Chapter 894 Osaka Autumn Formation (2)

Author: Chongqing Lao Q

Chapter 894 Osaka Autumn Formation (2)

"Are these people the shogunate army?" Cao Guangsheng put down his telescope, with an expression of disbelief on his face, and turned to look at Yunzhou Town Youyi Army (cavalry) guerrilla Liu Tinghui.

"Uh..." Liu Tinghui scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed, and said with a wry smile: "Perhaps, these people were deliberately mobilized or driven here by the Osaka defenders to disturb the morale of our troops... Well, it is also possible that they wanted to

Use this to confuse us, and then take advantage of our unpreparedness to launch a surprise attack on us."

"Hehe..." Qu Kaishan, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Divine Fire Army of the Weiguo Army and Xuangjie Colonel (Major), couldn't help but laugh out loud after hearing this, "The shogunate troops on both sides of the river were all carrying small stools like this and eating.

The melons and fruits are still holding umbrellas, which really disturbs our military morale... Damn, why do I feel like they are watching a free show!"

When several officers heard this, they immediately couldn't laugh or cry. Looking at the growing number of local Japanese people gathering on both sides of the Yodogawa River, they felt an inexplicable absurdity and weirdness.

We are at war here, can you please respect us a little? We are just trying to be lively and watch a big show, don’t do this!

I saw thousands of people watching gathered on both sides of the Yodogawa River. After a slight estimate of the range beyond the range of stray bullets, they all chose an excellent viewing position. Some brought water bottles, some brought melons and fruits, and some

He actually brought a picnic lunch box and stayed there peacefully, preparing to watch the battle that was about to take place as if watching a play.

In fact, this phenomenon was very common in Japan during the Warring States Period. As long as the combat mode at that time was not a sneak attack, but an upright battle between the two parties, you would see a lot of onlookers near the battlefield. In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu

When Tachibana Muneshige was ordered to attack Otsu Castle, local residents came to watch the battle one after another, regardless of the danger of the battle.

Even during the Osaka Winter Formation and Summer Formation that took place in the previous decades, the good Osaka residents did not forget to move small benches, grab a handful of melon seeds, and sit aside to watch the two city offensive and defensive battles involving tens of thousands of people.

At the same time, don’t forget to comment and discuss.

Of course, in the later years of the Qing Dynasty, many ordinary people would stand outside the battlefield and watch the ongoing battle scenes between the colonial army and the Qing officers and soldiers. Sometimes they would even "enthusiastically" help, as foreigners

When the adults were about to climb the city wall and enter the city, many Chinese people with long braids were helping to hold up the ladder...

The coalition's landing operation took more than three days. During this period, the Osaka defenders did not try to launch any surprise attacks. They stayed on top of the city and watched coldly as more than 10,000 coalition troops came ashore, followed by cavalry, artillery, and baggage.

, as well as dozens of long-barreled cannons and howitzers.

The Osaka Castle planned and built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the largest castle in Japan. It took nearly two years to complete the main castle, and the entire city was not fully completed until Hideyoshi died of illness.

As a siege master, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was accustomed to cutting off water, food, and water attacks. Therefore, when he built Osaka Castle, he made many designs to counteract these siege methods. In order to prevent the enemy from diverting the water of the Yodogawa River into the city, Osaka Castle specially designed

Aqueducts were dug through which the defenders could divert the enemy's water out of the city.

In addition to land routes, Osaka also has many waterways that can be connected to the outside of the city. This makes it difficult for the enemy to block Osaka City's food routes. In addition, with the huge amount of grain stored in the city, Osaka will not be cut off due to food routes.

And got into trouble.

After Tokugawa Ieyasu captured Osaka and destroyed the Toyotomi clan, the entire Osaka Castle was destroyed. However, during the subsequent reconstruction process, although the shogunate demolished and buried the castle built by Hideyoshi underground and rebuilt Osaka Castle on top, it was basically

The layout also more or less follows Hideyoshi's design.

Hiroshi Watanabe, the leader of Osaka, believes that with the solid city defense and the more than 2,000 samurai in the city, plus the mobilization of 5,000 ashigaru, it can hold out for at least half a month in the face of the surging Qi army. By then,

, the nearby vassal states and shoguns will inevitably send reinforcements to Osaka, and under attack from both inside and outside, it will be a piece of cake to defeat the Qi army outside the city.

