I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Immediately afterwards, the artillery positions moved forward and began bombarding the walls of the Ninomaru castle.

What followed was simply a replay of everything that had just happened.

Artillery bombardment, the collapse of the city walls, the devastation of the battlefield, the advance of the army, the fall of the Ninomaru...

By this point, the third and second tiers of Mito Castle had fallen, in 2 hours!

Only two hours have passed since the start of the battle!

In just two hours, they defeated Mito Castle, leaving only a solitary citadel... truly the best interpretation of the phrase "unstoppable"!

Qing Deng coldly gave the order:

"Keep going! Don't hold back the shells! Bombard the citadel to the ground!"

He had already given the Mito ruler and his retainers a chance to surrender as soon as possible, so as not to waste time for both sides.

He wrote very clearly in that letter of surrender: If you want war, then we'll give you war!

Since the Mito lord and his retainers are determined to oppose him, then so be it, and use absolute force to make them realize the reality!

He will no longer send anyone to persuade them to surrender.

Next, either they'll wisely open the gates and surrender, or we'll raze the citadel to the ground, driving them out like rats from their holes, or we'll simply pull their corpses out of the ruins.

……

……

Mito Castle, Honmaru——

Thud...! Thud...! Thud...! Thud...!

The muffled thuds of cannonballs bombarding the city walls rose and fell.

Interspersed among them were the sounds of broken bricks and tiles falling to the ground.

Tokugawa Yoshitsu sat slumped on the ground, his eyes lifeless.

A group of ministers surrounded him, their expressions blank.

Two hours earlier, they were indignant, their eyes blazing with fury, shouting slogans like "Never surrender" and "We will fight to the end" in a competitive manner.

And now... they are all utterly dejected and listless.

This stark contrast is both comical and pathetic.

In just two hours, they experienced firsthand the despair of "plunging straight into hell".

The castle they had placed their hopes on was on the verge of falling in less than half a day!

Now they are at their wits' end...

Unless they possess supernatural powers such as "summoning meteorites" or "calling for raging winds," it is impossible for them to break the deadlock.

Thud...! Thud...! Thud...! Thud...!

The muffled thuds of cannonballs bombarding the city walls grew louder and closer.

The sound of broken bricks and tiles flying to the ground grew increasingly frequent.

It seems that their last stronghold will fall in no more than 20 minutes.

At this moment, a suffocatingly heavy atmosphere permeated the relationship between Mito and his lord…

In the midst of this deathly silence, Tokugawa Yoshitsugu whispered:

"...Surrender...Surrender to Tachibana Aoto...!"

The last few syllables were forced out from between the teeth.

Surrender... If this had happened two hours earlier, the officials would have been furious upon hearing this word, as if a pot had exploded in chaos.

Right now...

After Tokugawa Yoshitsu finished speaking, no one in the room uttered a sound.

Quietly... no one objected.

Even if someone opens their mouth to say something, they quickly close it again.

With defeat looming, no matter how unwilling or indignant they were, they could not change this established fact through sheer willpower.

"Waaaaah..."

Someone shrugged and made a low sobbing sound.

The others, who had been holding back their tears, could no longer contain themselves after witnessing this scene and burst into tears.

The sobs grew more frequent and intense, eventually becoming a continuous chorus.

They all kept their heads down, staring at their toes, not daring to look at anyone around them, as if they would find guilt on each other's faces.

……

……

Mito Castle, outside the main keep—

Qing Deng calmly looked at the Honmaru, which was on the verge of collapse.

The Mito army's ability to counterattack had been completely destroyed, and they were no longer able to fight against the Shinsengumi's artillery units.

Therefore, the 11th Division members were able to set up cannons in front of the walls of the citadel and bombard it directly at close range.

Incidentally, just as Qing Deng had predicted, the Mito army did indeed resort to their old tricks—they brought in bronze bells and piled them on the city walls to pretend they were cannons, making a show of force.

