1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 895 Martyrdom

October 1674, 10, Osaka.

"cut!"

With a loud shout, in the square in front of the castle tower of Osaka Castle, the Yunzhou Zhenfan soldier who was a temporary guest executioner slammed down the thick-backed long knife raised high, and in an instant, a row of twenty heads were chopped off When he got down, streams of blood sprayed out from the neck, and the headless corpse fell limply to the ground.

The people of Daban City who were watching all around shrank their hearts suddenly, let out a low exclamation, and then subconsciously took a step back, swallowing hard, with horror on their faces.

Under the signal of several coalition officers, a group of forced laborers from Osaka came forward tremblingly, dragged the corpses and heads aside, and then threw them onto scooters.The corpses will be pulled directly to the wilderness outside the mass graves outside the city, where wild dogs will eat them, and the heads will be hung on the head of Osaka City and the wharf where Qi sailors were once hanged.

Hiroshi Watanabe, the former Osaka executive, knelt on one side wearily, his body trembling uncontrollably.He really wanted to imitate the deeds of the former Fushimi Castle guard Torii Motochu who died under the siege of the Western Army, leaving behind the phrase "My lord, I wish you prosperity in martial arts". Before he died, It also showed the noble qualities and fearless courage of a warrior to the people of Qi.

However, when the Qi army captured him and learned his identity, they tortured him physically and humiliated him wantonly for several days in retaliation for his order to execute the sailors of Qi.As a result, the current Hiroshi Watanabe no longer has the spirit and image of a samurai, just like a livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

I used to think that the scene of the martyrdom of the samurai, which is as bright as stars, is so fascinating. However, when the bun that symbolizes the identity and honor of the samurai is cut off, and then dragged to the execution ground by the Qi army like a dead dog, a sharp long hair The knife, like slaughtering pigs and dogs, chopped off the heads of these warriors one by one, and then kicked them away.

This is not the honorary death of a warrior, but a kind of humiliation, and it is the burial of more than 60 sailors from Qi who died.This way is to step on all the dignity and honor of the warrior, so that our souls after death will not receive any salvation, and will fall into hell forever.

Four days ago, when Osaka Castle was broken, Hiroshi Watanabe planned to start a final "decisive battle" in the city with more than 2000 samurai in the city, in order to express his loyalty and bravery to the head of the Tokugawa family.However, whether it is the assembled thousands of ashigaru or the self-proclaimed "superior martial arts" samurai, they are so vulnerable to the attack of the coalition forces.

Hundreds of vanguard troops in heavy armor rushed into the city at the first time like tigers entering a flock of sheep, wielding long knives, and smashed the formation composed of more than a thousand samurai and ashigaru. A united enemy.

Afterwards, teams of musketeers swarmed into the city. When they faced the blockade of the Osaka defenders, they first fired with volleys of guns, and then charged like a forest of bayonets, smashing their resistance again and again.

Even if the samurai hid in strong houses and warehouses and tried to defend the forts to consume the strength of the coalition forces, they could not do so.The coalition forces directly approached and bombarded with light artillery, or dropped bombs, or set fire to them, turning the warriors hiding in the fort into charred skeletons.

As a samurai, you should meditate on death every day, imagine your body being torn apart by bows and arrows, muskets, spears and swords, imagine yourself being killed by huge waves, thrown into fire, struck by lightning, buried by earthquakes, Scenes of falling into the abyss, succumbing to disease, or committing seppuku because of the death of the lord.

However, when the real death comes, even the most resolute warrior will inevitably have a little hesitation and fear.When Hiroshi Watanabe was guarding the castle tower with more than a hundred samurai, he had thought of expressing his nobility as a samurai and his loyalty to Akagi to the head of the Tokugawa family by performing seppuku before the Qi army captured him.

During the Battle of Ujigawa (1180), Yorima Minamoto wrote a poem when he was martyred, and then committed suicide generously, which became an example of the noble and brave seppuku method for later generations.

During the Battle of Yamazaki (1582), Meiji Mitsuhide dipped a brush in the blood that flowed from his own stomach after harakiri, wrote a poem on the door, and finally sang to death, which was praised by later generations.

However, Hiroshi Watanabe knelt and sat in a quiet room in the castle tower, held back for a long time, but did not write a single poem, and he never drew his sword (a small knife specially used by samurai for seppuku) towards his belly.At the end, a team of the Qi army attacked in, kicked him to the ground, and carried him out like a chicken.

