Xinshun 1730

Chapter 440 Antiques from the Jiajing Period

Mori Zonghiro, who marched completely according to the route deduced by the Dashun staff, quickly completed the part of the road that needed to be run quickly under the mentality of the samurai going home to defend.

Changzhen of Qianfengshan County led 500 people in the front and the main force in the rear. This kind of place is not the Great Plains, and it is impossible for the scouts to maintain fan vigilance. The only way to judge if there is a village is by familiarizing with the local terrain and villages. The Dashun Army passed by.

There are also samurai, or ninjas, who have obtained information from the castle town, and pass the news to Munehiro Mori by walking across the mountain.

The scouts of the Dashun Army did not spread that far. The mountainous terrain has only a few valley roads, so it is enough to guard a few valley roads.

About thirty miles south of the Awu River, a small-scale encounter broke out between Dashun's scout team and Yamagata Changzhen's outpost Tanma.

The scouts lying in ambush on the hillside discovered the Japanese scout horses, and after killing all the Japanese scout horses with muskets, the scouts behind got on their horses and rushed over, capturing a Japanese who hadn't had time to escape through the forest.

This standard 12-member scouting team was also a bold Yigao, who sent someone to send back the captured Japanese, and the remaining 11 people rode down along the road.

The reconnaissance staff led the team, and within eight miles, they saw the outpost of the Japanese forward. More than 20 Japanese cavalry should have heard the gunshots from the front and were searching this way.

Dashun's scouts got off their horses, fired at the Japanese outpost cavalry with their muskets, repelled the Japanese outpost cavalry who lacked muskets, and walked away.

Shanxian Changzhen was very excited when he got the news.

Thinking that the art of war is false, the scouts of the Tang people even took the initiative to expose it. Obviously, the Tang people did not ambush here.

Since the Tang people sent out scouts and there was no ambush, it is obvious that the Tang people have not yet captured the city of Hagi.Perhaps the main force of the Tang Dynasty is gathering to attack Hagi City. If it is too late at this time, the Tang Dynasty may notice and deploy troops to defend the mountain pass.

The battlefield was on fire, and he immediately ordered that the forwards march at full speed, and the cavalry in front, do not stay, and seize the hill on the south side of the Awuchuan River.

He thought that if Dashun knew the news of the return of the main force if he was slower, he would definitely increase his troops to garrison that hill.

There is the only way to stop the return aid.

If it is too late, even if the main force arrives, it will not be able to start, and it will fall into the most suitable high-level defensive battle for Dashun.With hundreds of people defending, the main force can storm Hagi City, and it may even fall.

The news from Xiao Bin made them sure that it would be unwise to attack the high places defended by the Dashun Army.

The first battle of the Battle of Hagi City broke out on the hill that Wu Fangrui believed must be robbed.

If it is a siege to block aid, this hill is very important to buy time for the siege.

And since it is a siege to fight for aid, the only purpose of the garrison on this mountain is to dispel the vigilance of Maori Zonghiro: if there is no garrison here, it is obviously unreasonable.

The skirmishers of a company stationed on that hill were not equipped with cannons. Their task was to resist for a while before fleeing. They couldn't fight too hard, but they couldn't run away without fighting.

Among them, the grasp of the degree is very important, and an experienced staff officer personally went up to the mountain to command.

Shanxian Changzhen also knew that this mountain was very important. If he could not take this mountain, the road to Hagi City would be blocked, and no amount of follow-up troops could be deployed.

He used [-] samurai to attack, and he personally led the remaining [-] samurai to climb quietly along the bank of the Awuchuan River.

The sound of cannons came from a distance, which inspired the spirit of the samurai. Since there are still cannons, it proves that Hagi Castle has not been breached.

Shanxian Changzhen also quickly sent back the news of the outbreak of fighting here. After Maori Zonghiro got the news, his previous dissatisfaction with Shanxian Changzhen's rash advances immediately turned into great joy.

"Hagi City has not yet been breached! Since the Tang people have stationed an army there, they will definitely block it here, making it difficult for our army to deploy. Shan County Chang Zhenzhen is also a talented general. If the siege of Hagi City is solved, he will be the first to contribute!"

