Chapter 162: Shooting in Front of the Battlefield

"Today, I don't know how many samurai will shed their last drop of blood in Kumamoto Castle.

In the telescopes of Takamatsu Yoritada and Yokota Katsuto, the Keelung army stretched north and south from the north of Kumamoto Castle. The vast area was full of a sea of ​​flags. I don't know how many soldiers were in it. I only saw the dense layers of muskets fluctuating with the surge of people.

"Boom!"

Before Takamatsu Yoritada finished his sigh, a cannonball from a test artillery flew over the crowd and onto the stone wall. The powerful force smashed the stone wall into pieces, and the scattered pieces of stone filled the top of the city with smoke.

As this shell hit, the Keelung gunners quickly began to fire and bombard the top of the city, causing sand and rocks to fly.

"Fire! Destroy the enemy's large barrel position! "

The artillery fire from the top of Kumamoto Castle also began to fight back.

Since Shimazu is located in the southern part of Kyushu, at Tara Port, it has many exchanges with maritime forces. The artillery it uses is the large Dutch falconet, with 10 pounds and 8 pounds. Although the caliber of the artillery is not inferior, it still seems weak compared to the gunpowder produced in Keelung.

However, the advantage of being high above makes up for this defect, and even has a slight advantage.

In an instant, dense and fierce artillery sounds rang out one after another on the top of the city, and large clouds of rising gunpowder condensed in the air.

Unlike the solid bullets used to bombard the city walls below the city, most of the cannons on the city use buckshot, in order to kill the gunners and destroy the muzzles.

The hilly roads made it difficult to transport artillery. If one shot hit the enemy, the artillery and the gunner would be destroyed.

The small shotgun shells could easily make a hole in the barrel, and once there was a crack, it could not be used.

Amid the dense gunfire, countless shotgun shells shot into the Keelung Army artillery positions or passed through the artillery groups. Wherever they passed, a cloud of flesh and blood flew up. There were continuous screams and groans, and in a blink of an eye, three artillery gunners were beaten to a bloody mess and lost consciousness.

Seeing their former colleagues laughing together fall to the ground and wail, the other gunners were furious and continued to load ammunition, vowing to avenge their brothers.

"Aim at the cannons on the top of the city, fire them for me! "

As three 12-pound cannons were put into battle, the originally evenly matched situation began to slowly tilt towards the Keelung Army.

A 12-pound shell accurately flew to a gun position in Kumamoto Castle. It hit a loaded barrel, and with a loud "bang", the barrel gun carriage instantly shattered, and the heavy gun body was lifted up and rolled down.

The surrounding Shimazu gunners were all affected, and the various fragments stirred up made no one around spared. They were all beaten to a bloody mess, and everyone rolled to the ground and howled.

What's more terrible is that the ammunition loaded in the barrel exploded, igniting several shells and gunpowder barrels piled not far away. Seven or eight gunners ignited by gunpowder jumped around on the top of the city like crazy, passing the flames on their bodies to each other.

For a time, chaos on the top of the city gradually arose, causing a hot situation under the city.

"Don't fight with me! "

The vanguard ronin under the command of each daimyo waved their long swords and held up the flags of their respective employers, and began to charge towards the walls of Kumamoto Castle.

With a "bang", a ten-pound cannonball hit the charging ronin team.

The cannonball broke the bodies of two ronin alive, smashing their bodies into pieces of flesh and blood, and then knocked the head of a foot soldier holding a bamboo spear behind him flat and flew out, and the ground was a pool of red and white in an instant.

The head that rolled down was very terrified. Its body was supported by the bamboo spear in its hand and stood abruptly, but it kept spraying out from its neck cavity. Shooting out streams of blood arrows.

Several people nearby were dyed blood red by the flying blood arrows.

One after another, the cannonballs flew down from the top of the city wall, shot and jumped into the vanguard formation, or passed from a high place, knocking people's hands and heads off, or jumping on the muddy and slippery ground, breaking countless people's calves.

This made the already chaotic vanguard camp even more chaotic.

In this round of artillery fire, the casualties of the vanguard reached more than a hundred people.

Amid the screams, those ronin who were still clamoring not to compete with him for military merits just now turned around and ran back the way they came.

"Run!"

However, on the way, there were five rows of musketeers lined up to supervise the battle. This was to prevent these fleeing foot soldiers from attacking the camp.

"Fire!"

