After the Battle of Tsushima, the battered Japanese navy did stop for a long time.

In that naval battle, the combined forces of Xia and Korea sank more than 80 Japanese warships, captured more than 60 warships that were seriously wounded, and less than 70 warships escaped from the battlefield, and captured more than 600 Japanese sailors who fell into the water.

On the other hand, on the side of the coalition forces, the Korean naval division lost 68 warships, including two turtle boats, and the Xia naval division suffered no casualties, and all of them shelled the Japanese warships with long-range fire and destroyed them.

After the good news of the Battle of Tsushima spread, the Joseon monarch once again rewarded Yi An and a number of Korean generals who participated in the war, landed in Kitakyushu, and moved his base to Fukuoka Mountain Castle, Su Fu also praised Chen Zhaojun's attack in the army, wrote down great merits for him, and reported it to the imperial court after the war was over.

After this battle, the Japanese navy no longer dared to attack, and the Xia army's sea transportation lines were also stabilized, and a large number of soldiers and horses were continuously transported to Kitakyushu.

As the strength of the Xia army in Kitakyushu gradually increased, and the pressure of the Japanese army increased, the shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna could no longer sit still, and he immediately held a meeting within the shogunate to discuss how to deal with the increase in Xia troops.

Eventually, the shogunate sent Naka-eldron Abe Tadaaki and Rokujo Yuma as envoys to contact the daimyo of Chugoku and Shikoku respectively to assemble an army, intending to organize a larger army into Kyushu.

In addition, in order to prevent the Xia army from crossing the narrow Kanmon Strait and landing in Chugoku after conquering Kitakyushu, the shogunate once again gathered naval warships from all over the country, this time not to cut off the transportation lines of the Korean Strait, but to defend the Kanmon Strait and maintain sea supremacy in the Guanmen Strait.

At the same time as the shogunate recruited troops again, in April, most of the soldiers and horses of the Xia army successfully landed in Kitakyushu, and Su Fu immediately ordered Hao Shaoqi and Yuan Zong, two generals to lead the two brigades of soldiers and horses to sweep away the two countries of Hizen and Chikuzen respectively, completely eliminating the remnants of the Japanese army in the two countries.

The fighting then began again.

Almost all the troops of the feudal lords and daimyo in Kitakyushu were wiped out in the previous war, so everywhere the Xia army went, the resistance of each domain was extremely weak, and almost as soon as the Xia army's cannons sounded, the defenders in the city had no will to fight, and took the initiative to open the city gate and surrender.

And the stubborn resistance of Youzhi Mountain City in that corner did not continue to hold on - in order to conquer this mountain city, Su Fu temporarily transferred the howitzer company belonging to the fourth town to Ma Du, and Ma Du, who got this kind of warp shooting weapon, hurriedly pushed the howitzer out of the army formation and launched a fierce artillery bombardment towards the mountain.

The Japanese never thought that there would be a kind of artillery that could hit the mountain directly from the foot of the mountain, so when they saw the Xia army deploying artillery positions, they still wantonly laughed at the Xia army by the city wall, laughing at the Xia army for doing useless work and wasting ammunition to give them a sound.

But with the sound of cannons, after the shells crossed the curve and smashed into the city, the Japanese troops in the city were suddenly blown into chaos, and the shells fired by the 12-pounder infantry howitzers used by the Xia army were not solid shells, but flowering shells used to kill and injure infantry, so after the shells flew into the city wall and exploded in the Japanese army, the unsuspecting Japanese troops suddenly suffered heavy losses.

"Fire!"

"Show the Wako the power of the howitzer!"

Rumble –

The roar of the howitzers fell into the ears of the Japanese soldiers, like the laughter of death, and after the shelling, the Japanese scattered in all directions in the city, trying to avoid the shells falling from the sky, and one of the shells did not explode in mid-air, but exploded in vain after hitting the castle tower.

The force of the explosion blasted a gap in the wooden castle tower, and the flying shards of the planks rained down, causing the Japanese soldiers to panic even more, and a samurai with a sword at his waist stood in the crowd and shouted a shouting reprimand to the panicked Ashigaru, ordering Ashigaru to go to the castle wall to defend it.

But just as he shouted loudly, a cannonball fell from the sky and exploded above his head, and the flying shrapnel and the nails and other sharp weapons filled with the cannonball shrouded it in a range of several meters below like a heavenly maiden.

Some of the Japanese soldiers, who did not know whether to say lucky or unlucky, did not die on the spot, lying on the ground covering their bleeding wounds, moaning and wailing in pain, and reaching out to those around them

, begging them to save themselves, but no one reached out to them, and everyone was running for their lives.

At the top of the castle tower, Ogasawara Tadashi looked at the panicked soldiers below through the window, his face was bitter, he looked back at Miyamoto Iori behind him, and said:

"Iori, who would have thought that the Xia people would have such a sharp weapon in their hands, able to shell directly at the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, and be defeated in the hands of the Xia people like this, I have nothing else to disagree with."

