Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 319 The Battle of Sasha ([-])

When Zhao Xin set off from Ishinomaki Port, Shigeho Shimadzu was sitting on the boat returning to Kagoshima.He regretted it to death now, and he knew why he had to take this muddy water.He and Matsudaira Sadanobu and the three of them have calculated thousands of times, who would have thought that those bastards from the Sendai clan would get mixed up with Beihai town!
"Ishikawa Cunwen is a coward who fears death! If I knew he was so shameless, I should have gotten rid of him and that Marquis of Sendai together!"

The elder of the Satsuma family, Xiaosong Qingxiang, said: "My lord, what I am worried about right now is whether Tsurumaru Castle can be defended. The huge boat of the Beihai Navy."

"It doesn't matter, no matter how big the white boat is, no matter how fierce the artillery is, can it still sail ashore?"

That being said, Shigeho Shimadzu was also worried at the moment. After the bombardment of Edo by Beihai Town, he once went out of the city to look at the big white ship, which shocked him out of his wits.He was most afraid that Beihai Town would talk to him about Ryukyu, but he didn't expect this day to come so soon.The most important thing now is to return to Kagoshima Castle quickly, gather troops and horses to prepare, the rest is not important!
In the conference room on the Jinglei, Shibata Juezang was introducing the situation of the Satsuma clan to Zhao Xin, Wang Yuanfang and others.After disembarking at Ishijuan Port, Wang Yuanfang stayed at Shiqiubin and led other troops to garrison, and did not follow Zhao Xin to Qingye City.

In addition, the leader of the Sendai Clan crusade team this time is the fourth member of the Ida family, the ninth generation of the Wakutani Date family, Date Ayumura, 28 years old this year.The Wakudani Date family has been going back 300 years. In fact, it is the high-definition Mizugenri Castle Lord of the Mutsu Kingdom. He has been an important minister of the Date family since the Warring States Period.In the 11th year of Qingchang (1606), Yida Zonggen, the concubine son of Cyclops Masamune, married the daughter of the Watari family and became his son-in-law and adopted son.

As the secret agent of the Sendai Clan, Shibata Kakzo did a lot of preparations for this operation. He took out all the information he could find about the Satsuma Clan and explained it.After he finished introducing the situation of the Shimadzu family, he also shared some information about the important retainers of the Shimadzu family, and finally mentioned the population of the Satsuma clan.

"Since the sixth year of Kyoho, Yutokuinden (Eighth Daime Tokugawa Yoshimune) ordered daimyos from all over the world to conduct surveys on the products of various countries, and after that, they will make statistics every six years. These survey results are recorded in the "Zhu National Accounts."

Shibata Kakuzo said very proudly.It took him a lot of effort to get this data from the shogunate—to put it bluntly, it was bribery.

Zhao Xin interrupted: "When was the last time?"

Shibata Juezang said: "Tianming six years. Oh, that is last year."

Wang Yuanfang asked, "How many people does Satsuma have?"

Shibata Juezo flipped through the booklet in his hand for a while, and finally said: "More than 59 copies."

Zhao Xin asked: "Didn't you count the number of Ryukyu people?"

"No."

Zhao Xin raised his head and stared at the ceiling, thought for a while and said, "Counting the children and the hidden population, it's about 65 people."

Everyone saw him muttering to himself, but they didn't know what this man was thinking about.Wang Yuan asked Shibata Juezang, "How many warriors does Satsuma have?"

Shibata Juezang flipped through the brochure twice more, and said, "There are more than [-] civilians in the city, and more than [-] civilians in the countryside."

"So many!" Wang Yuanfang was startled.

Zhao Xin suddenly said: "Only more than 9 people?"

Liu Zheng on the side said in surprise, "I'm sorry! Brother, do you still think there are more than 9 warriors?"

In front of outsiders, Zhao Xin couldn't explain.We must know that in another time and space, at the end of the Tokugawa period, the Satsuma clan had a maximum of more than 20 people, accounting for 26% of the total population.Right now is the early days of the end of the Tokugawa period, and more than 9 people are certainly not many.

Zhao Xin ignored Liu Zheng, but continued to ask Shibata Juezang, "How many clans are there in Satsuma?"

Shibata Kakuzo said: "The latest number can't be found, but the number in Kanei's 16th year is 87."

