I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 193 The rebels are vulnerable

The scale of the Saga Rebellion led by Shima Giyuu was so large that it naturally could not be hidden from Yagyu in Nagasaki. He had long known that this group of people was going to cause trouble, but he never closed the net.

A country's reform requires bloodshed. Only by getting rid of the vested interests of the old era can we truly create a new era.

Japan's Restoration was not about rebuilding on the ruins. The Restoration under his leadership was simply cleaning up the old decorations and replacing them with exquisite new decorations.

But the entire internal structure has not changed much.

In Yagyu's view, the bloodshed and sacrifices of Japan's reform were still too few, otherwise why would these people always make him unhappy?

This time, he wants to kill a group of people ruthlessly to solve the previous problem.

It’s not just the political opponents, but also the mountains that previously restricted Japan’s development.

Since 1865, it has been five years of reform. It seems that Japan is changing rapidly, but in fact, all developments are preparing for today's war.

Why did he have to go to war with Spain and France when everyone feared opposition? Mainly because this war was so important to Japan's development.

After he took power in Japan, he planned a major event this time, so he formed an alliance with Prussia from the beginning, and even continued to offend France.

Everything he did was waiting for this victory.

And this victory will make many people jump over the wall. He can just catch them all in one go. From then on, a clean Japan can rise.

Tens of thousands of rebels are fighting towards Nagasaki. Most people in Nagasaki know this, but Nagasaki is not in chaos yet, at least until Yagyuo dies, Nagasaki will not be in chaos.

At the expeditionary force headquarters, the Chief of the Nagasaki Police Department reported the situation to Yagyu: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, Shima Giyuu led more than [-] people from the Saga Domain to arrive [-] kilometers away from Nagasaki. As for other rebels, they are still on the way. , it is estimated that there are about [-] rebels, basically all warriors."

"Fifty thousand people!"

"They are all still warriors!"

"Prime Minister, please leave Nagasaki first!"

This news directly caused the officials in the headquarters to explode. You must know that there is only one division in Nagasaki, and the soldiers in this division are still recruits. How can we start a war with those samurai?

The samurai of Kyushu are not like the banner of the shogunate. Most of these samurai are lower-level samurai, and they are all very vicious, especially the samurai rebels from Satsuma. They are hostile to the Yagyu cabinet and do not bow their heads even when they are farming at home and eating bran.

Once this gang of ruthless men enters Nagasaki, there will be no good outcome for everyone here.

Kido Takayun immediately stood up and said: "Prime Minister, your safety cannot be ignored. Please return to Kyoto by boat first, and I can go and persuade the samurai of Satsuma."

Others want to avoid danger, but as Prime Minister Yagyu has not left, who dares to leave?

Iwakura Tomoshi immediately said: "What Kido-sama said makes sense. Prime Minister, please avoid the enemy's attack for a while, return to Kyoto, and then organize an army to quell the rebellion."

Many people spoke up and persuaded Yagyu Sheeyan to leave.

As soon as Yagyu raised his hand, everyone shut up and looked at him.

"Why are you leaving? Just because there are so many rebels? I'm not even afraid of the French army, so why should I be afraid of these people?

Commander Kuroda, you lead your troops and immediately set up positions outside Nagasaki to block the invading enemies. I will personally come forward at that time to eliminate this group of Xiaoxiao! "

Kuroda Gaojie quickly advised: "Your Majesty Prime Minister, it is too dangerous on the battlefield. Just let me lead the troops to defend. Prime Minister, don't worry. I will definitely keep the enemy out of Nagasaki!"

Yagyu didn't appreciate it, he said in a serious tone: "Why, do you think I have never been on the battlefield? Back then, I fought a bloody battle with [-] elite soldiers in Changzhou with a force of [-] soldiers, and suffered twelve wounds on my body.

Going further, [-] members of Tosa Kinwang's party assassinated me. As a result, my body lay three miles away, with blood flowing into a river.

Let’s talk about last year, the Saigo remnants ambushed and assassinated me in Omi, and the bullet scratched my face, but what was the result?

Everyone here, the scars on my body are less than a fraction of mine. You don’t have to worry about my safety. No one in this world can kill me! "

Itagaki Taisuke looked at the arrogant Yagyu Heiyan with excitement on his face. He pushed aside the others and stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister, I would like to be the vanguard to defeat the traitors!"

Okubo Toshimichi shouted: "Shima Giyuu and others stir up rebellion at this moment and affect the fate of the country. Their intentions and people can be punished. I am willing to follow the Prime Minister and fight against the traitors together!"