You must know that in the two battles of Osaka Winter Formation and Summer Formation, the shogunate besieged Osaka with several times the force advantage, and it took several months. Looking at the Qi army outside the city, it was only about 20,000 at most.

This small number of people cannot complete the siege of Osaka Castle, let alone conquer Osaka in a very short time.

September 28, early morning.

Under the gaze of thousands of defenders at the head of Osaka City, more than 10,000 coalition troops led by Qi Guo lined up in neat formation and slowly approached Osaka City. In the formation, dozens of siege heavy artillery were also being dragged by cattle and horses.

Push and pull, and slowly move forward.

Watanabe Hiroshi stood on the tower, holding the handle of his sword with his right hand, looking indifferently at the actions of the Qi army below the city, with a strong fighting spirit in his eyes.

"Throw all those heads outside the city to scare the enemy!"

"Yes, sir." A warrior promised in a ferocious voice, then turned around and walked down the tower.

After a moment, dozens of small bundles wrapped in straw bags were suddenly dropped from the top of Osaka City. Several cavalrymen who approached the city wall to investigate were shocked. They thought it was a bomb dropped from the top of the city and hurriedly rode away.

After a long time, seeing no movement at the top of the city, two cavalrymen stepped forward carefully to check, and tried to pick up the small package on the ground with their sabers.

When he saw that the package contained a first-grade human head that had been glazed with lime, his expression changed and he immediately hit the horse and ran towards the rear.

The commander-in-chief of the coalition landing force, Qi Army Guangwei General (Major General) Su Zhongfu, stared at the several ferocious-looking human heads on the ground and remained silent for a long time.

"General, these people must be our Qi sailors who were killed by Osaka City a few months ago." An officer said angrily: "The Osaka defenders threw them all under the city in order to damage the morale of our army.

It affects the morale of my landing troops."

"So..." Su Zhongfu asked calmly.

"...Keep these heads in a safe place first and return them to the Hanzhou mainland after the war and hand them over to their families." The officer said: "Our army still followed the previous combat deployment and bombarded the Osaka city wall with heavy artillery to break through its defenses.

, annihilate all defensive forces and capture this city."

"You're not talking nonsense!" Su Zhongfu scolded: "We have more than tens of thousands of coalition troops. When we attack Osaka City, we naturally want to occupy this most important coastal city for the shogunate. But the defenders in the city actually treated the innocent people of Qi State as our own.

life to shock and intimidate me

Army, this is ridiculous and hateful! Order the Yunzhou Town Youyi Army and the two Musket Battalions to seize the city, drive all the theatergoers on both sides of the Yodo River to me, and fill in a moat for us

Exit the siege tunnel!"

On that day, more than two thousand "enthusiastic spectators" were invited by the coalition forces to the foot of Osaka Castle and became the first echelon to attack Osaka Castle in the form of actual participation. Everyone cried, screamed, and flinched, trying to get rid of the coalition forces.

Take control and leave this Shura field full of murderous intent.

Without exception, those who retreated were pushed back one by one by the swords and bayonets of the coalition forces. Those who broke free, ran wildly, and tried to escape were either knocked to the ground or had their heads chopped off by the cavalry who were quickly pursuing them.

, and then was trampled into the soil by countless horse hooves.

After hesitating for a moment, the defenders of Osaka City reluctantly raised their bows and arrows and shot the local residents who were carrying soil to fill the trenches on the spot.

By around noon, the coalition artillery positions were set up. Six long-barreled heavy cannons and five heavy howitzers were placed more than 200 meters away from the city wall. The artillerymen were busy preparing to launch the artillery and began the formal siege.

action.

The primary task of the heavy artillery deployed by the Qi Army is to destroy the enemy's city walls and level their fortresses. When attacking the city, the army will use heavy cannons and howitzers together. The cannons fire solid iron bullets to cut the city walls, and the howitzers fire explosives.

The bullet shattered the cut wall.

