Xinshun 1730

Chapter 340 Fate
Shi Shiyong has heard Liu Yu talk about the virtues of the sailors in the Weihai Navy more than once, and he can imagine that he has only been on the ship for such a short time, and he is still in the well-decorated captain's cabin, so he can't stand it anymore. .

Those sailors who spend all day in the gun bay on the deck, sleep in only half a hammock, beg for a glass of wine every day, fight whenever they go ashore on vacation, and talk to seagulls like crazy when they can’t see land for more than a month at sea. Know.

"Don't worry, my lord, I will try my best to restrain them."

After explaining, the sailors checked their short guns, maces, daggers and other weapons suitable for gang warfare, jumped on the boat below, hid on the side, and waited for orders.

Under the castle, Tosa's first attack is about to begin.

The samurai armed with iron cannons are at the front. They are all hereditary troops. However, the Tosa Domain has suffered financial difficulties in recent years. It owes a lot of money to merchants in Osaka and Edo. drill.

Although some samurai can renege on their debts, merchants are also divided into three or six grades.Is it so easy for a businessman who dares to lend money to the feudal lord to charge interest?
The matchlock guns in the hands of the iron gunners are almost still the standard of the Wanli war against Japanese aggressors and aid Korea, not only behind the French flintlock guns after the reform of the Dashun Army, but even behind the Ottoman Central Asian matchlock guns before the reform of the Dashun Army .

However, the level of simple three-stage strike is still there, and nothing can be seen in the shooting stage.

The iron gunner moved forward little by little, approaching Urado Castle, and the samurai with swords or guns followed behind.

When the distance was a little closer to the front line about 150 steps, these iron gunners began to shoot.

This is not yet within the range of the archers, but those archers are not in a hurry, obviously waiting for the iron gunners to approach slowly by firing rounds.

There was gunpowder smoke at the foot of the mountain, and under the cover of the gunpowder smoke and the sound of the battle, the sailors on the small boats also began to paddle hard, taking advantage of the noon tide and going up the river.

The lead bullets of the iron cannon kept hitting the ruined stone wall, and the marines hiding behind the stone wall waited quietly for the officer's order.

Condescending, the Japanese iron cannons did not pose any threat.Thanks to the previous lord of the Tosa clan, Nagamunebu, for choosing this city site, which is very suitable for defense.

"Free Fire!"

The officer rarely gave the order of free fire, and the skirmishers in the front row with mini-bullets pointed at the iron gunners moving in the formation, sporadic and continuous gunshots rang out.

The somewhat impatient howitzer and mortar gunners who had been waiting in the rear finally waited for Liu Yu's order, adjusted the elevation angle, and ignited the wooden fuze.

Under the ruins of the mountain city, the iron gunners of the Tosa clan fell to the ground from time to time, and were hit by lead bullets that spiraled in the air.Their armor couldn't resist the lead bullets at all, and people kept falling to the ground.

However, the casualties in the shooting stage are always tolerable. Although the formation is already loose, the whole is still moving forward.

The archers finally reached a distance suitable for their throwing, and the melee warriors behind drew out their sabers, ready to charge.

Behind the iron gunners and archers, Taifu Lin An, who was wearing armor and holding a knife, was quietly watching the situation in Urado Castle. Hearing the continuous bursting gunshots, he was not panicked.

I met the Tang people on the mountain with Dahei Haosheng yesterday. The Tang people on the mountain did not have sabers, spears or broadswords. Instead, they were all equipped with strange iron cannons without matchlocks.

He had never seen such an iron cannon.

Although his salary is only 180 shi, in fact Lin Antai is the most capable person in the entire Tosa.

He inherited the position of patriarch from his adoptive father or father-in-law, and he also inherited swordsmanship. He is the tenth generation patriarch of Wusou's direct transmission of Eishin-ryu. He is also considered a strong man in Japan in the method of Iai Dao slashing.

In addition, he is also the successor of Oguri-ryu jujitsu, proficient in shuriken and taichi. His father-in-law is not only the suzerain of Wusou direct Eishin-style, but also an important inheritor of Oguri-ryu in Tosa.

When he was in Edo, he sparred with Shi Shiyong who met yesterday. Shi Shiyong was not very good at using swords and knives. If he competed with swords, Shi Shiyong couldn't beat him.

But Mr. Lin Anzheng also knew that he was not as useful as Shi Shi in equestrianism, spear riding, riding and archery, and bow taking.

Hearing the gunshots like popping beans, Mrs. Lin An couldn't help but clenched the knife at his waist, and an unusual excitement surged in his mind.

He felt that this was like a fateful battle.

That day in Edo, Shi Shiyong had argued with him about the status of bows, knives, swords, and lances.

At that time, Shi Shiyong kept saying that riding and archery were the learning of a sergeant; swordsmanship was just a path for self-defense and melee combat.The choice of bird screen depends on archery, not slashing; the six arts of a gentleman also have shooting but not slashing.

Riding a spear and iron spear is the skill of a brave general; shuriken and sword are just small and exquisite.The ether sword has no chance of winning against the cavalry with a spear.

Taifu Hayashi An was in Edo that time, and did not argue with Shi Shiyong.

But today...he felt that the level of martial arts ultimately depended on blood.

Maybe, I will die under Shi Shiyong's shooting technique; maybe, I will use sword technique to cut off Shi Shiyong's head before he shoots himself to death.

Today's fateful battle is just a continuation of the debate in Edo.

Both high and low, but also life and death.

Thinking of this, the knife in his hand gripped even tighter, and his arms even trembled a little that shouldn't happen to an Iaido master.

"Fateful duel."

He raised his head, wanting to see if he could see Shi Shiyong's figure.

