Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 1042 A Little Tune for the Battle of Satsuma
Because it was a surprise inspection, the idiots of the Satsuma Domain never expected that the Qing Dynasty would have such a trick up its sleeve.

As for the neatly lined-up Southern Barbarians, they were also somewhat confused about the situation.

"Armored gunners, ready!"

Solovyov had not fought a war for a long time since his major battle with his uncle at the Battle of Bettina.

He sent two thousand Russian troops and six hundred Qing troops under the Eight Banners aboard the ship, also because he was worried that a group of people like them, who were living a life of misery and were asking for trouble, would want to cause trouble for him.

If someone actually comes, he will have to fight back.

"Trying to snipe me from this distance?"

Solovyov was a master of skirmish warfare, and his new tactics were all centered around new weapons.

"Your Excellency, what order should be given?"

The naval infantry major had never fought alongside Solovyov before and didn't know his fighting style.

After all, the Russian troops were training on the ship and training on the ground these days. However, the food provided by the Qing Dynasty was quite good, even better than when they were at home.

Solovyov, mounted on his horse, looked at the opposing formation through binoculars and found it somewhat amusing.

"There are still a few hundred people left, General An."

"The end will be here."

Although Ancheng was not as good at fighting as his father Hailancha, he was still one of the few noble officers in the Qing army at this stage who could lead from the front. Moreover, he was a duke whom his father had earned through a lifetime of martial arts.

"The commander led a squadron of men to the left flank of the naval force, where there seemed to be an ambush in the bushes. When the battle began, the commander saw Japanese soldiers emerge from the bushes and launched a strong attack."

"Whoo!"

He then looked at Delin and gave him his orders: "The Prince will lead a squadron of men to the right flank of the artillery and be responsible for protecting the artillery."

"Does the General think I am afraid to fight?"

"No! The Russian army relies on three things in combat: its infantry's endurance in harsh battles and fearlessness of death, its cavalry's alertness and adaptability, and the ferocity of its artillery firepower. Protecting the artillery is also an important matter. Especially since our artillery is moving forward with the battle line, it is even more important to protect the artillery."

Although it's supposed to be an easy job, you'll probably be listening to cannon fire all day and won't get a chance to fight in close combat.

As for his performance under the matching system of the Qing Dynasty, he displayed quite the demeanor of a Confucian general.

Zhao Lian was a prince who had never experienced battle. Although he often went hunting, he had never seen such a large-scale operation with a thousand people before.

He couldn't help but have some questions, could he?
"General's arrangements are truly well-thought-out. But what if the Japanese are lying in ambush there?"

"Your Highness, this Unicorn Cannon is not just for show."

He himself set up his troops near the cannons, wanting to see how many men the Satsuma Domain could muster on this small island of Ryukyu to boost the military achievements of the Eight Banners.

After Cai Min sent his subordinates back and told the officials of the Three Departments about the matter, the officials of the Three Departments and Regent Shang Rong also discussed it.

Although the current three officials are tools for the Satsuma Domain to rule Ryukyu, they are still relatively loyal to King Sho.

To avoid any trouble, they had already informed the Satsuma Domain's governor about the Qing Dynasty prince's arrival to question them.

Unexpectedly, the people of the Satsuma Domain, known for their stubbornness, actually went so far as to recruit their retainers and foot soldiers, as well as the Satsuma people in Ryukyu, to fight against the Heavenly Army.

After hearing this, Xiang Chengxun shook his head as he sat in front of Shang Rong.

"Why is this, sir?"

"Your Excellency, you are unaware of this, but I sent my trusted family members to inform the local officials that they should either flee to the northern mountains or lay down their arms so that the people of the Celestial Empire would not see their weapons. I never expected that the officials would actually raise troops to fight against the Celestial Army."

"Then let them compete. It's not like Xiang Qing didn't inform them."

"Yes, if it were merely a matter of following orders, and could be disguised as a trading post, the Celestial Empire might not blame us, only reprimand us a few times. But the people of Satsuma are known for their fierceness and refusal to listen to others."

That means they deserved to die. Listening to advice leads to a good life, but it's hard to persuade them to their deaths.

What's strange to the Sanji officials is that the Celestial Empire was able to detect the Satsuma Domain's affairs this time.
After all, China was a superior country, and not many people came to Ryukyu. Most of the merchants who went to sea traded with Japan and Korea, and Ryukyu was just a transit point for some goods.

It must have been some merchants who, after hearing the news, reported it to the imperial court.

To be fair, Solovyov did come from a family of unscrupulous merchants, but he knew about this Japanese affair beforehand.

What angered Emperor Jiaqing was that a mere local warlord under Japan dared to bully the loyal vassal state of the Celestial Empire.