"Order all the ministries to speed up. Tell Shan County Changzhen to take down that mountain!"

The samurai who had been marching slowly since approaching Hagi Castle accelerated, and gunfire could already be heard ahead.

Under Hagi Castle, the performance of the Dashun Army also began.

The engineers have already built four pontoon bridges between the plain and the castle town of Hagi Castle, taking advantage of the dry season in winter.

More than 3000 main forces crossed the river and lined up in the castle town, making a general attack on Hagi Castle.A thousand troops lined up below Mount Yi to guard the line of the pontoon bridge.The remaining troops were stationed on the hill of Yishan.

The warship was divided into two, and the most violent shelling since the siege began, making a gesture that finally gathered all the troops and began to attack Hagi Castle.

It's just that there was loud thunder and little rain, and although the shelling was fierce, the infantry did not attack, but slowly formed a whole team.

On the hill where the battle had already broken out, the stragglers used long-range muskets to kill the Japanese who were climbing and attacking one by one.

It wasn't until he discovered that the Japanese were walking around from the side, that he retreated from the hill in a "panic" and retreated to the back.

Shanxian Changzhen, who climbed the hill, immediately climbed the mountain and garrisoned soldiers, guarding the place to facilitate the follow-up main force.

The moment he reached the top of the mountain, the deployment of the Dashun Army in his eyes looked like this:

The main force of the Dashun Army who was preparing to attack Hagi Castle in the castle town discovered the enemy army that appeared behind, leaving behind a small number of troops and some cavalry to monitor and threaten Hagi Castle.

The rest of the main force crossed the pontoon bridge and went to the plain to form an array.A large number of troops were stationed on Hagi Castle Mountain B. As long as they could not be attacked there, the siege of Hagi Castle would not be lifted—because the Dashun Army could cross the river to attack Hagi Castle from Hagi Castle Mountain A near the sea, and Hagi Castle Mountain B It was an excellent cover.

Shanxian Changzhen considered himself very lucky. Although he lost more than 150 warriors, he finally captured the hill.

He has a clear understanding of the Dashun Army's ability to defend mountains and cities, and he has lingering fears.

When the soldiers who are about to come forward are all assembled on the mountain, it is necessary to hold on to this crucial hill before the main force of Mori Zonghiro arrives.

However, the response of the Dashun Army was somewhat slow.

They did not organize the infantry to counterattack immediately, but assembled a large number of cannons on the plain below the mountain, and the troops that had originally attacked the city began to withdraw slowly.

"The people of Tang rely on the advantages of firearms. Without cannons, they will not fight."

Having made such a judgment, Shanxian Changzhen ordered all the ministries not to attack, but to guard the hill and control the road leading to the rear from the hill.

Masahiro Yamagata heaved a sigh of relief when Mori Zonghiro, who came galloping, pointed to Hagi Castle that had not yet fallen in the distance and said, "This siege can be solved!"

Mao Li Zongguang also boarded this hill, looked at the formation of the Dashun Army, clapped his hands and laughed loudly: "The people of Tang Dynasty are stupid, they really don't know soldiers. They just rely on the strength of ships and guns."

"Although his defense is strong, our army is deployed here, so we don't necessarily have to attack. It's just threatening his flank, how dare he attack Hagi City again?"

"If you don't attack and confront each other, how can it last? Doesn't he have to retreat?"

"If the siege of Hagi City is successful, it all depends on the power of the mountain county lord. If the people of Tang were afraid of ambush and held back before, the Tang people would be aware of it and stick to the mountain and send more troops. Things may not be good."

He praised Changzhen Shanxian who captured the hill decisively, but Munehiro Mori also knew that this was only the first step in breaking the siege.

Before Changzhen of Shan County attacked this hill where there were only a hundred people stationed, not one Dashun army was killed, but more than 150 people died himself.

Dashun's muskets shot very far, and they were very accurate, which was far beyond the comparison of the iron cannons in their hands.

It is not realistic to want to fight against and defeat the Dashun Army.After all, the Dashun army is the defender, and they are the attackers. Dashun is still standing on the opposite hill, and this kind of attack will require huge casualties.

