The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 319: Destroying a Country in Ten Days (VI)
It was sunny on March 2.

The sun is shining brightly, it's a nice day.

Because of its long-term influence on Chinese civilization, the layout of the entire Tokyo City completely follows the capital form of the Central Plains dynasty. Even though it is slightly different due to the influence of geographical terrain, the layout is basically the same, divided into three parts: the Forbidden City, the Imperial City and the Capital.

The Forbidden City, also known as the royal palace, was home to the Dali emperor, his empress, his descendants, and a large number of attendants. Surrounding the Forbidden City was the Imperial City, which was the location of the offices of Dali court officials. The neighborhoods, markets, and residential areas outside the Imperial City were the capital.

The imperial gardens in the imperial city are beautiful, the towers and palaces in the Forbidden City are magnificent, and the capital city has towering pagodas, numerous temples and row upon row of streets, all of which demonstrate the prosperity and bustle of this thousand-year-old capital.

However, since three days ago, when more than 10,000 coalition forces led by Qi State attacked the city, a strict curfew was immediately implemented in the entire capital, making the once bustling and bustling capital suddenly become dead silent.

The Weinan Palace issued a military conscription order, requiring all young and middle-aged men over the age of sixteen and under the age of fifty, and strong women over the age of eighteen and under the age of forty in the city to sign up and assemble at designated places, so that they could be organized into teams and work together with the garrison troops to resist the attack launched by the Qi people and defend the city of Dongjing.

During this period, the population of Tokyo city was over 120,000. If the refugees who had fled in since the outbreak of the war were included, the number might exceed 150,000.

Based on this calculation, Dongjing City can recruit at least 70,000 to 80,000 strong civilians, and there are more than 12,000 defenders in the city, bringing the total defensive force to nearly 100,000. Compared with the more than 10,000 Qi troops outside the city, it has a ten-fold numerical advantage.

But anyone with a little military knowledge knows that war is not about simply relying on numerical superiority to defeat the enemy and gain final victory.

Other factors such as weapons and equipment, morale of officers and soldiers, training level, and corresponding techniques and tactics will directly affect the direction of a war.

Counting on one's fingers, it seems that the defenders in Tokyo City are at a disadvantage in all other aspects except for numbers.

Moreover, considering the huge gap in national strength and military power between the Dali court and the Qi State, even if these nearly 100,000 defensive troops were all regular troops of the court, the court would not dare to say lightly that they could repel the Qi army outside the city.

A few days ago, the Qi army had just arrived at Dongjing City. The enemy defeated more than 6,000 elite imperial guards of the capital with just the artillery fire from dozens of ships stationed on the river. The enemy fled back to the city in panic, abandoning their armor and weapons. Then they closed the city gates and dared not fight outside the city again. They just watched the Qi army calmly launch a landing operation.

It took the Qi people two days to complete a series of preparatory work, including landing troops and equipment, establishing defensive positions, and building temporary camps.

Yesterday, the Qi army recruited a large number of civilians from nearby areas and began digging attack trenches. From the temporary camp on the shore, all the way to Tokyo City, there were five winding trenches, like five sharp knives, slowly approaching the city.

Obviously, the Qi army was somewhat afraid of the dozens of artillery pieces deployed on the city walls. In order to reduce the casualties of their own officers and soldiers, they used this very clumsy but very practical method, preparing to gradually approach Tokyo City and establish a forward attack position.

It was noon. Ruan Tong and his companions carried two buckets of food and slowly climbed up the city wall from the horse path. As soon as they appeared, the soldiers who had followed the sound immediately ran over, muttering that they came a little late and made them very hungry, and looked into the food buckets to see what was for lunch today.

"Damn it, it's vegetable porridge again, without even a bit of meat." A captain complained, "There's so much food stored in the government warehouse, but they don't even know how to make a meal for us? Damn it, are we waiting for the Qi people to invade the city and then give it all to them?"

"Of course, we ordinary soldiers only eat plain food, but those generals are probably hiding in the barracks enjoying good food and wine!"

"Not only do those generals eat greasy food, but those bastards who operate the artillery also eat much better than us. Although they don't have big fish and meat, they still have to eat three meals a day! We are just a bunch of cannon fodder, so naturally no one will pity us."

"Cannon fodder? Damn it, don't die hungry without a full stomach!"

"Look at the people digging trenches for the Qi people under the city. They eat better than us. ... Our lives are not worth it!"

