I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

After Shinsaku Takasugi formed the Kiheitai (Special Forces), influenced by him, he also followed suit and established a new force that dared to fight, named the "Guerrilla Forces," and appointed himself as its governor.

Although the guerrilla force took the Qibing Team as its model, it was not a "mixed" special forces unit like the Qibing Team. Instead, it was a pure cold weapon unit, with spears and knives as its main weapons.

Kijima Matabei poured his heart and soul into this unit that belonged only to him.

Only physically strong men of the appropriate age are recruited; warriors and commoners are both welcome; discipline is emphasized...

Thus, under the rigorous training of Kurushima Matabei, the guerrillas became one of the main forces of the Choshu army.

Kijima Matabei asserted: Although the guerrilla force only has a total strength of 600 men, if deployed properly, they may be able to achieve a surprising victory and reverse the tide of the war!

—The battle that follows will be the real deciding factor!

With this thought in mind, Kijima Matabei felt a little more at ease, straightened his back again, and raised his head once more.

Just then, a general came running up, shouting anxiously:

"Mr. Kurushima! The enemy has made a big move! They're attacking us!"

After hearing this, Kijima Matahei's expression darkened slightly:

"They've arrived...! Did you manage to identify which Shinsengumi unit is attacking?"

The general looked troubled.

"This... it's still unclear which Shinsengumi unit the attacking force belongs to, but they're all carrying arquebuses!"

Kijima Matahei raised an eyebrow:

"Armor?"

……

……

The Shinsengumi are currently riding high on morale, and now is the perfect time to press their advantage and crush the enemy in one fell swoop!

Thanks to the divine assistance of idiots like Yamamoto Sakuji, Aoto has achieved an unprecedentedly excellent start.

Qingdeng's three consecutive victories have created a clear difference in morale between the two sides.

In this way, today's battle may end sooner.

Qingdeng would naturally not miss this rare opportunity.

So, as soon as he returned to his base, he immediately sent an order to the positions of the Sixth and Eighth Divisions (musketeers): Begin the attack!

……

……

The Shinsengumi's Sixth and Eighth Divisions' stronghold—

"go ahead!"

Inoue Genzaburo drew his sword and commanded the musketeers of the Sixth Division to advance.

Because the main camp was situated on higher ground, Qing Deng and the others in the main camp could clearly see that, accompanied by the rhythmic sound of war drums, the musketeers of the Sixth Division were marching forward in neat formation.

After the Sixth Division went into battle, the Eighth Division, which followed closely behind, also lined up and advanced under the command of Heisuke Todo.

Two squads, totaling two thousand men, marched slowly across the vast wilderness in long lines, without any infantry or cavalry escort.

This impressive display left the regional military commanders completely bewildered.

Their understanding of firearms remained that of "a fairly effective ranged weapon"—powerful but with many limitations.

The most famous battle in Japanese history related to firearms is undoubtedly the Battle of Nagashino, in which the Oda-Tokugawa allied forces decisively defeated the Takeda army.

In 1575, the Oda-Tokugawa allied forces (38000 men) and the Takeda army (15000 men) engaged in a decisive battle.

Because of its high profile, this battle is often adapted and recreated by later generations.

Novelists and playwrights, focused only on making the plots entertaining and easy to understand, have drastically altered historical facts, leading to a misunderstanding of the Battle of Nagashino. The narrative goes that Oda Nobunaga amassed 3000 matchlock muskets, erected barricades, and used them as a shield to create a massive musket formation. Takeda Katsuyori foolishly ordered his troops to launch a direct assault on Oda's musket array, ultimately resulting in the loss of Takeda's elite forces and the elimination of three of the four Takeda kings.

In fact, that is not the case.

Oda Nobunaga did indeed mobilize 3000 matchlock guns, and he also used chevaux-de-frise to block the Takeda army's cavalry.

However, Katsuyori Takeda launched five waves of attacks. Only the first wave was blocked by the barricades before being hit by arquebuses, resulting in significant losses. However, as time passed, the firepower of the arquebuses diminished, and the area between the barricades became a close-quarters battle.

The subsequent second, third, fourth, and fifth offensives were mostly close-quarters combat with hand-to-hand sword fighting, with no use of firearms.

