Under Zhou Pu's gaze, the Japanese soldiers of his various units forcibly broke through to the city and rushed towards the gap between the city walls. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Maybe because of the psychological pressure, many of them screamed wildly, and their faces became distorted. Still others had bloodshot eyes.

As they charged, the entire Himeji Castle was silent, and there was no sound at all, except for the sound of the walls collapsing and stones falling, as if they had been shocked by the shelling just now.

However, when the attacking soldiers rushed beyond the cracks in the walls, there was a slight commotion in the city, as if they had woken up from their stupor. Then, a dense stream of gunfire and bowstrings began to sound from the rest of the city, and a large number of projectiles and bows and arrows drifted towards the gaps, and soon some of them were torn open and collapsed.

Many people were killed directly, while some were seriously injured, wailing and lying on the ground, regardless of life or death, their blue clothes were also dyed with bright red blood, this kind of wail made people's scalp tingle, and in this environment, they would definitely not get good treatment, almost as if they had entered the ghost gate.

But no one looked at these robes, and still roared and rushed towards the city, and the officers above had already told them beforehand that as long as they took this city, they would be rewarded with great rewards, and they would get endless benefits for the next life, and the terrible Han army was also behind the battle, and no one dared to retreat.

With guns and arrows on their heads, they stepped on the rugged ruins of masonry to a huge gap that had been opened by artillery fire, and then rushed all the way into the city, but they were not victorious, and just as their vanguard had just rushed into the gap in the wall, a force in the city immediately counterattacked them.

This force had been prepared and very well armoured, and as soon as they saw this group of enemies rushing in, they rushed forward with a roar, and their naginatas were held forward, stabbing the enemy at the front.

This group of troops who suddenly attacked was obviously a little unexpected by the besieging army, they hurriedly raised their weapons and wanted to line up to the enemy, but there were so many troops crowded here, where could they have time to line up in a hurry when people were crowded? What's more, in order to compete for merit, these people rushed over first by various troops, and even the command was very inflexible.

In the midst of their panicked screams, the group of warriors rushed in front of them, and immediately brought out pieces of blood, and even stumps fell to the ground. The screams were incessant, and soon the hearts of the others were frightened, and some people were frightened and wanted to retreat, but there were people rushing up from behind, and as a result, the two sides were huddled together and could not escape, and could only face the attack of this group of samurai.

The samurai slashed wildly, and with their blades, a large number of them fell to the ground, but the armor on their bodies left them unharmed, and under their forcible assault, the vanguard troops that rushed into the city slowly retreated, retreating beyond the walls.

However, after the retreat of these vanguard troops, the attack of the siege army did not stop, and soon a large group of soldiers in the same armor rushed in, they also held long naginatas, and then with the same madness to meet this group of defenders, the fierce fighting continued repeatedly under the city walls, although this defender was very brave, but after all, they could not stop the frenzy several times their size, their soldiers fell to the ground one by one, and the front was pushed back towards the city, and the huge casualties made them unable to support.

After they withdrew, the gap in the wall was finally broken by the besieging army, and by this time, the ground was already full of corpses of both armies, and the blood in these stumps was constantly flowing on the ground, staining the ruins red, looking terrible and terrifying.

And the tragic situation of these dead and wounded, no one paid attention anymore, and these besieging troops did not even have time to celebrate their small victory, and forced their way into the city with weapons. And for them, the ordeal of attacking Himeji Castle has only just begun.

After they rushed into the city, the cannon fire and bows and arrows on the walls did not stop, and from time to time some people fell in a dull way because they were shot, but the besieging army had already established a foothold in the city.

After storming the city, some of the besieging troops climbed the walls along the crumbling brick walls of the ruins, and began a fierce battle with the defenders; The other part, with a cautious sense of fear, slowly advanced into the city.

Himeji Castle had a large pond in Nishinomaru, which was used to provide water to the castle, but it was also a huge obstacle for the besieging army at this time, as they could only attack along the path between the ponds, and there were many courtyards and buildings around it, which gave them a very strange feeling.

The samurai Togo Shigemata was one of these troops.

He was a samurai of the Shimazu family, and before that, because of the assignment of the feudal lord Shimazu Tadashi, he became Zhou Pu's bodyguard, both to protect his life and to carry out surveillance tasks, after the Han army attacked Kyushu and the Shimazu family became the master of Kyushu as he wished, his mission was also successfully completed, and he returned to the Shimazu family.

At this time, the Shimazu family had gathered the army of the domain and was ready to go north with the Han to meet the imperial court, and he was promoted because of his merits, becoming an officer in the army of the Shimazu domain, and went north with the lord of the domain.

