians, that's more.
After the shelling, the squadron began the landing. The main force of the 6th Marine Brigade is still in Kamakura City, and this time it is only two battalions of the 6th Brigade that are responsible for the landing. Hundreds of landing craft made their way to the coast at a rapid pace, and the target of the landing was the port area of Tokyo.
The 21st Division of the Japanese Army, which was also established in the First Sino-Japanese War, is also an elite unit among the hundreds of divisions and regiments of the Japanese Army. However, as a key place for the Chinese Navy to take care of, the defense area of the 21st Division was plowed several times by the main artillery of the Chinese Navy, and the entire division suffered heavy casualties, and more than half of it had already been lost. If it were the Western forces, after such a heavy blow, I am afraid that they would have collapsed long ago. But the eastern troops were different, although the morale of the Japanese army was low, but under the reprimand of the commander, they still insisted on fighting.
"Fire! Fire! The people of China are going to land, sink their boat, and let them go to the sea to feed the fish! The commander of the 21st Division of the Japanese army ordered. As a fanatical Japanese soldier, he was not intimidated by the huge casualties, but thought that this was the time to show bravery.
"Da Da Da! Bang bang bang! The remaining soldiers of the 21st Division of the Japanese Army immediately began shooting. It's just that, because of the heavy casualties, there have been a lot of loopholes in their defensive line, and the firepower is very sparse. Even so, there was a splash on the surface of the sea!
"Da Da Da!" Heavy machine guns and light machine guns mounted on landing craft of the Chinese Marine Corps also opened fire. The dense firepower formed a storm of steel, which put the Japanese army under great pressure. Several destroyers of the Chinese Navy even drove less than a kilometer from the shore and fired rapid-fire guns at the Japanese troops.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, the landing craft of the Marine Corps washed up on the beach. The marines, immediately after disembarking, launched an attack on the Japanese positions under the cover of naval guns, and at the same time established a solid beachhead. Another battalion of the Marine Corps, which followed, also landed ten minutes later. After that, it was the 10th Division of the 8th Army.
"Rush! Drive all the people of China into the sea! "The division commander of the 21st Division of the Japanese Army, seeing that there were more and more squadrons landing, knew that if he could not prevent this, his troops would be defeated, and it would only be a matter of time.
A wing of Japanese soldiers jumped out of the position and rushed to the sea, holding bright bayonets, trying to drive the squadron into the sea.
"Fire! Kill all these Japanese! ”
"Da Da Da! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! "Light and heavy machine guns and mortars, as well as rapid-fire guns on naval battleships, began to fire fiercely. Dense shells exploded in the ranks of the Japanese army, turning these Japanese bombers on their backs, and many Japanese were torn to pieces directly in the explosion. The dense bullets also made the Japanese soldiers who were charging fall to the ground one by one as if they were cutting wheat.
"Send a telegram to His Excellency Katsura Taro, the attack of the Shina people is too fierce for us to resist!" Seeing that his attack had no effect on the squadron at all, the division commander of the 21st Division of the Japanese Army had to send a telegram asking for help.
After receiving the telegram asking for help, Katsura Taro immediately dispatched two divisions to rush to support, and he knew that if the squadron completed the landing, it would be completely empty talk to hold Tokyo.
It's just that the Japanese army is still over. The 11th Regiment of the 10th Division of the Eighth Army, immediately after completing the landing, cooperated with the Marines to launch an attack on the Japanese 21st Division. Under the heavy blows, the Japanese 21st Division suffered heavy losses and had to retreat. There were more than 18,000 people in a division, and in the end there were less than 3,000 people left.
By the time the Japanese reinforcements arrived, the squadron had already established a solid position, and with the fire support of the navy, it defeated the Japanese attack lightly. By the afternoon, the 10th and 37th divisions of the Eighth Army had completed their landing. The elite army of two divisions took the initiative to attack, defeated the Japanese army smoothly, and attacked the city of Tokyo.