I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 681 Bombing the Ball

In the outer construction area of ​​Edo Castle, an industrial and commercial area has been gradually built after several fires.

Handicraftsmen, civilians, merchants, and wanderers gathered here one after another, evolving into a prosperous urban commercial district.

Only Edo Castle, located in the center of the city, still retains most of the military fortress buildings, including the main fortresses of Honmaru, Ninomaru, and Sannomaru.

Among them, Nishinomaru belongs to the outer city area, located in the southwest of the city, occupying most of the area, and has only one gate to enter. Ninomaru is located in the middle and has two gates. Sannomaru is located in the east and also has two gates.

The Great Castle (the tallest building), the residence of the shogun, is the innermost building in the northeast of Sannomaru Fortress (if you really don't understand, you can see the illustration in the previous chapter).

The structure of such a layered fortress is still built on the mountain, with each layer higher than the previous layer.

In a remote country like Japan, where cold weapons are the main force and there are no decent artillery and muskets, it is really difficult to conquer Edo Castle.

It can also be seen how cautious the Tokugawa shogunate who built the city in previous generations was about their own personal safety.

"General, the fort has been deployed and set up."

"Then prepare to attack the city!"

Wang Zongtan issued a military order.

Although Edo Castle is a military fortress imitating the European fortresses of previous generations of shoguns, it was also modified and designed based on the topography of Edo.

But this thing can only protect against cold weapons, and it can only deal with the mobs on the Japanese mainland.

To fight against the Ming army that had entered the age of firearms and still used cone-shaped explosive bullets, the fortress of Edo Castle was a scumbag.

Even if there is no cone-shaped explosive shell specially designed for edge protection, the Ming army still has the same old skills.

After all, there were not many artillery back then, and the Ming army relied entirely on explosives to conquer so many tall and fortified cities.

When Wang Zongtan ordered the siege, he didn't just attack the city without thinking. He still had to make some preliminary preparations.

The Ming army recruited rogue civilians from the occupied outer city commercial district to serve as civilian husbands, and then selected an area suitable for siege based on the map.

Afterwards, a group of rogues drove the civilians to clear out and demolish the residential buildings in the corresponding areas to free up roads and space for the army to attack the city.

All civilians and businessmen in the area were forcibly expelled. Everyone was full of resentment towards the Chinese army, but it was just resentment. No one dared to resist in the face of the Chinese army's swords and guns.

Even those ronin are faithfully acting as traitors who "support the tiger" because the Chinese army distributes food to them. There is enough food. As long as they help manage and supervise the people every day, they can eat every meal and perform well. If so, there will be additional rewards.

For example, the ronin Yuta Yamamoto, who took the lead in surrendering in the street battle and took the initiative to help manage the prisoner house, is now respected as "Shogun Yamamoto" by other ronin.

Although this guy did not receive any formal appointment, the general of the Celestial Dynasty gave him a set of warrior armor.

The former owner of this set of armor happened to be a famous general. Such honor and favor were enough to be passed on to his descendants.

Of course, the actual truth is that Wang Zongtan doesn't like the glory that the ronin thinks at all. He thinks that Japanese armor is too fancy, has no practicality at all, and the quality is very poor.

The Ming army spared no expense in conscripting the ronin civilians in Edo, clearing out and demolishing those civilian buildings. The demolished materials could be used to build simple siege planks and wooden ladders, as well as dangerous tasks such as filling in the moat. The Japanese people go and do it.

Anyway, Wang Zongtan is not short of food now. If the food is not enough, it can be transported from Osaka. How much food is consumed can be compensated by the shogunate afterwards.
In short, if you can do it without spending your own manpower, try not to waste your own manpower.

On the wall of Edo Castle, the general who defended the city against enemies, Ooka Tadashi, was wearing a thick and gorgeous samurai armor that was completely useless.

"The Chinese army is filling in the moat, let our iron cannons (cannons and muskets are called iron cannons) fire immediately!" Tadashi Ooka said in a tired tone, and the armor on his body was too heavy.

Shen Gui Shen, not wearing it is not enough.

Because this is Che Linzhan given to him, which is both an honor and a responsibility.

The gunners on the city wall immediately opened fire, but the caliber of the Japanese artillery was too small and the power was not enough. The hit rate could only be described as touching.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sound of the cannons was not continuous, and almost all the shells were hit by the water. Only one shot was lucky enough to hit a Japanese civilian husband and successfully cut off one of his arms.

The civilian husband screamed, and fear quickly aroused the fear of other civilian husbands around him.

