I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 1184 Kondo Isami and Toudou Heisuke are shelled; Serizawa Kamo is hit by a bullet.
"Captain Inoue!"

Sagara Sozo immediately noticed that Inoue Genzaburo was injured. Without thinking, he rushed over and caught him just before he fell to the ground.

"I, I'm fine..."

"With this amount of bleeding, you don't look like you're alright."

As Sagara Sozo spoke in a deep voice, he deftly pulled a roll of burlap from his pocket and tied it tightly around Inoue Genzaburo's left thigh to slow the loss of blood.

The femoral artery is located inside the thigh. A ruptured femoral artery can cause massive bleeding, which is extremely dangerous!
Judging from the amount of bleeding, it was fortunate that the bullet did not sever Inoue Genzaburo's femoral artery or break his leg bone.

In such a fierce battlefield, being hit by stray bullets is commonplace; even a strongman like Inoue Genzaburo would find it difficult to protect himself.

Although the bleeding is not yet dangerous, it should not be underestimated. Without immediate treatment, there is still a risk to her life!

Sagara Sozo turned to look at a soldier next to him:
"Quickly take Captain Inoue to the rear!"

Without daring to delay, the other party nodded solemnly and hurriedly carried Inoue Genzaburo on their backs, then turned and ran away.

"Wait... I can't leave yet..."

Inoue Genzaburo struggled on the soldier's back, wanting to stay on the front line, but the weakness caused by massive blood loss left him with no strength left to even speak loudly.

After watching Inoue Genzaburo leave, Sagara Sozo turned his gaze away, staring intently at the British soldiers still unleashing a barrage of bullets in the distance.

Suddenly, a loud shout rang out:
"Damn it! Fight them!"

A militiaman raised his sword high, charged out of the ranks, and pounced on the enemy lines with overwhelming momentum!
His bravery inspired the others.

"There's nothing to be afraid of!"

"The enemy's reload time is very slow! As long as you rush fast enough, you won't get hit!"

"Go on!"

In the blink of an eye, a dozen militiamen followed closely behind, shouting and running, swarming towards the British soldiers' gun barrels!

Upon seeing this, Xiang Le Zong San's pupils constricted slightly.

He was both angry and anxious about this group of militiamen who disobeyed orders and acted on their own initiative, and he quickly shouted:

"Wait! Come back now!"

He issued a warning immediately.

Unfortunately... it was too late.

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom!
One by one, blood blossoms burst forth!
The militiamen who charged into the enemy lines became sitting ducks! Countless bullets riddled them with holes!

Those who were lucky enough to survive were terrified and scrambled back the way they came.

Sagara Sozo gritted his teeth, his face growing even darker...

……

……

Otsu Castle, the eastern wall—

A messenger hurriedly ran towards Qingdeng.

"My lord! Captain Inoue is wounded!"

Before Aoto could respond, Kondo Isami, standing to the side, widened his eyes first:

"What? Where is Uncle Yuan injured? How badly is he hurt?"

The messenger succinctly stated the situation as he knew it.

After learning the general situation, a heavy cloud gathered over Kondo Isami's face.
He was naturally filled with grief and indignation at the loss of a close family member.

But he quickly suppressed his grief and anger, transforming from "Kondo Isami of the Shieikan" back into "Kondo, the commander of the Shinsengumi".

Inoue Genzaburo was a mainstay of the Shinsengumi, and his injury and withdrawal from the battle would inevitably have a very negative impact on the upcoming battles.

Therefore, Kondo Isami immediately turned his head and said to Aoto in a deep voice:

"Qingdeng, we must send a new capable officer to take over the defense of Beicheng as soon as possible!"

Qing Deng replied without hesitation:
"Yong, take A-Yi and Pingzhu to the North Wall. From this moment on, you will be in charge of guarding the North Wall."

The sudden and important appointment startled Kondo Isami, but he quickly recovered and solemnly said, "Understood!" before turning around to carry out Aoto's orders.

He had only taken a few steps when Qingdeng suddenly called out to him:
"Yong, I wish you great success."

"Yes, Tachibana-kun, I wish you great success!"

No sooner had Kondo Isami left than Mai anxiously looked for Aoto.

"Qingdeng! The enemy has changed their tactics! They're no longer engaging us in hand-to-hand combat, but instead intend to use firearms to suppress us!"

Qing Deng said softly, his face expressionless:

"Well, I see it."

Directly in front of his line of sight, a brand new, large hole stretched across the east wall!

Just like the north wall, the east wall, also riddled with holes, was powerless to withstand the intense artillery fire of the British army!

About half an hour ago, accompanied by a huge explosion and collapse, countless bricks and stones fell from the east wall like raindrops, creating a gap that was longer and larger than yesterday!

