1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 894 Osaka Autumn Formation ([-])
"These people are all shogunate soldiers?" Cao Guangsheng put down his binoculars, and with an expression of disbelief on his face, he turned his head to look at You Yijun (cavalry) guerrilla Liu Tinghui in Yunzhou Town.

"Uh..." Liu Tinghui scratched his head, looked a little embarrassed, and said with a wry smile: "Perhaps, these people were deliberately mobilized or driven by the Osaka defenders to disturb our army's morale....Well, it may be because they want to Use this to confuse us, and then take advantage of our army's unpreparedness to launch a surprise attack on us."

"Hey..." Qu Kaishan, the commander of the Second Battalion of the Weiguo Shenhuo Army and Lieutenant Xuanjie (Major), couldn't help laughing, "The shogunate soldiers on both sides of the river are all carrying small benches like this, eating The melons and fruits are still holding umbrellas, which really disturbed our military morale...Damn, why do I feel like they are watching a free show!"

When several military officers heard this, they couldn't laugh or cry. Seeing more and more local Japanese people gathering on both sides of the Yodogawa River, they felt a kind of inexplicable absurdity and weirdness.

We're at war, can you show us some respect?If you want to be lively and watch a big show, don't bring such a thing!

I saw thousands of onlookers gathered on both sides of the Yodogawa River. After making a little estimation that the range of stray bullets was beyond the range, they all chose an excellent viewing position. The one even brought a picnic lunch box and stayed there safely, preparing to watch the upcoming battle like watching a theater.

In fact, this phenomenon was very common during the Sengoku period in Japan. As long as the combat mode at that time was not a sneak attack, but an upright battle between the two sides, there would be many crowds of onlookers near the battlefield. In 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered Tachibana Muneshige to attack Otsu Castle, the local townspeople came to watch the battle one after another, regardless of the danger of the war.

It was the Battle of Winter and the Battle of Summer in Osaka that took place decades ago. The good residents of Osaka did not forget to move small benches, grab a handful of melon seeds, and sit aside to watch the two city battles involving tens of thousands of people. At the same time, don't forget to comment and discuss.

Of course, in the later years of the Qing Dynasty, many people would stand outside the battlefield and watch the ongoing battle between the colonial army and the officers and soldiers of the Qing Dynasty.Even, sometimes they are "enthusiastic" to help. When the foreigners want to climb the city wall and enter the city, many Chinese people with long braids are helping to lift the ladder...

The coalition's landing operation took more than three days. During this period, the defenders of Osaka did not try to launch any surprise attack. They stood on the top of the city and watched with a cold eye as more than ten thousand troops of the coalition came ashore. , and dozens of long-barreled cannons and howitzers.

The Osaka Castle planned and built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the largest castle in Japan. It took nearly two years to complete the main castle, and the entire city was not fully completed until Hideyoshi died of illness.

As a siege master, Toyotomi Hideyoshi used to cut off water, food, and water attacks, so he made many designs to counter these siege methods when building Osaka Castle.In order to prevent the enemy from flooding the city with water from the Yodo River, special canals were dug in Osaka City. Through these canals, the city defenders could export the water from the enemy's irrigation to the outside of the city.

In addition to land passages, there are many waterways in Osaka that can connect with the outside of the city, which makes it difficult for the enemy to block the grain roads of Osaka City. In addition, there is a huge amount of grain stored in the city, and Osaka will not be cut off because of the grain roads. And got into trouble.

After Tokugawa Ieyasu captured Osaka and destroyed the Toyotomi clan, the entire Osaka Castle was destroyed.However, in the subsequent reconstruction process, although the shogunate demolished the castle built by Hideyoshi and buried it underground, and rebuilt a Osaka Castle on it, the basic layout more or less followed Hideyoshi's design back then.

Hiroshi Watanabe, the leader of Osaka, believes that with the solid city defenses and more than 2000 samurai in the city, plus the mobilized and armed five thousand foot light, in the face of the surging Qi army, they can hold on for at least half a month.At that time, the nearby feudal states and generals will inevitably send reinforcements to Daban, and under the attack from inside and outside, they will defeat the Qi army outside the city.

You must know that in the two battles of Osaka's winter battle and summer battle, the shogunate besieged Osaka with several times the force advantage, and it took several months.Looking at the strength of the Qi army outside the city, the maximum is about [-]. This number is not enough to complete the siege of Daban City, let alone break through Daban in a very short time.

March 9, early morning.

Under the eyes of thousands of defenders at the head of Daban City, more than ten thousand coalition forces headed by Qi State lined up neatly and slowly approached Daban City.In the formation, dozens of heavy siege artillery were also dragged by cattle and horses, and pushed and pulled by civilian husbands, moving forward slowly.

