Chapter 178: A Crushing Defeat

Hundreds of Japanese soldiers retreated and immediately smashed the rescue troops brought by Yamaji Motoharu. Yamaji Motoharu was so anxious that he was so angry that smoke came out of his head. He didn't want to escape, but wanted to organize the defeated soldiers to fight again. Unexpectedly, when Dasako Shangmin heard that it was the Wei army led by Wei Jichen, he immediately wanted to retreat. Seeing his own army being dispersed, he was even more frightened and immediately advised Yamaji Motoharu, "Your Excellency, Wei Jichen is coming with great force, and he must have planned it in advance. If we fight him here, we will only suffer heavy losses. We should quickly retreat to other city gates and make plans." Yamaji Motoharu was unwilling and wanted to say more. The Chief of Staff, Otera Yasuzumi, also persuaded him, "Your Excellency, the current situation is obviously that the Wei army wants to defeat us with its superior forces. Our army is too scattered in the city. In my opinion, it is better to gather the defeated soldiers and concentrate the forces before fighting the Wei army." Yamaji Motoharu saw that it was impossible to do anything, so he could only glare at the direction where the Wei army was rushing, turn his horse's head, and follow the defeated soldiers to the west gate. Unexpectedly, Yamaji Motoharu heard a loud shout as soon as he turned his head. "Yamaji Motoharu, where are you going!" It turned out that Wei Jichen had noticed the movement here on his horse a long time ago. When he saw several people who seemed to be the commanders of the Japanese, he couldn't help but shout loudly, taking the lead. Unexpectedly, this Yamaji Motoji was really inside. When he heard Wei Jichen's shout, his body couldn't help but pause, thus exposing his identity. Wei Jichen was overjoyed when he saw this, and quickly raised his gun and secretly aimed at him. Although the distance was a bit far, Wei Jichen was unwilling to just watch him leave. Yamaji Motoji hurriedly spurred his horse to gallop. Wei Jichen sighed helplessly, changed the direction of the muzzle, aimed at the horse's body, and then gently pulled the trigger. After a bang of the gun, Yamaji Motoji's mount cried miserably to the sky, and then its hind legs twisted, and it was about to fall to the ground. Yamaji Motoji panicked and quickly rolled off the horse, but he made a mistake in his hurry, and his coat was hung on the saddle. After a hiss, the coat broke into two halves, and immediately revealed Yamaji Motoji's white body. Seeing that his life was in danger, Yamaji Motoharu could not care about anything else. He hurriedly took off his tattered coat that was in the way, and quickly got into the fleeing soldiers with only the crotch cloth wrapped around his waist. He was like a little white fish, quickly shuttling among the fleeing soldiers, and soon disappeared from Wei Jichen's sight. Wei Jichen was stunned and secretly admired that this guy was too good at escaping. Ignoring Yamaji Motoharu who had escaped, Wei Jichen immediately issued an order, asking Ma Yukun to lead his troops to quickly attack the South Gate; Ma Jinxu to lead his troops to quickly attack the North Gate. Wei Jichen himself led the Weizi Army to continue chasing the fleeing soldiers to the West Gate. Wei Jichen knew in his heart that he must not let the Japanese gather together. The only way to win this battle was to rely on his own military advantage, constantly divide and surround, and slowly erode the small Japanese forces. "Kill!" The temporary joint army was divided into three tributaries, rushing towards their respective targets. Wei Jichen was leading the way, not giving the Japanese a break. He followed the fleeing soldiers like a ghost, constantly killing them. Soon, a small group of Japanese fell behind and were immediately caught up by the Wei army. The soldiers rushed forward like wolves and tigers, and fought with the Japanese again. Boom, boom. Rows of shells whizzed in from the sky on the opposite side, and then plunged into the Chinese and Japanese armies that were fighting each other. Suddenly, screams rang out, limbs flew, mud splashed, and broken stones and wood chips flew all over the sky. More than a hundred Chinese and Japanese soldiers who had just fought hand-to-hand were blown to pieces. Whether they were Qing soldiers or Japanese, they all fell in a pool of blood. Wei Jichen, who was about to move forward, broke out in a cold sweat. It was a close call. He almost died in battle. Wang Huaiqing beside him said in disbelief: "The Japanese are simply inhumane, even killing their own people." Wei Jichen originally wanted to bite the Japanese tightly, but now, the indiscriminate bombing of the other side made Wei Jichen's idea come to nothing. The situation on the battlefield has always changed rapidly, which will test the ability of both sides to make decisions on the spot. The reason why famous generals are called famous generals is that they can always think of solutions quickly when facing various problems under various circumstances. Wei Jichen immediately turned back and shouted loudly to the messenger: "Send the order to Mengzi, let his fire brigade quickly intersperse and quickly solve the Japanese artillery team. The other armies should pay attention to hiding themselves and disperse. Unless it is absolutely necessary, they must not fight the Japanese in close combat." "Yes!" Several messengers quickly came down and quickly passed the order to each camp. At the Japanese position, Yamaji Motoharu stopped the fleeing soldiers until he was only a few hundred meters away from the west gate. He gathered three or four hundred remaining soldiers and simply built a line of defense relying on civilian houses. And Yamaji Motoharu also used one of the houses as his temporary command post. The cannons on the west gate wall could hit this area. Yamaji Motoharu did not hesitate at all, and abandoned his pawns to save his chariot, directly disrupting Wei Jichen's plan and clearing out the tail of his army. "Wei Jichen, I want you to die a miserable death." Yamaji Motoharu had put on a new piece of clothing. His face was hideous and he looked like a madman. Yamaji Motoharu was simply embarrassed by what he had done just now. He was naked in front of so many soldiers, and he felt that he would not have the face to command the army to fight in the future. You should know that Yamaji Motoharu originally developed an inferiority complex since he was a child because he was blind in one eye. He attached great importance to the eyes of the people around him. Just now, two soldiers were shot by him because they looked at him a few more times. Now that he has been insulted like this, it would have been fine if his life was in danger, but now that he is out of danger, he feels ashamed to death.