"Bang bang bang! "

After the dense volleys, dozens of ronin who were at the front were knocked to the ground, and the retreating crowd suddenly stopped.

"Fire!"

The second round of cannons was fired at the top of people's heads.

"Go back, anyone who retreats without military orders will die!"

As they spoke, more than a hundred Saga samurai rushed out from behind the musketeers and walked in front of the ronin. No matter how they begged for mercy, they still raised their swords and chopped off the heads of the ronin who were hit by lead bullets, and picked them up with long spears.

If they can't take Kumamoto today, they will die under the city. No one dared to object to the military order issued by the general himself.

"The vanguard was defeated? ! More than 500 casualties? "

In Qin Hao's tent, this bad news made him feel that the fruit wine in his hand had lost its taste. He stood up and walked out of the tent, listening to the charge of the battle in front of the battlefield, and touched his chin with concern.

After not washing for many days, his originally smooth chin had some beard.

He was only twenty years old, but he had a beard, but it might not be a bad thing.

A hairless chin means that he is not reliable, and his young age always makes people feel frivolous and unstable.

Zhang Hu, the Shuntian camp officer who came to report the news, broke Qin Hao's reverie.

"Lord, at first, the artillery fire at the top of the city only wounded and killed a dozen people, but the huge panic caused by the artillery fire caused this group of werewolves to trample on each other, push and collide.

The Kumamoto defenders dug a large number of earth pits, trenches and other obstacles on the ground in front of the city. They could go around them during the attack, but when they retreated, they were confused and panicked, and they couldn't choose a route.

Several people fell into the pit, and more than a hundred people trampled through, causing heavy casualties! "

"If you fail to succeed, you will fail! These Japanese slaves are really useless! If our Keelung army attacks this city, with so many soldiers and horses, even hundreds of Kumamoto castles have been captured!"

Zhao Dahai curled his lips and expressed disdain for the defeat of the Zhu family's second army.

"Alas! What a pity these people are. If they were transported to the mines and forestry farms in Keelung, they would be a good labor force to build bridges and roads and open up wasteland for iron smelting!" Zhao Dahai had no good impression of these allied forces at all.

"Stop taking care of the casualties, send the order, and remove the artillery team first, leaving a few artillery pieces that are on duty, and just fire a few cannons at the top of the city from time to time!"

Qin Hao glanced at Zhao Dahai meaningfully, "Don't forget your errand!"

In front of the vanguard queue, someone brought thousands of straw bags on a cart, and the commander of the Second Army, Saga Chaoichi, escorted thousands of bags of rice to the front of the formation.

"Fill those pits and ditches! Anyone who throws a bag of soil within the range of the city's artillery fire will come back and receive a bag of rice! Not much! Ten pounds!"

Saga took out a bag of rice and threw it in front of everyone. The white rice suddenly scattered on the muddy ground and became dirty.

Incentives can only make most people forget their fears for a short time.

"Attack the front and both wings with all your strength, don't be timid and retreat! Anyone who dares to take a step back will be killed without mercy!"

Arrangements by Saga Chaoichi. The rogues were frightened when they heard this, but their morale was boosted again, with a fanatical light shining in their eyes.

Just rush up and throw a bag of soil and come back with ten kilograms of white rice. It only takes ten breaths, which is very fast.

Half of the big cannons on the top of the city have been destroyed. Even if they continue to bombard them at this time, it will never fall on them. Why not make a profit and come back.

Almost everyone was blinded by the white rice. Even if there were a few conscious people, it was of no avail and they had no choice but to continue charging.

In the blink of an eye, another charge of thousands of people began.

The ronin inserted the Chodachi into the grass belt around his waist, carried the heavy bags of soil, and dropped the bags of grass and soil between the pits in small steps to fill the path for attack.

From the arrow holes on the city, Yokota Katsuto looked down the city. Among the enemy troops rushing over like a sea tide, the most enthusiastic ones at the front were the ronin, each carrying earth bags on their shoulders. . Shouting at the top of their lungs, every one of them seemed to be dying.

"Damn Kitakyushu people, Baga Yalu!" He punched the bluestone platform of the arrow hole, and a stream of blood came out from between his fingers.

Ignoring the pain, Katsuto Yokota ordered the bodyguards beside him: "Send the order. The people filling the trenches will open fire as soon as they enter the range of the iron cannon. They cannot be allowed to fill in the ravines!"