New Shun 1730

Hagi Castle is neither as far as Obama nor as close as Hirado. In addition, most of the troops on the front line are marines with fixed transport ships in the navy, so they finally gathered about 8,000 troops.

After the Japanese defenders retreated into Hagi Castle, the engineers who came ashore spent three days to build a simple dock. More troops began to land, and the hidden troops gathered in Mitsumi Village, tightly sealing the news.

There were only more than 3,000 troops exposed.

The warships began to take turns to rest. Every once in a while, several warships would bombard Hagi Castle for a while, and each bombardment was a cross bombardment.

The artillery also began to bombard the main gate of Hagi Castle from time to time.

This exhausting tactic made the defenders of Hagi Castle tense every day. They couldn't win in the field, and the strange location of Hagi Castle hiding in the city couldn't stop the shells.

Each bombardment could be followed by a full-scale attack, so that each bombardment required the samurai to be deployed in front and withstand bombardment again and again.

In just three days, the mentality of the samurai in the city had collapsed.

They couldn't sleep well, and they didn't dare to sleep. When it was the turn of the group to guard, they had to pray that the bombardment would not be so intense this time.

The people guarding the front were not afraid of the Dashun Army's shells, but the stone walls built of stone slabs. The shells bounced randomly on them, and no one knew who would be killed. The flying stone chips would always fly out in a weird way in the place where they thought they were safe.

Seeing that there were more and more Dashun soldiers outside, the cannons had been set up only two miles away from the main gate of Hagi City, and the entire Hagi City was completely blocked.

Wu Fangrui's judgment was very accurate. Hagi City was built with problems. It was suitable for holding on to help, but it was not suitable for internal and external attacks at all.

A narrow bridge could not effectively attack and assemble, and if they wanted to attack and assemble, they would definitely be in danger of being bombarded from the sea from both sides.

In this situation, Wu Fangrui led his staff to survey the plain he had chosen as the site of the decisive battle.

The news sent back by the light cavalry scouts only said that the surrounding area was full of mountains, and there was rarely such a wide terrain of several miles. This was the most suitable battlefield within dozens of miles.

To the south of this plain was a valley road. After the valley road, there was a valley plain with a width of one or two miles, which was the easiest way to Xiaguan.

The staff followed the scouts and drew a topographic map of the surrounding area.

The combat staff formulated a combat plan based on these maps.

The main force was placed on this plain to fight the Japanese in the field. Three hundred cavalry and one thousand infantry, when the war started, moved to the rear of the main force of the Japanese, intercepted the remnants of the Japanese, and tried to wipe them out as much as possible.

In the view of the staff, these 1,300 people had to carry out the most difficult step in the entire battle plan. They had to march forty miles in one day, and they were likely to be blocked by a small force of Japanese troops.

After selecting and assembling these 1,300 people, another company of soldiers was sent to garrison on the hill on the east side of the plain.

If the Japanese commander had a little bit of brains, he would definitely capture this hill first, and then choose this hill as the main camp, so that he could deploy his troops calmly.

And Dashun needed the Japanese to occupy the hill on the east side, otherwise the battle would become a wave of mountain defense battles. Only by deceiving the Japanese into thinking that it was safe and deploying the troops, there would be a chance to annihilate them completely. If they were ambushed, once they were discovered by the Japanese, all their efforts would be wasted, so there was no need to take risks.

This tactic of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements gave the Japanese few choices, and it could even be said that there were only two choices.

Either rescue.

Or, give up directly from the beginning and don't rescue.

As long as they rescued, there were only so many routes and tactics to choose from.

Wu Fangrui was very annoyed by the mountainous terrain here, and could only rely on the absolute confidence given to him by the training discipline of the Dashun soldiers, and chose to fight this battle at the gate of Hagi City. As long as

he could let the Japanese deploy their main force on the battlefield, he would be sure to win.

Even when he was on the Western Expedition, he had never commanded so many elite troops. After this battle, Wu Fangrui believed that he would be the second person in the army to lead the new army in large-scale field battles, so he did his best to prepare for this battle.

The staff thought about various possibilities in detail and determined that this would be the best place for the Japanese to choose for a decisive battle.

Although the open space in the castle town is large, it is close to the sea and needs to be guarded against artillery fire.

There is also the Abu River blocking the castle town and this plain, and the Abu River also forms a fork here. Once the Japanese line up to the north, they will not only be threatened by naval artillery fire, but also face the inconvenience of being naturally divided by the Abu River.

So the staff all agreed with Wu Fangrui's opinion.

The Japanese tactics must be to first capture a small hill defended by a company on the east side, set up the main camp there, and deploy in this plain open space. The ultimate goal is to capture the two hills A and B. Or, station troops and deploy them, make threats, so that Dashun will not be able to attack the city with all their strength, and withdraw in disgrace after the confrontation.

Only in this way can the siege be lifted.

In this case, choosing to fight in this open plain is the best choice for both sides. Even if the Dashun Army cannot win, it can still line up north of the Abu River and use the cover of gunboats. However, if the main force is there, it is equivalent to handing over two crucial hills to the Japanese, and the siege of Hagi Castle can be considered lifted. If it drags on, the army will have to withdraw.

After repeated discussions, the scouts began to control the surrounding battlefield intelligence and repeatedly investigated the route that would be inserted to block the retreat of the defeated soldiers.

The engineers began to build artillery positions in the open space below Hagi Mountain. The running officers began to set up eye-catching reminders everywhere on the battlefield as shooting direction markers, and at the same time determined the fixed value of the shooting angle.

…………

Mori Munehiro, who was stationed in Shimonoseki, was shocked when he learned that Hagi Castle was under siege.

