I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 977: The battle is getting intense, the reinforcements of the "Yiqiao faction"! [5000]

In terms of personal strength, Harada Sanosuke is far from being comparable to the "Shinsen Three" (Souji, Nagakura Shinpachi and Saito Hajime).

But no matter what, he is also one of the elders of the Shinsengumi.

In terms of actual combat experience, few in the Shinsengumi can match him.

Harada Sanosuke personally took part in the battle and killed several people in one breath, which immediately boosted the morale of the entire army!
The 10th Division Vice Captain Matsubara Tadashi shouted:
"Follow the captain!"

The next moment, Matsubara Tadashi set an example by personally leading more than a dozen soldiers to form a small "wedge formation" and charged straight into the enemy group, plowing a bloody arc.

Soon after, more and more soldiers were inspired by Harada Sanosuke and Matsubara Soji, and they bravely moved forward without regard for their own safety!
Compared with the rebels, the defenders had a significant advantage: they controlled the arsenal of Edo Castle.

Almost all the arsenals in Edo...it can't even be said to be "almost", to be precise, all the arsenals are concentrated in Edo Castle!
The importance of the arsenal is self-evident.

The reason why the shogunate placed all the major arsenals in Edo Castle was to prevent rebellion and mutiny.

No matter where or when, good weapons are not easy to obtain.

"Light weapons" such as swords, which are cheap and easy to make, may be easier to obtain.

You can easily buy a lot of cheap unmarked knives in pawnshops and knife shops in major cities and towns.

However, "heavy weapons" such as spears, naginatas, bows and arrows, guns, armor, etc. are not so easy to obtain.

Among them, armor is the most rare and also the most important.

Under the close surveillance of the "Nanki Faction", no matter how hard the "Ichibashi Faction" tried, they were unable to obtain enough armor.

From a certain perspective, "raising armor" is more difficult than "training death squads."

Due to limited productivity, armor is extremely difficult to make.

A set of sophisticated armor often takes weeks or even months to make.

Not only that, making each set of armor requires a large amount of materials.

The movement of large quantities of materials is very easy to trace.

If one is not careful, the "Nan Ji Faction" will follow the clues and catch him.

There is no need for a trial; the crime of "secretly making armor" alone is enough to plunge the "Yiqiao Faction" into an abyss of no return!

In the era of cold weapons, "privately making armor" was a serious crime punishable by death!

For the "Ichibashi faction", if they want to get enough armor to arm the entire army in a short period of time, they can only capture the armory in Edo Castle!
Whichever side possesses the arsenal will have a large amount of armor, and thus have a significant advantage on the battlefield - this alone is enough to raise the strategic importance of the "arsenal" to the highest point!

The current battle illustrates the difference between "controlling the arsenal or not".

But the defenders were well-armed and well-equipped. Everyone was wearing armor, including helmets, arm armor, leg armor, and chain mail.

On the other hand, the rebels... only a small number of them have armor.

Not to mention weapons, most people only have an ordinary unmarked sword.

The gap in equipment between the two sides is so huge that it seems like heaven and earth.

However, the rebels are not completely useless.

Although their equipment was poor, they had advantages that the defenders could not match.

One is the number of troops. Their strength is twice that of the defenders.

The second is to be full of fighting spirit and not afraid of death!
What are “death soldiers”?
A brave warrior who dares to die is a death warrior!

These two thousand death warriors are a secret army that the "Yiqiao faction" has accumulated bit by bit in recent years, and the origins of their members are very complex.

Some of them were orphans with no one to rely on and didn’t even have a name.

Some of them were just ordinary farmers.

Some of them were once lower-ranking samurai whose families had fallen on hard times.

They may be starving and cold, about to die on the streets; or their families have suffered major changes and are unable to save their dying parents, wives and children; or they have suffered great injustice and no one has come to their rescue.

It was the "Ichibashi Group" who adopted them and provided them with shelter, clothing and food.

It was the "Ichibashi faction" who lent them a helping hand.

It was the "Ichibashi faction" that gave them the opportunity to stand up straight and live their lives as human beings.