The British soldiers who came to attack the east wall unleashed a barrage of bullets, refusing to engage in close combat again.

Forced to use a short weapon against a long one... this was undoubtedly the most unfavorable situation for the city's defenders.

Therefore, the situation on the east wall was also far from ideal! The soldiers guarding the east wall were severely suppressed, and casualties soared!
“Ah Wu, Uncle Yuan has unfortunately been injured. I have sent Yong, Ah Yi and Ping Zhu to support the North Wall. Without Yong and the others’ assistance, the East Wall will be under great pressure. Please be prepared.”

Upon hearing this, A-Wu's expression tightened.

After a moment, she forced herself to remain calm and said softly, half-jokingly:

"If I had known this would happen, I should have worked harder and studied the throwing of kunai properly back then..."

As she spoke, she lightly flicked her wrists, and two kunai slid out from the sleeves of her haori and landed steadily in her palms.

The opposing side clearly intends to win using firearms.

Attacking the British musket lines without authorization will only result in heavy casualties—if the British line tactics were so easy to deal with, the Union Jack wouldn't be so ubiquitous around the world.

Under such circumstances, let alone A-Wu and the others, even Qing-Deng would not be able to withstand the barrage of hundreds of muskets in such an open area.

In this situation, there are no other effective methods, so the only option is to "use distance to counter distance"! Use ranged attacks to deal with ranged attacks!

Ah Wu is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but as for throwing kung fu... while it can't be said that his skill level is bad, it's not so high that he can hit exactly where he's aiming.

"Qingdeng, what should we do next?"

A-Wu's tone was filled with barely concealed worry.

Qing Deng said solemnly:
"In short, I'll try my best to make the most of my strengths first."

A-Wu was taken aback:
"Qingdeng, you want to force your way through the British musket line? No way! That's too dangerous!"

"Besides swordsmanship, I have many other special skills."

At the very moment he finished speaking softly, a delicate shout drifted from afar:
"Qingdeng!"

A-Wu instinctively looked in the direction of the sound—it was Tianzhangyuan!

Tenshōin was dressed in a kendo uniform that allowed for easy movement, and wore simple protective gear such as a chest protector and a headband.

Notably, she had two quivers hanging from her waist, her own bow in her right hand, and the precious bow she had given to Qingdeng years ago—Isezaburiluo—in her left hand.

"then!"

Tenshōin threw out Isezaburiro, along with a quiver of arrows from his waist.

Qingdeng raised his hands and steadily caught the two items. Holding the long-unused Iserza Buriro tightly, feeling the familiar touch, Qingdeng couldn't help but smile.

After testing the strings and confirming that everything was in order, Qingdeng raised his gaze and stared intently at Tianzhangyuan.

"Your Highness, your archery skills haven't deteriorated, have they?"

Tianzhangyuan smiled:
"Let's have a competition to see who can shoot more enemies!"

Qingdeng smiled slightly and then drew an arrow from the quiver.

The next moment, he spun around with a swift movement, using the centrifugal force of the spin to nock an arrow onto the bow, and then pulled the bowstring taut—whoosh—the arrow shot out and accurately struck a British soldier in the distance between the eyebrows.

……

……

The Battle of Otsu, Day 9

"Hide yourselves! Even if we can't hit the target, it doesn't matter! As long as we keep firing, we can crush the enemy's arrogance!"

After shouting, Todo Heisuke lowered his head again, hiding his entire body in the pit.

Immediately afterwards, he raised his musket, aimed at the British soldiers in the distance, and gripped the trigger tightly—after the gunshot, everything was normal except for the billowing white smoke; the bullets seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Despite this, Todo Heisuke was not discouraged and quickly and efficiently reloaded the magazine.

He wasn't skilled with firearms, but as he just said, it didn't matter if he couldn't hit the target accurately, as long as he could keep putting pressure on the enemy.

Given the inferior number and musket skills of the British, engaging in line infantry tactics with the British army would be suicidal.

There is a saying: "Learn war in war."

In order to counter the British army, the city's defenders spontaneously came up with the tactic of "foxholes"!

Simply put, the musketeers were to be dispersed and each find cover to hide in.

Although this would greatly reduce firepower—line infantry tactics were developed to compensate for the lack of individual firepower—it at least reduced casualties.

Since the enemy has already been terrified by the previous hand-to-hand combat, they will not dare to launch a general attack before confirming that the city's defenders have completely collapsed. So we can slowly wage a war of attrition and see who can wear whom down!
It is worth mentioning that on the ninth day of the battle, the enemy also spontaneously abandoned the line formation tactics.