After the Taishun Navy bombarded Kokura and Fukuoka, they all thought that the previous feint landing at Ayaragi was to attract the Kyushu vassal states to cross the sea and attack from the east.

For this reason, after Kokura and Fukuoka were bombarded, the Kyushu vassal states also expressed dissatisfaction with Mori Munehiro's previous proposal to borrow troops, thinking that fortunately they did not fall for it, otherwise Kyushu Island would be in danger.

Since they had previously borrowed troops to help Choshu vassal states, the Taishun Army might attack Kyushu Island at this time, and hoped that Choshu vassal states could also send some troops to support the Kyushu vassal states.

In view of the fact that they borrowed 2,000 troops, Mori Munehiro borrowed 3,000 troops, but like the Kyushu vassal's previous words, these 3,000 troops could only defend Kokura.

As a result, the Taishun Army did make a feint to the east, but the problem was that it attacked Hagi Castle.

Moreover, according to the news, the Dashun Army had a lot of artillery. Without the advantage of the navy, the previous advantages of the Mori main city became disadvantages. The bombardment from the sea on three sides made the city panic all day long.

Yamagata Masada said: "The feudal lord should make a decision early."

"Either, return to rescue. If it is later, I am afraid the city will be broken."

"Or, defend Shimonoseki to the death and do not move. If necessary, retreat across the strait and join forces with the feudal lords of Kyushu Island."

Saka Tokizun said: "The wives and children of the samurai are all in Hagi Castle. Now the army is thinking of returning home. I am afraid that the Tang people will exempt food from per capita land, rob and torture, and it will be like the old Tosa. Why doesn't the feudal lord let the daimyosuke coordinate the feudal lords of Kyushu Island to help defend Shimonoseki, and the Hagi soldiers will return to support overnight?"

Mori Munehiro also knew that after their homes were robbed, the samurai would no longer have the will to fight and would want to return home.

"But I'm afraid that the Tang people will take advantage of our return and kill us halfway."

"Don't worry, lord. This road is all mountainous. The Tang people are not familiar with the terrain and will not go deep. Moreover, if they go deep, there will be movement. How can the villagers of our domain not see it? Since he is unwilling to go deep, even if he sets an ambush, he will order it near Hagi Castle - there are many roads, how can he know which road we will take? In this way, we can go fast first and slow later."

"The first one to go fast will have no worries along the way and go fast. The second one to go slow will have scouts and ask questions. Villagers, slowly march forward. The Tang people are good at warships and firearms, but they have no confidence in field battles. The feudal lord should think carefully. Since the beginning of the war, have the Tang people ever fought a fair battle? They have all been sneak attacks, bombardments, sieges, and battles of defending cities. "

"If they are unmatched in field battles, why bother with so much trouble, making a feint to the east and attacking in the west? If they can capture Shimonoseki, the general situation will be settled, so why bother to attack Hagi Castle?"

This sentence awakened Mori Munehiro, and after careful recollection, it seemed to be true.

Attacking Tsushima was a bullying of the many against the few, how many soldiers did Tsushima Domain have?

Attacking Yonago was still a bullying of the many, with the advantage of artillery bombardment. As soon as the soldiers of Osaka Castle arrived, they slipped away, and they didn't even dare to fight the feudal soldiers of Okayama Domain in the field.

Attacking Obama was because Obama Castle was not a mountain castle, but a sea castle protruding from the sea, and the warships were just surrounding and firing. After that, defending Obama still relied on firearms. The experience of matchlock guns is that they are pure musket teams, which are not good at attacking, but very good at defending.

There were not many soldiers when attacking the Kyoto Imperial Palace. According to regulations, the Kyoto Soshidai only had 340 samurai. After attacking Hikone and other cities, the main force of Hikone Domain died in the siege of Obama.

It seems that there has been no field battle so far.

They all relied on strong ships and powerful guns and firearms to capture cities and ports on the coast.

You can tell that you can't beat the warships by looking at their size.

But in land battles, they all carry their heads on their shoulders. The Tang people have muskets, and we have them too; the Tang people have cannons, and we have them too, but they just shoot farther.

If you really want to be unparalleled in the field battle, you should directly capture Shimonoseki. It is close to Tsushima Island, and it is much easier to transport troops than to Hagi Castle. It is not a problem to gather 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers in Hagi Castle and 10,000 troops in Shimonoseki.

These Tang people have been avoiding field battles. Is it really because they are not good at field battles and are just bluffing? Their strengths are in attacking and defending cities; their weaknesses are in field battles.

So they have been playing to their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses?

Since the fire-fighting tactics are effective, even if the previous fire-fighting efforts were not carried out until the fire was completely burned out, it is true that Dashun did not choose to fight in the field and withdrew.

What Saka Shicun said was right. As long as they were fast first and slow later, they could avoid the ambush of the Dashun army. This is their home ground and their fiefdom. How could they not be familiar with it?

After the agreement, they asked the Kyushu vassal states to help defend Shimonoseki. The Choshu vassal state, the Chofu vassal state, and the remaining branch vassal states and part of the troops left by the Hiroshima vassal state, totaling more than 8,000 people, quickly headed towards Hagi Castle.

There are only three ways to go back.

One is to go to Choshu first and advance along the coast, but the Dashun naval advantage made him give up this road directly.

The second road is the road that the Dashun scouts and staff officers determined he must take.

The third route is to go northeast after approaching Hagi Castle and go around to Hagi Castle.

However, the strange terrain of Hagi Castle determines this detour route, and it will eventually have to go through the castle town surrounded by the Abu River. If you want to get out of the siege, you can only force the Abu River under the bombardment of the Dashun Navy, which is still an unwise way.

Only the second route can make Dashun lose its most advantageous leg: the navy. Become a cripple with only one leg left.