I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

He turned his head and glanced at Chiba Sadakichi beside him.

Chiba Sadakichi nodded knowingly.

"Tachibana-kun, you should go now. We'll take care of Eijiro."

Qingdeng returned an apologetic look, then strode out of the ward.

"Sanosuke! I'm here!"

"Ah! Mr. Tachibana! You're here!"

Harada Sanosuke pushed through the crowd and rushed to Aoto's side.

Currently, excluding Hijikata Toshizo and Elodie, who are still recovering from serious injuries, Harada Sanosuke is the highest-ranking officer among the generals around Aoto.

Therefore, Harada Sanosuke became Aoto's obvious adjutant, assisting him in handling the aftermath of the battlefield.

"Zanosuke, what's wrong?"

Aoto knew very well that Harada Sanosuke would never have come running to him in such a fuss unless something very important had happened.

Harada Sanosuke swallowed hard, glancing around warily.

"Mr. Ju, it's not convenient to talk here. Let's move to another place."

"It's not convenient to say this here..." This sentence made Qing Deng frown.

"Come with me."

He led Harada Sanosuke out of the clinic.

……

……

"...Is the information reliable?"

In a secluded corner outside the clinic, Aoto and Harada Sanosuke faced each other.

After listening to Harada Sanosuke's report, he immediately frowned, and anger flared up in the depths of his eyes.

Harada Sanosuke swallowed again and nodded vigorously:

"Yes, this is a message from Mr. Kondo, so it should be reliable."

Mr. Kondo – namely, Kondo Isami, who is currently stationed in the Gyeonggi region.

"..."

Qingdeng fell silent, his eyes and expression becoming exceptionally terrifying.

Harada Sanosuke also pursed his lips, his face filled with grief and indignation.

A deathly silence descended between the two.

Anyone would have that reaction.

After all… Harada Sanosuke had just given such a report—

The "Choshu Campaign" has failed! The army that attacked Choshu failed to destroy the Choshu Domain!

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Chapter 969 A Traditional Japanese Skill: Overthrowing One's Superior! [4200]

Even though Harada Sanosuke had clearly and eloquently stated the cruel truth, Aoto still couldn't believe his ears.

The Choshu campaign ended in "failure"... This devastating news directly destroyed the joy that "Chiba Eijiro's resurrection" had brought him.

Before launching the "Second Great Return of China", Qing Deng had already led the army to break through Yizhou Pass and invade the heart of Changzhou.

Next, by simply maneuvering northwards, they can bring their troops to the gates of Hagi Castle (the domain headquarters of the Choshu Domain).

The army that attacked Changdu had an overwhelming advantage in manpower and was still riding high on the momentum of "easily breaking through the border".

In contrast, Choshu suffered a series of setbacks, including the "August 18th Coup," the "Ikedaya Incident," and the "Kyoto Summer Siege," resulting in heavy losses of soldiers and generals, and the loss of many talented individuals.

Looking across the entire Changzhou region, the only remaining force capable of fighting is the Qibing Team.

The Qibing Corps had long since left Choshu and followed the Fazhu Party to raid Edo.

In short, the defenses of the Choshu Domain were extremely weak! It was practically an "empty domain"!

Given the vast disparity in combat strength between the two sides, why did they ultimately fail?

In order to find out the truth, Aoto immediately ordered Otsu to compile a more detailed account of the "Changzhi Expedition" and send it to Edo as soon as possible.

Six days later, a scroll containing detailed information about the "failure of the expedition" was presented to him.

This scroll... it's fine if you don't read it, but once you do, Qingdeng's expression instantly becomes extremely terrifying, even more terrifying than when he first learned of the "failure of the expedition."

Simply put, the failure of the "Changzhou Campaign" was not due to insufficient military strength or lack of resources, but entirely because of a lack of unity among the people!

After taking over the actual command of the anti-Chihō army from Aoto, Matsudaira Katamori, the lord of the Aizu Domain, was indeed full of ambition and determined to repay Aoto's expectations.

He put in tremendous effort and marched north.

Under his orderly command, the army that attacked Changzhou advanced at full speed, heading straight for the heart of Changzhou, and arrived at Hagi Castle as scheduled.

Matsudaira Katamori did not rush to attack the castle, but first sent a "letter of surrender" demanding that the Hagi Castle garrison open the castle gates and surrender unconditionally.

If we can subdue the enemy without fighting, that would be the best outcome.

He then quickly received a reply from the garrison of Hagi Castle: No need to persuade them anymore! If you want to fight, then fight!

Matsudaira Katamori was not surprised by this outcome; he had long been mentally prepared for it.

