I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 947: Sword Master Goes Out! [4700]

call!
With the sound of flapping wings, a goshawk glided over Edo.

Beneath it, the vast Edo was stained with blood and fire!
Edo is burning!
The flames flickered, the guns and swords were everywhere! Countless lives were lost in the battle!
From south to north; from open streets to narrow alleys... figures are running quickly and colliding violently!
There's a battlefield everywhere!

Soldiers from both armies fighting each other can be seen everywhere!
"Come quickly! There are enemy troops here!"

"You running dog of the shogunate! Die!"

"You are just a Westerner, stop being so arrogant! When it comes to bravery, when we Bando warriors were expanding our territory, you guys didn't even know where to put on your loincloth!"

"They're coming!"

"Hurrah!" (Russian)

"Throw away the cannon! It's useless! Draw your sword!"

"Nurse! Nurse!"

"Wait, wait! I surrender! I surrender! I don't want to fight at all! It's the tree man... wait, wait! Don't kill me! Don't kill... Gu!"

……

As expected, the direct referees made a fool of themselves again.

Faced with the ferocious French and Qi coalition forces, they began to lose their composure just by seeing the enemy soldiers from afar before the battle even started.

There are only a handful of direct soldiers who can really muster the courage, remember that they are samurai, and dare to fight.

When most people saw the approaching enemy soldiers and the blood spurting out, they instantly lost their courage and fighting spirit and fled in panic.

Many people accidentally ran into a fire or rushed into the enemy's camp while fleeing in a panic, and died in a funny way.

Die quickly and reduce the number of termites - this should be the last contribution they can make.

In the end, everything turned out just as Tokugawa Iemochi, Katsurintaro and others had expected - only a few troops such as the Komu Army and the Hōtōki Thieves Kai were of any use.

Because he expected that the direct officers would be of no use at all, Katsurintaro specially separated this group of useless people from those troops that could fight and dare to fight.

Let the former guard some unimportant positions to consume the enemy's weapons, ammunition and morale, and deploy the latter in strategic locations.

The strategic location of Edo... In addition to the highlands such as Atagoyama and Gotenyama, it must be the "Sanjuroku-mitsuke"!
In order to defend Edo Castle, many gates were set up inside and outside the city, generally referred to as the "Sanjuroku-mitsuke", but the actual number of gates was actually much greater.

The city gates are all located in strategic locations.

for example--

Sujibashi Gate near Nakasendo Road.

It is close to Yukihashi Gate on the Tokaido Road.

Yotsuya Gate is located near the Koshu Highway.

Asakusa-bashi Gate near Nikko-michi.

And so on and so forth.

Unlike China’s city gates, Japan’s city gates are not designed to be tall or sturdy, but are designed with the idea of ​​“making the enemy feel sick”!

The city gates of these important locations are all double-layered 桝-shaped gates.

The so-called "桝形门" is a door with a special design, mainly used for military defense and urban defense.

Its characteristic is that the door opening is designed in a shape of a beam, that is, an arc, with multiple right-angle turns, which can effectively prevent the enemy from passing.

The 桝形门 usually has a double-layer structure, with the Goryeomon on the outside and the Doryomon on the inside.

This design required the enemy to turn at a right angle after entering the Goryeo Gate in order to attack the inner Dulu Gate, thus increasing the level and complexity of the defense.

They had to turn at a right angle before they could attack the next city gate... As you can imagine, such a design would inevitably frustrate the enemy's charge and easily cause congestion among the enemy. A large number of people were crowded between the first gate (Goryeo Gate) and the second gate (Dulu Gate), like a traffic jam.

While the enemy troops were in a congested situation, the defenders guarding the ferry gate could leisurely pour down bullets, arrows, stones, boiling feces... causing great casualties to the enemy.

Because of this construction idea of ​​"making the enemy feel extremely uncomfortable and disgusting", "Sanjuroku-kenfu" is not a tall and majestic city gate.

At first glance, it looks like a big courtyard gate that can be climbed over by just setting up a ladder.

But it is not easy to take these city gates!

Similar construction ideas were used to implement ancient Japan's city defense system.

The city defense system in ancient China was centered on city walls, with a series of defensive facilities such as moats, urn cities, and watchtowers built around the city walls.

Once the city wall is breached, the city is basically lost.

This was not the case in ancient Japan.

Although ancient Japanese architects also built tall city walls and bottomless moats, they were more keen on making the interior of the city extremely complex!

A typical example is Edo Castle.

Edo Castle has a "の"-shaped structure, like a mosquito coil, and is divided into areas such as Honmaru, Ninomaru, and Sannomaru.

If you want to attack the Honmaru where the Shogun is, you must successively penetrate the San-no-maru and the Nin-no-maru...

Along the way, there were traps that were impossible to guard against, high walls that were difficult to cross, and steep slopes that could only be crossed under the barrage of bullets and rain of arrows from the defenders...

In other words, even if they crossed the moat outside Edo Castle and broke through the city walls of Edo Castle, it did not mean that the battle was over and everything was fine.

Rather, it was only after entering Edo Castle that the real siege began!
Katsurintaro had a very clear idea about how to defend Edo.

