Cutting 1719

Chapter 646 Edo Chaos
Edo Castle was originally the residence of the wealthy Edo clan, hence the name.In the first year of Changroku, Ota Michikan built Edo Castle here, and later it was taken by Hojo. After the Battle of Odawara, Tokugawa Ieyasu officially entered the Kanto, with Edo as his residence, and opened the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Edo Castle, which has been safe for more than 100 years, has naturally developed very rapidly due to the Tokugawa Shogunate. The population has exceeded 50, and it has become the most prosperous city in Japan.

Of course, for the current Great Chu Fleet, Edo itself is just a meat bun with thin skin and big stuffing, and the fortifications of the city are not very strong. Coupled with the large number of wooden buildings in the city, it is not very difficult to destroy it things.

But the problem is that the destruction alone is not enough to make the shogunate bow its head. Only the actual occupation can achieve effective control. The problem is that the current number of soldiers accompanying the Great Chu Fleet is only more than [-]. It is naturally not a problem to win the Uraga Fort, but Going further into Edo was more difficult.

After all, there are more than [-] shogunate soldiers alone, plus other samurai organized from Edo City, there are at least [-] to [-] available troops-even though the Great Chu Defense Force is currently strong, the difference in strength is too large. When the disparity is great, we have to carefully consider the feasibility of this strategy.

"Our army needs to occupy the Uraga Fort first, further control Kanagawa, and prepare for future land battles."

After all, Qiu Ze gave up his ambition of using a fleet to occupy a country. He decided to continue to use the previous strategy to control the Uraga waterway, and then cooperated with the army to carry two divisions to Edo, so as to achieve control of Edo.

Of course, choosing this plan means that the navy itself is still playing a supporting role, which makes the navy somewhat unwilling - after all, in the eyes of the Privy Council, the navy can only serve as an auxiliary force, but cannot really dominate In a war, only the Army can carry out the strategic purpose of the Privy Council.

On the second day of November, after thoroughly mopping up all the shogunate warships near the Uraga waterway, Qiu Ze decisively ordered to land from the side. The advance troops for the landing consisted of a battalion of about 600 people. They would be under the cover of naval fire. Capture the Uraga Fort.

Originally, there were more than 1000 Japanese ashigaru and hundreds of iron gunners in the direction of Uraga. It was not a big problem to defend them. However, under the naval guns of the Dachu Navy, these people stubbornly held up half Shi Chen, and then retreated due to too heavy casualties, leaving only a large number of bomb craters and corpses in place.

"kill!"

When the marine battalion accompanying the army landed with dozens of small boats, the artillery fire on the warships also launched a complete suppression capability. Under the overwhelming bombardment, none of the soldiers dared to approach the range of the naval guns. I could only watch helplessly as the boat rowed to the shore, and then launched an attack on the Uraga Fort.

The charging posture of hundreds of people was not very shocking at first, but for the soldiers in the Uraga Fort at this time, this scene seemed so desperate, because under the heavy artillery fire, their number was only Dozens of people were killed, but only a dozen of them could really move.

"General onboard!"

After all, the dozen or so shogunate soldiers did not want to die for no apparent reason. Holding the iron cannons in their hands, they formed an formation and stood on the fort. It's downright hopeless.

Due to the lack of distance, the Fan soldiers did not choose to shoot at the first time. They were going to wait until the soldiers of the Marine Battalion rushed over to fight. But for the soldiers of Da Chu, the distance of the new muskets in their hands was much higher than that of the Fan soldiers. Therefore, at a distance of two hundred steps, the muskets in their hands had already pulled the trigger.

"Bang bang bang-"

When a burst of clear gunshots rang out, these dozen or so soldiers were shot several times, and they were almost beaten into a sieve, and then they fell to the ground like this, and the brilliance in their eyes gradually faded.

The smooth and unspeakable landing process greatly inspired the soldiers of the Marine Battalion. They rushed into the Uraga Fort. The first thing they did was to lower the flag of the Tokugawa Shogunate above it, and then raised the flag of the Great Chu Army - the red one. The Tuanlong logo is slowly rising on the Uraga Fort.

"Did it fall so soon?"

