The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 245: Not to seize, but to destroy.

The elders of the Mito domain, such as Nakayama Nobutaka, watched Yanagi leave and immediately summoned the samurai in the city to prepare for battle.

Because of the dramatic changes in Edo Castle a while ago, the samurai of Mito Domain had already organized themselves in advance and could now gather and begin action directly.

Nakayama Nobuaki asked other elders to organize the defense of the city, while he led some samurai and peasant soldiers out of the city to check the specific situation of the enemy and decide whether to participate in the field battle based on the circumstances.

Tian Yiming received a report from Yanagi Wei and learned that the elders and samurai of Mito Domain were determined to fight, so he also ordered preparations for battle.

Seeing Nakayama Nobutaka leading the Mito clan soldiers out of the city and forming a battle line, Tian Yiming immediately ordered the vanguard of the Japanese samurai division to move out and prepare to try a field battle outside the city.

After the mobilization of troops on both sides was completed and a brief preparation was made, Tian Yiming ordered the Samurai Division Vanguard Regiment to launch an attack.

Japan has enjoyed peace for a long time, and most of the samurai of this generation have never really fought in a war. They may have personal combat skills, but their experience on the battlefield is basically zero.

When the soldiers of the Japanese Samurai Division saw their enemies and confirmed that they were about to go to the battlefield, they were extremely nervous.

After being reorganized, the grassroots legions appointed as the samurai division conveyed and announced the commander's orders over and over again.

"Attack with all your strength and annihilate the enemy. Advance without retreat. Anyone who retreats will die!"

"go ahead!"

After the order to attack was issued, the members of the Samurai Division instinctively tried to howl and cheer themselves up, and walked quickly towards the enemy with their weapons in hand.

The Japanese army during the Warring States Period once used a large number of "teppo", which is the Japanese musket.

However, after the Edo Shogunate closed the country, there was a serious shortage of saltpeter, the raw material for making gunpowder. In addition, the country had maintained peace for a long time, and the number of muskets in the army decreased.

By the time of Zhu Jianxuan, the number of muskets in the Japanese army had basically dropped to its lowest point.

The number of soldiers equipped with muskets in the Japanese army was almost only one-tenth of the total number of troops.

The main weapons of the Japanese army once again became cold weapons.

Spears are used for blocking and defense, swords and shields are used for close combat, and bows and muskets are used for long-range attacks.

To the extent that now, at the end of the eighteenth century, the proportion of cold weapons on the battlefield is even greater than in the Warring States Period two hundred years ago.

Due to lack of training and high mental tension, the Japanese samurai division's team gradually became disorganized during the advance and could no longer maintain a stable formation.

The samurai of Mito Domain were not much better, but they were now on the defensive and could stand and wait for the time being. Even if they were nervous, it would not be apparent immediately.

However, as the distance between the two sides gradually shortened, the samurai of Mito Domain soon showed their weakness.

When the two sides were only 200 meters apart, archers and musketeers from Mito Domain started firing, and other soldiers immediately followed suit.

The army led by Nakayama Nobuaki couldn't even stop shouting.

As a result, most of the arrows and bullets only flew about a hundred meters before they basically lost their accuracy and hit rate, and most of them could not reach the Japanese samurai division at all.

When the warrior soldiers saw this situation, a few sneers suddenly broke out in the team, which inexplicably reduced some of the tension on the battlefield.

However, this mental advantage did not last long.

The samurai division continued to advance for dozens of meters, and when their archers and musketeers were still about 130 to 140 meters away from the enemy, they could not help but start firing guns and arrows.

The result was naturally that basically no enemies were killed or injured.

In this somewhat awkward atmosphere, the samurai division's officer saw that the distance was about right and formally ordered the final charge.

The samurai of Mito Domain hesitated for a few seconds and then took the initiative to launch a counterattack.

The soldiers of both sides soon came into contact on the battlefield, and then fought back and forth in a mess, which could be said to be a mess.

Tian Yiming held a telescope and looked at the soldiers of both sides on the battlefield, and he couldn't control the contempt in his heart.

"Both sides are too incompetent. Even if there were ten times more of these troops, they would still not be our match."

As Tian Yiming was muttering, a howling sounded on the battlefield and a group of samurai soldiers began to retreat.

Tian Yiming was a little surprised. He couldn't figure out why. It seemed that they couldn't hold on for unknown reasons and suddenly showed signs of retreat.

