I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Spread out! Everyone spread out! Don't gather in groups!"

In an instant, accompanied by a spray of blood, more than ten team members fell to the ground with cries of agony.

The offensive of the Choshu army has not ceased.

Suddenly, Qingdeng heard a "whooshing" sound, as if something had fallen.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw black objects drawing beautiful parabolas in mid-air before falling straight down towards their heads.

One of them landed right at Qingdeng's feet.

Qingdeng looked closely—it was a hand grenade!

In an instant... truly the instant he saw the object clearly, Qing Deng swiftly reached out, grabbed the grenade that had fallen at his feet, and then forcefully threw it back.

The grenade exploded with a "bang" before it reached its highest point in the air.

At the same time, as if a chain reaction had been triggered, grenades that landed elsewhere exploded one after another.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Smoke filled the air, and the air was thick with the stench of gunpowder.

This time, the newly selected group suffered widespread damage from "fragmentation".

Many people were injured by grenades, blown up, or scratched by shrapnel, losing their ability to fight.

At this moment, the musketeers on the rock wall had finished loading their guns, and the dark muzzles of their guns were once again pointed directly at the Shinsengumi below—the second wave of bullets was coming!

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

Another group of soldiers were unfortunately hit by bullets.

This series of attacks by the Choshu army completely disrupted the Shinsengumi's order and formation, abruptly interrupting their offensive momentum.

The terrain here is open, with almost no decent obstacles, leaving no way to avoid it.

Seeing this, Qingdeng, not blinded by his obsession with "quickly capturing Nangong Mountain," made a decisive decision:

"Retreat! Retreat! Take all the wounded and retreat!!"

……

……

Under Qingdeng's instructions, the team members retreated in an orderly manner, moving away from the "rock wall".

Only caring about his own escape, ignoring his wounded comrades who had fallen to the ground... Even disregarding discipline and military regulations, just talking about human ethics and morality, Qingdeng would never allow such behavior to happen.

Therefore, Qingdeng specifically requested that all the wounded be taken away, leaving none behind.

Qingdeng chose a grove of trees not far from the rock face as his resting place.

Located outside the enemy's attack range, and with its dense forests, the location effectively concealed the movement of large troops, making it impossible for the enemy at the "rock wall" to see their movements. It was an ideal hiding place and resting place.

And so, the main force set up a makeshift camp there, secretly resting and preparing to regroup.

It is now noon.

After a whole morning of fierce fighting, the soldiers were starving.

This is a good opportunity to give the team a good meal during the rest period so they can recover their strength.

"Make way! The food delivery is coming from the rear!"

"Food?! Where's the food?!"

"No fighting! No fighting! Whoever fights will go hungry!"

The cooks carried baskets of steaming hot rice balls up the mountain.

As lunch approached, the team members, though extremely eager, still followed the rules and obediently lined up.

After receiving the still-warm rice balls, the team members couldn't wait to stuff them into their mouths and swallowed them whole with almost no chewing.

This shows just how intense the battle was that morning.

At their bases... namely Kyoto, Otsu and other places, Aoto was able to provide his soldiers with a hearty meal of rice, miso soup, dried meat and other delicacies.

However, once they reached the front lines far from their base, it became difficult to guarantee the normal supply of materials.

Logistics is a complex subject.

Even the world's top management gurus would find the logistics of the military a major headache.

Supplies piled up at the rear, but due to a lack of transportation capacity and effective scheduling, they could not be transported to the front lines... This kind of thing is still common even in modern times.

To be fair, the Shinsengumi's logistics system was still in its infancy.

Under Aoto's instructions, Iwasaki Yataro was stationed in Otsu, taking full responsibility for the supply of provisions for this campaign.

It doesn't matter if people eat a little worse; it won't cause them to lose their fighting ability.

But if guns and cannons run out of ammunition, they're completely helpless.

Therefore, the entire transport capacity of the newly selected group was prioritized for supplying weapons and ammunition.

As for luxuries like dried meat and tofu, they simply couldn't afford to indulge in them.

Even the experienced and skilled manager, Yataro Iwasaki, was overwhelmed by the enormous workload, so busy that he had no time to eat or sleep.