Solovyov's whistleblowing was only revealed after he had become acquainted with the Jiaqing Emperor, and he gradually brought up the Samo affair.

Therefore, Emperor Jiaqing made this arrangement in exchange for opening a back door for trade with Russia in Ryukyu, in exchange for a Russian fleet carrying Eight Banner soldiers.

It was just a side trip; Solovyov needed to resupply in Guangzhou later, so he needed to act quickly as well.

Otherwise, if the weather forecast doesn't arrive in time this year, it will cause a significant delay in Guangdong.

The Russian army is now arrayed in the middle, while An Cheng has led 300 Qing soldiers to the left flank. De Lin has led 300 Qing soldiers to cover the Russian artillery, while the Russian cavalry is on the right flank.

Zhao Lian then sat down and watched Solovyov riding his white horse, looking quite composed.

He didn't know how this battle would turn out, but he saw that this man was really steady, and could be described as having the demeanor of a great general.

"There really is an ambush. We need to fire the Unicorn Cannon at those bushes over there."

After the grenades were fired, many exploded above the grass, which startled a group of Japanese samurai out.

However, the armor these people were wearing looked like it was from before the mid-Shogunate period. Some of them had white cloth tied around their heads and a headband as armor.

As for this armor, even if you called in the battle formation instructor from a Taiga drama, they would probably be far more professional than them.

Solovyov recalled watching an NHK Taiga drama where the battle formation director, Hayashi Kunishiro, performed a special segment with a long spear on horseback.

The Satsuma barbarians don't need warhorses here, and it's a crushing situation for Ryukyu, so they only have foot soldiers and arquebusiers.

They didn't even have many bows and arrows. As for bows, playing with arrows and arrows required skill and resources.

Solovyov's artillerymen blasted a group of people out of the grass with exploding shells.

Then you can hear what seems to be someone waving a samurai sword and shouting something during a lull in the shelling.

"What, a sudden thrust?"

Good heavens, they've taken Solovyov from the level of the late Edo period to the level of mine warfare in one fell swoop.

But Japanese soldiers had one advantage: when they charged into battle, they were truly willing to engage in hand-to-hand combat and were genuinely unafraid of death.

This kind of stubbornness is probably not found elsewhere.

"Send flag signals, and fire only when the enemy is within a hundred Arshin. The archers of Ancheng should use the red flag as their signal."

Zhao Lian is just a bystander here. Although he has the highest status in the entire fleet, he is just a wealthy prince.

But after experiencing it, he remained very calm. "With the general's decisive command, our army will surely win this battle."

As they spoke, the Satsuma soldiers, spears in hand and swords in hand, charged forward.

As for the arquebusiers, they were still far behind.

They weren't like the Russian army, with their orderly ranks.

The Satsuma Domain's chief administrator, seeing that the Russian army was entirely equipped with arquebuses, devised a plan to launch a surprise attack.

Solovyov wanted to curse this guy for being reckless. Did he expect me to teach him the Shimazu family's ancestral "entrapment" tactics?
Then, when these guys who were "stabbing" got within 70 meters, they were met with a barrage of free fire from the Russian army, and many of them were knocked to the ground.

The Satsuma soldiers behind them continued their assault, trying to take advantage of the arquebusiers' equipment, which took time to reload and was always faster with swords at close range.

However, the rifle that Solovyov was working on was characterized by its rapid reloading and the principle of equality for all.

They were soon attacked again, and many of them rushed to within about 30 meters before being knocked to the ground by a hail of bullets from Russian soldiers.

Even the most ferocious and warlike Satsuma savages among the Japanese samurai could not withstand such fierce shooting.

Moreover, those here are not regular troops from Satsuma. Although the number of people gathered by the Banbugyo is large, they are not very useful.

As for the subsequent arquebusiers, they would have to endure a round of artillery fire from the Russian army before they could fire.

The fleeing Satsuma soldiers were pinned to the ground from behind by Ansei's archers wielding eight-strike bows.

"Can we give chase now?"

"The cavalry should be sent out to quickly end the battle. Also, be careful that wounded soldiers don't get up from the ground and fight back."

Solovyov always had some psychological trauma regarding the small-scale operation. They didn't have any hand grenades; hand grenades were standard equipment for the Russian army. They had even given a small-scale demonstration to the Jiaqing Emperor and the civil and military officials of the Qing Dynasty during a previous exercise.

As for the Japanese resisting to the death, this kind of resistance is not the case everywhere; it is particularly severe in some parts of Kyushu.

Solovyov's arrangement was not wrong. After firing the arrows, the Eight Banner soldiers wearing cotton armor came over to clean up the battlefield.

Of course, it's possible to capture them alive.