Tian Yiming was furious and immediately ordered:

"Shoot to block the retreat, shout warnings, and kill anyone who retreats."

The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan under Tian Yiming were also quite disgusted and took note of these traditional Japanese warriors. They opened fire without hesitation after receiving the order.

Several warrior soldiers who were about to turn around and run back fell to the ground screaming. At the same time, the officers' warnings rang out around them:
"Those who retreat will die!"

"Attack with all your might and annihilate the enemy. There is no retreat but only advance. Those who retreat will die!

When the Japanese samurai division was reorganizing, before the war broke out, the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan warned them.

If they retreated on the battlefield, they would be killed by the Ming Dynasty's military supervisors stationed in Japan.

Now the warriors were convinced that the warning was true.

The other warriors, filled with fear and astonishment, had to change direction again and rush towards the enemy they were supposed to destroy.

If you retreat directly, you will definitely die, but if you rush forward, you may still survive.

Under such mental pressure, some members of the Japanese Samurai Division became ruthless and launched several small-scale "fearless and fearless" charges.

As a result, the samurai of Mito Domain on the opposite side were dispersed.

The officers headed by Tian Yiming were shocked again. How come the soldiers who were almost defeated just now suddenly won a great victory?
But a little analysis will reveal what is going on.

The two sides on the battlefield are just weaklings fighting each other, and it is a bad fight with no winner.

However, the Japanese samurai division had the support and pressure from the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan, which gave them a bit of a fearless attitude.

The scale that was originally balanced in the chaos was overwhelmed by this slight change in mentality.

The situation on the battlefield suddenly reversed, and the warriors of Mito Domain began to retreat uncontrollably. The number of retreats increased, and the scale of the retreat became larger and larger.

When the Japanese samurai division saw this situation, their morale was immediately boosted, and they immediately launched a pursuit charge with howls.

This time there is no need for the legion to actively drive away or intimidate them. They have already realized that it is time to reap the rewards, and it would be foolish not to charge at this time.

Tian Yiming and other members of the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan were quite speechless.

The Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan had received line infantry training and had fought line-up shootings with the enemy on the battlefield. After switching to bolt-action rifles, they were able to charge and shoot with their rifles.

In their eyes, the soldiers who are currently in disarray are waste.

However, under pressure, this bunch of losers finally played a role and achieved a pretty good result.

The soldiers of the samurai division's vanguard charged all the way, chasing the samurai of Mito Domain like crazy.

He followed the samurai of Mito Domain and rushed to the outskirts of Mito Castle.

Tian Yiming also gave a direct order, and the main force of the Samurai Division pressed forward and followed the vanguard to rush into Mito Castle. The Japanese city and the Ming Dynasty city are two very different concepts.

Japan has long implemented a feudal system with feudal lords of all sizes everywhere. In terms of the direction of city defense construction, it is similar to Europe, which also has feudal lords everywhere.

The size and purpose of Japanese cities are more like European castles than Shenzhou-style cities.

Normally, only the feudal lord would live in the city. When the city entered a defensive state, only soldiers would be taken into the city, and ordinary residents would be outside the city.

A large Shenzhou-style city, whose main function is to control the entry and exit of people and information, defend against robbers and protect ordinary residents.

The target of Japanese castle defense is the same kind of enemy, namely the lords of other feudal lords.

Many cities are built directly on hills like European castles.

The core of the castle, the keep, is built on the top of a mountain, from which it can project weapons around it.

Then a circular road was built from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, and a circle of walls was built outside the road to serve as a cover for circular downward shooting.

Even if there are no mountains where the city is built, a high platform will be built on the flat ground by ramming earth, and then a mosquito coil-like city wall will be built, and multiple city gates and checkpoints will be built in the circular passage.

The rainfall in mainland Japan is high and the climate is oceanic, with rainfall occurring most of the year, so there is little chance of water shortage due to the siege.

The Japanese are very patient and can survive on just one ball of rice a day.

During the Wanli Korean Campaign, the Ming army besieged the castle built by the Japanese.

The Ming Dynasty estimated the Japanese holding time based on its own army's ration consumption, and the final estimate was half off.

We thought all the Japanese had starved to death, but they actually had a lot of food left.

If the strength of the attacking and defending sides is not very different, this kind of castle in Japan will be very difficult to attack.

If a local daimyo in Japan wanted to annex another feudal domain, it would often take decades and generations of effort to slowly do so.