Shibusawa Eiichi and others raised their hands and shouted: "Let's fight against the traitors together!"

"Okay, everyone, join me and work together to defeat the traitors!"

Yagyu raised his arms and shouted, quickly calming people's hearts, and then led people to inspect the positions deployed by the 302nd Division outside Nagasaki.

Kuroda Gaojie personally led the people to lay out the trench. The trench was one meter deep, with a layer of soil piled on top, sacks added, and horse barriers tens of meters in front, and barbed wire fences stretched between the horses.

This line of defense is thousands of meters long. This is only the first line of defense. There are other lines of defense after this. Yagyu thinks there is no need to be so troublesome, but he did not stop the actions of the 302nd Division. This time it can also be regarded as the Kuroda Division. Experience.

The 302nd Division spent a busy day setting up the position framework outside Nagasaki.

In the evening, Kuroda Takaetsu reported to Yagyu the situation of the nearby rebels.

"Your Majesty Prime Minister, the number of people in the rebel camp has now reached more than [-]. The weapons they use are also Enfield-modified breech-loading guns, and there are also Armstrong breech-loading field guns, all of which are British weapons."

"okay, I get it."

Yagyu's expression was very relaxed. Although the rebels were funded by the British, they did not know that although the 302nd Division was a new division, it was equipped with far more powerful artillery than the rebels' Armstrong breech-loading cannon.

He was somewhat looking forward to this counter-insurgency war.

A few days later, the Kyushu rebels finally merged and gathered five miles away from Nagasaki. Tens of thousands of people gathered together and the noise was so loud that the noise could be heard even in Nagasaki City.

Yagyu and his men arrived at the forward position. Using binoculars, they could see the rebel camp. The enemy was already arranging troops and preparing to attack.

"The enemy is preparing to attack. Let everyone be prepared. Let the artillery regiment take action first."

"Understood, Prime Minister!"

Kuroda Gaojie personally ran to the artillery position and conveyed Yagyu's order. The artillery regiment commander did not dare to neglect. He personally climbed to the high ground and looked into the distance with a telescope.

"The enemy troops are already arrayed [-] meters away and are ready immediately."

More than a thousand meters away, Shima Giyuu personally led the five thousand Saga warriors to take the lead. He still let the team advance according to the dense formation.

Not far from the infantry, there is an artillery position. The rebel artillery is adjusting its elements, preparing to bombard the government troops and cover the infantry attack.

But what they didn't know was that the troops sent by the 302nd Division had already adjusted the muzzle of the guns, and the artillery regiment commander shouted: "One calibrated gun, fire!"

"boom!"

A field gun and a howitzer fired at the same time, and the rebel artillery position immediately exploded, sending dust flying.

Shima Giyuu heard the explosion from behind and looked back. An Armstrong breech-loaded field gun was overturned to the ground, and several bloodied soldiers were wailing.

He didn't know that the opponent's artillery could hit such a distance, but he knew that the opponent's artillery was very powerful.

"Let the artillery move its position quickly!"

Shima Giyuu hurriedly reminded, but his reminder was already too late. In less than thirty seconds, intensive artillery sound rang out, and then the artillery position was drowned in the sound of explosions. Seeing the destroyed artillery position, he made a prompt decision, fired and shouted: "We have reached this point and there is no way to retreat. Everyone, follow me to kill the powerful officials, respect the king and fight against the barbarians!"

"Kill!"

The rebels immediately charged.

In their view, no matter how powerful the enemy's artillery fire is, as long as they rush forward and engage in hand-to-hand combat, victory will definitely be theirs. After all, if [-] people fight against [-] people, the advantage lies with me.

The adjustment of howitzers is more difficult, but the adjustment of field artillery is much faster. More than fifty field artillery fired at the same time, shelling the rebels a little in front. The rebel soldiers who were charging forward were directly knocked to the ground by the air waves, and The unlucky guy was hit by debris and died.

This fierce artillery fire slowed down the rebels in front. It seems that many people began to think carefully about their other path.

Shima Giyu immediately shouted: "Come on, everyone, as long as you kill the powerful ministers, you will no longer eat bran-pharynx vegetables like before!"

The warriors roared, mustered up their courage, and quickly rushed to the obstacle.

"Bang bang bang..."

The rebels opened fire first.

Standing in the trench, Yagyu saw Shima Giyu not far away and waved, "Fight back."

Kuroda Takajie roared: "Shoot!"

"Bang bang bang..."

"Da da da…"

As the government troops on the first line of defense opened fire, the rebels immediately suffered casualties. In just one encounter, hundreds of them were mowed down to the ground by several Gatling machine guns.