Tokugawa Yoshimune looked at everything that happened in front of him with binoculars, his eyes were bloodshot, his face was extremely pale, his lips were opened silently, and his whole person fell into a strong atmosphere of failure.

The old Zhong Mizuno Tadyuki was also taken aback by the fall of the Uraga Fort. He naturally understood that the Uraga Fort was not a strong fortress, and it was only a matter of time before the fall of the Uraga Fort. What came out was intriguing enough.

Attacking Edo Castle at this speed, how long can Edo last?

Three months or one month?Don't even need a month?No one knows the answer, but no one dares to bet on the answer.

Because of this, when the Uraga Fortress fell, the people in Edo City could no longer sit still. Whether it was a high-ranking samurai or an ordinary civilian, everyone began to pack their bags and prepare to run away up.

As for sticking to Edo and living and dying with the general?Don't be kidding, the big guys don't have such advanced feelings these days.

"Ask the general to inspect Kyoto and command the army to fight!"

Tadano Mizuno crouched down deeply, he raised his head and said in a low voice: "I am willing to lead the Edo defenders to hold on until the general can drive out the Chu invaders one day. Even if I die, I will be honored!"

Tokugawa Yoshimune hastily held Mizuno Tadano's hands, but his eyes were moist. What a loyal courtier, what a good person, he was even willing to sacrifice his life for the great cause of the Tokugawa family!

"No, this general can't leave right now. After all, Chu Kou is only such a small man, but there are still tens of thousands of troops in Edo City. If this general leaves now, wouldn't it be a joke for everyone in the world?"

After all, Tokugawa Yoshimune is not a real idiot. Of course he understands that it is not yet at the stage of running away. After all, the current strength of the Chu army is indeed not much. If the landing is not 600 people but 6000 people, I am afraid he He didn't have such great confidence, but because of the small number of people at the moment, he saw an opportunity to re-establish the general's authority.

"Mizuno-kun, this general is determined to take back Uraga in order to express Tokugawa's bravery, inspire the hearts of the world, and unite against the Chu bandits."

Tokugawa Yoshimune's eyes were slightly red, he stared at Mizuno Tadyuki in front of him, and said softly: "Whether you win or lose this battle, it is better than fleeing to Kyoto, otherwise how can you convince the public in the future?"

That's right, this is the truth of Tokugawa Yoshimune. As a shogun, he does not have such lofty legal rationality as the emperor. If other powerful vassals replace his status as a general who conquered barbarians, it is not unreasonable-he wants to maintain In order to maintain his status, he must demonstrate the authority of the Tokugawa shogunate, so even if he loses, he must fight such a battle.

Especially at the moment, if Tokugawa Yoshimune wants to promote the combination of public and martial arts, he must protect his authority. If he can defeat Da Chu, he will naturally be able to do whatever he wants with the momentum of victory. Lose authority, then naturally everything will stop talking.

Mizuno Tadyuki could only nod his head. Of course he understood Tokugawa Yoshimune's thoughts, so he had to change his direction and whispered: "The general's words are very reasonable. Nowadays, people in the world are still watching the changes, and the Southwest Qiang Fan is also in a wait-and-see state. If If the general retreats, I'm afraid they won't let it go, but if the general can gather people's hearts, then the shogunate can achieve great things."

After all, it is a gamble, one end of the chip is on the entire Tokugawa shogunate, and the other end of the chip is on the future of the whole of Japan, it is really unbearable to lose.
The next day, Tokugawa Yoshimune ordered the convening of the entire remaining Edo army. Among them, there were only more than 7000 soldiers left in the iron artillery team, more than 1000 people in the ashigaru crowd, and the cavalry team was not damaged at all, and there were still [-] soldiers. Many people lined up in a team and launched an attack in the direction of the Uraga Fort.

At this time, the Uraga Fort has also been strengthened. There are about 1000 people guarding the fort. However, because the fort was originally dilapidated and could not be repaired in a short time, the Chu army only tried their best to defend it. It relies more on naval gun support from the sea.

"Boom--"

Not long after the shogunate army launched the attack, naval gun support on the sea also arrived soon. More than eight sailing warships were arranged in a long horizontal formation, with the gun barrels on one side of the hull facing the direction of the Uraga Fort. The overwhelming bombs fell on the road of the shogunate army's attack like raindrops.