After Wei Jichen adjusted the offensive strategy, the Wei army immediately attacked the Japanese defense line in a scattered formation. Although the cannons in the rear were still firing, the lethality was not as great as before. At most, a few soldiers were hit by the bomb due to bad luck. Wei Jichen did not care about the casualties and commanded the army to continue to advance. "The front camp charges from the front, and the middle camp and the rear camp press from the left wing." Wei Jichen gave the order calmly. Pressing from the side can make the Japanese army in the front fluctuate and worry all the time. Then the main force in the front will take advantage of the situation and press forward. The Japanese who are not in a dominant position in numbers will definitely not be able to bear it. Mengzi led the members of his fire brigade, divided into pairs of three or five, and divided into more than a dozen teams, secretly lurking in the rear. Because the two sides were fighting fiercely, and the members of the fire brigade were not those who were famous for nothing, they actually let four or five teams pass through in the gap. The members of these five teams immediately locked their targets on the four Japanese cannons on the city wall. Since the Japanese artillery team was in the rear and there were people defending in front, they naturally didn't pay much attention to their own safety. They were excited to drop shells on the heads of the Chinese army. Mengzi was so angry that his teeth itched. There was no time to hesitate. With a command, the five teams immediately went up the stone steps quickly. They waited until the fire brigade members climbed up the city wall, and the Japanese had not noticed anything unusual. "Kill these bastards!" Mengzi ordered angrily. There were a burst of gunshots, and more than 30 Japanese artillerymen died inexplicably. "Quick, aim the muzzle at the Japanese." Mengzi said excitedly. Wei Jichen completely treated the fire brigade as a special forces training. The sergeants in it were required to learn various combat skills. At that moment, more than a dozen team members immediately stepped forward, and the rest of the team members were on guard under the city wall. "Fire!" Mengzi finally felt the comfort that Wang Shizhen felt. Every time he saw the shells falling on the heads of the Japanese, he felt excited. Boom,… the shells exploded on the Japanese positions, which not only frightened Yamaji Motoharu, but also Wei Jichen. However, when he saw the shells continuously falling on the Japanese positions, Wei Jichen realized that it must be Mengzi's surprise troops that worked. "Kill, brothers, the fire brigade brothers have already taken the Japanese retreat." Wei Jichen shouted happily, and the Chinese soldiers launched a general attack. In the Japanese positions, in the temporary command post, Yamaji Motoharu was like being hit from behind by a hammer. He stood there stupidly like a statue, and the staff and generals beside him all had wooden expressions. The situation on the battlefield changed so quickly that their own cannons actually bombarded their own troops, and the Weizi Army, with the assistance of the cannons, came with great momentum and captured several houses in succession, and was about to reach this temporary command post. The rescue of the north and south gates had not yet arrived. From the gunshots coming from there, it can be known that Wei Jichen must have sent people to snipe. "Clang..." With a slight metallic friction sound, Yamaji Motoharu slowly drew out his command knife. The sharp blade still made his skin cold, but the honor of a samurai had already left Yamaji Motoharu. The only thing he could do now was to end his life in a samurai way before he was captured by the Wei army. Jinzhou City was breached, how could he still live with dignity? Yamaji Motoharu had no choice but to choose to die by disembowelment. "Your Excellency, the division commander!" Although the chief of staff, Otera Yasuzumi, shouted, he did not step forward to stop Yamaji Motoharu's action, and watched him die by disembowelment. Osako Naotoshi was unwilling to die here. He turned to Otera Yasuzumi and said, "Your Excellency, quickly order a retreat. The west gate is only guarded by a small number of Qing troops. It is easy for us to break through the city gate. The future of the empire still needs us." Otera Yasuzumi thought that with Yamaji Motoharu's suicide, the sin of losing Jinzhou City should be offset. "Retreat!" Thinking of this, Otera Yasuzumi asked his men to take away Yamaji Motoharu's body, and immediately ordered the remaining Japanese to break out through the west gate.