Hiroshi Watanabe stood on the tower, holding the handle of the knife with his right hand, watching the actions of the Qi army below the city indifferently, with a strong fighting spirit flashing in his eyes.

"Throw all those heads outside the city to deter the enemy!"

"Yes, my lord." A warrior promised in a grim voice, then turned around and went down the tower.

After a while, dozens of small bundles wrapped in straw bags were suddenly dropped from the top of the city wall, which shocked the cavalry who were approaching the city wall for investigation.

After a long time, seeing that there was no movement at the top of the city, two cavalrymen stepped forward to check carefully, and tried to pick up the small package on the ground with their sabers.

After seeing the first-grade head nitrated with lime in the package, his complexion changed, and he immediately galloped towards the rear.

The commander-in-chief of the coalition landing force, General Guangwei (Major General) of the Qi Army, Su Zhongfu stared at the hideous heads on the ground, and remained silent for a long time.

"General, these people must be our sailors from the Qi Kingdom who were murdered by the Osaka Castle a few months ago." An officer said angrily: "The defenders of Osaka threw them all under the city in order to damage the morale of our army. Affect the morale of my landing troops."

"So..." Su Zhongfu asked lightly.

"... Keep these heads properly, and send them back to the Hanzhou mainland after the war, and hand them over to their families." The officer said: "Our army still bombarded the city wall of Osaka with heavy artillery according to the previous combat deployment, breaking through its defenses. , Annihilate all defensive forces, and seize the city."

"Isn't that nonsense!" Su Zhongfu scolded: "Our coalition forces have more than tens of thousands. Before attacking Daban Castle, we naturally want to occupy this most important coastal city of the shogunate. But the defenders in the city turned out to be innocent people of our Qi Kingdom. It is ridiculous and hateful to deter and intimidate our army with their lives! I ordered the Youyi Army of Yunzhou Town and the Champa Firearms Battalion to drive all the theatergoers on both sides of the Yodo River to me. Above, fill in a passage for us to attack the city!"

On that day, more than 2000 "enthusiastic spectators" were invited by the coalition forces to the base of Osaka Castle, and became the first echelon to attack Osaka Castle in the form of actual participation. Everyone cried, screamed, and flinched, trying to get rid of the control of the coalition forces , leave this murderous Shura field.

Without exception, those who retreated were forced back one by one by the swords and bayonets of the coalition forces. Those who broke free and ran wildly trying to escape were knocked to the ground by the cavalry who quickly pursued them, or their heads were chopped off with a single knife. , and was trampled into the soil by countless horseshoes.

After hesitating for a moment, the defenders of Osaka City reluctantly raised their bows and arrows, and shot and killed the local residents who were filling the trench with soil.

At 200 o'clock at noon, the coalition artillery positions were set up. Six long-barreled cannons and five heavy howitzers were placed in place more than [-] meters away from the city wall. The artillerymen were busy preparing for the artillery launch and began the official siege operation.

The primary task of the heavy artillery deployed by the Qi Army is to destroy the enemy's walls and level their fortresses.When attacking the city, the army will use a combination of heavy cannon and howitzer.Cannons fired solid iron bullets to cut through the city walls, and howitzers fired explosive shells to shatter the cut walls.

In addition, the artillery also has rockets with increasingly sophisticated technology, which can specifically target cities with a large number of wooden houses like Osaka Castle.However, the coalition forces were reluctant to burn the city down because they wanted to obtain all kinds of food supplies accumulated in the city.

Therefore, the coalition forces bombarded the city wall of Osaka with heavy artillery according to the most conventional method of attack, and broke through the city with absolute force.

"Boom!" There was a loud noise, and a huge projectile crossed the head of Osaka City and fell far into the city.

Under the command of the officer, more than a dozen artillerymen immediately lowered the muzzle of the cannon heavy artillery several degrees, hoping to directly bombard the city wall.

"Boom!" The heavy howitzer also began to correct and fire, just like the cannon, the shells also fell far into the city.However, unlike the solid iron egg, the explosive bomb fired by the howitzer made a huge movement, which changed the face of the shogunate defenders in the entire Osaka City.

After the landing, there was a huge explosion, the rising fireworks, and the flames that were ignited, and the ashigaru and citizens running around made the shogunate army in the city pale with horror.

The Qi army's artillery can actually fire flower bombs!

"Send someone to notify Hashimoto-kun, and immediately organize volunteers to prepare a large amount of sand and water to put out the fire in the city at any time." At this time, Hiroshi Watanabe, who had returned to the castle tower in the city for unified command and dispatch, ordered with a livid face.

"Yes, Mr. Feng Xing!" A warrior promised, and hurried downstairs.

