New Shun 1730

On the mountain, a hot-air balloon for reconnaissance has risen, paying close attention to the surrounding movements.

It wasn't that Wu Fangrui was overly cautious, but it was actually a bit beyond his expectation.

He thought that the Japanese would at least have to struggle with the strength of each vassal, based on the number of 15,000 to 6,000 people.

But he took a quick look and found that the Japanese only had seven or eight thousand soldiers.

He rubbed his eyes carefully and asked the messenger next to him: "Look carefully, the Japanese only have 6 cannons? I won't miss anything, right?"

The ordering soldier checked it carefully and replied: "That's right, sir, there are only 6 cannons."

He turned back and looked at the staff officers, and said in surprise: "The Japanese really have courage. With seven to eight thousand troops, up to two thousand matchlocks and six cannons, they dare to confront each other? Is this... crazy?"

When he followed Liu Yu on the Western Expedition, he faced logistical difficulties and an expedition of thousands of miles. In addition, the French field artillery used at that time was too heavy. Therefore, even in that battle, there was no such disparity in artillery comparison.

This time the sea transport did not go deep into the inland. He had already expected that the artillery would have an advantage, but he really didn't expect that the advantage would be to this extent.

Two thousand 200-year-old antique matchlocks, four severely leaking Franco machines, and two 200-year-old Western European naval guns without moving their gun mounts, dare to confront each other?

Wu Fangrui looked up at the sky and made sure that the weather was fine and it didn't look like it would rain. He shook his head and muttered: "Crazy... crazy!"

Either the lord of the Choshu Domain is crazy, or the Japanese may be trying to sneak attack from other paths?

He asked his adjutant to get a basin of cold water and splashed it on his face. After making sure he was awake, he ordered: "Let the hot air balloon observe carefully. Use all the scouts to look south to see if there is any ambush by the Japanese."

The messenger quickly passed on the order. Wu Fangrui walked to Li Huan and asked, "Your Highness, if I'm not suspicious, then the Japanese are crazy. I'll wait a little longer. I'm afraid that the Japanese will collapse in half an hour. Interspersed It may be difficult for the intercepting troops to reach the rear."

Li Han was a little confused and thought that this equipment was much worse than Dashun before the military reform.

Before the military reform, the equipment rate of at least Dashun's heavy matchlocks of Central Asian origin was more than half, and they would have the advantage of heavy artillery in every battle.

Even when Dashun was founded, the Donglu's artillery and firearms equipment rate was much higher than that of the Japanese. Otherwise, Dashun and Donglu would not have lost so miserably in the battles before Jingxiang. It has to be said that those traitors indeed gave Donglu the strongest artillery in Asia at that time.

There was something strange about the entire battlefield now. According to his opinion, after the Japanese discovered their own strength, they should have chosen to retreat and run away. Why did they still want to fight in the field?

There are also 40% to 60% of the musketeers in the quasi-unit, and there are even artillery formed by the Swedes. In addition, he did not know the bayonet and hollow formation tactics at all, so he dared to attack Liu Yu who was alone and deep in the army. As a result, he was defeated in the first battle.

Li Han had either attacked or defended the city before. Li Han really didn't expect the Japanese field weapons to be like this. He smiled helplessly and said: "General Wu is reluctant to do anything, so let's fight."

Facing the Japanese formation, Wu Fangrui left no other reserve teams except the combat engineers as reserve teams.

Excluding the reserves, artillery, and the troops threatening Hagi Castle in the castle town, he still had 4,500 troops that could be used for front-line operations.

The narrow terrain made it impossible for him to think of a way to outflank, so he ordered the outflanking troops to intercept them.

The Japanese's main formation is on the mountain on the east side, and there are two roads leading to the rear. One is along the bank of the Awu River, which is easier to walk; the other is on the south side of the Japanese formation on the mountain, where the Japanese cavalry is deployed.

Wu Fangrui thought about it and felt that it would not be difficult to attack the mountain road on the south side, defeat the Japanese cavalry and block the south road.

