The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 573: It’s Wrong to Do or Not

"Boom!" A massive solid bomb smashed into the whitewashed brick wall of Hyogo Tsu Castle. After a violent tremor, the wall, which had been bombarded with hundreds of shells over the past three days, collapsed with a loud bang.

"Your Majesty, get on board!" Before the dust had settled, Yamajiro, a member of the volunteer team who had been waiting nearby and wearing a Japanese-style conical hat, immediately rushed over howling.

Yamajiro and his men had charged seven times in four days. From the fifth time, even he could clearly feel the weakness of the Aizu clan's soldiers. Perhaps this time, the Aizu clan's samurai would not be able to defend the city.

It is indeed impossible to hold on.

The lord of Aizu Domain, Matsudaira Yoshinori, knelt on the castle tower, the tallest building in Hyogo-zu, looking at Osaka in the distance with anger on his face.

"The shogun will not send troops. He is surrounded by greedy people. Let's retreat before the castle tower is taken!"

"Hayi, Dianyang, we have to be worthy of the Kubo. We must leave some fire for the Aizu clan." The retainers of the Aizu clan certainly agreed with this opinion. It would be dark in another hour, and it was a good time to evacuate.

However, Matsudaira Yoshinori's expression did not improve much, because the Aizu clan had more than 2,000 people in Hyogo-zu. Under the cover of his trusted samurai, as the lord of the clan, and relying on his familiarity with the geography, it was indeed very likely that they could break out. But only they could leave, and most of the others could not leave.

On the fifth day of July, the Chinese Zhendong Army captured Hyogozu (Kobe). Of the 2,300 Aizu clan soldiers, only the clan lord Matsudaira Yoshinori and a hundred others managed to break out.

After losing the frontier position of Hyogozu, the Zhendong Army quickly continued to capture Arima Yushan, Nishinomiya Castle Town and other places, opening the gates of Osaka.

On July 11, the 35,000-man Chinkō Army was divided into three armies and approached Osaka from the west and south, confronting the shogunate army across the Yodo River, the largest river in Osaka.

While Reinstein was making his deployment, Zheng Jinshui ordered his men to spread the manifesto he personally drafted from Osaka to Kyoto, in an attempt to further undermine the morale of the shogunate army.

When Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu received the letter in Osaka, he was stunned for a moment. He said to the daimyo around him:
"In their manifesto, the Tang people claimed their emperor was the emperor of the entire Eastern world, but we, the Land of the Rising Sun, have never acknowledged that. It is truly infuriating to have this status imposed on us."

Tokugawa Ieharu's words were really a bit unconvincing. The word "acknowledgement" has always been very flexible. If you admit it after being beaten, it is also an admission.

Moreover, for the Japanese, surrendering after being defeated has always been an acceptable option for them.

Wakanen Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was standing by, had just been beaten to a pulp by the black cavalry of the Zhendong Army, but in order to prevent Tokugawa Ieharu from becoming more and more insecure, he quickly changed the subject.

"Don't worry about what the Tang people say. As long as we win the battle, whatever they say will be meaningless.

For now, we still have the advantage in numbers. The Yodo River is a natural barrier. We should draw our best troops and gather them along the river, luring the Tang army to attack. Our superior numbers will offset the Tang army's sharp artillery. If we can defeat them once, the situation can still be salvaged."

Although Matsudaira Sadanobu suffered a loss, he still insisted that the only way to win was to take the initiative to fight while morale was still low and use numbers to win.

It is always difficult for people to believe things beyond their own cognition. Although Japan at that time had good education and active thinking, they did not know much about the weapons that best represented modern technology.

Even decades later, the people in Japan who knew the most about Western military equipment were the southwestern daimyo represented by the Satsuma and Choshu clans.

The daimyo in the Kanto region, located in the northeast of Japan, didn't know much about these things. Many of them still thought that their current weapons and equipment were still at the level of matchlock guns like the Tanegashima gun that appeared more than a hundred years ago.

So although Matsudaira Sadanobu was defeated once, he still believed that the gap in weapons between the two sides was not enough to make up for the gap in numbers, and it was possible to win if he took the initiative to seek a fight now.

However, this strategy, which seemed normal to him, immediately brought Matsudaira Sadanobu loud ridicule.

He heard the opposition constantly using the bruises on his head from the beating he had just received to prove that his theory was unreliable.

This made Matsudaira Sadanobu a little upset. He stood up and roared, "Since ancient times, I have never heard of an army of 100,000 soldiers needing to defend a city against an enemy force of more than 30,000.

Don't even mention the Tang people's sharp guns and cannons. Even if they have more guns and cannons, can they make up for such a huge difference in numbers and make the natural barrier of the Yodo River useless? "

What Matsudaira Sadanobu said was not wrong. No matter how you look at it, it is impossible for 100,000 people to defend a city while 30,000 people would besiege it.

But he didn't expect that the Lord of Kuroba Domain, Ozeki Masusuke, would be better at finding excuses than him, "Even if the situation is as Matsudaira-kun said, it has always been the case that the majority besieges the minority, and it is not easy to succeed.