"What's going on? Are you planning to sneak down the city in the middle of the night and join the Qi people?"

"We want to invest, but they may not be willing to accept it!"

"..."

"Who is making such a loud noise?"

As they were shouting and complaining, a general who was patrolling the city wall came over with several of his personal soldiers. Seeing that the defenders of this section of the city wall were scrambling for food while constantly complaining and cursing, it was obvious that they were venting their dissatisfaction with their superiors, he shouted and scolded them.

"At a time when the Dali court is facing life and death, you have no intention of serving the country and being loyal to the king, but instead you are complaining about the coarseness of the food and harboring thoughts of being an enemy. You deserve to be killed!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers present threw away their food bowls, fell to their knees on the ground, and kowtowed for mercy.

In this particular wartime situation, the superiors could order them all to be beheaded with just a few words like "disrupting military morale" or "violating military law."

"Humph, considering that you are all first-time offenders, I will spare your lives this time." The general said with a sullen face: "Hurry up and have lunch, return to your posts and keep a close eye on the movements of the bandit army under the city..."

"boom!"

Suddenly, a huge roar was heard from below the city, and then the city wall suddenly shook violently.

"Um?……"

"what happened?"

"It seems to be... shelling?"

"The Qi people opened fire!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

Just as the defenders wanted to look outside, more artillery fire started from below the city. The sky was filled with artillery shells whistling in like a rainstorm, treating the entire earth as their target.

The roar of cannons and the air filled the air. It was a breathtaking sight. The cannons bombarded the city walls intensively, and every roar made the city tremble. The bricks and stones on the city walls flew, and dust rose up, as if the sky and the earth were about to be torn apart.

When the shells exploded on the city wall, the radiation zone on the fan-shaped surface was filled with splattering dirt and shrapnel, and not even a flying insect could survive. A thick black smoke rose from each crater, and these rising mushroom clouds were like the hideous faces of demons.

All the defenders were so frightened that they huddled under the city wall, holding their heads tightly, shaking all over, shouting and screaming unconsciously, and many of them were so frightened that they burst into tears, clasped their hands together, and prayed to the Buddha. The artillery fire under the city had already been going on for at least four rounds before the artillery on the city wall woke up and, under the order of the commander, began to counterattack the Qi army under the city.

Unexpectedly, this move successfully attracted the attention of the Qi army's artillery positions below the city, and they turned their guns and launched an artillery battle with the defenders on the city.

Decades ago, in order to prevent their capital from being breached by the enemy's fierce artillery fire, the Annamites deliberately raised and reinforced the entire Tokyo city defense.

Some sections of rammed earth walls were completely replaced by fired bricks. Many key defensive locations, including gun emplacements and musket firing ports, used hard stones as protective surfaces. Some towers even used granite at great expense.

In order to strengthen defensive firepower, the Annan people successively purchased more than 40 cannons from the Qin State, plus dozens of small cannons cast by themselves, so that the top of Tokyo City was lined with cannon muzzles, and the firepower density even exceeded that of some large cities and key passes of the Qin State.

Considering that the shells hitting the stone wall would cause stone chips to splash and scratch the soldiers, the Annan people also covered the outside of the stone wall with thick mud. In this way, there were bricks or stones inside and mud outside. All the cannons were hidden behind the parapets, and the soldiers manning the cannons were not afraid of the enemy's shells outside the city.

In fact, if you think about it, you will know that even if the Qi army attacks again, can the temporary artillery they built under the city be stronger than the specially reinforced city walls?
No matter how powerful the Qi army's artillery shells are, can they penetrate the thick city walls?
As a result, the situation between the enemy and us changed, and our army had a more solid position than the enemy.

With Annan's annual fiscal revenue of only 700,000 to 800,000 taels of silver, they spent a total of more than 2.4 million taels of silver over a period of more than 30 years to build the defense of Tokyo City, trying to make it the most solid fortress in the world.

Now, the people of Qi attacked again, and the city of Tokyo finally faced its most difficult test.

When the Qi army just arrived at the city of Dongjing, there were people who advised King Weinan to leave the capital with his trusted family and take refuge to the western mountainous area before the enemy launched an attack to avoid any unexpected events.

But King Weinan thought again and again and rejected this suggestion. He believed that the defense of Dongjing City, which was built at great expense, should be able to withstand the attack of Qi. As long as they held on for more than half a year, when the rainy season came, the Qi army would be unable to fight again and would have no choice but to retreat.