The siege of Shenzhou is basically over once the city gate is broken.

The people in the city became lambs to be slaughtered, and the function of the city itself disappeared.

In Japan's siege, breaking the city gate was just the beginning. There were still several circles of mosquito coil-like inner city defense systems before reaching the final castle tower.

It’s just like behind the city gate of the Ming Dynasty, there are endless layers of city walls, which usually get higher and higher, and have to be attacked from above.

There are no civilians in this kind of city. It is full of warriors and soldiers, and the fighting in the city is street fighting.

In street fighting in an environment familiar to the enemy, we also have to guard against the castle tower that overlooks us and the surrounding firepower concentrated areas similar to star-shaped fortresses.

So when Tian Yiming saw the samurai rushing into the outer city gate of Mito, he was not too excited.

The battle after entering the city was a street fight.

Both sides were small fry, so fighting outside the city was relatively fair.

Once you enter a familiar enemy territory and continue the chaotic fight, you will most likely be driven out by the enemy again.

As expected, the battle did not last long before the samurai division's vanguard was pushed out of the city.

Due to Tian Yiming's previous order, although the samurai division could not break in, they did not dare to retreat and continued to attack despite the cannons in Mito Castle.

Tian Yiming observed for a while and ordered to stop the attack, let the troops in the front retreat, and instead lay siege under the city.

One samurai division besieged Mito Castle, and another samurai division went to gather the peasants outside the city.

At the same time, a messenger was sent to call for naval and artillery support.

Although the Japanese cities were difficult to attack, the alliance between the King of Japan and the Ming Dynasty was no match for a small Mito Castle.

Mito Castle is located on the Edo Plain, which has a generally flat terrain and is not built on a particularly dangerous mountain top.

There is also a lake in front of Mito Castle and the Naka River behind it.

Mito Castle is also very close to the coastal area, and the Ming Dynasty can directly use ships to transport supplies and send all the farmers outside the city away.

It can allow the Japanese samurai division to besiege Mito Castle to death.

But Tian Yiming felt that a simple siege was too time-consuming.

Tian Yiming prepared for forced demolition.

By the way, show the Japanese inside and outside the city the power of Ming Dynasty's artillery and other weapons.

The Ming Navy dispatched armed merchant ships to transport a batch of 80mm army artillery to the mouth of the Naka River.

Then we used the flat-bottomed inland boat we had brought with us to go upstream along the Naka River.

The protective facilities set up by Mito Domain in the river were forcibly blown up using explosives.

The small boats carrying the army's artillery finally landed on the riverside next to Mito Castle and were deployed under the castle.

Japan's domestic gunpowder production was severely insufficient, and there were not many large-caliber artillery pieces, so the Ming Dynasty's artillery positions could be close enough to Mito Castle.

By the early morning of the next day, a total of thirty 80mm artillery pieces had been delivered to Mito Castle.

After the artillery deployment was completed, Tian Yiming gave the order to attack.

All artillery fired in a loop, continuously bombarding the walls and tower of Mito Castle.

The samurai divisions besieging Mito Castle brought Molotov cocktails and launched another attack under the cover of artillery.

The Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan followed behind the Samurai Division, using their bolt-action rifles as fire support and burst fire to suppress the Mito Castle defenders who appeared on the city walls.

This time, the end of Mito Castle has come.

The walls of Japanese castles are low and thin, and are essentially shooting shelters.

In the era of cold weapons and on battlefields where there were only conventional musketeers, the defensive effect was very good.

However, once the enemy has high-powered artillery and sufficient long-range and high-precision muskets, it will not be difficult to fight.

The artillery blew down the city wall, and the infantry charged along the collapsed wall. They no longer needed to circle along the wall, but could go straight up to the core area of ​​the city.

Like the Ming Dynasty, Japan used a lot of wood in its core buildings, so Tian Yiming asked the soldiers to prepare Molotov cocktails.

The Ming Dynasty had "kerosene" which was similar to kerosene, and had a large natural rubber and vulcanized rubber industry, so there was naturally no shortage of alcohol.

Since all the materials were complete, Zhu Jianxuan simply took out the Molotov cocktail.

The goal of Tian Yiming's attack this time was no longer to capture Mito Castle, but to destroy it directly.

Tian Yiming was very considerate and pulled Tokugawa Jibao out, letting him watch with him the collapse of Mito Castle amid explosions, flames, and howling.

(End of this chapter)