Zhao Xin rolled his eyes after hearing this. This is data from 150 years ago, so you are ashamed to show it!

Liu Zheng came to the island country to stay for a few months, and did some research on the system of the shogunate. At this time, he asked in great surprise, "Is Lu a magical thing?"

Zhao Xin said lightly: "Lu is not a thing, nor can it be called a city, but a village-like armed stronghold."

Next, Zhao Xin explained to Liu Zheng and Wang Yuanfang what "Lu" is.

It is said that the Satsuma domain in the Edo period belonged to the Western Army in the "Battle of Sekigahara", so even if they surrendered afterwards, they have always been wary of the Tokugawa shogunate.At that time, they faced the "one country, one city" order of the second generation of Tokugawa, and adopted a curve to save the country.That is, in addition to the Tsurumaru Castle of the main city, the samurai under his command were dispatched to various important places in the domain. Under the old mountain castle ruins, a defensive stronghold named "Roku" was built, forming a network that spread all over the domain. defense net.

In the center of these "foots" there is a "ditou house", which is the residence of the local garrison lord, and it is also used as a temporary residence for the feudal lord during "attendance" and inspections.Although these strongholds look like villages, the internal personnel structure and management are actually the same as cities.

These strongholds occupy different areas according to the stone height of the "land head" warriors.The outer walls of the various courtyards in the stronghold are built with thick stone walls, and lush trees are planted behind the walls; several streets called "horse farms" are formed between the courtyards, which are usually the places where the vassal warriors train; Once a war breaks out, this kind of street structure is very conducive to resisting the invasion of foreign enemies.

Why is Zhao Xin so clear?Because in another time and space, the famous Dahe drama "Atsuhime" was filmed at Izuzuro, Kumamoto Prefecture. At the beginning, Zhao Xin took a sightseeing ox cart and walked around for a full 25 minutes!The foot of the water outlet covers an area of ​​46 hectares, surrounded by a moat outside, it is simply a flat city.

Several people discussed for a long time, but the Date village of the Date family in Wakudani was always faceless and silent.In fact, it's not that this person doesn't want to discuss, but that he has no way to intervene.Although the members of the Date family chose him as the leader of the crusade team, Date Murata actually came here bravely; after all, the island country has been at peace for 200 years, and there are few people who really understand the way of battle.

After Zhao Xin explained to Liu Zheng and Wang Yuanfang, he said to everyone: "87 is the number from 150 years ago. According to my estimation, there should be more than 100 in Satsuma now."

In fact, Zhao Xin still said that there are fewer. At present, there are 110 five foothills in all parts of the Satsuma domain.And there are thirteen of them in the three counties of Izusui, Izuo, and Lingkari assigned to Beihai Town.Because these areas are all stuck in the traffic arteries in the Satsuma Domain, if Beihai Town wants to occupy these three counties, all these thirteen areas must be taken down.

At this moment, Date Village Chang finally said: "According to Zhao Wangdian's intention, this crusade is not about taking down Tsurumaru Castle, but there are more than 100 feet to be taken down?"

Shibata Kakuzo often bowed to Date Village and said: "Wararishou's words are true! If our army wants to completely defeat the Shimadzu family, we must first capture these outer cities and cut off the Shimadzu family's retreat route, otherwise we will only be poor. Keep chasing. To the end.”

Yi Dacun often said suddenly: "In the end, they waited for work with leisure, and led our army to run all over the mountains and plains until they dragged us down!"

Zhao Xin sneered and said: "It's not enough, when the reinforcements from Kyushu and even the shogunate arrive, we will have to board the boat and run away."

Southern Kyushu is not the Kanto Plain. The terrain is high and steep, with mountains running through it, and it is rainy.At that time, the samurai of the Shimadzu family will retreat to those strongholds in the mountains to fight guerrillas with you, and this battle will be dragged into a protracted war.

Regardless of the fact that the Shimadzu family owed a lot of debt that they couldn't repay, and their finances were extremely difficult, they were still the second largest foreign daimyo in the world.Now Beihai Town and Sendai Fan want to destroy the Satsuma Fan, they will fight even if they empty out their wealth!Because once the Shimadzu family is over, most of the nearly [-] vassal warriors will become ronin.