It is because of the kindness of the "Ichibashi Group" that they are where they are today!

They have no way to repay this great kindness.

The only thing they have is their life!
Due to lack of education and frequent brainwashing by the "Ichibashi faction", only two words are remembered in their limited brain capacity: "loyalty" and "repaying gratitude".

In fact, they had only a vague understanding of why they were attacking Edo Castle.

They did not understand what this action meant, nor did they know what would happen after killing Qing Deng and Tokugawa Iemochi.

They only have one thing in mind: I want to repay the kindness of the Yiqiao faction! I want to repay the kindness of the Yiqiao faction with my life!

Indeed, the Shinsengumi has a strong cohesive force, and countless soldiers regard Qing Deng as their idol.

However, "respect and worship" cannot be compared with "repaying a debt of gratitude with one's life pledged".

There are many people in the Shinsengumi who admire Aoto, but there are only a few who are truly willing to die for Aoto.

This has nothing to do with morale or training, it's purely human nature.

Besides, the Shinsengumi soldiers have not yet fully recovered from their fatigue.

The "Second Battle of Sekigahara" and the "Rush to the Aid of Kanto" came first, and the repulsion of the "Fauchi Coalition" came later. The high-intensity fighting had already exhausted them.

They had just finished a fierce battle and had no time to catch their breath before they had to fight another one... To be honest, they all felt extremely exhausted and were already quite tired of war.

One side shouted "overcome the rebellion and conquer the bandits" and "annihilate the rebels".

The other side shouted "The enemy is in Edo Castle" and "Suppress the Tachibana rebels".

One side has material advantages.

The other side is superior in spirit.

The two contrasting factions fought to the death, leaving the land of Akasakagomon stained with layer upon layer of blood.

Qing Deng anticipated that the "Ichibashi faction" would use Akasaka Gomon as the main attack direction, so he deployed the main force there in advance.

In fact, this kind of thing is not difficult to predict.

The other gates of the "Thirty-six Mitsuke" were intact. In the absence of siege equipment, it was extremely difficult to break through these tall and ingeniously designed gates. Only the Akasaka Gate was wide open.

In this situation, even a fool would know where to focus the attack.

Therefore, Qing Deng only deployed a minimum number of troops at the other gates of the "Thirty-six Mitsuke" to serve as a guard.

Although the battle had just begun, the scene was already extremely bloody and horrifying.

One knife after another slashed at the opponent in front of him.

Pieces of limbs and debris fell to the ground.

The Shinsengumi soldiers here were besieged and hacked to death before they could even fight back.

The assassins there imitated Harada Sanosuke and charged into the chaotic army, but perhaps due to lack of strength or bad luck, they were beheaded by someone before they could display their skills.

The soldiers of the 7th and 10th squads were not good at infantry combat. The intense fatigue and lingering war-weariness did make their movements slow down.

But even so, their strong discipline still remains!
As long as discipline exists, the fighting power will exist!

But they advanced and retreated with reason, and flexibly changed their queues and formations according to the situation on the battlefield. They resolved crisis after crisis and blocked attack after attack.

The opposing "army of death" should not be underestimated.

The Shinsengumi's tenacious resistance did not discourage them.

"Don't panic! Our opponent is the Shinsengumi! This level of difficulty is already within our expectations! Isn't it?"

"We have more troops than them! Don't fight alone!"

"Attack the guy wielding the spear! He is Harada Sanosuke, the captain of the Shinsengumi 10th Division! Kill him now!"

Smooth movements, calm mentality...it is not difficult to see that these death warriors must have undergone very rigorous training.

Each of the assassins possesses outstanding skills, and many of them have reached the "catalog" level in swordsmanship, and a few even have the strength of "no permission to pass on".

Harada Sanosuke couldn't be like Aoto, Souji and the others, who could charge and kill repeatedly among the enemy groups easily and freely as if they were walking in their own atom.

After being besieged by the enemy, Harada Sanosuke immediately lost his previous calm and ease. He fought and retreated, and finally managed to escape from the siege.