The reason for this is that there are two great archery masters in the city, Qing Deng and Tian Zhang Yuan!
Although he hadn't held a bow for a long time, Qing Deng's archery skills remained superb and as sharp as ever, thanks to his innate talent as the "Saint of the Bow" (128 times the archery talent of ordinary people).

Together with Tenshoin, they accurately shot down one enemy soldier after another!
With figures like Souji, Tenshōin, and Omai setting examples, the Shinsengumi soldiers were no longer surprised by the idea of ​​women participating in the war.

The high and mighty "Great Imperial Palace" personally went to the front line and fought alongside them without fear of hardship... The garrison in the city was greatly encouraged.

Both Qingdeng and Tianzhangyuan were able to launch precise sniping attacks from outside the effective firing range of muskets.

A key point of the line formation tactic is that all soldiers must stand in a cluster, without crouching, spreading out, or taking cover—this greatly facilitates the sniping by Qing Deng and Tian Zhang Yuan, allowing them to fire at will.

Knowing that there were highly skilled "snipers" on the other side, they were helpless and could only watch their comrades fall one after another... The British army soon retreated because they could not withstand the superb archery skills of Qing Deng and Tian Zhangyuan, and the defenders in the city successfully survived the 8th day.

But on the ninth day, the British army found a way to deal with it—they somehow found a large number of handcarts and used them as cover.

The British soldiers, hiding behind these handcarts, continued to exchange fire with the city's defenders.

Ultimately, there is a limit to the force that Iserzabhara can withstand.

Even if Qingdeng drew the bowstring of Iserzaburiro so hard it sparked, he still couldn't pierce the thick handcart.

Even Qingdeng couldn't shoot through these handcarts, so Tianzhangyuan certainly didn't have that ability.

While this approach successfully countered the archery skills of Qingdeng and Tenshōin, it significantly reduced firepower due to the abandonment of line formation tactics, making it impossible to effectively suppress the defenders in the city.

After a fierce battle, both sides ended up with the same result – the soldiers were all hiding in their bunkers, firing at each other from a distance of not too long or too short.

The battlefield situation became strange again... because everyone's firepower had weakened, the casualty figures on both sides dropped sharply.

At first glance, it seemed that they were just wasting ammunition, firing a lot of bullets but killing few people.

However, being under such a dense barrage of fire would be a significant drain on the morale of both sides' soldiers!
What should have been a complex war has become increasingly simple—whoever holds out the longest, whoever survives to the end, wins!

……

……

Day 12 of the Battle of Otsu

Suddenly, a sharp-eyed British soldier let out a piercing explosion:
"It's a cannon! Watch out for artillery fire!"

But then they saw Abe Juro and his men pushing cannons and charging into the front lines where blood and flesh were flying everywhere.

Under the cover of their soldiers, they quickly set up artillery positions and completed the preparation for shelling in the blink of an eye.

Abe Juro: "Fire!"

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom!
Even the sturdiest handcart cannot withstand a direct hit from an artillery shell.

The barrage of cannon fire shattered the British positions on the opposite side.

However, the British army quickly followed suit and brought their cannons over as well.

With the addition of artillery, the battle between the two sides became fierce again, and the casualty figures, which had only recently begun to slow down, started to surge again.

……

……

Day 15 of the Battle of Otsu

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

Kondo Isami braced himself on the ground with both hands, coughing violently.

Heisuke Todo leaned closer.

"Mr. Kondo! Are you alright?"

"N-nothing... I just inhaled too much gunpowder smoke..."

The instant after Kondo Isami finished speaking—

boom!
A shell landed not far from him, and a blinding flame shot up rapidly.

Although they were not directly hit, the powerful shockwave swept over them, sending Kondo Isami and Toudou Heisuke flying.

The two were seen flying horizontally, then crashing heavily to the ground, immediately losing consciousness...

"Chief Kondo! Captain Todo!"

The surrounding soldiers rushed forward and helped the two up, then took them to the rear.

……

……

Day 18 of the Battle of Otsu

"Damn it! This thing is so hard to use!"

Serizawa Kamo angrily fiddled with the musket in his hand.

After a long exchange of fire between the two armies, the swordsmen had no further use for their skills.

Unwilling to remain uninvolved, Serizawa Kamo obtained a musket and, after barely learning how to use it, joined in the exchange of fire.

After finally filling the gunpowder and loading the bullet into the chamber, he couldn't wait to crawl halfway out of the foxhole.

However... before he could pull the trigger, a bullet came from afar, hitting him squarely in the right shoulder and knocking him to the ground...

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PS: According to Baidu Encyclopedia and AI, rigid line infantry tactics were gradually phased out around this period, and "foxholes" came to the fore.