After the coalition forces took control of Osaka City, while maintaining order in the city, sealing up supplies, and looting property, they began to liquidate the officials and warriors in Osaka who killed the sailors of the Qi Kingdom a few months ago.All those who participated in the judgment and disposal of the Qi sailors were identified and arrested, and then they were tortured and tortured severely.

Yesterday, as many as 900 officials, samurai, merchants, and residents of Osaka, including Hiroshi Watanabe, were found guilty and all will be beheaded for public display.

There are three places of execution, one is the Osaka Wharf where Qi Guo sailors were executed, the other is the Osaka Enforcement Hall where the judgment was issued, and the third is the symbolic castle tower of Osaka.

The execution has been carried out for several rounds, during which some warriors tried to shout loudly and chanted generous words to show the integrity of the warriors before the execution.But without exception, as soon as he spoke, the coalition soldier who was pulling the warrior's hairknot kicked his face, and blood and teeth burst out instantly, making him look even more embarrassed.Afterwards, the executioner swung his sword down, and his head was suddenly in a different place.

Suddenly, two coalition soldiers picked up Hiroshi Watanabe and dragged him towards the execution place.

"Am I going to... die?" Hiroshi Watanabe raised his head slightly, and looked around weakly. Rows of heavily armed coalition soldiers, holding muskets, looked sternly at the crowd of onlookers.And countless Osaka citizens gathered around, their eyes numb, and they looked at the samurai who was about to be executed with some indifference.

The ground was soaked in blood, ranging from bright crimson to some blackened dark purple. On an autumn afternoon, the sun was shining brightly, and the breeze blowing from the sea was blowing towards Xu's face, giving people a sense of peace and tranquility.

"Prepare!"

A rough roar sounded, and Hiroshi Watanabe suddenly felt his hair tighten, and his neck involuntarily stretched forward.

"cut!"

As soon as he stopped drinking, Hiroshi Watanabe felt his neck loosen, and he seemed to fly up. The blue sky, white clouds, dazzling sunlight, mighty and majestic soldiers of the Qi army, and the screaming crowd... Then his eyes went dark, and he fell into endless chaos. In the dark.

"The capture of Osaka Castle this time not only revealed that the equipment and combat effectiveness of the shogunate army was somewhat weaker than we had expected, but also that the local people's determination to resist was almost nonexistent, which is extremely beneficial to our subsequent battles." The Allied Forces Landed Su Zhongfu, the commander in chief of the army and General Guangwei (Major General) of the Qi Army, stood at the highest point of the castle tower, leaning on the railing and looking at the entire Osaka City, his brows looked quite high-spirited.

"What the general said is very true." Ren Maoyong, the chief of staff of the landing force and Lieutenant Zhaoxin (Colonel), nodded and said, "The coalition troops who wanted to attack Kyoto will surely receive good news after a few days. I just don't know, but Tokugawa who got the letter When will the shogunate send reinforcements to rescue us, and come to a large-scale decisive battle with us."

"If the shogunate knows that the capital has been attacked, even if it gathers the army as quickly as possible, it will be half a month later." Su Zhongfu said: "During this period of time, it is enough for us to turn the Gyeonggi area of ​​Japan upside down." .”

The capture of Osaka was extremely smooth. The combat effectiveness of the shogunate army was so low, and the losses of the coalition forces were minimal. This made the coalition headquarters and the general staff's appetite increase. They planned to choose a place in the Gyeonggi area to come to the shogunate after the capture of Kyoto. The army fought a decisive battle, annihilating the effective forces of the shogunate army, and creating favorable conditions for the subsequent attack on Edo.
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On October 10th, Yodo Castle (today's Fushimi District, Kyoto, Japan).

Masanobu Matsudaira, the feudal lord of the Yodo clan, stood on the tower, looking at the mighty fleet on the Yodogawa River, he was so shocked that he didn't make any sound for a while.

"Guardian, there are ships of the State of Qi on the Yodo River, and their goal must be the city of Kyoto behind us." The vassal Ida Hisao said in a deep voice.

Masanobu Matsudaira rolled his eyes, this is not nonsense, the ships of the Qi State came here, naturally they wanted to attack Kyoto, so could it be that they also wanted to attack their small city?
Although Yodo Castle is a very symbolic place, this is where Fushimi Castle was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his later years.Although it was once damaged by the Keicho Fushimi earthquake, it was quickly rebuilt, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi eventually died in Fushimi Castle.Since then, Fushimi Castle has become the stronghold for Tokugawa Ieyasu to monitor Toyotomi Hideyori in Osaka. In the Battle of Fushimi Castle before the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the Western Army first attacked Fushimi Castle owned by Tokugawa Ieyasu, causing an ambush. Jiancheng burned down again, but Tokugawa Ieyasu quickly completed the reconstruction again in order to continue to monitor the Toyotomi family.