"Yes, Lord Governor." Miyamoto Iori also had a sad look on his face, and he said: "Your Majesty deduced the weakness of the Xia army, but the Xia army told us with its strength that this so-called weakness was not a threat to them at all, and now that they can come up with such a strong big tube, it is no wonder that they can defeat the once powerful Manchu people and dominate the Central Plains again."

"Alas......

Ogasawara Tadashi let out a long sigh, he knew that after the Xia army sacrificed this weapon, Yuzhi Mountain Castle would no longer be able to defend it, as long as it continued to bombard the mountain castle, within an hour, the Japanese army on the mountain would collapse on its own, and there would be no more will to resist.

Outside, the shelling is still continuing, seeing that the howitzer company can indeed directly hit the Japanese army in the mountain city, Ma Du also decided to launch a strong attack directly on the mountain city, the army can not continue to be stuck here, now there are less than two months left before His Majesty's birthday, if it is stuck here again, I am afraid that it will be difficult to capture most of the Kyushu Island in less than two months.

Therefore, he immediately gathered all the grenadiers in his army, and decided to use the grenadiers as the first troops, and launched a strong attack on the mountain town after the howitzers stopped shelling, and the grenadiers would also carry enough explosives bags to blow up the city gates.

The shelling did not last an hour, and it was not until the howitzer's barrel was red and hot that it was impossible to continue firing that Madu finally ordered the grenadiers to attack.

With the signature rousing horn of attack, the tall grenadiers climbed the mountain road with neat steps and attacked the mountain city.

The Japanese troops inside the mountain city had already been blown up by the howitzers of the Xia army, and they looked at the calm sky in fear, as if there would be shells whistling from the sky in the next second, and it was not until they were sure that the shelling was really over that they finally had the courage to leave their hideouts.

But then, they found an even worse thing - the Xia army launched an attack.

However, at this time, the Japanese army had lost the will to continue to resist, and the main general of the castle tower, Ogasawara Tadashima, did not show up for a long time, and some Ashigaru who did not want to die here forcibly opened the wall on the side that the Xia army did not attack, regardless of the obstruction of others and the deterrence of the samurai, and wanted to escape from the mountain castle.

With the first man to lead the flight, many more laid down their weapons and joined the fleeing ranks, including some of the samurai, who fled the mountain castle despite the contemptuous gaze of the other samurai, and before leaving, some of them were still defending themselves, saying that their allegiance to the lord had been killed in the war, and that there was no need for them to hold on, so only those samurai who still cared about glory were still holding on.

There were not many samurai who held out in this part, and this scene was also watched by Ogasawara Tadashi in the castle tower, who knew that those deserters who fled from the mountain castle would soon be captured by the Xia army stationed at the foot of the mountain, and the Japanese troops on Mt. Yuchi were already unable to escape, either captured or killed in battle.

But he had other ideas, as a dignified governor and a vassal lord of a country, how could he be captured by the Xia army in humiliation, and he didn't want his body to lie on the filthy battlefield with others, he wanted to let himself die cleanly.

So, he asked Miyamoto Iori to intersect him and help him with a decent self-determination, which can be regarded as repaying the favor of the shogunate.

Miyamoto Iori naturally subconsciously refused, he wanted to persuade Ogasawara Tadashi to die on the battlefield like a samurai, but after seeing Ogasawara Tadashima's resolute expression, he could only forcibly swallow it back and nodded solemnly.

After that, Ogasawara Tadashi took off his shirt and knelt on the tatami mat, he would gently wipe the ribs that had been with him for many years, and only after the ribbed blade could clearly reflect his face did he throw the knife cloth aside, holding the handle of the knife behind his back, and aiming the tip of the knife at his abdomen.

"Taro, you must avenge me."

He whispered, raised his head, took a deep breath, and then stabbed the rib into his abdomen, the sharp pain made him unstoppable cold sweat and gasp, but he didn't stop because of this, he gritted his teeth and slid the handle of the knife, letting the rib move inside him.

Iori Miyamoto stood behind him and couldn't bear to watch this scene, he raised his saber high, and with a loud shout, the sword flashed, and an old head rolled off the tatami mat, and blood spurted out, splashing the wall painted with cherry blossoms in a crimson color.

Then, Miyamoto Iori slowly wiped the blood from the saber with the corner of his clothes, inserted it into the scabbard, bowed deeply to the still twitching corpse, and turned and walked out of the room.

Outside the room, the two samurai looked at Miyamoto Iori who came out in silence, they heard the movement inside, and they also knew what was going on inside, and when they saw Miyamoto Iori come out, they fell into a dazed situation all of a sudden.

"Come with me, as a samurai, you should die on the battlefield, and it is an honor for you to die with me, Miyamoto Iori, the son of the sword saint Miyamoto Musashi."

Miyamoto Iori said.

"Hey!"

The two samurai glanced at each other, answered in unison, and then followed Miyamoto Iori out of the castle tower and confronted the Xia army that had launched the siege.