The sound of continuous explosions can almost deafen people's ears, and with the flying iron fragments flying out after the explosion, it almost created a piece of iron rain in the shogunate army, and a puff of blood fell down in an instant, a large number of people Fragments of residual limbs also flew out with the roar, and the cruel war almost made people not even have the slightest reaction.

When the soldiers of the shogunate army fell down like cutting wheat, Tokugawa Yoshimune, who was watching the battle, showed deep horror on his face. He had never seen such an efficient way of killing people, let alone such a cruel battlefield. , He felt his stomach churning and vomiting after just a few glances.

It's not that Tokugawa Yoshimune's psychological quality is not good. In fact, not only him, but even other people feel extremely uncomfortable after seeing it. It is really because the impact of the previous scene is too great.

But for the Chu army stationed in the Uraga Fort, they just feel a little boring. After all, they haven't fired a single shot yet, but the enemy in front has already suffered heavy losses. Come here, it's not enough for the big guys, what's the point of fighting this battle so far?
After a while, the shogunate soldiers finally couldn't bear to die in vain. They collectively began to retreat towards the rear of the formation. The massacre finally came to an end after the artillery hit the range.

"I can't fight anymore."

The expression on Tadano Mizuno's face was a bit strange, and he almost cried without tears: "General, this kind of attack is completely death, we have killed more than 800 people in just one attack just now." .”

Tokugawa Yoshimune's face was extremely pale. He knew military affairs. Although only more than 800 people died, these were the most elite people in the army. Their death was equivalent to almost half of the army's combat power. If other people come to fight, I am afraid that they will not be far away from collapse.

"Let's withdraw troops for the time being, and quickly send envoys to the outside of the city to discuss peace!"

On the fourth day of November, heavy snow fell, and the sound of guns and artillery outside Edo City finally stopped temporarily. It was not because of the effect achieved by Tokugawa Yoshimune's dispatch of envoys, but because both the shogunate and the Chu army ushered in a temporary rest. At this time, neither side wants to continue fighting at this time.

In fact, Qiu Ze also did meet with the envoy sent by Tokugawa Yoshimune, but the two sides still could not agree on one issue. Fang was still unable to give an answer that satisfied Chu Fang.

According to the latest decree of Emperor Ning, this war can end with peace talks, but it must not end in a vague way. First of all, Japan needs a combination of public and military forces, but it must not be annexed by the shogun, nor should it be annexed by the shogun , At that time, Dachu will provide another political plan, and Tokugawa Yoshimune himself and the Tokugawa family will need to live in Nanjing and give up the power of the general forever.

For Tokugawa Yoshimune, it is unbearable for him and the Tokugawa family to give up power forever. He will naturally not agree to this condition before the end of the mountain. Everyone understands that this is only a short truce, and when the reinforcements from the Chu army arrive in Edo, a new war will naturally be launched.

On the one hand, Tokugawa Yoshimune was preparing to run away, but on the other hand, he still did not give up his idea of ​​peace talks. However, he replaced the original diplomat Yoshino Ryohei, and directly asked the old Naka Mizumaki Seyuki to go to sea, and repeatedly bargained with the Chu army to fight for peace talks. can lead to a better negotiation outcome.

At the same time, the southwestern feudal lords finally gave up the idea of ​​waiting and watching. They organized a 2-strong southwest coalition army, led by the Satsuma clan and launched an attack in the direction of Kyoto, but they were not purely for supporting the Chu army. The main thing is that they also have their own set of small nine-nines.

Although the Satsuma clan is the head of the Southwest coalition forces, they can't really command the coalition forces after all. Among them, the lords of the Changzhou clan are descendants of the Maori family and belong to the orthodox nobles. Therefore, they have a high prestige in the public. They hope to re-establish the prestige of the public. Therefore, I want to play the card of 'respecting the king and fighting the barbarians', and use the emperor to check and balance other vassals.

The Tosa and Hizen domains themselves are not very strong, and they are also ignorant in terms of political stance. They not only want to rely on the strongest Satsuma domain to gain benefits, but also hope that the Changzhou domain can muddy the water so that they can fish in troubled waters— ——Therefore, such a southwestern coalition army, which can be called a make-up number, can match the shogunate that has been hit hard.

(End of this chapter)