In addition, the artillery also has rockets with increasingly sophisticated technology, which can specifically target cities like Osaka City with a large number of wooden houses. However, considering that the coalition forces want to obtain various food supplies accumulated in the city, they are reluctant to set the city on fire.

It was burned.

Therefore, the coalition forces followed the most conventional tactics, bombarded the Osaka city wall with heavy artillery, and used absolute force to breach the city.

"Boom!" There was a loud noise, and a huge projectile passed over the head of Osaka City and fell far into the city.

Under the command of the officer, more than a dozen artillerymen immediately lowered the muzzle of the heavy cannon several degrees, hoping to directly bombard the city wall.

"Boom!" The heavy howitzer also began to calibrate its firing. Just like the cannon, the shells also fell far into the city. However, what was different from the solid iron eggs was that the explosive shells fired by the howitzers made a huge noise.

The expressions of the entire Osaka City shogunate defenders changed.

After landing, there was a huge explosion, rising fireworks, and flames that were ignited. Ashigaru and citizens were scattered in all directions, making the shogunate army in the city pale in horror.

The Qi army's artillery can actually fire explosive shells!

"Send someone to notify Hashimoto-kun and immediately organize volunteers to prepare a large amount of sand and water so as to extinguish the fire in the city at any time." At this time, Watanabe Hiroshi, who had returned to the castle tower in the city to coordinate command and control, ordered sternly with a livid face.

"Yes, my lord!" A warrior promised and hurried downstairs.

"Inform Mr. Jing Yi, pay attention to the fire oil and rolling logs at the top of the city. Don't be attacked by enemy artillery fire!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." Bursts of dull roars of artillery came from the distant city wall. Countless dust fell from the roof of the castle tower. The whole city seemed to be trembling, and Watanabe Hiroshi's heart also violently beat.

Beating.

The enemy seems to be stronger than imagined, and the huge power displayed by their artillery is unprecedented. Under such an offensive, can Osaka Castle hold on for more than half a month?

Japan is no stranger to firearms. More than a hundred years ago, "musketeers" appeared in the armies of daimyo across Japan, called "Irongun Ashigaru". In the Momoyama Period (also known as the Oriho Period, 1573

-1603), the proportion of muskets in weapons increased significantly

Plus. By the time of the Battle of Sekigahara launched by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the popularity of firearms had greatly increased. For example, the troops led by Date Masamune had 3,000 soldiers and 1,200 muskets. Even the troops led by Uesugi Kagekatsu had the smallest proportion of firearms.

, 8,700 soldiers and 2,000 muskets.

However, at that period, the artillery equipment rate among the Japanese daimyo armies was very low. On the Korean battlefield, when encountering the Ming Dynasty army's "Folangji" and the Korean army's artillery in offensive and defensive battles, they hardly had any advantage.

Later, in the early 17th century, the Tokugawa shogunate obtained a small amount of "large tubes" from the Portuguese and Dutch, and bombarded Osaka Castle with artillery during the Battle of Osaka.

But in the face of real heavy artillery bombardment of the city, the shogunate army had never seen it before, and had never experienced it personally. Oh, no, during the Shimabara Rebellion more than 30 years ago, the shogunate hired Dutch armed merchant ships to bombard the original city.

Although the city wall was not destroyed due to the long distance, the shogunate army was able to witness the tremendous power of the naval artillery bombardment.

Who would have thought that after decades of peace in Japan, Osaka City would be attacked, and it would be a close-range bombardment from more than a dozen more powerful heavy cannons and howitzers.

In just half a day, several huge cracks appeared in the southern wall of Osaka Castle. More than a hundred samurai and ashigaru were injured by flying gravel and brick fragments and explosive bombs. The morale of the entire shogunate army also plummeted.

Surrender, no longer full of confidence before the war.

That night, the Osaka defenders launched a large-scale night attack in an attempt to destroy the coalition's artillery. However, they were repulsed by the unusually vigilant coalition forces, leaving behind hundreds of corpses and fled back to the city in embarrassment.

In the early morning of the next day, the coalition forces continued to bombard Osaka City with heavy artillery. Moreover, during the test yesterday, they had already discovered that there was no artillery at the top of Osaka City, so they boldly moved the artillery position forward, directly approaching it less than a foot away from the city wall.
To be continued...