At this time, the vice-captain of the 7th Division, Qin Nakazawa, shouted suddenly:
"Everyone in front, stand down! Musketeers, step forward!"

Along with Nakazawa Qin's shout, noisy and chaotic footsteps were heard from behind.

After a while, a large group of musketeers - about thirty people in total - ran to the front of the battle line in one breath, divided into two rows, with the front row half-crouching and the back row standing up.

These muskets were all new goods taken out from the armory, and the shiny barrels shone brightly.

What a pity... Qingdeng is now extremely short of soldiers who are good at using muskets.

The soldiers of the 7th and 10th squads had never received relevant training.

It took him a lot of effort to gather together thirty or so soldiers who knew how to use muskets.

Nakazawa Qin stood beside the musketeers and shouted the order:
"Raise your gun! Shoot!"

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom!
With such sparse comments, we naturally cannot expect it to produce any remarkable results.

After the barrage of bullets whizzed past, only three people were shot and fell to the ground.

Although the casualties were small, the shocking momentum did severely suppress the opponent's arrogance.

While the guns were firing, archers were also shooting arrows from behind the gun formation. The bullets and arrows came at the same time, and the order of the "Death Army" was instantly disrupted.

What they lacked in sophisticated equipment, they made up for with the means.

"Throw a stone! Quick!"

Hundreds of assassins reached into their bosoms, pulled out simple but sturdy slingshots, and threw a rain of stones at the Shinsengumi.

One by one, the stones flew into the air, drew a neat parabola, and then fell towards the Shinsengumi's formation like raindrops.

In terms of advancement alone, the stones that are everywhere cannot be compared with arrows and bullets.

But in terms of lethality, these seemingly ordinary stones should not be underestimated!
If they land on your head, you will be seriously injured, if not killed.

Even with a helmet, it is impossible to completely protect against the impact of stones - this is the power of blunt instruments.

In an instant, many people were hit by the sudden rain of stones and lost their composure.

The "Death Corps" took the opportunity to move forward and launch a pursuit, trying to advance the front line in one go.

Unexpectedly, as soon as they took a step, a new shout was heard:
"Long spear formation! Forward!"

The musketeers and archers withdrew and were replaced by pikemen.

More than forty soldiers armed with official three-barreled guns joined the battlefield.

One room is about 1.818 meters, and three rooms are 5.454 meters.

Just like the musket formation just now, these spearmen were also divided into two rows, with the people in the back row interlaced with those in the front row. The spears in the back row poked through the gaps in the front row, and the two rows of spears pointed directly at the enemy group that was about to rush over.

Harada Sanosuke shouted:
"Come on!"

The next moment, the spear formation began to move!
They were like a tank starting up slowly.

He started jogging at first, then continued to speed up! A stern murderous aura rushed towards him!

In a short while, they plunged into the enemy group and plowed out countless blood beads in the blink of an eye!
The "Legion of Death" was beaten back before it even launched its offensive.

Under normal circumstances, unless you use long-range weapons or spears to meet the attack, you can only passively take the beating when facing this kind of spear formation charging forward.

A spear nearly 6 meters long... How can I counter it with just a katana in my hand?
The Japanese are generally short and physically underdeveloped, so when faced with a spear of this length, they have no ability to fight back.

Even Qing Deng would have to temporarily avoid the attack when facing this "Three-room Spear Formation" head-on.

……

……

Qing Deng followed the doctor's orders not to fight.

After arriving at Akasakagomon, he stayed behind.

He and Shimada Kai stood on a high ground, quietly observing the battlefield and studying the battle situation.

At first, the two armies fought to a stalemate and were evenly matched.

But as time goes by, the power of spirit is ultimately no match for the gap in material things.

Not to mention the lethality of spears, bows and arrows, and muskets, the 100% armor rate alone is enough to make the "Death Corps" extremely anxious.

Gradually, the balance of the battlefield began to tilt in favor of the Shinsengumi.

Shimada Kui, who was waiting beside him, saw this and shouted excitedly:

"My lord, that's great! Our army has gained the upper hand! We are about to win!"