All he could do was to deploy his troops under the plain, threatening the flanks of the Dashun Army, forcing the Dashun Army to give up attacking Hagi City.

Or, the Dashun Army took the initiative to attack, and he was on the defensive, so that he could have an advantage.

Or, if the Dashun army gave up the attack and the two sides confronted each other, the Dashun army could not attack the city, so they had no choice but to retreat.

At this time, the troops of both sides have arrived, no matter whether Dashun is attacking or confronting each other, the troops of both sides will not change much.

Excluding the navy and those troops that have begun to intercept the rout, Dashun can gather 6500 troops on the Hagi Plain battlefield.

Among them, artillery engineers and so on, about 1200.Engineers basically do not participate in front-line battles.

The navy's combat engineers are very elite arms, and unless it is a last resort, these combat engineers are generally used as reserves.

They are seldom placed in the front line of resistance. These organized combat engineers are the most elite troops in the navy. They can dig, bomb, repair, defend, and of course bayonet assault.

At this time, all countries have their own elite teams, and the most distinctive feature of the Dashun Navy is this group of combat engineers and those mast shooters.

This time, because it is very convenient to transport by sea, a large number of cannons have also been assembled. The best and latest 4-pounder guns from the navy and army, replacing the 8-pounder and 6-pounder guns, are mostly concentrated here.

炮兵包括团营配属的大炮，合计有75门6磅的榴弹炮、加农炮，18门昂贵的新出厂的12磅新式铜炮、6门24磅的重炮。

700 cavalry, of which 500 are spears and the remaining 200 are light cavalry.

Four companies of grenadiers, four companies of rifled skirmishers, and the rest are line infantry with muskets, all equipped with bayonets.

Mori Munehiro here.

The 8000-man field force has about [-] grasshoppers. These people are logistics soldiers, but they can also fight with bamboo guns when necessary.

There are six cannons, and the style is still the Francophone and naval gun that the Portuguese dedicated to Otomo Zonglin more than 100 years ago. It can't be defended at all, and it means "a country will collapse with one shot", so it is called the country's collapse.

According to the strict military service system, among the remaining warriors, there were 2000 iron gunners, who used the Portuguese arquebus introduced during the Jiajing period of the previous Ming Dynasty.

There are also 1200 archers, 2500 bamboo spear soldiers, and 1200 cavalry, including 300 elite bannermen or attendant cavalry.

It is no different from the military equipment during the War to Resist Japan and Aid Korea in Wanli Year, and even regressed.During the period of Yuan and Yanwu, the shogunate confiscated the excess matchlock guns from various feudal clans, and since matchlock guns were relatively expensive, matchlock guns would not be used to suppress peasants at ordinary times, so the equipment rate of matchlock guns was not high.

Mori Zonghiro gradually deployed the follow-up troops, and deployed an offensive and defensive formation on the plain.

2000 iron gunners are in the front, and the spearmen are behind.The cavalry was deployed on the flanks, and the cavalry was not deployed on the side near the Awuchuan River, but the grass crawlers and a small number of iron gunners were deployed there.

The "National Beng" with 4 Francophones and 2 naval guns is in front of the battle.

The purpose of putting up such a panacea formation that can both attack and defend is to force Dashun to make a choice.

Or, attack.

Or, retreat.

In Mao Li Zongguang's view, Dashun had no other choice.

It is impossible to rely on a few people to defend here, and the main force to attack Hagi City, because once there are few people, the flanks are likely to collapse, resulting in the Dashun army attacking Hagi City being outflanked.

As for the Dashun Army, as Mori Munehiro thought, they did not choose a small number of defenders and main forces to attack Hagi City.

Of course, there was no retreat.

Instead, 200 light cavalry and 500 musketeers were left behind, deployed in the castle town north of the Abugawa River, threatening to intercept the samurai who might come out of Hagi Castle to fight back.

The rest of the people were all mobilized on the plain. It seemed that they wanted to take the initiative to attack and repel the main force of Maori Zonghiro before choosing to attack the city.

(End of this chapter)