Now that my military strength is three times that of the Tang people, if we hold the fortified city, won’t it be even more difficult for them to defeat us?

If that's the case, why take the risk of attacking? Isn't it a better choice to hold on and not go out?"

Matsudaira Sadanobu almost vomited blood. This angle was so damn tricky.

And before he could even open his mouth to object, Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu had already made the decision.

The disheartened Shogun, who was in his forties, was already afraid of suffering a crushing defeat in a field battle. Since he could win by defending, why would he take the initiative to attack?

"Let's just hold on to Osaka. Once the strategy is decided, don't keep changing it." Tokugawa Ieharu made the final decision, and the strategy was set.

Matsudaira Sadanobu could only accept his fate. Although he always felt that something was wrong, he was unable to convince others.

. . . .

Yodo River, as the main river in Osaka, has many tributaries and the water volume is still abundant.

The original floating bridge on the river had been completely destroyed by the shogunate army. If tens of thousands of troops wanted to cross the river, they had no choice but to rebuild the bridge. This was also what the shogunate army most wanted the Zhendong Army to do.

That's just as they wished. Reinstein had a large number of artillery pieces and was not afraid of the bombardment from the small cannons of the shogunate army on the other side of the Yodo River. He could easily build a pontoon bridge.

On the contrary, the shogunate army, although they were determined to defend Osaka, defending the city was not simply a matter of holding on. The morale of the people in the city was the most critical factor.

If the natural barrier of the Yodo River and the artillery positions of the shogunate army on the banks of the Yodo River were easily captured again, the blow to the shogunate army would be more severe, even fatal.

This is what Matsudaira Sadanobu is most worried about, because defending a city requires not only strong city walls, but also strong people's hearts.

The shogunate army was three times larger than the Zhendong Army, but they did not even have the courage to fight, which was very damaging to morale.

On July 14, Reinstein began to command the army to cross the Yodo River. As expected, the shogunate army chose to hold its ground. Only the shogunate army's Ayoshi-tai, with a thousand men, and Sendai clan soldiers, with 700 men, bombarded the Zhendong Army from the riverside forts and artillery platforms.

The shogunate's artillery were all very old-fashioned naval guns. Either the caliber was too small to cause much damage, or they were too heavy to adjust their direction in time. Although they looked like a lively battle, they actually had little effect.

The result was that the Zhendong Army, which had originally been conducting only a trial, successfully crossed 3,000 people in two days and established a foothold on the east bank of the Yodo River, and in turn formed a divided encirclement of the shogunate's fortresses and artillery batteries on the shore.

This time, Tokugawa Ieharu was dumbfounded again, as was Ōzeki Masusuke, who insisted on defending the city. They had never expected the Chinto Army to cross the river so easily. Now, besides the natural barrier of the Yodo River being lost in two days, the Shogunate's direct Ayoshitai and Sendai clan troops who were surrounded were relatively elite troops in the Shogunate army.

We can't abandon these people again like we abandoned the Aizu soldiers.

Matsudaira Sadanobu was very excited now. The feeling of being the only one sober while everyone else was drunk and that you were all the babes was very intoxicating.

"Then we must rescue the Zhaoyi team and the Sendai samurai. Let's go! We have three times the number of Tang invaders and we can definitely defeat them.

Besides, the Tang invaders only crossed the river with a few thousand men. We are not three times as many as them, but ten times as many. Let's go!"

Tokugawa Ieharu didn't have many ideas to begin with. He used his not-so-bright brain to think about it. The previous two times he had believed in the conservatives like Ozeki Masujiro, but it turned out that he was wrong.

If Ozeki Masusuke and others were wrong, then Matsudaira Sadanobu, who disagreed with them, must be right.

"Alright, let's send out our troops. Select 30,000 of the strongest warriors and wipe out the Tang invaders in one fell swoop!"

Well, actually, what Tokugawa Ieharu didn't know was that both defending and attacking were wrong, because the gap in combat power between the two sides was too big.

The only difference is that if you stick to your defense, you will lose the battle slowly and can hold out for a while, but if you take the initiative to attack, the shogunate army will quickly lose its combat effectiveness.

As the sky was just getting light, a comfortable cool breeze blew from the east, making people feel a little better.

Although the volcanic ash brought by the volcanic eruption will block the sunlight and cause cold damage, if agricultural production is not taken into consideration, this kind of weather is still very comfortable, especially in summer.

For example, it is the seventh month of the lunar calendar now, but it is not particularly hot.

The first to cross the Yodo River were the most elite troops of the Liwei Army, led by Chen Qiuze, the commander of the Liwei Army and a descendant of Chen Zilong, a great loyal minister in the late Ming Dynasty.

Ever since he wiped out the Eight Banners stationed in Hangzhou with a small force, Chen Qiuze has switched from being a civil official to a military official, and is currently the number one military general from a gentry background in Jiangnan.