He knew very well that the little combat power he currently possessed was not enough to repel the enemy.

Therefore, his core strategy can be summarized in one word - "endure"!
Wait until Aoto leads the Shinsengumi to come to the rescue!

As long as the Shinsengumi launches a counterattack, everything will be fine.

Due to the primitive and backward means of communication, people in Edo, including Tokugawa Iemochi and Tenshoin, were still unaware of the specific movements of Aoto and his Shinsengumi.

Not knowing when reinforcements will arrive... There is nothing more tormenting in the world than this.

Regardless, the Shinsengumi's support is their only hope of victory.

In order to block the enemy as much as possible, Katsurintaro carefully set up two lines of defense.

The first line of defense is the "Thirty-six See Attachments".

As for the second line of defense, it is Edo Castle itself.

They are said to be two lines of defense, but in fact, the former is the core!
Katsurintaro's idea of ​​city defense is very simple. In a nutshell, any other place in Edo can be lost, but the "Thirty-six Mitsuke" cannot be lost!

Once the "Sanjuroku Mitsuke" is lost, the enemy army will be able to break into Edo Castle in one breath!
If the war starts in Edo Castle... then it will be a bloody battle with no way of retreating!

Although Edo Castle is a famous city with unparalleled defensive capabilities, there are too many variables if a war breaks out in the castle, so Katsurintaro does not dare to take the risk.

Therefore, he tried his best to avoid fighting in Edo Castle and tried to keep the enemy outside the city gates.

He deployed heavy troops at the "Thirty-Six Gates", using these city gates as the key to victory or defeat in this battle, and countless elite soldiers and generals gathered here.

If the shogunate holds on to the "Sanjuroku Mitsuki", it will win.

"Thirty-Six Jianfu" was lost and the French and Qi coalition won.

Simple and clear combat!

……

……

Edo, Yotsuya Gate——

After Shinjuku was breached, Yotsuya was the first to bear the brunt.

And Yotsuya is the location of Yotsuya Gomon.

Katsurintaro deployed 200 elite soldiers here.

They held their breath, their expressions solemn, and tightly grasped their weapons, not daring to even breathe, staring straight ahead and outside the city gate.

In a short moment, right in front of Yotsuya Gate, enemy soldiers turned the corner and rushed into the center of the street!
In the blink of an eye, they turned into a surging wave and rushed straight towards Yotsuya Gomon with terrifying momentum!

"They're coming!"

"Damn it! What are those guys guarding Shinjuku doing? How did they let the enemy in so quickly?" "Don't worry about it! Get ready to meet the enemy!"

"Raise the gun!"

"Draw the bow!"

Above the city gate, muskets poked out from the firing holes, with the black muzzles pointed at the approaching enemy.

At the same time, behind the musketeers were archers who were drawing their bows and pointing their bows to the sky, ready to shoot upwards.

When the enemy approaches, with a command, a barrage of bullets and rain of arrows shoot out!

In an instant, scarlet blood spurted out with steam, and wails and screams were heard immediately.

The enemy soldiers in the front row fell down like grass being cut, with more than ten of them falling.

However... this fierce offensive failed to curb the enemy's momentum.

They stepped over their fallen companions and continued running towards Shijo-gomon Gate without slowing down or losing momentum.

Taking advantage of the time when the musketeers and archers on the city gate were busy loading bullets and nocking arrows, they closed the distance in one breath and advanced to the bottom of the city gate.

Then, they raised their hands high, and in a "you pass it to me, I pass it to him" manner, allowed a bunch of long ladders to pass over their heads and be moved from the back to the front, and then they placed these ladders on the city gate.

Long before he defeated the Thousand People's Unity, Shuten Douji had already seen through Katsurintaro's strategic intentions.

He knew that Katsurintaro would focus on strengthening the defense of the "Sanjuku-mitsuke" as the deciding factor in this battle, and try to hold out until the Shinsengumi arrived to help - if he were to command this battle, he would do the same.

Therefore, on the way to Edo, he specially organized a group of people and raced against time to make long ladders for attacking "Sanjuroku-mitsuke".

Because the city gate is not high, you can easily reach the top of the city gate by raising the ladder.

Soon, the enemy soldiers set up the ladder.

Then, they climbed up the long ladders like ants.

"Go!" (Russian)

"Kill them all!" (Russian)

Seeing the enemy soldiers climbing up, the musketeers and archers moved back, and the swordsmen holding katana moved forward.

Hand-to-hand combat above the city gate... that's exactly what they want!
In the vast wilderness, the sword is of little use.

If it were a cramped and narrow area, the situation would be very different.

The space above the city gate is very small, which is just right for them to swing their swords!

Many soldiers in the defending army had learned swordsmanship since childhood.

They were thinking about using their expertise in swordsmanship to chop off the enemy's heads and deal a heavy blow to the enemy.

However... when the enemy soldiers appeared in front of them and the two sides started fighting, they were horrified to find that they were like the tide hitting the reefs - they were smashed to pieces the next moment after the collision!

The enemy soldiers are extremely brave and their fighting will is extremely strong!