These Japanese civilians turned around and wanted to escape, but the "Ronin General" Yamamoto Yuta who was supervising the battle at the back immediately drew his sword, rushed forward and cut down several people, and shouted sternly: "Go back, you all have eaten the food of the Celestial General. You should die for the general of the Celestial Dynasty. Anyone who dares to escape will be killed by me!" The civilian was instantly shocked and could only turn around and continue to fill in the moat despite the artillery fire.

But immediately, the Ming army's artillery also fired.

"Boom boom boom!"

Although the Ming army fired artillery from bottom to top, their artillery had a larger caliber and a longer range.

Moreover, the Ming army's gunners had not fought in a battle for several years, but they had been conducting actual combat training.

On the other hand, these Japanese gunners have drills and drills, but they basically come once in a while. More importantly, these Japanese gunners have not fought in a war for hundreds of years.

I can't say that I have no actual combat experience, I can only say that I don't know it at all. Just look at the people who are so close to the moat.

The artillery fire from the Ming army's position roared, and the powerful and neat firepower quickly hit the few small-caliber artillery pieces on the Edo city wall, making them completely silent.

"You are not allowed to squat down and fire back at me. You are all the samurai of the shogunate. You should not be afraid of life and death. The shogun will not treat your family badly!" Tadashi Ooka shouted loudly.

There was a stupid gunner who stood up, then turned his head and was hit directly by a cannonball, and his head was chopped off on the spot.

There was only a headless corpse left, with blood still spurting from its neck as it swayed and fell.

At this time, they don’t care about the samurai spirit and family honor. They are also human beings, and they are afraid of death (don’t talk about a bunch of brainwashed war lunatics from World War II).

All the shogunate gunners on the Edo castle wall huddled under the parapet wall, but no one escaped down the wall, because doing so required committing seppuku.

Ooka Tadashi tried to cheer people up, but soon even he had to hide in the tower.

In fact, his large armor and flag were too flashy, which attracted the Ming army's artillery to aim in this direction.

Tadashi Ooka was protected and hid in the tower. He couldn't help but mutter: "How come the Chinese army is so unruly? When the two armies are facing each other, they use iron cannons to blast the generals of the two armies!"

This guy's thinking is still stuck in the Warring States Period, where Japan's traditional army-to-army battles pit generals against each other.

It’s no wonder that Japan’s Warring States Period was nicknamed the Village Chief’s Fighting.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Ming army's artillery bombarded the Edo city walls for several days. Numerous holes appeared on several walls. Nearly half of the moat had been filled in, and all the surrounding residential buildings had been cleared.

Some Edo craftsmen were hired to help build wooden ladders and carriages for siege.

The wages paid by the Ming army were sufficient and expensive milled rice grains were provided, which was enough to attract any Edo civilians to come and serve.

"General, the wind seems to be blowing from the southeast these days." An officer in charge of the hot air balloon came over and said.

Wang Zongtan said: "It's not even summer yet, so naturally the wind blows from the southeast. What's so surprising?"

The officer said: "Right now, Edo City is on the eastern coast of Japan, and the city walls are built against the mountains, with the terrain going from low to high. If we attack by force, our soldiers will inevitably suffer casualties..."

Wang Zongtan interrupted: "Tell me what you want to do?"

"Let the hot air balloon float in the sky over Edo Castle in the direction of the wind." The officer said, "Then, throw explosive bombs at the city, not just simple grenades, but directly throw explosive bombs used for artillery, and blow them up hard. Japanese pirates.”

Wang Zongtan raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not refuse. Instead, he seriously considered the feasibility.

Prior to this, hot air balloons had just been manufactured, and the Ordnance Bureau and the Privy Council had conducted tests, proving that it was not feasible for hot air balloons to be used in "bombers" (the emperor mentioned it, no one knew why they were called bombers).

However, even though it is not feasible, there are always people who want to keep trying.

Among them was the officer in charge of the hot-air balloon under Wang Zongtan. After all, he was a soldier who wanted to fight and perform meritorious service, instead of just staying on the hot-air balloon and looking through the telescope every day, and occasionally drawing two maps and that was it.

"How feasible is it?" Wang Zongtan asked tentatively.

The officer suddenly laughed and said: "As long as the rope is long enough, it can float directly over in the southeast wind. The range of the Japanese pirates' artillery is too short and cannot reach our hot air balloon. Such a small Edo Castle is now There are a lot of Japanese pirates, and if you just throw one in, you will definitely be able to blow up a few. Anyway, it is idle, so you won’t suffer any loss if you give it a try. If it works, you can report it to Your Majesty.”

(End of this chapter)