When the army marched towards Hagi Castle, all the villages along the way were completely wiped out.

The population, livestock, and supplies all vanished without a trace, leaving not even a single rice husk behind.

To resist the attack of the Choshu army, they went to such lengths... This shows the Choshu army's determination to "defend Hagi Castle".

With things having come to this point, there was no other option but to launch a forced siege.

As the domain headquarters of the Choshu Domain, Hagi Castle was certainly not a simple, easily conquered small town.

Like other major cities of the time, the architects responsible for designing Hagi Castle displayed astonishing creativity, designing the castle's defensive facilities to be incredibly ingenious and complex, aiming to make the attacking side experience a disgusting feeling akin to eating shit.

To conquer such a fortified city, one can only rely on the power of artillery.

Although the Osaka Army boasted an army of 200,000 and was a formidable force, only the Satsuma Army possessed a sufficient number of artillery pieces.

However... at this critical juncture, with the great battle imminent, the Satsuma army became lazy and complacent!

As soon as the battle began, the Satsuma army's artillery units frequently encountered "unexpected situations".

Either the gunpowder is damp and cannot be used.

Either the gun barrel is damaged and needs to be repaired.

In short, there were various situations that prevented the cannon from being operated normally.

Several days into the war, the artillery barrage fired by the Satsuma army was barely a drizzle in early spring!

Although the Satsuma Army's commander-in-chief, Saigo Kichinosuke, spoke eloquently, it was clear to everyone that these were merely excuses, and very lame ones at that.

It hasn't rained these past few days, so how did your gunpowder get damp?

Haven't you always been very diligent in maintaining your weapons and equipment? How come it just happened to break down?

This rude attitude, which didn't even bother to pretend and acted like he was teasing a child, infuriated Matsudaira Katamori.

He was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

The Satsuma army was not his subordinates, and no matter how loudly he shouted, he could not command a single soldier.

No matter how Matsudaira Katamori tried to persuade him, using all sorts of nice and mean words, Saigo Kichinosuke remained unchanged in his attitude: Say whatever you want, but if you want our Satsuma army to contribute to this battle, forget it!

Seeing that the Satsuma army was dragging its feet, Matsudaira Katamori gritted his teeth and decided to launch a direct assault, using the flesh and blood of his soldiers to forcefully capture Hagi Castle!

Without the support of artillery, this would inevitably be an extremely fierce and bloody battle.

From the Kamakura period onwards, with the significant development of castle-building technology, siege warfare became a typical example of "defense outweighs offense," with the defensive capabilities of castles far surpassing the offensive capabilities of armies.

During the Warring States period, it was common for a siege to last for several months, or even a year and a half.

Without the aid of artillery, the soldiers had to use cold weapons to attack the city by hand... Heaven knows how many lives would be lost.

But in order to eliminate Choshu, Matsudaira Katamori couldn't care less about all that.

In fact, even without the support of the Satsuma army, the Tocho army still had the ability to "destroy Hagi Castle".

The garrison at Hagi Castle numbered at most a thousand or so, a huge disparity in troop strength.

Even if it takes human lives, it can still kill Hagi Castle and destroy Choshu.

However... it's one thing for Matsudaira Katamori to be willing to sacrifice his life for righteousness, but whether his generals and feudal lords are willing to obey his orders is another matter entirely.

Regarding this "Chōshū Expedition", the attitude of the various domains has always been very clear: This is a conflict between your shogunate and Chōshū, what does it have to do with us?

They only wanted to make a show of force, unwilling to make any sacrifices, and were focused on preserving their strength.

Upon learning that Matsudaira Katamori intended to launch a full-scale attack on Hagi Castle, the generals from various domains were shocked, panicked, and filled with inexplicable grief and indignation.

Being forced to fight a war we don't want to get involved in is already very unpleasant.

We have done everything we could, yet we are still expected to shed blood and sacrifice ourselves? In the end, the shogunate gets all the benefits, why should we?

The young Matsudaira Katamori did not yet understand the true meaning of the saying "politics is the art of compromise".

He was unaware that his order to "storm Hagi Castle" had unwittingly incurred the wrath of the masses.

The fatal flaw was that, with the precedent set by Saigo Kichinosuke, the generals felt much less psychologically burdened when resisting Matsudaira Katamori, and thus followed suit, no longer willing to obey Matsudaira Katamori.

Ultimately, the traditional Japanese art of overthrowing one's superior was performed in the shogunate.

The term "subordinate overthrowing superior" refers to the phenomenon where the lower class replaces the upper class due to war, power seizure, or other reasons.

It is well known that power comes from the bottom up.