Xinshun 1730

Chapter 437
Hagi City, in the era of cold weapons, is a mountain city that is difficult to capture.

There is a river named Awuchuan here, about seven or eight miles away from entering the sea, it splits like a fork of urine, forming a delta with a length and width of five or seven miles.

The part of the delta protruding into the sea is a mountain called Yueshan.

Hagi Castle was built on Mount Tsuki, surrounded by the sea on three sides and connected to the castle town delta on one side.If the defending side has a strong naval force, or just in the cold weapon era, this place is really easy to defend and difficult to attack.

However, at this moment, the Dashun Army fleet gathered here did not find a few naval warships capable of fighting, and being surrounded by the sea on three sides meant that they could be bombarded on three sides.

It's not that Hagi Castle was not built well, but that times have changed.

The navy bombarded Hagi City first, disrupting the peace of Hagi City and causing great panic.

The marines who landed first did not land in the castle town, but landed on the south bank of the Abugawa River. A company of soldiers quickly rushed up the nearby hills and continued to attack eastward, occupying a hill on the east side.

The follow-up troops were still floating on the sea, relying on small boats to transport more than [-] people at a time and slowly landed.Under the disturbance of the fleet's bombardment, the troops who landed earlier successfully occupied the undefended south bank of Abu River.

There are no defenses, forts, or forts on the hills near the sea on the south bank of the Abu River.

Wu Fangrui led his staff and surrounded the chief general Li Yan to the top of the mountain. After observing the terrain, he built the command post on the top of the mountain.

For the convenience of commanding, he named the mountain under his feet Hagijoyama A, and the mountain on the east side Hagijoyama B, and named them in sequence.

Hagi Castle Sanka, where he lives, is only a hundred steps away from the Abu River.Across the Abugawa River, through a section of open space facing the sea on both sides, with a length and width of 400 meters, is the Hagi Castle Fortress, and the lonely Gassan that enters the sea behind.

To the east, there is a plain with a width of 300 meters, and to the east is Hagi City Mountain B.

Hagi City Mountain B is closer to the Abugawa River, and there is only a small road at the foot of the mountain that can only pass two people, and it is close to the river.

Further to the east of Shanyi is a plain four or five miles long and wide, which can be called the Great Plain.

According to the plan, the troops in charge of besieging the city only consisted of 3000 to [-] people, and too many troops could not be deployed in such a place.

The main force of the field battle was assembled in a village called Sanjian, a few miles south of the hill where Wu Fangrui was located.

After all the local people were driven away, roads were defended everywhere, and the navy patrolled the sea to completely block the news, making it difficult for the Japanese to know how many troops had landed.

Hagi City Shanjia where Wu Fangrui is located can have an overview of the whole situation.

North can see the movement of Hagi Castle clearly, and South can control the main force hidden in Sanjian Village.

Li Yan also put his tent here, looking at the surrounding terrain, he couldn't help muttering: "This place is very poor. There are many mountains and few plains. Even if the main force of the Changzhou Domain returns to help, they may be cautious and difficult to ambush."

Wu Fangrui pointed to the large plain to the east of Qiucheng Mountain Yi and said, "Your Highness is extremely concerned. If I were the lord of Changzhou, I must first send forward and scout out everywhere, so as not to be ambushed on the way back to help."

"What our army does is to fight for aid, not to block aid. If the surrounding terrain is like this, there is no need to ambush halfway. It is good to place the battlefield on that plain, which is the only way for the Japanese to return to aid. "

"It's enough to fight in battle. The meaning of the Privy Council is to tell us to call the feudal clans of Kyushu Island to let them know that our field battle is very strong. We should uphold and implement it."

"And if we fight here, if the Japanese are defeated, they can intercept and pursue along the valley path."

Li Yan thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Yes. Either, don't come back to help. But as long as the return is close at hand, he can only put all his eggs in one bet. Otherwise, just don't come back. Wu The general thinks, if you don't consider the matter of reinforcements, how long will it take to break through this city?"

Wu Fangrui looked around, smiled and stretched out a finger, after thinking about it, he bent it halfway.

"long time."

"Your Highness, please take a look. This Hagi Castle is huddled on a promontory protruding from the sea. The surrounding depths are measured, and there are no reefs, and it can be bombarded from three sides. This is what I said, there is a navy, and this place is dead."

"For example, Weihai forms a bay, including a military port. There are forts on both sides of the bay, and there are also forts on Liugong Island. This is a place that is really suitable for a military port and a fortress."

"The city of Hagi just happened to be reversed. It went deep into the sea alone, without any horns to cover it. A hundred years ago, it was really a majestic pass; a hundred years later, it would be really stupid."

Following Wu Fangrui's gaze, Li Yan nodded, and it was indeed the complete opposite of the Weihai Liu Yu chose.

Wu Fangrui said again: "The city is built on the hillside. Although it is scattered, there is no anti-gun slope. The navy can bombard three sides, so there is nowhere to hide. The walls are all stone walls. If you build a Weihai fort like an eagle, they are all thick soil. Covered with stones, all because of shell debris wounding people."

He pointed to the moat of Hagi City: "There is only one way into Hagi City. Although it is convenient to defend to the death, it also cuts off the possibility of attack. Only one company and two cannons can block the way out of Hagi City. Therefore, if I am a defensive Japanese general and see our warships appearing in the sea and His Highness has climbed the mountain and raised the commander's flag, I should order all the warriors to withdraw into the city."

"It's a pity that they don't even have this brain. It may be that they have only fought battles with swords and swords, and have never fought so many battles with artillery and guns."