So this is not a question of being able to fight but not being able to fight at all, but that Satsuma will definitely do everything possible from top to bottom to deal with Beihai Town and Sendai Fan desperately!At the same time, the Shimadzu family will try their best to survive and buy time to ask for help.Don't forget, Shigego Shimadzu is Tokugawa Iezari's father-in-law, and the shogunate will mediate from it no matter what, and even order the surrounding vassals to send troops to support.

(It is said that the authors who bombarded Kagoshima Castle at every turn, and then let the Shimadzu family kneel and surrender can sleep. It is really a display of 100 vassals and more than [-] armed strongholds! Kagoshima Castle fell Suicide and surrender? People are stupid!)

After listening to Zhao Xin's translation, Wang Yuanfang pondered for a moment before slowly saying: "This is no longer a siege battle or a field battle. This is street fighting. If it doesn't work, the casualties will be huge. I think"

He was halfway through the conversation, and then suddenly stopped talking.Liu Zheng wanted to continue asking, but Zhao Xin changed the topic immediately.He turned his head to Shibata Juzou and Date Village and said: "Sendai Fan must increase its troops! These 1000 people are not enough, and people must be stationed at the foothills that have been conquered. These places will also be the basis for the Sendai Fan to rule southern Kyushu in the future."

Date Village often asked in amazement: "How much more?"

Zhao Xin said: "At least 1! [-] is even better!"

"so much!"

At this time, Shibata Juezang already knew that Beihai Town had an "artifact" that could send messages across thousands of miles, called the telegraph.So he said to Zhao Xin: "Please allow me to discuss with Master Gen Lishou. As for the increase of troops in my family, please ask Zhao Dian for help."

Zhao Xin nodded and said: "Yes, I will ask Pingtai to contact Your Excellency Ishikawa first, and after he arrives at the trading house in Shiqiubin, you can talk to him directly."

At this time, it was past noon, Zhao Xin glanced at the watch on the wall, and said, "Come here first in the morning. Let's go to eat first, and talk about other things in the afternoon."

Zhao Xin and the others left the conference room first, leaving Shibata Juezang and Date Village to discuss.When the three of them went to the cafeteria to eat, Liu Zheng remembered what Wang Yuanfang said just now.

"Brother Wang, how do you fight this street fight? You didn't finish talking just now."

Wang Yuanfang looked at Zhao Xin with a smile: "Do you know what I'm going to say?"

Zhao Xin blinked, showing his habitual cunning, and said, "Change weapons, change tactics."

Wang Yuanfang nodded and said to Liu Zheng, "Do you understand?"

"I don't understand." Liu Zheng was at a loss, what is this all about?

Wang Yuanfang explained: "Street fighting is different from fighting in the field. Facing an opponent who can shoot cold arrows at you at any time, make cold shots at you, and finally disappear without a trace, I am afraid that it will not work for all soldiers to carry standard rifles. We have to change weapons."

Zhao Xin whispered: "Not only that, but this time we have to weaken the strength of the Sendai Fan, so that they can only rely on us in the end."

Beihai Town has neither armored vehicles nor aircraft.There are only three D30 cannons on Jinglei, no matter how far they blast, they can't reach places like Chushuilu.So revolvers, machine guns, grenades and even drones all have to go.

Of course, when facing the fierce mortar fire at the first few feet, the Satsuma warriors would definitely panic and run for their lives in a panic.But the problem is that now that Beihai Town and Sendai Domain are going to be occupied and divided, can the Shimadzu family still go all the way to Edo to become an apartment?
After lunch, Zhao Xin asked Pan Xiucheng and Hu Ji to call all the battalion commanders and company and platoon officers to the dining room for a meeting. Dozens of people filled the dining room; Strictly prevent outsiders from eavesdropping.

Zhao Xin asked someone to find a whiteboard. According to his memories of visiting Chushuilu, he first explained the architectural features and street structure of the Satsuma clan's armed strongholds.Then Wang Yuanfang, as the tactical instructor, gave the officers a detailed account of how to conduct street warfare and the issues that should be paid attention to when conducting street warfare.

Wang Yuanfang's tactical intention is that when Beihai Town arrives at the outskirts of the stronghold, it must not take the risk of attacking. It must first use drones for reconnaissance, and then gather the mortars of each regiment together to carry out high-density firepower projection to various places in the stronghold. Finally, let the troops of the Sendai Fan enter the stronghold to clean up.During the battle, Beihai Town would never send troops in unless the Sendai Domain suffered heavy casualties.