Some enemy soldiers fought one against five and not only did they not lose the upper hand, but they even showed signs of counterattacking.

Some enemy soldiers were stabbed several times and were bleeding all over, but they continued to fight as if nothing had happened.

Some enemy soldiers killed several people in a row and became more courageous as the battle went on. Their facial expressions were dominated by intense excitement, without any sign of fatigue.

If this were only the case for a very few individuals, that would be fine.

But all the enemy soldiers are like this... Anyone would feel something is wrong.

"Be careful! These guys are very strong!"

"Damn it! Stop them!"

"Damn it! How could we lose to these barbarians?!"

"Hey! Don't you always brag about having the catalog license for Hokushin Ittoryu? How come you can't even kill a single enemy soldier?!"

"Stop talking nonsense! I've tried my best!"

The powerful enemy and tremendous pressure caused the defenders at the city gate to become confused.

They completely misjudged the enemy's combat effectiveness.

They can't be blamed for this.

After all, they didn't know about the existence of the evil creature "Juezhandian"!
Before attacking Edo, no matter which battle it was - the attack on Nagoya or the attack and defense of Hachioji - Shuten-doji never used the "Decisive Battle of Yodo" and always kept it in the dark.

The purpose was to give the Edo defenders a "surprise"!
The purpose is to allow the soldiers to capture Edo in the best condition!
If "Decisive Battle" were used in advance, the soldiers would definitely be unable to participate in the next battle due to the side effects.

At this point, there is no need to hide anything anymore!
Just last night, on the eve of the war, Shuten-doji distributed "Decisive Battle" to the entire army!
Katsura Kogoro wants to defeat the shogunate more than anyone else.

But...after all, he is not the kind of radical and unscrupulous person.

He didn't want to deceive his subordinates and make them swallow dangerous drugs without knowing it...

Therefore, when distributing "Decisive Battle Dian", he specifically informed all the soldiers of the Special Forces about its side effects without omission.

Whether to take the medicine is entirely up to personal choice, he will never force you.

As for the "Slavic Legion"... this is not his unit, and he has no way to intervene even if he wants to.

Compared to Katsura Kogoro, Shuten-doji is not as conscientious.

Not only did he not tell the mercenaries of the "Slavic Legion" about the side effects of "Decisive Battle Sediment", he also deceived them: the side effects of this drug are very small! You can take it without worry!

Under the deception of Shuten-doji... or rather, under his guidance, almost all the Russian soldiers took the "Decisive Battle Damp"!
In this way, their combat effectiveness would naturally increase sharply and become extremely terrifying!
Under the fierce attack of the enemy soldiers, the defenders of the city gate gradually lost their strength and began to retreat.

Just like that, in just a few moments, the first gate of Yotsuya Gate (Goryeo Gate) fell!

The defenders retreated to the second city gate, the Dulu Gate.

The enemy's morale was greatly boosted as they captured the first gate of Yotsuya Gate with ease.

On the other hand, the defenders... every one of them looked panic-stricken.

They were beaten to a pulp before they could even mount a decent resistance... This was a huge blow to them.

Panic spread rapidly like a plague.

As a result, the order of the defenders was slow to be restored.

Even an outsider can see that if they continue like this, they will definitely not be able to withstand the enemy's offensive!
If even the Toyamon Gate is lost, then Yotsuya Gate will be completely lost!
Not long after the war began, a big hole was made in the defense line of "Sanjuroku Mitsuki"... Such a result was undoubtedly catastrophic.

In the midst of this panic, suddenly, from above the city gate of Dulu Gate, right behind the defenders, an old male voice came:

"...All of you, step back."

When these words were spoken, the soldiers were stunned. They turned their heads and looked back in the direction of the voice. Then they saw an old man with a sword on his waist walking forward slowly at a leisurely pace.

The soldiers did not recognize the old man, and had no idea what he was trying to do.

However, frightened by his fierce aura, they all separated to the left and right to make way.

The old man continued to move forward with an expressionless face and a calm demeanor, passing through the array of defenders and reaching the edge of the city gate. If he took another step forward, he would fall down.

Then, he did something that made all the defenders present couldn't help but exclaim in surprise: he slightly bent his knees, leaped out like a tiger, and leaped towards the enemy group below the city gate!

At this moment, someone among the defenders finally recognized him and shouted out his name:

"It's 'Sword Saint' Otani Seiichiro!"

As the old man… that is, Seiichirō Otani, was falling straight down in mid-air, a shining silver snake ejected from his waist.

He drew his sword, raised it above his head, and using the potential energy of his falling body, chopped from the top of the head to the hips, splitting an enemy soldier neatly in half!

After his feet landed on the ground, he launched attacks almost non-stop.

I saw a silver light flashing in the air.

Chopping horizontally, slashing vertically, slashing upwards, stabbing forwards... In just a blink of an eye, all the enemy soldiers around him were killed, and he had created a "vacuum zone"!
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PS: I'm not in a good mood today. My head hurts, and I can't write anymore. I'm so sorry... Could it be that I've contracted the influenza A virus? It's said that the recent influenza is very severe, so everyone should be more careful...