"Notify Mr. Jing Yi, pay attention to fire prevention on the fire oil and rolling logs at the top of the city, and don't be attacked by enemy artillery fire!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." There was a dull roar of artillery from the distant city wall, and countless dust fell from the roof of the castle tower. The whole city seemed to be shaking, and Hiroshi Watanabe's heart also violently beating.

The enemy army seems to be stronger than imagined, and the tremendous power displayed by their artillery is unprecedented. Under such an offensive, can Osaka Castle hold on for more than half a month?
Japan is no stranger to firearms.More than 100 years ago, "Musketeers" appeared in the army of daimyos all over Japan, called "Iron Cannon Ashgaru".During the Momoyama period (also known as the Zhifeng period, 1573-1603), the proportion of muskets in weapons increased significantly.During the Battle of Sekigahara launched by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the popularity of firearms was greatly increased. For example, the troops led by Masamune Date had 3000 soldiers and 1200 blunderbuss. 8700, gun also has 2000.

However, at that time, the artillery equipment rate among the various daimyo armies in Japan was very low.On the Korean battlefield, in the offensive and defensive battles, when encountering the "Falang machine" of the Ming army and the artillery of the Korean army, they hardly had any advantage.Later, in the early 17th century, the Tokugawa shogunate obtained a small amount of "big cylinders" from the Portuguese and the Dutch, and bombarded Osaka Castle with artillery during the Battle of Osaka.

But in the face of the real heavy artillery bombardment of the city, the shogunate army has never seen it, and has never experienced it personally.Oh, no, during the Shimabara Rebellion more than 30 years ago, the shogunate hired Dutch armed merchant ships to bombard the original castle. Although the distance did not blow down the city wall, the shogunate army also witnessed the great power of the naval bombardment.

Who would have thought that after decades of Japan's peace, Osaka City would be attacked, and more than a dozen more powerful heavy cannons and howitzers would be bombarded at close range.

In just half a day, there were several huge gaps in the south wall of Osaka Castle. More than a hundred samurai and ashigaru were injured by flying gravel bricks and explosive bombs, and the morale of the entire shogunate army also increased. Surrender, no longer full of confidence before the war.

It was night, and the defenders of Osaka launched a large-scale night attack in an attempt to destroy the coalition artillery.But not surprisingly, they were repelled by the vigilant coalition forces, leaving behind hundreds of corpses, and fled back to the city in embarrassment.

In the early morning of the next day, the coalition forces continued to bombard Osaka City with heavy artillery.Moreover, in the process of testing yesterday, it was found that there was no artillery at the head of Daban City, so the artillery position was boldly moved forward, directly approaching the city wall to a position less than 150 meters away, and bombarded Daban City recklessly.

At about 500 o'clock in the morning, the cavalry scattered around Osaka Castle came to report that a shogunate reinforcement army with a size of [-] arrived near the battlefield. It was suspected to be troops sent by Nara, which was tens of miles away to the east.

Immediately, the coalition assembled seven battalions of more than [-] troops, and under the cover of more than [-] cavalry from Yunzhou Town, they rushed towards the shogunate reinforcements.After a short and fierce battle, the coalition forces came to aid the shogunate army with slight losses and almost wiped out, killing and wounding more than [-] prisoners.

When the allied forces brought several captured shogunate reinforcements Banner Samurai and captured flags of various colors to the city of Osaka, the momentum of the defenders in the city was immediately vented.

After another day of heavy artillery bombardment, Osaka Castle is already riddled with holes and several collapses, and it is difficult to hide the trend of the city's broken walls.However, the coalition forces did not take the opportunity to attack the city. Instead, when dusk fell, they withdrew their troops and returned to the camp, allowing the soldiers and civilians of Osaka to repair the city walls overnight and consolidate the city defenses.

On September 9th, at about 30 o'clock in the morning, more than [-] coalition troops came out of the camp, formed a neat formation, and slowly approached Daban City under the pressure of dark clouds.After two days of heavy artillery bombardment, the defense of Daban city was already unbearable, and it broke into the city just today.Even though the Japanese are brave and brave, under the guns, it is difficult to stop our coalition forces from attacking with all their strength.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

"Crash..."

After just over ten rounds of bombardment, the simply repaired city wall of Osaka suffered major damage again, and it collapsed on a large scale. A huge gap more than 30 meters long appeared in front of the coalition forces.

As the vanguard of the whole army, more than [-] Hezhe and Sauron in heavy armor under Yunzhou Town brandished thick-backed long knives, roared excitedly, and their eyes shot out bloodthirsty animalism.

"Let's go in."

After two rounds of heavy artillery bombardment, Su Zhongfu looked at the leaders and generals of the vassal states on both sides who had already been unable to hold back, and waved gently.

(End of this chapter)