However, what he saw was the flickering flames of the slow-firing mortars, and a black spot that could be captured by the naked eye showed a very arc trajectory in the air, and the black spot was getting bigger and bigger.

boom……

A beautiful scene like fireworks, this is Mrs. Lin Anzheng's last memory during his lifetime.

He didn't wait for the fateful duel, but waited for a flowering bomb with a charge of three catties.

The near-perfect length and angle of the lead wire caused the bomb to explode a foot above his head, and the scattered iron pieces killed more than 20 people instantly, and those who survived could only lie on the ground and cry out.

Subsequent grenades and mortar shells continued to explode above the heads of these Tosa warriors, and the huge twelve-pound solid iron ball also bounced and fell on the hard ground, leaving bloodstains, like the earth after a fight with a woman Scratched by a woman's nails.

A line of marine soldiers spread out, and a perfect volley came from the side. The first charge of the Tosa warriors came to an end.

There were severed limbs and corpses everywhere on the ground, and a few people who were not dead were struggling to crawl on the ground, with purple-black intestines flowing out from the wounds.

A samurai whose leg was broken by a [-]-pound gun held up his broken foot, at a loss. He could only watch the blood gushing out from his broken leg, trying to put his broken foot back on, but Tried several times to no avail.

Of the more than 300 iron gunners, less than 100 left and retreated, and nearly [-] warriors were killed or injured by the explosive bullets.

However, their nightmare is not over yet.

They had just retreated to the main formation, and they were bombarded by warships at sea again. This was an unexpected distance, and it was even more dense than they could have imagined.

More than a dozen cruisers lined up, and the gunners were already ready to pull the flintlocks.

A twelve-pound shell that might not be able to hit a battleship can easily tear apart a fragile human body.

The hard rocky ground on the beach increased the power of this shelling several times, and the flying iron bullets crazily harvested lives.

Many people let go of the so-called honor of the samurai, but in fact there may not be too many people who have it. The more they lack, the more they brag about it. Otherwise, the 40 registered samurai in Japan will be invincible.

Like frightened sheep... Maybe this metaphor is not appropriate in Japan. At this time, Japan does not have sheep that are easy to be frightened... The remaining samurai began to scramble, running wildly along the way they came, no longer caring about anything .

They only think about one thing, avoid here, avoid the battlefield like hell.

A few frightened horses on horseback fell to the ground, and the lower-level warriors could help those higher-level warriors if they had a sense of responsibility, and more people ran in the direction they came.

They want to escape back to Kochi City, and they don't want to deal with this group of Tang people anymore. If they want to occupy Urado Castle, they can occupy it. Maybe it will be safer to guard Kochi City.

Many people have made up their minds that they will not come down again unless the food is gone.

Behind them, the shelling of the warships had ended, and the marines on the mountain beat the drums, formed a company column, rushed down from the mountain and began to pursue.

Among the defeated warriors, Dahei lost his victorious horse, which was frightened and ran away during the shelling just now.He was stronger than the rest of the warriors, he didn't drop his bow, but the armor on his body was a bit cumbersome, otherwise he could run faster.

There were bursts of shouts and gunshots from behind, and Dahei, who was running, turned his head to wait and see, and finally saw the appearance of Tang soldiers fighting on foot.

They lined up neatly and trotted to chase after them. There were only about twenty people in each row. They ran very fast, but the formation was still largely intact.

They held iron cannons in their hands, but there was no obvious matchlock on the iron cannons, and there were sharp thorns on the front of the iron cannons, like a short spear.

Dahei was very victorious and thankful that these Tang people had no horses and cavalry, otherwise none of them might be able to escape.

But soon, he was swept away by a great fear... On the way they must flee, before the footpath leading to Kochi City from here, stood a group of Chinese soldiers in strange costumes.

They didn't have iron cannons like those chasing after them, but some strange weapons.

Some were holding maces, some were holding huge-caliber hand cannons, some were holding rapiers, and many were holding short handguns.

Some of their hair was shaved like thieves who had committed crimes, and some had their hair shaved off.

Dahei was so victorious that he didn't know that these people's hair was shaved because they couldn't bear the lice in the narrow cabin. He just saw too many Tang people with curly hair, and subconsciously felt that these people were different from those Tang people who were shooting in groups.

If we say that the Tang people chasing behind are like fierce tigers biting, but those who are blocking them are like a group of desperate mad dogs.

In the crowd, he saw an acquaintance, Shi Shiyong whom he met in Edo back then.

Almost subconsciously, Dahei drew out a feathered arrow and prepared to draw his bow.

And Shi Shiyong on the opposite side also spotted him, seeing that Dahei was about to draw his bow in a victorious manner, Shi Shi almost subconsciously raised the flintlock in his hand and pulled the trigger.

The sparks from the hammer ignited the gunpowder. Although Dahei's competitive Yamato-ryu kyudo was not bad, it did not burn as fast as the gunpowder.

Before his arms were fully stretched, the lead bullets from Shi Shi's blunderbuss had already flown to his chest, as if he had been hit by a heavy sledgehammer, the pain hit him, his eyes went dark, and he fell backwards go.The half-drawn bow finally failed to complete the final movement.

Shi Shiyong inserted the fired blunderbuss into his waist, pulled out another short blunderbuss that had already been loaded, and walked up to Dahei Haosheng. said that sentence.

Then he thought, when I went to Edo, I was known as the first bow tori.However, after returning to the capital, I practiced thirty catties of gunpowder.

Seeing that Dahei, who was lying on the ground convulsing and still alive, was aggressive, Shi Shiyong repeated what Liu Yu had said to him.

"Times... have changed."

(End of this chapter)