Qing Deng glanced at him and said lightly:
"Shimada-kun, don't be too happy too soon."

“The battlefield is changing rapidly.”

"Don't think you have won until the outcome is decided."

Qing Deng's rebuke made Shimada Kai very embarrassed.

He lowered his head obediently and apologized to Qing Deng:

"Yes, I have given it some thought."

Qing Deng rolled his eyes calmly, scanned the battlefield again, and said:
"It's not difficult to defeat the group of assassins from the 'Ichibashi faction'. But... I'm afraid they have reinforcements."

Upon hearing this, Shimada Kui tilted his head in confusion:

"Reinforcements? What kind of reinforcements can the Yiqiao faction have? They can't possibly send out thousands of death warriors again, can they?"

Qing Deng lowered his eyelids, his eyes were deep:
"The 'Ichibashi faction' certainly has no more deadly warriors. However, they still have 'potential combat power'."

After that, he gave an order to Shimada Kai:
"Go tell Zuo Zhisuke to intensify the attack! Don't hold back, defeat the rebels as quickly as possible! It has to be quick!"

……

……

Edo Castle, a certain town area——

"Wife! Take all your luggage and follow me!"

"What, what's wrong?"

"There's a war! A real civil war has broken out! Let's leave Edo before we get implicated!"

"This, this, this...how could this happen..."

People hurriedly fled Edo with their families - similar scenes appeared in various places in Edo.

The "New Year atmosphere" suddenly disappeared, and the urgent atmosphere of war came again.

The people no longer cared about celebrating the festival and just wanted to leave Edo as soon as possible and get away from the smoke of civil war.

What a pity... Edo, which had finally regained some of its lively atmosphere, has become deserted again.

It is strange that although countless people wanted to flee Edo at the moment, at the same time, countless people were willing to stay in Edo.

……

……

Edo, a certain samurai land——

"I've decided! I'm going to join the war! I'm going to fight alongside Lord Ichihashi!"

A certain warrior said this with a firm look.

His words attracted surprised looks from the people around him.

"What? You want to join the war?"

The warrior nodded vigorously:

"That's right! I want to join the war! I want to join the Hitotsubashi Army!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he was immediately refuted:

"Are you crazy? Don't mess around! This is none of our business! Don't get involved! Just stand by and watch quietly!"

"Yes, the current situation is unclear. It is still unknown who is a loyal minister and who is a treacherous minister. Before the situation is completely clear, we must not act rashly."

The warrior's eyes widened with anger:

"What did you say? 'This is none of our business'? That's wrong! Today's battle is closely related to us!"

"Lord Dashu is going against the grain! He is introducing foreign weapons and military tactics in an attempt to form a so-called 'new army'!"

"Yiqiao Gong has criticized Dashu Gong's wrong behavior!"

"I firmly believe in the character of Lord Ichihashi! I also firmly believe that he can restore the shogunate and us samurai to our former glory!"

"No matter what, I will stand on the side of Yiqiao Gong! Anyone who is willing to fight with me, please follow me!"

After saying this, the samurai said no more and did not stay. He turned around and left without hesitation, heading towards Akasaka Palace.

His friends stayed where they were, staring at each other.

In a short while, dozens of people caught up with the warrior!

On the way to Akasaka Palace, they kept meeting like-minded companions.

"Are you also going to support Hitotsubashi?"

"That's right! The Nanji Clan is doing evil things and fawning on the barbarians! I've been displeased with the Nanji Clan for a long time!"

"I've long felt that something was wrong with Tachibana Aoto! He must be a traitor!"

"The time has come to gain fame and fortune!"

……

……

Edo, a certain samurai land——

"Shameless! It's really too shameless! How dare Yoshinobu Ichibashi to launch a coup!"

"Don't get excited. This might be a great opportunity for us."

"what do you mean?"

"It might be a good thing to let Lord Ichibashi be our new general! According to the attitude Lord Ichibashi has conveyed so far, he has no intention of forming a 'new army'!"

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PS: The end of this chapter actually clearly states the biggest advantage of the "Hitotsubashi faction", and this advantage should not be underestimated.