Russia and the Qing Dynasty had clashed on the battlefield before, with Siberian Cossacks versus the Eight Banners, Fujian rattan shield soldiers, and Goryeo musketeers. This was their first time fighting together.

Soon, the Samoans labeled them Samoyeds.

Even the tunes played during the march were special tunes used exclusively by the Satsuma Domain.

Delin's side is going to cut off people's heads. Besides that, they're looking to see if there's anyone who can still be saved and if they can be extracted some information using the Ten Cruelest Tortures of the Qing Dynasty or the Great Memory Restoration Technique.

The Japanese couldn't explain why they cut off people's heads. Ordinary soldiers would cut off heads and throw them into pits, then burn the bodies to prevent the spread of disease.

These heads should be checked to see if there are any high-ranking officials among them.

Then, according to the confessions of the surviving Satsuma soldiers, all the local officials and magistrates of Satsuma were revealed here.

Yes, everything was cleaned up. As for those who escaped, they hurriedly headed towards Shuri Castle.

Upon hearing this, King Shanghao was first surprised, then overjoyed, and finally worried.

The heavenly soldiers, leading the southern barbarians to form a team, were truly terrifying in their power.

After the two sides lined up in formation, the Salvadoran army's fighting capacity was completely destroyed in about twenty minutes.

After deliberation, the three officials and the regent also felt that they could not let these Japanese people in. Therefore, Ryukyu's pitiful fighting force had to be used to close the gates of Shuri Castle and take strict precautions.

As for Kume Village, when they encountered defeated Satsuma foot soldiers and samurai, they were shown the power of the villager's hoe without any hesitation.

The Satsuma people have always been synonymous with explosive combat power on the battlefield, and this time they experienced it firsthand. Back in Azuchi and Momoyama, the Shimazu rarely encountered such a "rakubu-shou" (a type of hunting expedition).

This is not surprising, because although there are quite a few Ryukyuans in Kume Village, there is also a considerable number of Han Chinese from Fujian who have settled there.

Solovyov himself did not expect such a result of 800+ to 0.

He not only remembered the melody of this Meiji folk song, but he could also sing it. It was clear that he still retained memories of the past, and he must have spent a lot of time on it.

As for the 608 Banners leading the way, followed by 2,000 Russian troops, and in the middle were Russian generals, mid- to high-ranking officers, and Qing princes and ministers, this formation was something the Ryukyu people had never seen before.

But why are there barbarian soldiers coming along from the Celestial Empire?
Some Ryukyu residents even referenced a pun, namely that Russian military uniforms, except for the black uniforms of the Guards Jäger, are all green jackets.

"Does this also count as being part of the pro-independence camp?"

When Solovyov found out, he was both amused and exasperated.

Meanwhile, Russian musicians were playing Meiji tunes in the background; they had just defeated the Saka rebels, and the troops were all government soldiers.

This is going to be incredibly fun.

As for these Russian soldiers, they were very curious about the Japanese samurai swords.

While we were cleaning up the battlefield, many Qing and Russian soldiers were collecting intact samurai swords and spears.

However, the Russians felt that the wakizashi, a small knife used for seppuku (ritual suicide), had more uses, so they collected more of them.

On the Qing army's side, the Japanese swords they collected were purely as backup weapons.

Although the Japanese sword's manufacturing process was outdated, it was still a relatively effective weapon against unarmored soldiers.

Although the Eight Banners preferred horseback archery, they would still give high praise when they had a good sword.

When the Qing army arrived, Shuri Castle quickly opened its gates.

Then Zhaolian and Solovyov, along with the Qing and Russian officers and soldiers below them, the Russian diplomats accompanying the army, and the Qing civil officials who came to deliver the edict, witnessed a scene that puzzled them.

King Shanghao personally led the Ryukyu officials out to greet him, and knelt on the ground, weeping uncontrollably, raising his hands and shouting "Long live the King!" three times.

Zhaolian was somewhat prepared, after all, the Qing Dynasty was the Celestial Empire, and this time it could be considered as removing a scourge from Ryukyu. The Satsuma Domain would be expelled in the future, and a major evil regime would be eliminated.

As for Solovyov, he thought he had wandered onto the wrong film set!

He was just a Russian infantry general; don't make such a big fuss about him.

Of course, there were also some young girls among them, who were probably shrine maidens known locally in Ryukyu as "shrine maidens".

There were also some elderly women inside, who were probably older members of the Zhu family. Whether true or not, there were as many as thirty-three families.

In modern times, only the small island where the King Shang once worshipped remains, where the ritual performers still operate.

Speaking of which, some of the young female priestesses in Ryukyu are quite beautiful.

However, Solovyov was also aware that he couldn't act rashly on this trip.

After all, his wife went to Macau, and if she brought back a woman from South Korea when they met up, that wouldn't do.

(End of this chapter)