If he left Tokyo City with his confidants and family, who knows if someone would be impatient to open the city gate and surrender to the Qi army as soon as he left, thus losing this strong city where he had lived, and forcing him to hide in the mountains and forests to survive.

At noon today, with the sound of cannon fire, the much-anticipated battle for Tokyo officially began.

The various gun positions on the city walls occupied advantageous terrain, with a commanding position and a wide field of vision. Facing the artillery bombardment of the Qi army, they showed no weakness and fought back vigorously.

It was not known whether it was due to the low combat quality of our own gunners or the inadequacy of artillery technology, but the firing frequency and accuracy of the artillery on the city wall were obviously several levels lower than those of the Qi army's artillery under the city.

Often, before the defenders on the city walls fired one round of artillery shells, the Qi army artillery had already completed two rounds of counterattacks, firing fast and accurately. The artillery battle lasted less than half an hour, and more than ten artillery positions were knocked out by the enemy. The remaining artillery positions were also under siege by dense artillery shells and were in danger.

The Annan gunners had never experienced such high-intensity combat. Shells kept hitting them, and mud and rubble were splashing everywhere. The wounded soldiers lay on the ground crying at the top of their lungs. Short hands and limbs were everywhere. Blood stained the walls and the ground, making it like the Avici Hell.

"boom!"

"what!……"

"help me!……"

In a panic, the soldiers stuffed too much gunpowder into a cannon, and it exploded as soon as the fuse was lit. Two nearby soldiers were killed instantly. The thick gun barrel fell from a high place and rolled rapidly along the ground, knocking the soldiers who could not dodge in time to the ground, causing them to scream in pain.

Ruan Tong tried his best to get into the corner, wishing he could turn into a pangolin and dig a hole in the ground so that he could hide his whole body in it. Next to him lay two bloody corpses, one of which had lost half of its shoulder. After screaming and crying for a few breaths, it collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain, and finally gradually lost its voice.

And the companion who was carrying the food with him, two quarters of an hour ago, for some unknown reason, suddenly stood up with a scream from the corner where he was hiding, turned around and was about to run towards the city, but then was hit in the face by a piece of flying gravel, fell to the ground with blood all over his face, and never got up again.

At this moment, apart from fear, Ruan Tong's heart was already blank. He helplessly curled up his body as much as possible and waited for an unknown fate.

More than an hour passed. As the force of the counterattack on the city wall became weaker and weaker, the artillery of the Qi army below the city seemed to gradually reduce the frequency. They just stared at the artillery positions on the city wall and bombarded them, trying to eliminate all potential threats.

Ruan Tong slowly loosened his hands, exposed his head, and tried to lean forward to look outside the city.

Apart from firing artillery shells, the Qi army did not launch any infantry siege operations. Apart from a few criss-crossing trenches and tunnels, there were no soldiers to be seen.

Oh my god, run!
Ruan Tong stood up and ran towards the horse path along the city wall.

"thump!"

"oops!"

But his legs went weak and he fell to the ground, and as luck would have it, he fell on a bloody corpse. He was so frightened that he quickly got up and then staggered forward, rolling and crawling.

"Boo! Hah! Hah!  …"

Just when the Qi army's artillery fire had just stopped and everyone hadn't had time to breathe a sigh of relief, strange whistling sounds suddenly came from the sky. Ruan Tong subconsciously looked up, and then his pupils contracted sharply.

Countless rockets, trailing dazzling flames, streaked across the sky, flew over the city, and then fell rapidly.

Some of them exploded in mid-air, emitting brilliant flames, while others plunged into the ground and remained silent for a long time. However, more rockets exploded violently and emitted hot flames the moment they landed.

Although most of the rockets fell into the city, a considerable number of rockets were still poured around the city walls. Everything that could burn was on fire. The fire was getting bigger and bigger, but no one dared to put it out.

Amid the roaring explosions and raging fires, the entire city of Tokyo was shocked, and the earth was constantly shaking and gasping.

There were constant rumbling sounds and sparks flying everywhere. The muzzles of the guns below the city spewed out tongues of fire intermittently, like ferocious dragons biting the city walls. The gunners were shirtless and operated the cannons with blood boiling, maximizing the intensity of firepower and continuously bombarding the city walls, paving the way for the siege army.

"This is... a punishment from heaven!" Ruan Tong was knocked to the ground by the blast of several rockets. He was already injured in many places and lay powerlessly on a corpse, muttering to himself as he watched the flames streaking across the sky.

(End of this chapter)