The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 334 Decisive Battle in the Country of Sakura (7)

Shang Kexi stood beside the artillerymen, looking down, with mixed feelings in his heart.

Ding Yi's way of fighting with soldiers and horses is completely different from what he has seen before. Neither the Ming army nor the Houjin army fought like this.

But he proved with facts that this way of fighting is very suitable for the Dongjiang army, at least when defending, it can minimize casualties.

Moreover, it is extremely scary.

Right now he was standing on the highest point, above which was the artillery emplacement, and every gun was surrounded by walls and sandbags, with only the muzzle exposed.

Under the artillery, under Shang Kexi's feet, there are three layers of sandbags, and further down, there are big trees that have been cut down.

The big tree stands on the ditch, forming a good protection. All gunmen and soldiers are resting in this ditch right now.

"Ni Niang's." Shang Kexi looked left and right, and burst out, no matter how many cannons were on the opposite side, it was useless, and they couldn't hit the artillery and blunderbuss at all.

The bow and arrow projectile after close range is also useless.

Right now, the battle has just ended, and Dongjiang soldiers are picking up the opponent's shells and arrows thrown on the sandbags.

It's like borrowing arrows from a straw boat. Ding Yi's fortification can not only protect his brother, but also pick up the opponent's shells and arrows for his own use.

After he came down from the artillery position, he came to Ding Yi. Several craftsmen were talking to Ding Yi with shells from the coalition army.

"They are shells made of iron and lead. They have a slightly larger caliber than ours. After heating and polishing, we can also use them." The craftsmen surrounded Ding Yi and said.

Ding Yi nodded with a smile, quite happy in his heart.

Because I made the right defensive decision.

Iwami Yinshan is a good place, there are iron furnaces, craftsmen and so on, which is why Ding Yi wants to occupy this place.

As long as food is available, there are craftsmen and people here to make shells, lead bullets, and prepare granular gunpowder.

Even if the Japanese army comes to attack, he can defend it for ten or twenty years with a few thousand soldiers.

Before setting foot in Japan, he had also carefully considered whether to directly fight the Japanese in the field, or stick to Yinshan and wait for the Japanese army to attack.

After thinking about it again and again, I decided to use defense as offense.

This is something he has carefully considered from several aspects.

First of all, Japan has gone through the baptism of the Warring States Period, and finally the unification after the Sekigahara War. The soldiers and horses that survived are all elites who are good at field battles. Basically, before the Meiji Restoration, the strongest troops in Japanese history were here. period.

Tokugawa Iemitsu also relied on his strong army to complete the great cause of unifying the world a few years later, conquering all the daimyos and feudal lords in the country, and becoming the emperor of Japan on the bright side.

And he closed the country after that, and there were fewer and fewer civil wars. The elite who were able to recruit and fight were gradually aging and dying. Japan never had stronger soldiers than this group.

This is similar to all dynasties in China, that is, the army was the strongest when the country was founded, and then it was not as good as the next generation, and it got worse and worse.

And Ding Yi tried to reduce casualties as much as possible, so the losses in field battles would definitely far exceed those in defensive battles.

Secondly, he likes to set up a battlefield in a place he chooses when he fights. In Japan, he is not familiar with the place. Although he has a Japanese guide, it is definitely not as good as the shogunate allied forces fighting at home. The choice of battlefield is a problem. The artillery he relies on is more suitable. Defensive, athletic ability is not strong, wandering around with so many cannons, looking for a place to fight the Japanese army, it is definitely unrealistic, in case of rainy days again, it may not be possible to find a place to defend.

Third, once the battlefield is within Hirado or other vassal states, it will inevitably affect too many people in Japan.

He sent troops this time under the pretext that the merchant ship was sunk, and he promised to take care of the Japanese people in front of Matsuga, all in order to tell the whole of Japan that I only fight the shogunate and do not want to harass the people, so as to win the reputation for myself, and then further strengthen in Japan The ability to move, develop Japanese traitors, arrange strongholds, and prepare for a larger-scale and comprehensive attack on Japan in the future.

If the local people are struggling because of the field battle with the Japanese army now, and the Japanese people will hate Ding Yi, and the people will think that they are invading enemies, and it is easy to stand on the side of the shogunate, then this battle may last longer , could not achieve Ding Yi's goal of a quick battle.

In fact, after Ding Yi boarded Yadao City, he found that his decision was right.

There have been many battles in the history of Ishijian Yinshan. There are three castles built on it, guarding three directions. Defending, because their navy occupied Tomonoura, and if the Japanese army wanted to attack, they had to climb over the mountain, which was very difficult and almost impossible.)
If it weren't for the fact that the Tokugawa shogunate hadn't fought here in the past few years, the local military equipment was loosely deployed, and Ding Yi's navy landed, Ding Yi would not have been able to break it with one blow.

If Ding Yi leads his troops out to find the main force of the coalition army to fight in the field, he must stay at Ishijian Yinshan. If he stays too much, he will have fewer soldiers and horses in the field. It will be very difficult for Ding Yi to break through.

While Ding Yi was thinking about this, Shang Kexi and other generals came to Ding Yi.

"Lord Ding is really wise to take defense as offense." Shang Kexi laughed and said, "I thought before that it would be better to take the initiative to attack and defeat the coalition forces in field battles."

"What a fool." Zhao Dashan murmured: "If the devil loses once, he will run around. Should we chase after him? With so many cannons, how can we chase after him?" He heard Ding Yi call devil, and he also imitated it Devil.

"How many soldiers to bring in the field is also a problem." Xi Laojing also nodded: "If they divide into several groups, one of them entangles us, and the other comes to attack Yinshan, it will be difficult for us to take care of both."

Zhao Dashan said again: "Our cavalry is smaller than theirs. If we win the field battle, the result may not be very good, but as long as we guard, the more they attack, the more they will surely die."

When it comes to Zhao Dashan's key point, whether it's with Hou Jin or the Japanese army, Ding Yi has few cavalry now, even if he wins the field battle, the opponent can retreat calmly to ensure that the main force is intact.

But in a defensive battle, the harder the opponent attacks, the more people will die naturally.

Listening to the generals' discussion, Ding Yi felt that everyone could understand the reason for his defense: "Brother Shang played very well just now, tell everyone, after today's fight, what experience do you have?"

Shang Kexi thought about it carefully, he knew that he joined the Lushun Ministry halfway, so he definitely cannot be regarded as Ding Yi's confidant for the time being.

Ding Yi let him command today is considered a very special treatment.

"Our artillery fire is sharp, and the firecrackers hit far and densely. The coalition forces have nothing to do with us on land." Shang Kexi said: "But I see that they just dug holes around, and they may want to learn from Dalinghe's post-golden strategy." Serve, trap us here."

"I look at the situation and casualties in today's battle. Our [-] soldiers seem to be too much. If we only need to guard the stone and see the silver mountain, two to three thousand will be enough. If you are more stable, three thousand is about the same."

"Not to mention the large amount of food consumed by people, if Japan cuts off our supplies at sea, we will have to withdraw."

Ding Yi listened to his words and nodded. It is gratifying, as expected, he can stand alone.

This time he went ashore with more than 7000 soldiers and horses, guarding three cities and one road, guarding all four capable roads of Ishijian Yinshan.

When the fight started just now, more than 1000 people were used, and there was no movement in other directions. This side had the most soldiers and horses, and only about half of them went to the battlefield.

Theoretically, three thousand soldiers and horses will definitely be able to defend it, and it will definitely be no problem to defend it for a month or two.

(End of this chapter)