But in the second year of Kanei (1625), Fushimi Castle was abandoned.In the third year of Kanei (1626), Tokugawa Iemitsu ordered the castle to be abandoned, and its materials were used for other castle and temple additions.Instead, Diancheng was built not far away and became the territory of Dianfan.The city is located between Kyoto and Osaka. It is a key node of Yodogawa River shipping, and it is also the southern barrier of Kyoto. It has a very strategic position.

But now, the Qi army marched along the Dianchuan River and land, and attacked Diancheng, with great momentum.In less than half a day, more than [-] Qi troops surrounded the small Diancheng.More than a dozen armed galleys also arrived near the pier, parked by the river, and pointed their cold muzzles at Diancheng.

The Qi army's attack with such fanfare shows that Osaka Castle has fallen, which makes Masanobu Matsudaira secretly startled.As far as he knows, even though Osaka City dispatched more than 2000 samurai and ashigaru to Edo "King Qin", they still have more than [-] brave samurai. Recruit six or seven thousand foot light teams.

Unexpectedly, the nearly ten thousand Osaka defenders did not hold on for a week, so they let the Qi army capture the city, and then took advantage of the trend to go up the Yodo River to this place, plotting the capital.

The poor Yodo clan is only a small clan with 3 koku, and there are only more than 5 samurai supported by it. Even if the ashigaru is mobilized, the force will not exceed 60.And more and more Qi army soldiers gathered under the city, there are at least five to six thousand people, which is ten times that of the defenders of Diancheng.

Although Matsudaira Masanobu vowed to block the advance of the Qi army towards Kyoto with the belief of all "jade pieces", but as the opponent covered the city with musket fire and the daredevils planted explosives to break open the city gate, all resistance was over. It doesn't make any sense anymore.

After the Qi army invaded Diancheng, several rounds of musket fire shot and killed the samurai led by Matsudaira Masanobu and others near the city gate. Bamboo spear, please surrender on your knees.

"Less than seven kilometers to the north of this place is the capital of Japan-Kyoto." An intelligence officer said excitedly: "The cavalry of the Youyi Army in Yunzhou Town has arrived near the capital city. In the city of Kyoto. Roughly estimated, the size of the army will not exceed 2000 people....Moreover, no artillery has been found in the city of Kyoto!"

"Pass down the order, and the various departments of our army will quickly gather at the gate of the city." Cao Guangsheng took out his pocket watch and looked at it. It was about [-] o'clock in the afternoon. If he marched urgently, he should be able to reach the capital city before dark. They are allowed to move freely, but they must arrive in Kyoto at about ten o'clock tomorrow."

When the Qi army withdrew from Diancheng and rushed to the north, the whole small town was already in flames. There were cries, screams, wanton laughter, and occasionally one or two musket shots, making the small town The small feudal city immediately became a hell on earth.

Daban City is rich and prosperous. After the coalition forces occupy it, they have to rely on the huge amount of supplies here as a logistics base for conquering Japan.Therefore, apart from taking small-scale reprisals against the officials, samurai, and residents of Osaka who killed the sailors of Qi, the coalition forces did not allow large-scale looting to occur (of course, small-scale looting cannot be prohibited).

In the attack on Kyoto, the coalition forces paid attention to the speed of their troops, and they swept away all the villages, towns and towns they passed along the way until they reached the city of Diancheng.When they first entered the city, the armies of the vassal states were still afraid of the Qi army's control and did not dare to go too far. According to the prior combat deployment, they separately controlled the vassal halls, government offices, warehouses, and rich mansions in the city, preparing for an organized battle. property collection work.

But not long after, I heard that the Qi army was going to raid Kyoto and seize the first victory in occupying the Japanese capital, but they did not force the troops of the vassal states to go with them immediately, and they immediately understood that Qi was going to keep this small city. Give them "welfare".

Why not be polite, why don't you hurry up and grab more things and women.You know, except for Weiguo and Luzon who are a little richer in all the vassal states, everyone is very poor haha.

Although everyone knows that this expedition against the Japanese shogunate will inevitably receive a due indemnity after the war, which should be able to make up for the military expenses for the cross-sea expedition.But this does not prevent everyone from earning more benefits in Japan, especially gold, silver and women, which are relatively scarce.

Sure enough, following the Qi State in the conquest of dissidents and enemies who are not subjects, can still bring a lot of benefits.

(End of this chapter)