In other words, the Oda-Tokugawa allied forces ultimately defeated the Takeda army because of their superior individual soldier quality and overwhelming numerical superiority, rather than because of the overwhelming advantage of firearms over cold weapons.

Because of past lessons, later generations generally understood firearms as follows:

First, firearms are defensive weapons, not offensive weapons.

It works very well in defensive battles, but becomes very ineffective in offensive battles.

Secondly, no matter how many muskets you have or how skilled your musketeers are, the final decision on victory still rests with the infantry.

Muskets and the like are ultimately just an add-on on the battlefield; they can only influence the outcome of a battle, not determine it.

Once one understands the contemporary view of firearms, it is not difficult to comprehend the current predicament of the regional military commanders.

They immediately ordered musketeers into battle without sending infantry and cavalry to escort them. What kind of war is this?

If the enemy launches an attack, wouldn't all these musketeers be wiped out?

The regional military commanders looked at each other in bewilderment—they all saw a deep sense of incomprehension on each other's faces.

Unable to contain his confusion, someone turned to Qingdeng and asked tactfully:

"Lord Aki, this... this... sending out arquebusiers without escorting them with infantry or cavalry, isn't that too risky?"

Qingdeng smiled slightly:

"Don't panic, this is our tactic."

These words left the regional military commanders even more bewildered.

Tactics? Does such a tactic even exist in this world?

At that moment, a messenger from the Ninth Division ran over:

"My lord! The gunners are in position!"

Qingdeng nodded slightly:

"Very good, let's begin!"

"Yes!"

The messenger responded and quickly ran off to relay the order.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please wait and see."

Qingdeng glanced around at the regional military commanders present, then adopted a meaningful tone.

"Although I'd love to show you the prowess of our Shinsengumi's musketeers right away, before that, it's time for the artillery to unleash its power."

At this very moment, not far from the main camp, the 11th Division (artillery) position, under the command of Abe Juro (captain of the 11th Division), had all its cannons ready.

Abe Juro raised his binoculars, glanced at the distant target, and shouted:

"Base gun, one round loaded!"

……

……

Choshu Army, Main Camp—

As Kijima Matabei observed the opposing formation through binoculars, an excited smile appeared on his face.

—Heaven is helping me! Heaven is helping me!

Just like the feudal generals around Aoto, Kijima Matabei's view of firearms was still stuck in the Sengoku period.

Seeing that Qingdeng sent musketeers directly into battle without sending infantry or cavalry to escort them, he was overjoyed and could hardly believe his eyes.

—The legendary "Benevolent King" Tachibana Aoto, who was said to be invincible in battle and conquerable in attack, was surprisingly ignorant of military strategy!

Kijima Matabei never imagined that Aoto would be so foolish! Sending musketeers to their deaths like that!

It seems that the Iga peasant uprising army and the Tenchu ​​group he faced in the past were too weak, which is why Aoto and the Shinsengumi became so famous!

—If we send out troops to launch a strong attack, we will surely crush the Shinsengumi's arquebusiers in one fell swoop!

Having made up his mind, he immediately put down his binoculars and turned to the messenger beside him, saying:

"Pass on my orders..."

Before he could finish speaking…

boom--!!

The sudden loud noise startled Kijima Matabei.

He instinctively lowered his body and looked in the direction of the sound—something flew into the sky from the direction of the Shinsengumi's formation, roaring and rolling to the rear.

When it landed, a huge explosion occurred, and everything shook.

Kijima Matabei's facial expression underwent a remarkable change.

After a moment, his eyes widened, he swallowed hard, and muttered:

"cannon……?!"

The sounds and commotion reminded Kijima Matabei of the Shimonoseki War a year ago—a brutal battle he still didn't want to recall.

Faced with the barrage of shells from the American and French fleets, they were powerless to retaliate and could only passively endure the attack.

Before Kijima Matabei could recover, the roar of cannons echoed again from the direction of the Shinsengumi army.

This time, the cannon fire was no longer singular, but came one after another, like a torrential downpour!

……

……

The Shinsengumi, the Eleventh Division's stronghold—

After observing the impact point of the reference cannon through his binoculars, Abe Juro methodically began adjusting the firing parameters.

"Raise 8 degrees, turn 13 degrees to the right."