During this period, the chief officers of each regiment from top to bottom must enter the scene to observe on the spot after each capture of the stronghold, and be familiar with the structure of the streets and courtyards; , so that every soldier understands how to fight in the streets.

The purpose of doing this is because the strongholds of the three counties in the north have to be fought by the Beihai Navy itself.

After talking about street warfare, Wang Yuanfang once again explained the precautions and tactics of jungle warfare and mountain warfare based on the geography, climate, and hydrology of Southern Kyushu.

Although the officials at all levels present here are familiar with how to conduct mountain warfare and jungle warfare in the Northeast, Southern Kyushu, which has a subtropical monsoon climate, is completely different from the Northeast in terms of topography, vegetation, climate, and biology.The high temperature, high humidity and heavy rainfall in the subtropical jungle will pose severe challenges to soldiers and weapons.Dense vegetation will greatly reduce the combat range and effectiveness of weapons and communication equipment, and soldiers' endurance and weapon carrying capacity will also be severely weakened.

In any jungle battle in history, heavy weapons were not the protagonists, and this is still true until later generations.

To deal with jungle combat, it is difficult to count on equipment. Not only can trees effectively block dense bullets, but they can also absorb explosive fragments.It is absolutely not allowed to throw grenades at random when encountering an enemy, otherwise the scene of bumping into a dense tree branch and bouncing back will be a lot of fun!
The biggest limitation of light weapons is the distance issue.Even if the North Navy uses light weapons with a range of less than 50 meters, it still has difficulties in locating and correcting indirect fire.Because once in the dense forest, it is very easy for soldiers to misjudge the direction when the enemy's iron guns or bows and arrows attack, causing them to move in the wrong direction, thus falling into a very dangerous situation.

In this time and space at the end of the eighteenth century, walking would be the main method of movement for the North Navy’s jungle warfare, and it would be very difficult; Wang Yuanfang estimated that in areas such as Aso Mountain and Grandmother Mountain, the daily marching speed would even be less than five kilometers.

In addition, issues such as camping at night and finding water sources are also very important.The most favorite thing for the ancients in these days is to poison the water. Of course, it is impossible to pour poison. Throwing a few rotting animals upstream pollutes the water source.

The tactical briefing went on until late at night.During the period, Zhao Xin got in touch with Pingtai in Shiqiubin, and asked him to go to Qingye City to meet Ishikawa Village Wen immediately and bring him to Shiqiubin.

Although Beihai Town and Sendai Fan made sufficient pre-war preparations, it was precisely because of this that the time to attack Southern Kyushu was delayed.During these days of waiting, the current head of the Shimadzu family, Shimadzu Norinobu, received a letter from Edo.

After seeing the letter, the grandfather of the Duhime of Tianzhangyuan in history was so frightened that his hands and feet became cold, and he sent people to quickly call retainers from all over the city to hold a meeting overnight.At the same time, the armed strongholds in and around Kagoshima City also opened their arsenals, summoned the vassals in the city, and reorganized their armaments.

Shigeho Shimadzu meant one thing in the letter, war!But this is not to fight inactively, waiting for someone to bombard Jucheng.He told Shimadzu Qixuan that in the face of the mighty Northern Navy, one must avoid the enemy's edge, resist steadily, and buy time to wait for the mediation of the shogunate and the arrival of reinforcements.

　Take the Battle of Monterey in 1846 as an example. The rice army at that time was completely unfamiliar with street fighting, and had not done any training related to street fighting in advance.When the Mexican army was defending, it ambushed a large number of soldiers on the roof, or set up many hidden shooting holes to annihilate the Mexican army.Since the buildings in Monterey town are mostly built of thick earth bricks, supplemented by strong doors and several windows; what's more, those flat roofs have about two feet of walls enough to provide cover for Mexican soldiers.For the Mi Army, these buildings can be said to be fortresses.At that time, after the Mi army started to attack, despite the rapid movement and counterattack on the streets, the continuous and violent attacks of the Mexican army immobilized the Mi army.So two days later, the defeated Mi Jun changed his style of play, which was to dig "mouse holes" between adjacent houses.For indoor combat, three or four soldiers with revolvers are in charge.In the end, the rice army only lost a few people and captured the town of Monterey.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)