The problem is that it may cause the Japanese to see the south road blocked and flee northward crazily. We are not afraid of them escaping to Hagi Castle because there are cavalry near the castle town. I was afraid that they would run into the woods along the path. The Dashun soldiers were not familiar with the place and it would be difficult to catch them.

Wu Fangrui is very worried about the current situation. Once the attack starts, it will be like chasing sheep. The key is where to drive this sheep?

Surrounding them on both sides and cutting off both roads could force the Japanese to the mountains.

The Japanese did not carry much supplies, and they would have to surrender in three days at most on the mountain.

But the key is that this requires the attacks on both sides to be consistent. If the north is faster and the south is slower, it may cause the Japanese to flee directly when the situation is not good; and vice versa.

These Japanese are all locals. Once they burrow into the mountains, there is nowhere to catch them.

But if it succeeds, the main force of the Japanese can be completely annihilated without the help of the intercepting troops.

In the panic, running towards the mountain they controlled, and the general was still on the mountain, was almost a subconscious reaction.

He told Li Huan about this idea, and Li Huan smiled and said, "General, it's up to you. Although I am called the chief general, I am actually an apprentice. All orders are given by me, and the general is only responsible for deployment."

After getting Li Han's endorsement, Wu Fangrui arranged the formation into a standard formation with more sides and less in the middle.

Just in case, he judged the march time of the troops to attack the rear route, and decided to set the attack time at twelve noon.

Two companies of skirmishers and six light artillery were mobilized, and they crossed the river and moved eastward in the castle town, attacking the Japanese retreat route on the north side of the Awu River.

Two thousand line soldiers lined up to resist.

All the artillery was concentrated and divided into two parts, one part bombarded the north side and the other part bombarded the south side. All heavy artillery was aimed at the south side.

The cavalry assumed a posture of confronting the Japanese bannermen's cavalry, and also placed themselves on the south side, followed by an elite grenadier company and a battalion of infantry.

The order given to the cavalry was that once the south side of the Japanese was overrun, if the cavalry on the south side of the Japanese fled along the road, the cavalry would not have to worry about anything, they would just chase the Japanese.

The lancers are not responsible for blocking the flanks, but the grenadiers and infantry behind them.

The remaining troops formed battalions and columns and gathered along the Awu River.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the artillerymen of the heavy artillery began to fire at the Japanese artillery positions one after another. They were not in a hurry to destroy them immediately, but were testing the fire to judge the angle and distance.

At half past eleven, the commanders of each battalion received the final orders from Wu Fangrui and took their positions.

At 11:45, two companies of skirmishers and six light artillery that had crossed the river and gathered in the castle town were deployed at a position that could threaten the Japanese flanks.

Taking out his pocket watch, when the minute hand finally turned to twelve o'clock, the artillerymen who had already calculated the position destroyed the only six cannons of the Japanese at the first time.

Subsequently, the artillery massed on both sides began to fire fiercely on both sides according to the established targets.

The explosive shells kept passing over the iron gunners in front and exploded over the heads of the Japanese cavalry on the south side. The 1,200 Japanese cavalry in formation lost more than 400 people after three rounds of shelling. Only then did they react and retreated a step. For a long distance, they avoided the shelling that was somewhat beyond their expectations.

The formations of the Chorutori and Bamboo Spearmen arrayed on the north side had begun to waver under the shelling.

The skirmishers crossing the river were constantly marching towards their rear in the Awu River and the north side. Across the river, the Japanese archers could not fight back, and the iron gunners could not hit them at all.

At the same time, the naval guns assembled at sea also began to bombard Hagi Castle, making it impossible for the samurai in Hagi Castle to assemble and could only watch the battle in the distance.

Occasionally, a few warriors who ran out were killed by the cavalry and musketeers deployed nearby to monitor them. The warship's bombardment had a clearer purpose than before, which was to block the exit of Hagi Castle so that the samurai of Hagi Castle could not leave the city.