After breaching the Sannomaru castle, the Shinsengumi soldiers all laughed as they looked at the bronze bells on the walls.

This move not only failed to intimidate the new faction, but also boosted their morale.

Looking at the imminent fall of the citadel, Kondo Isami said calmly:

"It's almost over."

Qingdeng nodded slightly in agreement.

Just then, with his sharp eyes, he suddenly noticed something unusual—the gate to the citadel was slowly opening.

Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged man dressed in white rushed out:

"General Tachibana! We surrender! We surrender!"

He lay prostrate on the ground, trembling, repeatedly saying, "We are willing to surrender."

Seeing this, Qingdeng gave the order:

"Cease fire."

Soon, the continuous sound of artillery fire stopped.

After sending someone to find out the situation, Kondo Isami sneered:

"Hmph! If we had surrendered earlier, there wouldn't have been so much trouble!"

Aoto remained silent—because Kondo Isami had already acted as his "mouth substitute," speaking for him what was on his mind.

Although the Mito lord and his retainers' stubbornness in not learning until the very end was quite comical, it was ultimately a good thing that the war could be ended as soon as possible.

Therefore, he readily accepted the surrender.

Shortly after, Tokugawa Yoshitsugu, dressed in white, led a group of ministers out of the Honmaru, looking just like prisoners heading to the execution ground.

Before long, they were all kneeling in front of Qingdeng.

Tokugawa Yoshitsu assumed the "dogeza" posture, his forehead barely touching the ground, and said in a trembling voice, filled with fear and trepidation:

"General Tachibana, we are willing to surrender... We beg you to show leniency..."

Upon hearing this, a cold glint flashed in Qing Deng's eyes:

"'Lighten the sentence'? You Mito people have committed so many sins, and now you want to be treated leniently with just a few words? Isn't that a bit unreasonable?"

In fact, in terms of sheer "hatred," Aoto's hatred for Mito was even greater than that for Choshu.

Changzhou never pushed him to the brink.

Mito, however, had indeed driven him and Tenshōin to the brink of death, nearly costing them their lives.

Faced with Qing Deng's rebuke, Tokugawa Yoshitsugu was taken aback, then opened his mouth, wanting to argue.

But he immediately remembered that he was already a prisoner, so he shut his mouth and dared not say another word.

Qingdeng was too lazy to say anything more to the Mito lord and his men, so he waved his hand and ordered his men to take them all away and deal with them at another day.

The castle has fallen, and the king and his subjects have surrendered... Thus, the "Mito Campaign," which lasted only three days, ended in a complete victory for the Shinsengumi!

Although the battle benefited from the fact that the Mito Domain was severely weakened, the fact that the Mito Castle was captured in just two hours is definitely worthy of the description of being "fierce"!

The battle is over, and the rest of the time is simply spent cleaning up the battlefield and taking possession of the Mito Domain's treasury.

It is worth mentioning that when the soldiers were cleaning up the battlefield, they found more than a dozen bodies in the main keep that had committed seppuku. After verifying their identities, they found that they were all retainers of the Mito Domain.

It's not hard to guess that they were unwilling to surrender, so they committed suicide to show their resolve.

Although they were enemies, Qing Deng always held a certain respect for such a courageous person who dared to risk his life to uphold his ideals.

Therefore, he specifically ordered that relatives be allowed to retrieve the body.

As the cleanup work was completed, the orange sunset was almost below the horizon.

Looking at the sky dyed crimson by the setting sun, Kondo Isami sighed with a mixture of amusement and resignation:

"Although I expected it, it's still a bit disappointing that this battle ended so quickly."

This was said unintentionally.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Qing Deng beside him smiled slightly—a smile that revealed an intriguing expression.

"What a coincidence, that's what I was thinking too."

"It would be a waste to return home so soon after making this trip."

"Therefore... we must continue our northward advance! I want to stabilize the north in one fell swoop!"

*******

*******