As a samurai for generations, he did not averse to war, and even some were eager to try it, hoping to show his skills in war, so that his ancestors could be comforted, and he would also become a high-level flag samurai or even a daimyo because of his merits. But the march went very smoothly along the way, and there were no big fights, so he didn't get any chance to perform, which made him a little disappointed.

However, after the battle at Himeji Castle began, he finally got the opportunity he had always dreamed of. He led his feudal soldiers and rushed into the city after the initial bloody battle.

However, he also knows that this is not the end of the road, and if he wants to make a success, he must show more courage - and perhaps luck.

He suppressed the uneasiness in his heart, and carefully led his troops and other troops to walk forward slowly, intending to expand the occupied area, but as they walked along the path in the pond to the edge of the city, there seemed to be a sudden flash of light in the courtyards.

At first there was a dead silence, with only the sparkling light of the stars, but soon, the sound of a dense firearm fire began to roar, making everyone's eardrums ache.

The projectiles that came from all directions bombarded many people, causing painful wails and terrified everyone, some of them howled and scattered with their firearms in their hands, some of them bent down to cover themselves with the bodies of their companions, and some of them even ran straight back.

However, the relentless blow continued, the dense projectiles swept all over the path, almost everywhere there were injuries, this merciless blow quickly panicked the besiegers, some rushed to get their weapons, they shouted, ran, but because the trail was too narrow, many people were directly knocked down by their own people, trampled on and seriously injured, and some simply jumped into the pond because they couldn't think about it.

In the midst of the chaos of gunfire and smoke, the attacked soldiers no longer knew what they were doing, they were scurrying around, and some even slashed each other. Some of the frightened people jumped directly into the pond, and they quickly sank in armor, they frantically slapped and shouted in the water, and they scurried in the water at a loss, trying to take off their armor with the strength of their own, but they could only sink helplessly.

The water devoured the people's hobby, and the blood spread through the pond, which soon turned into a sea of red. The people on the shore watched the fate of these people and shouted to each other in even greater horror. Bullets continued to radiate from every dark corner. Everywhere there was smoke and chaos and a faint glow of fire.

In the midst of this chaotic order, Togo Shigemata barely managed to maintain order among his subordinates, constantly pushing away the soldiers who rushed at him to avoid being pushed into the water by them, and even drew his sword and slashed one of his subordinates who tried to escape.

"Follow me! Follow me! In the midst of the confusion, he picked up his saber and shouted, "Don't go back!" ”

At his instigation, his men finally held their ground, and followed him little by little along the path. Shielded by weapons and even human corpses, they rushed to the end of the path, and here was a low wall, and above the low wall was the courtyard.

He looked left and right, and found that there were no tools around him that could be used to climb over, and there was no better place to break into, so in anxiety, he turned his heart to the side.

As far as the eye could see, he saw a young man with clear eyebrows, a man he vaguely remembered as a young samurai from the Satsuma Domain, with whom he had met before, and who had spoken a few words during the march.

"A few of you get down for me, and let the rest of us jump up!" He shouted orders to the other party.

The roar everywhere, the bullets that were fired at a frantic tilt made all the words seem a little illusory, and the young man on the other side suddenly did not hear his order clearly, showing a puzzled expression, in such a highly tense and fierce battle, everyone has a time to wander outside the object.

Togo Shigekata anxiously repeated the order to the other party again, and this time the other party finally heard clearly, he was a little anxious, but he still obeyed the order and lay on the ground, while several other people also folded on the young man's body according to his order.

Togo Shigekata shook his heart, then stepped on the group of people, jumped up and rushed into the window of the house with the guard post and the corner of the road, the wooden window lattice was quickly shattered by him, he staggered to his feet, and then in a cloud of smoke, he vaguely saw two people inside.

Both of them looked very young, and their outfits were somewhat similar to his, the only difference was the firearm in their hands, but when they saw him with a hideous face and a dusty face, they looked like they had seen a ghost, and their faces showed a look of horror.

Their firecrackers were still smoking, and they could tell they had used them just now, and when they saw Togo Shigekata, they picked them up again and wanted to reload them. But where is Dongxiang Shigefang willing to give them such an opportunity? He picked up the saber in his hand and silently rushed towards the two of them.

The small room didn't give the two men much room to maneuver, and the two of them let out a strange cry at the same time, and then invariably threw away the fire gun in their hands, and took the dagger from their bosoms, trying to come up and meet him together.