"There are quite a lot of flags, and the formation is quite neat." Chen Qiuze put down the telescope in his hand. The shogunate army seen from Osaka Castle and its vicinity was flying the family crests of various fiefdoms and families. It was a black mass and looked quite intimidating.

"Contract our forces and give up besieging the Japanese fortress. Let's hold it first. Once the army builds the pontoon bridge, the Japanese will be dead."

Chen Qiuze made arrangements quickly. He only had more than 3,000 people now, and there were at least 30,000 people on the opposite side. So retreating to the hill to defend it was the most correct choice.

When Matsudaira Sadanobu saw this scene, he became even more convinced that his decision was correct. If he could capture these thousands of people, he would win the first battle. And if the shogunate army won the first battle on their home ground, their morale would be boosted and they would definitely be able to hold on.

Lead bullets rained down on the attacking shogunate army like raindrops. With the help of fixed ammunition, the power of more than 2,000 flintlock rifles was actually quite high.

The main attackers were the Yonezawa clan soldiers. These warriors, armed with matchlock guns called teppo, charged forward recklessly.

It was indeed very heroic, but unfortunately, many of the iron cannon team members in the front row were knocked to the ground before they could even open fire.

Moreover, because they underestimated the power of the Zhendong Army's flintlock rifles, there were too few iron cannon team members in the front row and too many hand-to-hand combat soldiers in the back.

As a result, after the front row of iron cannon team members were basically killed, the warriors who were used for hand-to-hand combat in the back had no weapons to fight back and could only endure the beating.

"Charge forward, the Tang invaders' cannons are powerful, only by charging forward can we have hope!" At the critical moment, the leader of the Yonezawa clan roared loudly, drew out his samurai sword, and rushed forward first.

Encouraged by him, the Yonezawa clan foot soldiers, who no longer had the protection of the arquebus team members, also roared and began to charge in person.

But the Zhendong Army on the mountain was already prepared. They were very experienced and suddenly reduced the frequency of shooting, giving the charging enemy a false hope.

When the enemy rushed to about sixty or seventy meters, six cannons loaded with buckshot suddenly opened fire.

In an instant, the foot soldiers of Yonezawa Domain felt as if they had hit a hornet's nest. The sound of thousands of shotgun shells spewing out was like hornets coming out of a cage.

The creature in the front didn't even let out a scream, and its body was shattered into pieces just like the samurai sword in its hand.

All the Yonezawa clan foot soldiers in the first row were swept by this steel storm, and hundreds of them died in an instant.

Before they could react, the Zhendong Army on the mountain launched a counterattack from their superior position.

The grenadiers dropped bombs from a great height, causing heavy casualties among the remaining Yonezawa clan foot soldiers. By the time the flintlock musketeers with fixed bayonets rushed to within hand-to-hand combat distance, the Yonezawa clan foot soldiers had completely lost their desire to fight.

Matsudaira Sadanobu watched all this with a furious look on his face, but fortunately he had a plan. Seeing that the Chindō Army had directly driven the Yonezawa clan's foot soldiers off the mountain, he waved his hand, and the 800 arquebusiers of the shogunate's most elite Koga artillery corps lined up and moved forward.

"Gentlemen, come closer and shoot at them!" Mao Xiangsheng roared. He was the Shangwei officer rushing in the front and immediately set an example.

The soldiers of the 17th Regiment of the Liwei Army, who had experienced many battles and had not had much rest in recent years, immediately formed a line formation when they heard the shout.

The corner of Matsudaira Sadanobu's eye twitched suddenly. He didn't expect the enemy to form their formation so quickly.

At eighty meters, the Koga artillery group opened fire first, but because they could not form a formation and fire a dense barrage of bullets, the power at eighty meters was not great, and they only used their matchlock guns to knock down the first twenty or thirty people of the Liwei Army intermittently.

Then the Liwei Army stepped forward in unison and fired two rounds of very fierce volleys. In an instant, the Koga Group, who had just been wearing conspicuous military uniforms and red hats, was immediately overwhelmed by the hail of bullets and fell down in a large number.

Matsudaira Sadanobu's eyes were bloodshot. This was the most elite Koga artillery team of the shogunate. These were samurai with knowledge and skills of dozens of stones, and they were knocked to the ground like pigs and sheep.

However, just as he was about to reluctantly send more men, the soldiers of the 17th Regiment of the Liwei Army had already retreated in unison under the cover of black smoke.

This feeling made Matsudaira Sadanobu extremely uncomfortable, as if he had been accumulating power to punch someone but only hit the air.

"It doesn't matter. I still have tens of thousands of troops. Ten of us can fight one. I don't believe I can't charge forward." The unfavorable battle completely triggered Matsudaira Sadanobu's stubborn nerves, as if he was suddenly possessed by Nogi Maresuke from later generations.

This broken island country is prone to producing such stupid and stubborn people.

"Jiro, you will lead the troops yourself. For the glory of the warriors of the Land of the Rising Sun, launch a desperate assault. Don't be afraid of casualties. You must defeat these Tang bandits!"

The crazy Matsudaira Sadanobu even took his own son with him.

(End of this chapter)