Providing the soldiers on the front lines with hot rice balls—that was the limit that Yataro Iwasaki… or rather, the current logistics system of the Shinsengumi could achieve.

At the same time that the cooks were distributing rice balls, another team also set out to do the same.

One by one, people dressed in white smocks were seen running quickly through the camp, helping the wounded.

"Ugh... Doctor, please help me..."

"Don't move! The more you move, the more you bleed!"

"Aaaaaah! My hand! My hand!"

"Quick! Send another person to hold him down!"

"Doctor, my shoulder bone was shattered by a bullet... Will I still be able to wield a knife in the future?"

"I don't know. I don't understand medicine, so I can't give you a definite answer."

They belonged to the Shinsengumi medical unit.

However, they were not professional doctors; their main responsibility was to transfer the wounded from the front lines to the rear for further treatment by professional doctors.

In other words, their main job was manual labor, and only a small number of them knew basic medical skills, such as stopping bleeding and setting bones.

Qing Deng knew nothing about battlefield first aid, but he knew the story of the famous Florence Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale – the founder of modern nursing and nurse education, was the world's first true nurse.

From 1854 to 1856, the allied forces of Britain, France, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Turks fought against Tsarist Russia in Crimea, marking the outbreak of the Crimean War.

Currently, the West lacks proper battlefield medical care... or more accurately, it simply doesn't have the concept!

Due to a lack of medical personnel and poor medical conditions, the wounded were not receiving adequate care.

It's no exaggeration to say that once injured, you can only lie in bed and grit your teeth to endure it; whether you live or die is entirely up to fate.

This "laissez-faire" approach to management resulted in a persistently high mortality rate among the wounded.

The British army alone had a terrifying 42% mortality rate among wounded soldiers.

This dire situation changed fundamentally with the arrival of Florence Nightingale.

During the battle, Nightingale volunteered to serve as a field nurse, leading 38 nurses to the front lines to serve in field hospitals, providing the wounded with essential supplies and food, and offering them meticulous care.

Florence Nightingale may not have been a miracle doctor, but she was certainly a technically skilled person who was proficient in both medicine and mathematics.

She not only greatly improved the living conditions of the wounded, but also applied statistics to her work, using scientific methods to treat the wounded.

Nightingale's methods and measures are simply incomparable to modern professional rescue.

However, it was precisely these crude measures that led to a decrease in the British army's casualty mortality rate to 2.2% in just six months.

In fact, in many cases, the injured are just one breath away from being saved.

If you give them a little encouragement and hope for survival, they can grit their teeth and pull through the gates of hell—that's how amazing the human body is.

Even in the West, the field of "battlefield medical care" is still in its infancy.

Qingdeng did not have a capable person like Nightingale who was skilled in both medicine and mathematics.

Without a leader, it's a pipe dream for the Shinsengumi to have a mature public health system in a short period of time.

However, he was capable of doing his best to improve the medical environment and sterilize all medical equipment with boiling water, giving the wounded hope for survival.

Therefore, Qingdeng has always valued the medical field and has never been stingy with its investment.

This is not only based on considerations of self-interest, but also on a simple sense of justice.

Qingdeng could not bring himself to do something as inhumane as letting his subordinates, who had a chance to survive, die tragically.

……

……

While the team was resting, Qingdeng found a high spot and looked out at the "rock wall".

He held the binoculars and carefully examined every corner of the "rock wall".

Yamanami Keisuke stood beside him, also observing the enemy situation through binoculars.

Suddenly, Yamanami Keisuke said softly:

"...Tachibana-kun, in my opinion, the Choshu army in front of us should be Takasugi Shinsaku's secret force."

Qingdeng nodded slightly:

"What a coincidence, Kei-suke, you and I are thinking the same thing."

The enemy's overwhelming firepower has made people wonder: Is this still the army of Changzhou?

Almost everyone had a flintlock pistol, and some were even equipped with hand grenades.

In addition to their excellent equipment, their fighting spirit and training level are also very high.

Even in close combat, they could hold their own against the Shinsengumi.

Even when forced to retreat due to defeat in battle, there were no signs of collapse, and their advance and retreat were well-planned.