But at this time, Togo Shigekata had already rushed to the middle of them, brandished his knife and swept heavily to both sides, the young people on both sides wanted to resist, but how could their unfamiliar combat skills be the opponent of Togo Shigekata?

In the midst of the clash of gold and iron, Togo Shigemata's saber slashed at the dagger that met him, and the blood burst out wildly, splashing down on the lattice of the window where he jumped in, and the knife cut deep wounds between the two men, one of whom was almost completely cut in half, and even the internal organs slipped out.

The smell of blood and internal organs rushed straight to the end of his nose, so that Togo Shigekata couldn't help but cover his nose, and his subordinates also climbed up with him. When they smell such a pungent smell, they almost vomit.

Under the leadership of Togo Shigemata, they finally rushed into this small room and won a foothold for their small army, and the original obstacle on the window had been knocked down by them at once, and the first little gap in the fortifications of the shogunate army in the city collapsed.

"Rest in your room! It's a safe place! "I finally got the safety of Togo Shigekata for the time being, and suddenly I felt an indescribable feeling of fatigue in my body, and I finally supported myself on the ground with my saber and didn't let myself fall." Rest for a while and wait for reinforcements! ”

As he spoke, he walked over to the window and observed the situation behind him. On the path of the pond he saw a number of corpses, miserably scattered on the side of the road, and only then did he realize that he had rushed from the road in a reckless manner.

His gaze slowly slid to the spot where he had just jumped up, and then to the young man who had been ordered by him to lie down on the ground and become his stepping stone.

This young man with a delicate face was lying on the ground with his back to the sky, his complexion was paler than what he had just seen, and between his two black eyes, a small black hole appeared, as if another black eye had opened between his eyebrows.

In such a battle, he is no different from the people who lie down along the way, but he is just a little lucky, if there is a slight deviation of that projectile, it will be himself who falls.

Dongxiang Shigekata suddenly felt a blockage in his heart, and he turned his gaze away almost instantly.

Beneath the walls, the chaos continued, fierce battles broke out in the gaps in the walls everywhere, and in some places, like the Togo Shigekata, after paying heavy losses, the besieging army finally broke into the city to meet a new challenge; In some places, the resistance in the city was so fierce that the front line could not be pushed inward, but was slowly pushed outward.

At the height of the fighting, some of the besieging troops finally could not withstand the heavy and bloody casualties, and they slowly retreated, and some even threw down their weapons and ran back howling.

The entangled siege army that fled and retreated from the city and the people who followed up to reinforce the attack intensified the chaos, and many people trampled on the wounded and fallen to the ground, and the ground was full of groans, and some were even trampled to death. Frightened and frightened, the people lost their minds and forgot the orders they were carrying, and the soldiers and officers searched each other, but everything was already in chaos, some of them lay on the ground, while others retreated all the way down the city.

From time to time, they erupted into a raucous shout as they retreated, a shout that mingled with the clatter of gunfire, drowning out everything.

Looking at the commotion in front of them, Zhou Pu and Huang Changguo frowned slightly.

"Don't go back! Don't go back! Get back! Get back! "In front of the Han army, several Han officers who knew Japanese shouted loudly, trying to stop these retreating soldiers." The commander has an order, if anyone escapes from the battle, there will be no mercy! ”

Behind these officers, Han officers and soldiers in bright red army uniforms were already lined up, and bright muskets and spears began to point forward.

But their shouts had been drowned out in the loud noise, and not many people could hear it clearly, and even those who could hear it continued to rush forward under the push of the people behind them, and they were about to rush to the front of the Han army.

"Fire, fire! No one is allowed to escape! When he saw that these routed soldiers were about to flee back, Zhou Pu finally couldn't help it and ordered the officers and soldiers of the Han Dynasty to carry out the task of supervising the battle.

"Fire!" The Han officer who received the order immediately followed the order.

The Han army immediately opened fire, and many columns of black smoke that exploded rose in the barrels of the guns, rolling into the air like a whirlwind, and the waves of people rushing in front of the Han army almost seemed to have been hit hard, and suddenly stopped. Black fireworks swept the land mercilessly with whistling projectiles, even if the rout had been their comrades before.

The piercing screams poured more and more on the retreating men, preventing any attackers from retreating to their positions, and under their decisive bombardment, no one could come close. The waves left many corpses on the ground, and also suppressed their retreat, and the terrible howl finally brought the group back to their senses and realized that they had nowhere to retreat.

"Hurry back, go back and attack the city!" The big Han officers continued to shout hoarsely. "If there are those who dare to retreat, there will be no mercy!" (To be continued.) )