"But I estimate that when the Japanese clans fought against each other, the Maori family of the Changzhou clan should have a navy."

"If he doesn't have a navy, he will put the main city here unless his brain is broken."

"But if you don't have a brain, how can you survive in troubled times? Therefore, it is common sense to guess that the Mori clan of Hagi City must have had a navy at the beginning, and the navy is still very strong, so they chose to build the city here. .”

Wu Fangrui didn't know whether there was a navy in the Maori Warring States Period.

But looking at the terrain, he guessed that there should be one, or that the person who chose this place as his own city had something wrong with his mind.

Wu Fangrui was not sure if the person who chose this city as the main city back then had something wrong with his mind.But he can be sure that the person in charge of guarding here must have a brain problem.

Now that the situation is so obvious, there are still a large number of warriors lining up outside the city.

At this time, the best way is to retreat into the mountain city. On the mountain behind the promontory, disperse the anti-aircraft artillery, and there are walls to block it. There are seas on three sides, so you can't escape.

When the war started, wave after wave stood on the front line of the mountain city, and maybe they could hold on for a while.

But now, Wu Fangrui was a little confused by the formation of the Japanese, thinking how long had it been since these people fought?
The castle entrance bridge in the mountain city is only 700 meters away from the hill where Wu Fangrui is located.

From Wu Fangrui to the river, there is still 100 meters and 400 meters wide Awuchuan River, and there are [-] meters to the entrance of the mountain city after crossing the Awuchuan River.

The three 400-meter open space is extremely flat.To the northeast is the sea, to the west is also the sea, and to the south is the hill where Wu Fangrui is located and the artillery position of the Dashun landing force.

I don't know which of the Japanese people set up the formation. More than 1000 warriors lined up in this area that could be bombarded from three sides, and confronted the Dashun army who landed on the south bank of the Awuchuan River.

In the castle town to the east of Hagi Castle, there are about [-] people who are stationed on the opposite side of the small plains of Akinari Sanjia and Akinari Sanyi, separated by the Abu River.

It looks like this is to take advantage of Dashun's attack from the west, and cross the river from here to threaten the flank of Dashun's army.

Li Yan listened to Wu Fangrui's explanation, and realized that in Wu Fangrui's eyes, such a defense was indeed full of loopholes.Then he asked: "If General Wu defends, is there a way to break it?"

Wu Fangrui shook his head directly, thought for a while and said, "Actually, when our warship is discovered, there is still a chance. We should make a decisive decision and divide the army into three parts."

"One part is guarding the city, the other part is occupying the hill that His Highness occupies at this time; the other part is occupying Hagi Castle Mountain B. They are the horns of each other."

"In this way, our army can only land in the castle town in the north. However, after landing, if we directly attack Hagi Castle, the flanks will be threatened. The Japanese from the first and second mountains of Qiucheng Mountain can cross the river and attack."

"So, in that case, our army can only gnaw down these two hills before besieging Hagi Castle."

"But when these Japanese saw us, they panicked under the bombardment. There is not a single soldier defending the crucial mountains Jia and Yi. Hagi City is already an isolated city, and it can be bombarded from all directions. How to defend it?"

Li Yan thought about it along the way, and suddenly realized: "Yes. If we had divided our troops before and used each other as horns, our army would actually only occupy the northern side. If we ignore the Japanese on these two mountains and attack the city directly, then the two The Japanese on the mountain can attack my flank."

"Therefore, these two mountains must be conquered first, and then the city can be attacked. If the horns of each other, one mountain after another, will take at least four or five days to complete the siege of Hagi City. Now, Ruoyi Mountain If you are captured, you can retreat to Mount Jia, and if Mount Jia is captured, you can retreat to Hagi City."

"Don't the Japanese learn the art of war?"

Wu Fangrui smiled and said, "Wen Tian and Wu Xi have lived in peace for a hundred years and have just forgotten how to fight. When we staff officers were in Weihai, we used to look at various maps and ponder about the possibility of deploying and marching. Without him, Only hands-on familiarity."

Li Yan clasped his palms and laughed loudly: "What a familiar one. So what should we do now?"

He knew his own level, and he didn't dictate to the chief of staff's deployment, he was obedient, and he gave the last order.

"Your Highness can order that the fleet not bombard Hagi Castle first, but suspend it. The fleet is divided into two, one in the west and one in the northeast, and form a cross-bombardment of more than a thousand warriors preparing to line up in front of Hagi Castle. Stop shooting."

"Our army has only a thousand people ashore now. Most of the Japanese will want to drive us down. I guess they will launch an attack first, otherwise there is no need to form such an formation."

"When the Japanese attack, there are already two companies of our army and three light cannons on the second mountain of Hagi City. If you defend according to the danger, you will not lose."

"Once the Japanese attack, the fleet will fire at each other, and the main force that has landed will be here. First, defeat the frontal Japanese and force them to retreat into Hagi City. The fleet blocks the way out of Hagi City. The main force of our army turns eastward, encircles and annihilates and crosses the river to A and B[-] Among the mountains, the Japanese who intend to harass our army's flank."

"If the Japanese attack, after this battle, they will definitely retreat into Hagi City obediently and stick to it."

"If the Japanese do not attack, our army will land step by step, and the engineers will build a simple pier. Anyway, they have no navy and no fort threat, so take your time."

"Since he went out of the city to form an array, there are two possibilities of attacking or not attacking. Soldiers come to block, water comes to cover, each has its own response. Attacking is death, defending is death."

"He missed the opportunity to divide the army into three horns at the beginning, and there will be no chance again."

(End of this chapter)