I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Crack, thud... The sounds of a gun breaking and limbs splitting apart rang out almost simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Saito Hajime from another direction was equally determined.

Compared to Aoto and Souji, Saito Hajime's actions were much more prudent.

He did not adopt an overly flamboyant style of play, such as "jumping" or "attacking head-on".

Instead, they quietly circled around and, taking advantage of the moment when the enemy's attention was drawn to the Eighth Division soldiers in front, launched a surprise attack on the enemy formation from the side.

By the time the enemy discovered him, he had already killed two people.

Upon seeing the two figures charging in, gasps of surprise erupted from the enemy ranks:

"It's Captain Okita Souji of the First Division and Captain Saito Hajime of the Third Division!"

Tachibana Aoto and Okita Souji—the two most renowned swordsmen in the Shinsengumi—are both present!

Simultaneously facing "Nioh" and "Tenken"... In an instant, a heavy atmosphere filled the Choshu army's position.

Conversely, the morale of the Shinsengumi was greatly boosted.

Seeing Aoto and Souji standing together on the front line, the Shinsengumi members cheered loudly.

Despite the commotion outside, Qingdeng couldn't hear a thing.

To be precise, it's that they heard it but didn't bother to pay attention to it.

After the main force arrived and provided strong cover, he emerged from behind the boulder where he was hiding, and together with Souji and Saito, he killed every enemy within the reach of his blade and cleared every fortress in front of them.

He devoted all his attention to the battle, leaving no time for anything else.

Before long, under their combined fierce attack, the enemy's blockade line collapsed.

The enemy troops defending this place were either killed or retreated.

Taking advantage of the situation, Qingdeng led his team in pursuit.

However... no sooner had they broken through this blockade than they encountered a new and even tighter one.

This time, the blockade line not only consisted of fortifications, but also a network of crisscrossing trenches.

Countless flintlock muskets were mounted above these fortresses and trenches, resembling a giant trap, waiting for prey to take the bait.

And now, the prey has arrived.

As soon as Qing Deng and his group entered its firing range, the deafening gunfire immediately dominated the eardrums of everyone present.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Some soldiers were unable to dodge in time and fell to the ground with a thud, their cries of pain filling the air, their light blue haori stained dark red.

This time, the barrage of comments was very dense, and just one wave of comments claimed the lives of more than ten Shinsengumi members.

Before the other side fired, Qingdeng had already sensed the danger and promptly took cover in a safe area—behind a large tree.

Coincidentally, he and Souji hid in the same place.

Fortunately, the tree trunk was thick enough, and the Souji was petite, so there was more than enough room for the two of them to hide inside.

Listening to the continuous gunfire outside, Souji leaned against Aoto and said half-jokingly:

"So what exactly did our previous shelling destroy?"

Qing Deng gave a wry smile and did not respond.

After seeing that the number of fortifications blown into the air by artillery shells was far less than expected, Qingdeng had already made the corresponding mental preparations.

The area of ​​Nangong Mountain is really too large.

Even if you use the cannons until they are scrapped, you still can't achieve true "carpet bombing".

This outcome is simply to be expected.

"Xiao Si, could you hold this for me?"

As he spoke, Qing Deng handed the Bizen Osafune in his hand to the commander, and then took out a hand mirror from his pocket.

This hand mirror was specially prepared for this battle.

He pinched one corner of the hand mirror, letting it extend beyond the tree trunk, with the mirrored side facing the enemy formation, using the reflection to observe the enemy's situation.

The commander leaned closer, and they both stared intently at the image in the mirror.

After glancing at it a few times, she asked directly:

"Qingdeng, what do you think? Should we launch a full-scale attack?"

Qingdeng shook his head without hesitation:

"No, the enemy's defenses are very tight. Look, the enemy's left and right flanks have formed a crossfire, leaving no way to avoid it. A forced attack would be too dangerous."

He paused here, then adopted a more solemn tone:

"This defensive line is set up so well... There are some capable people in the enemy army..."

boom!

Just then, a bullet grazed the tree trunk where the two were hiding, leaving a trail of hot, charred marks and interrupting their discussion.

The commander glanced at the bullet hole less than an inch away from her and said helplessly:

"Then what should we do? We can't just stay here."

Qing Deng pondered briefly:

"...Let's just use 'that'."

Using light weapons like swords and muskets to launch a direct assault on a fortified mountain is far too reckless.

Therefore, Qingdeng specially prepared a powerful weapon.

He raised his head, scanned the area, and looked for Heisuke Todo.

He quickly found the other person—they were not far away, hiding behind a large rock.

"Heisuke!"

Upon hearing Qingdeng call his name, he immediately looked in the direction of the voice.

"Throw a grenade!"

Upon hearing this order, Todo Heisuke immediately nodded vigorously in understanding, then turned his head and shouted to the soldiers behind him:

"Grenades ready!"

Before long, more than ten soldiers carried large, heavy, black objects to the front line.

Under the cover of the rest of the squad, they mustered their strength and threw with all their might—these dark objects drew beautiful parabolas in mid-air and landed squarely in the enemy ranks.

The next breath—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions replaced gunshots!

What followed was a piercing scream.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa!"

"My finger is broken...!"

"Watch out! It's a grenade! Don't let these grenades fall in!"

The black objects that the members of the Eighth Division just threw were hand grenades!

Hand grenades have a long history.

The earliest instance dates back to the time of Leo III of the Byzantine Empire, when soldiers threw ceramic containers filled with Greek fire to attack the enemy.

Modern hand grenades are large and heavy, which puts soldiers to a great physical test.

The use of hand grenades declined significantly in the early 18th century, which can be attributed to the increased effectiveness of large-scale infantry line tactics and flint technology.

However, the need for elite assault forces remains.

Why wouldn't we import such a powerful and versatile weapon?

Therefore, as early as the beginning of the formation of the gunnery unit, Qingdeng ordered a batch of hand grenades and trained a group of strong "grenadiers" for use in attacking fortified positions.

There is a common misconception about the power of hand grenades, with many believing that they kill enemies through "explosion".

In reality, hand grenades primarily rely on "shrapnel" to cause area damage.

Its explosive power is not great, far less than that of an artillery shell.

The idea of ​​using hand grenades to destroy a solid defensive fortification is pure fantasy.

Of course, the fragile human body cannot withstand a grenade.

Even the weakest grenade is more than enough to blow you to pieces and sever your limbs.

That round of grenade throwing just now directly threw the enemy ranks into chaos!

Amidst the billowing smoke, the soldiers of Changzhou were caught off guard.

Some people were injured by shrapnel and cried out in pain.

Some people were seriously injured because they were close to the explosion point, and they didn't even have the strength to scream.

Qingdeng would naturally not let such a great opportunity slip by.

"Follow me!!"

While shouting loudly, he and the commander rushed out of their hiding place.

Qingdeng's shout was like a signal.

In the blink of an eye, the Shinsengumi members who had been hiding all suddenly appeared.

The musketeers of the Eighth Division, along with the swordsmen of the First, Third, and Fifth Divisions, swarmed forward!

They were indeed brave, but the Choshu army on the other side was not to be trifled with either.

Although they had not yet recovered from the grenade attack, they were ready to fight back.

"Let's fight them!"

"Charge! Don't let the Shinsengumi lose!"