Many warriors were so frightened that they could only lie on the ground, while the rebels behind were still bombarded by field artillery, causing many casualties.

Shima Giyuu was protected, but he could see the samurai on the left and right falling after being shot. Although some risked their lives to fight back, they were quickly hit and fell to the ground twitching and wailing.

A group of people behind Yagyu saw the rebels being suppressed and beaten by the 302nd Division. Their previous worries disappeared at this moment. It seemed that the rebels were the ones in danger.

"It's impossible for the rebels to win. They won't be able to hold on for too long before they flee. Kuroda, immediately send people to attack from both sides and surround them."

This time the 302nd Division only deployed an infantry brigade in the front. Now that the enemy is suppressed, the other brigade can be freed up.

Kuroda Takayoshi immediately ordered his infantry brigade to be divided into two wings, rush in from the left and right, and surround the rebels.

Shima Giyuu was still struggling to hold on. He didn't know that the government troops were dividing their forces to surround them. Several of his men had already dragged him back, and the rest of the rebel soldiers were also fleeing.

The rebels' first attack failed, and they retreated to their camp, leaving more than two thousand people behind.

Unwilling to accept defeat, Shima Giyuu prepared to regroup his forces and attack Nagasaki again.

Yagyu was not in a hurry to end the battle. He was waiting for news that another infantry brigade was surrounding the rebel army, and he was also waiting for news from others.

Shima Giyu's rebellion has spread to Kyoto. Eto Shinpei, Okuma Shigenobu and Soshima Taneomi have fled from Kyoto and fled to Saga Domain with their people.

After they returned to Saga Domain and settled their families, they rushed to the rebel camp without stopping and joined Shima Giyu.

Deputy Shima Taneomi blamed Shima Giyu for raising troops too quickly, but Shima Giyu explained: "The French emperor has surrendered, can France still win?

The four main divisions following Yagyu Nobita were all fighting outside and could not escape for a while. The most elite imperial army was far away in Kyoto. The only one left beside Yagyu was a newly formed infantry division with [-] people. Now they were directly attacking Nagasaki. , only by killing Yagyu Heiyan can we make a comeback. "

Okuma Shigenobu said immediately: "Now that the matter is over, there is no use talking about this anymore. The question now is, when will our army capture Nagasaki?"

Shima Giyu said with some shame: "In the past two days, our army has continuously attacked the 302nd Division's positions, losing nearly [-] troops, and there has been no progress."

"what?"

Eto Shinpei couldn't sit still. Fifty thousand people fought for several days, but they still didn't reach Nagasaki?

"How did this battle happen?"

Shima Giyuu was a little embarrassed and said with a pinched neck, "You can't blame me. I've tried my best these past few days. If you don't believe me, you can give me some command."

Eto Shinpei was too lazy to be polite to Shima Giyu. He immediately said: "Okay, I will lead the army to attack Nagasaki tomorrow."

The news that Eto Shinpei and others arrived at the rebel camp has been sent to Yagyu's desk. He looked at the information and said with a smile: "Eto Shinpei is really impatient. They came so fast. Since they are all gathered, there is no need to Wait, let’s solve it together.”

At this moment, on the artillery position, the artillery regiment was ready, and the eighteen howitzers had been adjusted.

The commander of the dispatched troops ordered: "A calibrated round, fire quickly!"

"boom!"

The sound of cannons broke the tranquility of the night, and the light of fire cut through the night, becoming a bright color in everyone's eyes.

"Boom..."

The shell landed near the rebel camp, and the loud noise attracted the attention of many people.

Eto Shinpei, Okuma Shigenobu and others who were discussing the matter all raised their heads and prepared to stand up to check the situation.

"No, it's enemy shelling, run!"

Shima Giyuu, who had been silent just now, changed his face and seemed to be crazy. He yelled and pulled the others out.

Eto Shinpei's face turned livid and he cursed: "Shima Giyuu, when did you become so cowardly!"

"Go, go!"

Shima Giyuu didn't have time to explain, and his face turned the color of pig liver in anxiety.

"you…"

"what sound?"

"Boom boom boom..."

At this moment, countless artillery shells fell into the rebel camp. The warriors who were still checking the situation remembered the previous shelling. They yelled like crazy and scurried around like headless flies to avoid the artillery fire.

Shima Giyuu looked at the incoming shells, gave up struggling, shook his head and smiled miserably.

Eto Shinpei and others looked at everything that happened in the camp in horror and ran away in a hurry, leaving no one to care about Giyuu Shima.

"boom!"

A shell hit the camp, and the flames drowned Shima Giyuu's figure.

(End of this chapter)