Even if only half of the fleet's artillery can be used and the other half is always resting, there are still more than 200 artillery guns unloaded on the shore these days.

This level of shelling was something Munehiro Mori had never seen. Even his ancestors during the Warring States Period, no one had ever assembled 200 regular cannons.

Booming explosions kept coming, and every time the fireworks-like bombs flashed, more than a dozen people were hit. The bamboo spearmen in the formation should not be too loose, and the iron gunners in the formation also maintained the so-called three-stage attack. In such a dense formation, there was no counterattack from the artillery or cavalry. Dashun's artillery had a great time. .

Maori Zongguang had never really fought against Dashun. Hearing from hearsay was that Dashun's firearms were sharp, but he never imagined that they were so sharp.

Knowing that if they continue to bombard like this for half an hour, Dashun's troops don't even need to attack, their own front will collapse.

As the artillery bombarded, he could see the infantry forming a line in front of Dashun's army beginning to advance. Standing on the hillside, you can see it very clearly. With the beating of drums, it looks like a wall approaching neatly, or a moving forest.

This level of neatness and array was something Munehiro Mouri had never seen before.

The skirmishers in front spread out, and when they approached about 150 steps, they used their muskets to continuously shoot at the iron gunners arrayed in front.

The iron gunners, who had not received much training, almost subconsciously fired back, but they could not hit the scattered skirmishers from such a long distance.

When the columns of Dashun troops advanced to a distance of eighty steps, they stopped there neatly, letting the occasional flying arrows fall into the formation, or remaining unmoved despite the bombardment of iron gunners. Some people are gathered together, and the people behind are like logs to fill in the front.

Then Munehiro Mori saw a real volley of musketry.

Almost instantly, white gunpowder smoke erupted from the entire front line at the same time, and there were continuous crackling sounds.

Most of the iron gunners who were still loading fell down almost instantly, while the Dashun Army's infantry stayed where they were, neither attacking nor charging, but loading gunpowder there.

On the northern front line, two battalions of infantry formed a battalion column attack formation and charged forward along the Awuchuan River; on the southern front, Dashun's cavalry had also begun to move.

Maori Zongguang immediately understood Dashun's purpose, which was to cut off the two retreat routes to the north and south and surround all his troops.

Before, I was still imagining that the Tang people were just sharp with their firearms and good at defense, but not necessarily good at field combat.

The artillery bombardment is understandable, but it has not yet defeated the last confidence.

But when he saw the infantry advancing straight forward like a Great Wall of human flesh, he realized that these Tang people were very good at field combat.

Even if he had 10,000 more people, he would not be able to win in a field battle.

The retainer Saka Tokimori who was following Mouri Munehiro also saw that this battle could not go on and said repeatedly: "Lord, retreat!"

Munehiro Mouri looked at the ashigaru and iron gunners at the foot of the mountain, gritted his teeth and said: "There is no way to retreat."

"Lord, there is still a chance to withdraw the cavalry and banners. If we hesitate any longer, once the Tang cavalry attacks and blocks the southward retreat, we will have no chance to retreat."

It was obvious that the Dashun Army was not unable to capture Hagi Castle, nor was it because Hagi Castle's defense was stronger than Obama and Yonago. This was obviously a strategy to lure the Choshu clan back for support and then encircle and annihilate them.

However, soldiers are not soldiers, but samurai, the foundation of the Mori clan's rule.

Even if they were to withdraw, without samurai and Hagi Castle, what would Mori Munehiro be?

This was not Dashun's recruitment of soldiers. If they were defeated, they could just recruit another batch.

To him, these samurai were equivalent to all the good sons of Dashun, plus all the Jinshi, Juren, all the Xiucai, and all the nobles. In other words, all the ruling class from top to bottom would die in one battle.

If all these people of Dashun died, at least Dashun would not exist. And these samurai were all gone, the place name Choshu would still exist, but the Choshu clan would definitely be gone.